Discovered (14 page)

“When you said you
weren’t like other guys our age, you really weren’t kidding, were you?”

“No,” he answered,
“and not necessarily because of the money, but because my life is in danger.
Well, that and the fact that I was only pretending to be a high-school student,
and most guys our age actually are, but…” he trailed off, shrugging his
shoulders.

“I know. Issy told
me,” she replied. “Is everything going to be okay?”

“I don’t really
know what’s going to happen, but I can tell you this, it was never, ever my
intention to get you involved in this, and you can’t begin to imagine how sorry
I am. God, Layla, if I could undo this…”

“I don’t blame you
for that,” she responded, feeling pity for him suddenly.
‘This is Jay,’
she thought. Why was she feeling so awkward around him? “A lot of things
actually make a little more sense now,” she added, trying to make him feel
better.

“Maybe you don’t
blame me, but I blame myself,” he said bitterly. “If I had been strong enough
to stay away from you…”

“Yeah, but I didn’t
want you to,” Layla replied, figuring she may as well admit the truth. She let
out a deep sigh. “Listen, Jay—” She shook her head. “Do I even still call you
that?” she asked.

“Yes, Layla, that’s
what my close friends call me,” he answered.

She nodded.
“Listen, Jay, what’s done is done. I don’t see any point in you beating
yourself up over that now, okay?”

“Thanks,” he said,
smiling sadly.

“But what are we
going to do?” she asked.

 “We’re going to my
home in Greenwich initially,” he explained. “The problem is that those men more
than likely know about my place there, so we can’t stay there indefinitely,
but—”

“What?” she
screeched. “I know I can’t stay there indefinitely. Unlike you, I have school
to go to.”

“Layla, understand
that you cannot return home until it’s completely safe for you to do so,” he
said firmly. “And if that takes weeks, then we’re just going to have to come up
with an elaborate lie as to why you need to take some time off.”

“That should be no
problem for you,” she said then instantly realized how that accusation sounded.
 She felt terrible when she noticed how he flinched. “I’m sorry. That was
uncalled for,” she amended.

“Not entirely,” he
mumbled.

“No, that’s really
not what I meant,” she added. “I just meant that it seems easy for you to hide
away if need be.”

“Apparently, not
well enough,” he stated. “Layla, I just feel so bad about all of this.”

“Look, that’s
pointless. Like I said, I didn’t want you to stay away from me,” she said
again. “If you want to know the truth, I was heartbroken when you told me that
the situation between us was a mistake. It hurt me very badly.” What the heck?
She may as well confess her feelings. Seeing him sitting there looking so sad
and dejected, was almost too much for her to bear. She looked around the cabin,
awestruck by the serenity. “This is really beautiful,” she said in an effort to
lighten the mood. “It’s like heaven.”

“Yeah, that’s the
effect we were shooting for,” he replied. “Actually, it was really Issy’s idea.
She figured that since we were going to be up in the sky…”

“It’s fabulous,”
Layla gushed.

Jay reached over
and took her hand in both of his, resting all three on his lap. “Thank you,” he
said.

“For?”

“For trying to make
me feel better,” he replied. “And I just want you to know that what I said
tonight, at the dance, I really meant that.”

“Can I ask you a
question about that?”

“What?” he
responded.

“Why did I get the
impression that you were trying to say good-bye to me?” she asked.

“Because I was,” he
admitted, looking up into her eyes.

Layla nodded.

“I didn’t know what
else to do,” he explained. “I figured I’d just disappear and tell you that my
father had a sudden job offer in another state, that we needed to leave right
away.”

“So you asked me to
take our relationship slow so that you could disappear on me a week later?”
Layla questioned, feeling her temper flare.

“It was the only
way I could keep you out of my life without you thinking I didn’t care about
you, or so I thought,” he responded.

“And you never
thought about telling me the truth?” she questioned.

“Layla…” he bit his
lip, trying to think of the right words. “Would you have believed me?”

“You didn’t really
give me the option though, did you?” she pushed.

“Ben actually
suggested that I tell you last week when you were at my house, but I guess I
just chickened out like the coward that I am. I guess I made a complete mess
out of things. I’m sorry.”

Layla tried to bury
her anger at his attempted betrayal, remembering that she promised Issy she’d
go easy on him. But she promised Issy she’d go easy on him for getting her
involved in his danger. The fact that he was just going to up and disappear on
her was a whole other issue and one that she was absolutely spitting mad at.

“I can forgive you
for not telling me your real identity, but do you have any idea how hurt I
would have been if you had called me this weekend and told me you were leaving?
Did you even consider what that would do to me?”

“I assumed that in
time you’d move on,” he answered remorsefully.

Layla barked out one
loud sarcastic chuckle and shook her head in disgust.

“I’m sorry,” he
mumbled, irrefutable shame carved on his face.

Keeping her hand
still wrapped in both of his, she turned her head in the opposite direction,
trying to see things from his point of view.

“Layla…” Jay said,
trying to get her attention.

“I’m trying…just
give me a few moments,” she requested.

Was it possible
that he didn’t know how attached she’d become? Yes, she concluded it was. She
had spent so much time trying to convince herself that she could walk away at
any time, she never thought to consider the message she was sending out. She
suddenly realized that she was pulling back as much as he was, keeping her
distance to a certain degree. He probably had no idea how hurt she would have
been until now, until she spelled it out for him. Truth be told,
she
didn’t even realize how hurt she would have been until now, until she was faced
with the notion.

And then there was
the dilemma of trying to fuse together her Jay with the billionaire, of trying
to incorporate them together in her mind, and at that moment, her mind was
having a hard time getting on board with that.

They spent the
remaining thirty minutes of the flight in complete silence.

 Joey, Issy and Ben
sat across the cabin, talking quietly, obviously giving Jay and Layla what
privacy they could.

When the plane
landed, they were shuttled into another stretch limo that was waiting on the
runway. It suddenly dawned on Layla that while this was luxury to her, Jay must
travel this way all the time. And then the realization that she really didn’t
know him caused her to feel even more anguish.

After a twenty-minute
ride, the limo turned onto a narrow avenue that led to what Layla assumed was
an old European style, fieldstone and stucco, three-story hotel. Large arched
windows graced the front in abundance, creating an ultra-elegant look. A three-tiered,
stone water fountain sat in the middle of a rounded driveway of rustic block
paving in various shades of gray.

When the limo
pulled up in front of the six-paneled Mahogany doors, the driver jumped out of
the car and opened the back door for them to exit. “Welcome home, Mr. Vallen,”
he said politely.

Layla stood in
front of the house, awestruck. “This is your home?” she asked, turning to Jay.

He nodded, looking
almost guilty for the display of wealth.

A man dressed in
army fatigues opened one of the large doors. “It’s nice to see you, Jay,” he
said, standing aside to let the little group walk past him. “Ben, Joseph,
Isabel…” he added as each one walked through.

“It’s nice to see
you too, Rick,” Jay replied. “This is Layla.”

“Layla,” Rick said,
nodding in her direction.

“Hi,” Layla replied
shyly.

“As soon as you’re
settled, I’ll have this place locked down tight.”

“Thanks, Rick,” Jay
said.

Layla walked into a
two-story rotunda entry hall of antique cream and absolute black marble
flooring, outlined with a pair of flowing staircases that led to a rounded
balcony. “This is…wow…” she muttered.

“Let me show you to
one of the guest rooms,” Jay said taking hold of her elbow and gesturing toward
the left staircase. “I’m sure you must be exhausted by now.”

Layla nodded.

She allowed Jay to
lead her upstairs. She marveled at the expensive looking artwork and the thick,
plush carpet covering the second floor. He stopped in front of a door halfway
down the long hallway, opened the door, and motioned with his arm for her to
enter before him.

The bedroom,
which was more like a suite,
featured a king-sized bed with a tufted
headboard
covered in steel-gray linen, and
many overstuffed black and white throw pillows. Contemporary paintings rendered
in metallic silvers adorned the walls in abundance, warming up the coolness of
the sparse walls with a wealth of color.  A cadet gray, velvet couch
highlighted a rounded reading nook in the left-hand corner, complete with
thirty-two inch flat-screen TV and Bose sound system. An enormous bouquet of
white Trilliums sat centered on a round tea table underneath the large bay window.

“This is
lovely,” Layla muttered.  

“You’ll be perfectly
safe here tonight,” Jay said reassuringly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

When he turned to leave,
Layla called after him.

“Yes?” he asked,
turning to face her.

“I’m angry, but I
do understand your reasons,” she said then sighed deeply.

“You do?” he
answered, his expression turning hopeful.

“Yes,” she said,
nodding. “Just give me a little time to wrap my head around all this, okay?”

He walked back to
her and took her hand in his. “Take all the time you need,” he said smiling
sadly. “And remember, I meant what I said earlier tonight. That was the truest
thing I’ve ever said.”

“I meant it too,”
she admitted.

“I’m really sorry
about everything,” he said again, grimacing.

“I know,” she replied,
seeing the sincerity in his eyes. “Good night, Jay.”

“Good night,
Layla,” he replied then turned and left the room.

Layla knew that she
was too exhausted to think about anything else. She was just thankful that she
had changed into sweats before that dreadful phone call because there was no
sign of pajamas anywhere.  All she wanted was to crawl into bed and forget this
day ever happened.

When Layla woke the
following morning, it took her a while to remember where she was. Confused, she
sat up and looked around the suite. Slowly, the events of the previous night
came back to her. “Greenwich, Connecticut,” she said out loud, shaking her
head.

 The sun was
shining through wispy curtains that went all the way from the floor to the
ceiling. She pulled the curtains back to reveal French doors that led to a
balcony.

She opened the
doors, causing a surge of cold air to blast into the room. She grabbed the
heavy duvet off the bed and wrapped it around her then walked out the doors
onto the balcony.

The view was
breathtaking.

A large infinity
pool sat enclosed in white cracked marble and was flanked on both sides by
small, semi-enclosed structures. One was a Moroccan style lounge pavilion with
plush, gold daybeds and round cocktail tables. Gauze curtains adorned the outer
rim, held back with light-yellow curtain ties. The other structure was an
outdoor living area complete with kitchen and fireplace and three lemon couches
arranged in a semi-circle around a tiled table.

Behind the pool was
a well-manicured lawn and beyond that, a large body of water that Layla could
only assume was the Long Island Sound. 

 She walked back
into the room and threw the duvet on the bed then made her way to the bathroom,
breathing a sigh of relief when she noticed that there was a bundle of new
toothbrushes, still in their packaging, sitting by the side of the sink. She
brushed her teeth quickly, threw some water on her face and looked around for a
brush to run through her hair.

When she was as
ready as she could be without the rest of her toiletries, and without a change
of clothing, she went in search of life.

Walking down the left
staircase to the main floor, she heard laughter coming from what she supposed
must be the kitchen, given that it was on the far side of a very large dining
room. She followed the laughter and light conversation until she entered the biggest
kitchen she’d ever been in. Not one but two islands, crafted from ebony walnut,
created an L-shaped centerpiece with dramatic hanging lights that illuminated
the heavy bar stools.  The
cabinets and trim were painted a deep green
and contrasted with the marble floor, countertops and backsplash.

Ben, Joey and Issy
were sitting at one of the islands while Jay stood in front of a six burner
oven, frying something in a pan.

“Good afternoon,”
Issy called out to Layla. “I was just going to go check on you. We thought
you’d never get up.”

“What do you mean?”
Layla asked, sitting on the bar stool to the left of Issy.

“It’s almost noon,”
Issy replied.

“Wow,” Layla
mumbled, shocked that she’d manage to sleep so long. “You do your own cooking
here?” she called over to Jay. “I’m surprised.”

Jay turned and
narrowed his eyes in her direction. “Was that sarcasm?” he asked.

“No, not at all,”
Layla admitted. “It just seems weird that you have such a big house with an
army dude, and you do your own cooking.”

“I like to cook,”
he said light-heartedly. “I’ve cooked for you before, haven’t I?”

“Yeah, I suppose…”
From the corner of her eye, Layla noticed a sparkle coming from Issy’s left
hand, causing a distraction in her train of thought. She quickly turned and
took the girl’s hand in hers, staring in awe at the two carat diamond that sat
on Issy’s ring finger. “You got…” And then she noticed the thin gold band that
rested underneath. “You’re married?” she stammered.

Issy nodded.

“How come you
didn’t tell me this before?” Layla questioned. “Why would you keep that a
secret?”

“It wasn’t a
secret, necessarily,” Issy said quickly. “It just never came up in
conversation. I was wearing my wedding ring the last time we hung out.”

Ben leaned forward
in his seat and wiggled the fingers of his left hand in Layla’s direction,
revealing a matching gold band. “So was I,” he piped in.

“You guys are
married?” Layla asked again. “You’ve been married this whole time?”

Issy put up her
hands defensively. “We didn’t lie to you. You just never asked.”

“I think I would
have noticed a ring this beautiful,” Layla replied.

“Yeah, well, I
wasn’t wearing my engagement ring before because I’d left it here, but I was
wearing the band.”

“How long?” Layla
questioned.

“You don’t really
want to know,” Issy said. “A long time,” she added, enunciating the words while
rolling her eyes.

“Wow,” Layla said.
“Why? You must have been only kids when you got married.”

“I’ve loved her my
whole life,” Ben replied, “ever since I was a little boy. I knew I’d never want
anyone else, so I saw no point in waiting.”

“Yes, but getting
her to see it that way was no easy task, was it, my friend?” Jay added, turning
to smirk in Ben’s direction.

“It took just a
little persuasion,” Ben admitted.

“That’s so
romantic,” Layla said dreamily.

 “How did you
sleep?” Jay asked Layla, turning to face her with an unreadable look on his
face.

“Good,” she said.
“And long, apparently.”

“Yes, I was
wondering if that was your normal sleeping habit. I was having doubts about how
long it takes Julie to get dressed in the morning, and the real reason why
you’re always late for first class.”

“Unlike you, I
don’t lie,” Layla responded then bit on her lip to hide a smile.

“Oh, man!” Joey
blurted out. “She put you in your place, Jay.”

“Well said, Ms.
Sparks,” Ben added, nodding his approval.

“You
so
had
that coming,” Issy said, looking at Jay apologetically.

Jay put up his
hands in defeat. “I did,” he agreed. “I deserve that and more.” He looked over
to Layla then gestured toward himself. “Go on, get it all out of your system.”

“Is there anything
else you’re keeping from me?” she asked bluntly.

Jay narrowed his
eyes slightly while Issy turned quickly toward Ben. Layla thought she heard Ben
suck in a sharp breath.

“Ask me anything?”
he said, lifting up his chin defiantly.

“Why did you bring
me here?” she questioned.

“Because there are
some bad men trying to steal something from me, and now they know where you
live. They would use you to get to me, to make me hand over my research.”

“Would you?” she
asked.

“In a heartbeat,”
he replied, looking at her as though he was willing her to see the truth in his
statement.

“Why?” she pushed.
But suddenly she was no longer playing with him. She felt the depth of his
comment and blurted out her question before really giving it any thought.

“Like I said, I’ve
never felt this way about anyone before,” he answered, his stare burning into
her.

“Then why the
scheme to disappear on me?” she asked, well aware that their audience of three
was looking back and forth between her and Jay as though watching a tennis
match.

“Because I’m a
complete idiot and didn’t know what else to do,” he replied. “And I didn’t give
you the benefit of the doubt by telling you the truth, and I deserve to be
publicly flogged for behaving like a moron.”

Layla sighed. “I’m
probably the biggest fool on the planet for this, but…you’re forgiven.”

“Really?” Jay
questioned, a huge smile forming on his face.

“Really,” Layla stated,
rolling her eyes at her weakness.

Jay crossed the
room in a flash and gathered Layla into his arms. “Thank you,” he muttered
before kissing her on the lips.

“Yippy!” Issy
blurted out, clapping her hands. “I’m so glad you’re friends again.”

 “Okay, so who’s
ready for breakfast,” Jay said, pulling back from Layla. “Or lunch, rather, at
this stage.”

They sat around the
island for breakfast, talking casually. Layla was baffled at how this guy, who
had his own corporate empire, could be so down to earth and carefree like any
typical high-school senior, especially when his life was in danger. The
conversation even drifted toward the latest superhero flick that Jay was
anxious to see, and that Ben had already been to. How typical eighteen-year-old
is that?

“Want to go see
it?” he asked, turning to Layla.

“Sure, but is it
safe for us to leave here?” she questioned. “And also I don’t have anything to
change into, obviously.”

“I have a whole
wardrobe full of clothes upstairs,” Issy said. “We’re practically the same
size. You can take anything you want.”

“We could go
tomorrow or the day after. We could take a couple of body guards with us,” Jay
suggested.

“So why didn’t you
do that all along?” Layla questioned. “Why didn’t you just go about your
business here since you have body guards, instead of fleeing to your house in
North Carolina?”

“I hate that whole
life-style,” Jay answered. “I never wanted to have to be protected twenty-four,
seven. I’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to make sure that no one outside my
close circle of friends and trusted associates know what I look like, obviously
not as well as I thought I had. I always wanted to lead some sort of a normal
life. Truth be told, the whole money thing doesn’t really impress me. Vallen
Enterprises was never supposed to be about money…technically.”

“With a house like
this?” Layla asked dubiously.

“I have to spend
the darn money on something,” he answered.

“So do you have a
plan, then?” she questioned.

“Over the summer,
we thought about confronting those men, despite the fact that we have no clue
who they are, whom they work for, or what they even look like,” Joey answered.

“How were you going
to do that?” she queried.

“It was a very
flimsy plan, but all we had at the time,” Ben butted in. “Jay was going to act
like bait, going out a lot on his own to try to lure them to him. In the
meantime, we would be flanking him secretly, along with those bodyguards whom Jay
is so fond of. Once they tried to snatch Jay again, we would burst out of
hiding and do battle with them, or at the very least, try to get some sort of
DNA of at least one of them. We have enough equipment at Vallen Enterprises to
analyze DNA and come up with a profile of who it belongs to.”  

“Jay said he would
only go through with the plan if the three of us weren’t involved, though,”
Issy added. “He feared something would happen to one of us. But we were
reluctant to completely trust hired help to get the job done correctly. While
Rick and the others seem trustworthy, for a job of that nature, one that could
potentially be deadly, we couldn’t be sure if they’d be willing to risk their
lives to get the job done right.”

“And I am not
willing to lose one of these three,” Jay piped in. “So while I saw their logic
in the argument, I decided to just axe the whole thing and leave town. Joey is
a computer genius and Issy isn’t far behind him. They stayed up here to try to
find some information on this small group, while Ben ran the corporate side of
things and continued with our research.”

“But you found
nothing?” Layla questioned Joey

“Not one iota,” Joey
replied regretfully.

“All three times
they tried to kidnap me, they were masked. And every time, I was alone,” Jay
added.

“Wow,” Layla
mumbled. “Why North Carolina though?”

“An ancestor of
mine, also named Arthur John Vallen, owned a tobacco farm in that area over a
hundred years ago. When he died, the land went to his eldest son and so on,
until our family trust fund sold the land for development some years back. The
house that I own there is built on that very land. It has some sentimental
value, I suppose,” he explained. “And it’s the one residency I own that’s
modest enough that I can pass for a regular middle-class kid if need be. The
problem is that I bought the house under the name John Logan, which is an alias
I’ve used from time to time, as did my father before me. I was under the
impression, incorrectly, that the name wouldn’t come up with any ties to the Vallen
name, which is what makes this all the more dangerous.”

“How so?” Layla
asked.

“An average band of
thugs would not be in possession of the technology, nor the funds, to do an
investigation that thorough to uncover that information. I’m convinced that
this group has been hired by another corporate empire, or maybe even a
government. And if I’m correct about that, then they have untold resources at
their disposal to finally find me…or one of you,” he said, looking around the
small group.   

“So those masked
men were hired by a larger organization, maybe?” Layla asked.

“That’s what I think,”
Jay said, nodding.

“But if that’s the
case, then there could be hundreds of them beside the four from last night.
Couldn’t an organization have hired loads more?” she questioned.