Discovered (23 page)

“And naturally,
because you all look so young, that’s their first thought.”

“Correct,” Issy
confirmed. “But that can only work for so long. Every second decade or so, we
have to disappear for a few years until the oldest employees have retired.”

“How do you run the
business that way?”

“Through hired
proxies,” Issy answered. “We claim that we’re off in China opening another
headquarters, and that we’ll be gone for a few years. Then when we feel that
enough time has passed, and our parents are ready to retire and hand the
business over to us, we show up again.”

“Don’t you lose a
lot of time researching that way?”

“We don’t really go
anywhere. That door that you entered Vallen Enterprises through was not really
set up to escape masked men. It was a way for us to travel to our labs without
being noticed.”

Layla nodded.

“Do you have any
other questions?” Issy asked.

“Not at the
moment,” Layla replied, her sour mood returning.

Issy narrowed her
eyes. “What’s bothering you now, Layla?”

“The situation with
Jay,” she answered.

“What about it?” 
Issy pushed. “Layla, Jay is crazy about you. Don’t you realize that?”

“But what’s the
point,” Layla snapped. “He’s going to live forever, maybe, and I’m—” Something
suddenly dawned on her, something that she hadn’t pieced together until that
moment.

“What?” Issy asked,
sensing a change in Layla’s mood.

“You said that when
you first drank from the fountain, you felt as though every cell in your body
was bristling,” she replied. “You said that it was more like a shot of
adrenaline.”

“Yeah?” Issy
responded, looking at Layla suspiciously.

“This morning when
I banged my head after those guys shot out the window, when I woke up, I
remember feeling as though I had jolts of adrenaline running through my body,”
she said.

“Um…” Issy trailed
off, biting her lip nervously.

“He gave it to me,
didn’t he?” Layla asked, Issy’s nervous behavior confirming her question. “Tell
me what happened, Issy?” she demanded.

Issy blew out a
hard breath. “Okay,” she said, nodding. “A piece of flying glass stuck into
your neck and severed your carotid artery.”

“What?” Layla
bellowed, shock coursing through her.

“It’s true, I’m
afraid,” Issy replied.

“What happened?”
Layla questioned.

“While we are all
skilled surgeons, we didn’t have the proper tools to deal with something that
severe, and even if we had, there was no guarantee that we could stop the
bleeding on time. Jay was frantic…hysterical. I’ll be perfectly honest with
you, Layla, I’ve never seen him cry like that in my long life, maybe only when
Lucia died. He was paralyzed from grief.  It was Ben that ran to the basement
ahead of us, and Joey, instinctively knowing what Ben had planned, picked you up
in his arms and ran after Ben while I tried to console Jay. By the time Jay and
I caught up with them outside the basement elevator, Ben and Joey were already
feeding you the water. We were desperate to save your life.”

 “What’s going to
happen to me?” Layla asked, trying to squelch the fear that was building inside
her.

“That I don’t
know,” Issy admitted. “We only gave you one small dose. I have no way of
knowing what the effects would be if you didn’t have anymore. We take a dose
once a month and have done so for five hundred years. I’m pretty sure you’d
only age rapidly by a month, if, in fact, that’s what happens.”

“Have you ever
stopped taking it?” Layla demanded. And then the deadpan look on Issy’s face
made her sorry she’d asked. This was not good.

“Once,” Issy
admitted.

“What happened?”

“In the 1970s, Ben
and I thought that perhaps we’d like to have children but realized that it
would be too painful to watch them age and die, so we decided to stop taking
the water. We hoped that we would just continue to grow old at a normal pace,”
she said.

“But…?” Layla
pushed.

Issy looked down
uncomfortably. “Apparently, the water is physically addictive, and the pain of
not taking it after two months became too much for either of us to bear.”

“Oh, no,” Layla
said, horrified.

“But that’s not to
say that will happen to you,” Issy blurted out quickly. “We had been taking the
stuff for over four hundred years at that point. I’m sure there’s a big
difference.”

Layla threw her
legs off the bed and stood up.  

“Where are you
going?” Issy questioned.

“I need to talk to
Jay,” Layla replied. “I need to find out if he’s keeping any more secrets from
me.”

“Please don’t be
mad at him,” Issy begged.

“I’m not really
mad,” Layla responded. “But it’s just one revelation after another, and to tell
you the truth, I’m a little sick of it at this point.” She barreled out of the
room.

Halfway down the
stairs, she came face to face with Jay.

“I was just going
to check on you,” he said. “How are you feeling? I know—”

“Issy told me what
happened this morning,” she said, cutting him off.

“Are you angry?” he
questioned.

“Not necessarily
about that,” she replied.

Jay bent down so
that he could look her in the eyes. “But about something?” he asked.

“Jay…” she trailed
off and sighed.

“Yes?”

“I need to know if
you’re keeping anything else from me. I don’t think I can handle any more
surprises.”

Jay nodded. “Come for
a walk with me, Layla. There’s something else you need to know.”

Jay

Layla threw on Issy’s
jacket and followed Jay out through the sliding doors that led to a large
wooden deck above the sand.

They walked down
the steps and onto the beach, the breeze blowing her hair around her face. She
tucked her hair behind her ears and followed Jay to the shoreline.

“Walk with me a
little,” he said softly, holding out his hand for her to take, and sighing silently
with relief when she willingly grabbed on to it.

“What else did you
have to tell me?” she asked with trepidation.

“First, I’d like
you to try very hard to stop being angry at me,” he answered. “While I’m
thoroughly aware that I took away your free will this morning, the fact that
you were unconscious and dying had already made it a moot point.”

“I’m not angry
about that,” she said. “I told you I wasn’t angry, but I really need to know if
there’s going to be any more big disclosures coming up.”

“Would it be
considered a big disclosure if I told you I almost lost my mind when I saw that
piece of glass sticking out of your neck?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“I think I may have
died right on the spot,” he said quietly. The terror of the moment came back to
him full force, and he had to swallow a sob. “Thank God Ben and Joey acted
quickly.”

“How come there was
no blood on me when I came around?” she asked.

“We didn’t dare
remove the glass,” he explained. “You would have bled out in seconds. After Ben
and Joey got the water into you, we just sat around in silent horror until we
saw the glass begin to ease its way out on its own.”

“I’m worried about
what’s going to happen to me now,” she admitted. “Issy told me that the stuff
is very addictive.”

“So I’ve been
told,” he replied. “I think we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get to
it. But remember, like any addictive substances, it’s more severe the longer
you take the stuff. I seriously doubt that one dose will be that bad.”

“You’ve never
stopped it?” she questioned.

He shook his head.
“There were times when life seemed meaningless to me, but then I’d think of my
family and knew I had to find the will to go on for their sakes. And it’s
funny, if you look inside deeply enough, you’ll always find reasons to enjoy
life. But by the middle of the nineteenth century, things started changing so
fast that just being a spectator was thrilling in its own right.”

They walked up the
isolated beach in silence for many long moments. The only sign of life was the
seagulls flying overhead.

“How come I can’t
see any other houses from here?” Layla asked suddenly. “Aren’t there loads of
houses on this beach?”

“Yes, there are,
but it’s the way the shoreline swerves outward,” he answered. “It’s the reason
that Issy picked this particular house. After another hundred feet or so, you
will be able to see the next house over, after we’ve turned the bend.”

“Oh,” she
whispered. “It’s really beautiful.”

“So are you,” Jay
said quietly. He looked out at the autumn sun dancing on the waves. The cold
wind was invigorating, and combined with the smell of the ocean, was having a
calming effect on him. For good or bad, depending on her reaction to what he
was going to tell her, he felt sure that he’d never forget this moment.

“Would you not
prefer to live somewhere like here?” she questioned. “Not that your house in
Greenwich isn’t lovely, but still…”

“That kind of ties
in with what I wanted to talk to you about,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?”
she questioned suspiciously.

“I’ve always loved
this place,” he replied. “But in a strange way, it always made me feel very
lonely.”

“I don’t
understand,” Layla admitted.

“Look how beautiful
this place is, Layla,” he said, stopping and turning to face her. “This isn’t
something that one person can fully appreciate alone. This place is meant to be
shared, shared with someone you love very deeply. It’s the romance of it that’s
always hurt me a little, made me feel all alone in the world.”

“But you’re not—”

He shook his head
to silence her. “It’s not the same,” he replied. “I know what you were going to
say. You were going to remind me that I have Joey, Ben and Issy, and to a
certain degree, you’re right, but it’s not the same.”

He sat down on the
sand and urged her to do the same.  He crossed his legs, lotus style, and
reached out for her hands. He gathered what courage he could, knowing that this
was the moment he’d been dreading for the last few hours. “For five hundred
years I lived without a partner, without someone to fully share my life with,”
he said, looking deep into her eyes. “I felt the loss, but never so severely
until I met you.”

“Why?” she said
quietly.

“I’ve never been in
love before,” he replied. “I know you may find that hard to believe, but it’s
the truth.”

“I know,” she
responded. “Issy told me.”

“While I’ve always
loved the idea of it, having watched the joy it brought my mother and father,
then Ben and Issy, I’ve never really felt the void of not having it, until
now.”

“I’m not sure if
I’m following you,” she admitted.

Jay sighed deeply. “I’ve
carried around tremendous secrets for years, making me somewhat isolated from
the rest of society. When I first got to know you, Layla, I knew you were very
different, I knew I wanted to spend time with you, that I loved being with you,
but also considered it impossible. When you went up to Issy’s guest room a few
hours ago, it hit me that I felt a weight had finally been lifted off my
shoulders. I felt that telling someone—someone I cared a lot about—my deepest
secret made me feel lighter than I’ve felt in centuries. I felt as though I’d
finally connected with someone on a deeper level. Does that make sense?” he
asked.

“Yes, it does,” she
said nodding. “Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

He shook his head.
“What I really wanted to say is that I’ve never been in love until now,” he
admitted, then held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

Layla stared back
at him pensively, and then her face broke out into the most beautiful smile.
“That makes two of us,” she said then bit on her lip.

“Really?” he
answered, wallowing in her beautiful words.

“Yes, and for
longer than I’d probably care to admit,” she added. She reached over and put
her hand on his cheek. He melted into her skin. Closing his eyes, he rubbed his
cheek against her tiny hand, allowing her touch to fill him to the brink with
peace and contentment.

“I want you to stay
with me, Layla,” he whispered, his eyes still shut tight. “That’s what I wanted
to talk to you about. I want you to stay with me always.” He turned his head
and kissed the palm of her hand.

“I want that too,”
she said softly.

Jay’s eyes sprung
open. “You do?” he said feeling relief…then joy…then euphoria.

Layla laughed.
“Yes,” she said, beaming back at him. “I love you too. If I had to be
completely honest, I’d say I have since the night you told me that you wanted
to do our report on
Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows
. You had
me at
Deathly Hallows
,” she repeated, rolling her eyes playfully.

“Really?” he
beamed. “Those were the magic words?”

“Oddly enough…yes,”
she answered.

 He leaned over and
gathered her into his arms. “Layla, Layla, Layla…” he hummed into her hair,
rocking her back and forth.

She pulled away
from him abruptly. “But, Jay…” she began, her face turning serious. “How can we
make this work? You’re over five hundred years old and have a corporation to
run and—”

“Like I told you
this morning, the corporation more or less runs itself at this point,” Jay
said. “And technically, I’m really only eighteen.”

“I know, but in twenty
years—”

“I know,” he said,
cutting her off. “But I know I still have twenty years left. Give me those twenty
years, Layla. At least they’ll be the happiest of my long life.”

“I’ll age in that
time,” she muttered.

“You don’t have to,”
he answered. “Ben and Joey knew the consequences of what they were doing before
they did it. Besides being desperate to save your life, they were initiating
you into our family, if you want it.”

“I don’t know…my
mother…” she shook her head, confusion obvious on her face.

“You don’t have to
decide that just now,” he said. “And I don’t really care how you age in the
next couple of decades, anyway. That choice will be yours and only yours.”

“I’m still in
school,” she muttered, looking perplexed.

“At the moment, so
am I,” he reminded her.

“You’d stay in high
school for me?” she asked.

“I’d go to
kindergarten if you wanted me to,” he answered without hesitation.

“My mom would
expect me to stay put until school is over,” she added.

“She’s a smart
woman,” he quickly replied.

“But you’ll be up
here.”

“I have a house
three miles from you,” he said. “And I can be anywhere I want.”

“When this is all
over, you’ll come back with me?”

“If you’ll have
me,” he responded, nodding. He gazed at her, watching her face twist with
emotion, then, to his horror, she burst into tears. “What?” he demanded. “What
did I say?” He felt a knot twist in his stomach suddenly.

She shook her head
frantically.

“Layla, talk to
me!” he pleaded.

“You’ve…you’ve just
made me the happiest person in the world,” she stuttered between sobs. She
threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

Jay wrapped his
arms tight around her and looked out at the ocean.

It had taken him
five hundred years to find her, but he knew, he realized at that very moment
that the wait had been worth it. For this kind of love, five hundred years
seemed a tiny price to pay.

He placed his lips
against her ear. “Te amo,” he purred quietly. “Te amaré por siempre.”

He put his finger
on her cheek and turned her face toward his. He pressed his lips to hers and
submersed himself in the happiest moments of his unnaturally long life.

Layla pulled away
with a glazed look in her eyes. She looked up at him with love written all over
her beautiful face.

“What?” he asked,
touching the tip of her nose.

“I just like
looking at you,” she admitted shyly.

Jay laughed out
loud. To hear those words coming from the beautiful girl before him was a high
he would never have believed possible.

She shivered
suddenly. “Maybe we should head back,” she suggested.

Jay jumped to his
feet and helped her up. He flung his arm around her shoulder. “Whatever my girl
wants, she gets,” he said. “Consider me your humble servant.”

“I don’t really
want a humble servant,” she stated frankly.

“No, Ms. Sparks?”

“Nah, I’d much
rather have a dreamy Spaniard.”

Jay was well and
truly aware that his ego was inflating out of control but couldn’t help loving
the feeling.

Layla slipped her
arm around his waist, and together they walked back toward the house.

“
Deathly Hallows
,
huh?” Jay said teasingly, sporting a smug look. “That’s all I had to say to win
you over? I didn’t realize that you were so easy.”

“Shut up,” Layla
moaned playfully, nudging him with her hip.

“Who do you think
you’re bumping?” Jay scolded. He stopped short and turned to face her, putting
both hands on her waist. “Huh, pretty girl?” He started tickling her
mercilessly.

Layla fell backward
onto the sand, wiggling and squirming frantically, pulling Jay down with her.
“Stop it!” she squealed.

Jay knelt over her.
“No, I don’t think I will,” he answered, digging his fingers gently into her
belly, watching in awe as her beautiful face lit up with laughter.

“Stop it!” she
bellowed again, laughing hysterically.

“Yeah, stop it,
Arthur!” a gruff, sarcastic voice yelled from behind them.

They both froze
instantly.

“Figured I’d stop
by to see if you were really dead,” Robert called out. “Needless to say, you’ve
recovered miraculously from your gunshot wound.”

Jay jumped to his
feet quickly and pulled Layla behind him.

Robert walked
slowly toward them with Jason and Sam. “Forgive me for walking in on such an
intimate scene. There’s nothing as heart-warming as young love.”

Jay stood
protectively in front of Layla.

“It’s a pity that
poor Manuel had to die for your games,” Robert added.