Hunting Truth (4 page)

We decided to go out for
breakfast
, but by the
time we were ready to leave, it was more like an early lunch. I
opened the door to see Scott’s van pulling onto the driveway. And
there was someone in the passenger seat. I squealed and ran,
meeting Angel as she flew out of the van to me. We hugged and
hugged. And cried and cried. There were no words. Then Chad flew
out of the door and hugged both of us.

I managed to extricate myself, figuring
that they needed a lone hug.
I stood watching them in disbelief as two strong arms slid
around me from behind and I felt myself being pulled into Scott’s
solid chest. I rested my head on his shoulder and felt my tension
drain from me as if his warm body was absorbing it. I relaxed into
him and it felt so good. He kissed the top of my head and asked if
I was okay. Okay? Yes, thanks to him, I was very much okay! I
turned in his arms and hugged him for all I was worth. I thanked
him over and over for bringing Angel back. He just laughed and said
it was worth it to see me smile.

We all went out for lunch and agreed to
wait until we’d eaten to talk about the whole photograph issue.
Despite a slight underlying tension that I knew wouldn’t be
resolved until we’d talked things through, lunch was friendly and
fun. It was almost as if nothing had happened. Every so often my
thoughts would turn to Lucas but I pushed them aside, determined
not to spoil my good mood. I think Scott must’ve filled Angel in
because she didn’t mention him either.

After the meal Scott topped up our
wineglasses and sat forward in his seat.
This was clearly a signal for our ‘clear the air’
talk. All eyes turned to Angel, who immediately paled. Her
pale-blue eyes looked even larger than they usually did. My heart
constricted—her discomfort was obvious. I reached across the table
and took her hand. She looked at me in surprise but her face
quickly showed her gratitude as she smiled. I returned her smile
and this encouraged her to begin.

“
I
’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Especially to you two,” she said,
in a tiny voice, meaning me and Chad. “I shouldn’t have left like
that. My heart felt that it had been cut in two and I just couldn’t
stand to be near you. My heart kept telling me that it couldn’t be
true—that you wouldn’t do that to me. Either of you. But then my
head would shout that there was photographic evidence. I didn’t
even know you could fake photographs like that—well you know me and
technology . . .”

I smiled at her feeble joke and squeezed
her hand to encourage her to continue. Chad slid his arm around
her, obviously liking what he heard.

“
I know it was fake now but I should’ve
stayed and sorted it out, no matter how much my heart was hurting.
No matter that there was proof. I should have . . . oh, I don’t
know. It’s been hell and that’s fine—I deserve that. I just hope
you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I’ve been so
foolish.”

By the end, her voice was breaking and she
dissolved in tears.
Chad
immediately scooped her up into his arms.

Scott
quickly tried to reassure her. “To be fair, Angel, that
email proves that it was a very professional editing job. A very
convincing fake. I obviously haven’t seen it and nor would I want
to. But I have to say that if I had, the possibility that someone
had professionally edited it to show a complete lie wouldn’t have
entered my head. I too would have taken it at face value. I mean,
come on, who does that and why? What’s the point? The only thing I
can think of is that someone wanted to hurt you and they succeeded.
I can’t imagine who would want to do such a thing. You wouldn’t
hurt a fly—there’s no sensible motivation.”

It was my turn to feel small.
“Actually, I don’t think Angel
was the intended target. I think it was someone trying to get to
Lucas through me. Chad and Angel, I think you got caught up in
something that was nothing to do with you. As did I, or so it
seems.”

I could feel their eyes on me and I wished
the ground would open up and swallow me whole.
I saw Scott’s eyes narrow and I could
almost hear the penny drop.

“
Of course. The two people who stood to be
hurt most by the fake photograph were Angel and Lucas. If Lucas was
the intended target, and I think you’re correct in that, it
backfired badly. He didn’t accept the image. He accepted your word
that it wasn’t real. Unfortunately, Angel didn’t.”

This just made Angel burst into tears
again and attempt to apologize in between sobs. Scott immediately
reassured her that he didn’t mean anything by it. As her sobs
subsided, she turned to me. “It says a lot that your boyfriend of
five minutes believes you and yet I, who’s known you two for years,
didn’t.”

“
Ah
, but men are different in their approach to emotional
matters. Lucas isn’t an emotional creature like you,” said Chad
kindly.

Angel smiled. “Nice try, but Scott just
said that he’d have believed it too.”

“
Yeah, but he thinks like a girl!” teased
Chad and we all laughed. That seemed to clear the remaining tension
and we agreed to move on and let the whole matter be forgotten. We
chatted about the band and what Angel had been up to in Chicago at
one of her parents’ properties.

Suddenly, Angel asked, “Who would do that to
Lucas and why?”

I caught Scott’s eye and he raised an
eyebrow, silently questioning whether I wanted to share everything
about Lucas’ past. I decided that I should but asked them all to
keep it a secret and made them promise not to let Lucas know that
they knew. It wasn’t fair that the band should suffer
unnecessarily. When I’d finished it was difficult to see whose eyes
were largest, Angel’s or Chad’s. Angel’s were naturally large but
poor Chad, who’d had Lucas up on a pedestal, looked distraught at
the moral demise of his idol.

Then I told them of my decision to
relocate from the Orion Building and to
renege on my contract for mini-Dakota. I didn’t
have a written contract, but we’d agreed terms verbally which was
just as good in my eyes. Then I told them what Daniel had said
about Lucas. I could feel their eyes on me again. They began to
look for connections. I tried to ignore the heavy ache in my chest
every time Lucas’ name was mentioned and distanced myself from the
conversation so that I was more a casual observer.

In
no time, they came to the conclusion that it was Lucas’
brother who’d faked the photograph to hurt Lucas. I’d reached the
same conclusion at some point already. I couldn’t say for sure
when, but it made sense. To visit me and share Lucas’ dark past
under the pretense that it was for my safety, had just been a
cover. I knew that much. He wanted to cause Lucas pain. I wondered
why. Was it extreme sibling rivalry? Then I thought of the cruel
look in his eye when he said that Lucas had killed their mother and
then watched their father die from the resulting pain.

This
is about revenge!
Then Daniel’s words echoed around my head.
Something jarred in the back of my memory and I closed my eyes and
tried to recall it. Lucas had mentioned revenge on several
occasions. Nothing specific about the target or the reasoning. As I
sat there, the pieces began to fall into place. I couldn’t be sure
but I thought I’d got a general idea of what had
happened.

My head was pounding and suddenly just the
noise from the others chattering away was too much. I stood and
excused myself, explaining about my headache. Scott immediately
stood and said he’d escort me home. Angel and Chad wanted to come
too, but I assured them that I was fine and they should take the
opportunity to catch up properly.

We
’d been in the restaurant for ages and the spring sunshine
had lost its strength now that early evening was fast approaching.
I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. Immediately, Scott
put his arm around me and pulled me into his side. I was glad of
the warmth but it was nice to have the contact too. It had a
soothing effect on my whirling mind. We didn’t speak on the walk
back and I was grateful. Not just because of my headache but
because I didn’t yet want to voice my theory.

I went straight to bed but I lay there for
a long time until my thoughts settled enough for sleep to be
possible.
I awoke in the
early hours and found that my pillow was wet with tears. I didn’t
know exactly why but I knew that it was connected with Lucas. If
they weren’t for him personally, they were for the loss I felt
because of mini-Dakota. I tried to go back to sleep but my mind was
far too active.

Images of an unwashed, unkempt Lucas kept
creeping into my mind.
I
pictured his handsome face covered in stubble, his usual
just-fucked hairstyle flat against his scalp as he lurched
drunkenly around his apartment, still wearing the same clothes he’d
worn on Friday.

Then another image flew into my mind,
completely unbidden.
Lucas naked in the shower. How I’d loved to watch him take
a shower. He knew that I watched and had teased me about it. The
thought made me smile before another image floated into my vision.
Lucas in black jeans with the top button unfastened, barefoot and
topless. His dominant expression and memories of
that
voice accompanied it. My
nipples immediately peaked. I gasped as my hand moved between my
legs of its own accord. I shot out of bed completely stunned, and
marched off to the shower, where I turned the water to scorching
hot to cleanse my sinful thoughts and stayed there until I could
bear it no longer.

I made a coffee and, when Scott woke up
and needed to use his room to get ready for work, I lay on the
sofa.
Not long
afterward, Angel emerged from Chad’s room. He too was getting ready
for work. She immediately insisted that I move my things back into
her apartment. She was keen to act like nothing had happened
between us. She insisted that I work from home until I could find
another office to lease. I hugged her, happy that I had my best
friend back.

After the boys had left for work I packed
some of my belongings
,
and Angel and I got a cab back to our apartment. James was beside
himself with delight to have us back. We were both thoroughly
hugged before he remembered himself and stepped back shyly. We
laughed and hugged him again. Walking back into the apartment was a
little odd. I could still picture Lucas crumpled and broken as I
turned and walked away from him. I shook my head to try to dislodge
the memory. I needed to move on, not dwell on past
mistakes.

Angel seemed to know that I needed to be
distracted
and she
managed to get us a last minute booking at a day spa. I laughed
because there was no food in the apartment, half of my things were
still at the boys’ place and I needed to find an office and get
some more contracts lined up. But I was so glad to have Angel back
in my life that spending girly time together seemed important too.
It was a good day, right up until we were having pedicures and
Angel’s cell rang. It was Chad. For me.

I
’d followed the spa’s suggestion and tuned my cell off to
facilitate greater relaxation. Apparently, Daniel had been trying
to contact me. When he couldn’t, he’d managed to track down Chad’s
number. Chad rapidly told me that Lucas had realized I’d moved out
of the Orion Building and had thrown what could only be described
as a temper tantrum. He hadn’t figured out that Daniel had helped
me by all accounts, and for that I was immensely grateful. He’d
demanded that Daniel track me down and get updated plans for
mini-Dakota. Daniel had panicked, not wanting to tell him that I
wouldn’t be honoring the contract. For one thing, I’d told Daniel
in secret—officially he wasn’t supposed to know. For another, Lucas
was already in a temper and Daniel didn’t want to risk pushing him
over the edge. I also wondered whether Daniel feared for his own
safety.

I agreed tha
t I’d find anything I’d prepared and send it over
to Daniel as soon as I could. Chad agreed to call Daniel back and
inform him of this. We agreed that, if Lucas asked, Daniel had
called my cell and I’d agreed to send over what I had and not
mention that I wouldn’t be involved in the project any further
until Lucas had calmed down. Chad said that he’d get Scott to drop
the rest of my belongings off at my apartment as soon as he’d
finished work.

I looked at Angel and blew out a slow
breath.
She’d managed to
get the gist of the conversation but I filled her in properly. I
was tempted to ask for my hot stone massage to be repeated. All the
tension I’d felt when I walked through the doors had returned with
that phone call. Not for the first time, I wondered why I’d let
Lucas Hunter, or Luke Milton to give him his birth name, be the one
man to let into my life and into my heart. The one and only man I’d
ever fallen in love with and he’d turned out to be a
monster.

By the time we got back from the day spa,
Scott and Chad were waiting outside our apartment in
Scott
’s van. They had
Chinese food too, bless them. They carried up my things and we all
crashed in the living room with chopsticks and sake to share the
spread they’d brought. Scott informed us that Travis and Ethan
couldn’t join us because Travis had a girlfriend and was seeing her
instead. Ethan was being forced to go along to keep her friend
happy. We all laughed at the thought of Travis with a girlfriend.
Angel said she must be brave or brainless to take on Travis and we
all agreed that we couldn’t wait to meet her.