A Private Affair (20 page)

Kenric walked up to Carissa’s apartment whistling. He hadn’t felt this good in years. No merger, takeover or negotiation coup had ever made him feel this alive and triumphant. He’d convinced Carissa to share her life with him and he knew it would be one fun ride. He’d never loved Fridays as much as today. All week, he’d been looking forward to spending the weekend with Carissa and now he could. He stopped when he saw Malcolm sitting on the stairwell landing looking glum.

“What’s up? Had a bad day at school?”

Malcolm shook his head. “Miss Carissa came back looking upset. We were supposed to pick up some groceries to make brownies, but she cancelled.”

Kenric swore. Had Lina upset her again? He patted the boy on the shoulder. “Thanks for the warning. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t make her double fudge brownies without you.”

He hurried up the rest of the stairs and knocked. When Carissa opened the door he knew something was seriously wrong.

“What did my brother do to your sister?” she asked.

He should have been expecting the question. He had been preparing for it, knowing he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret from her forever, but the moment happened sooner than he’d hoped.

He stepped inside and closed the door. “What do you know?”

“I don’t know anything, I just had a strange conversation with your brother in the park.”

Kenric paused. “He came down here to see you?”

“Yes.”

He was going to get Joshua back for that. “Sit down,” Kenric said, searching his mind for the best way to handle the situation.

“No, just tell me what happened.”

Kenric shoved his hands in his pockets. “It was a long time ago.”

“Did he assault her?”

“No. It happened nearly fifteen years ago and I spoke to him—”

Her eyes flashed. “You spoke to him and you didn’t tell me?”

He swore, that had been a wrong move. “I didn’t want you to know yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because of this. Because I knew you’d be angry at me for what I did.”

“What did you do? What did my brother do? How could you both have kept this from me? I don’t even know what
this
is!”

“Carissa, I know you must be curious, but let’s just focus on us right now.”

She headed to the door. “If you won’t tell me then I’ll get my brother to.”

He grabbed her arm. “Okay, wait, wait,” he said in surrender. “I’ll tell you. But please, I need you to sit down.”

She did and waited.

He took a deep breath; the action seeming to hurt as the memories came flooding back. Why had his brother brought it up? Why couldn’t he have waited? He had a plan and it could have worked.

“Kenric,” Carissa said when he remained silent.

He gazed down at her. “Do you remember your promise?”

“My promise?”

“That you’d stay by my side and trust me?”

Carissa shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “Right now I don’t trust anyone. First I have your brother saying awful things to me and implying that my brother did something terrible. Then I discover that you spoke to him behind my back and that he’s keeping something from me too. Don’t you
dare
ask me to trust you when you’ve lied to me by omission.”

He nodded. “You’re right, but I thought I was protecting you.”

“From what? From you or from him?”

Carissa regretted the words the moment she said them. She’d wanted to spur him on to speak but had hurt him, instead, she saw a look of devastation crossing his face and then she remembered Joshua’s words about the sight of his tears at his sister’s gravesite. She had her anger, but she had to consider his pain and consider that his actions—though wrong, had been for her benefit. “I’m sorry,” she said taking his hand, and tugging him to sit down beside her. “I didn’t mean that. I’d never be afraid of you. I’m just…I feel betrayed and your brother looked as if he hated me.”

Kenric’s gaze hardened to granite. “He shouldn’t have done that. You’re innocent and this has nothing to do with you.”

She held his hand in both of hers then brought it to her mouth and kissed it. “I’m strong enough to hear whatever you have to say. Please tell me.”

He took a deep breath, but something about her action seemed to relax him. He realized that he also needed her trust. That no matter what he said that she’d listen to him, even if she didn’t believe him. “We had a vacation home down here fifteen years ago where we all used to come. I had a sister who was…” He shook his head. “I don’t know the best word for it really. Lost, I guess. She had everything money could buy except happiness, although we all tried our best to give it to her. Unfortunately, she found it on her own one day—first in a nice sweet smoke then an ugly little pill and finally in a beautiful white powder. I was able to keep most of her suppliers away, except for one. He was newer, young, about eighteen at the time, and ambitious and more dangerous. Twice he’d ‘loaned’ my sister out for favors. The drugs were bad enough, but I wasn’t going to let him turn her into a prostitute as well, so I thought I could make him a deal. I had the arrogance of the twenty-two year old I was at the time, that I could handle anything with money. I gave him nearly sixty thousand dollars to stay away from my sister. He agreed, took the money and disappeared from our lives. Within a year my sister was clean and on her way to a better life.

“Then the following summer I came down to the family vacation home for a visit and opened the door to the sound of my younger brother’s screams. I found my sister unresponsive on the bedroom floor. I called the ambulance then I looked up and saw a reflection in the mirror someone was in the closet. I pulled him out and when I recognized him, I grabbed a hanger and nearly killed him. He escaped when the EMTs arrived, but it was too late for my sister. He had taken my money and lied to me. He watched my sister take her last fatal dose. I never thought I’d see him again until the night I had dinner with your brother.”

Carissa let Kenric’s hand go. “You must have him confused with someone else. My brother had entered college on a full scholarship at the time.”

“What was the name of the scholarship? Did you see the application? Was it—”

“No, but you can’t be sure.”

Kenric smiled without humor. “You think I’d forget the face of the man I tried to kill?”

Carissa shook her head. It was too unimaginable to believe. Her brother didn’t deal drugs—and prostitution? That was ludicrous! He was as clean as they came. He was driven, the smart one. The one who had made their family proud.

“I know it’s hard to wrap your mind around, but it was him. With my money he paid for his education, his food and his shelter and his chance for a better life while he preyed on my sister and others like her.”

Carissa’s mind spun in bewilderment. He wasn’t talking about Glenn. It wasn’t possible. “But why would he? We weren’t raised—”

“He remembered me Carissa. Why do you think that is?”

She shook her head, unable to face him. She stared blindly out the window. “I don’t know.”

“I let him know that I remembered him.”

“And what did he say?” she asked in a hollow voice, feeling empty.

“He didn’t deny that we’d met before, but said he didn’t supply her last dose.”

“And did you believe that?”

“No, but I can’t change it. Nothing will bring my sister back. But I don’t want to think about the past. I want—”

“You should go.”

“I know you don’t want to believe me—”

She stared at him. “That’s the awful part. I do. So many things didn’t make sense back then. His scholarship. His story about getting mugged. Kenric, I believe you.” She pounded her chest with her fist, tears springing to her eyes. “And it’s killing me.”

He reached for her. “Carissa—”

She recoiled from his touch. “How can you even look at me?”

“What?”

“How can you even think of building a future with me?”

“We both know how we feel and we can work through this together,” he said in a soft voice, his eyes pleading.

“How about your family? Will they accept me?”

“They will in time.”

She wiped away her tears and shook her head. “You didn’t see your brother’s face.”

“I will handle my brother.”

“And at your parent’s fancy party do you want me to pretend that I don’t have two exes, that I lack a college degree and that my brother was the dealer who may have been responsible for your sister’s death?”

“No, you don’t have to pretend to be anything, and I’ll make sure none of that comes up.”

“I can’t marry you Kenric.” She stood. “You should go. No, I won’t marry you.”

He stood too. “Carissa.”

“Not until I find out the truth.”

“The truth doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me. Right now, I can hardly look at you, how can I face your family?”

“You know he’ll deny everything.”

“He can deny all he wants. I’m used to dealing with liars,” she said in a sour tone.

Kenric fell silent then ran a tired hand down his face. “So you’ll marry me after we find out the truth? Okay, then I’ll—”

“No, not ‘we’. Me,” Carissa said tapping her chest, surprised that he could still talk about marrying her. “My family has hurt you enough. I have to uncover this on my own. Do you know why I believe you about Glenn? Because my family is filled with losers, liars and thieves. I thought he’d changed that and I thought I’d escaped it, but I didn’t. Having you by my side would be like throwing a beautiful golden ball into the gutter.”

“Are you sure you’re not trying to protect your brother from me? Did he maybe hint at something about me?”

“He didn’t tell me anything. I told you that. I believe your story.”

“Then why are you pushing me away?”

“Because I need to find out more. On my own. Now please go.”

He cradled her hand in his. “Promise you’ll come back to me. I’ll give you space and I’ll give you time, just promise. I love you.”

She kissed him, knowing that he wanted her to say that she loved him too, but her heart felt too broken to let her.

He knew judgment day would come. Glenn saw the look on his sister’s face and wordlessly gave his baby son to his wife before following her into the hall of the apartment. He had to play it cool, he’d let her reveal what she knew. He may be jumping to conclusions. Kenric didn’t want to hurt her. He followed her to the courtyard, making sure to keep his expression casual although he felt tense.

“What was the name of the scholarship you won again?” Carissa asked.

“Why are you bringing that up?”

“Because I just figured out that Notrevir is Riverton spelled backwards, I thought that was an odd coincidence.”

“Yes.”

“But it’s not. You took their money and lied to us.”

“That was nearly—”

She slapped him. “You bastard. All this time looking down on James when you followed in his footsteps. You just didn’t get caught.”

“I did what I had to do. Those people in their big houses in Washington DC lie to us all the time. They tell us to take minimum wage jobs that they’ve never held, to work our way up in companies when they use connections and money to get whatever they want. I knew I didn’t have a chance to break the cycle. I didn’t have any connections, but I realized I could make money. Besides, if I didn’t sell it, someone else would. You wouldn’t believe how much snow was falling in those rich neighborhoods and on those gleaming college campuses. I didn’t owe them anything.”

“You killed her.”

“I didn’t kill anyone. I shouldn’t have been there I know, but an associate left something of mine at her place and I went to get it. She was already halfway through a bad batch when I saw her. I tried to do something, then I heard footsteps and hid. I really was out of the game by then, I swear. I was going to school for real. I graduated, remember? I didn’t give her that last dose.”

“And you think that makes everything alright?”

He couldn’t help a nervous smile. Facing Riverton had been hard, but his sister’s good opinion meant the world and her look of disgust was like a slow death. “I learned a lot about business,” he said feigning disinterest.

“You think this is funny?”

“Look, it’s over now.”

“You lied to me. You lied to all of us.”

“Do you really think there are keys to the castle? You couldn’t afford college and you pressured me to go.”

“Don’t put this on me.”

“I had no connections, no way to qualify for loans, my grades weren’t going to get me far, what was I supposed to do?”

“Be a man, instead of a damn dog like the rest of the men in our family,” she said then turned.

“We can’t play by their rules, Carey,” he called after her. “The odds are stacked against us for a reason. You’ll never be part of their world and they’ll never understand ours. A man like Kenric is out of your reach.”