A Commitment to Love, Book 3 (42 page)

I eyed him suspiciously. “You’re hiding something.”

“What?” He tapped at my side some more. “You’re completely ignoring my advice about taking every minute at a time.”

“Fuck a minute, Chase. What did Mom do? What has she done?”

“Enough to put her in hell, tesoro.”

“You’re going to have to give me more detail.”

“You don’t want to hear this.”

“I do.”

“She’s plotted more than Benny ever could. Half of his kills deal with her.”

Jasmine bit her lip.

“She even got us together. It was all her plotting.”

“Us? How could she have done that? You spotted me at that silly Garden Party with the atrocious food.”

“Now wait a minute, I happened to think the dishes weren’t all that bad.”

“The chicken was dry.”

“It wasn’t.”

I waved the comment away. “Okay, let’s just get back to what you were saying.”

“Exactly, it doesn’t matter. Your mother got you to go there.”

“But, I didn’t even know about that party until Vivian got that invitation. We figured Benny forwarded it to us. He was big on us networking more, once we graduated. We thought it was his attempt to have us make connections with rich people.”

“And wasn’t she there, the day Vivian received it?”

I thought for a minute and faintly remembered her stopping by. She didn’t do it much often, but I was pretty sure she’d popped over that day or at least that week. “Maybe.”

“It’s not a maybe, tesoro. She brought the invitation over herself. She confessed to it, and was pretty damn happy with herself.”

“She got us together?”

“Yes. Well, it wasn’t all her. You captivated me on sight. I hunted you and won. For that, I’m thankful, but she’s hurt you, too. She’s caused you more pain than any person should have to deal with.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s all in Benny’s journals.”

“What’s all in there?”

He moved his hand away and raked his fingers through his chestnut curls. “I think we’ve had enough for today. Let’s get you home and—”

“What?”

“Jasmine.”

“Now it’s Jasmine? Not tesoro. The news must really be that bad. What is it?” I moved away from him. “Just give it all to me now. Next week, we’ll go off far away and get drunk off expensive champagne until I heal from my brother and all of this, but tonight, we get it all out. Tonight, we hide nothing from each other.”

“Benny thinks that …” He rubbed his eyes and blew out a long breath. “Benny has always believed that the guy that Troy stabbed in your bedroom …”

“No.” My mouth dropped open.

“Benny wrote about the guy, and it was pretty convincing. Your mother had been trying to get Benny to kill him. His name was Omar—”

“I know … I can never forget that name.”

“Well, Omar owned half of the drug game in South End.”

“No. She isn’t that low.”

“Omar had a reputation for messing with children.”

“No.”

“Do you want me to finish, tesoro?”

“Yes … go ahead.” I climbed back into Chase’s arms, went limp, and closed my eyes. “Tell me more.”

And he did, Chase told me everything that he’d read. Each sad detail. It was hard to swallow. Difficult to believe that my mother craved power so much that she would put Troy and me in danger. After he finished telling me everything, I just lay against him and listened to his heartbeat as the helicopter’s blades sliced through the air.

Like a gentle hero, Chase didn’t push me to talk. He just ran his fingers through my hair and kissed my forehead every few seconds. I took his advice and focused on each minute’s task. I counted his heartbeats, the moments he touched my scalp with his soft fingertips and then slipped them through my strands. The sweet gesture soothed me, delivering calming waves through my body.

This was love.

The thing that people dreamed about in their beds late at night. Sure, Chase had money and looks, a swagger-filled ego and cock that could out-shadow any man, but he possessed something more. That special part of a person that was so hard to find in this world.

He possessed the biggest heart and had the ability to drown the average person in a passion so deep that I never hoped to breathe again or even float up to the top.

When the helicopter landed on a brightly lit hotel that screamed high-end luxury, I lifted my head and stared into his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I shouldn’t have left you. It was stupid. I’m sorry you got involved with this whole thing.”

“Benny and I have hated each other all of my life. We would have had this battle regardless.”

“He might’ve left you alone.”

“I wouldn’t have left him alone. I’d always thought that he had something to do with murdering my mother.” An exasperated breath left his lips. “In Benny’s journal, he admitted that he did stab her.”

“What? Are you kidding me?” I sat up to get ready to leave the helicopter. “The bad news just keeps coming and coming. Why the hell would he do something so horrible?”

“He figured he was saving me.”

“From what?”

“Mom used to …”

“What?”

He got out of the helicopter first, and helped me out. “Wait. Let me carry you.”

I stepped onto the hotel’s roof. “I can walk.”

“I don’t give a damn.” He lifted me up into his arms, and I held onto his shoulders, resting my hand on him. Every cell in my body felt safe and protected. I could’ve cried for joy right there.

I continued to focus on that moment, and not think too far ahead or delve back into my past. “What did your mom used to do?”

“We can talk about this later.”

“Remember, we say what we have to say now.”

“Fine. Remember the house in Italy?” He walked past his men, holding me as if I weighed nothing. “You had questions about that weird room next to my mother’s art studio.”

“Yes. Troy said that it was the oddest little girl’s room he’d seen. Lots of dark paintings and weird decorations. He came up with all types of reasoning for the place, but none of them ever made sense.”

“There’s no sense to make of it. My mother had some mental illness problems. I’m not sure if it came before she married Dad or after. Our world can make you go crazy. You’ve seen it with Lucy and Dawn.”

“And Benny,” I added.

A man in a black suit, white shirt, and cream tie held the double doors open for us and walked us over to the elevator. “Welcome back, Mr. Stone, and is this the lovely Ms. Montgomery?”

Still in his arms, I looked at Chase and then back to the man. “Uh, yes. I’m the lovely Ms. Montgomery. I guess.”

“Welcome.” He did a half bow. “I’m Mr. Sharpe. I attend to your penthouse suite and provide you with any needs you may have.”

“He’s our butler,” Chase announced.

“Do we really need a butler?” I asked.

“Well, I do like to travel in style, no matter how urgent the emergency or situation.”

I smiled at the butler. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Sharpe. Chase, you can let me down now, please.”

Frowning, Chase obliged.

I stood in the hallway and took it all in—polished marble floors and bright lighting, an exquisite elegant fragrance in the air and intriguing art hanging on the walls. The paintings sparked my attention. Black people covered every canvas. In each piece, they played jazz, their gold instruments gleaming against their milky brown skin.

“Wow. These are some cool paintings.” I held Chase’s hand.

“Your mother picked them,” Chase mumbled.

“I’m sorry. Could you say that again? It almost sounded like you said my mother picked those.”

“Part of the amenities of the suite is that we get to choose the art that is hung on the walls.”

I’ve now walked into the Twilight Zone.

“And will my mother be sleeping on a throne and taking a dump into a diamond toilet?”

“Not a throne, but she has been enjoying the pillow menus and—”

“I don’t think I want to hear any more.”

“Fair enough.”

Mr. Sharpe followed us down the hall. Chase looked back at the man. “There’s no need to escort us. Thank you. I’m sure you haven’t gotten any rest all today.”

“No, sir. I have not.” Mr. Sharpe bowed again. “The other Ms. Montgomery has required many things.”

I bet she has.

The butler bowed again. “Good evening, Mr. Stone and Ms. Montgomery.”

“Goodnight.”

Chase watched the butler disappear through another exit and then he held my hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” I glanced at the penthouse door, gulped, and then returned back to him. “You never told me about what your mother did.”

“We can save it for another time.”

“No, tell me now.”

“Are you stalling?”

“A little. However, I do want to know what the big mystery is.”

He shifted a little in front of me. “My mother always wanted a girl, but when she had me, it was a difficult pregnancy. She barely survived the labor. Her doctor recommended that she have no more children. So … when my father wasn’t around, she would dress me up as a girl and have me live like one.”

Ummm. Maybe we should have left this for another day.

My eyes widened in shock. “How old were you?”

“It started at four.”

“Four years old?”

“Yes. I thought it was completely normal. She and the staff would call me Cynthia. I’d wear dresses and … panties. I had to sit on the toilet, I couldn’t stand in front of it.” He blew out a long breath. “It just so happened that Benny came by one time and realized what was going on. I heard him yelling at my mother one night, telling her that it wasn’t right, that she was going to fuck up my head.”

“Oh my God, Chase.” I embraced him. “Baby, I’m so sorry.”

“No, I’m fine now. Clearly, I didn’t end up as a cross dresser, and I’m a very secure man.”

“Yes.” I smiled up at him. “You’re a god.”

“Exactly. Look, I’m only telling you all of this because I can’t have any more secrets between us. Benny killed her because of it. I’d planned on telling no one about the whole dress-up secret. Dawn and the others never knew. All of the paintings and pictures that Mom had done of me as Cynthia, I’d destroyed.”

I frowned.

“What?” he asked.

“I kind of would have liked to see what Cynthia looked like.”

“It was me with a dress.” He shrugged. “Of course, I was adorable.”

“Of course.”

“But what I’m trying to say is that I want a future with you. You’re all I think of, when I write my goals down in my head. My forward plans all have your name within them—from business ventures to simply purchasing a proper home for you and me to live permanently in. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes.” I grinned. “You love me.”

“No.” He fumbled a little as he dug into his pocket. “I mean ... Yes, I love you, but there’s something more—”

And then the door opened and all the peace in the hallway ceased as my mother stepped out and rushed to me with open arms. “Oh, Jasmine, baby.”

I could’ve stepped back or held my hand up to stop her.

I could’ve simply just let her hug me.

Give her the moment.

Not make it awkward for all of us.

Just give Mom her way so I could walk on by her and go straight to our room and pass out within Chase’s arms.

But instead, I did the opposite.

There was this rage inside of me that I had no idea was bubbling within my gut. Chase had kept it at bay to the point where I’d thought it all left, but as soon as I spotted her twisted face, it rushed back. I boiled into anger. It unwound in my body like a stiff ribbon, ramming into my frame and pushing outside of my skin.

I raised my hand in the air, formed my fingers into a fist, and socked her right in her pretty little jaw. “You evil bitch!”

Shrieking, she fell back into the doorway and struggled to get to standing position, even glancing at Chase as if he was supposed to help her.

I turned to him and he did his best to remove the grin off his face, but he couldn’t.

“Jasmine,” Mom shrieked again and held the side of her face.

My fingers screamed in pain. I raised my fist in the air one more time, hoping she would come closer. “I don’t want to see you the whole time I’m here. Do you understand me?”

“B-but, Jasmine. What’s wrong?” She stepped back into the opened doorway.

“Your son is dead!” I screamed and then gave her a standing ovation. “Good job! You put it together. I don’t get how, but we all know that you’ve orchestrated all of this, and now your son is dead. Good job, you evil broom-riding witch!”

She swayed back to the floor. “Troy is dead?”