Finally Heaven (Room 103 Book 4) (27 page)

“Mmm.” That fact didn’t fill me joy but I knew I should go and see them out of respect for their son… my lover.

Zoe shifted, moving away from me so she could look at me. I frowned when her anguish stared back. “They gave me Nick’s key to his apartment, they think we might be able to find something to help the police with their inquiries.”

I laughed bitterly, shaking my head and sliding out of bed, pulling on my jeans. “I doubt that very much.”

“What?” She sat up on the bed, looking at me curiously.

“Nick told me the police are involved as much as whoever is doing this. And if he is right about who it is, then there’s nothing I can do about all this shit.”

“No.” She jumped off the bed, coming around the front of me. I clenched my teeth when the pure beauty of her naked body stole my attention. Fucking hell, I needed to rein in the desire I always had for her. But I had a feeling I would never be able to temper the need to constantly be inside her heat. “Nick died because of this shit, Daniel. We owe it to him to finish it.”

My jaw cracked under the pressure of my fury. “While I agree with you, there is also the matter that Nick ran the story about Ann and Harry. I… I don’t understand it.”

“Then we need to find out why,” she maintained. “I’m sorry, Daniel but I don’t believe Nick did it to hurt you. He must have had a damn good reason to do that. And,” she continued with a determined lift of her chin, “If you won’t come with me then I’ll do this on my own. I owe it to him.”

I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Not a chance are you going there on your own.”

“Then come with me.” She stood firm, her expression daring and conniving.

She grumbled when the front door bell rang out a tune around the house. “Please Daniel.”

I blew out a breath and held up my hands. “Fine. Fine.”

She smiled and sandwiched my head in her hands, kissing the top of my head before she pulled on her robe and went to answer the door.

I wasn’t sure if I would feel strange rooting through Nick’s personal stuff. The permission from his parent’s helped, but it still didn’t sit right in my gut. The fact that he published the story about Ann and Harry didn’t lessen the love I had for him, but his betrayal hurt. I couldn’t understand why he had done it. But I had to agree with Zoe, he must have had a good reason.

“Daniel” Zoe shouted. Slipping on my shirt, she shouted again, more urgently. “DANIEL!”

Every hair on my body snapped to attention. My fists clenched, my heart beat increased to assist the fresh surge of blood strengthening my body.

I raced down the stairs, ready to face whatever had hurt my woman. What I wasn’t prepared for was to see Ann stood staring up the stairs at me.

“Hello Daniel.”

I THOUGHT HE was going to fall down the rest of the stairs when his hands shot out to grab the bannister so he could steady himself. His face paled, all the blood rushing from him when he saw his wife stood meekly in the doorway.

His eyes shot to mine but I smiled, dismissing his anguish when he gave me an apologetic look. “I’ll leave you two to…”

“No!” Daniel said quickly. “No.”

I looked at Ann. She smiled timidly but shrugged before turning back to Daniel. “I’m sorry to come but I need to talk to you.”

His throat bobbed and he blinked rapidly as though he couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were telling his brain. I understood that, I too was stunned by her appearance.

Eventually he shook himself and nodded, coming down the rest of the stairs and gesturing for her to go through to the lounge.

“Can I get you a drink Ann?”

She shook her head. “No, thank you but I won’t take up too much of your time.” She turned to Daniel again, her eyes filled with a look I couldn’t decipher. “Firstly, I should apologise.”

We both blinked at her, shocked with her obvious remorse. “I was young, Daniel. I didn’t understand but that doesn’t excuse what I did, what I have done.”

“Is Harry okay?” Daniel suddenly asked, his worry evident with the way he took a step towards her.

“Yes,” she answered quickly. “Yes he’s fine.” She smiled again then dipped into her bag and pulled out a photo, holding it out to Daniel. His eyes shot to hers before he slowly took the photo from her. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the sofa, his whole face softening as a tear fell from the corner of each eye.

“He is so very like you,” Ann stated quietly as she took a seat beside him on the sofa. “Not just in looks but his character. He knows who you are Daniel. He’s so very proud of you.”

My heart hurt and I wiped at my own tears, slowly sitting down in the chair opposite them, Daniel’s pain very much my own.

“He… he knows I’m his dad?” Daniel choked out.

Ann nodded. “Yes, although I blamed you for a very long time, I never put that on Harry. He never deserved that. You are his dad whatever you did, and that’s how it should be. I told him what happened. We are both very open with each other. He understands why I took him away but he doesn’t blame you either. He understands... he has a… boyfriend.”

Daniel’s eyebrows shot upwards but Ann continued with a heavy sigh. “It finally made me realise, when I figured it didn’t make a speck of difference to how I felt about him. However he struggled with that side of him for so long. It almost… took him. He grew very depressed and tried to take his own life.”

“Oh good God.” Daniel grabbed her hand and held onto her.

She smiled through her tears though. “It was the breaking point between us. It gave him the courage to tell me and after that we both grew to accept it. I told him then about you, and what happened with Glen and why I hid us both away. And finally, we both understood you. I’m not sure I can ever forget what you did but I have definitely forgiven you.”

“Thank you,” Daniel whispered.

“I know about Nick and I’m so very sorry.”

Daniel closed his eyes and nodded. “And I’m sorry about what he did.”

Ann frowned with confusion. “What he did?”

“The newspaper story. About dragging you into this.”

“But,” she shook her head. “That was my idea.”

We both snapped our eyes to her, our jaws dropping in shock. “What?”

“I thought he’d told you before he… before he died. He said he was going to.”

“I never really… he never got the chance,” Daniel clarified.

“Nick got in touch with me about ten days ago,” she started to explain. “He’d received some information about someone and he rang me to confirm it. He was scared, scared for you and…” she turned to me and smiled. “And for your fiancé. But he was also frightened for both me and Harry. He hated going behind your back, he of course being a journalist had found out about me. Anyway he said it all finally made sense. And then he spoke of an email he received. Something else that fit with everything that was happening to you but it was all high up and he would be crushed under it. He said he needed a diversion, something that would bring certain people to light which would then lead to this new bit of information without it being an obvious attack on that person.”

“I don’t understand.” Daniel shook his head.

Ann inhaled heavily. “I’m so sorry Daniel. This is all my fault.”

“What?”

“When I disappeared I went to live with my aunt. I was a mess and it broke her heart. My mum… my mum couldn’t cope with the reason I left and the fact that I took her only grandson away, it… she killed herself.”

Daniel blanched, his whole body freezing as he stared at her. “Oh fuck, Ann. I…”

She held up her hand to him. “It wasn’t your fault Daniel. Mum was the only one that stood up for both Glen and you. She tried to make me see sense, encouraged me to talk to you and listen to Glen but of course I was angry. Anyway that finished my aunt off. She grew into a very bitter woman, and of course blamed you to an extent that she grew obsessed with you. She followed you and that became easy for her when you became famous. I’d never seen someone become so… so controlled by another person’s life. I couldn’t cope with her in the end, she was hurting Harry with her hatred for you, so eventually, about two years ago, I moved away from her. She blamed you for that too.”

“Ann?”

“Daniel I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I just cut myself off from her. I wanted nothing to do with her or her vendetta against you. I didn’t know she’d become your assistant.”

“What the…”

Both Daniel and I shot upright, both of us staring at Ann. “Are you saying that Julie is…”

She nodded. “She’s my aunt. And I also have the feeling she’s the one who poisoned Nick when she found out what he had done when he ran the story and started the ball rolling.”

I snatched up my phone when Daniel just stood staring at Ann with his mouth wide open.

“I need you to come over to mine,” I spoke quickly when Jax answered his phone. “Romeo needs you. All of you.”

He didn’t even answer me as he disconnected.

Within twenty minutes my house was full of the Room 103 guy’s and girls. All of them there for whatever needed doing. Their love for me as well as Daniel when they all stormed in not just checking Daniel but myself, grounded me. Why I had ever felt alone suddenly made no sense. I had friends. I had Daniel. And with Daniel came a family. A family that were there, no matter what. A family that was ready to kill for their brothers.

SHE SMIRKED AT me. I had never hit a woman in my life, but I was so very tempted to start right then, in that damn room where we were getting nowhere with the bitch that had killed Nick. She had admitted to killing him, but as far as that, she was silent about anything else.

Up until E walked in with Sal and her father.

Julie’s eyes widened. E’s smile grew wide and devious. And I sighed contentedly.

“You forget about my family,” E spat when Julie had denied me any more knowledge about who was involved. “And what you also seem to forget,” she chuckled, “is that my daddy dearest made sure I know how to hit people properly. What with him being in the business and all.”

I cringed when Sal turned to me and winked. “I’m not the only one though so I suggest… love,” he leaned into Julie and grabbed her hair in a tight fist. “That unless you want to lose your face, that you tell us why Penny was killed.”

“You knew Penny?”

He blinked at me when I barked out the question, confusion covering his face. “Of course I did, she was one of mine.”

“What the fuck! She worked for you?”

He pursed his lips and stared at me with careful consideration. “Why should that surprise you, Romeo? I have my hand in a few… things, as you know good and well.”

I licked my lips when the dry air chapped them and narrowed my eyes on him, warning him. “But…”

“It’s amazing who we turn to when we’re angry and confused.”

I bit my tongue, glaring at him but turned back to Julie. “I need to know what Penny found out about Alan Francis and why he’s involved me in all this.”

Sal’s eyes widened on me before he turned back to Julie, crossed his arms and waited expectantly for her answer.

She stared at me in confusion. “The deputy prime minister?”

“Yes!” E spat as she grew annoyed with Julie’s evasiveness. “You know who he is, but we want to know what he has to do with all this.”