Unbreakable (27 page)

“I went to the bank to add you to my
personal checking account, and I was going to go to Elliott’s
office to get Jacob’s contract, but I came straight home after I
found the note,” I explain to him.

“You added my name to your account?” He
sounds surprised and flattered at the same time. I just nod, my
face still against his neck. “Although I think that is…, well
awesome, I don’t think it was worth the risk.” He is scolding
gently not wanting to offend me.

“I really did not know the risk Luke. I
wouldn’t have gone if I had known all of this.” I wave my hand in
the air at all the information I have learned in the past hour.

“I’m sorry. We should have been more honest
with you. I didn’t know the real dangers myself, until this morning
talking with the guys about their experiences,” Luke explains. We
cuddle on the couch for a while until we decide we need to get
ready for our dinner guests.

Chapter 31

Jeffrey returns around seven with Carley,
which is Luke’s mom, and she tells us that Sarah and Lee will be
here shortly. Carley is beautiful with brown hair like Luke’s that
is short and curly. She doesn’t wear a lot of makeup and doesn’t
need to. She looks really young for her age and is tall but very
slender. It is easy to tell where Luke gets his good looks from
when I see Jeffrey and Carley together. She greets me with a warm
hug and tells me how glad she is to finally meet the girl who stole
her Luke’s heart. She takes my face in her hands and stares into my
eyes. Her eyes are the same as Luke’s, kind and tender. “You are
just as beautiful as Luke has described you,” she says giving me
the warmest smile.

Sarah and Lee arrive minutes later and we
are still in the entryway when they ring the bell. Luke answers the
door and gives his sister a big bear hug as he lifts her off her
feet. “I’ve missed you sis,” Luke bellows finally setting her down
and turning to Lee who is still hovering in the doorway. “Lee,”
Luke greets him not so warmly and gives him a short handshake. Lee
politely greets back. It’s obvious the feelings go both ways. Luke
turns from Lee taking Sarah’s hand and walks her in my
direction.

“Sarah, I want you to meet Lilly,” Luke says
beaming and I can see the love he has for his sister is deep.

Sarah is overwhelmingly beautiful. She’s
tall like the rest of her family and is wearing a skirt that shows
off legs that seem to go on forever. She is slender like her mother
but has good muscle tone. Also like her mother, she is wearing very
little makeup because her skin is flawless and like porcelain. She
has thick, long straight hair that she has braided and it lays over
her shoulder cascading down her front. As she walks toward me it is
almost like she is glowing and her warm kind eyes stare at me
making me feel very inadequate in her presence. I reach my hand out
to shake hers, but just like her mother she takes me in a warm
embrace.

“I feel like I know you already, Lilly,” she
says as she lets go of me. “I am so happy to finally meet you.” She
beams down at me.

“I’m glad to finally meet you also.” I
return her sentiment but start to fidget feeling very uncomfortable
all of a sudden.

“Lilly this is Lee, my fiancé,” Sarah
introduces Lee to me not before giving her brother a look of
distain that he had not done it yet.

“Nice to meet you Lilly, you have such a
very nice home,” Lee says to me and he seems about as uncomfortable
as I am. He’s good looking with a preppy look. His blond hair
styled neatly with some distinguished looking glasses. He is about
Sarah’s height and a little heavier. He is definitely not muscular
and is dressed in khakis with a button up shirt and tie. He reaches
his hand out to shake mine but Luke steps in front of me just as
I’m about to reach my hand out to his. Luke acts like he didn’t
mean to do it but it is obvious to me that he doesn’t want Lee to
touch me.

“Well, shall we go to the dining room?” I
announce to draw the attention off the awkwardness of what just
happened.

In the dining room, I sit next to Carley and
start to make conversation with her as Luke pours everyone a glass
of wine.

“Lilly sweetheart, you have no idea what it
was like with Luke when he was growing up. He would always come
home and tell me how beautiful you are.” Carley tells me and I
blush at her statement. “He wanted to take you away from here so
many times. One night he was so mad at Jeff and me for not letting
him come over here and rescue you he actually punched a hole in the
wall. Can you believe that,” she says glancing towards Luke. “You
are all he could think about, you know,” she says taking a sip of
the wine that Luke just poured in her glass.

“I told you,” Luke leans down to whisper in
my ear as he pours me some wine. “It has always been you, Lilly,”
he says his lips grazing my ear before he stands up and he goes to
the kitchen for another bottle of wine.

“Growing up with him was easy compared to
the last two years,” Sarah joins the conversation sitting across
from me next to Lee, who is trying to make small talk with Jeffrey.
Of what I can observe so far, Jeffrey thinks about as much of Lee
as Luke does. “Especially, since your parents died,” she adds.
“Sometimes, I thought that I was going to have to chain him down to
stay away. And the nights that he knew you were on dates, those
were the bad nights,” Sarah says rolling her eyes and making an
agonizing face.

“I don’t know what to say,” I tell them
extremely embarrassed by what they are telling me.

“Now we’ve made you uncomfortable. That
wasn’t my intent dear. I was merely explaining to you how much my
son loves you,” Carley says apologetically and squeezes my hand
that is resting on the table. “But I guess you already know that
then, don’t you,” she says looking at me and something about her
eyes puts me right at ease.

“If you’ll excuse me, I am going to check on
dinner,” I tell them as I get up and go through the swinging door
that leads into the kitchen. Miss Finnegan is plating up salads
when I walk in. I see Luke and Jacob are discussing something in
the family room. “What’s going on?” I ask standing next to Miss
Finnegan watching the guys as they talk.

“Just getting the salads ready dear,” she
says not noticing Luke and Jacob as she hurriedly arranges the
salads adding a tomato neatly on each fancy plate.

“No, I mean in there?” I point to Jacob and
Luke in the other room. Miss Finnegan looks up for a second and
shrugs before she goes back to making everything look perfect.
“Don’t stress Miss Finnegan, you’re not cooking for Jane,” I tell
her and she gives me a little smile before I walk to the family
room to see what they are discussing.

“What’s up?” I ask when the guys look up
noticing me coming toward them.

“I was just filling Luke in on some of the
updates that we’ve made to security,” Jacob says and I can tell he
is still upset with me. “I’m done with him. You can have him back
now,” he says to me but doesn’t look at me.

“Luke can you give Jacob and me a minute?” I
turn to Luke who just nods and gives me a quick kiss.

“I better get back to my family anyway,”
Luke says before he heads back to the kitchen.

“What is it?” Jacob says coldly.

“Why are you so mad at me?” I ask him
seriously but Jacob just shakes his head for a second. It’s as if
he is on fire and he grabs my shoulders to look me in the eyes with
so much intensity it startles me.

“Because I can’t lose you. You have to
listen to me. You can never do that again ever.” His voice cracks
as he scolds me. “I am mad because you didn’t listen to me. What if
he grabbed you instead of leaving you a note?” He says and I can
see the fear in his eyes before he closes them tight.

“I told you that I was sorry and that I
would never do it again,” I tell him again and grab his forearms so
he will let loose of my shoulders. In his frustration, he is
squeezing a little too tight. He suddenly realizes his hard grip
letting loose of my shoulders, but grabs me and pulls me to him. He
gives me a tight hug rocking back and forth like I need
consoling.

“Hey, come join us for dinner,” I tell him
when he lets me go and I can see his eyes are glassy. I think he is
fighting back tears.

“No, you need time with your new family,” he
says sadly like he is being replaced.

“You’re my family and you always will be
bro.” I punch his arm jokingly to lighten the mood. “Besides, Miss
Finnegan is planning on you eating fancy tonight also; fancy food,
fancy plates, and fancy wine. Come on, it will be fun,” I joke with
him.

“Okay, you talked me into it,” he smiles
back. I am glad to see that smile on his face again. Jacob puts his
arm around my shoulder and we walk into the kitchen just in time to
help Miss Finnegan serve the salads.

“Salads?” I announce to the room as Jacob
and I enter carrying two salad plates each followed by Miss
Finnegan who is balancing three.

“Good, Jacob, you’re joining us,” Jeffrey
says and introduces him to his family.

Dinner is good as everyone eats while making
light conversation. Carley tells us funny stories at Luke’s expense
from when he was a toddler. Luke is a good sport about it since
everyone is having a good time.

We finish dinner and Miss Finnegan is
serving coffee when we are startled by a loud buzzing sound coming
from outside. It’s loud and goes for a second and then stops, then
goes again over and over. Jacob hurriedly gets up and runs out of
the dining room. I turn to Luke for an explanation and see a
panicked look in his eyes.

“Stay in here!” He orders me as he gets up
from the table. “Dad, keep everyone in this room!” He shouts at
Jeffrey before he disappears through the swinging doors.

“What’s that, an alarm?” Sarah asks turning
to her dad for an explanation. He looks as confused as the rest of
us. He stares at the door still swinging a little from Luke’s
exit.

“I honestly don’t know,” Jeffrey says trying
to look calm, but I can see he is worried.

“Maybe, I should go help?” Lee says standing
up, acting like he is going to follow the guys. He is probably
trying to win some points with Jeffrey and Luke.

“No, Luke said everyone stays here,” Jeffrey
says sternly motioning for Lee to sit back down and he obeys
looking wounded.

“So dear, Luke tells me you have been
finding little clues about your birth mother,” Carley says clearing
her throat forcing conversation to fill the silence. This is the
last thing that I want to discuss right now. I am fighting every
ounce of my being to keep from running out of the dining room to
see what is going on, but I just told Luke and Jacob that I would
listen to them and not put myself in harm’s way. The buzzing
finally stops and it makes me feel a little better. Something about
that sound was making me very tense.

“Umm yeah, a few clues,” I finally answer
Carley after a long pause. I stand up and start to pace around the
room. This room and the study are the only rooms that don’t have
windows. I really wish we knew what was going on. Carley doesn’t
ask me any more questions probably sensing that I don’t what to
talk about that right now. After what seems like an hour, Jacob and
Luke finally return to the dining room. Luke has blood running down
his cheek and I hurry to him to see what happened. His mom and
sister are right behind me when they notice the blood on him
too.

“It’s okay. I just ran into a tree branch,”
Luke says embarrassingly at the look of concerns on our faces. I
take my napkin off the table and reach up to dab the wound and
clean off the blood. “It fine baby,” he gently says as he takes my
hand and pulls it away from his face with care.

“What was that noise?” I ask starting to
clean the cut again after dipping the napkin in my water glass to
help get the dried blood off. This time he doesn’t stop me, instead
he looks down into my eyes and they are filled with love.

“So what’s going on?” Jeffrey asks frustrated
that no one has said anything yet.

“It was the new perimeter alarm,” Jacob
answers Jeffrey. “He was here.”

I don’t look away from Luke but continue to
examine the cut. I had a hunch already that it had something to do
with that crazy man. For some reason my focus on Luke is making me
calm.

“Did you see him?” Jeffrey asks and I can
sense everyone’s eyes on me for a reaction. I put my hand down to
my side now that Luke’s cut is clean, and drop the bloody napkin.
Wrapping my arms around Luke’s waist, I place my head on his hard
chest. I wish everyone was gone and it was just him and me.

“No, he got away. He seems to know the woods
very well,” Jacob says and I open my eyes. My head is still on
Luke’s chest and I see Jacob watching me. Luke wraps his arms
around my shoulders and I close my eyes again.

“I think that it’s time to call it a night,”
Luke finally says reading my mind. I am so grateful. I don’t want
anyone here right now and I’m embarrassed that Luke’s family is
here to see this. What I really want to do is freak out and start
shouting. I am so mad at this insane man who is making me a
prisoner in my own home again when I’ve finally gotten free. I
don’t want any of them to see me like that, so I continue to lay my
head on Luke’s chest and pretend we are alone. I hear Sarah, Lee,
Carley, and Jeffrey say goodbye quietly and some shuffling of
footsteps as they exit the dining room.

I feel Luke kiss the top of my head then let
loose of me and gently lifts my head with his hands so I am looking
up at him.

“Everyone’s gone baby,” he says looking
intensely into my eyes trying to read my emotions. I’m distracted
by the cut on his cheek as fresh bright red blood oozes from the
cut.

“Son of bitch!” I shout grabbing Luke’s hand
from my face and drag him with me through the swinging doors into
the kitchen. Jacob and Max are sitting at the kitchen table going
over what looks like a map of the property. I motion for Luke to
sit in a chair at the table, and he obeys not knowing what’s going
on, when I see Jacob give Luke a what’s up look about me.