Allison answered the door and rushed into Aiden’s arms. “You’ve got to find her!” she said, looking up at her brother with large, sad eyes.
“We will, Allie,” Aiden said. “I’m sure she’s just letting off some steam.”
“By leaving? She’s never done this before.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Aiden said, his irritation with the current state of his family apparent.
“This is a horrible mess. Why did you have to do this, Aiden?”
Aiden slowed his steps and spun toward his sister, a scowl marring his face as he looked down at her. “Not you too, Allie. Please. And what are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were still in New York.”
Allison shook her head in disbelief. “My mother is missing,” she said. “Where else would I be?”
“Where’s everyone else?” Aiden asked, ignoring Allison’s question.
“Sloan and Nick are in the family room,” Allison said.
“And Dad?”
“He’s locked himself in his bedroom. He won’t come downstairs. He won’t even open the door for us. He’s been up there since he came home and found Mommy gone.”
“Four days ago?” Aiden asked.
“Yes,” Allison replied.
“Shit,” Aiden said, letting out a sigh.
I glanced at Aiden, shaking my head at the chaos he’d caused.
“I don’t need any more from you, Aria,” he said and stepped past me.
I knew I shouldn’t be upset with him, but a part of me was. This all could have been avoided if he’d just kept his word to back away from Raine Industries, the one thing that had always hung over us like a black cloud.
“Dianna, it’s Lyric’s nap time,” I said. “Can you take him upstairs, please? Besides, he needs to be as far removed from this as possible.” I wondered if it would have been wiser to have left him in Boston.
“Yes, of course,” Dianna said. “If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
“You should get some rest, too,” I said. “Don’t overdo it.”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “And Aria?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t be too hard on Aiden,” she said, concern in her voice. “He’s just trying to right some wrongs.”
“Thank you, Dianna.”
My gaze followed her ascent to the next floor. Would she always champion Aiden’s cause? I answered my own question—of course she would. She only saw the good in him, even when his actions were anything but.
I suppressed my slight irritation with Dianna and headed toward the family room with the others. Sloan and Nicholas were pacing back and forth as Aiden justified everything he’d done over the last several months. As I stood in the doorway, observing the Raine siblings, it suddenly occurred to me that, as dysfunctional as they were, maybe the life they’d had before I’d stepped into their world had been better. At least they’d been a solid family unit … or had presented the image of one, rather. I couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for all of this.
After a few minutes of listening to them go at it with Aiden, I realized my presence was unnecessary. Aiden could more than handle his own with them. Instead of adding my two cents to their conversation, I thought I’d try my hand at coaxing Connor down, so I started upstairs, intent on fixing some of what was broken. Connor and I weren’t really on the best of terms, but he was my family now, and even though I figured he’d reject it, I wanted to offer him my help.
Standing outside Connor and Sienna’s bedroom, I took a deep breath and knocked. There was no answer, so I knocked again. Was he really in there? Maybe he’d slipped out unbeknownst to everyone in the house. I placed my ear to the door and knocked a third time.
“How many times must I tell you I don’t wish to be disturbed?” Connor asked, from the other side of the door.
I was about to reply, but for some reason I hesitated. As I stood there, silent, I considered walking away and leaving him to stew in his misery, but the nagging part of me that said I shouldn’t pushed me to speak. “Connor, it’s Aria. May I come in?”
I waited, expecting him to reply in the negative, but when the door opened to reveal a very unkempt, and seemingly inebriated man, I was startled.
“Suit yourself,” he said, creeping back into his bedroom.
I was taken aback by the disarray. Trays of uneaten food were on the bed, empty scotch and cognac bottles lay on the floor, and sections of the newspaper were tossed here and there. The room was dark, only half-lit by partially opened drapes.
“Still no word from Sienna?” I asked, clearing a space on the bench at the foot of the bed.
“Nothing.”
I’d hoped to persuade him out of his room, to be the voice of reason, but something in Connor’s tone held me mute. “She’ll be back soon,” I finally said. “I’m sure of it.”
“That makes one of us. In all the years of our marriage, she’s never done anything even remotely close to this.” He sat in a chair towards the rear of the room. “She’s finally had enough.”
So he knew he’d been pushing her all of these years. Did he not think she would ever stand up for herself? For what she wanted?
“Maybe she has, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to give up on the life you’ve built,” I said, glancing at the food trays. “But you know, I think she’d much prefer you greet her clean and sober.”
“I’m the most sober I’ve been in the last three days,” he said, holding up a glass of liquor.
“Okay, so maybe we should replace the alcohol with some water and also get some food in you. I can ask the cook to bring something up.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Why what?”
“Why do you care if I eat?” he grumbled.
“You’re my family, Connor. Of course I care.”
“You certainly have an odd way of showing it,” he said, grabbing a section of the newspaper from the floor and waving it at me. “Going along with the largest betrayal any son can commit.”
“I don’t know what you expected of me, but my loyalty lies with my husband,” I said.
He took a swig of liquor and then swirled the glass in his hand, staring at it. “As it should. Perhaps when you speak with my wife, you can remind her of that. You seem to be the only one she’s listening to these days.”
“So you’re still blaming me for this?” I asked, incredulous.
“You’re the only new factor in all of this, Aria. You do the math,” Connor said, obviously still in denial.
“Do you think I would suggest to Sienna that she leave you? That she walk out on her family? I wouldn’t do that.”
“You’ve clearly done something.” He tossed the paper back to the floor.
“The only thing I’ve done is listen to her. Maybe that’s something you should try doing every once in a while.”
“Is this your idea of helping me?” he asked. “Please close the door on your way out.”
I hadn’t intended to stir the pot with Connor, but he wasn’t making it easy not to. “I’m not leaving, so tell me what can I do to help?”
“Apparently you have my wife’s ear, so you need to convince her not to throw away thirty-two years of marriage over a business disagreement.”
“Do you honestly see it as simple as all that?” I asked. “You can’t possibly.”
“I see it for what it is. All of these changes. Aiden’s disloyalty. Sienna’s disappearance. None of this would have happened had it not been for you.”
“Honestly, Connor, this is not my fault. Aiden does consider my feelings in most things, but let’s face it, at the end of the day, Aiden does what Aiden wants,” I said. “And in your case, you may have thought you had him over a barrel, but you should know better than most that he always finds a way to turn the tables.”
Connor swallowed the last of the alcohol. “And I suppose you’ll deny that you had anything to do with my wife disappearing?” he asked.
“I don’t expect Sienna listens to even half of what I say, not that I say very much of anything in regard to your marriage,” I said.
“Perhaps you can’t see your hand in this, but I do, Aria. But none of that matters anymore. The end justifies the means.”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“Isn’t this what you all sought? To see me defeated? You have what you wanted. Please just leave and go back to whatever it is you kids were doing to celebrate your triumph.”
“Is that how you really think?” I asked. “No one wanted this, least of all me. I care about this family. Why can’t you see that?”
“And my traitorous son?” he asked. “Does he presume to care also?”
“We all care, Connor. We just have a few things to work out.”
“There’s no working this out. The damage is more than done. I wonder with all of my son’s planning and plotting if he’d anticipated destroying our family.”
“Your family is still intact. Sienna will come back home where she belongs. You two will work things out and everything will be fine.”
Connor didn’t acknowledge my words. He grabbed the decanter from the nearby table and refilled his drink.
“Who would have thought? The one I groomed to take over, did just that,” he mumbled. “Didn’t expect him to take it from the man who made him who he is,” he added just before lifting the glass of alcohol to his lips.
I stood silently for a moment, watching Connor swallow the amber liquid. Clearly, he had no intention of laying off the booze. Having seen enough, I stepped toward him and reached for the glass. I wasn’t about to watch him drink himself into a stupor, nor would I sit and listen to anymore of his pity party. “Give that to me,” I demanded.
Connor looked up at me with wide eyes. “Anyone ever tell you you’re bossy?” he asked.
“All the time,” I said as I pulled the glass from his hand. “Aiden hates it at times. Well … actually most of the time.”
With the glass in hand, I walked to bedside table for the phone and called downstairs, requesting someone to clean the room and prepare Connor’s dinner. Next to the phone, I spotted the remote for the drapes. I pressed the button and watched as the thick fabric separated, opening to opposite sides of the room.
“What are you doing?” Connor asked, his hand shielding his eyes.
“I’m helping you. Now get up and get in the shower. I’ve had enough of this shit with you and Aiden, and since you two can’t seem to muster up the common sense to fix this, I will.”
Connor leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms over his chest and squinted as he stared at the window.
“Connor, if you want me to help, you’re going to have to do your part,” I said.
“Aria, I didn’t seek out your help. We both know I wouldn’t do that. And I don’t know what you seem to think you can fix but—”
“But nothing. I’m more like your son than you realize, so if you think I’m taking no for an answer, you have a lot to learn about me. I plan to enjoy these first few months as a newlywed, and I won’t be able to do that with all of this shit going on. So perhaps I’m being selfish, but either way we need to resolve this so we can all get to a happier place. Now come,” I said, holding my hand out to him.
He stood with a huff. “Fine,” he said, moving my hand aside. “I’ll shower if it means I can get you off my back.”
He trudged off to the bathroom just as Fran, one of the upstairs maids, stepped into the room. She offered a meek smile as she started restoring the bedroom to its former self. Judging from the shocked expression on her face, the disorder was more than she’d expected.
Stepping toward the sitting area, I pulled my phone from my pocket and pressed the auto dial for Sienna. It was no surprise when the call went directly to voicemail, so I sent a text. Aiden had said his parents responded to me in ways they didn’t with their kids; it was time to test that theory.
I anxiously paced the floor, hopeful that a message would appear, but Sienna didn’t reply. With Connor still in the shower, I went downstairs to report to the others what I’d found and asked them all to come up in a little while to talk to Connor. Their reaction was no less than what I expected. Looks of bewilderment, curiosity and apprehension played across their faces … just as they had with Connor.
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
“No. We just didn’t know how we would go about reaching our father,” Sloan said. “This has never happened before, and he can be stubborn on his best day, so we expected even more of a challenge with something like this. I guess we’re surprised he responded to you at all.”
“Why? Because he blames me for all of it?” I asked dryly.
“Still?” Aiden asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Overall, how is he?” asked Nicholas.
“He’s a mess. He reeked of alcohol, and from the looks of the uneaten food, he’s been surviving on booze. And I could be wrong, but it looked like he was wearing the same clothes he had on when he was at our place in Boston a few days ago. I finally convinced him to take a shower, and I called Fran up to clean the room and bring some food and coffee.”
“But he’s like himself, just angry?” Allison asked.
“Not really. He was resigned,” I said. “It’s like he’s given up.”
Aiden’s brow arched. “Connor Raine? Resigned? I should speak with him.”
“That may not be a good idea. As you might expect, he’s pissed at you. So I was thinking we should all go up and talk with him … a kind of intervention. As unfortunate as the situation is, I think we should take advantage of it.”
“What do you mean?” Nicholas asked.
“This may very well be the one and only chance you guys have to make him see what’s most important. I think he’ll listen,” I said.
The group stared at me.
“What?” Sloan asked.
“Think about it. When’s the most opportune time to get what you want from anyone? When they’re open to it. I’ve never witnessed a side of Connor that wasn’t playing some angle. What I walked in on was a man who was in shock, sad … even vulnerable. He feels he’s lost the two most important things in his life.”
“But he hasn’t. Mommy’s coming back,” Allison piped in, sounding sure of her words.
“I think we all want to believe that, but Connor doesn’t,” I said.
“Did he say that?” Sloan asked.
“He said he’s surprised she didn’t leave long before now.”
“Are you sure he said that?” Aiden asked. “Our father has never admitted doing anything wrong. Justified it, yes, but an admission of fault? Never.”
I shrugged. “Maybe the alcohol allowed him to speak the truth for once. You know what they say—a drunk mind speaks a sober heart.”
“I don’t know … something seems off,” Aiden replied.
“He wasn’t the man I first met, nor was he the man who welcomed me back from Belize, and he certainly wasn’t the man who told me in no uncertain terms that he stood behind every decision he’s ever made. He’s different. He almost seemed …”
“He almost seemed what?” Nicholas asked.
“He almost seemed human.”
“A missing mother and a drunken father,” Nicholas said. “I can’t believe this shit.”
“Don’t worry, Nick. Mom won’t be gone for long,” Aiden said.
“How do you know?” Nicholas asked.
“Okay, so maybe she’s fed up with our father, but she’s not going to walk away from her children or her grandchild,” Aiden said.
“I don’t know. Maybe we went too far, Aiden,” Nicholas said, the regret obvious in his voice.
“Nick, what’s done is done. Second-guessing our decisions won’t change anything.”
“Even now, you can’t back down, can you?” Sloan asked.
“Sloan, I didn’t do anything he hasn’t done to me time and time again,” Aiden defended.
I let out a sigh. “Can we please not do this?”
“Aria, I really wish you hadn’t been talking to Mother,” Aiden said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You don’t think I hear you on the phone with her—giving her advice?” Aiden asked.
“That’s not what I do. And why were you eavesdropping?”
“I think you set her up for more disappointment,” he said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“My dad isn’t me. The things that work for me don’t work for him. Primarily because his priority is his company and my priority is my wife.”
My phone chimed and I hurriedly pulled it from my pocket. “It’s Sienna.”
“How did that happen?” Sloan asked.
“I kind of lied. I sent her a text when I was upstairs. I told her that Aiden, Lyric and I would no longer be a part of the infighting and that we were leaving the country with no expected return date … and if she wanted to see Lyric, it was now or never.”
“You told her what?” Aiden asked, shocked by my fabrication.
I shrugged. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“I can’t believe this is what’s become of us,” Sloan said.
“What’s in Mother’s text?” Aiden asked.
“She says she’s okay and not to leave just yet, and she’ll be in touch when she’s ready,” I said, glancing up from my phone.
“Try calling her,” Aiden said.
I pressed call from the text message screen and placed the phone on speaker. As expected, after a few rings we heard her outgoing message. “She’s turned it off again,” I said.
“I’ll have Scott check into it. See if he can find something based on the text she sent,” Aiden said. “If we can find out where she is, we can go get her and bring her home.”
I joined the others on the sofa as Aiden made a call. We tossed out ideas as to where Sienna could possibly be, but soon ran out of likely options. Aiden soon joined the conversation saying Scott was still coming up empty. We placed a few discreet calls to Sienna’s closest friends, but they hadn’t heard from her.
Everyone fell quiet, stumped as to what the next step should be.
“I’m going to check on Connor. You guys come up in a few,” I said and headed back upstairs.
“Everyone is worried about you. Why don’t you come downstairs with us?” I asked, when I reentered Connor’s bedroom.
“Then why are they sending you up here?” He now looked like the cleaner version of someone who knew his way around a bottle of liquor.
“Because I’ve got nothing to lose. And coming up here was my idea, not theirs. So are you going to come down with your family or not?”
“My family? Humph. They’re the reason for all of this.”
“Connor, do you honestly not take any responsibility for this? If you want to get past it, you need to take a long look in the mirror. Stop casting blame at others and own up to your part in this.”
“Now is certainly not the time for one of your lectures, Aria.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Isn’t it? And besides, I’ll have plenty of that thrown at me from my children.”
“Is that why you’ve refused to see them? I think you’ll be surprised. They don’t want to accuse you of anything. They want to be here for you. For each other.”
“I could almost believe that of everyone … except Aiden. That boy has a grudge on his shoulders the size of Mt. Rushmore.”
“Dad, I’m here,” Aiden said. “We’re all here.”