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Her words hit me like a punch to the kidney.
“Your grandfather contacted me the morning after you left. Then I heard from Arlo and Luca Salvatore.”
“So it’s true? You’re the new director of the Franco Foundation?”
She brushed her hair behind her ears and nodded. “Arlo approached me with the opportunity last week. I declined since I was working on a project. But I received a call from Luca yesterday morning, insisting I take the position now that you’re marrying into the family.”
“Oh, did he? He must have been persuasive.”
She smiled. “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
Of course, he did.
But how did Luca convince her when Arlo could not? That seemed strange to me, but she didn’t offer more information, and I didn’t push the subject.
“I’d like you to work with me,” Madeline said with her eyes on the bland watercolor painting in front of us. “Your future husband would like it, too.”
“I would love to assist you in any way I can.”
“One day you will take my place.”
I nodded, now understanding why Luca had called my mentor. And why she had accepted. This was a short-term gig until I learned everything I needed to know. I would have refused the position if Luca offered it, but he knew that I would one day feel worthy of running his mother’s foundation if I studied under Madeline.
“The Franco Foundation is in Manhattan. I’m surprised Luca would suggest an arrangement that requires me to move to the city.”
We were a few hours from New York, the coastal town hidden among the upper echelon of Connecticut’s elite.
She shook her head. “No, we’re working from the Salvatore Estate.” Her eyes roamed around the room before they met mine. “I hear Evangeline’s studio is incredible. Luca assured me we would have access to everything we need to get started.”
I’m sure he did.
She looked uncomfortable but not in Devil’s Creek against her will. Madeline would not let the Salvatores bully her. Knowing Luca, the offer she couldn’t refuse was a secret he held over her head.
Secrets are commodities.
“Evangeline’s studio is upstairs.” I pointed at the entryway doors. “I can give you the tour.”
“Next time,” she said with a forced smile. “I have to meet the moving company at my new house within the hour.”
“Where are you staying?”
“In The Hills. At the Whittakers house.”
“I didn’t realize the Whittakers were out of the country again.”
“They’re in South Africa until the end of the year. Luca arranged everything.”
“If you need help, let me know. I don’t mind.”
She patted my shoulder. “The boy next door already offered to cut my lawn and help around the house.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What boy next door? None of the homeowners on that street have children.”
“He lives in the house with blue shutters.”
My old house? That’s not possible…
“What did he look like?”
She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking it over. “He was tall, built like a football player. You know, big shoulders.”
Aiden.
“How old was he?”
She scanned my face and rolled her shoulders. “Probably around your age.”
My heart sank to my stomach, churning up bile.
“What color hair did he have?”
“Blond curls that kept falling into his eyes.”
“Anything else you remember about him?”
She bit her bottom lip as she thought it over. “He had a beard.”
Not like Aiden.
Madeline had never met my twin. The police had declared him missing before I moved back to Haven and scored the restoration gig with Madeline. If he were in Devil’s Creek, Aiden would have reached out. My brother wouldn’t have left me waiting for answers.
“Did you catch his name?”
She shook her head. “No, we only talked for a minute.”
Aiden. His name has to be Aiden.
* * *
A few hours after Madeline left me with a thousand questions, I sat on the back patio with Kali and ate lunch. She wore a red sundress that brought out her blonde hair and pale, freckled skin, glowing as we sipped from our champagne glasses. After the bomb Madeline had dropped on me, I wanted to get wasted.
“I have to tell you something,” I blurted out after my second drink. “You won’t like it.”
She leaned closer with her elbow rested on the table.
“This morning at breakfast…”
Kali waved her hand. “Don’t worry, girl. Damian and Bash FaceTime’d me afterward so they could get off.”
My face dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, they were like animals in heat. I had to run into a bathroom between photo shoots and talk to them.”
I refilled my glass and took a sip. “You’re not mad?”
She gave me a confused look. “Are you kidding? No way!”
“This is so weird,” I confessed. “It must be for you, too.”
“Nah.” Kali shook her head. “I’ve known about the Knights and their Queen for a long time. But I didn’t expect to like you so much.”
“You never minded?”
“I was kind of jealous at first. Not anymore.”
