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He touches my arm. “Tell me, how long have you known each other?”
“A while,” I answer vaguely.
“And when did you find out that you love him?”
I pause, unable to answer the question. How can I when I haven’t fallen in love with him yet? Or have I but I just don’t know it yet? I felt sad, after all, when Rainier left, and then I felt so thrilled to have him back, and when we had sex right after, I… I thought I felt something different.
“I’m not sure,” I answer.
“Is he a good kisser?”
I throw Calvin another puzzled look. What?
“Are you sure he’s the one?” Calvin asks next.
I glance at the ring on my finger. For a moment, I think about telling him the truth, but I falter.
“Well, we are engaged.”
“I know. You’ve been wearing that ring all this time. Let me take a closer look at it.”
To my surprise, he takes my hand and pulls the ring off. He holds it up against the light.
“Well, that’s beautiful,” he says.
“It is,” I agree as I rub my finger, which suddenly feels naked without the ring.
He bounces it off his palm. “And heavy.”
I shrug. “It is pure gold.”
He bounces it again, higher this time. And fails to catch it.
“Oops,” he says.
I let out a gasp of horror as I watch it fall to the floor and roll away under a table. Rainier is going to kill me if I lose that ring.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get it.”
Calvin goes down on his hands and knees to retrieve the ring. As he stretches his arm to reach under the table, the hem of his shirt goes up. I catch a glimpse of the tattoo on his back.
A tattoo of cherubim wings. Pink wings. And a name in between them.
“John?” I read the name out loud.
Calvin’s head hits the bottom of the table. A moment later, he lets out a curse. “Fuck!”
I kneel on the floor. “Are you okay?”
He rubs his head as he hands me my ring. At least, he seems like he’s going to give it to me, but suddenly, he pulls his hand away.
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone,” Calvin urges me.
About the tattoo? I guess it does mean what I think it means.
I nod and put my right hand up. “I promise.”
Chapter 20 ~ Too Much of a Good Thing
Rainier
“So Calvin isn’t the one who sent that note?” I ask Ellis when we’re back in our room after lunch.
“No,” she tells me.
“He told you he didn’t send that note?”
“No, but I know he didn’t.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “You know?”
“Yes,” Ellis answers. “And please don’t ask me why. It’s a secret.”
My eyebrows furrow. “Oh, so you’re keeping the Northups’ secrets now? What next? Are you going to cover up for their crimes?”
“Calvin is a good man.”
“Right.” I scratch my chin. “And you’re sure this is an objective opinion? That you haven’t been brainwashed?”
Ellis folds her arms over her chest. “What? Do you not trust me anymore?”
“I trust you,” I tell her. “It’s the Northups I don’t trust.”
“Well, I technically am a Northup.”
True. “But you’re different.”
“How?”
“You have a heart.”
Ellis rolls her eyes. “Well, let me tell you a surprise. Calvin Beaumont does, too. He has a heart. It just… beats a different way.”
Again, I give her a puzzled look. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Tell me, who told you Calvin was planning to take control of the Northup estate?”
“I’ve seen him making his moves.”
“What moves?”
“He’s been talking to influential men, trying to get close to them.”
Ellis rubs her nape. “I see.”
“He even wanted to talk to me in private.”
Ellis’s eyebrows furrow. “Did he now?”
I nod. She frowns.
“What?” I ask her.
“Nothing. Just don’t.” She waves a finger at me. “Don’t talk to him or be with him in private.”
Another puzzling statement.
“Ellis…”
“Just trust me. Calvin is not the villain you think he is. End of topic.”
She pulls her fingers over her lips in a zipping motion.
I sigh. “Fine. That means we can cross two off our list.”
“Two?” Ellis asks.
“Just as I thought, Gabriel Northup isn’t the one who sent the note,” I tell her. “He may be a lousy drunk, a rebellious son, an irresponsible father and an embarrassment of a brother, not to mention a scumbag, but he isn’t a man who sends threatening notes.”
“Okay.”
“Also, I’ve made sure he won’t do anything else threatening.”
Ellis frowns.
“I told you I’d make sure the Northups won’t mess with you,” I tell her.
She sighs. “Why are we investigating if you’re going to treat everyone as the culprit anyway?”
“Like you said, it’s important for us to know who the culprit is. I can assure you he or she will have it worse than Gabriel had.”
Ellis lets out another sigh.
“Do you want to continue or not?” I ask her. “Because we can just leave…”
