The Other Side of Greed (The Seven Sins #5) - Lily Zante Page 0,97

a man who has no interest in art. But back then, all I wanted was to acquire things.

“I've always felt that you've held things back from me, but I never expected this.”

I swipe a hand across the back of my neck. “It's a lot to take in. You probably hate me.”

“I don't know who you are.”

I bite my lip, wondering how on earth I will ever reveal my plan to her. It won't matter that I didn't execute it. What will matter were my initial intentions and they were so wrong.

“My birth mom had mental health problems, and my dad was a domestic abuser. They were both drug addicts.”

Fuck. I said that out loud. My heart thumps as if a wildebeest is stomping inside my chest. I want to tell her that this is not who I have always been, I want her to see that I came from a completely different place, but letting the truth loose on her, like a boulder dropped from a great height, isn’t the best way to go about it either.

Kyra stutters. “Wh-wha-what?”

“I was adopted by a very rich man, a billionaire who had lost his teenage son in a skiing accident.” I find myself sinking into an abyss from which there is no return. She will see everything differently about me from this point on. Shock skates across her eyes, the cracks in her understanding of me slowly break, break, breaking like the cracks in a river of ice. Any moment now she’ll take me under with her.

But the suspicion and surprise in Kyra's eyes vanish and, in their place now lies concern. She's by my side in an instant. Her face is a question mark, because what I’ve just told her doesn’t tally up with this place.

I’m about to tell her his name, but then realize I can’t, because it would mean having to explain why I lied about my name. I brace myself, not wanting to lose her, but knowing I can’t hold onto her if she doesn’t want me. “His wife couldn't handle it,” I continue. “I don't think she ever got over her son’s death, and they adopted me because I closely resembled the son they had lost.”

She looks horrified and shocked. “Oh, Brad. I’m so sorry.” To my surprise she takes my hand and kisses it. I’m a lucky man, to have met a woman so caring. It was luck that enabled me to switch my life and insert myself into Philip Hawks' world. It’s luck now that has put Kyra in my life. I would never have met her in the usual circumstances. “It must have been so awful for you.”

Was it awful? To be rescued from the life I had, and to end up like this? I’ve spent decades wrestling with that very question. I walk across the expanse of the room and head towards the window, opening one of the smaller windows on the side because I need to breathe. If I had known what this mission would cost me, the unearthing of buried regrets, I would never have gone to Redhill in the first place. I would have done what Neville suggested, with Charlie Stagg, and done a dirty.

But the Fortuna Baths treatments have lowered my guard, made me flexible, soft and vulnerable. I stare out, not able to look Kyra in the eye. “My parents neglected me and I was taken away.”

“I’m sorry.”

I sniff. “It turned out well, though. I was adopted by a great couple. They’re who I call my mom and dad.” I struggle to explain, to keep my voice level, because as great as this life is, it’s empty.

“How old were you?”

“Twelve.”

“Oh, Brad.” She stands in front of me and puts her arms around me. “I’m so sorry about your parents.”

We stand like that for the longest time. Looking out, I see lights and the city’s skyline, buildings, long and short, fat and thin, sprinkled with lights, some sparkling like burnished gold. “I didn’t want to lie to you anymore.”

She lifts her head, her eyes darting from one eye to the other, as if she’s trying to read the code, desperate for more answers than I have given her. Then she kisses my chest. I need to hear her voice, but I see that she is letting me take my time. She’s giving me the space to let it out.

She’s a good person. This is why people relate to her. They see the goodness in her, and only a man