Page 25 of Allure of the O'Neal Sisters

“No. We need to meet up. It’s what I wanted to talk to you about last night, but never had the chance.”

“Ryan, you know that you will always have a piece of my heart, but I can’t do this right now. I have too much on my plate, and I have moved on.” Lilly was totally distracted by what was in her hand. It didn’t make sense that her sister would be involved, so what was this paper?

“I know we can make it work, Lill, but that isn’t the reason I have been calling. I’ve waited as long as I could to tell you, but it can’t wait any longer.”

She had forgotten that Ryan wanted to talk about Payton last night and not their relationship. Lilly was taken aback for a second, nearly dumbfounded. She was flustered; why did she always assume he wanted to talk about their relationship?

“What on earth is it?” Her tone was shaper than she meant. In frustration, she crumpled up a piece of paper from a note pad on her desk and threw it toward her closed door. Falling harder than necessary, she purposely dropped back into her chair, shaking her head at herself while she continued to listen to Ryan.

“Can we please meet? I need to tell you this in person.”

“Geez, Ryan.”

“Please, it’s very important.”

Knowing that Ryan rarely exaggerated anything, she knew that whatever he intended to tell her would be worth her time. “Fine. See you in twenty minutes at our old Starbucks.” Lilly put down the file that had her sister’s signature, knowing she really did not have time to meet with Ryan due to her workload. Ryan had left her with no option though, as she knew he would continue to hound her until they met up. Huffing due to the stress load on her plate, she got up to meet him, hoping for a miracle when she returned back to work that her life would become less complicated.

Maybe she should give her sister a call to see what was going on; there had to be some sort of explanation. Her sister was a lot of things, but not a liar, thief or hurtful to anyone intentionally. Deep down she was a good person. On her walk to Starbucks she made a call to Payton. At the end of the second ring it went to voicemail. She began to worry because of the issues she was starting to see and had no idea how they would play out. Knowing that her sister seemed to have a reputation for naïvely getting herself into messes caused her extra concern. Hanging up, she tried again, this time leaving a message.

“Payton, it’s me. Listen, remember that article you told me about? I need to know if you know anything more about that, because…gosh, I need to talk to you. It looks bad on your end. Please pick up.” Lilly had no idea what to say or how much information she should be leaving out. How on God’s earth did her signature even get on there? Why wasn’t it ever questioned?

Maybe she would try one more time. Sure enough, two rings and her answering machine picked up again, forcing her to leave another message. “Payton. Your signature is on some of the Bernard Castle files. I’m not sure why. I’m sure there is an explanation. We need to talk. Don’t freak out—like I am—just call me or get out of town. Just kidding, stay in town. Don’t talk to anyone but me.” Lilly closed her cell phone and entered Starbucks.

As usual, Ryan was early, waiting for her with a cup of coffee on her side of the table. Giving each other a hug hello, they sat down on barstools, looking out onto the street. There was a buzz in the air from all the surrounding conversations. Ryan always had a cute look to him; his hair was gelled back, slightly too much though. It had always been his eyes that caught and held her attention.

“So, what couldn’t wait, Ryan?” Lilly was already on edge. She kept running her hands through her hair and twirling strands of it. Thankfully, there was a coffee cup in front of her to play with as well.

“There are two things I need to tell you. I know I have hurt you and I can’t stand for you to be hurt any more. And here,” Ryan handed her a colored file folder, “this has your sister’s name all over it. It looks pretty incriminating.”

“Yeah, my firm just stumbled across it as well.” Lilly rubbed her forehead as she took a sip of her coffee. “I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation.” Lilly didn’t bother to open up the folder, certain he must have found the same thing she had.

Ryan placed his hand on Lilly’s leg. He loved how she always thought the best of people and found something good in everyone. “Lilly, I wish I could believe like you do. But there is one more piece of evidence I need to show you. I could lose my job by doing this…” Ryan was lost for words and just let his last words hang. It was hard for him to give her the file folder, not because of his job, but because he knew it would hurt her. But she needed to know, especially since her credibility could be affected. He handed her another folder.

Silently, Lilly took the folder and opened it, not knowing what to expect. Immediately upon opening it, her breath caught in her throat. She slouched down on the stool and seemingly lost control of her limbs as the coffee cup shattered to the floor, creating an unbelievable mess. Realizing that Lilly was going to lose it, Ryan helped Lilly off her stool and walked her straight out of the coffee shop. Fresh air would do her good.

After walking a few hundred feet, she finally got her voice back. “Ryan! Stop pulling me. I need to sit for a moment.” Within a split second there was a cab in front of them and Ryan was ushering her into it.

She needed to look at the folder again, to make herself know she was not imagining anything. The first photo was of Jack. The second one was of Payton and Jack talking, they were pretty close together. The next photo was of them kissing. She could only imagine what the other pictures showed, but she couldn’t bear to confirm her worst thoughts. They must have arrived at their destination because the cab stopped as she was still trying to comprehend what the pictures meant. Ryan took her hand, guiding her out of the cab and into a building.

“What the hell is this?” She raised the file folder. “And where the hell are we going?” She was still trying to drag her feet but Ryan was pulling her into an elevator like she was some small child who behaved badly.

“We are going to my apartment so I can be frank about the details of the case.” The elevator chimed and the door opened. Ryan continued to pull her along as they walked out of the elevator toward his apartment while keeping his grip on her arm. Slowly, Lilly began to get her composure back and as she did she began to fight Ryan’s grip on her.

“Ryan, I can walk by myself; you don’t need to drag me.”

Realizing that the shock was wearing off, he let her go and opened his apartment door. The apartment was virtually empty. It had one love seat in the living room area and one small corner table. There were papers and boxes scattered throughout the room. With the file still in her hand, Lilly sat down to look at the photos once again. Lilly felt betrayed, disgusted, used and angry all rolled into one.

“How did you know I was dating Jack?”

Ryan was pacing back and forth in front of her but stopped and looked at her once she finished the question. “Jack? I wasn’t aware you were dating a Jack.” He was confused that Lilly was not as concerned as he was about Payton being photographed and what it could possibly mean.

“So this is not you keeping tabs on me?”

Ryan just stared at Lilly, not understanding where her question was coming from; it didn’t make sense to him. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Ryan continued to stare at her, giving her a look she had never seen before. His eyes were very intent on hers. It was almost like he was hoping she would be able to see the missing piece of the big picture if he continued to look in her eyes long enough. She could tell he was becoming frustrated that they weren’t connecting the same dots about the photos. They used to be able to complete each other’s sentences and now they couldn’t communicate properly.

Pulling out the photo of Jack, she waved it in front of Ryan. “Was this your plot for trying to win me back?”

Watching Lilly as she spoke to him, it seemed to him that she began to look younger and more innocent than ever before. His manly side instantly wanted to shield her from anything bad in order to keep her safe and happy.

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