One Hot Secret by Sarah J. Brooks

Chapter 38

Kyle

Adrian had told me earlier that his ranch is three thousand acres, and now as we ride our horses through rolling hills, I’m in awe. It’s a paradise. Everywhere I look, as far as the eye can see, is part of the ranch. Talk about privacy. I get it now why he rarely leaves. He doesn’t need to. He has everything he needs right here.

The only thing missing for me is Grace. I wish she were here to experience this wonderland with me.

“What the hell is that?” Adrian riding beside me, says.

I slow my horse to a trot, and that’s when I hear the buzz of a helicopter. I stop my horse and use my hand as a shade to look up at the sky. The noise grows deafening as it flies dangerously low. As it gets closer, I see a man hanging out the helicopter door with a camera.

“What the fuck …”

“Let’s go,” Adrian shouts, and we turn our horses around and gallop back toward the ranch house.

The horses are no match for the helicopter, and it easily flies above us. Total madness. How did they know I was here? Or even the relationship between Adrian and me? It takes us ten minutes to reach the ranch house, and when we get to the vicinity, the helicopter turns around and flies off. I guess they have all the pictures they need.

“Unbelievable!” Adrian says when the noise of the helicopter fades away. “Any idea what that was all about?”

“I think they found out about us, but how? The only people who know that I’m here are my mother, girlfriend, and my people who are more secretive than the CIA.”

“Let’s go in. I think I hear another buzz,” Adrian says.

His hearing is superb. I hear nothing until one of his ranch workers comes and takes our horses. There’s definitely another helicopter headed this way. I’m disappointed at the interruption but also glad that we had all of yesterday and half of today to get to know each other.

Inside the sprawling ranch house, I excuse myself to get my phone. I have countless missed calls, most of which are from Sebastian. I call him back.

“They know,” he says grimly. “And before you ask, I have no idea how.”

“They were bound to figure it out anyway,” I tell him. “Have you been to the house? How is Grace holding up?” I’d told her that I wouldn’t pester her with calls. She needed to focus on her work.

“I haven’t been, but Chris has, and she’s okay,” Sebastian says. “About Grace. There have been stories about her in the press as well. They know who her parents were, but that’s not the big story.”

“Fuck.” Why didn’t she call me or even text me? That’s the one thing that has been a nightmare for us. “What do you mean?”

“Apparently, she’s in a lot of debt, and apparently, she’s almost bankrupt,” Sebastian says.

I’m stunned. “She never said anything to me.” My heart pounds so hard I can feel it in my ears.

My thoughts are all jumbled up, but the one thing that’s constant is Grace’s face. I see her laughing and when she’s serious. I see the love in her eyes when she looks at me. How could she have loved me and kept such an important thing from me? Why would she? I could have easily helped her get out of debt. All it would have taken was a check that would not make even the slightest dent in my finances.

A memory comes to me. That word debt. Someone else used it as an excuse. A heaviness comes over me. My ex. That was her excuse for selling me out to the tabloids. I shake away those memories.

It’s different with Grace. She’s an artist who is soon going to be very big.

“Pride.”

I come back to the present when I realize that Sebastian is talking.

“Plus, what would she have accomplished by telling you?” he says. “What she needed was a way to get out of debt.”

“I would have helped her out,” I snap.

“She doesn’t know that,” Sebastian says. “There was only one way for her to clear her debt.”

I shake my head violently when I see where Sebastian is going with this. “No, not Grace. I trust her.” My tone is not as firm as I’d like it to be.

“Who knew about your father?” Sebastian continues. When I don’t respond, he continues speaking. “I think Grace is awesome too, and I trusted her, but the fact that she didn’t tell you about her debts has raised the red flag for me. That says a lot.”

We talk for a few more minutes, but I realize that we’re going around in circles. I say goodbye and go in search of Adrian. I’d planned to drive back home in the evening, but I have to leave sooner. I desperately need to see and talk to Grace.

Adrian is in the living room watching the news. The footage of us riding our horses fills the screen. When he sees me, he mutes the TV.

“They’re vultures,” he says.

“That they are.” I’m not concerned about the news on TV. I don’t care if the whole world knows that Adrian Martin is my biological father. All I care about is Grace. My whole body is tense, and I feel as if my entire life is on the verge of falling apart.

“It’s not that bad that they know I’m your father, is it?” Adrian says, searching my face.

I sit down opposite him. “Not at all. I’m proud that you’re my father.”

His face creases into a smile. “I’m proud too that you’re my son.” He grows serious. “So, if it’s not that, what is it?”

I tell him everything that Sebastian told me. I’m normally a private guy, but Adrian has a solidity in him that makes me trust him implicitly. He is the one person who doesn’t need anything from me except friendship.

He has had a successful career, and he’s still living his best life. I’m grateful to have him in my life, especially now when I need someone not involved to unload on. He listens without speaking until I’m finished.

“It’s a shame what this career of ours does to us and to the people we love and trust,” he says.

I nod. “Just this morning, if you’d have asked me how much I trust Grace, I would have said a hundred percent. Now, I’m not so sure. I don’t even know what to think anymore.”

“What has changed?” he says.

“The information about her debt. Why didn’t she tell me about it? That doesn’t make sense. If you’re in a serious relationship with someone, you tell them such things.”

“You’re assuming a lot of things,” he says.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Number one, you don’t know whether it’s true, and number two, people are different. It’s possible she wasn’t comfortable sharing that information with you.”

“It’s also possible that she sold that story to the tabloids?” I say.

Adrian. “That is also possible. The only way to resolve this is to talk to her.”

I nod grimly. That is one conversation that I’m not looking forward to, but if Grace and I are to have a future, we have to talk about it.

***

I’m sweating buckets as I get out of the car. I was pleasantly surprised to see there were no paparazzi outside my gate. They are probably still milling around Adrian’s home.

I take a deep breath and enter the house. As I shut the door, Grace appears from the other end of the foyer. Her face is drawn and pale.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi.” My tone is cold, but it’s a conscious decision, not a defensive one. I try to imagine Grace accepting a check from a tabloid magazine. Pain rumbles through my chest.

“Our secrets are out,” Grace says. “I’m sorry they found out about your father.”

“Yes. I spoke to Sebastian,” I tell her, carefully watching her face for a reaction. “He told me about your debts.”

She doesn’t say anything and merely stares at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me; I could have helped you out,” I say, anguish in my voice.

She looks at me curiously. “What exactly did Sebastian tell you?”

“He told me what the media were saying. That you’re so much in debt, you’re almost bankrupt.” I inhale deeply. “I know how it feels to be squeezed into a corner. A person would do anything to get out of debt. Including betraying someone they love.”

She contemplates me without moving. “Correct me if I’m wrong. Are you suggesting that I had something to do with the press finding out about your biological father?”

“Did you?” I ask her. I need her to say no so badly. I need it to come from her mouth that she didn’t betray me.

Instead, her shoulders slump as if defeated. “I’ll get my things and move out. Kindly have someone bring the rest for me later.”

And that is my answer. Icy pain freezes my limbs. Every part of me aches as I watch her turn around and trudge up the stairs. I wait until I hear the banging of the door, and then I go into the living room. I go to the window that looks out.

Five minutes later, I see her emerge from the house lugging her paintings. Everything in me wants to beg her to stay. To say that she’s sorry and she made a terrible mistake. But you can’t ask someone to say sorry; it has to come from them.

She makes several trips. The last thing she carries is a bag with her clothes. She looks up at the master bedroom and then gets in her car and drives off. I stare until the car disappears out the gate.

Numbly, I go into the kitchen and find Maria pacing.

She sees me and stops. “What’s going on? Grace has left.”

“I know. I’d appreciate some coffee.”

“Yes, of course.” She throws glances my way as she makes the coffee. When she’s done, she places it on the island in front of me. I know she’s waiting for me to say something.

Grace had that effect on everyone. Everyone liked her.

“There are not a lot of people who can cope with the temptations that come with this lifestyle,” I say.

Maria narrows her eyes. “Grace seemed okay with it.”

I decide to be straight with Maria. We’ve been through a lot together, and she and Carlos are my family. “Someone sold the story of Adrian Martin being my father, and I can count on one hand the people who knew about it.”

“Emily messed you up, Kyle,” Maria says. “She made you think all women are looking to make a quick buck, and that simply isn’t true. I’ve spent a lot of time with Grace. She’s not that type. I trust my instincts, and from the moment I met her, I knew she was the good sort.”

I wish I, too, could trust Maria’s instincts, but she doesn’t know the things I know. Like your own parents can sell you out for money. What would stop a girlfriend?