Finding Ronan’s Heart by Melanie Moreland

Chapter Fourteen

Ronan

Tuesday afternoon, I was restless. Edgy. I hadn’t seen Beth since Sunday, and although I spoke with her, I missed her. It felt strange to miss someone—my family was always so close, it was a rare feeling. It was different from the cut-off feeling of missing my brothers. This was more an ache—a longing. I felt incomplete in a way I had never experienced until now. It shocked me to realize, in the short time I had known Beth, how important she had become to me. I was falling for her quickly. I shook my head at my internal thoughts. I had already fallen for her.

A knock at my door broke through my musings, and I looked up, surprised to see my elder brother, Liam. He waited for me to invite him in, and I waved to the chairs in front of my desk.

“Hey, stranger.”

He walked in and sat down heavily. He was tall—in fact, he was an inch taller than me. We shared the same dark hair and similar features, but his eyes were a brilliant hazel that glittered under the lights. And he was built, as our mom would say, like a “brick shithouse.” Solid. Massive shoulders, a barrel chest, and a thick waist. Heavy legs. Large hands and feet. He preferred a short beard. Plaid shirts and jeans. His skin was tanned from all the time he spent outdoors. When you first met him, you might step back at his sheer size, worried about the type of man he was.

But his eyes showed his true nature. Gentle and kind. He had a low voice, and he was quieter than some of us. Namely, my two other brothers. He loved anything to do with the outdoors, plants, and nature. Seeing him in the setting of the office was unusual, and he looked as uncomfortable as I was with him sitting across from me.

He smiled, the similarity between us evident. We looked like my dad, but we all inherited our mother’s smile. When we were little, our dad called us his sunbeams. His nickname for my mom was “Sunshine” and he always said she beamed when she smiled, and we took after her.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I was meeting with Bent. He wants a new garden at the Towers. He never liked the landscaping they did, and he wants me to redesign and change it.” He rubbed a hand over his beard. “I need to figure out how to move some things and save them.”

Liam always saved everything he could. The grounds at the compound were home to many transplants. He constantly worked on the gardens, and every season they were spectacular.

“So, you just dropped by?” I asked, knowing full well why he was here. He and Ava were close, and I had no doubt she shared with him what was going on.

He grinned widely, his eyes crinkling. “Something like that.” He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head, the muscles stretching the fabric tight over his biceps. The chair creaked under his weight.

“I hear you got yourself in a bit of a pickle there, little bro.”

“Our sister has a big mouth.” I scowled.

He shook his head. “Nope. She’s concerned.”

“There is no reason for her to be.”

He regarded me in silence, stroking his beard. “Let’s see,” he said quietly. “You’ve met a girl you’ve got strong feelings for who has a whole lotta baggage—”

I leaned forward, almost snarling. “Evan is not baggage.”

He lifted one eyebrow, and I sat back, muttering, “He’s a good kid.”

“Again, I’ll say, strong feelings not only for her, but her kid brother. You’re keeping it to yourself because you don’t want to share yet—which, by the way, I understand. But the confusing part to me is that you haven’t been honest with her about us. Your family. I don’t understand how you think this is not going to blow up in your face?” He frowned. “Frankly, you’re going to hurt a lot of people, Ronan. I’m surprised you can’t see that.”

I sighed and scrubbed my face.

“I didn’t mean to hide my family or who I am,” I confessed. “It was just nice to be liked for me for a change. Just me. It felt good to be Ronan.” I sighed.

“So basically, it’s not that you didn’t want her to meet us, but rather us meet her? You wanted to keep her to yourself for a while?”

“Yes,” I said. “In a nutshell.”

“Better ways of handling it, my brother. That skank you were seeing really messed you up, didn’t she?”

I didn’t answer, and he reached behind him and shut the door. “You never told me what she did. I want to know.”

I knew he was serious and wouldn’t leave until I told him.

“I met her at a fund raiser I went to with Dad. She was gorgeous, funny, and sexy.”

“Until you got to know her,” Liam stated.

“I know none of you liked her.” I laughed dryly. “That should have been my first clue. I thought you were all wrong. I thought Paul and Jeremy were jealous.”

“She was an expert manipulator.”

“I figured that out too late. I only saw what she wanted me to see. I thought I had found the one.”

“What happened, Ronan? It seemed one day you were together, then suddenly you broke up, and you retreated and hid away.”

“I found out everything she told me was a lie. She was using me. Using our family name. She wanted my connections and my money, not me. I believe her words were ‘I don’t even like you. You’re too much. Too loud. Too—too everything. Embarrassing.’”

“I’d take that from the dubious source it came from and forget it.”

I nodded in silence.

“Did this have something to do with Dave?”

Dave Meadows had been a friend all through university. He’d hung out with the three of us triplets, but he and I were close. He’d known how I’d felt about Loni.

Finding them in bed together had been the biggest betrayal of the entire fucked-up situation.

I didn’t meet Liam’s eyes. “Turns out, he wasn’t as good a friend as I thought either. He liked and hated the fact that I came from money. Liked it because I was generous and he took advantage of that fact, and hated it because he resented me for it. He and Loni planned and schemed behind my back.” I laughed again, the sound bitter. “Loni planned on my bankrolling her business idea. Dave would ride along on her coattails. They’d suck me dry and disappear.”

“How did you find out?”

“She was at my place all the time—we were basically living together. Loni couldn’t find her bank card one morning, and I was running late. I gave her mine and told her to take what she needed. She gave it back and paid me the hundred bucks a day later. I tucked the cash and the card into the drawer and never thought about it again. I always use my credit card, rarely the debit since I like the cash back thing.”

“We all do.” Liam chuckled. “Dad drummed that into our heads. ‘Free money,’ he’d say.”

I nodded. “A couple weeks later, I got a call from the bank manager, saying he’d been trying to get a hold of me. There was some weird activity on my account. A lot of cash withdrawals. He told me he’d left several voice mails and left messages with my wife. I told him I didn’t have a wife. Loni had been deleting the voice mails at home and intercepting the calls.” I sucked in a deep breath. “She had the password to the account and changed my cell phone number in my profile so I wouldn’t get the calls. He’d gone a step further and called the office to speak directly to me.”

“What a bitch,” Liam snarled.

I lifted one shoulder. “I went to the condo and found her in bed with Dave. We had a huge fight, and it all came out. Her plans. Her scathing opinion of me. How useless I really was. Dave called me a few choice names.”

“What did you do?”

“I punched him, threw her out, and filed charges.”

“You never said a word.”

I met his puzzled gaze. “I was embarrassed.”

“You had no reason to be.”

“My supposed best friend and the woman I thought I loved both hated me. Only wanted me for my money and my connections. Stole from me. And I never noticed.”

“As you say, you were in love.”

“No, I was in lust. And stupid.”

“What happened to the charges?”

“She paid back some of the money and left town. So did Dave. I dropped the charges. I wasn’t going to get money out of a stone, and I just wanted to move past it.”

“She might do it again.”

“Ah, well, I did tell one person about what happened. At least part of it.”

“Who?”

“Reid. He hacked in to her personal profile and is still tracking her in the background.”

“I see.”

“She’s working at a casino in Alberta. Alone. I have no idea where Dave is, and I don’t care. Without me, they had nothing together.”

“I’m sorry you went through that. I’m even more sorry that you never told us, and that you went through that alone.” He shook his head. “Don’t ever do that again, do you understand? We all love you, Ronan. We’re here. For you. You need to understand that.” He jabbed the top of the desk with his finger. “Never again.”

I was surprised by his vehemence. “Got it.”

He was quiet.

“So, by not telling Beth who you are, you felt what—protected? You were making sure she wasn’t like Loni?”

“To be honest, I never compared them. Beth is so different. But I liked just being Ronan with her.” I stared at the top of my desk, the plans covering the surface, files open and waiting for my attention. “But you’re right. I have to tell her and hope she’ll understand and forgive me. And then I’ll bring her out to meet Mom and Dad if she does.” I paused. “Just Mom and Dad and my siblings. I don’t want to scare her.”

He smiled wide, his eyes crinkling. “I can understand. But you need to do it soon.”

“I will. This weekend.”

“Ronan,” he began. “I know you feel a responsibility toward Paul and Jeremy. You’ve always been the watcher. The peacemaker. I know how often you put aside your own wants and likes for them. Ava sees it, so do I.” He paused. “Mom and Dad see it as well—to a point. But I know. It’s okay for you to have something they don’t. To keep part of your life just for you. We all need that. But don’t hide who you are because of what that woman did. She was the exception, not the rule.” He met my eyes. “You deserve to be happy. If Beth makes you happy, grab it.”

“She does. I feel differently when I’m with her.”

“Then later we’re going to sit down and you’re going to tell me all about her. Deal?”

The thought of sharing my feelings about Beth made me smile. “Yeah, deal.”

He stood. “And remember, I’m here if you need me. Anytime.”

“Thanks, Liam. But I’m still giving Ava shit for telling you.”

“You do what you gotta do, little bro. Piss her off, though, and you’ll end up in a headlock faster than you can blink.”

I laughed, knowing he was right. Our sister was strong, and she didn’t take any shit. Especially from us. I’d have to tell her off across the table so I could run if I had to.

“Okay, enough brother talk for now. I think it’s cake time.”

“Cake?” I asked.

He nodded. “Bent ordered a couple of those cakes you’ve been getting. It’s Wanda’s birthday in accounting. We’re having them in the boardroom upstairs at BAM. He invited me to stay, and who am I to turn down cake?”

That was news, but I was pleased. It meant extra money for Beth. We walked out of the office, meeting up with Paul and Jeremy and my dad. He grinned, throwing his arms open wide.

“Me and my boys!” He clapped Liam on the shoulder. “I didn’t know you were here!”

“I was talking to Bent, then came to see Ronan.”

Dad frowned. “Everything okay?” he asked, his eyes darting between us.

“Everything is good,” Liam assured him. “I hear there’s cake upstairs.”

“The best cake in the world,” I added.

“It’s pretty damn awesome,” Dad agreed.

Paul pushed the elevator button, and we stepped in.

“Hope this can hold us all,” Liam quipped.

“No one move,” Paul deadpanned, pushing Jeremy. Jeremy, in turn, jostled Liam, who pulled at me good-naturedly. We were all laughing as we filed out of the elevator, my dad leading the way.

I stopped laughing at the sudden sound of a startled gasp. It was familiar, and I turned my head, meeting the dark, shocked eyes of Beth. She stared at us, realization dawning on her face. She paled as the secret I’d been hiding unfolded in front of her. She whispered my name, her breathing harsh.

“Ronan?”

I stepped toward her, knowing it was too late. “Beth,” I pleaded quietly. “I can explain.”

She looked around, her eyes widening more as they landed on the picture on the wall of Bentley Ridge, Aiden Callaghan, and Maddox Riley. BAM. Her gaze flew to my dad, who was watching us closely, and she instantly saw the connection.

I moved closer. “Please,” I murmured, holding out my hand. “Come with me.”

She shook her head, pressing the elevator button repeatedly.

“Don’t.” I stepped closer.

Her hand flew up, and I stopped.

She got in the elevator, her expression devastated. Her tormented eyes, filled with tears, tears I had caused, were the last thing I saw before the doors closed.

I hung my head, defeated.

I had left it too late, and now I had lost her.