“I don't. I'm in love with Michael. He asked me to marry him, and I accepted. Our engagement party is in less than an hour. Today should be one of the happiest days of my life. Please don't keep doing this to me. I need you to accept that I'm marrying him, and it's not because he asked first, or he somehow manipulated me. I want to marry Michael because I love him, and he's who I want to spend the rest of my life with. Nothing can compare to what he and I have.”
“How can you even say that? You don't know. We have no idea how incredible we would be together. You won't even let me touch you,” he said.
He took a step closer to her, and Everly withdrew slightly. She watched him rove his eyes over her face and along her neck. His hand lifted and touched her cheek, then stroked back through her thick hair. He let out a long breath.
"You can't tell me you don't feel that," he said.
Suddenly, he turned her around, and his body pressed against her. She could feel each of his breaths rising and falling raggedly against her chest. His face came close to hers, so close, the tip of his nose brushed against her, and she could feel the warmth of his breath. Just as suddenly as it happened, it stopped. He stepped back.
“Don't ever touch me again,” she spit.
"I won't ever stop trying."
He walked away, and she sagged against the counter, willing the tears to stay in her eyes. She would be celebrating her engagement to Michael soon, and she didn't want anything to spoil it. Everly smoothed her hair into place and checked the outfit she chose in the mirror. She walked out of the room, and after a few seconds, heard someone walking up behind her. She whipped around, and a scream tore out of her as hands came for her throat.
Before he could squeeze too tight, the sound of a door shutting catches his attention. “This isn’t over,” he growls in her ear.
She sagged on the step below her. Maybe she wasn’t as safe with Michael as she thought.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Now
"Where did you get your bracelet?" I ask.
Daniel looks at me from his open front door and rolls his eyes.
“Did you get your fill of harassing my brother and so now you've come here to talk fashion with me?” he asks.
“I'm just curious. It's unusual. Where did you get it?”
Daniel looks at his wrist and twists the gold chain around a few times.
“I don't remember. I've had it for years. It's just a bracelet,” he shrugs.
“I don't think so,” I say. “I don't think you've had it for years at all. I think you had it for a few weeks. Just tell me. Did you take it off of Everly, or was it sitting on her dresser?”
“What are you getting at?” Daniel asks.
“It's her bracelet, isn't it? Don't try to lie about it. Payton showed me a picture of the two of them together earlier, and Everly was wearing that bracelet in the picture. I remember I've seen several other pictures of her wearing that bracelet. Now, suddenly you're wearing it.”
Daniel's head falls back, and he shifts uncomfortably. Suddenly he looks at me with an intense look in his eyes.
“I didn't hurt her. I would never do anything to hurt Everly,” he insists.
“Because you loved her,” I say. “Didn't you? It drove you insane every day to watch her with your brother. You wanted her for yourself from the first moment you met her. It was the same night you met her. But he saw her first.”
“No, he didn't,” Daniel says. “I saw her first. We were sitting at a table at the front of the restaurant, and a woman a few tables away was celebrating her birthday. When the kitchen door popped open, and a dozen waiters and waitresses came swarming out to present her cake, I couldn't help but look over. It was a bit of a spectacle. That's when I saw her. She was standing there holding the cake, and the candle lit up her face. I could have sworn she looked over at me. Even for a second. I pointed her out to Michael, and of course, he couldn't let well enough alone. He had to get up and go try to find out more about her. She came back out of the kitchen with a slice of cake, but I saw Michael coming toward her, and I called out to him. She turned to look at me and then ran into him.”
“Do you think he did it on purpose?” I ask.
“I don't know. But I know he brought her over and told her I was trying to get her attention rather than our waitress. He thinks things like that are funny. She was even more beautiful up close. I wanted more than anything to ask her out. I'm the one that pointed her out to Michael, so he had to know I was interested in her. But he swooped right in. I didn't even have a chance.”
“Is that why you acted like you hated her?” I ask.
“I wasn't acting. In a lot of ways, I did hate her. I hated her for being as incredible as she was and not realizing it. I hated her for the way she looked at Michael and the way she didn't look at me. I hated her for her strength and courage to drag herself out of situations she was in when she was younger. That's the type of strength and courage I don't have. I've spent my entire life riding my brother's coattails because he'll let me. When I met Everly, I thought maybe for once, my luck was going to change. She was going to be my bright spot and finally put me in front of my brother. But it didn't happen,” he mutters.
“But you couldn't bring yourself to leave the in-law suite,” I say. “No matter how much you pretended to hate her, no matter how much you say you actually did, you couldn't actually bring yourself to leave. You wanted to be closer to her to still get to interact with her on a regular basis. But it wasn't working the way you wanted it to. So, you started blackmailing your brother.”
Daniel's eyes widen. "How did you know about that?"
"Michael told us. When he was describing what the blackmailer said and the things he threatened, then noticed the bracelet, I figured it had to be you. Everly was deeply embarrassed about her involvement with the cult and what she went through. He wouldn't tell just anybody. But he would tell you, his brother. I'm assuming you used your imagination to fill in a few extra embellishments, so he didn't put it together. He doesn't know it's you. I don't think he needs to know it's you. His blackmailer can just drift off into the ether, and the money can make its way back into your brother's bank account."
"Thank you," he says.
"I just want to know why you would do that. You scared him. You upset him. What was the point?"
"That was the point. I wanted to scare and upset him. I wanted him to get tired of it and decide it wasn't worth dealing with anymore. When Peter died…"
He draws in a trembling breath and hits his head back against the door frame, letting his body slide down to sit on the floor. "When he died, I didn't have anything left. That little boy was my heart. I didn't grow up to be much. Having him around and being able to influence him made me feel like maybe I had another chance. I could still put something good into the world. Then he was gone, and there was nothing left. I had to try with Everly. The morning she died, I gathered up all the evidence about the blackmail and went over to the main house. I knew Michael still hadn't come home because I sent him on another drop. It was breaking my heart to see her that way. I laid it all out for her. I told her how much I loved her and wanted to be with her. Then I told her I had been blackmailing Michael. He hadn't told her and had made no move to stop it. I told her that showed the type of man he was, dishonest and ashamed of her. I told her I would never be ashamed of her and I thought she was the most incredible woman had I ever met."
"But it didn't work," I say.