The Other Side: Chapter Five *Evian*
by OKDeanna
Chapter Five
Eve watched Alistair disappear back into the bushes and trees bordering
her backyard, and only after he was gone did she remember how to breathe.
Part of her wanted to believe he was lying, bluffing his way through in
order to get her to do his bidding. That there was no way her child could
be alive. Not when she held her baby boy in her arms, praying for a miracle
to restart his tiny little lungs and heart.
But that miracle never came.
Yet something in the way Alistair looked at her, spoke to her, froze her
insides, refusing to allow her brain the freedom it needed to deny his claims.
If he was bluffing, he certainly knew how to do it right. Only…
How could her son be alive? She held him in her arms. She grieved over
his lifeless form. Begged God to bring him back. Not to punish her child
for her own wretched sins. In the end, though, all she could do was kiss her
son goodbye, and promise to change her life for good.
And she had changed.
She made a complete transformation from the woman she used to be. While
she would like to say she did it without the help of the Cranes, the truth
was she hadn’t. Alistair was right about that. She owed him her career…and
the reputation she had gained from that career.
She worked hard to get where she was, and she did it by keeping her grades
up and her thoughts away from the past. Her association with the Crane family
ended the day Julian turned his back on her and their unborn child, and she’d
be damned if she let either one of them try to suck her back into that life
now.
For Alistair to try and use her baby’s death against her this way… It
was beyond cruel. Beyond heartless. It was so far gone she couldn’t even
wrap her brain around its meaning.
And yet, deep down, she knew she had no choice. Because even though her
brain said her son’s survival was impossible, her heart had already begun
to hope.
It was the hope that would destroy her in the end, she knew. And still,
she was powerless to stop it. Powerless to do anything but believe Alistair
when he said he would kill her son if she didn’t convince Julian to back
off on whatever he was doing to displease him.
The strong smelling scent of Alistair’s cigar floated to her nostrils,
sending her stomach to her toes and bile to her throat. She barely made it
to the trashcan at the edge of the porch before she lost her dinner, and
had only just righted herself again when Julian’s concerned, frightened face
appeared around the corner of the house.
He took a step forward, his eyes wide and uncertain. “Don’t,” she whispered,
holding up a hand, ignoring the trembling in her voice. “I just…need a minute.”
“I saw my father leave. What did he say to you? What did he tell you?”
Eve focused her eyes on his face, saw the very real terror lurking in
his gaze…and she knew. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she seethed, balling her
hands into fists at her sides. “How could you keep something like this from
me, Julian? I had a right to know. Didn’t you think I had a right know?
My God. He’s my son, Julian. Our son. I had a right to know he was alive!”
“Eve, there is…” he paused, closing the distance between them, “…no proof
that what my father told you is true. I’ve tried to find it, but…there’s
nothing. Not a shred of evidence to back up his claim.”
Meaning Alistair lied to her? Threatened the life of a child that was
already dead? “He wouldn’t have come here on an empty threat,” she responded,
shaking her head. “He has to be telling the truth.”
“Why? Because you want so badly to believe him?”
Julian frowned, his warm fingers pressing into her upper arms. “My father
is an evil, evil man, Eve. I know him better than anyone else possibly could.
I know what he is capable of and… I wouldn’t put it past him to lie to you
about our son. He knows how much I care for you, and he knows I would do
anything to keep you from being hurt.”
But how did he know what Alistair said wasn’t true? “Not all truths have
the proof to back them up, Julian. If your father were as evil as you say,
he wouldn’t think twice about convincing us our son was dead when he wasn’t.
“You didn’t hear him, Julian. You didn’t see the look in his eyes. He
wasn’t lying. I know he wasn’t. I can feel it. Right here,” she said, placing
a hand over her heart. “Our son is alive…and your father will kill him if
you don’t do what he wants.”
Julian dropped his hands and took a step back. “I’m sorry, Eve. But I
don’t believe that. I don’t believe him. He knows I plan to turn him in
to the police. He’s scrambling to find a way to stop me. That’s all.”
“What if that isn’t all?” she asked, swiping a hand across her face, drying
her tears. “What if he isn’t lying, Julian? What if you’re wrong? Are you
really willing to risk our son’s life simply so you can destroy your father’s?”
She watched the tumult of emotions play out across his face. Knew even
before he met her eyes that her words fell on deaf ears…just as they always
had. “You bastard. How can you do this? How can you risk our child’s life
this way?”
“You know my father, Eve. You better than anyone know what he will do
when crossed. He’ll lie, cheat, steal, whatever it takes to get what he
wants. I can’t risk giving into him this time. Not without something, some
concrete proof, to let me know he’s telling the truth.”
Furious with him, with Alistair, and with herself for getting mixed up
with the Cranes all those years ago, Eve slammed her eyelids shut, blocking
Julian from seeing the many emotions warring within her. “I know what you
say is true,” she whispered, her fingernails biting into her palms, secreting
blood. She winced at the raw flesh then forced herself to relax, knowing
her anger over the past, over things they could never change, would not help
her cause.
She pulled in a shaky breath, opening her eyelids, letting him see her
rioting emotions. “I know that Alistair is cold-hearted and ruthless.” She
met his gaze. “But I am begging you not to do this. Please, Julian, don’t
go against your father now. Wait until we know the truth, the real truth.
We can even search for it together.
“I’ll…do whatever you want. Anything you want,” she offered hesitantly.
“Anything you ask. Just, please, don’t do this. Don’t go to the police.
I beg you. Don’t gamble with our son’s life.”
* * * * *
Anything you want. Anything you ask.
For years he waited to hear those words from her.
His Eve.
The one true bright spot in his devilish, youthful past.
And she was there, right there, offering him herself, the one thing he
wanted most in this world. Too bad he couldn’t take her up on it. Be the
selfish pig he’d once been in his youth. Ignore the conscience he nearly
forgot he had.
But he couldn’t be that man again. Not even to share another night with
her.
And yet, he couldn’t turn his back on her fully. Couldn’t deny her request.
He owed her the world. He owed her happiness. Real happiness. The kind of
happiness she could never find with him. The kind that came from being complete,
being whole.
Being free.
More than anything else, he owed her, her freedom. And only the truth
could give her that.
Could their son, their only child, really be alive?
It seemed impossible. Yet Julian knew, where his father was concerned,
anything was possible. So long as it protected the family, caused the most
pain, the most betrayal. If it did that, anything at all would go.
Anything including faking the death of his own grandson.
Julian sighed, forced his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “All right,”
he whispered softly, meeting her hopeful, chocolate eyes with his full gaze.
“I won’t go to the police tonight. I’ll give it more time. See if we can
find anything to prove what Alistair says is true. But, Eve, if we don’t find
anything after a couple of days, I will go to Sam. I will give him everything
I have on my father. Nothing will keep me from that.”
And it wouldn’t. His father had to be stopped. Before any more innocent
lives were destroyed, including the one standing in front of him.