Page 16 of Single Mom’s Undoing (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems #1)

JACE

“ N o.”

That’s all Clara is able to say. The color has drained from her face. Her lips quiver and her eyes widen with horror. I cannot for the life of me understand where it’s coming from, but it manifests on a visceral level.

She is terrified, barely able to breathe.

“Clara, what’s wrong?” I ask, drawing Carter and Damon’s attention to the sudden shift.

“Are you okay?” Carter turns to look at her.

Clara just shakes her head as she puts her clothes back on with trembling hands, mumbling something I can’t quite make out.

“Where is Bill?” Damon asks Carter.

“Downstairs; he’s waiting for me.”

“I can’t be here,” Clara manages, stumbling as she slips her shoes back on .

I catch her, but she’s quickly startled and jumps away from me as if my hands were red-hot iron rods. “Clara, talk to us, what’s going on?”

“I can’t be here, I need…I need to get out.”

This doesn’t make sense. As I go over her history with Blackthorn Falls, I can’t find any memory of her and Bill Lockwood that would inspire such dread, such a palpable sense of danger. Yet she’s exhibiting all the signs of trauma. She cannot be reasoned with right now.

“I don’t understand,” Damon says. He, too, tries to comfort her, to hold her close, but she only pushes him away.

“You never will. I need to get out of here.”

As if guided by a remote control, she gives each of us a look—the kind of look that feels final, a muted promise that it’s the last time we’ll see each other. She grabs her phone and bolts out of the office.

“Carter, leave her,” I tell him as he’s about to go after her.

“What the hell just happened?” he asks me.

I watch helplessly as Clara darts through the hallway, headed for the western wing. I’ll be right behind her in just a second—I promised Carter we wouldn’t let her run off again, just as I promised Clara she’d always be safe with us.

“What does my father have to do with any of this?” Carter asks, clearly beginning to realize why Clara is running.

Damon shakes his head slowly. “There’s obviously a story that Clara needs to tell us, but in the meantime, you need to keep the old man busy. I’ll be right by your side. I know how your conversations tend to turn into shouting matches. ”

“I’ll stay close to Clara,” I tell them.

“You do that, because she’s still itching to skip town despite her promise,” Carter warns me.

“Whatever you talk about with your father, don’t mention her,” I reply.

“Didn’t even cross my mind. Go, Jace. Keep her safe.”

I give him and Damon a curt nod, then go after Clara. Given the heels she was wearing and the state of panic she was in, she couldn’t have gotten far. A thousand theories rumble through my head as I try to make sense of everything that just happened between us.

We were off to a good start, picking up where we left off. Hell, we were able to pull her away from the edge when she tried to resign.

Then Bill Lockwood’s name came up, and poof!

“Clara!” I call her name as soon as I see her rushing through the upper-floor corridor that cuts directly along the west wing of the mansion.

She briefly glances back but keeps moving, heels clicking across the marble. I have no choice but to run after her, and when I catch her by the arm, she whimpers and pulls herself out of my grip, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“You’re safe here,” I say to her in a soothing voice. There’s a sense of urgency that has begun to rub off on me as I look at her. “Clara, take a deep breath.”

“No, I’m not safe here. I’m not safe in Blackthorn Falls at all,” she cries out. “Not anymore. ”

“Listen; listen to me,” I take her firmly by both arms and hold her against the wall. Some of our staff members walk past, giving us concerned looks. I respond with stern nods, a silent order to keep walking. “Clara, look at me.”

“I can’t. I need to get out of here.”

“CLARA!”

Finally, she stills. Her beautiful green eyes wide and sparkling with tears.

“Carter and Damon are with Bill as we speak,” I say. “I’m here with you. You are safe. He doesn’t know you’re here. alright?”

She nods slowly. “I need to get out of this place, Jace.”

“I will personally escort you back to the cabin,” I tell her. “I assume Jodie’s with Matty there, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, but first, you and I need to talk.”

“I can’t, Jace. You don’t understand.”

“Then make me!”

Again, she freezes, a conflict brewing behind her pained expression. “You’ll never forgive me.”

“Try me, Clara. I forgave you for bailing on us. I forgave your absence when we buried your brother. I forgave a lot, and I promise, I’ve got room for more forgiveness where you’re concerned, but you need to calm down and tell me the whole truth for once.”

“It’s awful.”

“Please, Clara. Trust me, just like I trust you. ”

It takes a few more seconds of her considering her options before she gives me a slight nod. A moment later, we’re walking through the west wing, headed for the service stairs leading down to the training grounds.

My phone pings. A message from Carter. “They’re in Carter’s office, now. You’re clear. Now, tell me what’s going on.”

“What I’m about to tell you will destroy Carter.”

“What are you talking about?”

She tears up again, but she blinks it all back and takes another deep breath. “Stephan was having an affair with Margot.”

The words land like bombs on the serene surface of a lake.

Instead of clarity, I am suddenly faced with multiple dots that lack crucial connections, and in the middle of it all stands Clara, fearing for her life.

“Your brother was sleeping with Margot?” I ask, hoping to get her to elaborate.

“They were on and off for years,” she says.

“A few months before he died, I found out about it, and I confronted Stephan. He told me they were in love and that Margot was going to eventually leave Emmanuel. He said the whole marriage was a setup for Bill Lockwood to get Emmanuel’s side of the family involved in his corporation, that she had a few things to take care of before she could divorce him. ”

“Was Margot really going to leave her husband for Stephan?”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t think so.

I’ve never trusted her. Anyway, all that secrecy, the guilt, it ate away at Stephan.

Their entire relationship was toxic, and it hurt him deeply.

Hence the drinking, the sleepless nights.

He couldn’t bring himself to tell Carter or any of you, for that matter. He was ashamed.”

I give her a troubled look. “That could certainly explain his depression.”

“My brother wasn’t depressed,” she snaps, anger reverberating from her voice.

“He was fine. I mean, he was angry and frustrated, but he wanted to live, Jace, and we argued so much about Margot so many times. I kept pushing him to do the right thing, to end things with her before Emmanuel or Bill found out. They’re powerful people, Jace… ”

Her voice trails off. I cup her face in my hands and plant a kiss on her forehead to soothe her.

“Talk to me, Clara. Tell me everything.”

“They found out,” she shudders and lowers her gaze.

“Stephan had just ended it with Margot two days before he died. He came to me and said he’d finally done it.

He was proud of himself, apologetic toward me, and determined to move on with his life.

Stephan said he asked Margot all the right questions.

He didn’t like her answers, and he understood that she was never going to get a divorce, so he broke up with her. ”

“How did Bill and Emmanuel find out?”

“I don’t know when they learned about the affair, but they…

” Clara pauses and closes her eyes for a moment.

“That night, Stephan and I were supposed to meet at Mondy’s Diner to help him figure out a way forward.

I was waiting in our usual booth by the window, and I saw him pull into the parking lot .

“But he didn’t get out of the car. I watched him for maybe a minute. I don’t know what he was thinking, why he hesitated. He drove back out and headed toward Samwell Bridge.”

There’s so much we didn’t know about Stephan, our best friend, our brother-in-arms. It hurts to learn that he didn’t trust us enough to tell us about Margot. Hell, Carter would’ve understood. He probably would’ve clocked him for the transgression, but they would’ve shaken hands five minutes later.

“What happened next?” I ask.

“I ran out to my car and followed him. I was sure he’d gotten a text from Margot, because Stephan would’ve never stood me up like that otherwise. He was a good brother.”

“Oh, I know, and a good friend.”

“I went after him, and I saw him pull up at the bridge,” Clara says, her tone wavering.

She’s choked up and having a hard time keeping it together, so I place my hands on her arms, gently squeezing to help her stay focused.

“They were waiting for him. It had just started raining. Barely a soul around. No other cars.”

“Who was waiting for him?”

“Bill and Emmanuel.”

“Was Margot there?” My blood runs cold as I ask the question.

Clara shakes her head. “I didn’t see her. I pulled over behind a bush on the edge of the road, keeping my distance so they wouldn’t spot me. Jace, I had a bad feeling about it. I just didn’t know what to do. I’d heard the rumors about Bill, about how ruthless and dirty he could be.”

“It’s why we decided that going into private security would keep all of us away from any fallout from Bill’s unsavory endeavors,” I tell her.

She nods, then continues. “As soon as my brother got out of the car, they got out of theirs. Bill stayed back, but Emmanuel confronted Stephan. They argued. I heard Margot’s name get tossed around a few times.”

“Where were you again?”

“Hiding behind a sycamore tree, less than fifty yards away. I could hear them, Jace. I heard every damn word. Stephan kept apologizing, saying he’d ended it, that it was over. Emmanuel kept cussing and threatening him, and then he said something about hurting me, and that pissed Stephan off.”

“What did Stephan do?”