If I Lie : Book 2

Epilogue - Monkey's Paw

Eight Years Later, 2040, France

Noah POV

In the place of her birth I had thought I would feel out of place, I can attest to that and confirm that it is anything but out of place. France is home just as much as New York, California and Germany has been if not more. Countryside France has to be a treat to those who can afford or inherit it. She wanted to go back to where she was born to fulfill the American custom of celebrating another year around the sun, her eighteenth birthday, something that is praised here, some strange and sick rite of independence when really it is a mask and that means life becomes just a little bit harder and you become responsible.

Jeannie is celebrating the weight of her responsibility and I am here to celebrate that. She doesn't know I am here, but why should she? I haven't seen her in five long years, I hadn't messaged her and she hadn't messaged me either during her time in boarding school, I couldn't trouble my heart to be in contact with her after how we ended things. Even if she does not want me here, I should give her something. That is the very least I can do, she is my step-sister after all and would it be so bad to come back home? Or one of my homes?

I have to give it to my mother for the renovations she and Aunt Vera made on the house, whatever it was before this couldn't have been anything near as impressive as it is now. The house had been grafted and scaled to accommodate extra rooms, a spa for inside the house, a greenhouse, and a secret passageway. The rest of it was plastered in a new coat of paint and woodsy accents to mirror an ethereal cottage straight from a Monet landscape. Little bridges with koi ponds and all. 

I plop my travel bag onto the bed and take a seat myself. "Mr. Robinson, is there anything I can do for you?" a butler asks me. 

I lift my head in the direction of the butler, he stands in my doorway. He is slender like a dancer, short in stature, and doesn't have a lot of muscle on him but his hips and waist have shape. His face is far more youthful than his body, his lips poke in a perfect pink pout and his brown eyes scan my body, lasering the hairs from my body. He remembers me from last year and our little tryst.

The staff here are here to serve my family and our guests, this is as custom. I want the boy but it would not be appropriate to do that around a time like now, not at my sister's birthday party with staff finishing up decorations and the music coming on. Both my moms are here and Mamo should be arriving with my step-dad any moment with Jean. 

I politely smile at him. "No, thank you, see to it this is put on her nightstand, yes?" I fish a small silk-wrapped box from the pocket of my kilt, waiting for the young butler to come at once to retrieve the gift. 

"Yes, sir," The boy confirms, bowing his head before coming to my side to collect the gift. He takes it and leaves at once, leaving me alone. 

"Oh," I mumble, catching the butler's attention. "One more thing."

"Yes sir?"

"Alert me as to when my mother and her husband are coming, please,"

"They have passed the gate, sir, they will be arriving shortly to gather with the rest of your family."

I know where I want her, even if she ignores me. She won't get the best room in the house, that room belongs to Ashley and Eliza of course although most rooms in the residence still reek of extravagance. Their chambers are above me and the rooms are incredibly decked out. It was a love letter from Eliza to Ashley, she had this mansion remade for a " wealthy cottage-core retreat" or summer house. This is where my parents first met, where my mother painted my mama's face and all the magic happened in the first few days of their relationship. The room I am sitting in now is the same room where Mom rejected Mama when she asked her to be "hers" and then ran away. And now, I have a plan,  a devious one.