By noon on Monday, Doyle had a new phone. She had already used Kasper's after she returned from her sail to catch up on the news about herself. Pictures of Kasper ushering her into the house were already splashed everywhere. Return of the heiress. Thankfully, no one knew how she was returned. Gray had stayed out of the news, as well as her hospital visit. She needed to stay inside until makeup could hide the bruises.

Kasper insisted on a sleepover. His fans would kill to sleep with him, but she didn't want to. Kasper's fans weren't as scrupleless as the ones who wanted to sleep with rockstars. She had been no different, but she found out it was a huge mistake. Besides, sex was better with the chauffeur. Her belly flipped, remembering gentle Gray.

Each morning, her injured eye opened a little more. The bits of improvement helped boost her spirits, especially when she looked in the mirror. Black and purple turned yellow and green. Stories swirled online about her involvement with the band and the charges against Gio. People made up lies and posted them. Every time she left her room, the house phone rang. Percy kept repeating 'no comment' and 'good day'.

Rock & Roll Magazine contacted her to see if she was okay. It didn't take long before the call changed away from concern for her. "Your assignment was complete. You went back willingly."

She sighed. "Don't worry. I don't blame you."

"Good. Now we'd like to be the first to report your side of the story."

"I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say. There is a criminal investigation." Had she said too much?

Her mind kept going back to the moments she shared with Gray. She had slept with guys and moved on, but everything felt different.

Feeling bored, she wandered into the kitchen for a cup of tea. Mrs. Moran hugged her every time she saw her. "I said the rosary over and over while I cooked. I kept praying and praying."

"I'm sorry I worried you." A sack of flour sat on the counter. "What are you making?"

"Chocolate cake to cheer you up."

"Can I help?"

"I hoped you'd ask. Your brother can cook, but you're talented in the kitchen too."

"It's been awhile."

"Good thing I have the patience of a saint."

Doyle laughed. "Then you should give Kasper some pointers since he's going on that cooking show."

"I'm looking forward to watching him in the kitchen."

"Do you watch him on TV?"

"Of course. He's one of mine. You all are."

Doyle frowned. The Kane staff thought of them as family, but it wasn't the same with Gray. He had said best friend. No one in the Kane family was best friends with their staff. Except Dani, but she wasn't on the domestic staff. Ivy came close with Macintyre, and Baxter did as well with Mrs. Moran. It wasn't the same, and it made her feel bad.

"Here." She thrusted a measuring cup at her. "We need three cups of flour. Do you remember how?"

The lesson came back to her. Don't pack it. Level it with a knife.

They worked together, and Doyle placed the pans in the oven. "We'll work on the frosting after I get lunch set out."

"I might go sit." She felt a slight headache.

"You need to eat a decent lunch."

"Yes, ma'am." She hurried away because her response had a mocking tone.

The parlor was empty, so she sat in a comfortable chair and checked on the latest on the heiress. Gio was out on bail. At least he would get caught if he came near her with the cameras outside.

Her phone buzzed. It was only Tate. "How are you feeling?"

"Hideous. Shouldn't you be working?"

"Baxter let's me take breaks."

Doyle laughed. Their brother had a reputation. "I made a cake."

"Cake. Maybe Jimmy and I will stop by."

Doyle sighed. "Someday you need to tell me what real love feels like."

If Tate visited, would her father take Doyle to see the sunset? Every night, she and Philip walked through the yard and out the back gate to the waiting car. She wore a hoodie just in case someone was lurking. Their private marina protected them from a media ambush on the way to the boat.

Doyle thought about the time she spied on her father. Aubrey picked her up to drive to Marina Bay, a great place for summer nightlife just south of the city. Her dad was getting in the car to meet his friends. Amelia called them his old cronies. Curious about Philip's social life, she asked Aubrey to follow the car. When it pulled up at their marina, Doyle thought he just wanted to be alone, but then she saw Eleanor, who had worked at Kane Properties forever. They waited for the motor to start and the boat to move, it never did. With both Philip and Eleanor underneath, it looked like an empty boat.

Her mother was unhappy about Baxter and Ivy when she should have been upset her husband was meeting another woman. She turned to Aubrey. "I'm not sure I want to go out."

"Come back to my place. I have plenty of experience with cheating parents."

Doyle didn't want to go home, so she sat quietly and Aubrey drove to her loft. Once inside, she held up a bottle of red. "It's cheaper than what you're used to."

Doyle didn't care. She tried hard not to be a wine snob like Baxter "I'm not sure how I feel."

Her mind went back to the upsetting scene when Baxter pointed out their parents weren't affectionate. Doyle had blocked it before, but it was true. They joked about Philip wearing the cross for a decade before he kissed their mother. The obvious conclusion was he kissed someone long before, and Doyle knew who she was. Doyle couldn't imagine a young Philip falling for his secretary, but she wouldn't have predicted Baxter and Ivy. Tate called the cross cursed. Was her father cursed for loving a woman other than his wife? Should she be angry with him or feel sorry for her mother?

Doyle took a sip of her wine. "My mother loves him. If you saw her in the hospital after his heart attack, you would never doubt that. But, and this is a big but, my mother can be hard to love. I have always looked under the 'appearances mean everything Amelia Kane' to find my mother inside. She stayed up all night when I was sick. More than once and with all of us, even when we had a nanny."

"My parents hated each other but they love me. They both had affairs, and it was like living with Hitler and Churchill. It felt like a war zone. I was so glad when my Dad moved out."

Doyle shook her head. "It's not that way in my house. If he doesn't love my mother, he cares for her."

In the parlor waiting for lunch, she jumped when her mother appeared. "Darling, are you alright? Come have lunch."

The dining room was empty. "Where is everyone?" Meaning her father and Kasper.

"Baxter sent Kasper to handle a problem. Your father went to the office. He'll never retire."

"He needs a hobby besides sailing."

"He and his boat. It's his true love."

Doyle froze. "He loves you. Doesn't he?"

Amelia sighed. "I know you and your siblings have all fallen for the lore, but jewelry can't create love. Love is being by someone's side day after day through good times and bad and creating a family. Your father has done all that with me and more."

She could push, especially about her mother's complete disregard for the cross. "Ivy is all those things for Baxter. I want what they have someday."

Amelia frowned. "Darling, aspire to what your sister has with Jimmy. That is a perfect match."

"Thanks to the cross."

"They belonged together even without the cross."

Doyle's chin dropped, but knew better than to say anything. Amelia had rewritten history, because for a decade Tate and Jimmy struggled to get along. Without the cross binding them, they would dislike each other and Doyle would still feel guilty.

Doyle had agreed to her father's plan to fall in love before sealing it with the cross, but first, she would have to stop thinking about Gray.

"I helped Mrs. Moran make a cake. Tate said she and Jimmy might come over."

Amelia smiled. "Our Jimmy does like cake."

Doyle's heart panged. Did Gray like cake? Why couldn't she forget him?

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