Truth Untold (Eligible Bachelors #1)

Chapter Fifteen

As soon as they received the message, they had halted all of what they were doing and had come rushing to Alexander's mansion home.

By 2:17 PM on a Saturday afternoon, Vanessa was drawn out to the mansion foyer by the incessant ringing of the doorbell. Mary and Rhoda were busy in the kitchen, preparing a lunch under strict orders from their employer who seemed to have vanished into thin air even though he had just returned home from a few errands in the city.

With a frown, Vanessa opened the door to find an anxious looking Sean and Renee Roche on the other side. Behind them, immediately following, was their daughter, Tomi, who wore an expression that matched her parents'.

"Vanessa, my dear girl," Renee rushed, pulling her into a frantic hug. "Where is he? Where is Alexander? Is he alright? We received your message, and we rushed over as quickly as humanly possible."

She was incredibly confused, looking at them with wide eyes and her jaw slightly ajar. She most definitely had not sent them any message regarding Alexander, and the last she saw him, he was quite fine, disappearing into his home office with Carson in tow. The two men had been engrossed in whatever they were speaking about that neither had acknowledged her presence, let alone taken notice of her even as the three of them had passed by each other in the hallway.

"Sweetie?" Renee called, trying to recapture her daughter-in-law's attention and find out what had happened with her son. Behind her, Tomi and Sean exchanged brief, knowing glances, realizing that they had been conned into coming here. They realized that Vanessa was as clueless – if not more so – as they were.

The group became doubly perplexed when Royce Banning and Lyn Tatsumi came barging in right after, meeting them in the foyer, and Royce was being followed by a tiny old man wearing an old-fashioned suit and a hat on his head. He wore circular framed glasses, carried a brown leather bag, and greeted them with a warm smile.

"Van, you are okay?" Royce exclaimed in question, coming forward and taking her by the shoulders, checking her arms and face for what – that she had no idea. But he seemed as frazzled and anxious as her husband's family had been moments ago.

"What?" she whispered in bewilderment. Lyn was first to answer, crossing her arms over her chest, the first between the two friends to realize something was fishy here.

"He got a message from Alexander stating you met with an accident and were here at home. Royce called me as soon as he heard," she explained, her eyes going up and down Vanessa's perfectly healthy figure dressed casually in a maroon vest with stylish golden chains, and dark jeans. "But obviously, you're not hurt," she mused.

Vanessa was about to blow a gasket when Sean and Renee finally took notice the little old man hovering at the doorway. Sean was first to acknowledge the man. "Mr. Bramble? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, so you know him?" Royce said. "I was wondering why this tiny old man kept following me, and the security guard left him alone. Who is he?"

"Our family attorney," Sean supplied prompting Mr. Bramble to step forward. The old man tipped his hat in greeting, then took it off.

He said, "The young Mr. Roche contacted me earlier in the week. We arranged to meet here concerning a request he had of me." Mr. Bramble indicated the brown leather bag to mean that this was official, legal business.

Confused looks all around, puzzled conversations sprang out of nowhere, increasing tenfold when the Steins suddenly arrived as well, with Scott barrelling through the front door, his eyes crazed, and he panted as though he'd just run a mile.