“Hi, Grandpa,” I said, my voice rising a few octaves with my nerves. “This isn’t how it looks.” I tried that once again, but his scowl deepened, and it worked no better on him than it did on Eleanor.
“Sit.”
“Yes, Grandpa.” Hurrying across the room on my stiletto heels, I swiped my miniskirt under my butt and sat down, trying, and failing, to look less like a hooker and more like the granddaughter of one of New York’s most influential men.
The silence settled over us and I shrunk under the weight of his stare. When my grandfather used to look at me his cheeks would swell with his smile and those green eyes of his I’d inherited would ignite like I was the light of his life. Now, those emerald orbs appraised me with revulsion and wrinkles formed on his nose while he noted my appearance. This wasn’t the first scolding I’d had in the last two years, but something felt different today.
Serious.
“Cassandra. Look at yourself.”
“I can’t. No mirror,” I joked, but it only caused his face to deepen to a shade of crimson.
“This is no laughing matter, Cassandra!” he shouted, and I pressed back into my chair under the weight of his words. Poppy cowered in my arms and I held her tighter, both of us startled by the force coming out of the man who rarely raised his voice. “Look at yourself! What has become of you?”
“Grandpa, please. If you’ll just let me go get cleaned up, we can sit down and—”
“Go get cleaned up? You shouldn’t need to go get cleaned up! You’re a Davenport! And look at you! You look like a streetwalker!”
His confirmation of how I felt I looked did nothing to ease the discomfort I felt beneath his penetrating gaze. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stay out so late.”
“You never do, Cassandra. Yet, every night. Every. Single. Night. You are out drinking and doing drugs with those hoodlums you’ve gotten yourself trussed up with. The Six-Pack.” He spit out the name of my crew and scoffed as he tossed the morning paper on the desk. It was open to the social page from this morning’s paper and I saw a photo of myself and Liza standing on a bar with a shirtless man sandwiched between us.
“Oh, God.” Pressing my palm to my face, I felt the last of my buzz fade away as cold, grim reality seeped into every cell of my body. My grandpa was staring at a photo of me requiring a censor label to block out my crotch.
“This is what you’ve resorted to? This is the lifestyle you’re living with the money I made from the company I built from the ground up? I didn’t work this hard to have my wealth turn my legacy into nothing but a... a... boozy whore!”
“Grandpa!” I gasped.
“I won’t have it, Cassandra! I won’t watch you destroy yourself for one more day. I’ve sat idly by, hoping and praying you would find your way back to the woman you used to be. But each day I watch you drift farther and farther away. One of these days you’re going to wind up dead, and I won’t sit by any longer as it happens.”
“Grandpa, I know it looks bad. I know I’ve been bad, but I swear I’m done now. I don’t want this life anymore.” I said it and I meant it. Something in me had shifted lately. I knew my current ways weren’t the answer, but I struggled to find my way back out of the abyss and onto solid ground. Maybe, just maybe, this was the final wake-up call I needed to straighten out my life.
“I’ve heard that before!” he shouted and tossed his hands up. “Why should I believe you this time?”
He was right, because I’d said it before. And I’d lied. But this time I meant it. “Grandpa, please. I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry won’t cut it this time. Action will cut it. You were entrusted to me after your parents passed, and they would be horrified to see what you’ve become... what I’ve let you become through faulty indulgence.”
There it was, hanging in the air between us. That weight I’d gained two years ago when they died, the same one I’d shed last night for a while, came crashing back down on me and pummeled me into my chair. Hot tears burned behind my eyes hearing those words... after your parents passed. They would be horrified to see what you’ve become.
“NO tears! Not this time! Crocodile tears won’t work on me now. You’ve shamed yourself and this family for the last time.”
After bringing up my parent’s death, I lost all will to argue back. I sat quietly in the chair while tears slid down my face. Poppy sensed my sorrow and licked my chin before pressing her head against my chest.
“I understand their loss was devastating to you, Cassandra. I do,” he said, his voice softening. “It was devastating to me, too. You lost a father and mother. I lost a son and daughter-in-law. But you went from a straight-A Columbia grad student who lit the world with your light to... to this.” He gestured to the photo of me and I cringed again. “And I allowed it because I didn’t know how to handle you in your grief. But enough is enough. You cannot continue like this.”
“I know, Grandpa,” I whispered, choking on the words as they slid over the lump in my throat.
“I gave your father Davenport Industries when I retired, and you were set to inherit it from him one day when he retired. But he died, and you weren’t ready to take it on then. So, I came out of retirement to run it until you were ready. But you have done nothing to show me that you can take the reins of this company I worked so hard to build, and I wouldn’t dare hand them to you anymore.”
When I opened my mouth to speak, he raised his hand, and the temporary softness in his eyes disappeared.
“No. You don’t get to defend yourself anymore, Cassandra. I’m tired. I want to retire. I was supposed to stay retired, but I didn’t want someone else but my family running our family business. But I know now that isn’t going to happen. It’s time for me to sell the company because you can’t be trusted to run it.”
“Please, Grandpa!” I sat forward, nearly sending Poppy tumbling to the ground, but I caught her before she slid off my lap. “I can do this! I studied so hard to learn how to run the business! Dad spent years showing me the ropes and taking me to meetings with him so I would be ready. I can be ready. I am, Grandpa. I’m ready. All I need is a chance.”
His head shook even while I spoke. “No, Cassandra. You’re not ready. And I’m going to tell you why. Even if we ignore your recent behavior,” he said, waving his hand over my photo again. I wanted to snatch it off the desk and toss it in the garbage. “You have turned into a spoiled, selfish woman. You treat others with no respect. And you have no concept of the real world or what it takes to live in it. My employees are my family and there is no doubt in my mind you don’t have what it takes to understand their needs and see to it they are all protected and cared for. No. You are not ready, and I doubt you ever will be.”
It felt like the world got picked up and turned upside down. Since I was a child, my father would tell me about the day I would take over the company from him. My proudest days involved sitting on his lap behind his desk while he told me all the things I would need to do someday when it was mine. I studied hard through high school so I could get into a good college and learn the skills I needed to not just take over the business but ensure its success. My whole life I’d planned to take the reins, but I was now being told I couldn’t be trusted with them. “I swear, Grandpa. I can do this. Just give me a chance. Please don’t sell the company.”
“I don’t want to see our family legacy sold off, Cassandra. But I need to ensure its survival and the jobs for my employees. It breaks my heart to see my dreams, and your father’s dreams of having you take our place dashed into pieces, but I see no other way.”
With a quivering chin, I struggled for the right thing to say. The right words to convince him, and myself, I could crawl out of this dark hole I’d fallen into. But the words stuck on my tongue while I tried to spit them out.
Because words fell short.
“This is my fault as much as it is yours,” he said. “I spoiled you. Money... my money, spoiled you. You’ve never had to work for a thing in your l
ife. You’ve never had a job, earned your way, or known hardship. When I was your age, I was dirt poor. I grew up never knowing where my next meal was coming from. But with hard work, and loyal employees, I created this empire. An empire that could ensure you, your children and their children will be well taken care of for many generations. But right now, it’s money that’s allowing you to throw your life away. So, starting today, things will be different. If it means saving your life, then I will do what is necessary.”
“What are you saying, Grandpa?”
“I’m cutting you off.”
“What?” The word came out harsher than I’d intended, and his eyebrows rose in a challenge.
“It’s my money that has allowed you to live this way.” His hand swiped over the photo again. Unable to stare at it any longer, I ripped it off the desk and crumbled it up before tossing it on the ground.
“What am I supposed to do?” Panic changed the tone of my voice to a pitch similar to a whining five-year-old. “Please don’t do this. Don’t sell the company. Don’t cut me off. Just give me a chance to prove it to you. Please, Grandpa.” I was begging now, but I didn’t care. The darkness had stripped me of my desire to go after my dreams these past two years since my parents died, but knowing they were being ripped away had me grasping the air desperate to get them back.
“It’s too late, Cassandra. I’ve lost faith in you. You’re not capable.”
“I am, Grandpa! I swear I’m capable!” Sucking back the tears I straightened back up. “I got off track. Yes, I admit it. But you taught my father everything you know, and he taught me everything he knows. I’m the best of both of you. Just let me prove it. Please don’t do this.”
He sucked his cheek between his teeth like he did often when giving a thought careful consideration. Sitting back in his chair, he rubbed a hand across his bald head. “You think you have what it takes?”
“I know I do.” Raising my chin, I gave him my most confident stare, wishing there wasn’t mascara dripping down my face and snarls in my hair to destroy the appearance of a woman capable of taking the reins of a billion-dollar company.
“Then you must prove it.”
“Anything. I will do anything, Grandpa.”
While he stroked his face, I stroked my dog, waiting for his decision. A decision that would alter my entire life.
“If you want to prove to me you have what it takes, then I want to see you out in the world on your own two feet. I want to see you succeed without your name or my money. I want you to get your hands dirty and rise from the ground like I did. To understand the strife of the people you consider below you... the type of people who will one day be your employees and count on you to make decisions that secure their jobs and their income. Their very livelihoods. I want you to live like the other half.”
“Anything, Grandpa. Just tell me what to do.”
Silence settled over us while I struggled to control my breathing and the minutes ticked by. Just when I couldn’t take the suspense any longer, I saw a flash in his eyes and a smile lifted one corner of his lip.
“I know how you can prove it to me.”
“How?”
“You are going to leave New York City and travel to a place where I’m certain no one will know you. You will find a job, pay your bills, and live with people who don’t own private jets and travel in limos. You’ll live amongst good people and hopefully you will come back here with an understanding of how the world really works and with a new appreciation for the life you can have. Should you choose to work for it instead of having it handed to you on a silver platter.”
“I can do that, Grandpa! I swear I can!”
“Good. Then I will make arrangements and you can prove to me you have what it takes, and you aren’t just a spoiled Park Avenue Princess.”
I put my hand up as if taking an oath. “I will. I promise.”
His eyes, a mirror of my own, narrowed into slits. “There will be rules.”
“What kind of rules?”
“You can tell no one who you are.” Leaning forward, he pressed his elbows into the desk and steepled his fingers. “No one. You will not use your name to get any favors. If I find out you told people your name to pave your own way and make things easier, the deal is off.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“You will not tell your friends where you are and get them to help you. The only money you get is the money you earn on your own.”
“Ok. Fine. No friends. No outside money.”
“I mean it, Cassandra. I want you to live like the common man and woman so you might appreciate them more. Don’t think Eleanor didn’t tell me how you treated her. I won’t have you treating people you feel are inferior to you that way again. No one is inferior to you. No one.”
Cringing, I nodded.
“Do you agree to my terms?”
“I do.”
“I’ll be keeping tabs on you. If you so much as take a penny from someone to pay a bill, or call those wretched friends of yours, I’ll know. Then the deal is off, and the company will be sold before you can come crying back with your latest sob story. And you will be cut off completely until you get your parent’s trust when you turn thirty.”
“It won’t come to any of that. I promise I’ll do better, Grandpa. I can do this.”
“You inherited your mother’s incredible looks and your father’s incredible brains. And my eyes.” He smiled at me for the first time and I nearly melted into a puddle seeing the kindness returning. For several agonizing minutes, I’d thought I lost the only person in this lonely world who still loved me. “I’ve had such big dreams for you and seeing you throw your life away is more painful for me than you realize. I know the loss of your parents sucked the wind out of your sails, but it’s time to move on, to fill them back up and move forward. It’s what they would want for you.”
As I bit my lip I nodded, swallowing down the lump in my throat that formed anytime someone mentioned my parents. But he was right, they wouldn’t want this life for me, and I needed to make them proud. “I will make you all proud, Grandpa. I promise.”
“I will pray for your success. I’ll let you know when I have everything organized for your journey.”
“Thank you, Grandpa.” When I tried to rise from my chair, I grimaced as the leather stuck to my bare legs. It peeled off, and I lifted my little brown bundle to my chest and tottered on my heels over to my grandpa. “I love you.”
Leaning down, I kissed him on the head. He caught my hand in his and lifted it to his lips. “I love you more than you could ever know, child. Please know, with everything that I am and all the love that I have, I’m doing this for you.”
“I won’t let you down.”
With a deep breath I left the room and closed the door behind me. Eleanor appraised me with an arched brow, and I pressed my lips into a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, Eleanor. About everything. I will make it up to you all.”
“We just want to see you succeed, Cassandra. That’s all.”
“I know.” Without her permission I pulled her in for a hug and we squished Poppy between us. “I’m sorry, Eleanor,” I whispered in her ear. After a moment I felt her soften and her arms wrapped around my bare shoulders.
“You’re forgiven,” she said, and the squeeze she gave me filled me with the resolve to straighten my life back out. It was time.
“Want to help me pack?” I asked, pulling back and arching a brow.
“Oh, Lord,” she said, shaking her head. “How long are you going away for?”
“I don’t know, Eleanor. Awhile, I think.”
“Well then I better pull out the big bags. And the trunks. And we’d better get the new suitcase we picked up for Princess Poppy out as well!” She slung her arm around my waist, and we walked to my room together as I prepared to pack for my new journey. Hopefully, the journey that would take me toward a future that would make my parents proud.
CHAPTER TWO
Cassandra
The Australian voice from my phone’s GPS chattered away at me. “Turn left.”
“Damn it! Tell me sooner!” I shouted at my phone over the chugging of my Oldsmobile when I passed the turn on the map. Glancing at the phone propped in my lap, I saw the “redirecting” words appear on the screen again. I’d just passed County E and after a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the airport, I was more than ready to get to the summer house my grandpa had arranged for me to stay in. Missing my turns only meant it would take longer, and as a bonified city girl, I was already feeling uneasy driving on these winding country roads.
It had been years since I’d been in a car, much less driven one. Ever since my earliest memory, I’d spent all my time traveling in limos, helicopters and jets. When I’d kissed Grandpa goodbye last night, he’d shoved one hundred dollars in my purse, the only money I was allowed to start this journey. He’d reminded me to say goodbye to my old life and embrace the new changes. I was prepared to give up my limos, but this rusty twenty-five-year-old car, if you could even call it a car, was an even farther stretch from the life I thought would be waiting for me on the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin. If I saw it coming toward me on the street, I would run from it, certain a serial killer lurked inside.
When I had arrived at the Milwaukee airport this morning, a man holding a sign with my name had flagged me in. Expecting him to be my driver, I had hurried over to him and told him where he could find my bags. All he did was hand me a key and a piece of paper with the words “You’re Welcome” and a parking spot number on it before turning away. Left standing at the baggage claim with enough suitcases to clothe a small Army, I had begged a security guard to help me. The two of us had pushed my bags and chests on luggage carts to the far end of the parking lot where this brown, rusted Oldsmobile sat waiting for me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I’d said, checking the piece of paper again.
The Other Half (Door Peninsula Passions Book 1) Page 2
