What Belongs to Her (Harlequin Superromance)

by Rachel Brimble

  Kyle was dying, but for now, he was alive and still playing games.

  Second by second ticked by as John’s heart hammered with resentment and his mind rushed with questions and demands.

  Sasha shifted in her chair. “Well, I can’t say this is the most touching of reunions.”

  John continued to stare at Kyle. Hell would freeze over before he spoke first. Kyle owed him this. He owed him opening their first conversation in twenty years. At last, his father blinked and faced Sasha. “How are you, my dear?”

  John tightened his fists under the table, relishing the feel of his nails digging into the flesh. The man might as well have punched him in the gut. Was he dismissing him? He’d agreed to this meeting and now chose to dismiss him and torment Sasha instead? Irritation turned to anger as John waited for Sasha to answer. Sooner or later it would be John’s turn to speak, and God only knew what accusations and hatred would spew from his tongue.

  “I’m surprised you have to ask me that.” Sasha cleared her throat and leaned her elbows on the table. “Surely you know Funland still isn’t mine. I’m also pretty confident you know Freddy is doing whatever the hell he can to get John into the cell next to yours.”

  Kyle’s smile faltered. “What are you talking about?”

  Sasha lifted her shoulders. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s not going to happen. He’s sitting in Templeton Police Station as we speak, having planted cocaine at the fair in the hope of stitching up your son. Yet, you and I both know DI Garrett’s capabilities as far as putting the guilty party where they belong, don’t we?”

  Kyle grinned. “She’ll see through him like a plate glass window. Let him do what he wants, the place won’t be his any sooner than it will be yours.”

  Sasha flinched, and John tightened his jaw, battling his anger into submission. He’d bide his time as he and Sasha had discussed. Until Kyle spoke to him directly, John would wait. They had Kyle in a corner, whether he liked it or not. The papers had been signed; his empire was John’s in its entirety. The knowledge of that was the ultimate power for both him and Sasha, although she might not realize it. He’d spoken to Liam and the clause was invalid now that everything had passed to John. Whether his father accepted John’s rebellion against his wishes or not, he was free to give Sasha the fair and whatever else she wanted...and he’d do it willingly.

  Sasha emitted a wry laugh. “Let Freddy do what he wants? Isn’t a battle between him and me what you had planned all along? What did you promise Freddy when you were arrested? The man is positively salivating with anger and frustration right now.”

  Kyle’s face remained impassive as he turned to John. “And how are you?”

  John exhaled as an eerie sense of peace descended over him. The years of anger continued to simmer like a fireball, yet strength assuaged his soul and he surrendered to it. He cleared his throat. “How do you think I am? I have more money than I ever thought possible, and I have your entire life’s work to do with as I please. I’m just fine and dandy.”

  Kyle smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. That makes what I have to say all the more easier.”

  “Once I’ve had my say, of course.”

  A flicker of undeniable pride flitted through Kyle’s blue gaze, and John inwardly cursed. The last thing he wanted to do was give his father any sense of satisfaction or pride in him. He wanted to annoy Kyle, do the opposite of what he wanted. He wanted to make him angry, frustrated and all too aware of what it felt like to be abandoned and seemingly forgotten.

  Kyle coughed and leaned back. “Go ahead. Ask me anything you want to know. I’m fascinated why you came here today instead of when I wanted to see you with Freddy. What’s changed, son? What made you decide to request that permit?”

  The word son stuck like a knife in his gut, but John steadfastly ignored Kyle’s questions. “Why did you ask Sasha here? Why don’t we start with that?”

  His father glanced at Sasha, and his smug smile slowly dissolved. “Like you said, I’ve had Freddy keeping an eye on things for me. I gather you two have been getting pretty close.” His jaw tightened. “That wasn’t what I wanted to happen, but if you two...like each other then I’ve no choice but to come clean.” He looked at John. “I want to wipe the slate clean.”

  John shook his head. “And you think whatever you are about to tell me will make up for two decades of absence?”

  Color darkened Kyle’s cheeks as he slowly closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

  John glared at his father’s leathery neck. “Well? We haven’t got much time, and I refuse to let Sasha leave here without knowing what happened between you and her mother.” He slapped his open palm on the table and clenched his teeth. “I won’t leave here not knowing why you have a picture of the man who molested her in that damn file you gave me.”

  Kyle flicked his gaze back and forth between him and Sasha once more before exhaling a heavy breath. “Before I answer that, I want you to know I’ve made some dire mistakes in my life...taking the fair from Sasha’s grandfather comes second only to leaving you alone after your mother was killed.”

  John’s heart kicked painfully as perspiration burst out on his forehead. In all their years of estrangement, these were the words he’d waited for. Regret. Ownership. Apology. Tension ached along John’s shoulders and neck as he stared at Kyle, studying him for an indication, no matter how small, that he was toying with him. That he was being insincere before he’d even really begun to explain himself and his actions.

  Their eyes locked. Only an idiot would deny the genuine pain in his father’s eyes. “I’m sorry, John. I’m more sorry than I ever thought possible.”

  John swallowed as words and accusations pricked like needles on his tongue. It was too soon to forgive. Too soon to acknowledge the lost years—but Kyle was dying. How long did they really have to lay the demons to rest?

  He lifted his chin as pride and fear skittered over him. He stared at his father. “How do you know the man who hurt Sasha?”

  Kyle’s gaze lingered a moment longer on John’s before he faced Sasha. “Your mother told me what Matt Davidson did to you and God knows how many other kids that came to the fair that summer.”

  John glanced at Sasha. Her body was rigid, but her eyes were alert and interested as she stared at Kyle.

  “Tell me,” she said as she straightened her spine. “Tell me what happened between you and my mother. Tell me what happened between you and...Granddad.”

  Kyle ran a hand over the back of his neck and leaned forward, his face a mask of suppressed fury. “Your mother came to me out of desperation. She was fuming with anger and frustration. Davidson had disappeared and she couldn’t stand the thought he could live the rest of his life without paying for what he’d done....” Coldness streamed into Kyle’s gaze. “For what he could still be doing.”

  “So you used that to con my grandfather? You used what happened to me to break an old man’s heart?”

  The skin at Kyle’s neck shifted. “I didn’t owe you or your family anything. I wanted the fair and was prepared to do anything to get it.”

  “You bastard.”

  Kyle’s eyes flashed with annoyance. “That was then, this is now.”

  She glared, and John drew in a long breath through flared nostrils. “Where’s Davidson now? Do you know?”

  Kyle snapped his gaze to John. “No, but if I did, he likely wouldn’t be breathing. The man deserves to die for what he did. You don’t mess about with kids. Period.” He faced Sasha. “Your mother told me if your grandfather knew what had happened, and that you seemed determined to stay at Funland no matter how much it hurt you to do so, your grandfather would want the fair out of your life. You might hate me, but I don’t regret doing something that might have gotten you out of that place. Maybe one day, you’ll open your eyes and realize your mother was doing what she thought best.”

  “Well, it didn’t work, did it? Funland belongs to me. It’s mine.” Her voice cracked. “I won’t let him make it a plac
e I hate instead of love. It was my future, everything Granddad had planned for me. Why should I walk away and let that animal rip my destiny from me as well as everything else he’s taken?”

  Unable to stand watching her tremble, John reached across and closed his hand over hers. He held tight and looked to Kyle. His father’s gaze stayed on their joined hands for a long moment before he looked up. Sadness, or maybe loss, lit his eyes, and John pushed his unexpected regret for a life his father no longer had from his heart. “So, you told her grandfather and then what? He agreed on a price? Any price just to get Sasha out of there?”

  Kyle nodded. “Yes, and I’m pissed off I never found Davidson and made sure he didn’t get the opportunity to hurt another little girl.” He faced Sasha. “I’m sorry for what happened to you.”

  Chairs scraped and voices murmured all around them as they sat frozen in their seats. Nothing else needed to be said. Kyle coughed, a harsh racking that seemed to reverberate through him and rattle his bones.

  John clenched his jaw, hating the instinct to move around the table and rub his father on the back and tell him he’d be okay. He didn’t owe his father that—yet the overwhelming urge to thank him for at least trying to rid the world of evil danced on his tongue. He pursed his lips, trapping the traitorous words.

  There was nothing he could do to stop Sasha when she stood and walked around the table.

  She stole her hand over Kyle’s back as he doubled over in his chair. Tears slipped over her cheeks as she smoothed circles over his father’s back. All John wanted to do was go to her and offer some comfort after the truth Kyle had so easily delivered.

  After what felt like forever, Kyle’s coughing eased, and he raised his hand. “I’m all right. I’ll always be all right.”

  Sasha looked into his eyes, a strained smile at her lips. “Thank you.”

  He smiled. “Thanking me is the last thing you should be doing. I still told John, no matter what, he wasn’t to give you the fair.”

  Her hand slipped from his back and she walked around the table to her seat. She took John’s hand and gripped it between both of hers. “I understand why you did that now. You were trying to look out for me the same way my mother and grandfather were.”

  John snapped his gaze to his father’s and Kyle stared directly back. “I’m dying and the decisions I’ve made as far as you’re concerned have been stupid at best. I know it’s too much to ask that you forgive me or even to stop hating me, but I did what I thought best at the time. I loved your mother more than anything or anyone.” He shook his head, his eyes turning steely, yet glassy with tears. “I couldn’t stand by and let the man who killed her live. I don’t regret that, but I do regret the repercussions.”

  John shook his head. “I can’t forgive you. Not yet.”

  Kyle closed his eyes, nodding softly. “I understand. The time I had without you can never be gotten back. Maybe I was wrong to think you were better off away from me, safe and educated with a good future, but I came out of prison the first time a different man.” He opened his eyes. “I wasn’t capable of loving and caring for you. Prison changes a man. I didn’t want anything else but to live a life where I was in control of what happened next, without fear of something happening to you. I figured if you were away from me, with good people who cared for you...”

  John glared. “They cared for me because you paid them to. An eleven-, twelve-, thirteen-year-old boy who lives without his parents is never going to be all right. He’s never going to be okay. How could you not know that?” Anger hummed through his blood, making him tremble.

  Kyle nodded. “I can’t turn back time any more than you can. I killed for love. I killed because of the rage inside me. How could you not know that?” His father’s face darkened and his eyes bulged. “I only had you left. What the hell would I do if anyone hurt you, huh? You were better off on your own.”

  A bell sounded and they all started. Kyle immediately pushed to his feet and held out his hand to John. “Take care of her. Do what you have to in order to keep her safe. Do what you want with my money, the houses....” He glanced at Sasha. “Do what you want with the fair. Be happy. Both of you.”

  John’s heart thumped harder and harder as he forced himself to take Kyle’s hand. For the first time in twenty years, he felt his father’s skin against his own. Time stood still as he stared into Kyle’s dark blue eyes. “When I think of anyone hurting Sasha...I don’t forgive you, but I understand.”

  Kyle smiled. “Then I’ll die a happy man.”

  Slowly, their hands slipped apart and Kyle turned to Sasha. “Take care of him, too.”

  John slipped his fingers into Sasha’s, his chin lifted as his father turned and disappeared into the throng of prisoners making their way from the room.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  THE RIDE BACK from the prison was a difficult one. Time and again, Sasha tried to find the words to fill the heavy silence between her and John, but nothing seemed right or appropriate to alleviate the sense of anguish and shock surrounding them. She glanced at him for the twentieth time during the past forty minutes since they’d walked, hand in hand, through the prison gates.

  They had so much to discuss, so much to absorb and come to terms with. Where did they start? Did they start together or apart? She longed to hold him and have him hold her, yet her head screamed to instill some distance so they had time to think rationally without emotional influence or distortion.

  “Where shall I drop you?” John’s voice was low and somber.

  The harsh insinuation that he wanted to be alone slashed through her heart and she drew in a sharp breath. “Home. I think I need to be at home.”

  He huffed out a dry laugh. “Funny, that’s exactly where I want to be right now.”

  “Mine or yours?”

  His jaw tightened. “Mine. I need some thinking time.”

  “Well, Kyle’s place offers more modern comforts than most, I suppose.” She pushed his rejection aside and wrapped another invisible and protective layer around her heart.

  He shook his head. “I’m not talking about Kyle’s house, Sasha.”

  Her forced smile dissolved as her tardy comprehension hit hard in the center of her chest. “Oh. You mean your home. In Bridgewater.”

  “It’s time I left Templeton.” He glanced at her.

  Their eyes briefly locked before he looked through the windshield once more. Words abandoned her, leaving her flailing and helpless in a pool of loneliness so much bigger than she’d ever felt before she met him. “I see.”

  “Do you?”

  She turned to look out the window, tears blurring the passing houses as John drove them ever closer to the Cove. “Of course. You came to Templeton to understand Kyle better and now you do.” She swallowed. “Your work is done and now you can go back to your life.”

  “Funland is yours...if you want it.”

  She snapped her head around. “What?”

  He smiled wryly. “The clause is obsolete. Liam confirmed it yesterday. I can give it to you, along with the money to pay the inheritance tax that will undoubtedly be due, without repercussions. If you still want it, that is.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” Sasha stared, waiting for the rush of euphoria to overtake her. Instead, panic erupted around her heart as she fought the alien and horrible need for another human being. More than anything, more than the fair, she wanted John to stay.

  “Then don’t say anything.” He pressed harder on the accelerator, his expression creating an unreadable mask.

  Words escaped her as she desperately fought the god-awful pain squeezing tighter and tighter around her heart. He had his life and she had hers. They’d barely known each other more than a few weeks. He wouldn’t ask her to change anything in her life, any more than she would ask the same of him. This was it. This was the end of whatever it was that had begun between them against a backdrop of their parents’ lies, betrayal and deceit.

  The purr of the car’s engine gre
w louder in the ensuing silence. The interior of the car grew smaller and smaller. She pressed on the button to lower the window and gulped in the rush of cold sea air, blinking back the tears burning hot in her eyes.

  The car slowed and Sasha’s heart picked up speed when John pulled into a lay-by at the side of the road and cut the engine.

  Don’t stop. Keep going. Don’t look at me. Don’t talk to me. Just go. Please.

  He stole his hand over hers, and Sasha forced herself to face him.

  She turned and her breath caught in her throat to see such deep sadness in his gaze. “John—”

  “I want you to have Funland.” His gaze bored into hers. “But only if you can really say it’s what you need to make you happy.”

  She swallowed. “It has to be.”

  “Why? I truly believe that place will bring you nothing but misery.” He lifted his free hand and brushed the hair from her face. “Running the fair isn’t the answer, Sasha. It won’t put an end to what Davidson did to you.”

  She faced the windshield as her stomach knotted with determination. “You still don’t understand.”

  “I don’t think I ever will. That’s why I have to go. It’s why I want to get away from here and everything Kyle has touched, influenced and controlled. I know you love Templeton, but it’s not where I’m meant to be. It...it feels wrong being here now.”

  Sasha stared ahead. How could she argue for Templeton’s beauty when all he’d experienced was corruption and conspiracy? It didn’t matter that their time together was so precious to her, it was clear it hadn’t lessened his bitterness toward Kyle or his abandonment. It was clear being in the Cove hadn’t given him a single day of happiness.

  “Then you should go.” She faced him. “I want to make Funland good again. I have to.”

  He slipped his hand from hers and shook his head, frustration seeping into his gaze and obliterating the tenderness that burned there a moment before. “Doing that won’t undo what’s happened. No matter what you do, or change, or paint, or pull down. It won’t change what happened there.”