by Logan Chance
“Why?” I shouted to Xavier.
“Fuck you, do you really think he’s your friend?” Dex laughed like a hyena. It really was quite annoying. Even bloodied and bruised, I still wanted to bitch slap him.
“Why?” I repeated for Xavier.
“Pardo just pays better. They hit me up while you were buying the Goat.”
“The P.I.?” I had to know if he was for real.
Xavier laughed. “Who Stephen? Yeah, that fucker is a janitor at a high school.”
Fuck. My mind couldn’t process what I was hearing. I’d been set up. From the very beginning. Was Penny a plant? She dated Dex before. Before I could even complete the thought in my brain, Dex kicked again. “Just stay away from her.”
They both left as I lie there, hurting. A good ten minutes went by before I tried to sit up. Not a soul around to even help.
I needed a hospital or something. I couldn’t even comprehend what I needed.
Managing to call a cab, I went to the only place where I would be able to assess my wounds.
“Blair, thanks for letting me come here.”
“Holy shit, Theo. I think you need a doctor,” she said as she led me into her two-bedroom house.
“I just need a minute, and then I’ll explain everything.”
She nodded as I walked past her to the bathroom. Lucy was asleep, thank God. She didn’t need to see her father in this condition.
I just hoped I didn’t need medical attention.
Fuck, the eye was definitely swollen. Busted lip. I raised my shirt and noticed the black bruises already showing along my ribcage.
“Do you have ice?” I asked, leaning my head out of the bathroom door.
She went into the kitchen, and I moved back to study my reflection in the mirror. The damage was bad but not hospital worthy. Just rub some dirt in it. I heard the saying many times before and laughed when I thought about actually doing it.
Ok, it hurt to laugh, so I wouldn’t be doing that anytime soon.
Blair entered the bathroom with a bag of ice, some pills, and a concerned look on her face.
“Here, take these. You’ll thank me in the morning.” She dropped two pills in my hand. “Well maybe not. Might kill you to say those words to me.”
“Oh, ha ha.” I filled a tumbler with water from the tap and swallowed the pills down. “Hey, Blair,” I said as she walked away. She stopped and peeked over her shoulder. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Another pity party began to unfold when I realized the thoughts I had while lying on the pavement.
Penny. Was she involved somehow? It would be really fucked up if she was. Was that why she didn’t tell her father to fuck off? I was an idiot.
Blair left, and I tried to take a shower. And by try, it was difficult to not wince in pain the entire time.
When I toweled off, I wrapped it gingerly around my body and headed to clue Blair in on what was going on.
She had already put my blood stained clothes in the laundry. I told her the important parts of the story as my eyelids grew heavy.
“Blair, thanks for letting me stay here.”
“Sure. And Theo, I’m sorry. Maybe this is in some weird way a plan to lead you back to what’s important in your life.” She laid some pillows and a blanket on the couch, and I thanked her. Her complete cryptic message lost on me.
The night’s events, maybe the drugs still floating through my veins, or the pain medicine Blair gave me had me passing out the minute my head hit the pillow.
FIFTEEN
PENNY
I needed to see Theo. Now.
I couldn't let him think I would pick turtles over him. I headed in the direction of Theo’s house while I reached for my phone.
Straight to voicemail. Fuck. Trying a few more times, I stepped on the accelerator wanting to get there as fast as I could.
When I arrived at his condo, I knocked until my hand hurt. Where was he? I tried to think of all the places he could be and dialed the Lopa’s number.
It was early, too early for him to be at work.
With an ounce of hope, I dialed his number again, it rang—and rang and rang. Please pick up.
A woman’s voice answered, and my heart lurched.
“Who is this?” I asked.
“Blair. Who’s this?”
Oh, thank God. He was there to see Lucy.
“Is Theo there?” After she confirmed he was, I told her to have him stay put, and I would be there shortly.
I raced to Blair’s house, remembering my way only a little from the one time Theo told me where she lived. I rushed to the door and knocked. Blair answered the door wearing a small silk robe and led me to Theo.
“Holy shit. What happened to your face?”
Theo’s face appeared as if he’d been clubbed by a bear, and it was painful to look at. His ribs were bruised and he held his arm close. I rushed to him, not wondering why he only wore a bath towel. Wait, why was he only in a towel?
“Don’t touch me, please. I’m in a lot of pain.” He stopped my advances, and I lowered my arms. I wanted to feel the bruise on his lip. Make it better for him somehow.
“Should you go to a hospital? What happened?” Why didn’t he come to me after this happened?
“Dex and Xavier happened.” He spoke slowly as if every breath was a pain to make.
“I’m so sorry.” I had no words. I wanted to scream at Dex and make him pay for what happened.
Blair left us alone, and Lucy was still sleeping when Theo eased himself onto the couch. “Penny, Xavier set me up, and I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
His implication was loud and clear. He didn’t call me last night after this happened, so a small part of him probably suspected me.
“You can trust me.” I cringed when I glanced at his face. Pain and hurt was all I saw there. With one eye swollen shut he tried to open it.
I reached for his hand, and he pulled away from me.
“Don’t.”
“Theo, you have to believe me. I never knew any of this. I swear. I wanted you to know I would never...”
“Don’t,” he cut me off with his words and I scooted closer. I loved him. I wouldn’t let him think ill of me.
“Please, I didn’t know.”
He rose from the couch on unsteady feet as he moved toward the door. Still in a towel, mind you.
“I’m staying here for a while. You, your father, and Dex can go fuck yourselves.” He opened the door and I was dumbfounded.
“Theo,” I begged.
“Just go.”
“Listen, I had nothing to do with this.”
“Go save your turtles.” He pulled the towel tighter around his waist.
“It was never about the turtles for me.”
“Penny, fuck, I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know who to trust. You and Dex dated before. Who’s to say this hasn’t been some scheme or something.” He spoke low and even, and I knew I needed to tell him everything.
“I only went with the plan to marry Dex because if I didn’t my father said he would take Lucy from you.” I crossed my arms.
“What?”
“I would never want for that.”
His brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I didn’t have a solid answer for him. I should have told him, but I was scared. Scared he’d fly off the handle and ruin everything. “I couldn’t let you ruin it all.” Shit. That came out all wrong. “Theo, that’s not what I mean.” It was too late; his face was the epitome of anger.
“Get out.”
“Wait, please,” I begged.
“Penny, I really don’t know what to believe right now. How could your father even take her from me?”
“He knows lawyers, judges. I’m not sure. Maybe he thought he could bribe Blair.”
He laughed a short laugh. “She would never do that to me.”
Was he defending her? “Money is very powerful, Theo.”
“You need to go.” He
opened the door more, and I went through for fear of digging myself into more word vomit. I couldn’t formulate my thoughts of what I wanted to say.
I left Theo, only because I didn’t know what else to say to him. He didn’t trust me and that was all. The end. Our story was over, and I left feeling sorry for myself.
Once I returned home feeling defeated, I moved slowly throughout my house. I didn’t know what to do, and the feeling to give up washed over me. The fight in me was gone. Let my father win and let it all be over.
Margo knocked on my door as I sat in my room throwing the world’s most pathetic pity party for myself. Party of one. No other guests invited. I was a loser in love.
“Are you ok?”
I sobbed like a baby as I recounted the events for Margo. When I finished, she didn’t have anything to say. She just held me and rocked me on my bed back and forth.
“I feel like giving up.” I hadn’t cried this hard in so long, and it felt good to just let it all go. All the feelings I held bottled in were being released.
“No, absolutely not. Where’s the fearless Penny I know and love?”
“She’s gone.” Yeah, I was feeling sorry for myself. But, everything felt so pointless.
“No, she isn’t. Theo’s friend didn’t find out anything?”
“No. I don’t know.”
After a few more hours Margo tried to convince me to keep fighting for what I wanted. But, how could I? How could I risk Theo losing his daughter?
The next few days I rarely left my home. I worked only a bit, which I didn’t need to worry about seeing Theo while he stayed home to heal.
To heal. I thought about this daily. Not being there for him while he suffered. It hurt me to lose someone who had become a piece of my soul, and I hated everything about my life.
It angered me every time I thought about what Dex had done to him. My emotions ranged from hurt and sorrow to anger and denial.
Dex and his mother moved the wedding up, even though I protested it every step of the way. Margo yelled at me daily to get my head out of my ass which was easier said than done. There was nothing I could do. Nothing at all.
Finding out information on my father would be hard to do unless they had access to his office. Like I did.
Now, I had a plan.
The sun wouldn’t be up for a few more hours still, and I was snooping around in my father’s office. Looking for anything, any single thing, which could help get me out of this mess. There was no way in hell I would be marrying Dex.
I had no clue as to what I was looking for, and yet there I was rifling through file cabinets and his desk drawers.
Please let me find something.
I ran my hand along his computer. Wonder if he keeps everything on it?
Sitting down, I pressed the button on the large flat screen monitor. The computer opened. A password was needed. Shit. I’d never get in. I tried his birthdate. Tried his wife’s name. I tried a few other combinations and even tried my own name, but nothing was working.
Call it a gut feeling, but I felt there was something important on the computer. I tried one last name before giving up. Darla. My mother’s name.
The computer sprang to life. I was in. A smile spread and butterflies fluttered through my stomach. Now what? A detective I was not. I didn’t have the first clue as to what to look for. But, I pressed on. I clicked and clicked until I saw a document titled: Croix.
St. Croix. It was an island in the Caribbean, and as I clicked on the file I held my breath, silently praying this was my answer. It wasn’t.
But, it gave me an idea.
I looked through all the remaining files.
That’s when I saw it…
A file titled: Darla.
My heart raced as I opened it.
Stunned, I read the file over and over. This file contained document after legal document of something he hid from me. Something I had no idea existed. Something which gave him every reason in the world to control me. An inheritance.
My mother left me everything she had, which amounted to far more than I could fathom. Astronomical. It was to have been turned over to me at the age of twenty-five, a year ago. My hands shook as I read file after file and clicked print. My father used this money for all of ‘his’ investments. Including the Lopa. He used my money which meant I owned it. I owned all of this. A laugh bubbled out of me. How ironic I was trying to find a way to save something I owned. Even better, the frosting on the shit cake, was being forced to marry a man so he could run the company that had been built with my funds.
I leaned back in the chair. If they wanted to play dirty, I could too.
Maybe I was my father's daughter after all.
“What are you doing here?” my father asked.
I leaned back in the large leather chair behind the desk. “Why don't you have a seat,” I said, motioning to the chair across from me.
He crossed over to me. “What the hell is going on, Penny? Why are you at my desk?”
I leaned forward, tapping my finger on the stack of papers in front of me. “Well, actually, according to these papers, I think this is my desk.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I can explain.”
“Explain what?” My voice rose. “How you stole my inheritance? How you tried to force me into a marriage with a man I hate?” I stood and picked up the stack of papers.
“Penny,” he started, “your mother never wanted this life for you. I was protecting you.” He crossed over to the large window and looked out. “Dex found out about the inheritance and threatened to tell you if I didn't force your hand in marrying him. That's why I did what I did.”
Desperation was a funny thing. It made you say and do anything. My father was clearly desperate if he was playing the protective father card. “She may not have wanted this life for me, but she knew I could make a better one and do something good with that money. I wouldn't have used it to hurt people.”
His lips pressed into a thin line as he thought about what to say next. I cut him off before he could say anything. “So you made all those threats against Theo for what reason?”
“Because you're stubborn, just like your mother. If you thought he was going to lose the Lopa, lose his daughter, then you would do what I asked. I knew you would do anything for love, just like her.”
I nodded. “You're damn right, I will.”
A knock sounded on the door. I smiled.
“Come in,” I called out.
The look of surprise on Dex’s face when he came in was comical.
“Why are you here, Penny?” he asked.
“Can I say something?” I set the stack of papers down. “You are so fucking rude. Do you realize that?”
His eyes widened, and a crimson flush spread up his neck to his snarky face.
“Penny, calm down,” my father said.
“I don't seem calm to you?” I perched on the edge of the desk. “I will not be marrying your repulsive ass.”
Dex stood still, his nostrils flaring like a bull about to charge me.
“She knows,” my father said.
Surprise passed over Dex’s face before he shuttered it. “Penny, listen…”
“Nope,” I cut him off, “you two have fucked with me enough. Done being fucked with.” I slid off the desk and gathered the stack of papers. “My attorney will be contacting you to work out the details of claiming my inheritance. Oh and Dex, you can shove that shrimp scampi up your ass.”
Stopping in front of Dex, I balled my hand into a fist and knocked the fuck out of him. He went down quicker than I had on Theo in my dreams. Blood spilled from his nose. “That’s for Theo, asshole.”
I crossed to the door and slammed it behind me.
SIXTEEN
THEO
Everyone I knew could fuck off.
Life is funny. It shows you glimpses, temporary moments of bliss, and then in one single moment of time it pulls the rug out from under you and leaves you wondering what t
he fuck just happened. How did my life spiral out of control? Where did it all go wrong? Now a shell of a man without Penny, in need of rescuing as I sat watching the train wreck of my life unfold before me. It had been a week since I last saw Penny, and I was miserable.
Every time I thought about the news she laid on me about my daughter I grew more and more pissed until I decided to take action. I couldn’t believe her father. I couldn’t believe any of it. Losing Lucy was not an option. My mind stricken with confusion, testing the waters of my sanity, I tried to make sense of everything. But, I didn’t know what it meant to fail, my pity party was over. I didn’t want to live without either of my girls. I needed to let Penny know I had talked to Blair. Penny could tell her father to fuck off. Who cared if we lost the Lopa? They could no longer threaten me with losing my daughter. I was a great father, and the mother of my child would back me up to prove it. After work today, I would find Penny and tell her this was the end of her and Dex.
I unlocked the doors of the Lopa and headed back to the office. Fiona had called and said she had an emergency and needed me to fill in. Apparently Penny wasn't answering her phone. God, I missed her. I opened the office door and stopped dead in my tracks. Penny sat behind the desk. But that wasn't what had me frozen in place. It was her hair. Twisted into buns on each side of her head.
She looked up at me and rose from the chair. “Good news,” she beamed. “I'm a millionaire. Many times over.”
Okay, I didn't know what she was talking about, because more important than what she said was what she wore. A skimpy gold bikini top and a crimson skirt held up on each side by a thin gold band across her hips. Princess fucking Leia. My fantasy. I couldn't take my focus off the chain dangling from her neck.
“What are you talking about?” I whispered as she approached me. I fucking studied the hell out of her. Destined to get an A in the course. Memorizing everything about her.
“There will be no wedding,” she said, stopping in front of me.
“Speak, woman.” I needed all the details. The whole nitty gritty truth. I listened as she explained how she discovered her inheritance and confronted her father and Dex. She’d already been in touch with a lawyer. The Lopa was ours. Lucy was safe and this nightmare was over. I grabbed the chain and pulled her to me.
