Mr. Control

by Maya Hughes

  “Maybe she didn’t fit in with your perfect plan for your life? Maybe you couldn’t handle that she preferred Allan to you?” he growled.

  “You’re out of your fucking mind. Get out!” I ground out, my jaw so tight, my teeth ached.

  “Beth didn’t die in your apartment. She didn’t die like you said she did,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. My face went pale, as the blood rushed from my head. Suddenly I realize I’ve been taking the ability to breathe for granted my entire life. Because right now, I’m in a vacuum completely cut off from everyone and everything but the pounding panic that’s racing through my body.

  “Who said she didn’t die in the apartment?” I clear my throat and try to maintain my composure.

  “I do. I’ve seen the real police report. The one you tried to have buried.”

  “Get the fuck out of my office. You don’t know anything about my life or anything about what you’re talking about.” My mind raced, trying to figure out where the hell he’d gotten that report. Had I covered up what happened to Beth? Yes, but I never would have hurt her. I did everything I could to save her. Everything to save her and protect my daughter. But I didn’t need the news floating around about what really happened to her. Or people asking questions about Esme’s having been there.

  Killian glared at me and it made my blood boil. I balled my hands up into fists, my knuckles turned white as I planted them on my desk to keep myself from vaulting over it and smashing his head in.

  “I thought all those years ago we promised we wouldn’t lie to each other? You know she didn’t die that way, and I know it, too.”

  “No one will believe your lies.”

  “They aren’t lies and you know it. And it just so happens that I know someone who was there. Someone who knows all your dirty little secrets and someone who can’t wait to bring you down,” he said, pushing up from the chair and leaning against the desk. I bared my teeth, holding myself back.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Your parents stole my legacy from me. It’s only fair I return the favor. Your fall from grace will be so satisfying. Maybe now everyone will know just the kind of man you are. Enough with the façade, Rhys. Let the real you out,” he said, spittle falling on the desk between us. My control snapped. My future was in jeopardy. I wanted him to feel an ounce of the pain that shot through me. I tackled him to the floor, my fist smashing into his face. Like an out-of-body experience, I threw myself across the desk. His eyes widened. He knew of my restraint, but he didn’t know just how far he’d pushed me.

  It wasn’t just me he threatened, it was the people closest to me and I wouldn’t let anyone get away with it. Especially not him.

  He grabbed me by the collar, ducking his head out of the way of my fist, which hit the floor. Pain exploded in my hand and radiated up my arm. He flung me off him and landed a solid punch against the side of my head. My vision swam and my ears rang as I blocked his next punch and landed one solidly in his stomach. He doubled over and wheezed, putting his hand on the floor to steady himself. Blood dripped from his face onto the floor and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his teeth bloodied. He raced at me before I could react and, lifting me up, he slammed me down on my glass desk. It shattered under our combined weight and we were both showered with shards of glass.

  I groaned and rolled to my side. Killian braced his hands on the floor, small rivulets of blood covering his palms, and pushed himself up.

  “I didn’t think you had it in you, Rhys. I thought all that talk about control was just the pussy’s way out of a fight, but look at you. Getting down and dirty with the peasants.”

  “You threaten my family. I’ll fucking end you,” I said, seething. My fists clenched and unclenched.

  At the sound of all of the commotion, Rachel burst into the room, her eyes wide with terror and her mouth wide open.

  “Oh my God,” she said, her hands covering her mouth. “What did you do?” she shouted at Killian.

  “I told you not to disturb us,” Killian said. I pushed myself up off the floor.

  “You just said you wanted to talk. That you had something important to tell him. What the hell, Kill?” she shrieked. I quirked my head to the side. Kill. I didn’t know many people that called him that. Especially not someone who’d only met him in a professional capacity. And Rachel was never so unprofessional as to call a guest of mine by their first name. And then it hit me. She knew him! Not in passing, or because of the digging I had her do. She knew him.

  “You’re working with him?” I said, storming over to her. “You’ve been reporting on me to him?”

  “What? No, please, Mr. Thayer. It’s not like that at all. I would never break your trust like that. I haven’t told him anything about you.” I didn’t take betrayal lightly. Rachel was more than an assistant. She’d been my right-hand. She’d been in my house. Watched my daughter.

  “You’re done! Leave!” I shouted. Tears formed in her eyes, but I didn’t care.

  “And get the fuck out of my office,” I roared at Killian.

  “Gladly,” Killian said, bowing. He reached out to touch Rachel’s arm and she flinched away. “You know where to find me,” he said to her before striding out the door like he didn’t have a care in the world. And he didn’t. He’d just destroyed my entire world. I turned my icy glare back to Rachel. In my own house. I shook my head. It looked like I had lost my touch. Here I thought I didn’t let things get past me. Sure of everything happening around me. And she was right here under my own nose.

  “Get out,” I seethed. I couldn’t even look at her.

  “Please, Mr. Thayer, it’s not like that at all. I’m not working for him. I never have been. He only asked to wait in your office. Said he had something important to tell you and he didn’t want to do it in the lobby. I didn’t know he had anything like this planned,” she said, her voice quivering and motioning to my destroyed office.

  “I said get out,” I roared. She jumped and scurried out the door. I ran my hands through my hair and let out a primal scream before storming out. I needed to fix this. I needed to fix this now, but how?

  26

  MEL

  I rode the elevator up to the apartment, running inside to grab my wallet before running back out. Derek stepped aside as I rushed into the elevator with a box in his hands. I didn’t even stop to talk, I waved and he waved back. I’d stopped at the bank to get Colleen’s money. I filled out the withdrawal form and went to the teller. She handed me back and envelope, which I tucked safely in my pocket. I glanced at the receipt the teller gave me and stumbled. I raced back up to the counter.

  “Sorry, there’s something wrong,” I said, sliding the paper across the counter. “My balance is way wrong,” I said, jabbing my finger at the Available Balance line. “While I would love to have all these zeroes in my account, they don’t belong to me.” I’d heard enough stories about people going out of their minds and spending money like crazy when something like this happens and then promptly going to jail.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, her keyboard clacking as she typed away.

  “Completely. As much as I’d like it to be, this balance is definitely not mine.”

  “It’s not a glitch. Not that I can tell. There was a deposit made in your name earlier today,” she looked up at me expectantly, like it would have just slipped my mind that someone deposited the wealth of a small nation into my account.

  “Made by whom?”

  “It says it came from Thornton-Smith.”

  “I don’t know who the hell that is. And this isn’t my money.” I checked my phone for the time. I needed to get this money to Colleen now. I needed to get her out of the city now. Then I could deal with whatever the hell happened here. “Can you have someone look into this? I need to get it fixed.”

  “Okay, Ms. Bright, I’ll have someone look at it and give you a call.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I said, rushing out of the bank and heading across the riv
er to the address Colleen gave me, carrying more money than I’d ever had in my life, tucked into my bag. Please don’t get mugged. “Please don’t get mugged.” That was my mantra as I hopped off the train. Colleen sat leaned up against the wall of the bus terminal, smoking a cigarette, blowing a cloud of smoke over everyone who passed by.

  “Here,” I said, shoving the envelope at her. “It’s all there. Take it and leave. This is it. I don’t want you coming here again.”

  “Why thanks, daughter of mine. You got that pretty quickly, maybe I should have asked for more,” she said, laughing at a joke that was only funny to her. My hatred for her ran deeper than anything I’d ever experienced, more than anything I ever want to experience. Because if someone or something could generate more hate than I had for Colleen, I’d better be dead or they’d be.

  “Colleen,” I warned. I didn’t need her making a habit out of this.

  “Fine, fine. I don’t want to come out here again anyway. You never appreciated the things I did for you. Always so ungrateful. If I’d known you were going to be such a hassle, I’d have let those uptight assholes adopt you when they wanted to,” she said, stubbing her cigarette out on the wall and flicking the butt on the ground. My mind froze as I processed her words. Adopt. Me.

  She pushed off from the wall and walked toward the buses. I couldn’t move. Everything that happened to me after I left my home with the Ashers flashed through my mind. Every night going to bed without food. Every tease and taunt because of my dirty clothes, every night I locked myself in my room because of the way Colleen’s many visitors stared at me. And worst of all, the day I ran away, after finally figuring out where Shannon and Ben lived.

  I wasn’t more than eight when I had yet another visit from a case worker. Even after all that time, I still wanted to go back. I missed them, even though the betrayal burned bright. I knew if I could just see them again they would fix everything. I begged anyone who would listen to let me go back, but the court ruled that my mom was a fit parent. She told them everything I said was all lies, the ravings of a child who just didn’t want to live with her. They branded me a liar and a troublemaker.

  Since I’d slipped away from Shannon that day and the police had been called, I was not to be placed back with them. What a load of crap that was. During our meeting, the social worker stepped out to take a call, and I glanced at my case file sitting on the table. I checked the door and flipped the folder open. Flipping through the many, many pages in the file I found what I looked for. I found the address. I scribbled it down on a piece of paper and closed the folder.

  I looked up the address when I went to school and figured out how to get there. Two buses, followed by a three-mile walk in the pelting rain, and I was back at the house. My home. Peacefulness settled over me. Even in the freezing rain I was happy. It was like everything would finally be okay. I’d finally be okay. I knocked on the door and music drifted out from the kitchen. I slipped around the side and peeked in the window. Shannon was singing off key as she always did, standing in front of the stove. Ben came walking in with a mug in his hand and gave her a kiss.

  I smiled, even out there in the freezing rain it made me so happy to see it hadn’t all been in my mind. It was real. They were real. I lifted my hand to knock on the glass, when a blur came racing into the kitchen, jumping into Ben’s arms. He put his mug down and picked her up. A little girl. Another little girl. It was too long. I’d been gone too long.

  Pain sliced through me like I’d been run through with a knife. It hurt deep down in my soul, like someone ripped away the last lifeline I had as a drowning victim. I don’t know how long I stood out there, but it was long enough for me to be soaked through and frozen to the bone. I don’t even know if it was the rain that did it. I’d been replaced.

  My life had been taken over by someone else, and now all I had left was the one I was running from. It would never get better than this. I’d made one mistake, one little thing that sent ripples through my life and the lives of everyone around me and destroyed it all. Smashed it into a million small fragments that couldn’t be put together again.

  As I stood there, the chill of the air was nothing compared to the icy barbs I shot at her. I stared at Colleen, feeling like it was a lifetime ago that I’d run from her, never wanting to look back. She stood in front of me as the broken woman who gave birth to me gloat that she’d ruined the one good thing I had when I was growing up. The fire burned in my eyes as tears formed and pooled. Her head whipped around so fast, it wasn’t until the sting traveled up my arm, burning my palm, that I realized I had smacked her.

  “Don’t you ever speak to me again,” I said, my voice full of venom and anger. “You are not my mother. You’ve never been my mother. And I swear, if I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.” I shook with so much rage, I didn’t know how I could walk straight. I longed to be back in my bed. No. I wanted to be back in his bed. Back in Rhys’s bed, in his arms, because there I felt like all things were possible. Like the world wasn’t a horrible place and like I finally belonged.

  27

  RHYS

  After Killian left, I went out. I pulled the collar of my coat up high as I stepped out into the blistering cold. Sharp bits of ice pelted me in the face as I staggered out into the eerily quiet street. I couldn’t think straight. Derek joined me at some point. I don’t even know when. He fell in step behind me. His presence was like a guard watching over a prisoner. Deadman walking. That’s what I felt like right now. I didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to see Mel. No. I needed to see her.

  I walked all the way back to the apartment, numb, as I stepped into the elevator. Derek took up his post in the lobby. The door had almost closed, when Mel showed up in the lobby, shaking the sleet and snow from her hair. A smile tugged at my lips. There were only a few things that could bring a smile to my face right now, and she was one of them. I held the door open for her.

  “Hey,” she said, smiling back at me. She seemed upset. Her eyes were ringed with red. It seemed we’d both had a shitty day.

  “Hey,” I said, back, pushing her hair back behind her ear. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She shook her head and stared back at me, touching on the small cut above my eyebrow. I winced, having forgotten it was there.

  “Do you?” she said, nodding toward me. I shook my head.

  “Good,” she said, pressing her body against mine and pulling my head down, our lips meeting. The freezing coldness of our skin slowly seeped away with the fire brewing between us. It had been too long since I had her in my arms. Since I felt her wrapped around me.

  “Mel,” I moaned, as I broke off our kiss. She buried her face in my collar.

  “I need you, Rhys. I just need you,” she said, refusing to look up.

  “Then you’re going to have me,” I said. The elevator opened. I picked her up, wrapping her legs around me. I rushed her into the apartment and leaned her up against the small table in the foyer. I shrugged off my coat and pulled hers off. She fumbled with my belt buckle, undoing it as I worked on her jeans. I slid them down over her ass, jerking her forward so I could pull them off. They dangled from one foot, her shoe still on. I took out my cock, not even stopping to stroke it. I was beyond hard. Whenever I was with her, I was always hard. I slid into her, bottoming out, catching her moan in my mouth as I tasted her sweetness.

  She hitched her leg on my hip, her jeans jangling behind me as I slammed into her. The table rocked and swayed with each thrust. She gripped my shirt in her hands, fisting the fabric as I reached down and slid my fingers across her clit. I strummed it and then her legs tightened around me, her pussy so tight, I could barely move and she came, screaming my name against my neck.

  I followed her over the edge, filling her with come as my legs nearly gave out from under me. Her pussy still milking me as the two of us stood panting in the middle of the foyer, almost completely clothed. I gradually came back to myself. Feeling in my arms and legs returning as she hopped do
wn and fixed her clothes. We had a lot to discuss.

  I grabbed the police report out of the safe and put it in Mel’s hands. She flipped through it, digesting everything inside. The truth of that night in the rest stop. The truth of why Esme stopped speaking. Other than the officer there, Derek and I were the only people who knew about it. And now Mel.

  “You don’t understand. I can’t just allow whatever Kill’s planning. He knows something. He knows something that could destroy everything,” I said, running my hands through my hair. The threads were beginning to unravel. After a shower, I brought Mel back into my office and told her about my afternoon run-in with Killian. I knew he was an asshole. Hell, I was an asshole when I wanted to be, but I had no idea the depths he would go to just to get at me. And there was Esme caught in the crosshairs. I couldn’t let anything happen to her. I’d kill him first.

  “Rhys, what does he know?” Could I tell her? The people who knew my secret could be counted on one hand, hell, on two fingers.

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s going to try to use it against me, but I’ll leave before that happens. I’ll pack up and we’ll leave. The three of us. We can go somewhere. Disappear and start over,” I said, grabbing onto her hands. If this got out it would destroy the life I’d tried to build, but if we were together, maybe we could weather the impending storm.

  “Now you’re starting to scare me. What could he know that you are so afraid will get out? Is it something illegal?”

  The day my wife died. The day they laid my little girl in my arms. The day the test results imploded my world. And then it didn’t matter. What mattered was keeping Esme safe.

  “It’s not something I want to get out. I don’t want Esme to know. I don’t want her to ever doubt how much I love her, and I won’t let anyone take her away from me. I don’t care whose she is, but she’s my daughter and that’s all that matters,” I said, vehemently. This was a declaration I’d made the day I found out and would make until the day I died.

  28