by Piper Knox
I nodded and closed the door behind me. He stepped forward to give me space. We walked toward the bank of elevators and while waiting I asked, “Why are you doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
“This. Attending the funeral with me.” He took his eyes away from the light, going up the listed numbers to face me. “I wanted to do it.”
“Liar.”
“It’s true.”
“If you think you’re going to find some information about the deal, you’re wasting your time. No one is going to tell you anything and they’ll probably deceive you so…”
He looked wounded by my words. “I want to support you.”
I frowned, “Really?”
He stared directly into my eyes, “Yes.”
“Thank you. You don’t have to—”
“I want to.”
The arrival of the elevator ended our conversation.
◆◆◆
We arrived later than most people. The service hadn’t started, but the church was filled with many of his employees and business partners. A few of his friends came to me when they saw me and offered their condolences. We took our seats at the front and when the service began, Caiden took my hand in his. He didn’t need to do these public displays of affection. I was fine on my own.
Bryce was tasked with giving the eulogy. He glared at us the entire time he did it. Especially where my and Caiden’s hands were connected. It made me want to squirm out of his hold but; he held me firm.
Apart from Bryce’s glare, everything went as expected. He was buried next to mother in the mausoleum he had built for her. After it was all over Caiden asked, “we can go back home if you want.”
“No. I have to be at the wake. The will is being read afterward,” I didn’t understand why it was being read so quickly. Caiden probably wouldn’t be invited to that. “You can leave if you want to.” As I was speaking to him, his attention got distracted by something behind me. I followed his gaze and saw Bryce glaring at us again.
“What’s his problem,” Caiden asked.
“You probably.”
“No. He’s more bothered by you than me.” When Bryce went on his way to his car, he said, “I’m coming with you. I don’t trust him not to do something. He looks too angry.”
What was this protective streak that came out of nowhere?
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing,” I said and went to the car.
There were fewer people at the memorial. Fewer than I expected, to be honest. Most people were standing in groups of two or three in the ballroom that father had used to host his parties. It felt odd to be back here considering that the last time I was here; I stole something from him. I still didn’t feel guilty about it. It was one of the few good things I had done. I looked around for my brothers. Bryce was nowhere to be found. Greyson was in the corner whispering something to his girlfriend. I made my way to him. The girlfriend was the first to see me. When she did, she nudged Greyson who looked up, got up, and got out of the room with his girlfriend in tow.
“What was that all about,” I said more to myself than to anyone else.
“Your brothers still hate you, and it seems they’ve spread the word that you’re persona non grata.” I looked around. He was right. After the funeral, few people talked to me. I thought little of it then, but it’s making more sense now. Most people gave me a look that I had come to become familiar with in public spaces. The glance-and-look-away.
“I’m surrounded by people who hate me. What else is new?”
“That’s not true.”
“Is it not? I thought you hated me.”
He looked like he was about to say something, then went quiet. I ignored him and went to the canapes station that was lined at the edges of the walls. He followed me. What was his problem? Didn’t he have stuff to do? And if he was here to put the last nail in the proverbial coffin, why was he hanging around me? Unless he meant to gloat over my grief. I washed away the thoughts and focused on the food. Most of it was fish and made me feel nauseated. I gagged at the smell. Caiden rushed to hold me steady, “what is it.” His tone was soft and caressing.
“Nothing. It’s the food. Morning sickness and all that.”
He glanced down at the canapes and made a face, “of course.” He drew me away from the tables, found a chair and put me in it. A few minutes later he appeared with a glass of water. I hadn’t even noticed that he had disappeared. That’s when it hit me. This protectiveness was because of his child.
It made me sick knowing that he was doing this because I was carrying his progeny and not because of some altruism he had discovered. This whole coming to the funeral with me was probably a way for him to ensure that I won’t be too stressed or something of the sort. The more I thought about it, the less his presence felt comforting.
“Thank you,” I said after taking a few sips. I was already feeling better and didn’t need it. I was ready to stand up when Bryce came into the room with fury blowing behind him. He marched toward us, me specifically, and growled, “You traitor! You traitorous bitch, you should be ashamed of yourself!”
“What the fuck, Bryce! What’s your problem!” his eyes were red and I could smell alcohol on his breath. Greyson came in rushing as well.
“You whored yourself to that piece of shit and sold out your family. It’s because of you, father died. You!”
“You seem drunk, Bryce,” Caiden said, “You might want to talk when you’re much sober.”
“Fuck that!” he made a move to punch me but, as he was about to, a large body blocked him. Caiden blocked his punch by catching his fist in his hand and striking it down. He twisted Bryce’s arm behind his back. Bryce squelched.
“Apologize to my fucking wife, you weasel.”
“Fuck you!”
He twisted further, “I said apologize.” Bryce screamed then said, “Fine. I’m sorry.”
“Not good enough.” Caiden swerved him so he was facing me, “Nicely, this time.”
Bryce was sweating and groaning. He looked like he had run a few miles. “I’m sorry, Hailey.”
Satisfied, Caiden let go of his hand. He took mine and said, “let’s get out of here.”
“No,” I gently let go of him, “I want to know what got him so worked up,” I said looking at Greyson. “Come with me,” he said. We followed Greyson to the study. Father’s lawyer was already there. From the looks of it, they had been discussing the will. Without me. What else was new? “Show her,” Greyson said to the lawyer.
The man handed me a paper. It looked like a letter. I took it. It was written in father’s big boorish handwriting. They were instructions to his business.
“Father gave it to him before he went… sailing.”
“It says to sell everything to KMVH?”
47
Greyson jabbed his finger at me, “Did you put him up to this?”
“No need. He did this all by himself.” I went to stand next to Hailey and put an arm around her. Even though Bryce wasn’t in the room and the animosity was a little lower, I still felt like shielding her. Now that I was no longer blocking my other feelings of her with my hate, I was being hit by emotions that were already there but were now overwhelming me. My need to protect her, especially against her family, grew the more they tried to go against her. Hailey shrugged off my arm and stepped aside.
“What does this mean? Is it viable?” She was speaking to the lawyer.
“It is. I can attest that he was of sound mind when we talked. He wants it all sold and his shares equally divided amongst his sons.” He cleared the throat at the word.
“Oh.” That’s all she said as she placed the letter back on the desk.
That son of a bitch. Even in his death, he was screwing over his daughter. I thought about the number of people he had screwed over in his lifetime. They were many, and he had done bad stuff to them, but none had accrued the same hate his daughter had from him. The thought of staying in
his study any longer than necessary was now making me feel sick. I wanted to take her out of here, out of everything that reminded her of his shitty father to somewhere else so she could forget.
“I took no part in this,” Hailey said, “He did it all by himself.”
“I’m sure that guy being your husband didn’t factor into anything at all,” he pointed at me, “what did he do for you that made you want to betray us?”
She stepped in front of him, her shoulders square, “Believe whatever you want. I got no part in this. Dad knew how shitty you were at business. That’s probably why he gave that condition. You two are worse than him and everyone knows that!”
Greyson glared at her, breathing hard. His eyes were wide and his nostrils were flaring. He didn’t reply to her though, and it looked like she had gotten the last word in. I smiled inwardly. I was about done with this family and seemed she was too. But she wasn’t done talking. “And you know what? You’ve always been shitty. I can’t believe I ever thought you were one of the good ones.”
“What the fuck are talking about?” his brows furrowed.
“That night. The night you roofied me. Truth is, I was never the weak person in this family. You were. You’ve always been.”
It rocked me on my heels. My head reeled with this new information. I knew someone had drugged her, but her brother?
“Oh, come on!” he screamed, “You shouldn’t have drunk something that wasn’t meant for you!”
“You planning to roofie someone else doesn’t make it better, Greyson. You made me—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Her own brother had made her kill her best friend.
“Made you what? You were already drunk anyway.”
“It comes out,” tears welled in her eyes, “Finally. How does it feel to have your own sister bear the brunt of what you did?”
He shrugged. His response was so cavalier, so nonchalant. He didn’t care about me or my brother or her sister. Fiery rage rose within me, making my hands shake with adrenaline. I couldn’t see anything but red. I lifted a fist and when I was about to punch him, a strike landed on his face. It made a cracking sound. His face was wide with surprise and he stumbled a few steps back and fell. I turned to Hailey, who had landed the slap. She looked as vicious as I was.
Hailey strode over to him. “You’re pathetic.” Bryce chose to come in at this moment. He was holding the arm I had twisted in his other hand. He took stock of the scene, “What the fuck is going on?”
I went over to Hailey. “Do you still want to do anything more here?” I whispered the question to her. She shook her head slowly.” I think we better leave.”
We marched out past Bryce, who still looked shocked. She took a deep breath once we were outside the house. I led her to the car, and we went back home in silence. When the elevator doors opened, she got out of the reverie she had been stuck in.
“Thank you,” she said when we both entered her apartment. This whole staying apart thing should be remedied soon. Today, even. “You can go now.”
“Hailey. About what happened at your Dad’s house.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Isn’t there? What about what really happened to my brother? One would think that’s something important to talk about.”
“You can believe whatever you want, but I was drugged before I got into that car. It doesn’t absolve me of course. I shouldn’t have driven. I should have been more careful. Liam was drunk as well. That’s why I thought it was better if I drove. I don’t know what I was thinking and—”
“Hailey.” I stepped forward. She stepped back. I stopped. “It’s not your fault, Hailey.”
“It is.”
“No. The amount that was in your system was so large it’s amazing you even got away at all.”
“How do you know about that?”
Fuck. I might have given out too much information. I could lie, but where would that get us. So many lies were between us. It was past time to be truthful. “My investigator uncovered it.”
“Ah, so now you believe me because someone else told you so?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Really? Then how is it like, exactly?”
I had no response for her. How could I explain to her I had so much hate in me for her for years, almost nothing would make me believe her? And then I saw the tape. It only confirmed my suspicions.
“Can you please get out? I want to be alone.”
“Hailey.”
“Caiden please.”
I respected her wishes.
48
As soon as I got to my apartment, I sent her a text.
I’m sorry.
She didn’t respond. I had to give her time. She had gone through a lot. But I also wanted to comfort her. She was hurting. She had no one, and I didn’t want her to be alone.
I checked my messages and got to work to distract myself. Ax asked me what had happened at the funeral, I told him everything, at least the part that concerned him. I dove into more work and by evening, she still hadn’t responded. I should go to her. The thought was irrational. I knew that she probably wanted to be left alone, but I couldn’t let it go.
What if she disappears again? That thought made me lurch from my seat and within a few minutes I was banging on her door.
“What do you want?” her eyes were puffy and her voice was groggy in an almost sexy way. Calm down, you ragged dog.
“Checking up on you.”
“I’m here. What?” her lips were pouty and pillowy. I clamped down the need to kiss her and tried to think of a reason I would be back at her door. None came to mind that made sense, so I said the first thing that popped into my head.
“I thought maybe I could cook you dinner.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You didn’t eat the entire day. And think of the baby.”
Her face fell, and I winced. It came out as a threat. I didn’t mean it like that. “Come on in.” It was a cold invitation. I took it anyway.
The apartment was as sterile as the day she came in. It had the feeling of a hotel room. There was nothing of hers on walls or lying around. It was as if she was staying with the mind of leaving any day. Or that she could be removed any day. I went to the kitchen and opened the cupboards. There was some unopened macaroni. A lot of canned food. Most of it hadn’t been touched. The fridge was similar except for the fruits. Those were going at a faster rate. After taking stock, I turned to her. “Pasta and meatballs?” she gave a tentative nod. Good, we were getting somewhere.
Half an hour later, I brought the dish to the dining table. “Food is ready, madam.” Hailey was sitting there on her phone. She placed it to the side and breathed in the scent, closing her eyes. So she was hungry after all. She took her plate. “Thank you,” she said and began eating. I watched her as she closed her eyes, savoring the food.
“What do you think?”
She opened her eyes and righted herself. “It’s fine.”
“Just fine?”
“A little salty.”
Liar. “I’ll take it into consideration.”
We ate in silence for a while. It felt like we had been doing it for a long time. After a while, though, I heard a fork clatter. I looked up from my plate. She was staring down at hers.
“What’s wrong?”
“What is this?”
The food? Was she feeling sick? “What do you mean?”
“This. All of this. The cooking, taking me to the funeral. What are you trying to do?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to be there for you.”
“If you’re afraid of me running away or doing something to the child, then don’t.”
“That’s not it at all.” I want to be close to you. “Your father died. And your brothers… I’m trying to help.”
“Thanks, but I don’t need any.”
“It doesn’t seem like it. You were quiet the entire time we got here.”
“Is that all?”
“Is that the reason you’re here? To comfort me?”
I wasn’t sure why I was here. I wanted to be around her, be with her. Wipe that sad smile on her face. Be the one to bring back her beautiful smile. Hold her close. However, I couldn’t do most of that. She was closing me off. “I only want to be there for you.”
She scoffed. “Sure. Whatever makes you sleep at night, I guess.”
