All of the tension simply drained out of him as he immediately got up and entered the room and opened his arms for her to come to him. All the desire to argue and fight was gone and now he just needed to hold her, to know that she was still his and that she had come back to him.
Candasee allowed Nathan to hold her but she did not know if she could trust her feelings anymore. He was lying to her and she was lying to him. It was hardly the basis of a strong relationship. She was so tired and she had to teach a class in about three hours.
“Nathan, I just want to sleep, Can we talk later?” she asked tiredly.
“Sure, I’m just so relieved that you are back safely,”
Candasee smiled slightly before lying down fully clothed on the bed and within a minute she was soundly asleep. Nathan lay down beside her and set his alarm to wake them up around ten. When he realized he wouldn’t get any sleep and neither would Candasee he had asked two instructors to take over the rehearsals until he arrived later. They were willing to do so, at least giving him and Candasee a four hour nap. He took off her shoes and climbed into bed beside her, wrapping her in his arms under the comforter before finally allowing himself to sleep. She had come back to him and for now he would be satisfied with that.
“You are back already?” asked Ramon into the telephone in surprise as he looked across at his wife who was seated opposite him at the breakfast table. Courtney raised her eyebrows in surprise as well.
“Don’t ask, I just wanted to give you the all clear to go in and have your crew do the clean up,” Darius replied flatly. He’d never gotten the chance to show Candasee the entire plan. This was a mess and all he wanted to do was to cancel all of his appointments and stay in bed for the rest of the week.
“Darius, what happened, I thought you guys were looking pretty close out there on the dance floor?”
“Look Ramon, I really don’t want to talk about any of this right now. I’ll see you tonight at the show,” said Darius wearily and hung up the phone.
He could be patient but knowing that time wasn’t on his side here did not give him any comfort. She would be gone again in four days and he’d only made marginal progress with her. It was also clear that he’d grossly underestimated Nathan too. Who thought he would know how use his relationship with Solange to fix a false impression in Candasee’s mind? He was a liar and a manipulator and he was not going to get away with anything, not now that he was onto him.
He stood at the glass wall and dialled Mitchell’s number. It was too soon but Mitchell was a beast when it came to sniffing things out. He might have some information by now.
As usual when Mitchell answered his voice was bright and alert and long ago Darius gave up wondering when and if the man ever even slept.
“Have you made any progress on the Carthswright Academy report?” Darius asked.
“Yes, and you are going to find this interesting. The Academy just lost an important government grant which they used to subsidise the main cost of running the Academy’s programs. It seems that someone was skimming off the top of the fund and the donor got wind of it and pulled the support. So the Academy is practically dead in the water and they may have to close their doors within the year.”
“But how then can they be offering such an expensive scholarship through this intensive if they have no money to even support their existing students?”
“Maybe they have another silent donor in the wings?” Mitchell suggested.
“Who is Graeme?” Darius asked.
“Graeme is the eldest brother and the chairman of the Grace B. Carthswright Foundation, named after their late mother. His brother Nathan sits on the board as a trustee and he is also the Principal of the Academy. There are three other siblings but none of them are involved in the Academy.”
“Okay send me your report so I can read it through and I have another angle that I want you to investigate for me. There is a delegate here by the name of Eve Samaroo from Trinidad and she has been receiving inordinate favours from the administration of the academy. Find out more about her and about her family and if there are any links between them and the Carthswright's. I have a hunch that something illegal is going on here.”
“Okay sir, I will get right on that and get a report back to you within the day.”
“Thanks Mitchell, I appreciate it.”He ended the call and looked out at the first rays of light as they coloured the sky. He might not be able to have Candasee himself, but he sure as hell wouldn’t allow her to be fooled by someone as untruthful as Nathan Carthswright. She deserved to know exactly what she was getting herself into! He walked out to Portia’s desk and left a note for her to contact Nathan and ask him to meet him here at one in the afternoon. By then Mitchell should have found out and confirmed all that he suspected. He would go and get some rest, because today was going to be an interesting day.
It was almost one o’clock and Darius sat quietly behind his desk processing all that he’d learned from Mitchell thirty minutes earlier. He knew one thing for sure that he couldn’t let Candasee end up being hurt by all of this. Nathan should be arriving in a few minutes and he decided that he would try to apply to his reason first and see where he stood on the issues.
“Mr. Brogan, Mr. Carthswright is here to see you!” said Portia through her intercom.”
“Yes, ask him to sit in the conference room, I will be there shortly.”
Darius stood and finished the glass of water he was drinking. He would stay calm through all of this. Deep down he wanted to see the man ruined but doing that would hurt Candasee as well so he would tread carefully. This was to help her and not to destroy anyone, besides he’d never stooped to doing that and he wouldn’t start now.
He opened the adjoining door to the conference room and Nathan’s back was toward him as he stood at the glass panel looking out over the sea.
“Thank you for taking the time to come Nathan, I know that today is a busy day for you,” Darius began diplomatically. “Would you sit, there are some matters we need to discuss.”
“Cut the bullshit Brogan and no, I’m not going to sit because I don’t plan to be here long enough for that. I came for one reason only and that was to make something abundantly clear to you.” He turned around slowly at that point. “Stay away from Candasee. Every time she sees you or talks to you she comes back hurt and bruised and the light and joy has gone out of her eyes; joy and light that she found again by being with me. You took advantage of her trust and mine last night with your supposed all night party. How stupid do you think I really am? I know that the party finished a lot earlier and even though she won’t tell me what really happened, I know you tried something with her. She’s already made her decision and you need to live with that and let her move on with her life!”
As Nathan spoke Darius could see that he’d underestimated Nathan’s feelings for Candasee. He recognized that agonized look in his eyes and the way his voice sounded because it mirrored exactly what he felt. He did love Candasee and he was fighting for his life with her, but would she still choose him if she knew the truth about what he was doing here this week?
“Would she still choose you if she knew that you are a liar and a cheat?” Darius asked simply, his eyes hard and cold as steel.
“What did you just call me?”
“She already knows that the little scheme you cooked up with Solange was a total lie but that isn’t the half of it, is it Nathan?”
“What are you getting at Brogan?” said Nathan unsettled by the direct nature of Darius’ accusations.
“When I first heard about your Academy from Solange, I was truly impressed with your website, your programs and the many success stories. I thought after watching your videos and your performances that you deserved the many awards your company received over the years and so I readily opened to the idea of us working together to make this international recording a success. I would fill the gaping hole in the final day of my program and you would gain amazing publicity for your Academy an
d so far that aspect has been working because well we are business men and we both know what we want.”
“Get to the point Brogan!” Nathan seethed hating to be reminded exactly how much he owed this man for saving the intensive.
“When are you going to tell your staff that the Academy is teetering on bankruptcy and that this whole exercise is a joke? How are you going to tell your delegates who have been working as hard as they have been that you already have a winner decided beforehand? A winner who does not deserve the scholarship she will receive?”
If Nathan’s irises could have blazed red, Darius was sure that they would have at that moment as pure waves of rage poured off the man; waves of rage and also of shock.
Yes, Mitchell found out who Eve Samaroo’s parents were. They owned two of the largest casinos in Trinidad which were currently being investigated due to two unnatural deaths which occurred on the property in the last year. Both persons were employees but police had so far been unable to link Eve’s parents or anyone else to the crimes. They were the kind to throw their weight and money around to get exactly what they wanted. Eve had also been kicked out of the university there for being involved in a drug ring and was barred from re-entry.
The memory of his own betrayal to Candasee twisted in his gut painfully when he realized how much he’d cheated her of the opportunities she’d wanted too. Eve’s parents needed Carthswright’s Academy’s seal of approval to get her into another university. He wasn’t sure but he suspected that the Academy would be doing more for the Samaroo’s than just schooling their daughter. Mitchell suspected that they might also need a front to move their money around now that they were under so much scrutiny by the police and who would think about their supposed donations to an arts foundation. Graeme his brother took regular trips to Trinidad and Mitchell suspected that perhaps he had some shady connections with the Samaroo’s or even unpaid gambling debts. Whatever it was, the Samaroo’s had something on the Academy that they were able to use to force their compliance as well. It was farfetched but Darius suspected that he was very close to the truth.
Nathan had yet to respond to him and then he did something surprising. He sat down.
“You’ve been having me investigated?” he asked in a low voice.
“I told you before; I always make it a point to know everything about those I do business with.”
Things couldn’t be worse, thought Nathan as he looked at Darius across the table and cursed his brother in his mind. Where was Graeme now that his life was crumbling before his very eyes? He never wanted a part in this but now he was the one who looked the guiltiest before the man he hated more than anything else in this world. He couldn’t deny it because Darius obviously had hard cold facts and figures at his disposal and just as easily as he was summoned up here, he could do the same to contact Candasee and then it would all be over. No, he needed to buy some time.
“What do you plan on doing with this information?” Nathan asked steepling his fingers in front of his face.
“Ahh, now that’s the million dollar question. I have two requests and both have to be complied with or I will make sure Candasee and your staff knows exactly who you are.”
“Don’t threaten me Darius, you know nothing about me!”
“I know enough to know that you don’t deserve Candasee’s love or the trust she places in you.”
“And you do? You are the one she ran away from and the one she didn’t want to come within a ten mile radius of? You are hardly the poster boy for what love and trust should look like.” blurted Nathan with a dry laugh.
“I admit that is true, but I’ve long since seen the error of my ways and I left that part of me behind a long time ago.”
“Who the hell are you to judge me? You are a billionaire and God knows how you came about that scandalous amount of money. I’m sure that all of your deals weren’t as crystal as you would like everyone to believe either. Sometimes people need to make hard decisions to live and to survive and I wonder how you would feel if I sent an investigator to dig the skeletons out of your closets?” Nathan shouted.
“This isn’t about me Nathan so don’t try to deflect anything my way. My business affairs are handled between myself and other adults who know exactly what they are getting into and I pride myself on running everything legit. You have delegates here ages eighteen to twenty two , some of whom could barely afford to be here but they scraped something together so they could have a fair chance to have something more and you are trampling all over that. They don’t know what they are getting into and that is the issue!”
“None of this is any of your concern. I don’t see people coming up here telling you how to run your empire. Whatever you think you’ve found out is none of your business. Anything that concerns the academy is up to my family, not you.”
“Not even if I have a proposal for you that could solve all your financial problems right now?”
“What are you talking about now?”
“Like I said I have a proposal but there are two conditions which you must comply with if it will work.”
“Okay, I’m listening!”
“I am willing to cover the cost of your Academy’s program for two years until you are able to clear up your mess and secure another grant. I think that what you are doing is worthwhile but it is a shame that you are allowing greed to cloud the issues.”
“You do realize that it takes more than two million dollars to run our program annually?” Nathan asked incredulously.
“I am aware of that already!”
“What is in this for you?” Nathan asked suspiciously.
“Nothing at all, except seeing that these delegates and the others in your programs aren’t cheated.”
“And your two conditions?”
“Tell the Samaroo’s to back off from the deal and walk away from this relationship with Candasee. Love her enough to give her the fresh start she deserves.”
Nathan laughed. “So that’s what’s in it for you! I walk away like some guilty party and you step in for Candasee looking like a knight in shining armour. This is blackmail!”
“I was hoping that you would be smart enough to see it otherwise Nathan. I am giving you the opportunity to save your Academy, to run a fair intensive and to leave here with your name and reputation intact.”
“And how long do I have before this generous offer expires?”
“I’ll give you twenty-four hours! I think that is more than enough time, don’t you? Either way you are going to lose Candasee, I am offering you a way to do it and still keep your business and family name out of trouble. I think I am being more than generous here!”
“I would love nothing more than to tell you to shove this proposal up your arrogant ass. You are the most pompous, self-inflated dick I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. You sit there and you think you have all the chips, and all the moves and life is like a chess game to you. Do you ever consider that those pieces are people who actually have feelings too?”
“Unfortunately I don’t play chess and this is all because of what you and your family are doing. My priority is in protecting those delegates and Candasee. She can’t afford to have her trust betrayed again. I don’t think she would recover from that. It is better this way that she still respects you after this is over. You can come up with several reasons why you’ve decided to step aside and allow her to move on with her life that will soften the blow of all of this for her. I can see that you love her so it should be obvious that you only have one option here. Let her go. Don’t let her get mixed up in this.”
“No deal Darius, I’m not handing Candasee back to you just like that, never! She loves me. This isn’t some high school puppy love that I can just walk away from. We are getting married Darius! You need to get that through your thick skull. I don’t want your help,” said Nathan rising to his feet and walking toward the door. “I’m going to find a solution to the Academy’s problems that don’t involve the Samaroo’s or you.”
“You still have twenty-four hours and I’m confident that you will see reason.”
Nathan walked out and slammed the door behind him. As he walked away he’d already dialled Graeme’s number and his brother’s voice greeted him just as he stepped into the elevator. This time he would do the talking and Graeme would listen. Everything that mattered to him in his life depended on that.
“Graeme I’m not going to go along with this scheme of yours anymore. Eve will have to take her chances with the rest of the delegates.”
“Nathan we’ve already discussed this and you know that we can’t afford to turn down the kind of help her family is offering us right now.”
“Well we’re going to, because your gambling debts and your kleptomaniac ways are going to cause me to lose Candasee and that is where I draw the line.”
“I don’t understand, has she found out?”
“Not yet but she suspects that something is wrong and now her ex-husband Darius Brogan has done some digging around and he knows everything Graeme. He’s blackmailing me and I’m tired of being everyone’s scapegoat. This time I’m not going to be the one that takes the fall.”
“What exactly did he say Nathan?” Graeme asked.
“He knows we are in financial trouble and that we are fixing the intensive results to secure funding. If Eve wins he will tell Candasee and all the staff all that he knows to discredit us. I will not lose her over this Graeme.”
“Is that all he said?”
Nathan was incensed this was his life and Graeme seemed not to be hearing him.
“No that’s not all, he offered to fund the full Academy program for the next two years by supplying the grant himself if we run this show above board, but in return I have to walk away from Candasee.”
“Did you accept it?”
“Of course not Graeme, haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve been saying?”
“Yes I have and I think it’s a good deal. If we can secure him as a donor then maybe we can tell the Samaroo’s to back off. That will definitely put us in the black!” Graeme replied thoughtfully, “I don’t trust them at all.”
Fighting Destiny Page 23
