by Maggie Thom
“Oh, Tijan. I’m so not used to sharing the pain of my father... our father. I’m sorry.”
Tarin stepped between them and enveloped her in a hard hug. The tears that Tijan had been fighting spilled forth. What she was crying about she didn’t even know. She just knew that she had a wall of emotion that was crashing down.
Everyone finally sat as they waited to hear if they could see him, though Tijan hadn’t decided if she could. On one hand, she wanted to see him without his stoic armor on; on the other, she wasn’t sure she wanted to see him. Feeling a bit aloof, she didn’t, however, want to take away from Tarin seeing him.
The nurse finally announced the two of them could visit him for a few minutes. Tarin jumped up, grabbing Tijan’s hand.
“I don’t think I should go. I’ll see him tomorrow when he’s a bit stronger. I think this is for you. Okay?” Tijan held her breath. She hoped she hadn’t insulted her sister but she just couldn’t go in there. Not only were there all the lies and the lack of feeling for her father, but there was also the matter of the two thugs who had approached her. They’d slipped her mind but now she recalled they had told her that because she’d be in charge, they’d each be in touch to discuss ‘business’. She needed to have a talk with Tarin but this wasn’t the time.
Tarin smiled and hugged her before rushing off, Graham close on her heels.
It was almost 3:00 a.m. by the time they left the hospital. As they exited the building, the shrill sound of an ambulance siren greeted them.
“Well that’s a jolly good way to wake someone up,” Graham said in a stodgy English accent.
Everyone laughed. Tijan was glad for the humor but something dawned on her. “Uhm. Shouldn’t the police have stopped by and asked questions?”
Under the street light, the look that passed between Graham and Tarin was obvious. “That was taken care of.”
“Oh, they were here before we arrived?”
“Y-eah.”
Tijan frowned but decided to let it go. It really wasn’t her business what was told to the police. “I know we’re all tired but there is really something I need to tell you, Tarin. It’s really important. I haven’t had time to say anything or I would have already. But this really can’t wait.”
“Sure. Want to get together tomorrow? I guess I should say later today?”
“No. I think I need to tell you tonight. Is there someplace we can go where we won’t be disturbed or overheard?”
“Sure. We can go to the office. You can hop in with us or follow us?”
“I’ll drive her.” August stepped forward.
Tijan was about to argue but he had taken her arm and was propelling her across the parking lot. “We’ll see you there.”
They each went their separate way to their vehicles.
“Uhm. Do you know where the office is?” Tijan turned to August as they approached his car.
“Yeah. I’ve been there.”
Tijan barely paid attention as they drove; her mind was busy with what and how she was going to tell her sister what she knew. It wasn’t until they stopped that Tijan became aware of her surroundings before realizing they were parked by the building she had been scouting when she’d first come to Toronto. It seemed like such a long time ago but she realized it hadn’t even been a week.
Who knew so much could happen in a few short days.
Graham’s vehicle was already in the parking lot but he and Tarin were nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she climbed out and followed August around the building and to a door at the back. Just as he reached for it a man stepped out of the alley.
“Ahh.” Tijan jumped back.
“Shouldn’t be sneaking around here.” The man stepped out of the dark alleyway and stood between them and the door.
Tijan realized he was the guy from her first visit there, who had stared her down on the street. She was glad she was standing in the shadows as she didn’t want him to recognize her—not that she really thought he would but she didn’t want to take chances. She clapped her hands to her face as she snorted. Of course, he’d recognize her, she looked exactly like Tarin. A giggle was threatening to burst forth. It was a good indication of how exhausted and punchy she was.
August put his hands up as though telling the man he meant no harm. “It’s okay; Graham and Tarin have invited us here.”
“They don’t work at this hour.”
“I know they probably don’t but they’ve made an exception.”
“They tell me when they’re here.”
“Maybe they forgot.”
Tijan listened to the two men argue. The man was blocking their way and was not about to move. He was a little shorter than August, who she guessed was around six feet but he wasn’t someone that he should take on. There was a hard protectiveness about the guy and he seemed on edge. His rigid, almost military-like stance and the way he was blocking the door was making it pretty clear they weren’t getting past him without Graham and Tarin.
“Do you have one of their phone numbers?” His question made Tijan realize she didn’t even know how to contact her sister. She pushed that added hurt away.
“I’ll text him.”
Tijan stepped away from the building, seeking quiet although sirens could still be heard in the distance.
“Why is your hair long? You’re not Tarin. She doesn’t have a sister.”
Tijan whipped around. The man glared at her as if in anger. He took a step toward her but August stepped in front of him and placed his hands on the man’s chest. The man’s arm came down hard across August’s and next thing she knew, he had August’s arm pinned behind his back as he squashed him against the outside wall.
The door burst open.
“Bill. It’s okay. Let him go. I forgot to let you know we were here.” Graham spoke softly as he approached him cautiously and slowly. “It won’t happen again. It was an emergency. They’re with us. You can trust them.
“This is on me, Bill. You can let him go.” Graham kept talking softly but did not touch him. “Deep breath.” Graham then proceeded to do just that a few times.
Bill released August abruptly. He stepped back and although he didn’t look at August, he said, “You need your hair cut. Men don’t have long hair. Disrespect.” Then he disappeared around the corner.
“Sorry about that, guys. Go on up. I’ll be there in a minute.” Graham followed the man around the side of the building.
Feeling a bit shaken, Tijan headed up the stairs, hearing the clump of August’s steps behind her. They reached the top of the stairs.
“Turn right.”
Tijan stepped through the open door. The office was rather stark but there was no one there.
“I’m in here.”
Following the voice, Tijan walked through into the second office. It didn’t have much more furniture or pictures than the first one but the bed in the corner did catch her eye. Suddenly realizing she was sleep-deprived, she was very tempted to crawl into it. Blinking a few times to stave off sleep, she looked around and realized her sister was sitting at one of two desks and was busy on the computer.
“Just give me a minute. I’m finishing up something.”
Tijan was too wired to sit down but too tired to do much more than find an empty wall and prop herself against it.
Tarin looked up and smiled at her. It touched Tijan in a way she hadn’t been expecting. Subconsciously, she pressed her hand against her chest.
“It appears the hotel has been trying to reach me. They’ve sent me an email, stating that with my father unable to fulfil his duties, I’m expected to stand in.” Tarin popped her fist onto the desk.
Tijan smiled. It was such a controlled, gentle punch. It was so unlike what she would have done.
“Whoa, girl. What has your father done now?” Graham asked as he entered the room. He turned to face Tijan and August, who were standing not far from her. “It’s the only time I ever see her mad. Her father does have a way about him. Sorry about Bill. He’s t
ruly harmless and a really good guy.” He looked pointedly at August when he said that.
“It’s okay. I get it he’s protecting you guys. I don’t hold any grudges but please let him know I’m a good guy too.”
“I already have. He knows you’re with us.”
“They met Bill?” Tarin looked wide-eyed at Graham and then at August.
“Yeah. He didn’t like that I had long hair. Or that I showed up here at night wanting to meet with you guys.” August shrugged like it was no big deal.
Tarin gasped. “I never thought to say anything when we got here. In fact, I thought he’d gone home and—”
“Hey. It’s okay. He didn’t hurt me. Or you, Tijan?” August gave her a look that she interpreted to mean, lie if you have to but don’t tell her he scared or hurt you.
Tijan shook her head. She’d been listening to everything that was being said but it was the unspoken messages between Tarin and Graham that really piqued her interest. They seemed awfully protective of the old guy and he seemed to be just as protective of them. Yet they kept looking at August. He didn’t look like a fighter, although his clothes fit nice and she would guess he had a nice physique, she couldn’t imagine him hurting an old man. But then as with all of them, she didn’t really know him either.
“You were talking about your father.” Tijan found she couldn’t say any more. He was her father too, yet she just couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge it, even if it felt wrong to call him Tarin’s father.
“He’s put me in charge. I almost think he got shot on purpose.”
Tijan’s heart thumped in her chest; her father might just be worse than she’d thought.
Chapter 29
“What did you learn?”
“That if we want to make this happen we are going to have to do it ourselves. My father is making plans for me to marry the old guy’s daughter. Not impressed.”
“She’s hot, though.”
“Yeah, if you swing that way. Anyway, I’m not interested. And never will be. I’m almost tempted to tell my father the truth about me, that all the women he thinks I bed are for his benefit. I’m quite sure it would give him a heart attack. That would solve many of my problems. Our problems.” He sipped his glass of Chardonnay. He didn’t share with his partner that his father had just killed a long-time employee for being gay.
“I’m glad you’re not straight. Otherwise we wouldn’t be together.”
He smiled, glad that his new ‘friend’ thought they’d be lovers. This was going to work better than he thought.
To anyone in the small, dimly lit lounge, they were two businessmen in suits. To one, they were acquaintances, with the one a pawn. To the other, they were friends and soon to be lovers. Either way, it was something they could never share with the world. At least not the one they existed in. It would ruin both of their careers. Never mind that it might just take their lives—although what they were planning might definitely change that anyway.
“I don’t think we should wait. We should strike now. Take things over. Then you’ll be in a better place to deal with your father. And then you won’t feel we have to wait to take our relationship to the next level.”
“I could care less about him. I want to create my own dynasty. I don’t want his. He’s old school. Can you imagine with this hotel chain what we could do? The money we could launder through here. The drugs. We’d be so rich and powerful, we could easily take out my father.”
“I love when you get so fired up about stuff.” The two men stared intimately at each other. They’d deliberately chosen this restaurant and the large booth in the dimly lit corner so they could have those private moments.
“I think we approach James, give him an ultimatum—”
“Why? There is no way the man is going to take on partners. We’d be dead before the words got out of our mouths. You know that, right?”
“No. He is.”
“What? No. You can’t be thinking of doing that.”
“No. But if I scare him enough, he might just agree that partners are a good idea. I mean we’ve already managed to funnel off two million and he hasn’t seemed to notice.”
“True. But that’s because we’ve been smart about it. Setting up that fake sale of the winery was brilliant. Well the winery isn’t fake but he thinks he owns it.”
“You know what’s even better? If we make it look like he’s the one scamming and laundering his own money.”
“That’s brilliant. Is there some way we can make ourselves partners? Have him sign something that we can doctor up to look like he knew he was giving us 51% controlling interest? We don’t want to be too greedy. We want him to sit and watch from the sidelines while we take control of his business.”
“Yes. Now that’s what we should do. I’ll set up a meeting this week with him. I’m sure there is some project that I could get him to sign off on. The Caspian Wine deal is never going to happen, at least in my opinion, but we could tell him that we need him to sign a series of letters that will be sent off to Caspian, giving them deadlines or something like that. Can you draft that up?”
“Yes. And I can forge his signature. Better yet, I’ll set up a digital file and send it to him. I’ll get him to sign digitally. Then I’ll take that and put his signature on some legal documents, giving us 51% control. I’ll look into how to do it.”
“God, I am so ready for this. Can I see you later? Oh forget it. I just remembered I’ve been summoned to see my father. And I really don’t want to put you at risk. He’d kill you.”
“Don’t worry. Soon we won’t have to hide or worry so much. Just imagine this, we’ll take the second floor of the hotel and turn it into our place. We can make it two suites, so we can still keep our private life private but we’ll be together.”
The two men stared at each other for a long time, both knowing that they were taking a big risk.
“You know what would be so much easier? Have him sign over the hotel to us and then kill him. Make it look like a break-in.”
“Or better yet, make it look like it was my father who did it.”
~~~~
“He’s in.” He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply, pulling her hair out of its tight bun as he did so. His hands were busy peeling off her well-designed clothes. The difference in their age didn’t mean a thing to him.
“Hey, be careful with that. It’s expensive.”
“Soon I’ll be able to buy you what you want and you won’t ever have to worry about something being expensive. I’ll just buy you a new one.”
“So, if I wanted a new house?”
“I’ll buy you one on every continent.”
She laughed. He loved hearing that and was even more excited as he knew from working with her that it was something rare.
His hands were roaming over her skin but she danced back out of his reach, and her arms extended toward him in an attempt to ward him off. Her smile softened her actions.
“This is going to work, right?”
“Yes. I’ve got him drafting some paperwork to get James to sign, get his signature and then transpose it onto legal documents. I’ll tell him it’s too risky for him to do anything with that signature. He’s too close. But he’ll make a great fall guy. We’ll alter the documents and then you and I will own 51% of C-Lite Hotels; just enough to drive James crazy.”
She launched herself at him and was soon divesting him of his clothes as fast as he was divesting her of hers. With one pant leg still on, he picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. They barely made it to the kitchen counter.
Chapter 30
Tijan grabbed a chair and pulled it around the desk so she could sit facing Tarin. She didn’t want any barriers between them and she was too tired to stand any more.
She took her sister’s hands in hers, noting that although they looked identical, some things were different. Tarin’s hands were soft and unmarred, while hers were rough and calloused. She went to pull back but Tarin held tight.
/>
“There’s so much I want to tell you but I think most of it will have to wait. But know this; I came here to find you.”
Tarin squeezed her hands as tears welled in her eyes. “If I’d known you weren’t a figment of my imagination, I’d have looked for you.”
Tijan felt her throat close and looked down for a second. “I don’t know who is responsible for that; for keeping us apart. We’ll figure that out later. For now, your father—well, I guess he’s mine too. Anyway, the first day I was here he abducted me.”
“What!”
“Well, I should say two of his henchmen—”
“He makes me so mad. What was he trying to bully you into?” Tarin shook her head. “Wait. Did he know who you were?”
Tijan considered that for a minute. He’d called her Tarin but he had to know she, Tijan, existed. Didn’t he?
“He seemed to think I was you. By the way, he likes your hair long. Or my hair. You know what I mean.”
Tarin sat back, smiling. “Yes. It’s why mine is short. According to him, it’s a boy’s haircut. It drives him crazy.”
“Got it. It’s cute by the way. I don’t think I could wear my hair like yours, though.”
August chuckled and all three turned to look at him.
He shrugged. “Really? You’re identical.”
Tijan looked at Tarin as his comment sank in. They started to giggle and when they realized they sounded alike, they laughed harder.
“I guess that’s true. If I want to know how I’d look in something, I just have to look at you. God, I’ve missed you.” Tijan hugged her sister hard.
“I don’t want to break this up but you were saying about your father?” Graham leaned against the other side of the desk.
Tijan sat back. “Right. The second time—”
“What?”
“Uhm. Well, the first time was just a chat in his car. The second time, his two bodyguards took me to his office—which is pretty swanky, by the way. He wasn’t thrilled with my attire and offered to buy me some clothes. He felt I, meaning you, should stop rebelling.”
