53. Ezy
Chapter fifty-three
Ezy
E zy Aged 31
My parents are dead, and I’ve inherited their vast fortune. I thought I’d been ousted from public record, but apparently not. I listen to the man rattle off all my vast estate and the immense sums I now have available.
“You need to come back and sign this paperwork.”
I nod. “I’ll come.” There is no choice. I have to go back, even if it’s just this once.
The video call ends, and I sit back feeling bitterly sad that my parents couldn’t just love me for who I am.
Ezekial Boothe is now one of the richest people in the world. I wonder what Gael and Kelly will think.
“I need to go back for a couple of days,” I explain to Kelly.
He doesn’t move from where he’s lying on the bed, except to grab the bottle of bourbon and drink before setting it back on the bedside table.
“I’m coming back.”
No answer.
It’s hard to leave him, but I need to do this. It will help all of us in the long run.
Gael grips my shoulder when I get to the lobby.
“I’ve got him. Go do whatever you need to do. We’ll celebrate Ryn’s debut and then head to Black Valley for the meet.”
It all sounds so simple, but why does it feel like everything is changing?
P resent Day
I stand in the foyer of my house and watch as the staff I hired put sheets on all the furniture. With every piece that is covered, I feel the chains of memory dropping away from me. Freeing me.
“You all right, Ezy?”
I put an arm around Aspyn. “You know, I thought when I left here that I would never see it again. I expected them to cut me off, to give the money to someone else. I don’t know why they left it to me.”
“Maybe they loved you. They just sucked at showing it.”
“Perhaps. Mostly likely, though, it’s about blood lines. My dad and mum were all about that. It would have hurt them to leave it to anyone else.”
Gael hangs up the phone and tilts his head back, closes his eyes, and lets out a deep, sexy growl.
“You finally got through to them?”
“Oh, yes. We’re done. Conversation is over. They are going to send ’s belongings I’ve requested to Auggie since she’s the only person that she can tolerate.”
“Your mother is a very unpleasant woman,” Aspyn grumbles.
Gael nods. “Yes, she is.”
Kelly, Shale, Keagan, and Beau approach us and draw to a halt. The front door is open, everything is under white sheets. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this house, but I feel like donating it as a hospital or museum would make my parents roll in their graves and would be a fantastic idea.
“Are we ready?”
Aspyn’s eyes glimmer happily. “Let’s do it, then.”
The drive takes us less time than one might think. We stand in the lift while it takes us to the top floor and the conference room of the board of Alpha Labels. The door opens again, and Kelly’s father walks in with his dark-haired nephew.
We stand there and then, with a nod from Charlie, the assistant Bailey hired, we turn and file through the conference room and head downstairs. We walk into the huge cafeteria where most of the staff are standing, waiting to find out what has been happening.
Kelly, Charles, and Bailey step up in front of the employees. The board stands behind them, well, what’s left of it. One group, a united front.
Kelly is dressed like them. He looks good and strangely weird.
“Good morning. I’m glad you could all make it.”
“What’s this about, Raines?” someone shouts from the back of the room.
“Daane,” Kelly says coolly.
“What?”
“It’s not Raines. It’s Daane.”
The crowd shift uncomfortably.
“I don’t want this company. To be perfectly honest, I hate it. I always have. In saying that, I’m not prepared to let my family’s business and name go down the drain because you all can’t control yourselves. Basically, I’ve decided that this company, that you people who love this company, deserve the best, and I’m not the best. Alpha Labels is about to undergo a drastic change, and leading you through and into the new order is Bailey, my very talented cousin.”
They rip their shocked eyes off Kelly and look at Bailey.
“You can’t give up Alpha Labels, we don’t know him!” someone from the crowd shouts.
“No, but you know me,” Charles says, “and I will help guide Bailey until you all feel confident. My son has done enough. He doesn’t have to stay here and sort out this company after everything he sacrificed. Bailey is looking forward to the challenge.”
I grin widely. This is the final nail in the coffin of our future in the city. With Bailey taking over, we have the ability to go anywhere we want and do anything we want.
Bailey steps up to the microphone. “From today, we’re starting with a new era, a new slate. A fresh start. I’m going to lead you firmly but fairly. I know the value of hard work and rewarding those who earned it. Welcome to the new era where Alpha Labels is being left in the dust and Raines Entertainment is rising from the ashes!”
The crowd roars, excited and happier than we could have hoped.
Aspyn leans into me, and I wrap an arm around her stomach, holding her close to me.
When we told her we weren’t staying, she cried for an hour. I know how hard she and Gael tried to adapt to this life, to see if they could live here. They tried, but it’s not for them, but also not for the rest of us. Plus Beau, Shale, and Keagan were getting seriously scary.
I miss the ocean. I can’t stand waking up and not hear the rocking motion of the waves. Opening a door and smelling the briny air.
It was an easy decision to make once we sat down and talked about everything with the family honestly. Ryn and Locke will help guide Bailey in the industry, and Charles will guide him in management. They were more than happy to understand, and Auggie and Charles came up to Gael and I after and hugged us for a long time.
Then, to my surprise, thanked us.
I refocus on the briefing, trying to pay attention, but I’m bored, and now that the Boothe house is packed up, I’m itching to leave.
We escape quietly after that. Bailey and Charles escort us down to the street.
“We’ll see you soon,” Kelly says with a smile. “I promised you surfing lessons.”
Bailey shrugs. “I’ll take surfing lessons when you take riding a bike lessons.”
Kelly cracks up, laughing hard and with abandon. It’s mesmerising. “I know how to ride a bike, so make sure you get a good wetsuit before you come down.”
Bailey bristles but then pauses. I follow his gaze to a man in a long black jacket. I can’t see his face or any details, but I get an intense sensation that he is watching us intently.
Bailey simply lifts his hand, flips him the bird, and goes back to a conversation with Shale about when he should come to wherever we end up.
The truth is, none of us are sure. We’ve found a few islands that will offer us an amazing potential home, but we’re going to go and have a look, and when the right one feels good, that’s where we will find a place and settle down.
None of us wants to live in a city. We all want to live on an island like the ones we’ve been living on.
Kelly suggests we go back to Kala, and I agree. It’s busier, but there is a hotel there for family who might want to come and stay.
We pile into the car, and when we get to the airport, pile into the plane. The lightness infects the whole pack, and even the air hostess relaxes and giggles with Aspyn.
Our omega is the most excited about this. I’d asked her why, and she said because the house is white.
I’d asked her what house. She couldn’t tell me, just said that she saw something, and the house is perfect, and it's white.
She curled up against me and fell asleep after that and slept almost the entire flight there.
“You are my everything. I didn’t even know I was missing you until I found you.”
She grins, revealing she wasn’t sleeping. “We just kept finding each other. I can't help but think the universe was on our side.”
“Keagan, what is that?” Beau wrestles a box away from Keagan and looks at it. “Ooh, it says it helps with pain. It’s not meds, it helps the muscle. Keagan this was really thoughtful, I’m surprised at you.”
Keagan snarls and lunges at Beau, but the seatbelt sign comes on.
“We’re here!” Aspyn says breathlessly.
Shale takes her hand and holds on tight.
“Are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready forever!” Aspyn sings out and laughs.
I stare at her as we land. I don’t care about the island, where our home is, or anything as long as I’m with her.
I’ve been ready for her forever, too.