Chapter 1 #2
Work is slow. We are so high-end that everyone moves at a snail’s pace.
You wouldn’t catch someone bolting around the corridors at The Earl Marks.
Nope. It’s caviar and suit jackets at breakfast. Well, maybe not caviar for breakfast, but it’s all very well-to-do business people here on conferences or work trips.
That being said, I am paid extremely well here.
Especially as my CV didn’t have a lot going for me.
The pay and the extravagant tips make it worth my while.
I learned to smile extra wide when I got my first fifty-pound tip for holding open a door.
Ridiculous.
Ashley, my work colleague, is processing a guest’s invoice and I am sitting waiting to call the valet for the guest. It’s a talent to get it here right on time, and so far, I have failed miserably.
My hands sweat as I grip the phone tight, my eyes glued on his credit card in his hand, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
He pauses on the way to the card machine, and I lift my eyes to meet his. His dark brows are pulled in as he watches me watch him.
I plaster a smile on my face and relax the phone in my hand. “Hi.”
“Nina, could you check the delivery in the back office for me?” Ashley asks me, looking at me with a smirk.
“Sure.” I roll back my chair and smooth down my skirt, then make my way to the office, glad to be off the front desk. I can’t make a fool of myself back here.
Ashley strolls in a few minutes later.
“Why do you have to be such a creeper?” She chuckles, looking over at me from the door. “Leave that. I just needed you away from the guests.”
“I’m not that bad!”
“You were staring all wide-eyed at him.” She laughs. “He asked if you were okay when you left.”
“Great, they think I’m crazy.”
“Come on, we have a shit ton of emails to get through this morning.”
By choice, I made my shifts long. I work twenty-four hours over two days. It’s hard work and I miss my boy so much, but I know he will appreciate it one day and it gives me adult conversation. I need it for my sanity just as much as the money.
Elliot is fast asleep on my sofa when I push through my apartment door. Toys surround his feet and Mr Tumble is on the TV.
“El? El.” I place a hand on his shoulder, and he jolts awake, snorting.
“Huh.”
I smile down at him. “Sorry, you were asleep.”
He sits up, running his hand through his blond hair. “Shit, I was going to clean all this up. Sorry.”
He begins tidying up the toys, but I stop him with my hand on his arm. “It’s fine, I’ll do it. Did he go down okay?”
He considers lying to me. I can tell by the way he pauses. “He didn’t want to leave Mase. He cried until he had his bottle and dropped off at about seven. I think he was just exhausted from all the crying.”
Shit. I drop my head.
“It’s not your fault, Nina, it’s just his age. He’s becoming more aware.”
“Yeah, I suppose. I feel like I’m keeping him from Mason. Maybe I need to let him put him to bed at home here when he isn’t keeping him overnight.”
Elliot stares at me wide eyed. “Yeah. Yeah, I actually think that would be amazing. For all of you,” he adds.
They must think I am a complete bitch. I know I’ve been reluctant to see Mason, but I would never put my child through unnecessary pain for the sake of myself. I hope they know that.
“I always knew there would come a time that this wouldn’t be enough.”
“You’re an incredible mother, Nina, don’t beat yourself up over it.” He leans in and kisses my head. “I’ll see you in the week, okay?”
“El.”
“Yup?” He spins on his heel to face me.
“Could you not mention this to Mason? Give me a couple days to get my head around it. See how I can make it work around our routine.”
His jaw flexes and I see his Adam’s apple bob in his throat. I shouldn’t ask him to keep things from his best friend. “Sure,” he says, before turning and leaving.
I clean the lounge and wash up the few dishes in the sink, then go to my bedroom where I drop into the rocking chair and watch my beautiful baby boy sleep, pushing all thoughts of his father back into the tiny compartment that’s buried deep in the depths of my heart.
Mase
“All I’m saying is that maybe things could be different now. It’s been a year, Lowell.”
I shake my head as Elliot continues his pointless attempt to get me to reach out to Nina. It’s been seven months and apart from a handful of texts, there has been no communication.
I haven’t seen her in seven months.
The mother of my child.
Nina.
At first, I didn’t deal with her demands well. I’m not proud of the months that followed after she left me.
I became destructive and cold, sleeping with women like I did when I was in college—with no emotion or regard for them. Anything to fill the emptiness that came with being in the penthouse alone.
A hoard of voids that never got filled.
“Let it go already. It works for now,” I tell him, eyeing the sheet in my hand.
We have a board meeting this afternoon which Elliot is presenting.
It used to be my job, however, when I turned up to work half cut last Christmas calling out the people who ride our asses in the company, the decision was unanimous that Elliot take the reins.
I lost my way for a little while.
“She brought it up. It was her idea,” he continues, and I roll my eyes.
I don’t believe that for a second. “Well, then she can ask me about it herself, can’t she?”
“You’re both too stubborn for your own good.”
“She is,” I defend.
She did this.
He mumbles something under his breath that I don’t catch.
“Here.” I hand him the forecast for the next four months, glad I don’t have to deal with it anymore. “Don’t miss the figures on Rosehill. Hector will only ask if you forget it.”
He snatches the piece of paper from my hand, frowning as he reads through the figures.
“You good?” I smirk.
He ignores me, letting the sheet of paper fall to the table and then he turns to face me.
He’s relentless.
“Just give her a text? Ask to drop off or pick up from hers?”
“You’re wasting your time,” Charlie says from the door. “She’s too stubborn to let you back in so easily.”
“Aldridge is right. Let her go, Montgomery. I have.” I pat his back as I walk past him and towards Charlie at the door.
“You’ve let her go, my arse! Where are you fuckers going anyway?”
“Golfing,” Charlie replies, grinning wide.
I watch as Elliot’s frown only gets deeper.
“Elliot.” He snaps his eyes to me. “Don’t fuck it up.” I nod to the paper on the desk and leave. Years of being in the office alone while Elliot did whatever the hell he wanted is finally paying off.
Rounding the reception area, I eye George. “Get Vinny for me and—”
“Already here.” He points to my office.
“What?”
“He’s in your office, right now. Came in like a flapping fairy. I told him you were in Elliot’s office and that I would help him, but he refused. Silly stubborn man.”
Charlie looks just as perplexed as I’m sure I do.
Walking into my office, I see him sat at my desk, reading glasses on and focused on a file in front of him.
“Vin?”
He looks at me over the top of his glasses, looking older than his fifty years. It takes me back to my father sitting behind the very same desk. It seems like a lifetime ago now.
“I found her, Mase. The woman from that night. I finally found her.”
My body goes rigid, unsure if I’ve heard him right.
“She ran out of money, by the looks of it. Scott found her in Stratford.”
I snigger, completely shocked and lost for words. Fucking months of searching for the hooker who ruined my life, and she was under our nose this whole time?
“You have eyes on her?” I ask.
“Yeah. That’s not all though.” His face is grim as he rises to his feet. He removes his glasses, chucking them to the table in defeat as he brings me the piece of paper. “You should see this.”
“Jerry Lockwood,” I read aloud, studying the piece of paper.
Nina’s biological father.
“Her dad.”
I jerk my head up, confused. “Whose fucking dad?” I snap.
“Jasmine Lockwood.” He pauses, his own anger evident as he swallows the lump in his throat. “She’s Nina’s half sister, Mason.”