31. James
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James
A month without her felt like a year.
And I had managed to stay away from her for the better part of a fucking decade.
I woke up every morning in my apartment staring at the ceiling, running through every conversation I should have had differently. Every choice I should have made with her instead of for her.
The distillery was gone. My mother had wasted no time installing herself as the new majority shareholder, and the first thing she’d done was send a company-wide email announcing my departure. Effective immediately. No explanation. No severance.
Just a polite thank-you for my years of service and a reminder that my access credentials had been revoked.
At least I’d been smart enough to keep my personal finances separate from the business. The trust fund my father had left me was still intact, and I had savings that would keep me comfortable for years. I wasn’t going to starve.
But that wasn’t the point.
I started looking for jobs. Sent out resumes to every distillery and spirits company on the East Coast. Called in every favor I was owed, reached out to every contact I’d made in a decade of building the business.
Nothing.
Three weeks in, the pattern became clear. I’d get initial interest, sometimes even make it to a second interview, and then radio silence.
Diane had blacklisted me. Of course she had.
On the other hand, Megan became my lifeline to Haley and Lily. She’d text me pictures throughout the day. Lily at the park. Lily eating breakfast. Lily holding up a drawing she’d made of what appeared to be a purple dinosaur eating a house.
Each photo was a knife to the chest.
I missed them. Missed Lily’s laugh and Haley’s smile and the way the apartment smelled like coffee in the morning. Missed the life I’d had for those few perfect weeks before I’d destroyed it by trying too hard to protect it.
How had I fucked up so badly?
I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling for the hundredth time, when my phone rang. Megan’s face flashed on the screen.
“Hey,” I answered without sitting up. “What’s going on?”
“Did you see it?” Her voice was sharp with excitement.
“See what?”
“God, what rock are you living under, you idiot?” I heard her moving around, the TV blaring in the background. “Turn on your phone or your TV or literally anything with a screen. Your mom is fucking screwed.”
I sat up and grabbed the remote from the nightstand, flipping to the news channel.
Diane Sinclair’s face filled the screen.
The headline scrolling beneath it made my blood run cold. SINCLAIR FAMILY SCANDAL: LEAKED AUDIO REVEALS PLOT TO USE GRANDDAUGHTER AS PUBLICITY TOOL.
“What the fuck?” I turned up the volume.
The anchor was speaking in a measured tone.
“The recording, which sources say was captured at a private event last month, appears to show Diane Sinclair and her son Caleb discussing their plans to use Caleb’s three-year-old daughter to rehabilitate his public image following his contentious divorce. ”
They played the audio. My mother’s voice, unmistakable, cutting through the static.
“The child is a Sinclair. She belongs with this family, not being raised by that woman in some apartment across town.”
Then Caleb. “I don’t actually want custody, Mom. I just want Haley to suffer. She embarrassed me. She needs to learn what happens when you cross us.”
“Then use the girl. Petition for visitation. Drag it out in court. Make that bitch’s life hell until she comes crawling back.”
The anchor reappeared. “The recording has sparked outrage across social media, with many calling for investigations into the Sinclair family’s business practices and personal conduct. Diane Sinclair has not yet responded to requests for comment.”
Holy fuck.
“Are you seeing this?” Megan’s voice crackled through the phone.
“I’m seeing it.” I couldn’t look away from the screen. “Where did this come from? Who recorded them?”
“No idea. But whoever it was just nuked your family from orbit.”
My phone buzzed with an incoming text. I glanced at the notification.
Haley: Unc Jame it is Lily. please come home.
My heart stopped.
“Megan, I have to go.”
“What? Why? What’s happening?”
“Lily texted me.” I was already grabbing my keys. “From Haley’s phone. She’s asking me to come home.”
“James-”
“I’ll call you later.”
I hung up and ran for my car. The drive to Haley’s apartment took twenty minutes, and I made it in twelve.
I couldn’t really stay away from her. So I’d rented an apartment nearby, in case she ever needed anything.
I took the stairs two at a time because the elevator was too slow, and by the time I reached her door, I was breathing hard.
I knocked. Waited. Knocked again.
Haley opened the door. She looked tired. Beautiful, but tired. Dark circles under her eyes. Hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. The same exhaustion I’d been carrying for the last month written all over her face.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice was guarded.
“Lily asked for me.” I held up my phone, showing her the text. “She said to come home.”
Haley stared at the screen. Her expression shifted, confusion giving way to something softer.
“She figured out how to use my phone.” She stepped back from the doorway. “Come in.”
I barely made it three steps before Lily came barreling around the corner.
“James!” She launched herself at me, and I caught her, swinging her up into my arms. “Yayyy you came! I texted you and you came! I love you so much!”
“I love you too, bug.” My voice cracked on the words. I held her tight, breathing in the smell of her strawberry shampoo, feeling her small arms wrapped around my neck. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” She pulled back to look at my face, her expression serious. “Mommy’s been sad. I don’t like it when she’s sad. That’s why I texted you. Because you make her not sad.”
Christ. This kid was going to destroy me.
“Let’s get you to bed, okay?” I kissed her forehead. “It’s late.”
“Will you do the story?”
“Yeah, bug. I’ll do the story.”
I carried her down the hallway to her room, Haley following silently behind us. I tucked Lily in and read her the book she’d chosen, doing all the voices, watching her eyes get heavy and then finally close.
When I came back out to the living room, Haley was standing by the window, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Haley.”
She turned to face me, and I saw the tears on her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice broke on the words. “James, I’m so sorry.”
“Baby, you have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I do.” She shook her head, more tears falling. “I overreacted. I pushed you away when I shouldn’t have. And the last month has been terrible. Lily and I missed you so fucking much, and I just-” She pressed her hands against her eyes. “I just want you here. I want you home.”
I crossed the room and pulled her into my arms. She collapsed against my chest, her whole body shaking with sobs. I held her tight and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m here,” I murmured against her hair. “I’m right here.”
She cried for a long time. I just held her, rubbing her back, letting her get it all out. When she finally pulled back, her eyes were red and swollen, but some of the tension had left her shoulders.
“Did you do it?” I asked quietly.
“Do what?”
“Diane.” I nodded toward the window, toward the city where the news was still breaking, where my mother’s reputation was crumbling in real time. “The recording. Was that you?”
Haley scoffed. “No. It was Vanessa.”
That caught me off guard. “Vanessa? Why would she-”
“Turns out Caleb and your mother have been stringing her along for years.” Haley wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Promising her things they never intended to deliver. She finally had enough when she caught Caleb with his pants down with his latest secretary.”
“His latest-” I laughed despite myself. “The man can’t keep a job but can definitely bang his way through an office.”
Haley laughed too. “That’s exactly what I said.”
“So Vanessa recorded them?”
“At the launch event. She sent it to me a few days ago with a message that said ‘Do what you want with it. I’m done with this family.’” Haley shrugged. “So I sent it to every news outlet I could think of.”
“Haley.” I stared at her. “You leaked it? You went to war with my mother?”
“She went to war with me first.” Her chin lifted, a flash of the fierce woman I’d fallen in love with. “I was done letting her win.”
“That’s-” I didn’t have words. “That’s incredible. You’re incredible.”
“I’m not done.” She took my hand and led me to the couch. “I spoke to Sean.”
“My accountant? Why?”
“Because you shouldn’t lose your dad’s legacy for those bastards.” She sat down and pulled me down beside her. “You kept that company afloat. You protected it for years. It’s not right that she gets to take it just because she threatened me.”
“Haley, the transfer already went through. The shares are in her name. It’s done.”
“Is it?” She smiled, and there was a glint in her eye I’d never seen before. “I have my ways, Sinclair. Don’t underestimate me.”
“What did you do?”
“I called a board meeting.” She said it casually, like she was describing her morning coffee routine. “On the basis of the shares you allocated to Lily.”
I froze. “What?”
Haley squeezed my hand. “Lily is a shareholder, James. Which means I’m her proxy until she turns eighteen. Which means I had standing to call an emergency board meeting.”
My head was spinning. “You called a board meeting.”
“I presented everything. The coercion. The threats. The lawsuit that was designed to bankrupt me. The audio of Diane and Caleb plotting to use Lily as a pawn.” She paused. “The board was appalled. They voted to reverse the transfer. Unanimously.”
“They what?”
“Your shares are back in your name as of this morning.” She smiled wider. “And Diane has been removed from the board entirely.”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t process what she was telling me.
“Wait.” I held up my hand. “Back up. How do you know about Lily’s shares? I never told you about those.”
“Sean told me.” She shrugged. “He’s been very helpful. Apparently he’s had concerns about your mother for years but never had enough ammunition to do anything about it.”
“Sean told you,” I repeated. “My accountant. The man who’s worked for my family for twenty years. He just told you everything.”
“I can be very persuasive.” She reached up and touched my face. “Especially when I’m fighting for the people I love.”
Then she kissed me.
I pulled her closer, tasting the salt of her tears, feeling the last month of distance dissolve between us.
When she finally pulled back, she was smiling.
“Welcome home, James.”