Chapter Eighteen
Showdown
Seth
Seth had been lurking around the corridor, trying to decide what to do. The asshole who owned the mansion he was standing in was the same dick who’d visited his father that day on Aspen Way—the same jerk who’d kicked them out of the house soon after.
His memories of that time were vague, but he’d been old enough to understand what had been going on. His dad had been permanently broke, and no matter how hard his parents worked, there was never enough money. Meanwhile, the prick who’d owned the property—who presumably never had to worry about how to afford food or heating—had decided to evict them.
Seth’s gaze narrowed as he recalled the trauma. His dad had only just passed away when the order to leave had arrived, spiraling his mum into despair she hadn’t ever really recovered from.
So why would she want to be with Kyle?
Surely she knew who he was? It hadn’t exactly taken Seth long to figure it out.
The conundrum knotted in Seth’s head, forcing him to lean back against the painted wall. Light had risen from the horizon a little more than an hour before—he’d watched its leisurely crawl from the spa—but the hallway outside the bedroom where he found himself didn’t have the benefit of any windows and was still largely in the preserve of the shadows.
He’d contemplated marching into the bedroom and confronting his mum, but he assumed both she and her lover boy were in there, and he didn’t have much appetite for a fight. Reflexively, his hand slipped to his back pocket, his fingertips trailing a line over the blade still stashed there. If he didn’t want to fight, why was he still armed?
His brow creased as his fingers ignored the knife and moved to retrieve his phone from the other pocket instead. He supposed prison life had conditioned him to always be prepared for violence, and given what little he knew about Kyle, he couldn’t help but think it was the right approach.
All he could say with any certainty was Kyle was rich. Wealthy enough to own their old house on Aspen Way and Brock Hall, and apparently, he’d taken a liking to Amy Kendal. There was no other information about him, nothing about how he’d accrued his incredible portfolio of property or what his interest in Seth’s mum was.
Seth glanced around the gloomy expanse of the passageway. “Why him ?”
Maybe his mum had been so desperate, she’d lapped up Kyle’s slimy advances? Seth didn’t like it, but he guessed he didn’t blame her. She’d had so little for so long that even an ounce of his attention must have been like gold dust. No doubt he flooded her with fancy meals and jewels, and ego loaded, she’d swallowed down everything he’d had to give her.
His free hand balled into a fist at the hideous analogy. It wasn’t that Seth wanted his mum to stay single and miserable forever—far from it—but why choose to share a bed with the same man who’d made her children homeless?
However hard he tried to be forgiving, he just couldn’t understand her reasoning.
Opening his phone, he flicked into his mother’s contact and hesitated. Staring at her name on the screen, he held his breath. She still hadn’t responded to his messages.
What does that mean?
He wanted to call her and ask, wanted to demand an answer to the questions rumbling around his head, but he still wasn’t sure he was ready to face the man she’d shacked up with. Pulling in a deep breath, he closed his eyes. How was he going to handle the next few hours? Barely a day out of custody, he’d burned through most of the cash his brother had sent him, and thus far, all he’d been able to achieve was a new charge of breaking and entering.
Shit.
That was not how things were supposed to have gone. He should have been resting, ready to plan his life of liberty. As it was, he was still loitering in the plush confines of Kyle’s swanky pad—a place he’d explored at some length in the last couple hours.
He almost dropped the device in his hand when the thing suddenly started ringing, his eyes flying open to find his mother’s name flashing on the screen. Gasping, he stared at the phone, hardly believing what he was seeing.
She’s calling now?
It was still the early hours of the morning. Why wasn’t she asleep?
Before he’d had time to think, his feet were already moving—taking him toward the bedroom.
If she was in there and wanted to speak to him so badly, then why not do it face-to-face? He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of meeting Kyle, but he’d have to do so sometime, and after spending hours trudging around his house, he was curious to look into the eyes of the man who’d seemingly hoodwinked his mother. Maybe there was something special about the guy? Something he hadn’t been able to ascertain from searching his closets and staring at his personal collection of photographs.
“I doubt it,” Seth mouthed the words as he approached the door. “But you never know.”
Reaching the door handle, his hand paused while the phone continued to blare. Was he doing the right thing heading into the fray with no tangible excuses for his abrupt appearance? How would he justify his arrival at Brock Hall, and would his mum be prepared to defend him?
His head ached at the myriad of unanswered queries. There was really only one way to discover the answers—he’d have to take the bull by the horns.
Silencing the incoming call, he slowly opened the door. Inch by inch, he revealed the edge of the vast bed he’d seen his mother cuffed to earlier. He was relieved to see that cuff hanging empty, but as the door opened further, he saw her there, huddled in a tangle of Kyle’s bedsheets.
“Seth!” Her face was ashen as he stepped inside.
“Mum.”
An odd calm fell over him—relief that she was seemingly okay, coupled with disbelief that his mum could have found herself somewhere so grand. His mum, the woman who’d taken a second job as a cleaner to try—and fail—to make ends meet. She looked so out of place there on Kyle’s grandiose blankets, her hair in knots and her fingers pale as she clutched at the covers.
“Wh-what are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to see you.” A smile tugged at his lips. “I messaged you.”
“I just saw.” She waved the phone in her hand, eyeing him as though he was a mirage that might yet slip away with the cascading light of the dawn. “But darling, how did you get in here? Who let you in?”
Her voice had lowered as though she didn’t want to be overheard, and all at once, he knew Kyle was nearby. Of course, he was—it was his bedroom.
“You know how .” Seth’s tone was wry, as though she should have known the answer. Likely, no one knew him better than she did, so she shouldn’t have been surprised.
Even before jail, Seth had never had a problem with breaking the rules—his parents, the school’s, and any belonging to the so-called wider society. The rules were, in his experience, put in place to penalize one group of people while offering impunity to those who created them. Seth saw no point in pretending otherwise. If he wanted into Kyle’s oversized house and no one was available to open the door, then he’d find his own route.
“So, this must be Seth.” The deeper, male voice came from the other side of the vast suite.
Turning, Seth saw Kyle standing in the doorway of what he assumed was the en suite bathroom. Older than his pictures conveyed, Kyle was also taller, his chest bared as he wiped a white towel around his face.
“That’s me.” Seth shoved his phone back into his pocket, feeling no urge to apologize for showing up uninvited. “And you’re William Kyle.”
“That’s Mr. Kyle,” his mother added with a nervous smile. “Remember who owns this house, Seth.”
“Yes, that’s me.” Kyle flung the towel back toward the bathroom tiles. “How did you get into my house?”
“Through the back door.” Seth couldn’t resist his cocky tone. “But don’t worry, I can give you some tips about improving security.”
“Seth, please!” His mum grappled with the bedding, which, he assumed, was the only thing protecting what remained of her modesty. “That’s incredibly rude.”
“You broke into my property?” Kyle walked back toward the bed.
“Nobody let me in.” Seth shrugged. “So, I let myself in.”
Kyle scowled. “Did you damage anything?”
“No.” Seth met Kyle’s cold stare. “I don’t break things.”
“Except your mother’s heart.” Kyle motioned toward Seth’s mum. “When you landed yourself in prison, which is exactly where you’ll end up again when I call the police.”
“Please, don’t!”
His mother’s imploring tone was excruciating to endure. After all the things they’d been through as a family, hadn’t she learned to toughen up?
“He didn’t mean anything by it, did you, Seth?” Her gaze darted to her son’s frantically. “He just wanted somewhere safe to stay.”
“I came to see you, Mum.” Seth looked his mum up and down, his gaze lingering on her tangled hair and flushed cheeks.
So, that’s how she’s been surviving—flat on her back and with her legs in the air?
It was unlike him to be so judgmental, but standing there, he struggled to remember why he’d been so concerned about her when it was clear that was what she’d chosen.
It wasn’t until she tried to rise from the bed and discovered her ankle was tethered that the origins of his alarm struck him again—what if it wasn’t what she’d chosen? What if Kyle had been keeping her there?
“Shit!” Fiddling with the rope, she tried to keep herself covered as her focus flitted back to the two men squaring off on the other side of the bed.
“Listen, I’m sorry if my presence upsets you, Mr. Kyle .” Seth intentionally threw emphasis on the final two words, smirking as Kyle’s gaze narrowed.
“Not your presence,” Kyle corrected. “But how you got here. Can’t you use the front door like everyone else?”
“I tried the front door.” Seth’s hands fell to his back pockets, the fingers of his right hand tracing over the outline of the blade still stashed there. “But there was no answer.”
“You arrived so late, we were in bed,” she flustered.
“Yeah, I guessed that when you didn’t answer.” Seth glanced from his mother to the guy in the expensive-looking trousers, still trying to decide how the man who’d once been their landlord had become her lover.
“And you couldn’t wait until morning?” Kyle’s tone was sardonic.
“You wanted me to sleep outside?” The hand not grazing over the blade rose to Seth’s hip. He was getting a little tired of dancing around the point with Kyle, probably because he hadn’t had any sleep. “Because that doesn’t sound very reasonable.”
“Yet, breaking into my house does sound reasonable?” Kyle’s lips twisted as though he’d tasted something sour.
“Nothing’s broken,” Seth assured him. “In fact, if I hadn’t come in here to speak to my mum, you’d have never known I even entered.”
“Mmmm.” Kyle shot his mum a knowing look. “I guess I won’t know until I take a look at the lock.”
“So, look.” Seth gestured to the bedroom door as though Kyle wouldn’t know where it was. He was keen on the idea of Kyle going, actually, having still not been able to speak to his mother in confidence. “I’m telling the truth.”
“And leave you here with Amy?” Kyle’s tone was wry.
Amy? Seth wrinkled his nose at Kyle’s informality.
“You think I’d hurt my mum?” Seth straightened, offense tingling along his spine. He might be a lot of things, and he might have done a few he wasn’t so proud of, but he would never, ever harm a woman, and he’d never contemplated binding one to his fucking bed. Glaring at Kyle, he edged closer. What kind of man did those things?
“Of course, not.” Kyle’s smile was flawless as he reached for her hand. “I’m sure you love her, but you’ll have to accept that I love her, too.” His attention darted from the blushing brunette resembling his mother and back to Seth. “From now on, we have to share. Jonah was okay with that, and I hope you will be as well.”
“Oh, yes, Jonah…” Ignoring the way his mum clung to Kyle’s hand and trying desperately to forget the memories of how her legs had looked wrapped around his back when he’d peered in earlier, Seth’s stare drilled into Kyle. “He told me about you.”
“Did he tell you how I bailed him out?” Kyle’s tone was imperious. “And how I paid for the best lawyer in the land to defend him?”
“Yeah.” Seth’s tone rose. “Am I supposed to be impressed because you’re rich?”
“No!” His mum snapped, apparently embarrassed by Seth’s response. “You’re supposed to be respectful and thankful for Mr. Kyle’s help.”
“Right…” Seth sounded unconvinced, but secretly, he acknowledged how much it stung that his mum had sided with Kyle instead of him. “Because that kind of sounds like the same thing from here, Mum.”
“Seth!” She spat out his name as though it left a bad taste in her mouth. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Prison, I guess?” Seth’s sounded nonchalant as he wandered deeper into the room. The place reeked of sweat and other bodily fluids he didn’t want to name. “But I’ll be honest… I don’t love the fact you’re shacked up with the same guy who chucked us out of the house on Aspen Way.”
Seth had gone there to make sure she was okay, but if she wasn’t willing to take responsibility for her share of what had happened, he wasn’t going to go easy on her. She’d chosen to be there with Kyle, and even if he’d forced the ropes around her ankles, she clearly wasn’t fighting him off.
“Shacked up?” Kyle repeated as though there was anything even vaguely insulting about the description.
“Mum?” Seth prompted, disregarding Kyle’s comment. “Why him?”
She pulled in a breath, as if steeling herself, but Seth noticed the way her gaze fell at the same time. Evidently, she did feel at least an ounce of shame about her choice. The thought warmed him.
“It’s complicated, Seth. Mr. Kyle has been good to me.”
“So, I see.” Seth glanced around the luxurious pad. He had seen more of the house than either of them knew. “Is that why you let him tie you to the bed?”
He hadn’t intended for his tone to be as cutting as it sounded when he signaled to the rope still tied at her ankle, but he didn’t regret asking. Despite his mum’s frantic attempts to unravel what Seth assumed was Kyle’s handiwork, she was still bound to the bedstead.
“Seth!” She sounded close to tears. “That has nothing to do with you!”
“Oh, sure.” He rolled his eyes. “Why should I care if my mum is cuffed to a stranger’s bed?”
He couldn’t believe how unreasonable she was being. Surely, she could see things from his point of view and understand why he was worried? Wouldn’t she have reacted similarly if she’d found him or Jonah in the same predicament with a rich, new lover? The mum he recalled was loyal and fiercely protective. He had little doubt that she would have been concerned.
“It’s not like that!” she spat, going red in the face.
“Like what?” Seth prodded.
“It’s like Mr. Kyle said.” She fidgeted on the bed as she peered up at her lover. “We love each other.”
“Jesus Christ.” Seth couldn’t help the laughter leaving his lips.
“I think it’s time you left, young man.” Kyle dropped his mother’s hand. “You can wait for us downstairs, where we can talk this through properly.”
“You’re asking me to leave?” Seth scoffed.
“That’s right.” Kyle’s jaw clenched. “ Now, please. We’ll be down soon.”
“And if I don’t want to leave?” Seth had heard just about enough of Kyle’s shit. He might be older and wealthier than he was, but that didn’t mean he could order him around. He was, and would never be, his father.
Kyle pointed to the hallway. “If you don’t leave of your own accord, I’ll be compelled to help you.”
Seth sneered at the older man’s presumption. Kyle might be in decent shape for his age, but he was still decades Seth’s senior.
“Really?” Seth’s stare scanned him up and down. “You and whose army, Grandad?”