Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kingston
H er dad comes out from the shadows across the hall.
I don’t turn because her words still burn inside me. What she said, how she said it all, put my long ago past into perspective. Back then, I was a kid playing at love and got burned. My ego and pride got crisped up and blacked.
But now?
Oh, fuck me, she’s ripped me open and left me bleeding and I…I don’t know what to do.
Except deal with this nasty piece of filth who happens to be her father.
I take a breath and rub my eyes, forcing myself back under lock and key. And I turn. The man leans against the door, his lined face wearing a casual smile, a knowing one, like he has me where he wants me.
I didn’t lie about the evidence of her leaving that apartment building. Sadie has been busy and not telling me a damn fucking thing, just like I thought.
But—and I need to be real here—as evidence it’s non-existent. And no one that bought stolen goods will report that to the cops. He thinks he has me and he doesn’t. “You get what you’re trying to do, don’t you, Trevor?”
“And what’s that? Bring you justice?” He straightens.
“We’re talking about your daughter you want to throw under a bus. And she says she doesn’t have it.”
“I showed you evidence,” he says.
“Dude, you showed me her leaving a place. That’s all. Not stealing.”
“She has the tiara.”
And even though I’m furious with her for her lies and running out on me when I had to deal with shit, I look at him. “She doesn’t. I know this because I have it.”
He looks at me like he doesn’t believe me. Which is fair, because I’m obviously lying.
“Are you in love with her or something?” Trevor’s eyes narrow.
“Or something,” I mutter. And then I say so he can hear, “I don’t give a shit about her. I do, however, give a shit about a pissant criminal trying to extort money. You asked for a cool thirty million to keep your daughter safe.”
“Or hand her over to the police.” He eyes me like he doesn’t believe me.
I nod. “I could go to the cops with this.”
“With what? The fact I came to you about a crime? So, hand over the money.”
I merely look at him. “So, you’re fine doing this to your kid?”
“I told you. She never visited, so what’s she to me? You, I like. I’m helping, but I don’t help for nothing.”
“No, you don’t.” I get my checkbook, something I haven’t used in a long ass time. I look at him again. “This is the one and only time you extort money from me.”
“To keep my daughter from jail.”
“I thought you said she’s nothing to you.” I hold my pen, just above the blank check. “Make up your mind.”
“Thing is, this keeps me happy, and her from prison.”
“I don’t give a shit about her.” I go to close the book.
“Pay me, and I go away.”
“That sounds like a deal,” I say. “Spell your name. I’d like to get it right.”
And the idiot does so. Even says it. All for my recording I’m making on my phone. I tear the check from the book and hand it to him. He studies it, more alive than I’ve seen him.
My stomach turns. The man sickens me and I want this done. “Don’t come here again. I just want to get rid of your fucking no good family from my life.”
“You—”
“Go or I’ll cancel your sweet ass check.”
He snaps his mouth shut and pockets the check.
I walk the man out, staying a little too close the entire time. I don’t trust him not to take something, and yeah, I’m not above a little intimidation. It’s that or beat the shit out of him and I’ve been told actual violence is not the way.
Besides, my plan is better than instant gratification.
And Sadie…
My chest lurches, aching. Damn her. Damn her to hell and back. She doesn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth, she runs. She lies. I fucking hate lies. She tests my patience, and she drives me insane.
And maybe, just maybe, she really doesn’t care. Maybe this is just sex on her part, like it was on mine. Was, right up until it wasn’t.
I don’t know when that started to change. All I know is it’s been creeping up on me. Feelings. That’s what. Fucking feelings have crept up and they’re all shaped like Sadie.
The elevator dings in my private foyer outside and I move through the apartment and sit in my living room, and call the cops.
It takes a bit, but names and influence talks. I call my lawyer, too. They’ll all be here soon enough. Sadie’s father is going to be back in prison, and fast. I really don’t take kindly to blackmail. Or extortion. Or any of the things he tried.
And Sadie? I’m fucking furious with her and her betrayal, but yeah, I’m doing this to protect her, too.
Her father will come for her. Try and get what he can and I don’t want that. She probably won’t appreciate my interference, but that’s just too fucking bad.
I close my eyes and lean back against the sofa. What she said plays over in my head. The whole thing about my mother… I keep thinking about it. And suddenly I know I can’t leave it alone. Sadie said a lot of shit that I think might be right. So I make another call.
She answers after the second ring.
“Mother,” I say. “I think you and I need a long talk.”
My mother looks at me where I’m sitting, making inroads into my Laphroaig. The police and my lawyer have been and gone and finally the woman who birthed me has decided to make a showing. I take another swallow.
“A little early for that.”
“Save your bullshit, mother. I’m not in the fucking mood. I’m pretty fucking sure you have the tiara. Or are you changing up the rules? Again?”
She purses her lips. “What did you do, Kingston?”
Interesting. She doesn’t ask what do I mean, or what did Sadie say. Just that. And I’m getting more and more pissed off by the second.
“I got her father arrested.”
She inhales sharply. “I wasn’t… Do you think that’s wise?”
“Because you fear for me? Yourself? Or are you worried all your Sadie plans will go south with this reveal?”
She taps her fingers against one elegant hip. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t give me that crap. Are you trying to set me up with Sadie?”
“She’s perfect, Kingston.”
“Not your business.”
She glares at me. “My children’s happiness is my business. And you’re talking about having her father locked away. So, I ask again, is it wise?”
“Did you miss the memo? I’m a grown ass man. And yes, it’s wise. He’d fuck her over and whoever else he could get his hands on.”
“Kingston.”
“Don’t.” I’m on my feet fast and I point at her with my glass. “Her father is a lowlife.”
“And Sadie’s father. So you want her.”
“Don’t twist my words. I did this for pragmatic reasons.”
She looks heavenward. “This should be good.”
“Mother.” I glare. “Sadie’s smart and tough, but she’s also vulnerable and he’s her father. So I did it so she didn’t have to.” I pause and take her in. “Why are you smiling?”
“Because you and Sadie—”
“There’s no us. We’re not a thing and we won’t be.”
My mother’s smile disappears. “Don’t lie to me, I’m your mother. You have feelings. I can see that.”
“Says the lying, manipulative woman.” Of course I have feelings. I’m human. I don’t say this, though. She’s going to take that and run with it if I do, and I’m already at the end of my rope. “I don’t like you doing that to me. And I don’t like her lying for you. She gave you away in the end.”
She frowns. “What are you on about?”
“You own the fucking company. You’re behind this. And Sadie…” I shake my head, giving over to fury because it’s safer than that thing inside me that threatens to shatter. And what I put together from Sadie’s words is all true. It’s there on my mother’s face. So I push some more. I want fucking answers. “She lied. To me. Used me. I know she worked for you.”
“Kingston, with an attitude like that…”
“What? There is no me and Sadie, except in your head. And she said the same, didn’t she?”
I don’t know what I want, but the affirmative answer somehow isn’t it.
My mother, however, isn’t one to give up easily. “She gave me back the money.”
“So?” I smile tightly. “She took the tiara.”
“You idiot. She gave it to me. I suspect to stop that man getting it, because I think she was trying to protect you from him. You two are so alike.” She picks her leather Chanel bag up from the seat next to her and opens it. Then she hands the tiara to me. “Sit down, Kingston.”
“No, I think I’ll stand.”
“Sit.”
I mutter nasty things but sit.
“I made it look like it was stolen. Because I wanted you to learn your lesson.”
“And what is that?” I know I sound like a bored prick, but inside it hurts because Sadie is gone.
It’s the right thing, but right doesn’t stop pain.
“I want you to learn true worth, and making you jump through similar hoops to your brothers wouldn’t have cut it. You’re not sentimental like them.”
I snort. “Magnus?”
“He can be ruthless and cold in a different way to you, but, yes, you were the hardest one to crack.” She crosses her arms and taps one sleek shoe, like she’s the one who’s annoyed here, not me. “And you don’t know everything, you fool. I do have the balancing shares. I run Sinclairs, too. And it is all of yours, but you all need to be worthy to have it, otherwise what’s the point of it? You don’t believe in the heritage.”
“Lies.”
She sighs softly. “Only for what it can get you. And that’s wrong. It’s too like your father was. And I don’t want that for you. Don’t be like him.”
“You’re mad at him still?”
She looks away a moment. “You have a lot to learn about love.”
It hits me then. “You loved him.”
Faye laughs. “I never stopped loving him, and even now, I still do. I just got sick of him putting work first, putting the money ahead, the pursuit of power. I left him.”
“No, he had an affair.”
“That isn’t what happened. Not while we were married. He moved on, I didn’t. But each break up I was there because your father is and was my one true love. I just couldn’t live with the man anymore. Not until he changed. And he did, but it came too late. We were secretly back together when he got the news of his illness.”
A terrible sadness comes over her. “When he died, I decided to carry through with his plan…our plan. You see, your father finally saw you were all making your lives like his. And he finally got it, that happiness came from balance. Love and work. Big and little. I didn’t want you to keep making those mistakes. Any of you. I wanted you each to find love, and you, Kingston, you were the hardest. It would take someone not just special but someone who could stand up to you and make you laugh and anger you and hold her own. I found Sadie. But before I could do anything, so did you. She’s perfect.”
“Well, that’s neither here nor there, Mother,” I snap. “It didn’t work. Sadie and I aren’t made for each other.”
“She said she doesn’t love you.”
“Good.” The pain is almost unbearable when she says that, and she’s smiling. I think my mother might be some monster. “I don’t love her.”
“See? Utterly perfect.”
“I’m not discussing my private life with you. Go get your own if you want one. Or I hear those telenovelas offer you all the thrills and passion you could desire from the sidelines. Just keep out of my life. You’ve got the tiara, and now you’ve gone and done the pointless thing of handing it to me. You failed. I have this final jewel and the company is safe. So, if you don’t mind, I’ve got an actual empire to run.” I stalk up to my mother. “And I’m going to get this thing evaluated and sell it to the highest bidder.”
“Oh, Kingston, I’m not done, and neither are you. It’s a few days before your birthday, so I was hoping you’d sort your life before then, but you haven’t. So, here’s your task. Go to the girl, or get the damn thing evaluated and never know love.”
I shrug. “That’s simple. The company is safe, so you have no hold. You won’t do that to the others and we know it. Besides, that’s something you can never know.”
“This task is private for you, Kingston. You’ll know. And you promise me if you go to her, you don’t ever have it evaluated. You don’t sell it.”
I know what she’s asking. It’s trust and the one thing I hold close. My word. I could lie, but…I see what she’s saying. But she doesn’t get it yet. Sadie doesn’t want me. She let me go. Hell, we weren’t at a point where we had something. And me? Love isn’t a thing. My mother just proved it’s all transactional.
So, I give her what I want.
“Fine.”
“Kingston—”
“It’s real easy, Mother. I’ve chosen.”
She stares at me.
“Evaluation. Love doesn’t exist.” I know this, because as I say it, love can’t. And Sadie? She took my heart, stole it, and destroyed it. I saw her eyes when she said she used me. She meant it.
And even if it all is real, I can’t trust that kind of thing. There’s one thing I can trust. Money. “I’m getting it valued. It’s solid and real and money doesn’t lie.”
“Then you lose everything,” my mother says.
“Fine, Now go away.”
And she does.
After she’s gone, I pick up the tiara, turning it in my hands. Yes. It’s better this way.
I don’t need Sadie.
I don’t need anything more than what I have.
At all.