Chapter 23
23
OWEN
It’s the day before Families Day. After an intensive assessment by an air vice marshal, the team gained their public display authority, allowing them to fly for the season. It’s a huge weight off Jade’s shoulders and she stood everyone down for the rest of the afternoon. To celebrate, I drove her and Poppy into Limassol in Jade’s hired jeep, and we are currently having lunch at one of the little tavernas around the ruins of what used to be the town’s castle.
We are all set to leave the day after the social event tomorrow, where over a thousand families will show up to watch the first aerobatic display of the year, and Jade and the team are buzzing to show it off.
With our suitcases all packed, we are ready to leave the island, and it was easier than I thought in the end. Following Jade’s submission of her formal grievance complaint against Cobra, just as I thought, an administrative team was flown out immediately, as there was enough evidence to investigate.
Gregor’s father, my Uncle David, also pulled some strings. His close friendship with Air Chief Marshal Patterson came in very handy, and I’m certain the dedicated team who spent yesterday afternoon meticulously questioning the team were hand-selected by the man himself.
It turns out that Cobra, aka Brian Smith, has been investigated before on two separate occasions, but the victims dropped the charges against him. We suspect the devious bastard used his wicked forms of manipulation to make that happen, although we have no way of knowing for sure.
Following the interview, Cobra was suspended from the team until further notice and sent back to England.
Jade was exhausted and quiet after her long day of interviewing yesterday. I can’t imagine how emotionally taxing it all must have been for her. When she returned to the villa I had a cool bath waiting for her, a hearty meal was on the table, and the house was bathed in candlelight and calming music before we went to bed early, where we stayed wrapped in each other’s arms as the moonlight shone through the slated shutters.
Having had weeks to think about it, I decided I do want to explore working at an adventure center for kids to let them discover their mental and physical strengths.
I sit up tall in the chair that’s nestled under the canopy of a tree, perking up at the idea of it. Or maybe eventually I’ll open one of my own.
Christ, it’s a big dream, but maybe something I could retrain to do during the evenings and transition into once Poppy goes to school full-time.
You’re getting ahead of yourself. Slow down.
However, it’s the first idea that has excited me, so maybe I need to think about it some more.
My focus right now is looking after Poppy and Jade, and I couldn’t be happier about it, so I’m doing that and letting fate decide what happens next .
Daydreaming and wrapped in my bubble of jumbled thoughts while Jade visits the restrooms inside the taverna, I glance down at Poppy, who is sound asleep in her stroller. Her mouth is open, her thumb hanging out of it.
I place her soft gray rabbit plush toy that she loves on her chest, and she instantly wraps her little arm around it, snuggling in as she goes back to sucking her thumb rapidly.
It’s the cutest sight that has my heart expanding in my chest at the love I feel for this little cherub who isn’t mine by blood but feels like it.
I make a vow to myself to always be there for her, to protect her from whatever life throws her way, and always having her back no matter what life choices she makes.
Jade was right the night we swam around Aphrodite’s Rock. Love is unconditional, this is why I freely give my love to them both, because I know they feel the same about me, regardless of what I have to offer them.
As I rest back in my chair, Jade appears in the doorway and quickly scuttles across to her seat. “We have to go.” Eyes wide in shock, she sounds panicked.
“What? Why? Is everything okay?” On red alert, I sit up straighter in my seat.
“No. Get up, let’s go.” Looking back over her shoulder, she lifts her purse off the table.
“What is—” I don’t have time to finish my question because it’s then I see my mother and father standing in the taverna’s doorway.
Shoving my seat back calmly, I rise to my full height. “What did they say?” I sound calmer than I feel when I push my sunglasses on top of my head, but I’ll be damned if I let them see that their presence has rattled me.
“Oh, you know, they just offered me more money than I would know what to do with if I disappear out of your life.” Her eyes dart from me to Poppy to the pathetic excuse of procreators who call themselves my mother and father, standing there poker-faced. “They know everything about me,” she whispers, sounding scared, and she darts her eyes around the outdoor space.
Fuck them. They don’t get to do that to her.
“Take Poppy,” I tell her, never taking my eyes off the doorway. I dig the keys to the jeep out of the pocket of my shorts and hand them to her. “I will meet you at the car.”
“Owen.” Her voice is pleading.
Cupping her face in my hands, I kiss her soft mouth. “I love you and I am not giving in to them. I just need a few minutes to tell them to go to hell and then I will meet you, okay?”
“Promise?”
I draw a cross over my heart. “On Poppy’s life.”
She nods, satisfied with my answer, agreeing to do as I ask.
“How much did they offer you?” The bottled-up nerves in my stomach swirl about like a tornado, but I smile easily as I try to distract Jade from worrying about me.
“Five hundred thousand.”
I roll my eyes and kiss her again. “Assholes, I’m worth at least two million.”
She snorts and snuggles into my shoulder. “Your heart is priceless to me, Owen. I wouldn’t accept anything but your heart.”
“You have it, Hotshot,” I whisper in her ear and side eye my mom and dad, who are watching every move we make.
Yup, get an eyeful, you heartless fuckers, because this is what love looks like.
“And you have mine.”
Jade pushes up onto her tiptoes and closes the small gap of our height difference and kisses my lips. “Don’t be long.” She narrows her eyes as she shifts her disapproving gaze over at our two voyeurs.
The car keys jingle in Jade’s hand as she grabs the handles of Poppy’s stroller. My eyes stay fixed on two of the most incredible people in my life as I watch Jade stride confidently down the cobbled alleyway and round the corner of the castle with an oblivious Poppy.
Pushing down my anger, I stride toward the two people I would be happy never seeing again.
“Did you think she’d take the money?” I stare them both down. “Whatever you found out about her, you clearly didn’t dig deep enough to find out what type of person Jade is. In case you’re interested, she’s loyal, faithful, and a woman of honor. Some people you can’t buy off.” My voice is firm and strong.
My father pushes his hands into his black dress trousers. Closing the space between us, he meets me halfway with his glacial blank stare fixed on his face and sighs. “Everyone has a price.”
I laugh at his audacity. “You don’t know her like I do.”
My mother appears next to him. “We know she’s a single mom who could easily fund her daughter’s education and set them both up for life with that money.”
“I’m surprised you’re here. Did you have to ask permission to come?” I pop a brow. “Did you two talk to each other on the way here? Or did you travel separately? When exactly was the last time you spent any time together? Have you ever been on vacation with one another before? Or is this a first?” It feels liberating to finally speak my mind because I don’t care how they will react anymore.
“Son, may I remind you who you are talking to? That’s your mother and you will treat her with respect. ”
I flinch, snapping my head back. “Son?” I tsk then shake it in disapproval. “Don’t call me son. Not once have you ever treated me like anything more than a disposable item that you can manipulate for your own gain. And I know exactly who I am talking to.” My nostrils flare in disgust. “I’m talking to the woman who has name-called and gaslit me since the day I was born. According to her, I am worthless, ugly, and a good-for-nothing lowlife.”
I wait to see her reaction, but her face doesn’t move, probably because of the amount of Botox and filler her skin is stuffed with. “Isn’t that what you said?” Her jaw tightens as she pretends to push an invisible blonde hair off her forehead. “Just like I thought,” I say, stating the obvious. “When Father is around, you barely say two words. Although, you always had plenty to say when he wasn’t, telling me at five years old that I was unlovable. It’s one of the highest forms of child abuse, you know? Although you would know all about that, Dad .” I look back at him. “You are the master in the art of manipulation in order to get what you want.”
As I step back, a cynical laugh leaves my throat. “You two deserve one another. You turned a blind eye”—I point at my father—“to her daily name-calling and hurtful belittling.” My angry eyes burn into his. “And you have done everything to control my education, my life, and my career. I had no one to turn to or ask for help when I was growing up. Not once did you ever tell me you loved me or ask how I was. Do you remember when I caught chicken pox? You refused to come near me for weeks, just in case you contracted shingles.” My rage flies out of my mouth. “And that sorry excuse for a mother blamed me and Camilla for you not loving her. And on the odd occasions you did ever speak to us, she would get jealous, claiming that we were plotting against her or some stupid shit. We were children.” My voice rises into a yell, bouncing off the yellow sandstone walls of the ruined castle, and I spot a few onlookers recording our encounter on their phones.
My parents will hate that we’ve drawn a crowd.
I wipe my brow that’s now covered in perspiration. “You should be ashamed of yourselves because you are fucking terrible parents.”
“Stop,” my father bellows, his face reddening against his white shirt.
I push my hands through my hair, annoyed at myself for letting them see how angry I am. I’ve said what needed to be said a long time ago. I’m done. “I won’t come back and I never want to see you again. Either of you.”
I finish with, “You two are miserable and proof that money can’t buy you happiness because it comes from here.” I point at my heart. “And I feel sorry for you that you will never get to experience the love and joy I have felt since meeting Jade. She’s not a possession to be bought.” I snort at my father’s lame attempt to buy her out of my life. “She’s a powerful, talented, driven woman who loves me even though I have no home, money or car to offer her.” My arms open wide into the air. “She likes me just as I am.” It fucking wrecks me inside to think these two people whose blood I share liked nothing about me, or that I was only ever an item in their lives waiting to be pawned.
I push my shoulders back, my body becoming taut with confidence as I turn to walk away. I only get five steps away when I hear, “We’re broke, Owen.” Stopping me in my tracks, my father’s voice calls after me.
I curse under my breath and turn back around. “Explain.”
He looks livid when he replies, “I made some poor investments.”
“How? ”
“Gideon and Richard, they…” He stops himself. “Over a year ago, they advised me to invest in a hedge fund and it went wrong. They invested too.” Clenching his jaw together as if mad at himself, he keeps his voice low.
That would explain the money transferred into the business from Sanderson Shipping that my father told me to ignore.
Around twelve months ago, a massive amount of money appeared in the business account from Sanderson Shipping, a company owned by my sister’s father-in-law and her husband, and I’m not just talking hundreds or even thousands. I’m talking hundreds of millions.
My father assured me it was all kosher, but a niggle in my gut told me otherwise and he shut me down every time I mentioned it.
“Gideon? And Richard?” My sister’s husband and her father-in-law are Lucifer in the flesh. “How could you have trusted them?” I don’t understand. “I told you how risky hedge funds were. I told you not to invest.” I add, “Our printing business was fluid. My numbers were perfect. Our tax returns, everything, it was all legit and above board. And my books are never a penny out.” I always triple-check the ledgers. “Is that why you withdrew my access to the business savings? To hide all of this from me?” What the hell has he gotten himself into?
My father stays quiet and refuses to answer, but I keep shooting questions at him. “And what about your other investments?”
My father looks uneasy when he grabs the back of his neck, cringing. “I traded billions on the crypto exchange and the stock market, trying to save us. I sort of got carried away.”
“Did you lose it all?” I ask, not really wanting to hear his reply.
His silence speaks louder than his admission would .
“Oh, my fucking God. You stupid, stupid man,” I spit, outraged at his insanity.
“Richard told me the hedge funding was a sure thing and that I would triple my investment. The crypto thing was unfortunate timing. The collapse of Bankham Main triggered a crash in the market. I wasn’t the only one to lose out,” he protests, looking sheepish. “I also made some stupid decisions betting on stocks.”
Some? They were all stupid, in my opinion.
“You’re a fool.” He has everything. What else did he need? Then it dawns on me. “Greed,” I growl out between my teeth. “None of it was enough for you. What did you think you would achieve?” I’m so relieved I got out when I did.
“I had to borrow money from Gideon and Richard last week to pay the staff wages, to keep the business afloat and pay off some of the other debts that have accumulated.” He carries on as if I hadn’t spoken. “But I took a punt and invested it to see if I could double or triple it.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
He has a gambling addiction. It’s so obvious to me now and he needs help. Stat.
“And I lost it all.” Pacing up and down now with my hands in my hair, I breathe in and out while I decide how to respond. “So, as well as losing all of your money and Richard’s, and not being able to pay the staff from the printing press, I’m guessing the merger with Evangeline’s father’s business didn’t go through either?”
“That’s a business deal I no longer care about.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t matter now.” His eyes bounce around the walled enclosure of restaurants, my mother standing closer to him than I’ve seen her before .
“What do you mean, ‘it doesn’t matter now’?”
“Evangeline’s father’s money seems insignificant now because it wouldn’t help to dig us out of the financial trouble we are in.”
“We? There is no fucking we . And why wouldn’t it help?” Was Evangeline part of a deal or payment? What a mess…
“It’s not important.”
Fuck him, I’m probably best not knowing anyway, and I’m relieved the deal didn’t go through before the wedding. As much as I hate what our fathers were making us do, I would never wish for another business to fold because of my father’s stupid decisions.
“Your money problems have nothing to do with me. I kept our books cleaner than a freshly laundered bedsheet. I hope everyone knows that. You blew it.” I point at him. “Not me.” I stop pacing and look at him. Really look at him as sweat patches bleed like ink on blotting paper into his shirt.
Oh, my fucking God, Daddy dearest blamed me. “You used me as the scapegoat, didn’t you?”
Looking away, I scoff.
“I have no way of paying Richard and Gideon back.” He nervously looks at my mother and says under his breath, “If they find out we have no money left, he will take the only thing we have—the printing house—and illegally trade fuck knows what from there with his shipping company. They don’t trade in coffee and cars, Owen.”
I’ve read many an article about the lawsuits against Sanderson Shipping. There are so many rumors about their dodgy dealings.
I tilt my head. “You’re just like them. Greedy, manipulative, and corrupt. ”
Exasperated, he lifts his hands into the air, gesturing to what looks like an explosion. “I can’t let him get his hands on our business, Owen,” he grits out through his teeth. “It’s the only thing we have left, but it’s not enough to pay him back. I need you to come back and help me figure out how the hell I liquidate the business without losing our house and figure out how I can pay them off.”
“Oh, hell, no. I’m not doing that. This is your mess,” I exclaim. Immediately after the words leave my mouth, an odd calm settles over me. I’m relieved I’m not a part of this anymore, and then I realize. “You don’t care about me at all, do you? You’re only here to ask for my help so I can save your sorry ass and keep her in designer handbags.” I point at my stiff-as-a-board mother who hasn’t let one flicker of emotion show on her face throughout this whole conversation. “And she’s only here with you because she’s desperate.”
I mean, what will her elitist friends say about her if she doesn’t have the latest purse in every color?
Jagged creases line the skin around my father’s eyes. He looks tired, but he’s hiding behind a wall of bravado. I should know; it’s what I was doing myself before I fled that sorry excuse of a wedding and this family.
His voice is low and steady as he makes his demand. “You will get on the plane with us tonight and come home, Owen.”
A burst of laughter leaves my throat. “You are so out of touch with reality, it’s actually funny.” I hold my stomach for good measure. “Get yourself out of the mess you got yourself into. I will not be your scapegoat or your savior.” The one good thing in all of this is that my father signed off all the end-of-year accounts I filed. Choosing to take a bigger salary and no dividends, I was a director in name only and not a shareholder. Thank fuck for that, or he would have happily dragged my name through the mud with him, possibly ending up in prison, just like he might.
I take one last look at my mother. Her blue eyes are laced with a mixture of fierce pain and defiance. “I would say it’s been nice knowing you, but it hasn’t. Good luck with everything, and you can use the money you stole from me to pay off some of your debt that you are owe Richard,” I add as a final dig before I turn away.
“It’s not enough to pay him off.” My father’s loud voice roars closer to me as I make to leave, but he storms after me. “You will save this business.” My father’s voice sounds desperate as he tries to demand I help.
“I will not.”
He catches up with me and grabs the top of my arm with a punishing grip.
Uncurling his hand from around my biceps, I blow out. “Get your fucking hands off me.” My words are raw and angry, and I square up to him, meeting him fierce eye to fierce eye and broad chest to broad chest as I find the strength. “Let the business go. It’s a toxic, deadly poison. It has destroyed our bloodline and ruined not only your life but hers, too.” I jut my head in my mother’s direction. “Do you remember who you were before her? Or did you have the same shitty upbringing I did? Huh? Was it her that turned you into a heartless, spineless cunt, or were you already one?”
Something I can’t quite put my finger on flashes behind his eyes. “You get used to it after a while,” he replies, his tone changing as if he’s completely deflated.
Maybe he was capable of love once, but somehow he lost himself along the way. Then I remember the words Jade’s loving mother, Mari, spoke to me. Don’t play the game. Change it. “I’m not playing your games anymore. This is my life now and I don’t want you or her in it. Fuck the business and fuck you.” I shove his chest, pushing him away from me.
I glance at my mother for a second to discover she’s wiping tears off her usually stony face.
Shit, things must be bad.
“You won’t get a second chance with me, son,” he snarls.
“I don’t care.”
Crazily furious for allowing them to ruin my beautiful afternoon with my girls, I walk away as his spiteful voice follows me until it’s just noise in the distance.
And before I know what’s happening, my feet are running.
Away from my past and into my future.
To Jade.
To Poppy.
To the only people that make sense.