Chapter 4
4
Atlas
“A re you completely fucking insane?”
Lolling on the couch in Caleb’s office, I propped one ankle on the opposite knee and gave him a bland stare back. “Apparently,” I said.
Caleb, standing tall and dark near the windows, glanced at Ten, who was standing next to him. Ten shrugged, as if he had nothing to do with what was currently going down.
A fucking lie. He knew exactly what was currently going down.
A complicated little tale concerning his erstwhile in-laws the Hamiltons, one of the country’s richest families, and the manipulative grande dame who ruled them — Charlotte Hamilton.
Ten had married Charlotte’s daughter, Juliana, years and years ago, and against the wishes of her family. Then Juliana had died unexpectedly, but not before giving Ten a daughter, whom the Hamiltons tried to claim custody of. Ten, at that stage only eighteen and not rich enough to take on one of the country’s most powerful dynasties, had basically spent the past twenty three years hiding her from them. Only, a couple of weeks ago, they’d found her and had tried to make contact with her.
They were a bunch of scheming assholes that Ten was rightly worried about, but to cut a long story short, Isabel, Ten’s daughter, finally got in touch with them, and it had been her decision, not Ten’s, and all’s well that ended well, you would have thought.
But sadly things had not ended well.
Charlotte Hamilton, grief-stricken and incensed at the loss of her daughter and the hiding of her granddaughter, had demanded that Ten give her a child she could raise as some kind of weird stand-in for Juliana.
Ten, meanwhile, had been falling for the virgin he’d bought that night in Arcadia, and was in no mood to give the Hamiltons anything. Unfortunately for him, they knew he’d killed the old man who’d taken him in as a destitute street kid — the guy was a fucking pedophile and I helped Ten cover it up like a good friend — and they’d threatened to go to the police with the proof.
Ten was a good man and Charlotte a manipulative bitch, and we both knew the real reason she wanted a kid of Ten’s. She wanted a nice little hostage so she could keep Ten in line. Currently, none of us saw any way around the snare she’d trapped him in, which was a problem.
Caleb, who’d once ruled a crime empire back in the day, had an in with the police, but Ten would never condone using those contacts to get him out of a murder charge — he was an uptight prick like that.
The only option I could see was for one of us to give Charlotte the kid she wanted, so that she’d get her hostage and Ten got to keep his freedom. Caleb wasn’t an option, not now he’d gotten together with Ten’s daughter Isabel (the less said about that the better), so the only one left was me.
Hence Caleb’s question about my sanity since Ten and I had just informed him about what was going to happen.
“So you’re going to marry this woman and have a kid with her?” Cal was looking at me like I’d lost my mind, and maybe I had. “Seriously?”
I’d texted Charlotte a couple of days earlier, offering her my DNA, which had then led her to send me a smug little reply with the name of my wife-to-be.
Rowan fucking James.
I hadn’t told either Ten or Caleb about Rowan because neither of them knew about my short-lived marriage to her mom, Caitlyn. It had only been a little under two years that we were together and I’d married her purely to give her some legal protection from one of her exes at the time. In return, she’d promised me the seed money I’d needed to make my construction firm one of the biggest in the city.
I was good with finance, so it hadn’t taken me long to expand Blackwood Construction, and eventually I’d had the power I needed to turn the screws on the motherfucker who’d dared to call himself my old man.
Anyway, I wasn’t going to tell either of my friends about Rowan right now, because I still couldn’t get over it myself. The timing was too uncanny just two weeks after I’d run into her at Arcadia. Then again, I understood why it had to be her.
Charlotte was all about blood, and I’d known Caitlyn was a Hamilton, just as I’d known she’d repudiated the family she’d grown up in. Caitlyn had never told me why and I’d never asked, because it wasn’t any of my business. But obviously Charlotte had somehow tracked her down and gotten in contact with Rowan. Who’d accepted her offer.
Christ.
Every so often these past couple of weeks, I’d find myself thinking about Rowan and our meeting in Arcadia, thinking about the anger in her blue-violet eyes and those little barbs she’d flung my way.
Little Rowan James, all grown up and stunningly beautiful in her plain black and white office uniform.
She’d always been suspicious of me and I got that it was because Caitlyn had been badly treated by the stream of boyfriends she’d had, assholes who didn’t know how to treat a woman and didn’t care about her kid, either.
Rowan had come by her suspicion honestly.
Then again, the fact that she’d still been pissy with me all these years later was interesting. She’d been embarrassed about being discovered behind the curtain, sure, getting all flustered and irritable at me, and fair enough.
But she hadn’t stopped us when Tina and I had come in. She hadn’t said a word when Tina had dropped her dress, or when I’d bent her over in front of the mantelpiece. No, fiery little Rowan had stayed quiet and still behind that curtain, watching us?—
“Atlas,” Caleb snapped. “Are you listening?”
I blinked, realizing I’d been staring into space silently for a good minute. Fuck, what the hell was I doing thinking about Rowan now, when I hadn’t thought of her for years?
Fucking Charlotte Hamilton.
Well, it wasn’t going to be an issue. Charlotte had only demanded a legal marriage, so I was assuming it was an on-paper deal, no living together required. And as for the baby stuff, a small sperm donation on my part would be enough while the doctors did the rest.
“Yes,” I said to Caleb, deciding not to acknowledge my moment’s inattention. “And yeah, I’m going to marry this woman and have a kid with her. It’s no big deal. I don’t give a shit about marriage and sperm donation won’t be a problem.”
“Giving up the child will be a problem,” Ten said, clearly the voice of experience since he was the only one of us with a kid.
I’d thought about it, though, and I knew myself. Kids hadn’t been part of my life and I had no plans for having any in the future. I had too much of my father’s darkness in me, the controlling, possessive narcissism that had made my life and the lives of my brother and my mother such a fucking misery.
I wouldn’t wish that on any kid, so the thought of having one and giving it to someone else to bring up, far away from me, was a good thing.
Charlotte was an enemy with sharp teeth to the three of us, but Isabel, who’d been rebuilding her relationship with her mother’s side of the family, liked Charlotte a lot, so she’d probably shower any kid I gave her with everything it could possibly want. Not a guarantee of a great childhood, of course, but it wasn’t the worst either. At least I wouldn’t be around to fuck up its life.
But what about Rowan?
Charlotte had told me Rowan had agreed to the proposal already, for what reason I didn’t know and part of me didn’t like that one bit. Had Charlotte told her that it would be me providing the DNA? And had she been blackmailed into agreeing? Pressured? Sure, she was an adult who could make her own choices, but she was also only twenty four. Too young to have that kind of choice waved in her direction.
“Fuck’s sake, Atlas,” Caleb growled. “Pay attention.”
Shit.
Gritting my teeth, I pulled my attention back to situation at hand. “Sorry. Still thinking about the threesome I had last night. It was fucking hot.” I gave them both a lazy smile. “I guess that’s out of bounds now for you two now, though.”
“The child,” Ten snapped. “You think it won’t be a problem now, but when the time comes?—”
“When the time comes, I’ll do it just fine,” I snapped back, my patience thinning. “I never planned on having kids anyway.”
Ten’s eyes widened a fraction at my tone and I cursed silently. I was usually much better at not letting Ten and Cal get under my skin, so I didn’t know why now the questions they were throwing at me were so fucking irritating. I needed to get it together. No one wanted to see me lose it, least of all me.
“And if it is?” Ten challenged, pushing the envelope the way he liked to do, the prick.
I kept my cool, giving a shrug. “Then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
You really think you’ll be able to give up your own child?
Something dark shifted in me, but I ignored it like I’d been ignoring it for the last twenty years of my life. I’d give up the child to Charlotte and it would not be a problem. I’d make myself do it, just to prove that I could, that I wasn’t my father’s son.
Caleb shook his head. “Bad fucking idea, Atlas. I don’t like that we’re letting ourselves be held to ransom here.”
“Yeah, well, neither do I,” I said. “But unless you’ve got a better idea, we’re stuck with it.”
“I should go to the police myself,” Ten muttered. “Turn myself in.”
“No,” Caleb and I both said at the same time. “Hell, no,” I added. “There’s too much at stake. You’ll lose Fox Tech and Isabel will lose her father. Then there’s that little virgin of yours. She wouldn’t want you to go to jail either.”
Ten glared at me. “It’s too much to ask, Atlas. You covered for me back when I?—”
“Yeah, I know,” I interrupted him, because we’d been through all of this already. “And I’m going to cover for you again, no fucking arguments, okay? Charlotte’s got proof, she’ll go to the cops if we don’t give her this, and she’s a fucking Hamilton. She’s probably got the goddamn President on speed dial.”
“But I?—”
“No, Ten.” I held his blue stare with mine. “I’m okay with it. It matters more to you and Cal since you’ve got other people to consider now. But I don’t, and I don’t care.” I paused a moment then glanced at Caleb and added, “I mean, it’s either that or you get Isabel to?—”
“Fuck no,” Caleb said with such flat denial that I almost laughed. “Isabel’s having nothing to do with any of this.”
I already knew she wouldn’t. Caleb would never stand for it. I’d only said it to be an asshole anyway, because since getting together with her, Caleb had turned into a carbon copy of Ten, rigid and uptight, especially about Isabel.
In fact, both of them could afford to take the possessive humorlessness down a notch quite frankly. But that’s what happened when men like them got involved with much younger women. I’d seen it before with Dad and my poor mother. She’d loved him and he’d been jealous, possessive, and a controlling asshole, and eventually she’d decided she’d had enough. Took a whole lot of oxy and died in the bath, and lucky me, I was the one who’d found her.
So yeah, I had strong opinions on the subject. Not that I believed either of my friends would be like that with their respective partners, not when both Isabel and Ten’s virgin, Zara, were completely and blissfully happy. But still…
“Indeed she will not,” Ten said repressively.
“That’s what I thought.” I grinned at them both. “Wedding’s in a week. Who wants to be my best man?”
There was a silence, two pairs of eyes, one blue, one black, staring at me with varying degrees of judgment.
I smiled wider. “Well, don’t everyone offer at once.”
“Who is it?” Cal asked, ignoring me. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
“Someone called Rowan James.” I kept my expression absolutely neutral. Another thing I wasn’t getting into that with them.
Ten gave me a narrow look. “Never heard of her.”
“Neither have I,” I lied.
Ten glanced at Caleb. “Name ring a bell to you?”
“No,” Caleb said. “Could she be?—”
He broke off abruptly as the door to Caleb’s office banged open and in came two young women, one a fiery redhead, the other a delicate blonde.
Speak of the devil.
Isabel, the redhead and Ten’s daughter, grinned at me as she approached. “Hey Atlas.”
I liked Isabel. I’d known her since she was a kid and she was an absolute delight. “Hey yourself.”
The blonde, her silvery hair a shining fall down her back, nodded to me. Zara, Ten’s little virgin. She and Isabel had been friends when they’d both worked at Cross International, Caleb’s company, before getting together Ten and Cal respectively. It had been awkward, at first, according to Isabel, and there was still some awkwardness there. Isabel, for example, did not go rushing up to Cal for a kiss, out of deference for her father standing next to him. Zara did the same with Ten, out of deference to her friend.
Complicated was one word for it and if there was one thing I didn’t do, it was complicated. Those two assholes were welcome to it.
“How was the shopping?” Ten asked as Isabel dumped her purse and a number of bags next to the couch I was sitting on before perching on the end.
“What are we all discussing?” she asked, ignoring him. “Something important clearly since you’ve all got that ‘don’t tell Isabel’ expression on your faces.”
Ten glanced first at me then Caleb, and I read his warning loud and clear.
Do not mention Charlotte’s bargain to her.
I got it. Isabel thought the sun shone out of Charlotte’s ass, and was quite prepared to argue with anyone who thought different. And since arguing with Isabel was fun but ultimately pointless, I gave Ten a slight nod to show him I’d understood.
Isabel, who had no patience with any of us, rolled her eyes. “It’s probably about the reunion on Nantucket, right? Don’t worry. I’ll ask Gran.”
I still couldn’t get over the casual way Isabel referred to Charlotte, arch-bitch of the Hamiltons, as ‘Gran’, and clearly Ten didn’t like it either, because he glanced at Cal, who sighed.
Isabel was famous for not listening to her father, but she’d listen to Caleb.
“Leave her alone, Isabel,” Cal said mildly. “She’s probably busy.”
I’d heard about the family reunion in glowing terms from Isabel, and in complaints from Ten. Charlotte had apparently decided to organize one to introduce Isabel to the rest of the family, and Ten was reluctant for her to go, mainly because he didn’t trust the Hamiltons as far as he could throw them.
She was an adult though, and had been adamant about going, though Caleb had insisted that he come too.
“I guess so,” Isabel allowed. “You should come, Dad. And Zara too.”
Ten scowled. Zara, who’d come to stand beside him, reached out and took his hand, winding her delicate fingers around his. “Might be an idea,” she said. “I’d like to go.”
He glanced down at her and I watched the scowl slide right off his face, sharp blue eyes softening. Zara’s effect on him was a goddamn miracle and even though I’d had severe doubts about him hooking up with her, there was no denying that she brought out the best in him.
“Do you?” he asked, his tone gentle. “You really want to subject yourself to that?”
She smiled up at him, Ten melting like a fucking ice cream in the sun. “If you were with me, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Ew,” Isabel said. “Could you not with my dad?”
Zara lifted a middle finger in her direction without looking away from Ten and Isabel laughed.
I could see that this was going to devolve into a friendly argument, and I had shit to do. All the love stuff was sweet enough to take the enamel off your teeth and I was tired of it.
I was happy for both of my friends that they’d found women who were their partners in every way, but I didn’t envy them. I wasn’t the settling down type, and had never wanted to be.
My first marriage had been a transaction and so would the second one. There would be no feelings involved, nothing messy or complicated, and that was just the way I liked it. A favor to my friend, that’s all.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” I said, getting to my feet. “Some of us gotta work.”
Ten looked at me. “I’ll do it,” he said.
I knew what meant. He’d be my best man. But I shook my head. “No need. I was kidding and it’s not a big deal.”
“What isn’t a big deal?” Isabel asked, green eyes glancing my way, curious as ever.
“You don’t want to know,” I said, grinning at her.
“Yes, I do,” she protested.
“Well,” I said. “There’s this woman and I want to?—”
“No fucking thank you, Atlas,” Caleb interrupted, giving me a hard look.
I laughed and left them to it.