Chapter 17 #2
‘I had a run-in with Caspar Kahn,’ I tell him, pushing further. Ready to goad him. Pleased for it, for the catharsis of it.
He leers at me, leaning on the head of his club.
‘He threatened Dayna,’ I say.
‘Dayna who?’
‘You know exactly who. Dayna Cross. He threatened her, so I gave him a taste of his own medicine.’
‘You threatened Kahn?’
‘See, what’s interesting is he was less concerned about what I was doing and more bothered about how you would react to me defending a Cross.
’ I stand and move in front of him. ‘I’d say it’s about time you levelled with me, because it sounded like there’s more to this than you thinking Roger Cross was a cost-cutter. ’
There’s a flicker of something in his eyes, a darkness. ‘I don’t answer to you, son, and I never will.’
‘All right, then I’ve got some news. The tender I’m running for, the well in the Persian Gulf, I’m changing tactics and putting in an alternative bid. I can’t beat Caspar on capital investment alone, so I’m putting in a joint bid with SP. With SP’s blend?—’
He rams me back so hard against the brick wall he takes the air out of my lungs. ‘You’ll get into bed with a Cross over my dead body.’
‘Take your fucking hands off me or there’ll be no question about a dead body.’
He backs off, his face almost purple, his eyes bulging out of his head. ‘I have told you my problem with Cross. That name is scum. He cut corners, brought shame on an industry he didn’t belong in from the off.’
‘Bullshit. You don’t take issue with any other company who lost a well, and you’ve never stopped me sleeping with anyone else’s daughter.’
‘Not him. Not SP and not his daughter. I’ll get you out of my company before I let you anywhere near a deal.’
‘It’s not your company any more. You’re weak.’ I push a finger to his chest. ‘This doesn’t work.’
‘You really think you’re a big shot, Clark?
That board voted you in because they knew I’d control you.
They voted in a lesser version of me because that’s still better than any other option.
They follow me. If you put that deal on the table, you’ll be laughed out of your own boardroom by every man who stands by me and my business, my name. ’
‘I think it’s worth taking a punt.’ I turn my back on him and start walking away.
‘You won’t take my threats? She will.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I’m not afraid to take down a Cross, Clark. You’d better believe that’s not a hollow threat.’
I run at him, pushing him back against the concrete pillar separating the bays, and pin his club across his throat. ‘You wouldn’t fucking touch her.’
‘I wouldn’t?’ He struggles to speak as I push the club into his windpipe. ‘I already took one Cross down because he came near me and my family. If you put that deal to my board, I’ll do it again.’
I step back and drop the club. ‘What are you talking about?’
He bends over his knees, gasping for breath. ‘You want to know why I hate Cross? I’ll tell you. You think you don’t respect me, you think I know nothing about being in love? I’ve protected your mother all these years.’
I shake my head. What?
‘Cross took the one thing that meant the world to me. He took your mother.’
I stagger back against the wall. ‘They— No.’
I watch my father’s shoulders slump in a way I’ve never seen before. ‘They had an affair. He fucked her in my own bed. I took her back because we had you, Kathryn and Spencer, but I couldn’t get past it. I wasn’t always like this, Clark. Heartless. She made me this way. They did.’
‘She had an affair first?’
He rubs the back of his hand across his nose.
‘You think I’m the one to blame for everything.
The only reason you do is because I shielded you from it.
I protected you, Clark, and now you throw it back in my face.
Cross was my friend. It’d be bad enough if it was any man, but he was my friend and ally. I trusted him.’
I slide to sit on the ground, cold even through my jeans. Everything I thought I knew… ‘Do people know?’
He scoffs. ‘Cross at least had the decency to keep his mouth shut.’
I stare at the concrete ground as if it might get up and start crawling or tell me the answers to the plethora of questions racing through my head. Does Dayna know? She can’t. ‘If no one knows, then what was Caspar talking about?’
The look in his eyes scares me. It isn’t intimidating. It isn’t strong. It’s… resigned. ‘I couldn’t get over it. Cross was at every dinner, every conference. I hated him, more than I ever thought myself capable of. And Caspar, he hates anyone who isn’t on his side.’
I start putting the pieces together. This is a nightmare, and I’m desperate to wake up before I fall off a kerb into a rush of oncoming traffic. ‘What did you do?’
He just looks at me. A man I’ve never seen. A man who’s broken.
‘You and Kahn? Fuck. You sabotaged Little Princess.’ I rub my hands over my face. ‘You killed her father.’
‘No. He killed himself.’
I look at the man I don’t know standing across from me. ‘You killed all those people.’
Wind whistles past my ears, breaking the otherwise deafening silence.
‘If you want to protect her, walk away. I won’t let you bid with her. Caspar has no loyalty to me or anyone. He’s out for himself. If you win that well with her, Caspar will come for you both. Walk away, son.’