22. Landon
22
Landon
T hea’s small hand in mine gave me a measure of confidence as we walked into Claridge’s Foyer and Reading room. Her curious gaze took in the sumptuous Art Déco details and shimmering mirrors, but all of my attention focused on looking for my mother and sister among the well-to-do patrons enjoying afternoon tea.
“I feel under-dressed,” Thea whispered as we passed two ladies dripping in jewelry and fur. Their gazes dismissed Thea while lingering on me. Snooty bitches .
“I prefer you under-dressed,” I quipped before I spotted my mother and Isla.
“Darling!” Mom cooed, pulling me close for a hug. Isla smiled at me before staring at Thea with interest. “Hello again, dear. I do like your new haircut. It suits you.”
Thea murmured her thanks and shifted awkwardly beside me. Once I’d introduced her to my sister, we both took a seat while my mother fussed over the tea and pressured us to take some sandwiches and cakes from the selection on the table.
“Would you prefer some champagne?” she asked Thea, always the consummate hostess. “I like the Claridges’ blend of tea, but it’s not to everyone’s taste.”
“No, thank you. Tea is fine.” She lifted the fine bone china cup and took a sip.
“Where’s father?” I asked, once we’d made small talk for a few minutes. Nowhere near here, I hoped.
Mom frowned. “He had a business meeting in Glasgow, so Isla and I came down on our own. I’m having a few tweakments at my favorite clinic on Harley Street, and Isla wanted to shop for the children.”
“Where are the kids?” It was rare to see my sister without her bairns.
“With Jon and the nanny.” The tightness in her jaw suggested all was not well, but I knew better than to pry. Growing up, Isla and I had been exceptionally close. Living with our cunt of a father had forced us to rely on each other when things got really bad. But since she married Jon, we’d drifted apart. “Why are you in London?”
“I’m showing Thea the sights,” I replied with an easy smile that fooled Mom but not my sister. She knew me better than anyone.
“Your father will be so disappointed he missed you,” Mom said. “He’s been in such a foul mood lately. I do worry about him.”
I felt Thea tense up beside me. “Maybe he shouldn’t have tried pimping out his son,” she snapped before I had time to throw her a warning look.
Mom’s jaw dropped in shock. “I’m sorry, what?”
I sank into my chair as she stared at me in horror.
“Oh, didn’t you know? Your husband likes to use Landon to secure favors or blackmail business rivals.”
Isla and I shared a look. We’d never told Mom what dad had done. At first, he’d said she wouldn’t believe us, but eventually we stayed silent because it was the best way to protect her.
“Lan, is this true?” She spun to face me, her eyes shiny with tears. I opened my mouth to deny it, but Isla got there first.
“It’s true. He forced me to do stuff too, before Jon married me.”
Conversation ebbed and flowed around us while a piano played in the background. Something that felt a lot like relief settled over me. A heavy burden lifted from my shoulders. Mom might not believe us, but at least the truth was out there.
Thea shifted closer, still holding my hand tight enough to cause damage. “She needs to know, baby,” she whispered in my ear.
As much as I wanted to yell at her for forcing us to talk about it, she was right. Isla and I had spent years hiding the truth from Mom. Shit always rises to the surface, eventually.
“You should have told me!” Mom’s voice cracked, like her world had just imploded.
Isla sighed before reaching out and squeezing her hand. “He threatened us. Said you wouldn’t believe anything we said.”
Mom raised her hand and signaled to the server, who hurried over with a bright smile.
“Can we have a bottle of your best scotch and four glasses, please?”
To her credit, the server didn’t bat an eye. She disappeared and returned five minutes later with our order. Mom splashed scotch into three glasses before I covered the fourth with my hand and shook my head.
“None for Thea. She doesn’t drink.” Not quite a lie, but I wasn’t ready to share the news of Thea’s pregnancy. Two shocks in one day might finish my mother off.
“I’m sorry,” Thea said, looking my mother in the eye.
Mom’s gaze softened. “It’s not your fault, darling. If anything, I should be the one thanking you for lifting the scales from my eyes. I knew Stuart was not a good man, but I never thought he’d hurt our children.”
“I only married Jon to get away from him,” Isla sobbed. “And now he’s fucking our nanny!”
Dear lord. Could this get any worse? Thea stayed silent, but I could feel her vibrating with anger at Isla’s admission.
“I never liked Jon,” I admitted. He had a limp handshake and despite being only 30, a prominent bald patch.
Mom pulled out her phone and tapped away furiously at the screen before lifting it to her ear. “This is Isobel Rothmore… Yes, as in the whiskey… My daughter and I need to speak with Miriam. Yes, this afternoon… no, I can’t wait that long…in an hour? Perfect.” She ended her call and turned to speak to Isla in a hushed voice while Thea lifted a small cucumber sandwich and examined it with great suspicion.
“Is this even worth eating?” My wife-to-be took a dainty bite and chewed thoughtfully. “Not bad, but I prefer the cakes.”
“Who’s Miriam?” Mom handed Isla some napkins to mop up her tears, followed by a fresh glass of scotch. Then she looked up and offered me a grim smile that promised bloodshed and vengeance.
“Miriam de Souza, London’s most sought-after divorce lawyer. She handled Prince Harold’s divorce last year, when he finally cut ties with that dreadful American woman.” She sniffed. “I will not let my daughter stay married to that man for a minute longer.”
“If you need evidence, Milo can help comb through his emails and socials.”
“Milo can do that?” Isla looked impressed.
“Milo has a lot of skills we don’t talk about.”
“Thank you but there’s no need,” Isla sniffed. “The idiot fucked the nanny in Emily’s room. Our nanny cam recorded everything in HD.” She burst into tears again. “The nanny has bigger boobs than me and I hate her! I wanted to hire the older one with the kind face, but Jon said she might struggle with the stairs. Now I know why he was so insistent we hire Veronique with the big boobs.” She sobbed loudly. “It wasn’t so she could teach the kids Spanish!”
This was way more than I needed to know. Fucking Jon. If I had the misfortune to meet him again, I planned to punch him in the face.
“I’m sorry,” Thea said to my sister. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that. No woman does.” Then she glared at me. “If your brother did that to me, I’d cut his dick off with a blunt knife and force him to eat it with chili sauce.”
My hands drifted south to protect my junk. My girl was vicious, violent, and I loved her so fucking much.
Mom and Isla looked shocked and slightly ill, but I just grinned.
“I could never look at another woman, wifey. You know that.” She softened as I stroked her cheek and leaned in for a kiss. Neither of us cared my mom and sister were watching, along with several older ladies who’d been eavesdropping with scandalized delight as Mom and Isla aired the family’s dirty laundry.
I hoped no journalists from the Daily Mail were hovering, or the headlines tomorrow would be exceptionally lurid. Our family had only just recovered from the sex tape scandal.
“I approve,” Mom said with great relish. “Welcome to the family, darling girl!”
“I’m glad you approve, because Thea and I are getting married as soon as I can afford to buy a decent ring.”
“We are?” She looked at me in shock.
“Damn right. I need to snare you before any of those other assholes get in first.”
“What other assholes?” Mom seemed curious rather than concerned.
“The other members of Thea’s harem.”
I poured more scotch into all three glasses. I figured we all needed some additional alcohol to soften the blow that I was sharing my girl with four other men. Mom was open-minded but I doubted she expected her only son would end up in a reverse harem. Prison, maybe, but not a polycule. Oh well.
Thea shuffled nervously, a faint tinge of color in her cheeks, but Mom and Isla were more fascinated than judgmental.
“Don’t you get jealous?” Isla asked me, sipping her scotch.
“No. It’s good to have the other guys around. Thea’s family is…” I hesitated, unsure of how much to reveal. “Not nice.” It was a woeful understatement but now was not the time to get into the ins and outs of the mafia world. “Her father isn’t happy she left home, so he is trying to drag her back.” It seemed like the best way to describe the mess that surrounded my girl. “Kyril and Dario are good at protecting people, Cassian has the money, and Milo has other skills.”
“I always liked Cassian,” Mom mused. “Not his father, though. Poor Ophelia should have left him years ago.”
“Cass is working hard to get his mom out of Lucian’s clutches, but he’s locked her in some insane asylum.”
Mom gasped. “That’s awful! Ophelia isn’t mad!”
“No, not at all.” Milo had spent the last few days looking for weak spots in the clinic’s security system. It was slow going. For a small, private clinic, the board, headed by none other than Lucian Forsyth, had invested in a surprisingly robust security system.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Rothmore,” Thea said in a low but determined voice. “We’ll get her out of there.”
“Good.” Mom turned to me. “If you need any help, call me. And don’t worry about money. I’ll reinstate your cards this afternoon. I wasn’t aware your father had canceled them until this morning, when the bank called me. Your father had no right to do that without discussing it with me first.” She gulped more scotch down. “That man will pay for this, I promise. The gloves are off now. It’s war, ladies!”
“Your mom is awesome,” Thea told me after Mom and Isla disappeared in a cab, on their way to Miriam de Souza’s chambers near the Strand.
“She is. Now, let’s get you back to the suite. It’s time we tried out the pool.”
“But I have no bikinis!”
I smirked as the elevator opened and we stepped in.
“Yes, you do. Cass ordered some to be sent up to our suite.”
“Ugh. You guys have to stop spoiling me.”
“Nope, never. You’re ours to spoil for as long as we all shall live.”
And once my accounts were active again, I planned to do just that. My girl deserved the very best money could buy, including the biggest, flashiest diamond engagement ring I could find.