13. Spencer
13
SPENCER
I t brought me no pleasure to roll through the tall, ornate iron gates at the entrance to my parents’ Malibu estate, where they’d decided to live full time after my father semi-retired. Nothing around here had changed, down to the guard at the gatehouse who lifted a hand in greeting as I passed. I did the same, slowly rolling up the winding driveway leading to the mansion, set far back from the road, away from the eyes of anyone passing by, unlike many other rambling, palatial homes inhabited by the elite of Malibu. Gauche, new money wanted their wealth to be easily viewed from the road. Lawrence Collins, shipping magnate, would never have debased himself that way.
It was a typical, beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky, but a storm raged in my head. Some of it was fueled by Rowan’s sudden about-face yesterday and the fact that she’d ignored my attempts at reaching out to see what the fuck had changed all of a sudden. Why would she give me the respect of explaining herself? My calls went unanswered, my texts ignored. Was I supposed to hang around, hoping she would come to her senses?
All of that frustration fueled what was already eating a hole through me. I had waited a day after their return, figuring I could do that much not to be accused of bombarding Dad. I had been watching my parents my entire life, and I knew their dynamic. If my mother had the first idea about anything that went down surrounding Rowan, I would have taken the Bentley apart and eaten it piece by piece. I was that sure of myself. It was the old man in my crosshairs this morning.
I left the car in the roundabout, parking beside a marble fountain that shot jets of water into the air that sparkled like diamonds before splashing down. Groundskeepers were hard at work, a few of them nodding in acknowledgment as I charged up the long, wide staircase leading to the front doors.
Rather than wait to be acknowledged, I used my key and strode inside, passing through the marble entry hall and veering right at the grand staircase. The housekeeper exited a room farther down the hall, and her face lit up when she spotted me. A smile tipped the corners of my mouth for the first time all morning. There were times when she was more of a parent to me than either of the people responsible for my birth—exactly the kind of parent I didn’t want to be.
“Nora. It’s good to see you.” Lowering my voice when we were close enough to hear each other, I asked, “How was it having the house quiet for so long?”
She tried and failed to look disapproving. “There was still work to be done to keep things up and running.” But it was clear she had enjoyed the break when she winked. “Your mother is with her tennis instructor on the backcourt, and your father is in his study.”
Of course he was, and it was precisely why I’d headed in that direction. “I’ll surprise him,” I told her, patting her shoulder on my way past.
My pleasant expression barely lasted long enough for me to leave her behind. His door was open, sunlight streaming into the hall. My hands tightened into fists as I rounded the doorway without pausing to announce myself.
“Look who it is!” My father said behind a large, oak desk, looking tan and thinner than the last time we saw each other, though it had been months since I’d spent time with him face-to-face. His thick, white hair glowed in the light from the window behind him.
Fuck wasting time. Forget asking how the trip went. Clearly, if he was alive, it went fine. “Congratulations,” I announced, striding toward the smug bastard. “You’re a grandfather.”
It was almost funny, the way his mouth fell open. “What?” he asked with a short, disbelieving laugh.
Coming to a stop in front of him, I said, “ Grandfather. You have a granddaughter. Congratulations.”
He still thought this was a joke, laughing lightly. I could barely stand the sound. “We weren’t gone for that long, Spencer.”
“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
Lifting his shoulders, he murmured, “I’m sure I don’t.” The man wasn’t human. What little esteem I held him in before today was long gone, thanks to that careless gesture.
“Then allow me to enlighten you.” It was gratifying the way his gray eyes widened slightly when I placed my palms on the desk and leaned in. “I have a daughter. She is ten years old. I know you knew Rowan was pregnant. She told Jarvis. Don’t tell me he didn’t pass that on.”
“Oh. That’s what this is about?” Just like that, he collected himself, leaning back in his chair with his hands folded over his flat stomach. “How was I supposed to know she decided to have the child? Don’t tell me she looked you up after all this time.”
“She never would’ve done that, and you made sure she wouldn’t.” I could hardly speak through my gritted teeth, but I managed to add, “I could fucking kill you for this.”
His face darkened in time with the narrowing of his eyes. “Remember who you’re speaking to.”
My back pocket buzzed, but I ignored the call in favor of slamming a fist against the desk hard enough to make his coffee cup rattle. “I know damn well who I’m speaking to, and I would love to rip your head off and shit down your throat for this. How dare you play games like that with other people’s lives? That girl was injured, hurting, terrified.”
“Yes,” he snapped. “And that girl might have decided to press charges while in a heightened emotional state. She could have made life extremely difficult for you. That company of yours?” he asked with a dismissive wave of his hand like it was a joke. “It wouldn’t exist. The people you employ would not have jobs. The comfortable lifestyle you’ve enjoyed ever since that night? Nothing but a fantasy. I stepped in. I did what a parent does.”
“You bullied her. You painted her into a corner. Goddammit,” I whispered, getting to the heart of the matter. “You told her to never contact me again. You didn’t need to do that. She could have signed an NDA, something vowing to never press charges or go public with the details so long as we paid her bills. But no…” I snarled. “You had to make sure she was out of my life permanently before you ever knew there was a baby, which changed nothing in your eyes.”
He stood slowly, unfolding his tall body from the chair and meeting me eye-to-eye. “It’s called making tough choices. I thought you knew how that goes. Have you gone soft on me? Is that the problem here?”
“The problem here is, you didn’t give either of us a choice.”
“She had a choice. She always had one. Nothing was forcing her to sign the document.”
“Is that how you sleep at night?” I asked, and the way he scoffed didn’t help matters. I could hardly see straight, thanks to the rage blurring my vision while disgust and adrenaline fought for dominance in my system. “Yes, I guess that is the kind of thing you would need to tell yourself. Forget the fact that the girl was in massive pain. She was looking at a future where there was no guarantee she would ever recover. She had just found out she was pregnant. Her career, hopes as an actress were dead, as far as she knew. What did you think she was going to do?”
His mouth opened, but I’d be damned if I listened to another one of his sorry excuses. “I don’t need to ask,” I snapped, cutting him off. His stunned expression was almost too gratifying. When was the last time anyone spoke to him this way? “You knew what she would do before you sent Jarvis over there. She would look at the dollar sign and all the zeros that came after it, and she would sign because she needed some security after what I did. She needed her hospital bills paid. She needed money to go to school.”
My phone rang again, but I ignored it, too intent on him.
“You wonder why I never wanted to work for your fucking company?” Now that I had started, there was no stopping. A flood of sheer hatred poured out of me. I couldn’t pretend it didn’t feel good to let it go. “All your bullshit about legacy… keeping it in the family. I learned more about you in the two years I spent in China than in the years I spent living in this house. The way you tend to ignore regulations. The cover-up when it came to incidents caused by negligence, cutting corners where it mattered. I see who you are as a person. All this latest situation did was reinforce what I already knew.”
My phone started ringing again, and I might have checked it if it wasn’t for the light footsteps coming down the hall. “I swear, this trip ruined my backhand.” A second later, Mom rounded the door frame, addressed in tennis whites, with her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. It used to come naturally, that hair, but she had started covering her grays as soon as the first one showed up years ago.
“Spencer!” She held her arms out to me, crossing the room, oblivious to the crackling energy filling the room. She was good at that. No doubt it was the only way she was able to remain married to a heartless bastard like him. It wasn’t like she needed the money. She had grown up more than comfortable, and her family assets were protected. Was it for status? I was never quite sure.
“You look too thin,” I told her after a brief hug because it was what she loved to hear. “I was having a conversation with Dad.”
“A conversation that’s now over,” my father announced. “I have much too much to take care of now that I’m home. I don’t need you coming around, dredging up the past.”
“Let me tell you something.” Turning away from Mom, I hit him with a glare that sent his ass back into the chair. It was probably for the best that I did not launch myself at him, but I sure as hell wanted to. Good thing for him we now had a witness. “You are the one who’s lost out in all of this. You kept them both away from me for ten years, but that’s over now.”
“What is this all about?” Mom stepped up beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Spencer, what happened?”
I wouldn’t have been cruel enough to throw it in her face, but it was clear her own husband didn’t care. “Spencer dropped by to inform us we are grandparents,” he announced, his voice flat. Mom’s sharp gasp was barely audible over the fresh rushing of blood in my ears. This fucking bastard. He would have to bring her into it like that, wouldn’t he?
“And you will never see her,” I warned as my phone rang yet again and left me wondering what the fuck I was missing. “He will never know her, and he will no longer know me.”
“Spencer!” Mom’s nails dug into my shoulder. “You don’t mean that.”
“I mean every word,” I told her, glaring at him. His shrewd gaze traveled over my face like he was trying to decide whether I was bluffing. “He will never know the granddaughter he was so callous about. And that’s his loss because she’s a great kid.”
“You know her? You’ve met her?” The hope in Mom’s voice was almost heartbreaking. “I don’t understand what any of this is about. Would somebody please tell me?”
Again, my phone rang, and this time, I pulled it from my pocket with a grunt. It was Bruce, who’d called twice now. Vivian had called, as well, along with a few other calls from various managers. I had several missed texts, as well.
“Why don’t we all sit down and talk about this?” Mom suggested in a tight voice, high-pitched with worry. “It's so early, Spencer. Have you had breakfast?”
“I have nothing else to say to him.” It didn’t make me happy, leaving Mom with tears rolling down her cheeks. I knew she had nothing to do with his decisions, but there had to be an emergency to warrant the number of calls and texts I’d ignored, though, which took precedence now. I could smooth things over with her so long as he was never involved.
They let me go without offering any more arguments, and I was on my phone before I reached the staircase opposite the front door. Bruce seemed like the logical person to call first since his call had been the last I received.
As usual, he wasted no time on greetings. “Where the fuck are you? Your assistant told me you’ve been back and forth between LA and the Bay lately.”
“I’m in Malibu. Family shit.”
“Well, I hate to break this to you, but you’ve had a break-in at your company headquarters. Your assistant called me in when she couldn’t get a hold of you right away.”
I froze halfway down the stairs. The buzzing of bees and chirping of birds went silent. Break-in. Of course, Vivian would call my head of security, Bruce. “What happened? What did they do? Did they take anything? Is everyone all right?”
“It happened early this morning. Before dawn. A coordinated effort, by the looks of it. I’m reviewing the footage with the security team. The front desk guard sustained head injuries.”
“Jesus,” I whispered, still frozen in place and trying to process the shock. “Do we know how he is?”
“ICU, last I heard.”
“What about my offices? What did they take?” I pushed myself forward, jogging to the car. I would be in the air within the hour. This was not something I could handle from afar. I needed to be there, in the middle of it.
“Not much, if anything. Several computers were destroyed. They tried and failed to access the server room. There’s a shit ton of broken glass everywhere. The bulk of the damage, I hate to say, was done to your office in particular.”
A red flag fluttered in my head by the time I was behind the wheel. “You don’t say.”
“More than that. A photo was sitting on your chair. No frame. Your assistant told me she’d never seen it before.”
“A photo of what?” I asked, already eager to get the call over with so I could call my pilot.
“I’m not sure. You’re in it, along with a blonde woman and a little blonde girl. Walking out of a restaurant together.”
Halfway to the gates, I slammed the brakes and screeched to a halt. Everything in me wanted to reject the image Bruce was putting together. Somebody was sending a message, something about how easy it was to get to me. And the people I cared about. Nausea gripped my stomach, but I couldn’t give in. There was no time.
All at once, the world took on a newfound clarity. My priorities aligned, and I hit the gas again, tearing down the driveway now. “I’m going to call you back in fifteen minutes,” I told Bruce. “There are things I’m going to need from your contacts down here, so get a list together. Security, mostly.”
If there was one thing I appreciated about him, it was the way he didn’t need to ask questions. “Will do.”
I would kill the son of a bitch for this. He couldn’t get Miles and decided to turn his attention to me instead. It was the biggest and last mistake Damian Fields would ever make. First on my list was placing a call to someone who might be able to help.
Every breath through my tightened throat was a chore, and my heart was ready to crack open my chest, hammering the way it was. Somehow, I placed a call to my cousin, Connor, somebody with the resources to help, thanks to his media empire. I normally wouldn’t have fallen back on family ties, but this was not a normal situation.
I waited a few moments to be connected before Connor’s rich, hearty voice filled the car. Mom was his father’s baby sister, one of those late-in-life second-family situations, meaning she and her nephew were roughly the same age. In some ways, he was more of a father to me than my own, someone I’d looked up to as a kid. “Spencer! This is a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?”
Time to cut to the chase. “Remember what I told you about Damian Fields back in the Hamptons?”
“Are you kidding? My digital division has been hell-bent on turning Miles into a hero online. What’s going on now?”
I gave him a brief rundown while navigating traffic. It was getting thicker all the time, slowing me downandmaking it difficult not to scream. I had to get back to Rowan and Hannah. What if that photo was more than a warning?
“I see.” Connor’s voice turned hard, with a thread of cold ruthlessness running underneath. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to syndicate a story for me once I’ve located the witnesses in question. If you can help me track them down, I’d appreciate it. I’ve got a guy working for me out here, but he’s come up with nothing.” And we were running out of time. A man with Connor’s resources and influence would make all of this much easier to manage.
“Whatever you want, you’ve got it,” he vowed. “Just tell me who they are. I can have a couple of private eyes on it by lunch.” Considering he was three hours ahead of me and his lunch would roll around within the hour, that was quite a promise.
It was time to take the fight to the next level since Damian wouldn’t give up unless I forced him.
He was going to wish he had never started this.