Chapter 9
When John promised to call Lillith that night, the day the Times article came out, he intended to do it this time, after the first night they had spent together in more than three weeks.
He had enjoyed it. She adored him. Lillith was relieved to see him again and he was just as warm and loving as before, and apologetic.
But once she saw the article, she knew his day would fall apart.
He was consumed by the bad press he was getting for firing all of the employees of the shipping company he’d bought.
He fired them to put all seventeen ships in dry dock for repairs and to refit them for their cargo.
They could have done the remodels on a rolling basis, but it would have taken longer and cost more, and John was all about cutting costs and the bottom line.
He was as merciless about the costs as he was about the people who had been cast into misery by dry-docking all seventeen ships at the same time.
The shipyard had given him a fantastic rate, and it was all going in his favor, until the press got into it.
John did what he had to, to negotiate down all of it, otherwise what was the point of driving the purchase price down and paying rock bottom prices for the ships?
Economically, he knew he had done the right things, and was proud of it.
But it was a media blow to his company, and made him look like a monster to the general public, who knew nothing about refitting ships and transporting cargo.
The media called him ruthless again. He was used to it by now, but it was a word he hated.
Gabby had called him heartless and without morals.
But she wasn’t calling him anything now.
He hadn’t spoken to her in months and didn’t want to.
Her insults were brutal and familiar. The press was no better.
They didn’t understand what it took to run a company and make it profitable.
Softhearted owners went bankrupt. The press just insulted him more eloquently than his daughter did, and it hurt more getting denigrated in public.
He meant to call Lillith that night, but he was having dinner at Isabelle’s and didn’t want to be late.
And Isabelle had priority because of who she was, which impressed him.
They had dinner at neighborhood restaurants or at home.
And once in a while, he took her to a great restaurant for an elaborate dinner.
They were friends after all, and had been for thirty years.
There was nothing wrong with dining with a friend.
They’d been doing that for ten months since Helen died, and no one would suspect that it had evolved into an affair.
He was proud to be seen with Isabelle. She was a beautiful woman, always elegantly dressed.
She had incredible style and Steve had given her beautiful jewelry.
He would have been a hard act to follow, but he had been gone for ten years.
He was no longer a threat. Isabelle was used to leading her own life now.
She had adjusted to John since their affair began, but she was still cautious about the path they were on.
It was all very new, and people were gossips.
He also didn’t want anyone to think that their affair had begun before Helen died, which it hadn’t.
And he knew Isabelle would never have engaged in that.
John had had some close calls over the years, but rarely close to home, always in other cities when he was away on business.
He didn’t want to embarrass Helen. And there was also the chess game he loved to play, when he had two women in his thrall at the same time.
He was a handsome, fascinating, powerful man, used to commanding those around him.
The women never knew about each other. Helen had been an unknowing player in his little game.
When John left Isabelle in a hurry after they made love, he was going to Lillith.
He knew she would see him at any time, whenever he wanted.
The one whose life and schedule he had to accommodate was Isabelle.
He knew that keeping Lillith on ice with no news of him and no response to her messages for weeks at a time would make her more desperate for him.
It was a cruel but efficient way to control her.
He loved the game and how anxious it made the women about when they would see him again.
He was a master of manipulation and control in every area of his life.
He loved leaving one and rushing to the other.
They were always eager for him, and going from one warm bed and one sensual body to the other never failed to arouse him.
He had been playing his own private chess game since Gabby was a baby.
He had come up with it then, bored while they waited for Gabby to be born and Helen was too uncomfortable and no longer wanted to have sex with him.
He didn’t find her attractive then either.
But the one woman John couldn’t control was Isabelle. She didn’t need him. So he didn’t play to her weaknesses, he appealed to her strengths and compassion. It was a different version of the game.
It had been a week since Lillith had seen John or heard from him this time, and she forgave him everything when she heard the sound of his voice and knew she’d see him.
Sometimes he called her as late as midnight, and she let him come over.
Sleeping with two women on a rolling basis made him feel young and virile again.
He was in the best form he’d been in since Helen died.
Once he had Isabelle, he no longer missed Helen.
Isabelle was the better version. And it was true that he had always wanted her and couldn’t have her.
But he didn’t love her. And now he had her.
She was a major conquest for him. Lillith was just a dash of added spice to make the main meal more interesting.
Lillith sat quietly waiting for John to arrive, after he left Isabelle.
She wondered how long he was going to leave her dangling afterward, for days or a week or two, and if that was going to be the nature of their relationship from now on.
He was a mystery to her. She longed to go back to the boat where she could see him every day, wake up next to him in the morning, and make love whenever they wanted.
It was a dream come true and he had been so kind to her then.
Seeing each other in New York was harder.
They both had other distractions. She had a demanding job, going from one installation to the next.
Her boss was still out with her broken hip, and John ran an empire and worked late almost every night, sometimes showing up as late as midnight.
She was no longer talking about giving up her job and apartment.
She couldn’t leave the design firm where she worked with the boss injured, and she didn’t want to give up her apartment now until she knew John was reliable, and so far, he hadn’t been, not since he’d left the boat after the holidays.
Something had changed after she flew back to New York.
He became a different person, or himself, whoever he really was.
—
When John came through the door after leaving Isabelle, he was pleased to see Lillith waiting for him in her apartment.
“I’m sorry it’s been such a shit show since I got back.
It will get better when the press calms down.
” Lillith had stopped complaining that he never returned her calls or answered her messages.
She had never known anyone to be so uncommunicative and nonresponsive.
His excuse was that he was always in a meeting, and there was always someone around so he couldn’t speak freely on the phone.
He had told Isabelle the same thing, but he returned each of her calls at an opportune moment.
Isabelle wouldn’t have tolerated it if he didn’t.
She had run her own business and was reliable herself.
John didn’t have to return Lillith’s calls.
She had no power in the world, and she was sufficiently impressed by him and who he was that she put up with anything he did.
She was blinded by love for him and he took full advantage of it.
To John, there was a hierarchy in the world, and he was at the top.
Lillith was young and at the bottom. She had no authority and no clout.
Isabelle had both, and a respected position in the world, and she was a very wealthy woman.
She had sold the ad agency for a fortune when Steve died.
She was an important woman in New York and the world.
Lillith wasn’t. Her only power was who she worked for, and knowing him.
As far as John was concerned, she was no one other than that. She didn’t matter.
—