3. Kash
Chapter Three
KASH
Were there people who actually enjoyed coming home? Because for me, the most dreaded part of my week was coming to this haunted mansion. It wasn’t haunted in the literal sense, because ghosts I could handle. No, it was haunted by the people living in it because they were far worse than the monsters who scared people at night.
All the ease and comfort I felt a mere twenty minutes ago with Naina were gone. Naina. What a curious little puzzle she presented. She didn’t want me to leave, she didn’t want me to stay. Hate-flirted with like it was an Olympic sport and she was out to win the gold medal.
And like an addicted man, I kept going back every week even though I knew it was bad for me.
I needed to figure out a solution and fast.
“I don’t expect to spend more than 30 minutes in here, Grayson,” I said to my driver. “At 31 minutes I expect you to come up with an emergency and get me out of there.”
Grayson’s eyes shifted to me in the rearview mirror.
“Yes, sir.”
He rolled the car to a stop in front of the main entrance and I exited, buttoning my coat. Walter was already opening the door as I walked up the steps.
“Mr. Sutherland, it’s good to see you, sir.”
“Walter, you’re looking younger every day,” I greeted him.
My cousin and I used to joke that Walter appeared at the same time the house did, sometime in the early 1900s. Because he had been ancient when we were kids, so by all accounts he should be dead by now.
I walked into the white marble foyer and Walter closed the door behind me. The sound was oddly like that of a tomb closing. I suddenly couldn’t breathe.
“Miss Sutherland is already waiting for you,” Walter said.
My cousin appeared from the corner. She’d changed into a tweed skirt and matching jacket, a string of pearls around her neck. It was Vera as she was only here, around the family. Except for her copper hair, she looked like her mother or even my stepmother.
Any sense of independence died when you walked through the doors.
“Do you think this is about the lawsuit?” She asked, stepping up beside me.
“Vera, from now until we’re dead and buried, everything will be about the lawsuit,” I said.
“What were they thinking?” Vera asked, incredulously.
Poor, innocent Vera. All she had ever wanted was to work and not to be a pretty, little trophy wife. She had no idea half the shit our family was involved in and I wasn’t about to tell her. If it ever came down to it, I wanted her to have plausible deniability. There was no fucking way I was letting her go down with this sinking ship.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
About six months ago, we lost a lawsuit filed against us by the Keating family. They were real estate developers, and they claimed Sutherland-Ford-Vanderbilt Inc. had falsified documents about owning a large piece of land which actually belonged to them. The alleged transaction had occurred when I was in middle school and until now, Vera and I didn’t have a clue that land even existed.
Not until my father decided it was time to build SFV’s largest ever hotel on it and the Keating family were about to build a condo building. There were investors involved on both sides and John Keating wasn’t the kind of man who was easily intimidated by my father. He was probably the first person to feel that way.
We could have made that lawsuit go away easily. That’s why we had the best law firm working for us. If our investors hadn’t also filed a suit alleging the investment was a fraud because they’d invested years ago and now it turned out the land wasn’t even ours to build on.
My father was a smooth talker, a manipulator, a man who liked to control everything around him. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would have enough dirt on those men to make the lawsuit go away. The only person he couldn’t find anything on was Lex Kingston, and if Lex Kington didn’t want to drop the lawsuit, he wouldn’t fucking drop the lawsuit.
It didn’t matter in the end, because someone gave Lex’s lawyers exactly what they needed for us to lose the lawsuit.
Since then, the noose around our necks had tightened to the point where we needed my father’s permission if we wanted to breathe. The Sutherlands didn’t lose and we definitely didn’t lose to a nameless nobody who sold our secrets.
We’d kept a clean image in the media and something like this wasn’t going to change that.
Walter opened the conference room door for Vera and me. The room fell quiet as soon as walked in.
“You’re late,” my father said, voice cracking like a whip.
“The meeting was for two and it’s 1:58. I’d say we’re right on time,” I replied.
Vera walked around the table and kissed her mother, my aunt Amelia. Next to her was my stepmother, Diana. If you looked quickly, you couldn’t tell the difference between my aunt and stepmother. Over the years, their faces had morphed into the same shape. Someone really needed to tell them they should go to different plastic surgeons.
“What’s this about?” Vera asked.
That was a mistake. It was never a good idea to show you were impatient because then my father would monologue. Over the years, I’d learned to listen to him and not react because then he would have the sense of satisfaction that his words had an effect.
Dad looked out at us, his loyal subjects.
“The lawsuit has affected the business and our reputation. You all know that is unacceptable. We have a legacy we need to protect and all of us must do whatever we need to ensure our family name is not besmirched.”
Dad’s eyes landed directly on me since the first time I had walked through the door. I forced myself to remain relaxed.
Don’t show fear or anger. Don’t show weakness.
It was the first rule of fighting a wild animal, right? They only attacked when they sensed fear and weakness.
“Our stock is down, and we all need to do our parts for the family. As the head of this family and CEO of SFV, I have decided that Kash is going to marry Crystal Sloane.”
No one moved. Under the table, Vera reached for my hand, squeezing it tightly.
“The Sloane’s match our social standing and a man like Richard Sloane on our side will prove good for the family. The Ford-Vanderbilts are also in agreement. The contracts are being drawn up now,” Dad finished.
“That’s wonderful news, Edward. I’m glad we can put this dreadful lawsuit behind us,” Diana said. “Kash and Crystal will make a beautiful couple.”
None of them, with the exception of Vera, cared what I had to say. As I looked out at their faces, the only thing I could see was warm, sad brown eyes.
I did the only thing I could think of in reply to this ridiculous news.
I stood up and walked away.