Breaking Ties
Chapter forty-three
Jake
Things have been crazy at the hotel over the past few days.
We shut down the hotel, and the police have been busy digging up bodies.
It’s hard to believe how many victims are scattered around this place.
It makes me uneasy to think about, but Alex is already brainstorming ways to market this to our advantage.
The last thing I need today is to see my estranged mother walk through the door. “Mom, what are you doing here?” I ask in shock when I see her standing in the lobby. She looks so unlike her usual put together and glamorous self. The version standing before me looks small and tired.
“Your father hasn’t come home. He said he was coming here to… anyway. He isn’t returning my calls, and we have investors knocking on our doors, asking questions about their cashflow.” She puts a hand to her forehead. “I can’t deal with this stuff, honey. Where’s your father?”
“He’s dead,” I say simply. She stares at me with wide eyes, frozen in place.
“What do you mean, dead? What have you done to my husband?” she demands.
“I didn’t do shit to your husband, mom. He came here to force me home to marry Katerina, and to steal this business. I gave him every chance to walk away and leave us alone. He put a gun to my head and tried to kill me. He tazed Sasha and threatened to hurt Alex. Sasha shot him in self-defense.”
Tears well in her eyes, and I just roll mine. “Don’t act like you care about him. Or me. In fact, you can leave now; there’s no place for you here. I have a new family that cares about me, and I care about them very much.”
“Honey,” she says, walking towards me. “Your father was very stressed out. A lot of his business partners were asking for money, he was in hot water with the Russians, then there’s the police investigation.
We’re hanging on by a thread right now. Everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve built, could come crashing down at any second. I’m going to lose everything.”
“Not my problem, sorry. Whatever mess you’ve gotten yourselves into, you can figure out a way to get out of it.
I’ll tell you the same thing I told your husband: you can’t have this hotel.
It’s mine. It’s been mine since he put it in my name to hide his involvement in your money laundering.
I’m not giving it back, and I’m not giving you money just so you can save face to your rich friends.
You’re not welcome here. We’ve turned this place into a legitimate business, something to be proud of.
There is a whole group of people that stay here and love this property.
It’s become a safe haven for them instead of a criminal enterprise, and I won’t jeopardize that for anything.
” I’m being harsh on her, she didn’t ask for any of his bullshit, but she was complicit in it all the same.
She takes another step towards me and reaches out, but I step back and put up a hand to stop her. “Don’t touch me.”
“Jacob, why are you acting like this? Your father has done nothing but try to give you everything you could ever want. Andrei—”
I scoff, interrupting her. “Don’t finish that sentence, please. He abused me, and you were going to force me to marry his daughter. I never wanted your money. The only thing I ever wanted from you was your love, or at the very least your attention. But if I wasn’t useful to you, I didn’t exist.”
My temper is rising and I just want her to leave. She’ll never understand what she denied me. I couldn’t care less about money or power and she’ll never understand that.
“You have turned into such an ungrateful little brat. Andrei tried so hard to help you—”
“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth!” I yell. “I am not going to allow you to come into my home and tell me the abuse I suffered at his hands didn’t happen, or that it didn’t matter, or that it was to teach me a lesson. I don’t want to hear it.”
She scoffs. “Your father did say you were dramatic these days. Andrei didn’t abuse you, honey.”
“He used to beat me with a belt until I couldn’t walk. What do you call that?”
“Discipline, which you were sorely lacking. I know that’s my fault.”
“And when he held me down on my bed and raped me while I begged him to stop? What was that?”
She pales at that. “What are you talking about?”
I run a hand through my hair, about to have a nervous breakdown, when Brandon walks in.
“Hey Jake, sorry I’m late, I had a thing—” Brandon stops in his tracks when he sees my mother, taking in the expression on my face. “Is everything okay?” he asks cautiously.
“No, it’s not. Can you please escort her out? She’s not welcome here.”
He nods and turns to my mother. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave the property, ma’am,” he says and motions her towards the door.
“Please, Jacob, I have nothing left. If you don’t help me, I’ll tell the police that you killed my husband,” she threatens.
“Go ahead, tell them. They can dig up this whole property again; they’ll never find any evidence he was ever here.
You want to know what’s truly ironic, mom?
He brought himself down. Kayla actually did kill Andrei.
If your husband hadn’t tried so hard to frame her for killing me by using his police connections to tamper with evidence, she’d probably still be in jail right now, and you wouldn’t be in hot water with the authorities.
She got a plea deal and told them everything.
Turns out there’s at least one detective on the force that wasn’t in his pocket who decided to listen to what Kayla had to say and investigate.
You both made your bed, you can lay in it. Now please leave.”
“You will regret this, Jacob.”
“No, I won’t.”
She gives me one last glare before turning on her heel and walking out the door, hopefully for good. Tears form in my eyes, but I keep them from falling. I have a new mom and dad; I don’t have any use for the old ones.
“You okay, man?” Brandon asks.
“Yeah, I think I’m good,” I tell him honestly, and smile.
I can finally close this chapter of my life and look forward to the next.
Things are good. He gives me a pat on the back before heading to his desk.
Back to work. I head outside to my vegetable garden and sit in the grass, letting the soil rejuvenate me.
This is the closest I can get to feeling alive again.
I lean my head back and let my mind clear.
“Meow!” The sound of a cat startles me out of my meditation. I look around and see it. A tiny, black kitten has made its way into the far side of my garden and is scratching in the dirt.
“No! Bad kitty, that’s not a litter box!” I tell it.
I walk over to the kitten and lean down, slowly placing a hand down by its nose so it can scent me. The kitten pays no attention, so I scoop it up and cradle it in the crook my elbow, like a baby.
“You’re a boy kitty, I see. Where did you come from?” Seeing cats around here is not typical. The cat doesn’t answer, just lays in my arm purring.
“Alex is going to love you,” I tell him. “You can help me keep pests out of my garden.” Judging by the size of his paws, he’s going to be a big cat when he grows up. I walk back to the house to show Alex the newest member of our family.
***
“Oh my god! That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! He just appeared in the garden?” Alex asks, and I nod. He scratches the kitten on the head. “You were meant to be ours I guess. Can we name him Shadow? Is that too on the nose?”
I shrug and look down at the kitten snoozing in my arms. “What do you think, little guy? Is that a good name? What about Hunter? I’m going to teach him how to guard my vegetables. Someone has to handle security around here.”
“Hunter. I love it. Welcome to the family, Hunter,” Alex says with a look of glee still on his face.