Chapter Fifteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Mal didn’t want to walk into the conference
room. He could see Andrea from where he was and she was talking to someone,
tears rolling down her cheeks. She would be telling whoever it was a pitiful
story about how he didn’t understand that sometimes people made mistakes and he
needed to take more responsibility because he was Bryce’s brother. These were
good people. Kind people. They might look at him differently. Not Damon or
Ollie or his team, but he didn’t tell his story to everyone. He was private.
How would Vivian’s parents handle this? Why was he even
asking that question? Alex and Eve McKay would never be in this position. Who
the hell was she talking to? Not Damon. He knew where Damon was. Ollie was
still with the terrible twosome.
“Hey, buddy,” a deep voice said. “That the ex?”
Great. Ian Taggart was here to witness this fucking mess,
and he was holding two drinks. Well, at least she wasn’t talking to him. “Yes.
That’s my ex-wife. I don’t know why she’s here. I’ll take her out of the
building and talk to her somewhere else. I don’t want the drama she can
invent.”
Taggart huffed. “Oh, I think that would be a mistake.
Listen, we’ve all been in a place where we slept with someone we shouldn’t have
and then the wife finds out and she’s pissed even though she was dead at the
time.”
He was confused. “What?”
Taggart brushed that off. “Long story. Anyway, what I’m
trying to say is how will it look to Vivi if you walk out of here with the ex?”
His gut tightened. This was proof that his past could haunt
them forever. “I’m trying to show her that I will not allow Andrea to touch
her.”
But she could. She always would be able to unless he wrote
his nephews off. Even then she could find a million ways to try to come between
them. It was one of the reasons he never really dated. Despite the fact that
Andrea had never honestly wanted him, she didn’t want anyone else to have him.
“Dude, are you going to grow a tail or should I find one to
pin on you?”
Sometimes he understood why William ran. “You speak a
different language. I know you’re insulting me, but I can’t figure out how.”
“You need pop culture reference training. I’ll schedule some
for you,” Taggart explained. “You are turning into Eeyore right in front of me
and you aren’t even in the room with her yet. You’ve already decided to blow up
your relationship because that’s what’s going to happen if you walk out of here
with her. Or take her up to your flat. Let Vivi handle her.”
The thought made his stomach clench. “Absolutely not. I
wouldn’t allow Vivian in the room with that viper.”
Taggart laughed like this was all an amusing incident. “Oh,
she can’t handle Vivi. See, her parents make out like she’s some delicate
flower. She’s not. She’s tough and she’s made herself tougher here. She’s doing
a great job and now she can take out your trash. Just be prepared for the
lawsuit. It’s cool. We’ve got a guy on retainer. He literally is around to do
nothing but handle the lawsuits that come up when our women get angry.”
He was about to ask a million questions when Andrea
straightened up and her jaw dropped and then her expression went from wounded
doe to harpy in half a second. She screamed something, her fists clenched.
Who the hell was she talking to?
“Damn it.” Taggart frowned like he was deeply disappointed.
“I told him I wanted to be there when he dropped the big bomb. Impatient
asshole.”
Mal had zero idea what was really going on, but it was bad.
He rushed to the door and walked in and realized it was worse than he thought.
Alexander McKay sat at the end of the table and while Andrea’s face was
contorted and red, Vivian’s father was cool and collected.
“Dude, I told you to wait for me.” Taggart marched in and
sat down, handing McKay one of the drinks in his hands.
McKay looked to his friend with a shake of his head. “Yeah,
she’s awful. Way worse than she is on paper, and she’s terrible there. I
couldn’t pretend to make small talk. Also, I’m improvising here.”
“What the hell is happening?” Mal managed to not scream the
question.
Andrea looked to him. “Who are these people you set on me?
Malcolm, don’t think you can get out of your responsibilities so easy. That man
can do nothing to me.”
Easy? Had he ever had it easy?
Except when Vivian was around. Which she wouldn’t be if she
realized how bad the problem was. He had to keep her out of this. “We should go
somewhere and talk.”
Alex whistled. “That is a bad idea.”
“I told him.” Taggart sat next to Alex, watching like this
was all pure entertainment.
Alex sat up. “I’m going to give you some real advice, Mal.
You need to wait for Vivi to handle this.”
“Who the hell is Vivi?” Andrea asked, her eyes flashing
fire. This was the part almost no one else ever saw. She played the sweet,
innocent, always caring wife, and her mean side only came out when no one was
looking. Except for today.
“Vivian McKay. My daughter.” Alex pointed Mal’s way. “His
girlfriend and submissive. Though you shouldn’t let that second part fool you.
See, it makes them sound all soft and sweet and then they kick your ass and
flay you alive.”
“I told him that, too.” Taggart pulled out a metal tin Mal
recognized. Candy. He noticed it was yellow when Taggart popped it in his
mouth. “I figure he’s only got to wait a couple of minutes. I saw Penny walking
toward Lucy’s office. She’ll tell Vivi.”
He was going to have to ignore the audience. He looked to
Andrea. She was thinner than he remembered, dark circles under her eyes. He
felt zero sympathy for her. “What do you want?”
She hesitated, her eyes glancing toward the other men before
she obviously found her courage again. Or her arrogance. She took a long breath
and her expression softened. She moved closer to him, and everything about her
stance and expression said protect me. It worked on him at one time.
Now all that mattered was protecting Vivian. “Mal, I’m sorry. That man is being
incredibly rude. I was unaware you had a girlfriend.”
She wasn’t the one who needed protection.
“Did you see how fast her eyes went all doe-like?” Taggart
whispered the question at a volume that was definitely meant to be heard.
“Let’s see if he falls for it. He might need even more
training than Ben,” Alex said.
He turned their way. “I know she’s acting, but honestly, I
would rather deal with her like this than have her screaming and causing a
scene.”
“Acting?” Andrea managed a tear. “How can you say that? You
know me better than anyone.”
He rolled his eyes. It was painfully clear he wasn’t getting
out of this without some serious humiliation. “We should go somewhere private.”
She nodded and reached for his hand. “Yes, that would be
best. We have a lot to talk about. You know you can’t bring strange women
around the boys.”
“Bad idea.” Cooper McKay strode in with a couple of bags of
chips. “My sister is not going to take that well.”
Frustration threatened to overtake him. “Can’t you see I’m
trying to save your sister?”
Cooper passed out the chips and sat down like he belonged
there. “From what? From her?” He chuckled. “I assure you Vivian can handle her.
Is she like a trained fighter?”
Andrea stepped behind Mal like he would save her. “Fight?
Why would I fight? What have you gotten into, Malcolm?”
He sighed. “A bloody barbarian horde.”
Taggart gave him a thumbs-up.
“Mal, calm down. We’re going to handle this for you. It’s
been pointed out to me that I was an ass yesterday. Consider this my apology
and a welcome to the family gift,” Alex said.
He didn’t understand a bloody thing.
“Mal, let’s go. I don’t like these new people,” Andrea
whispered. “They lie about everything. I thought this was a good-paying job,
but now I wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
Ah, so the new job was what had spurred her actions. He
wondered how she’d found out, but he still kept up with enough people from his
hometown that it had likely been talked about at the pub.
“Ask her where the kids are,” Alex ordered.
He felt her stiffen behind him and turned. He didn’t know
Alex McKay but he trusted the man more than he trusted her. “Where are the
boys?”
He assumed they were with his mum. She often watched the
boys for brief periods of time. Grudgingly.
Tears streaked down her cheeks. “I recently reconciled with
my mum. She’s watching them so I could come talk to you. We’ve made mistakes,
but I think we should try again.”
She went on talking about how Bryce had tricked her and it
was always Mal she loved, but all her words were nothing but noise to him. She
was obviously in trouble, and he’d been willing to pay up before. However, he
did want some clarification. He had never once met her mother, but he’d heard
the sad stories. “Your mum? The one who beat you?”
“She’s better now,” Andrea said with a trembling voice.
“She’s been to therapy and knows what she did was wrong. She apologized for all
the beatings. She was a drunk but she’s sober now. She went through rehab, and
I want to give her a second chance.”
“She was never beaten and her mother isn’t an alcoholic.
Your ex-wife never went no-contact with her mother,” Alex stated. “I have phone
records. She’s called her mother at least three times a week for the past five
years, and I also managed to access her mother’s socials.”
“My mum keeps those pages private,” Andrea protested.
Alex nodded. “I know. That’s why I needed an invite. Turns
out I love knitting and needed a friend.”
“I don’t understand. When you first met me, you told me you
had no family. That your father was dead and your mother was intensely abusive,
and she kicked you out of the house with nothing.” It was one of the reasons
he’d felt for her. She’d been gentle and seemingly sweet, though he now knew
what sweetness really was and it didn’t involve being completely dependent. And
she was a liar. He knew that. He hadn’t known how far the lies went.
“Her father didn’t die. He’s a mechanic in Manchester,
though he and her mother are divorced.” Taggart took up this part of the
explanation.
“What did you do?” Mal asked.