Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
CALEB
I’m jittery when I take my first-class seat on the plane. I can’t believe I am here, doing this. I neck two double rums to try to knock myself out even before we take off. When the hostess comes to check on me, I ask her to let the team know that I’d like to be left alone for the entire flight. I just want it to be over. I’d rushed through the airport with no luggage to check, and only just made it.
Melissa had been persistent for the entire time she gave me to make my mind up. She spent most of it texting daily with Gustaf titbits and teasing me with information that might incriminate Dominic. I should have listened to MsPat and thrown the burner away, but I’m a weak idiot and have no idea what good advice is when I hear it.
I’ve spent the last two weeks, with Jasper’s help, looking for anything on Dominic. Now that he’s reignited his friendship with Ariella, I’ve made him swear repeatedly not to breathe a word. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t find anything.
Today is the fourteenth day of the tortuous two weeks that Melissa set. Time is up. I woke up to a voice note from a tired Ariella telling me that she’d had a lovely day trying ‘Mums with bumps’ yoga and met Em afterwards for cake and a hot chocolate by the river. She then ended what started as a wholesome voice note with a filthy memory and a naughty giggle. Arrrgghhh. I need to get home.
Melissa’s first text came through before I woke up.
Well?
If I do this, it will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Haha. I wasn’t that terrible in bed was I?
No, and if you were, I wouldn’t have cared, because for a very long time you were everything I wanted.
Why didn’t you say anything?
I did. You threatened to turn me into your house husband and said my work was boring.
I’m sending you a first-class ticket. Let’s talk. Really talk.
Within ten minutes, the ticket to Brunei is in my inbox and Melissa has texted me.
Come.
I stare at the ticket and decide to bite the bullet.
Melissa, I’m sorry for all the things that happened to you. You didn’t deserve them. If Gustaf makes you happy, hold on to him. We all have our limitations, and believe it or not, MsMelissa Chang, you have fewer than most. Use your freedom. Stay safe. I can’t come to Brunei. I will find another way.
I take the sim out of the burner phone, snap it and toss the phone in the bin. I then open my email, delete the ticket and empty my mailbox’s bin.
When Honey arrives for training, I can barely stand. Just like that, the cage is shut. We don’t train that morning. We just sit together on the floor as she holds me. Just as training time is about to be over, my phone buzzes. It’s a message from an unrecognised number with another ticket attached. It’s Melissa.
Don’t ask me for anything, ever again, Caleb Black. You may have been the first man I slept with but I won’t be in love with you for ever. Your flight leaves in four hours. Be on it before I land at my next destination and change my mind. I will deal with Dominic. You win.
‘Caleb?’ Honey pokes me awake. ‘We’re about to land.’
‘Thanks for coming, Honey.’
‘I didn’t come for you. I miss my girl.’ She smiles shyly.
Both the girls are home when we show up unannounced. Lara seems to fly through the air to land on Honey. Ariella is so shocked, I just pick her up carefully, put her over my shoulder and head straight upstairs.
‘Hey!’ Lara calls, still attached to Honey. ‘Whatever disgusting things you’re about to get up to, just remember you’ve got fourteen heirloom tomato, fresh basil and caramelised onion quiches to make before tomorrow at noon!’
‘Okay!’ Ariella calls from over my shoulder. I wouldn’t be so sure. First we’re going to shower, then I’m going to make her pay for that filthy voice note. Repeatedly.
‘You made it back!’ Jasper laughs happily as he comes round from behind his desk to give me a rough hug and two pats on the back.
‘I did. Just. I needed a week to get over the trauma.’
‘You going to tell me how you did that?’
‘Over lunch at the pub if you have time?’
‘As long as Sophia doesn’t go into labour, I’ve got the time, but we need to talk first.’
Jasper returns to his seat and points to the one in front of him, so I take it.
‘If we don’t do something about your finances, you’re going to have problems.’
‘Tell me.’
‘You can’t sustain four properties, especially now that you’re not working. You’ve got the flat, the house and the gyms. I assume you’re going to tell Ariella that the house is yours at some point?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then I assume you’ll stop collecting her rental payments for the house. When you do, you’re going to have to lose something.’
‘I’d like to keep the gyms. Let’s sell the flat. Jack’s in it at the moment but it’s too big for him anyway.’
‘He doesn’t need to move out until we find a buyer, but I suggest he start looking. It will go quickly.’
‘No worries.’
‘That was easy. I’ll have it put on the market. Second problem. You need an income. The gyms are sustaining themselves but they won’t be able to provide for you too.’
‘I have a plan.’
I unlock my phone and email Jasper the business plan for the fight studio. He takes a couple of minutes to skim through.
‘Looks good, but it relies heavily on word of mouth, Honey and rotating fighting legends.’
‘I’m going to start with the gym closest to us. We’ll run seasonal training with Honey and the other fighters. She and Lara are talking about splitting their time between locations, so I know that I can get her here for at least three months in a year. Also, Lara has managed to infiltrate every secret and public parents’ WhatsApp group within a five-mile radius and is setting herself up as some kind of mum and dad whisperer.’
‘How?’
‘No idea, but they all think that she’s a gay mum-to-be, expecting with her faceless partner. She’s been taking pictures with Ariella’s bump and cooing in the groups.’
‘She’s going to get found out.’
‘Of course she is, but she is giving incredible recommendations, vetting suppliers like MI5, protecting them from scammers, and has got all of them doing favours for each other. The good news is, she owes me a favour or two. So basically, murky beginnings, but honourable intentions, sort of.’
‘That’s Lara in a nutshell. Let me know if you need an investor. I think you might have a hit on your hands.’
After we have lunch in a nearby pub, I go straight to the gym and get to work. Time gets away from me and I stay there until late. By the time I get home, Aari is in bed, and I commit to not making a habit of working so late – I miss our evenings together. After I’ve showered I get in, curl over her and drape my hand over her belly. Just as my eyes begin to close, I feel the slightest bit of pressure against my wrist. My eyes fly open and I hold as still as I can. A short while later, the pressure disappears.