Chapter 50
Is it true that your brother’s girlfriend is a hooker?!
Message from Charles Eddington to Ethan
Henry
“Was that a threat?” my dad asked.
I twisted my lips into a grim smile. “No. A promise.”
We stood face-to-face in my office, neither of us backing down.
The air between us was electric. It took every last bit of my willpower to not punch my dad in the face.
He seemed to be practically begging me to do it, but I wouldn’t stoop to his level.
Besides, it wasn’t really his face that I wanted to smash—it was Randell’s.
There weren’t many things in life I truly regretted, but not calling the police that day at the cemetery was one of them.
“Calm down,” Vivian said, pacing nervously. She had burst into my office unannounced this morning, interrupting a phone call to show me the interview. “This bickering isn’t getting us anywhere.”
“What do you suggest, Viv?” my dad asked.
Viv? I raised my eyebrows. That was new.
“That we all take a deep breath.” She inhaled demonstratively.
I followed her lead and stepped back from my dad, though I kept my eyes fixed on him. He didn’t have to love Kate, but in my presence, he had to respect her.
“Why didn’t you tell me she’s a prostitute?” Vivian asked once everyone had calmed down a little. She had stopped pacing and was scrutinising me reproachfully. “It’s my job to keep these kinds of scandalous details out of the public eye. But I can only do my job if you talk to me.”
I clenched my teeth. “Kate isn’t a sex worker.”
Vivian’s eyebrows shot up. “So this Randell guy was lying?”
“Partially.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” my dad growled. “That she’s only half a whore?”
“Richard!” Vivian warned sharply, and for the first time, I thought I might actually like her. She sighed in frustration and rubbed her forehead, as if plagued by the same pounding headache I was. “Tell me how things started between you and Kate, so I know what I’m dealing with.”
I had little desire to analyse my love life with Vivian and my dad, but I also didn’t want to start another fight.
I just wished they could see Kate through my eyes and not through Randell’s lecherous perspective.
“We met in St. James’s Park. She was homeless at the time.
I wanted to help her, so we went to get something to eat,” I said.
I left out the bit about the stolen phone.
It wasn’t important, and it would only give my dad even more reason to dislike Kate.
“We got on really well. I liked her from the beginning, but after that meal, we went our separate ways—until that bad storm.”
Vivian nodded, as if she remembered it.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of her being alone out there, and I was afraid something would happen to her, so I went to the park and brought her back here.
It wasn’t my plan for her to stay at the hotel long-term.
But we talked, and after everything she said, I couldn’t, in good conscience, send her back onto the streets. So I gave her a room and a job.”
“Did you pay her for sex?” my dad asked, his nose wrinkling in disdain.
I almost laughed. How could it be that the concept of sex work disgusted him more than the idea of forcing himself on a woman? If he had only chosen to go to a sex worker back then instead, we’d have far fewer problems today.
I walked over to the drinks cart. Though it was still early, I poured myself two fingers of whisky.
“Like I just said, Kate isn’t a sex worker.
She used to pick pockets—that part is true.
But she doesn’t steal anymore, not since she started working for The Darlington.
” I sat down at my desk, wanting to create a barrier between my dad and me, and undid the top button of my jacket.
“Regardless, I like Kate, and I’m not going to abandon her. So save your breath.”
Vivian sighed again, this time with resignation. “Henry, I don’t know Kate, and I’m sure she’s a wonderful woman, but this isn’t the best time for this kind of drama. You should really think about whether she’s worth all this.”
“She is. A hundred times over,” I replied without hesitating.
My dad shook his head in disbelief and started pacing the room, just as Vivian had done earlier. “Are you aware that you’re putting the hotel, our reputation, and your own future on the line for sex?”
I took a sip of my whisky, and it burnt my throat like fire. “No, Dad. You put those things on the line for sex. Nonconsensual sex, to be precise. I’m putting them on the line for love.”
My dad swore.
Vivian’s eyes widened. “You love her?”
“Maybe,” I admitted. Kate was the first woman in a very long time who had made me even consider the word.
“All the more reason to let her go,” my dad retorted. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to that girl? She was anonymous. A nobody. And now she’s being dragged through the mud for the whole world to see. Because of you.”
“That’s why I want the injunction.”
“I’ll handle it,” Vivian said to my surprise, a newfound determination in her voice. “It’ll probably take a few days, but I’ve got good contacts at the INsider. I might be able to convince them to take Randell’s interview offline, but it’s going to be expensive.”
Finally, a good suggestion. I nodded. “I don’t care how much it is. I’ll pay.”
She nodded. “OK. I’ll get to work.”
“Thank you, Vivian,” I said. And I meant it.
She smiled and left my office, her phone already in her hand.
My dad stayed and stood in front of my desk with his hands shoved into his trouser pockets.
He stared at me as if he could change my mind through the sheer power of his authoritative presence.
It might work on others, but he couldn’t intimidate me anymore.
As a child, I had respected him, finding him imposing in his expensive suit. Today, that respect was long gone.
I met his gaze defiantly and raised a weary eyebrow. “Is there anything else you want to say?”
“It was a mistake to let you run The Darlington. I should have trusted my gut feeling instead of letting Vivian and the others talk me into it. I knew you weren’t ready for it.”
I stared at him incredulously. “Are you saying it’s my fault that the hotel is doing badly?”
His nostrils flared. “Who else’s fault would it be? I trusted you with The Darlington, and you’ve run it into the ground in just a couple of months. We’ll have to close at the end of next year if you don’t get your act together.”
He had to be joking. “If I don’t get my act together?”
“You’re not at university anymore, Henry. This isn’t a game, or some project for one of your classes. This is your life. Your legacy. And you should take that seriously instead of wasting your time with some homeless woman who’s beneath you.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I’m serious. Do you see me laughing?
” my dad demanded. It would be more fitting if his blue eyes were black, like his soul—there was no understanding or kindness in them, only pure contempt.
They fixed themselves on me icily. “You’re gallivanting around with that woman while the hotel goes under, letting her take advantage of you at every turn.
You’re just a means to an end to her—a way to get money. ”
My hands clenched into fists. “No, Dad. You’re the one using me.
You’re taking advantage of my passion, expertise, and love for this hotel to fix what you screwed up.
And what do I get in return? Nothing! Absolutely nothing.
Not even a thank-you. Only criticism and accusations, because the world refuses to buy your lies. ”
My dad tensed his jaw, and the vein on his forehead bulged like a third eye glaring at me. “Watch your mouth.”
“I’m just speaking the truth. The Darlington wouldn’t be in this mess if you’d kept your dick in your pants.
Or at least had the decency to only sleep with women who wanted you, instead of forcing yourself on ones who didn’t—like the perverted old man you are.
How you can look at yourself in the mirror every morning knowing what you’ve done is beyond me. ”
“You can’t talk to me like that!” my dad snapped, spit flying through the air.
I grimaced in disgust and rose smoothly from my chair.
Planting my hands on my desk, I fixed my dad with a glare.
“I can, and I just did. I’m so sick of acting like you’re not the biggest pile of shit around here.
Kate just did what she had to do to survive.
You, on the other hand, did what you’d always wanted to do, with no regard for the consequences or for anyone else.
I’m done keeping quiet about it,” I said resolutely, my frustration ringing in my ears.
“I won’t let you and Mum sabotage my relationship with Kate.
So either you get your act together and have my back, or you get lost and stop wasting my time. I have work to do.”
I adjusted my jacket demonstratively, sat back down, and opened my laptop. I felt the intensity of my dad’s glare but ignored it, knowing how much it would infuriate him. Several seconds passed before he turned to leave. His footsteps receded, only to stop once more.
“I hope you don’t end up regretting this,” he said, then shut the door behind him.
I exhaled loudly, leaned back in my chair, and closed my laptop again—opening it had just been a ploy to get him to leave.
Ever since Vivian had stormed into my office this morning, I hadn’t had a single moment alone to gather my thoughts—most of them about Kate.
Had she already seen the interview? Or was she still sleeping?
She had been in bed when I’d left for the office.
Part of me wished I could keep the interview from her.
She shouldn’t have to hear what Randell was saying about her, even if it was untrue.
He wasn’t talking about the real Kate, but a version of her that she had been forced to become—both by life and by Randell himself, leaving her with no choice.
It wasn’t fair to throw that in her face now.
I speed-dialled Rakesh. The poor guy had just as little time off as I did these days. He answered after the first ring, as if he’d been waiting for my call.
“Hi, Henry. What can I do for you?” He sounded tense.
“I assume you’ve seen the interview.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what it means?”
“More paparazzi.”
“More paparazzi,” I echoed. “Hire more security. I want every entrance monitored around the clock. No more press entering the hotel unauthorised. And make sure that our guests can come and go without being harassed. Make our chauffeur service available to them free of charge for the next few days.”
I could hear the faint sound of Rakesh taking notes. “Will do.”
“Thanks. That’s all for now.”
Rakesh said goodbye, and I ended the call.
My head was spinning, and although I’d slept well—as I always did with Kate beside me—I was exhausted. Not just from this morning, but from the past few months, which had completely shattered my nerves. I had no idea how to piece them back together, but now was not the time to dwell on that.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little box. I washed down a pill with the remaining whisky in my glass. Just then, my phone vibrated—a message from Giulia.
Kate was in her office.