Chapter 30 Aston
My fingers trace the rim of the glass, slowly gliding against the smooth edge, and I eye the amber liquid with a desperate thirst.
Madelina is still in Cinnamon Springs but apparently drove to see Billie, whose mother passed the night before. The moment Madelina informed me of this news, I desperately wanted to reach out to Everleigh.
But my own pain is too much.
And I’m drowning in this dark abyss, unable to pull myself out.
We ended up on my yacht, away from the small town that is wreaking havoc on everyone’s lives right now, and from my penthouse, which is technically owned by the Beaumont Group.
My mother sits beside me on the deck. Her silence speaks a thousand words as we both stare out into the bay, trying to come to terms with what happened.
All we see is darkness.
And hope that the sun will eventually rise.
I fall asleep on the deck, alone and surrounded by bottles of bourbon.
The sun eventually rises, but it retreats behind dark clouds and threatens an unpredictable storm.
It is a new day, but to my mother, it’s her first day of freedom.
She continues to remain silent, almost as if the shock of walking away from my father has frightened her. At first I worried she would find an excuse to go back, but then I realized my strength was what she used to stand on her own two feet.
As another day passes, and the dark night falls upon us again, she finally releases a sigh as we both sit on the deck with our legs dangling off the side. Our silence over the last few days has spoken volumes, but now we need to talk.
“When I first met Harvey, he was charismatic and incredibly loving,” she says out of nowhere, forcing me to pay attention.
“I thought to myself, I’ve found the perfect gentleman .
So very handsome and romantic.” A small smile graces her lips as if it happened only yesterday.
She takes a breath and then follows with, “Then, the FBI reopened the death of his brother.”
As kids, me and my sister begged my father for a pool, only for him to demand we drop the subject. Then, we found out through the town librarian, Mrs. Glimore, that my father’s twin brother drowned at five years old, leaving my father the only child of my now-deceased grandparents.
I still remember Madelina asking our father what happened and him refusing to answer. Instead, he went on an all-night bender only to come home drunk and fight with our mother. Something smashed in the middle of the night during their argument, and we knew never to bring that subject up again.
I bring the glass to my lips, tasting the bourbon and allowing it to slide down my throat with ease. It no longer burns.
“People spread nasty rumors,” she admits with sadness. “But an old neighbor came forward and said he saw it all with his own eyes—they were playing, and it was all innocent. By then, it was too late. The memories of losing his brother changed him forever.”
She presses her lips together, lost in thought. Slowly, she continues, “I tried my best to help him, but he turned into this cold man, and that’s when I met your father.”
A pain smacks the back of my throat as I croak, “Who is he?”
Mom exhales, drinking the bourbon in one go, something I’ve never seen her do.
Usually, she’s all about wine or champagne.
As I observe her briefly, even her appearance has changed.
Normally, she is poised and well put together.
I’ve never seen her with her hair in a messy bun, and wearing sweats, of all things.
Granted, they’re massive and belong to me, but still.
“Sawyer King,” she states simply, with a yearning gaze. “He owned the ranch where I would ride horses to get away from it all.”
A heaviness rests on my shoulders, forcing my body to slump. “Where is he now?”
She shrugs. “We lost contact a long time ago. Your father—sorry, I mean Harvey—made sure of that.”
There are so many questions, but my mind is still reeling from the fact Harvey is not my father.
All along, he treated me as if he had something to prove, and I was nothing but a pawn in his game.
As I look back, there were signs. Every so often, he’d make a dig, but I brushed it off as his sick and twisted humor.
“I don’t understand why Harvey pretended to be my father,” I say out loud, my tone raspy from the strong liquor.
“He didn’t want his reputation ruined. It was easier for him to pretend than for everyone to learn his wife had an affair.”
It’s all so fucked-up.
I rub my face in my hands, unsure what to do from here. Everything has changed, and my entire existence is one giant blur.
“But all these years, you paid the price, Mom.”
“For you, Aston.” She reaches to touch my cheek. “Always for you.”
I place my hand on hers, then squeeze it tight. “So, now what?”
“There’s a lot I need to sort out, Aston,” she mentions softly.
“But I’m here for you. I’m sorry it felt like I took his side all those years.
I thought I was protecting you by saying nothing and following his instructions.
I was facing my own demons, trying to escape, only to find myself addicted to pills.
These wellness retreats weren’t retreats, they’re rehab centers. ”
My chest caves, knowing that all along, my mother was in so much pain she jeopardized her own life.
“You’ve sacrificed enough,” I tell her, then state firmly, “You need to be happy.”
Her arms wrap around me, pulling me into a much-needed embrace. I’ve heard there is no greater love for a son than from a mother, and at this moment, I know she gave up everything for me. That is unconditional love.
“And what about Everleigh? You love her?”
I ache at the mention of her name. For the last day, I’ve buried my emotions and hated myself for the cowardly act of not fighting for what we had.
The wound is wide open and exposed to severe pain. Instead of screaming, telling the whole world just how miserable I am, the pain cripples me. Forcing me into a cone of silence where my tortured thoughts imprison me.
And for now, I can’t fix us, not when I am drowning without a life jacket.
But then, a raw emotion consumes me when I realize…
“I think I always have.”
My eyes divert toward the glass table beside me, where a large pile of papers sits with a note on top.
Contracts. Everything that still ties me to the Beaumont Group.
I reach for the yellow note, bringing it closer to read as my eyes are blurry and unfocused from the bottle of whiskey I drank earlier this evening.
Three nights in a row of drowning myself in my sorrows.
Avoiding everything to figure out who the hell I am.
Madelina checked in briefly. She opted to stay in a secluded Airbnb farther upstate until Billie’s mom’s funeral later in the week.
It feels like a world away, but my sister deserves this break. I’m aware her failed wedding made news headlines in Cinnamon Springs, only adding fuel to an already burning fire. A bunch of bored reporters looking to bank on people’s misfortunes.
As for me, I’ve barely managed to pick up the broken pieces of my existence, staring outside the shell of my body like a stranger.
This vicious cycle I find myself in spiraled out of control.
It’s been days since I slept, days since I showered, and the beard is a reminder of how unbothered I’ve become.
The only ray of hope is when Everleigh sends me a text.
Everleigh
I’m here as a friend if you need me. You’re not alone, Aston.
But I am alone.
She isn’t in my arms, all because I fucked up and allowed Harvey to ruin what I deserved. The pain of it all only forces me to drink myself into a more profound stupor, miserable as I struggle to climb out.
So I don’t respond.
The Aston Beaumont she supposedly fell in love with doesn’t exist anymore.
And until I find myself, I am worthless to everyone.
My eyes strain to see the sun peeking through the drapes. As I glance around the room, it takes me a few minutes to realize I’m in my penthouse.
I don’t even know how I got here.
Beside me on the bed, there are multiple empty bottles of liquor. I twist my body in an attempt to sit up, but my muscles ache, and a shooting pain stabs my hand. Slowly, I raise it, only to see a bandage wrapped around it and blood seeping through.
There’s glass smashed on the floor and a liquid stain running down the wall. And with no recollection of last night, the truth becomes increasingly clear.
This is not the man I am.
Harvey Beaumont may have raised me, but if there’s only one thing of value he has taught me, it’s to always make your opponent believe you hold the better hand.
I take my first shower in days but trim the beard instead of removing it entirely. With the glass cleaned up and the empty bottles tossed in the trash, I choose to wear my best outfit—my Zegna suit, which was custom made for me in Italy.
I am on a mission.
And that mission begins inside the boardroom.
My moment of confidence is shadowed by the lawsuits Harvey has insisted on throwing at me. I know it’s a punishment for Mom leaving him, which is why I hired the best attorneys to fight him. The games have only just begun.
Inside the boardroom, there is a team of six attorneys, all belonging to Lexed Enterprises, which is Lex Edwards’s corporation. He called me after hearing of the lawsuits, then offered me his team without even asking what the hell happened.
Lex and Will sit with me in the meeting, since they are both stakeholders and part of existing deals. Lex makes my father look even more pathetic, and for that, I’m grateful.
Across from us, the monster has graced us with his presence.
And his lawyer begins firing away with just how ruined I supposedly am.
Lies, all of them to protect his reputation.
My nostrils flare, angered by the deceit this man has conjured up to salvage his ego.
The temperature inside this room suddenly becomes unbearable as the four walls begin to close in, trapping me in this fucking nightmare.
But then, he mentions all the land Harvey lost because I didn’t sign the contracts, and I remember the abandoned house that sat on that very land. It was the night of the bachelor party when Roland urged me to stand up for what I believed in.
The night I allowed myself to fall in love with Everleigh.
To my father, it was a house on a piece of land he planned to destroy to make him more money.
To me, it was the house the woman I love dreamed of making hers.
A piece of land, which became a piece of us .
I hear her voice urging me to fight. Encouraging me to stand up and own my life because it belongs to me and only me.
Lex leans over to whisper, “I have your back, son. You know what you need to do.”
People will call me a fool for going up against the man who deals all the cards.
But the only fool is the one who doesn’t fight for everyone he loves.
And doesn’t know his own worth.
“There is only one thing I will tell you…” I say, straightening my shoulders and staring into Harvey’s cold eyes. “Game over, Beaumont. I win, you lose.”