Chapter 11
HUNTER
I ride the elevator down, dreading this trip. But the sooner I find out if Isabella’s baby is mine, the better off I’ll be.
The doors open on the floor below mine. My breath catches in my throat as Dorothy comes into view.
We haven’t spoken since last night, even though she was fired this morning. Guilt has me paralyzed. I haven’t been able to bring myself to pick up the phone and call her to check in.
“Oh. Hi, Hunter.” She hesitantly steps on with Jamison’s laptop case and duffle bag hanging from her shoulder.
Trey, one of her security team members, is by her side. I step aside to give them some room.
“Beauty, it’s good to see you.” My initial response is to lean in and kiss her, but I stop myself. “I’ve been thinking about you. How are you?”
“This morning sucked, but I’ll be okay.” She shuffles to the other side of the elevator and motions to my carry-on. “Are you going out of town?”
Not how I wanted to start a conversation with her.
“I am. It’s only a day trip, so I’ll be back tomorrow.”
She seems to force a smile. “That’s short.”
“Yeah. It’s not work related.” My rib cage tightens as the space between us grows heavy.
Dorothy’s smart, so I’m sure she’s put two and two together. She lowers her head and stares at the ground. Trey looks at something on his cell phone.
Honesty was working for us before, so I decide to be brave. “I’m going to California to do a paternity test.”
Her gaze comes to mine, full of questions. “I hope you get the results you want.”
“What I want is for us to work out the issues that have come between us.”
The doors open to the lobby. We stand frozen for a second, our eyes hooked together. Trey steps out first and scans the area.
She blinks and turns to leave. “Go to California. When you get back, we can talk.”
I follow her out of the elevator. “I’d like that very much.”
She glances at me as she strides toward the back parking lot with Trey leading. “Have a safe trip, Hunter.”
My stomach hollows out. She has a wall around her heart, and from what I’m reading from her, it’s going to be nearly impossible to break it down.
I can’t lose her.
“Dorothy, I’m going to get your job back, and I’m not giving up on us. I know you still love me.”
She stops mid-stride and takes a deep breath. A moment passes, and then she faces me with glossy eyes.
“Hunter, you need to focus on Isabella and the baby before you do anything else.”
“And what if the baby isn’t mine?”
Dorothy sighs and her shoulders relax a little. “I don’t know. Let’s take one step at a time.”
Hope springs in my chest. “Does that mean there’s still a chance for us to work past this? ”
There’s a pause.
“I’m sorry, but too much has happened.” She swallows and turns away. “Let’s talk when you get back.”
A void strips me to the core. “Calling it quits between us. Is it that easy for you?”
“Please, don’t do this. I don’t have it in me to talk right now.” She quickens her pace.
Every bone in my body wants to run after her and make her stay with me. She’s walking away and I’m losing her.
Panic hits as thoughts of my mother leaving me when I was ten pierce my brain. They only serve as a reminder that my mom is running the show and Dorothy is collateral damage.
She disappears through the doors leading to the back parking lot, and dread fills every crevice of my soul.
My dad’s house manager shows me into his study, where he’s hidden behind his computer, and announces my visit.
“Hunter. What do I owe the pleasure?” My dad stands and rounds his desk.
I stay near a chair. “I wanted to talk about Dorothy and how I go about getting her job back.”
“We need to discuss more than that.”
I nod, holding back my firing nerves. “I figured that much. Why don’t you ask me all you need to know and we’ll go from there?”
He looks me over like he’s trying to decide how much of his wrath I can handle. When he gestures for me to take a seat, I sit.
“Hunter.” He shakes his head and paces before me. “I have half the nerve to go hard on you for making me look like a complete idiot, but your demeanor tells me that won’t be good for you.”
“I’m not doing well, if that’s what you’re asking.”
He stops and peers down at me. “You’ve gotten yourself into a world of shit, Hunter. Start from the beginning and end with why you’re here on a Wednesday afternoon when you should be at work.”
“You already know that my mom is working behind the scenes to sabotage me. I’m sure she’s behind getting the pictures of Dorothy and me to the board.”
My dad narrows his eyes. “What makes you think that?”
“They’re the same pictures Ava showed me, and she told me point-blank that she got them from my mother.” Iron forms in my throat, making it difficult to breathe. I swallow and shift to release my anxiousness.
“Is Ava behind this?”
“I don’t think so. The thing I need to understand is why my mom is after me and anyone who’s involved with me. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
His gaze sweeps around my face. “Let’s take a walk and have this discussion outside. After we’re done, if you still want Dori to work at Efron Worldwide, I’ll consider helping you.”
My chest expands as hope rises in me, and the lump in my throat dislodges. I follow my dad out of his office and to his lush grounds. The sun is shining brightly, so the temperature is bearable.
He walks toward his orchard. “You’ve been asking to know more about Joan—your mother—for a while now. I think it’s time I share some things about her.”
I shove my hands into the pockets of my jacket. “Thanks. I would appreciate any information you have.”
“She’s not as bad as you think. Or at least, she wasn’t when she left us. ”
“I can’t think of anything that will make me believe that.”
“Understood, but she had her reasons for leaving.” He gazes out to the field before us. “She left to protect us.”
My eyes widen. “And how would she do that?”
“I’ve hesitated to tell you about this because of how it would reflect upon me, but I think it’s time.”
“It is, Dad. I need to understand what my mother’s motives for coming after me might be.”
He runs his hand over his chin. “When I bought the casino, there were things already in place from the seller. I made a deal with the devil, and now I think he’s here asking for his payment.”
“And just what was that?”
He faces me with trepidation. “I was able to buy the casino at the price I negotiated as long as I let a certain crime family launder their money through our company.”
My brows shoot up. “You what?”
“I wanted in and was young and dumb. If you think back on your life, you did the same thing when Ava came after you. Even the best men with good intentions can get caught up in dirty situations.”
“And what does that have to do with what I’m dealing with now?”
“That mob boss had his sights on your mother. She thought she was helping by talking with him.” My dad’s cynical laugh comes off like he should’ve known better. “She thought she could get him to let our business go legit.”
“Let me guess. She ended up falling for him, and that’s how we cleaned up the company.”
“She didn’t fall for him. She left us for him so he would pull out of our arrangement.” My dad tilts his head toward the greenhouse.
I stride in that direction. “So she got involved with him and he fell for her, then she agreed to leave you and marry him. Once that happened, he agreed to pull out of our casinos.”
“Exactly. She loved us enough to want the best for us.” He strides down the path lined with tall trees on either side.
I walk beside him. “I doubt that.”
“It’s true. For the first ten years, we stayed in touch. She always asked about you boys and promised to find a way back to us. She only left us because he said he’d leave us alone if she married him. The deal was done when he found another way to launder their money.”
“Are you saying she sacrificed herself for us?”
“That’s what I thought, but one day it all stopped. I couldn’t reach her. They had up and moved locations.”
“You would reach out to her? How would that work?”
“She had a mailbox under a fake name and a friend that helped her mail me letters. When I got the first one, I thought it was a trap, so I didn’t respond. Then one day, I was in Europe on business, and she showed up at my hotel room.”
“And?”
We reach the greenhouse and go inside. My dad meanders down an aisle that has tomato plants growing on both sides.
He stops and fiddles with the leaves on one of the plants. “We reunited.”
I’m an aisle over and peer at him. “From what I know about the mob, that was probably the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. You would’ve been killed if you two were discovered.”
“I know, but when you’re in love, you don’t make the best decisions. Just take your situation with Dori.”
“Which brings me to what I need to know. Why is my mother after me, and what reason would she have to want Dorothy dead?”
“You said your mother wanted you and Ava to have a baby by the time you turn thirty-five. My guess is when she figured out you weren’t going to play along with whatever plan she has, she went after Dori to get your attention.”
“Agreed. So how do I get her to back off?”
My dad stops fiddling with the plant and gives me a hard stare. “Play hardball and pull her out of her hiding place.”
I push out a fake laugh. “Bring my mobster mother out into the open? I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“I’d figure it out if I were you. If you don’t, you can kiss Dori’s job goodbye for good.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Your mother obviously has someone working with her on the inside. Any guess who that could be?” He starts down the aisle.
I follow him down my section. My stomach bottoms out when I put the pieces together. “I know who it is.”
“By the look on your face, this isn’t going to be good.”
“There’s a lot more to this than I’ve told you about.”
“I figured that out at the board meeting. If that day didn’t teach you a lesson, I’ll spell it out for you. If you don’t tell me everything, I won’t be any good to you.”
We get to the end of the lanes and join each other near a bench and waterfall feature.
“Isabella Carter is the one who sent the pictures to the board.” I shift my weight from side to side. “She’s claiming to be pregnant with my child.”
“Christ, Hunter. This is more convoluted than I originally thought.”
“Yeah, and I’m starting to get the correlation.”
“Which is?”
“I think my mom might know Isabella’s pregnant. It’s the only thing that makes sense. My mother wants a baby of mine, and Ava was supposed to deliver said child.”
I rub my tightening neck. “When Ava told her we weren’t playing her game anymore, Ava said my mom acted like it was no big deal. ”
“Because she knew Isabella was pregnant.” Dad sighs a dreaded breath. “Any idea how your mom found out about Isabella?”
“She had someone following me and taking pictures for months. I imagine they saw us together the night I took Isabella back to my place.”
“Then the baby is yours?”
“That’s why I’m not at work. I just got back from California. Isabella lives there, and I went to get a paternity test done.”
He nods and strolls back down an aisle. “When will you know?”
I follow him with a low level of anxiety bubbling in my blood. “Two weeks at the latest. I went out to ensure it was done right and sent to a reputable laboratory.”
“I guess we’ll wait and see how that turns out. In the meantime, tell me everything I need to know about Dori Fisher and Jamison Stone.”
“Before I tell you that, you need to understand she would never do anything to go against Efron Worldwide. She consistently prioritized her job over our relationship. She genuinely cares about our business.”
“Understood, but what does that have to do with her and Jamison?”
I pause for a moment but then figure I need to get the truth out into the open. He can’t help me if he doesn’t have all the facts.
My eyes dart away, an icy dread seizing me as I can’t bear to meet his intense stare. “She loves him.”
My dad shakes his head. “Just how much worse does this get?”
“On a scale of one to ten, it’s probably a solid ten.”
He stops and peers at me like my answer to his next question will determine how the rest of my life plays out. “Then tell me, how do you plan to fix this? ”
“That’s why I’m here. I need to figure out what she wants from me. If I don’t do that, I’m not sure how I get everyone involved with me out alive.”
“Meaning, Dori.”
My shoulders sag in hopelessness. “Yes. She seems to be the target right now. The problem is, none of this makes sense.”
“Why do you think Dori’s the target?”
“Right before Jamison was shot, Dorothy saw two red laser beams pointed at her heart. Jamison stepped in front of her to protect her. He saved her life.”
“Like I said before. You need to start playing on your mother’s level or else you won’t stand a chance.”
I glance down, taking a moment to come up with something to go on. As usual, I can’t make sense of it.
I study my dad. “What do you suggest I do? She works on a level beyond my comprehension. I don’t understand the rules anymore. I’m not sure I ever did.”
“There’s no way you would, but I’ve already told you what I think you should do.”
“But how do I do that?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose while he takes a pause. “Have you talked with Ava? She’s had the most contact with your mother.”
“Not yet. She’s next on the list.”
“Start there and see if something comes to mind. I’m willing to help you, Hunter, but we need to be cautious. Obviously, something happened years back that changed your mother.”
“There’s no doubt about that.” I gesture to the door. “Let’s go back inside and try to piece it together.”
“That’s a good place to start. My theory is twofold. She’s either trying to make her way back into your life like she always said she would, or there’s something huge at stake. ”
We start back toward the house. “What’s your educated guess?”
He waits a bit too long. “Whatever it is, it’s going to be life-changing.”
With that proclamation, I can’t help but feel like I’m in a no-win situation. I just don’t know how many people my mother’s willing to take down to get what she wants. And with that, I know I’m fucked.