Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
HUNTER
Ice-cold and burning hot is how the blood’s running through my veins with the realization that everything’s coming to a catastrophic head.
Someone knocks on the door. Jamison’s probably not done with me, so I get up to answer it. I look through the peephole and my entire body turns to stone.
I swing the door open and Ava comes into view. “What did you come here for? To ask for more or to rub it in my face that you have another person behind you in your idiotic quest?”
“Hunter, that’s no way to treat a lady. Where are your manners? Didn’t your mommy teach you better?” Ava’s eyes shine with triumph.
Acid rises in my chest with her reference to my mom. “Considering you’re not a lady, I think my manners are right on point.”
She waves me off as if my words bounce right off her. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“I wasn’t planning on it. Say what you need to say and leave.” I hold the door tight in my hand so she can’t push by.
“No, no, Hunter. We have things to discuss in private. You know you want to, so let me in or I’ll go straight to the board with what I have in my bag.” She pats her Hermes bag like it's a precious child.
“You’ve done enough damage. What’s a little more?” I stand my ground even though it’s far from my best interests. But the last thing I want is her in my place. She may never leave if I let her in.
She waggles her finger in my face. “Don’t get sarcastic, dear. It’s not becoming. Now let me in or I’ll have no choice but to call my daddy and let him see these pictures. I promise you’ll want the first peek. It’s new information that I recently became aware of.”
Pictures?
Fresh news can only mean one thing: Ava knows everything about Dorothy, and my world falls into the abyss.
“This is your show, Ava. Please don’t make it long. I have a lot of work I need to do.” I widen the opening to my place and let the bitch in.
“I’m aware, so I’ll make this as quick as possible.” She pushes aside and walks straight toward the couch I purchased for Dorothy in front of the window.
There’s no way I’ll let Ava soil something good and intimate that Dorothy and I share.
“Not there, Ava. We’re not getting cozy. The kitchen will be just fine.”
“Very well. The lighting is better in there. She takes a swift detour and goes to the kitchen.
I roll my eyes and take a deep breath. I’ve already been in a boxing match with Jamison and now I’m back in the ring with a new opponent.
And everyone knows women play a hell of a lot dirtier than men. I have a feeling she’ll knock me out in the first round .
I move to the other side of the island and wait while Ava pretends to be searching through her bag.
“Oh, there they are.” She smiles like she found a lost lotto ticket.
Although she doesn’t need to win the lottery. She just needs me to fulfill some fucked-up promise I made when I was twenty years old.
“These may be of some interest to you.” She hands the stack of photos to me from across the counter.
My jaw tightens as my eyes cut her in half with an invisible sword. Ava’s one woman I wouldn’t care about if she ran out on me. I think I’d throw a party instead.
I flip through the images. The first one is of Dorothy and me getting onto my jet. I know right now I’m fucked.
My chest caves in and my stomach hollows. With each picture I flip through, my heart gets further hacked into pieces.
There are photos of us coming and going into each other’s places. Our clothes tell the story of how long we’ve been together. From Dorothy’s summer dresses to her jeans and sweaters, it is clear we’ve been dating for months.
The pictures are even time-stamped from early morning to late in the evening. Everything about them covers what the board would need to make a quick decision.
Dorothy would lose her job at the first glance. And just as I thought, Ava knocks me out with her first swing.
“I won’t bother asking where you got these.” I toss the stack on the counter. “If you’ve known all this time, why wait until now to confront me about them?”
“I didn’t know until recently. That party we were at when you were giving Colton Monroe a hard time for having an interest in Ms. Fisher was when I was first alerted to it.”
“How so?”
“After you denied it so ferociously, I knew there was something you were hiding.” Ava shakes her head like she’s bored.
“And you knew just where to go to get the information, didn’t you?” I leave the kitchen and go to the bar to retrieve my drink.
This next part of the discussion is the one that will kill me, so I’m hoping to be numb by the time it gets brought up.
Ava spins on the stool she’s sitting on. She hops off and struts toward me. “What are we having tonight?”
“I’m having scotch. You won’t be here long enough for a cocktail, so you’re having nothing.” I grab the bottle and pour.
She steps up to the edge of the bar area and scans the wine rack. “In that case, I’d like a cabernet sauvignon from Bordeaux. From my understanding, you just received a case not too long ago. I’m sure you didn’t drink it all. Be a gentleman and pour me a glass.”
I really hate this wench.
“I had a feeling that case came from you. How was France?” I leave the bar area and open the door to the walk-in wine cellar.
The door closes behind me as I look for the case that Ava’s talking about. My assistant was supposed to unpack it, so I’m not sure where she put it. It’s good for me because I’m taking my time in here so I don’t have to look at Ava.
There’s a box in the back corner of the cellar. I mosey to it and find the bottle Ava wants. For a tasteless bitch, she sure knows her wine. As I exit the cellar, I consider how I want to handle our meeting.
The newly presented betting chip is in play now, so everything’s different. I’m not sure I know the rules anymore.
My gut squeezes hard with that realization. I join Ava back in the bar area and go to open her bottle of the best wine France has to offer.
“Before you rudely walked away from me, I was about to tell you about my trip to France.” She glides onto a stool and neatly straightens her Valentino skirt.
I only know that’s the designer because the charges showed up on my credit card statement along with her trip expenses just last week. I laugh when I realize the bottle of wine I’m opening I paid for as well.
She cups her hands together and rests them on the counter as she glares my way. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because of my stupidity.” I shove the corkscrew into the cork of the bottle, envisioning it’s Ava’s head.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call you stupid. Slow, yes. Stupid, no.” She taps the counter with her pointy fingernails and dips her head to the bottle. “I’m getting thirsty. Can you hurry?”
“Anything for you, love.” Hateful sarcasm fills my words.
“Wonderful. It’s nice when we see things eye to eye. Now, would you like to hear about my trip to France or not?”
“Ava, I’ve learned my lesson in the past about brushing you off. Please, tell me about your trip, and don’t leave out any details.” I pop the cork out of the bottle and pour her a glass, wishing it was her blood that was making the wine red.
“You’re not going to run that through an aerator apparatus prior to serving such a delicate wine? Hunter, did your mother not teach you anything?” Ava leans over the bar, her ice-blue eyes freezing me with another mention of my mom.
“I haven’t seen her in twenty-four years, so I guess you can take it from there.” I slide Ava her glass.
She pushes the wine aside. “Then I’ll just have to let it breathe while we speak.”
“Can we get on with it?”
“I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing The Don this past trip, but he’s still being wonderful to your mother.”
Ava glances out the window. “Although he’s rarely around from your sweet mom’s account. That’s why this last visit was so needed. She’s getting lonely and waiting for her grandbaby.”
“It’s not going to happen, Ava. I was twenty years old and in a world of shit. I had one way out and took it. You know all this, and I’ve made everything right since then.”
“That you have, Hunter. But your thirty-fifth birthday is coming up and our agreement was that you give me an heir by the time your birthday rolls around.”
Ava moves her wine over and swirls it around. “By my account, we have four and a half months, so we need to square away the details. I was hoping for a Christmas announcement. It would make your mother so pleased.”
I glance at the betting marker on the counter and want to burn it with my eyes. “And that’s why she gave you the chip. It’s a sign she’s behind you on your stupid plan and the conception game is on.”
Ava stares at it for a moment. “It must mean that, but she didn’t explain. She supplied me with the pictures and gave me the chip. All she told me was you would recognize it and know it was from her.”
Interesting.
Ava reaches over and takes it in her hand. “It’s practically ancient. Why use something so laced with such a grim history attached to it?”
I know exactly why my nefarious mother would use such a thing. Not only does it signal that it’s in play and the clock’s ticking, but she’s on Ava’s side.
It also means if I don’t ante up, she’ll be showing up on my doorstep along with her mobster husband. Truthfully, I’m afraid to find out what they would want from me.
“It’s nothing but a marker, Ava. If she hasn’t shared what it means, I would leave it alone.” I swallow the complete loss of control I have. “She’s never shared with you her reasons or the history of how it all came about?”
“No. I’m sure she would if I asked, but we enjoy talking about the important things in life.” Ava takes a sip of her wine and wrinkles her nose after she swallows. “Not the best it could be, but good enough. Now, let’s get back to the specifics of our agreement.”
“By all means. It would be helpful to be reminded of all the constantly changing requirements you have.” I pour a little more scotch into my glass, move to the sitting area, and take a seat.
I’m going to need to be sitting after all these ground rules are laid out. They seem to change every time Ava comes back from visiting my mother.
Ava follows me into the room. “Good choice. This area is much more comfortable for a discussion that will weigh so heavily on us both. As you know, you’re to provide me with an heir by the time you're thirty-five.”
“I know that, but I don’t want kids. My mind is made up about it, so how do you propose we get through that? At this point, I don’t know how giving you one is going to improve my life.”
“Let me spell it out for you, Hunter. You and I were going to end up getting married after college. We would’ve had children by now, but you made a mess of it all when you got Helena pregnant.”
“Not this again.”
“We could’ve had it all. We were in love and on our way to a very happy life.” Ava sips her wine, and for the first time in years, I see the sadness in her eyes, the sadness of a lost life she still dreams of.
“Ava, you and I were never in love. We used each other on and off since high school. There was never going to be a future with you, so don’t change the reality of it all.”
“That’s your take on this situation, but it was never that way for me.”
I take a drink. “I’ve held up my end of the bargain for years. The world still sees us as the doomed on-and-off- again couple, so it won’t be devastating when we end it for good.”
“We agreed the last time we talked about this that you and I don’t have to be married like I originally hoped. It will kill my father, but in the end, I still get everything I want.”
“Like always, this is all about you.”
Ava hooks me with a glare, showing me she’s not fucking around. “The pregnancy has never been excluded. It’s the one thing your mother demands. I didn’t understand that clearly until this last visit, but that's her main desire.”
“Oh, Ava, don’t play me as an imbecile. The idea of this baby was your doing all along. There’s no way my mother was behind it. She walked out on her own sons to live a life with a kingpin mobster.”
“It was your mother’s idea,” Ava says through gritted teeth.
“Your logic isn’t adding up. And it’s starting to aggravate the fuck out of me.” I stand with my muscles tight and rigid.
Something in her eyes flashes with built-up hostility. The Ava I’ve known since she started blackmailing me in college cracks away and falls to the ground. The one who’s killing me with her eyes now is the Ava I knew before this predicament occurred.
She marches over to me and shoves her finger into my chest. “You need to hear me out. My trip to France wasn’t for my pleasure. I was summoned there by your lunatic mother. She hasn’t done that since Helena had Jack, so I knew it was serious.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you stay quiet, I’ll come clean with you about how this all came together over the years because I see now you don’t get it.”
“You’ve lost me. What are you saying?”
“This was never my idea. Do you think I want to be tied to you? The guy that’s made a fool out of me over and over. ”
Ava’s eyes spin with a lifetime of loathing. “Hell, no. It’s been humiliating, but your mom likes doing that to anyone who ruffles her feathers.”
“I’m not convinced that you didn’t come up with this scheme. You’ve been after me for as long as I can remember.”
“That’s not true. I want a man who loves me and to have a child with him. I thought eventually I could change your mother’s mind, but she’s just gotten worse over the years.”
My world spins and my heart rate speeds up. I’m so lost right now. I’m trying to hang on to any semblance of reality, but I don’t think there’s any hope in that.
“Again, Ava. What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.”
“I’ve been under your mother’s thumb all this time. Yes, it was a detail I hoped to keep from you because, at least before this, I had a shred of dignity. But now you’ve left me no choice. We’re running out of time.”
“What are you saying?”
“The woman who birthed you has her panties in a wad because she believes we’re toying with her intelligence.”
“You’ve always acted like she’s your friend. That makes me believe you’re part of this fucked up request.”
“Sure, I get along with her because it’s easier on me if I do, but she’s the one running the show. Not me. I’ve tried to hold her off from this crazy baby idea just as much as you have, but she’s not going for it.” There’s not a hint of deception in Ava’s eyes.
This really was my mother’s idea.
I jerk back and study Ava. The blood in my veins drains and leaves me empty.
All this time, I thought Ava found my mother to use her against me and to pay me back for Helena. Never in a million years did I think it was the other way around.
I sit bent over my legs and rest on my arms, staring at the floor. This is so much worse than I thought .
With this new awareness, I realize my mother’s in control. When I thought it was Ava, I had a fighting chance. With my mom, I’m more than fucked.
And now that she’s played the chip and shown me she’s aware of what Dorothy means to me, I’m about to witness some hideous outcome by my mother’s doing.
It’s the ultimate play and Dorothy’s life is in the direct path of the massacre that’s getting underway.