Chapter 2
Win
I looked around the dingy hallway with contempt. It led to the apartment where my niece was waiting. The walls and doors were paper thin. I could hear arguing, sex, and laughter filtering out of the different units. I frowned when I caught sight of a rat scurrying from one dark corner to the next. The man standing to my right stiffened, and I heard him swear.
I lifted my eyebrows and glanced at my long-time head of security. “I’m sure you stayed in worse conditions when you were in the military.”
The other man grunted and wiped the look of disgust off his face. “I did, Sir. I can’t imagine your niece running away from home and purposely coming to a place like this. It doesn’t make any sense.”
I grunted in agreement. Rocco Drach hadn’t lived a life of leisure before enlisting in the military. He was a man who worked hard for what he had and appreciated that he could now afford the finer things in life. I hired him to work for me the day I took over as the CEO of the family business, Halliday Inc. Aside from my younger brother, who was devastatingly no longer part of my life, I didn’t trust anyone more than the former military man. Rocco had been right next to me while I did my best to ensure Winnie was raised properly after my brother’s death. He was instrumental in helping me keep my mother’s machinations at bay where the young girl was involved. I had no doubt the intimidating bear of a man was genuinely puzzled at Winnie’s current conduct. She was usually a docile and well-behaved young lady. He had no idea how attached Winnie was to her aunt. No one could see the influence Channing Harvey had over my niece the way I did. The Halliday estate might be Winnie’s house, but Channing was her home. It didn’t matter what I gave the little girl, because whatever Channing offered her was always better.
“Even if it was a tent under a bridge somewhere, Winnie would want to be there if that’s where Channing was. This isn’t the first time Winnie’s tried to sneak away and see her aunt.” I gave the older man a look out of the corner of my eye. “Which is why your team is supposed to know where she is and who she’s with. Keeping my niece safe is your number one priority.”
It wasn’t normal for a thirteen-year-old to need a full security detail; there was nothing normal about your life when you were born a Halliday. I wouldn’t risk my niece’s life just because she had the same last name as me. I couldn’t protect my brother. The least I could do was make sure his daughter was never in danger. I promised as much when I was named her godfather. Winnie was all I had leftafter my favorite person passed. My little brother’s time was cut too short. I refused to let a repeat happen with his daughter.
When we reached the door to the apartment, I could hear raucous laughter and female voices. One was young and had a soft accent. The other was husky and full of character. Channing wasn’t a smoker, but her voice sounded like it was crafted by cigarettes and whiskey. It was easy to identify anywhere. As was the raspy laugh that followed something my niece said. I lifted my hand to knock on the door, but paused midway when I heard Winnie ask, “What did my mother like to do? I know Grandma won’t let me drop all my lessons, but maybe she’ll consider letting me do something I’m truly interested in if I ask the right way. I need to figure out what it is I might like. Right now, everything feels so pointless and boring.”
“Hmmm… your mom liked to paint, and she liked to dance. She liked to sing. She fronted a band for a short time before she met your dad. She liked a little bit of everything. I can’t think of one thing she stuck with for longer than a few months, though. She wanted to experience everything life had to offer.”
“Oh.” The disappointment was clear in Winnie’s voice. “My piano teacher always tells me I’m a natural, and that I have inherent talent. I thought you were going to say she played an instrument.”
Channing’s voice softened. “You must’ve gotten that from your dad. If I remember right, your dad played the piano and your Uncle Win played the violin when they were kids.”
“I can’t picture Uncle Win playing a violin. I feel like he was born wearing a suit and tie. All he cares about is work.” Winnie giggled, and I felt a bit of pressure in my chest.
I couldn’t recall the last time I heard my niece laugh. She was always somber and serious when we interacted. Channing’s warning that Winnie needed to be allowed a childhood scratched annoyingly at the back of my mind.
Even under the threat of death, I couldn’t and wouldn’t admit the lackadaisical woman might have a point.
I knocked on the door and waited impatiently for Channing to answer. Rocco swore again as another rat hustled down the hallway. He turned pale and gave me a helpless look. If I wasn’t so worried about my niece and frustrated by what was happening at home because of my mother, I would’ve teased him relentlessly. I’d witnessed Rocco face off against any number of opponents with ice in his veins and nerves of steel. I couldn’t believe a fuzzy little rodent was his undoing. He looked like he was seconds away from pulling a gun on the critter.
The door swung open, and I automatically looked down at Channing. She wasn’t a short woman. She wasn’t tall either. In fact, everything about her was in the middle of two extremes. She wasn’t heavy, but she wasn’t thin. She wasn’t loud, but no one would ever mistake her for being quiet. Channing wasn’t someone who took herself, or anyone else, too seriously. However, she was far from easygoing. I never claimed to know her very well, but I’d paid close attention to her since both she and her sister disrupted my regimented life when we were all kids. She might come across as ordinary. However, Channing was anything but. She could do what no Halliday ever could. Love. She loved effortlessly in a big, bold, unforgettable way.
The redhead looked at me in surprise, her gaze darting past me to watch Rocco. I usually traveled with more than a one-man security detail. The look on her face clearly showed that she didn’t think I would take her advice and come for Winnie on my own.
“Are you going to let me in?” I asked curtly. It was evident she didn’t want to permit me to enter.
Channing swished the end of her long ponytail over her shoulder and moved to the side. Her hair was strawberry blond, the same as Winnie’s. Her eyes were a hazel brown-blue-green combo, whereas my niece’s were a green and gold swirl. There were enough similarities; it was obvious Winnie took more after the Harvey side of the family than the Hallidays. The similarity irritated my mother to no end every time she looked at the young girl.
Channing waved a hand covered in silver rings toward the interior of the tiny apartment. My niece jumped to her feet when our gazes locked. She clasped her hands together nervously and darted her gaze between me and her aunt.
The apartment was cramped and old. But it was spotlessly clean. There were no signs of the furry visitors in the hallway. Thank goodness. The décor was bright and eclectic. The couch where Winnie had been sitting was an ungodly shade of lime green that would be offensive anywhere else. It felt oddly fitting in Channing’s home.
“I’m sorry I left and snuck away to the city. I didn’t mean to leave my phone on the train. I was going to call you once I found Aunt Channing’s store and ask if I could stay with her for a few days. I didn’t intend to make you worry.” Winnie gulped and tightened her hands into fists. “I wouldn’t have had to run away if you would let me see Aunt Channing when I asked.”
Channing and I exchanged a look. Her eyes were filled with accusation. My look in return was filled with dissatisfaction. I never denied that I purposely limited Winnie’s access to the woman I publicly deemed an unfit influence. The reasons to keep them apart were far too complex for a teenager to understand. They were so complicated I wasn’t certain I understood them half the time. At the core of the problem was the fact that nothing good, aside from Winnie, ever came from mixing the Harveys and the Hallidays together.
I hated it when my brother Archie fell in love with Channing’s older sister, Willow. I was beyond upset when he told me he got her pregnant and was planning to marry her despite our parents’ objections. It was a terrible idea from the jump. My mother would never let him have a moment’s peace if he defied her.
The Harveys were like a family from a nostalgic blue-collar sitcom. Each was a character in their own right. My family could never understand or be bothered with their issues. My parents were a union orchestrated between two powerful families. Love and happiness had no place between husband and wife. No one on my brother’s side of the situation would lower themselves by being sympathetic toward the young couple. What they did, instead, was try to buy Willow off and threaten the rest of her family to keep their daughter away from Archie. My mother was relentless in her quest to break up the two of them.
Unfortunately, Willow and Channing’s scumbag father took the money my mother offered and disappeared. A revelation that only came out after my brother returned home with his wife and daughter. There was no way my mother was going to let Willow forget the kind of horrible person her father was. She was ruthless with her criticism.
The Harveys had no place in the world of the Hallidays.
After Archie and Willow died in the fire, I assumed I would never have to deal with them again. Little did I know Winnie was going to be the string that tied us together for eternity. I vastly underestimated how desperately she was going to need a connection to her mother’s family — Channing, in particular.
“We can talk about visitation after we get home. It’s late, and you have school tomorrow. We need to leave as quickly as possible.” I glanced at Channing. She was frowning at me, but didn’t say anything to contradict my orders.
“I’m not going.” Winnie crossed her arms over her chest and braced her feet. I could tell she was gearing up for a battle tonight, and I might have to haul her out of this apartment over my shoulder. “I’m staying with Aunt Channing unless you promise you’ll let me see her whenever I want. I hate the estate. I hate school and all the extra things Grandma makes me do afterward. I don’t want to go to a private school in Switzerland.” She started crying and her face turned red. “You’re never home, and you never listen to me when I try to talk to you.”
Winnie started sobbing in earnest, and Channing rushed around the ugly couch to wrap her in a tight hug.
I frowned and exchanged a confused look with Rocco. “Boarding school in Switzerland?” This was the first time I’d heard anything about it.
Channing glared at me over the top of our niece’s head and mouthed, “Your mother.”
Of course it was my mother.
I was her primary guardian. I had full legal custody of Winnie, but my mother often acted like she was in charge of dictating the direction of Winnie’s life. I was all too familiar with the way Colette Halliday micromanaged and steamrolled through every situation.
Winnie was right. I’d been working far more than normal lately because I shared her hatred of being at our house. I’d chosen to run away, too. It was hypocritical to blame my niece for doing the same thing.
I sighed and reached up to loosen my tie. I rushed to Channing’s apartment as soon as I hung up from her call. I still had a meeting tonight that I’d moved to a video conference after I decided to get Winnie myself. I hadn’t had time to eat anything or think about this entire situation rationally yet. It was easiest to blame Winnie and Channing. It was much harder to look at the history of prejudice and judgment between our families and realize that the fault was related to a much bigger, lingering issue.
“No one is sending you to boarding school.” Winnie currently attended one of the best private schools in the country. My mother threatening to send her away was nothing more than her being petty and mean. She ruled through intimidation. I often wondered if she was so stern because she married into the Halliday empire. It wasn’t one she conquered with her own prowess. My mother’s family was well-off but came nowhere near the prestige and power the Hallidays held in the palms of their hands. It always seemed like she had more to prove since she didn’t start out with the same legacy Winnie and I had, even if we were all part of the same family. “I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy at work. I’ll do better. I promise I will listen to whatever you have to say.”
My niece sniffled, but she didn’t stop crying. Channing gave me a pointed look as she continued to soothe her.
“Your aunt and I will discuss things on another day. We’ll see what we can do about seeing her more often. Right now, you need to focus on school. If you don’t want to do all the activities your grandmother signed you up for, we can figure that out. But you can’t just do nothing. You’re more ambitious than that. Those activities not only give you skills that might be useful in the future, they teach you about time management and how to stick to something challenging. When you get older, you can’t just quit something because you don’t enjoy it.”
Channing scoffed loudly. “That’s bullshit. One of the best parts of being an adult is quitting things that don’t bring you joy. Why should you force yourself to stick with something that sucks when there are a million other options out there to explore?”
I wanted to roll my eyes at the na?ve comment. “Maybe in your world people can jump from one thing to the next with no thought to the consequences. That isn’t an applicable mindset for normal adults.”
I’d never wanted to take over the family business. I had no interest in real estate development or land management. I despised towering skyscrapers that felt like glass and steel coffins. I loathed that I was so busy running the company, I missed everything happening with my family. My commitments were skewed from the minute I was thrust into society. I had different ambitions for myself before I even understood that what I wanted to do with my life was never my choice.
Though my mother forced me to learn to play the violin as a child, I loved it. I was better than good at it. I foolishly aspired to be a classically trained musician and play with a renowned orchestra. My future, never being my own, was the hardest part of being a Halliday.
Shortly after the fire and death of my brother, my father, who had a chronic heart condition, passed away. The old man’s health had been on the decline ever since Archie returned home, which was something my mother happily blamed on my brother’s young bride. If I’d refused to take over the role of CEO when my mother started pressuring me, it wasn’t only my immediate family who would have suffered. Thousands of employees and shareholders would lose everything. There wasn’t a single point in my forty-three years of life where I’d ever had the option to walk away from something I didn’t enjoy. I had to stick with it for the greater good. Like it or not, so would Winnie. She was next in line to take over everything.
“If being a normal adult means being miserable every single day, I’ll pass. Just agree to let Winnie see me once a month, and we can resolve this situation without further issue. Stop being so uptight, Chester.”
I gritted my teeth when Channing used my most hated nickname. I refused to react, because that’s what she wanted. “This is far from resolved. Winnie ran away from home. She put herself in danger. She came to the city without permission and lost her phone. If something happened, she wouldn’t have a way to contact me or call for help. She hasn’t been making good decisions lately. I expect more from her.”
“Your expectations are exactly why she’s making dangerous choices to have a taste of freedom. You and your mother need to lighten up. She’s just a kid.”
I opened my mouth to continue arguing. Channing was the one person who snapped my patience in half without trying. The words never made it out because Rocco tapped my shoulder and reminded me that we still had to drive back to the Cove, where I had another video conference scheduled. If we didn’t leave now, we wouldn’t get home until dawn.
“Kids need to know they can’t always get what they want, especially when their last name is Halliday. A lesson that’s much easier to learn when you’re young. We have to go. Come with me, Winnie. Don’t make me haul you out of here in an uncouth manner. We’re both better than that.”
I could tell Winnie didn’t want to leave. She was still crying. Channing whispered something into the girl’s ear, and she decisively pulled herself together enough to move next to me. She waved to her aunt and followed me out of the apartment like a prisoner who was walking toward her execution. I wanted to offer a hug or some gesture of solace, but it was obvious my niece was angry at me and wouldn’t appreciate me touching her.
On the way to the blacked-out SUV, my phone rang. I glanced at the screen, and when I saw it was my mother calling, I wanted to throw the phone into the nearest gutter and forget about it.
Rocco helped Winnie into the car, and I motioned for him to give me a minute while I answered the call. If I ignored her, she would keep calling me, and the people around me, until she got the information she was looking for. The woman was exhausting.
“Did you find the girl?” My mother’s accent was similar to Winnie’s, but her tone was sharp enough to cut through skin and bones.
“Of course I found her. We’re on the way back to the Cove now.”
“She was with that horrid woman, wasn’t she? That family has always been a problem for us.” I could hear the scorn dripping from every word she spoke.
I rubbed my forehead and tried to ignore the tension pulling at the back of my neck. “Winnie is part of that family regardless of how you feel about it, Mother. The more you try to erase Channing’s existence, the more curious Winnie’s going to be. The more you disparage her mother and her mother’s family in front of her, the more she’s going to seek someone who has a different opinion.”
“They destroyed your brother. I will not let them ruin that little girl as well. They’re all crazy.”
I swore under my breath and reached deep for the last scraps of my patience. It was hard to fight back against those claims when my mother knew that Channing’s mom had been institutionalized, and her sister had shown obvious signs of mental instability throughout her relationship with my brother.
I pushed back with something that couldn’t be disputed. “You don’t get to decide who is allowed in Winnie’s life; I do.” And while I didn’t have high expectations for Channing Harvey, I knew she would never harm my niece. Anyone with eyes could see she loved the young woman with her whole heart. I couldn’t say the same thing about my mother. She looked at Winnie like she was a chore that needed to be checked off a lengthy list.
My mother went quiet, and I heard her breathing change. She was angry at me and wanted to argue. She knew me well enough to know that if she started something, I’d hang up on her and do the opposite of whatever she asked to spite her. She drove me up a wall and pushed me to where I hated my behavior.
“You need to come home on time for dinner tomorrow night. I have someone I want you to meet. Her family is in the architectural and engineering field. I think you’ll have a lot in common. She’s a very nice young lady and appropriately attractive. It’s time for you to settle down, Winchester. You and Winnie both need a quality woman in your life to take care of you. If you get married, I won’t have to be the only one trying to keep Winnie on the right path. You have an opportunity to give her the closest thing she’ll ever have to the normal family she wants so badly.”
A muscle in my cheek twitched as my molars ground together to the point my jaw hurt. “I told you, stop trying to set me up. Stop inviting women over to the house. It makes both me and Winnie uncomfortable. I’m in no rush to meet anyone, let alone walk down the aisle.”
Getting married was the last thing on my mind. I wouldn’t even bring my worst enemy to my mother’s front door. I paused for a second as a vague idea took shape in the back of my mind. My worst enemy was upstairs in that shithole apartment, and she disliked my mother almost as much as I did.
“Winnie and I are on the way home. We’ll get back late. Don’t wait up for us.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “And stop threatening her with boarding school. She’s not going anywhere without my say-so.”
My mom huffed an offended breath and hung up the call. She didn’t tell me to drive safely. She didn’t ask if Winnie was all right. I was used to her indifference and manipulation. I hated that my mother subjected Winnie to the abhorrent parenting I silently endured. The poor girl lost her parents. She deserved more than being forcibly molded into my mother’s maniacal image of what a perfect young woman from high society should be.
I couldn’t walk away from all the things I hated in my life. Channing was right. I should enable my niece to have the luxury of doing everything I couldn’t at her age.
The woman was smarter and more insightful than I’d ever given her credit for. I refused to end our longstanding feud for many reasons. It was the one thing in my life that forced me to feel things I’d long forgotten. The only time I felt alive was when I went head-to-head with the abrasive redhead.
When you were forced into a life you never wanted, it was best to turn off your emotions to maintain your sanity. I excelled at forgetting how to feel anything — unless I was dealing with Channing Harvey.