by Parks, AL
A man in tight black dress pants answered the door. His white shirt was so tight, Clarissa could see every bulge in his pecs and six-pack abdominal muscles. He was blonde, tan, and tall.
“Can I help you?” Clarissa had never seen him before, and unless he was new, he was not a part of her parents’ social circle. It was somewhat impressive that Brandi had already found a new boy toy within a week of burying her husband.
“I have an appointment with Brandi,” she said, attempting to step into the foyer. The man blocked the doorway.
“Your name?”
“Clarissa Beckett. You might recognize the last name as the same as your…girlfriend? Bed-buddy? Unless your getting paid for the sex, then I guess you’d be a gigolo. Do people still use that term?”
“I’m the Mistresses butler.”
“Gigolo it is.” Clarissa grinned and batted her eyes at the man.
“Wait, here.” He turned and walked down the hall to the living room.
Fuck that. She followed him into the large formal living area, complete with a pearl white baby grand piano in the corner that had never been touched, as far as Clarissa knew. Amber had gotten in trouble one time for telling the boys that if they ever heard it being played, they should run away because that meant ghosts had moved into the house and would visit them while they slept. Clarissa had laughed her ass off when the story had been relayed to her.
Brandi was standing in front of the man with her hand on his chest when Clarissa entered the room. She smirked, shaking her head. Some things never change. There was no way Brandi could be expected to be celibate for more than a week. Even if she was supposed to be in mourning.
“Don’t worry, Rodolfo, she has no manners. It’s just the way she was raised. Poor parenting. Why don’t you go make sure the upstairs is taken care of and I’ll join you when Clarissa and I are finished with our business.” She smacked him on the ass as he turned from her.
Clarissa rolled her eyes. “Can we get on with this, Brandi? I really have no interest in watching you fuck over another man. Is he married, or are you just using him as filler sex until you can find another rich sugar daddy to take care of you?”
“You really should be less judgmental, Clarissa. Things are not always as they appear. You, more than anyone, should know that. Now, we can do this civilly, like adults, and have a nice lunch and then discuss business - “
“There is no way I am spending one minute longer than I have to in this house. Now, tell me what you called me over here for, so I can get the hell away from you and your civility.”
Brandi lowered into one of two wingback chairs facing each other. She gestured to the other chair. “Fine, if that’s how you want to handle this, I’ll get right to the point. I know about your little secret. The real reason you hate your father so much.”
All the blood drained from Clarissa. She dropped into the chair. Nausea hit her and she thought she might be sick. “What is it you think you know, Brandi?”
“Oh, I don’t think. I have verification. Your father was a sloppy drunk the last few years. He would drink and get all melancholy about how he missed Eve, and his regrets over his precious little Clarissa. Lucky for me, he had very loose lips, and was easily manipulated into answering some fairly personal questions.”
She leaned closer to Clarissa and dropped her voice slightly. “I know your father had sex with you when your were little. He said it started when you were about twelve. Is that how you remember it?”
The bottom dropped out of Clarissa’s world. Everything was spinning out of control. She was dizzy and could feel the darkness surrounding her, ebbing and flowing like waves upon an ocean. It was making her sick, but she couldn’t seem to move from her spot.
“I can tell from the look on your face that all of it’s true. Are you okay? Can I get you something to drink? You look awfully pale.”
Clarissa glared at her, sitting there, all smug. She was enjoying this. Reveling in the pain she was stirring up. It didn’t bother her in the least that she was talking about her husband molesting his daughter for years. She was going to use the information to her advantage.
“What do you want? The money? You can have it. I never wanted it to begin with.” Clarissa shifted in her seat, hoping she would be able to get up without throwing up or passing out. Her chest was beating so fast she worried it might explode into a thousand pieces within her chest.
“No, I don’t want your money. I want the shares held by you and your sister in East Coast Custom Bikes.”
“What? Griff’s business?”
“Yes.” She looked at her nails as if she was bored with the conversation. “Oh, and I want you gone for good. Go back to England, go to Colorado, go to Timbuktu for all I care. Just leave here and don’t ever come back.”
“You can’t seriously believe that Griff will want anything to do with you just because you own half the business. He can’t stand you.”
“Do you think he will want anything to do with you once he finds out how you and your father spent your nights as a child. According to your father, you enjoyed it as much as he did.Sort of a new twist on daddy’s little girl. And besides, Griff couldn’t stand you at first either, but he seemed to get over it. It’s amazing what men will do to get between your legs, huh?”
“You make me sick.” Clarissa got up, forcing herself to walk away.
Brandi called after her as she made it to the hall. “You have until Friday to get the shares transferred to me and leave town, Clarissa. And I wouldn’t suggest testing me. I have no problem at all telling Griff - and the rest of the world, if necessary - what nasty little things your father liked to do to you in the dark.”
Clarissa slammed the front door behind her. All the visions that she had worked so hard to suppress were swirling around in her head. She needed time to think. Time to figure out how to shut Brandi up. So many options hit her, options that she would never consider normally. Options that pushed the boundaries of morality.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Somehow she made it back to the villa. Closing the door behind her, she slid to the floor. Tears were streaming down her face. Her chest heaved up and down with sobs. It was her worst nightmare coming true. The secret she had worked so hard to keep from everyone - the secret she was convinced would be buried along with her father - was about to become front page news.
Mom. Her mother had no idea what had happened all those years ago. Clarissa had been too good at covering up the truth, at convincing her mother that all the hate she felt for her father was due to his affair with Brandi.
Her mother deserved so much better. She couldn’t find out this way. She deserved to hear it from Clarissa before she heard about it from Brandi, or worse, the press.
Her phone dinged and she pulled it from her back pocket. A text message from Griff asking her how things had gone. She couldn’t talk to him now. She couldn’t see him. If he knew the meeting was over, he would come by the villa to see her. She was in no condition to see him right now. Too much was going on in her head. It was like a lightening storm that she couldn’t get to pass.
**Still at Brandi’s. Will text when done**
It was just after one o’clock in the afternoon. Griff would head over to the villa after he closed up the shop at five. She had a few hours to get packed and get out of town. She knew what she had to do, no matter how much she hated the idea, or how it made her stomach go through a series of somersaults. Griff needed to be told the truth. He deserved to know what his former business partner had done to her. He had to be told that the monster that haunted Clarissa was her own father, who had robbed her of her childhood - and her virginity.
But Clarissa had to tell her mom first. She prayed that she could string Brandi along for a little while until she could tell Griff herself. It was possible that Brandi would relax a little once Clarissa left town, and would wait to spill the beans.
She got up off the floor and grabbed her suitcase from the closet. She threw the fe
w items she had into the case and zipped it. Opening the laptop, she went online and mapped out her route. Then she called the front desk and paid her bill.
A pad of paper with the hotel emblem across the top sat on the bedside table. Taking it with her to the chair, she started writing. It took a while to get started, but then the words flowed. After fifteen minutes, she folded the paper and tucked it into an envelope she found in the drawer.
Looking around the room, her eyes fell to the bed. The bed she shared the last few nights with Griff. He had changed her life, given her hope for the future. She wondered, when he discovered her secrets, if he would lose hope and want nothing to do with her. She took a deep breath. She couldn’t think about that right now. She had to get through the next couple of days back in Colorado destroying the peace and happiness her mother had finally found.
Walking to the bed, she placed the envelope against the pillow where she knew Griff would find it. It was a shitty way to say good-bye, but talking to him now would shred what was left of her heart. She opened the door, took one final glance back into the room, and slowly pulled it closed behind her. For the first time in her life, she was leaving Newport and the happiest memories of her life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Rissa?”
Griff closed the door to the villa. Something was off. It was too quiet. Too cold. He glanced around the room. Usually Rissa’s laptop was on the table with papers strewn around it. But the table was empty.
“Riss?” He walked into the bathroom. Not only was she not in there, all of her stuff was gone. He walked out of the bathroom, running his hand through his hair. When he looked up, he saw the envelope propped against the pillows on the bed. His heart dropped into his stomach. His hand shook as he picked it up and pulled out the letter. Sinking onto the bed, he unfolded it.
Griff,
By now you know I’m gone. I know this is a shitty way for me to do this, but it’s the only way. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. The biggest change has been our relationship. It’s also the reason I need to get away for a while. There are things I need to work out if we have a chance in hell of making this work.
I know I’m being very cryptic. You know I have issues in my past that I can’t talk about. It’s time I dealt with those issues, and so I’m taking the first step to do that. I couldn’t tell you this face-to-face. This is something I have to do on my own, and I was afraid you would convince me to let you come with me. I’m not strong enough to tell you no.
You mean so much to me, Griff, and I care about you so deeply. I know it doesn’t seem like that, given the way I’m leaving. I need for you to believe me and trust me.
Love,
Your Rissa
Griff re-read the letter several times searching for some clue between the lines.
Why? Why did she have to do this on her own? And where did she go?
He picked up the room phone and pressed the button for the front desk. A young man answered.
“Yes, can you tell me if Ms. Beckett has checked-out or is there a date she will be returning? She left behind a few items in her room and I’m not sure if she wants me to take them with me, or leave them here. She’s not answering her cell phone, and I’ll be leaving soon.”
He prayed the kid was buying his story. He had to find out if Rissa was even planning on coming back at all, or if this was step one in leaving him for good. He knew she hated Newport. Maybe her meeting with Brandi pushed her over the edge, and she fled without giving him the opportunity to talk her out of it. Or maybe he thought there was more to their relationship than was actually there, and this was the easiest way for her to break it off with him. It didn’t matter. He just needed to know. And he needed to make sure she was okay.
The young man came back on the line after what sounded to Griff like a great deal of punching computer keys. “The room has been paid for through tomorrow noon. It does not appear she has a reservation in the future, at this time.”
Damn! “Did she happen to leave a forwarding address, or mention where she was going?”
“No, sir, I’m sorry. We only have the address on file that she used when she first arrived.”
Griff thanked the guy and hung up the phone. “Where are you, Riss? And when the hell are you coming back?” The room was silent. He listened intently for any answer that would be whispered from the heavens. Anything that would give him some indication of what the hell to do now. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and hit her speed dial number. It rang a few times and went to voicemail. He ended the call without leaving a message.
Pulling up his text screen, he typed her a message.
**Are you coming back?**
He waited for a response.
**Not sure when. Might be a while**
**Are you okay?**
**I will be**
Laying back on the bed, he read the letter once more and placed it over his heart. He closed his eyes, silently hoping she would call and tell him she needed him. Tell him she was on her way back to him. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep. Darkness filled the room and he didn’t move again until light came in through the windows the next morning.
***
Clarissa glanced at her ringing cell phone sitting in the cup holder. She knew it would be Griff. He had probably found the letter she left for him and was wondering what the hell was going on. If she were a stronger person, she would answer the phone and explain it to him. She just wasn’t there yet. She needed to get to Colorado before the shit hit the fan. There was a better than average chance that if she heard Griff’s voice on the line, she would turn around and chicken out.
That wasn’t fair to her mother. It wasn’t fair to Griff. They deserved to hear about her father’s molestation from her. Not Brandi’s skewed version of it.
She listened to it ring until it finally went to voicemail. She checked the time. She wanted to make it as far as she could tonight to make sure she was able to get to her mother’s house the day after next. It would be a grueling two-and-a-half day drive all by herself, but would also give her plenty of time to come up with a way to drop this bomb on her mom.
She prayed Jake would be able to pick up the pieces and put her mom’s heart back together.
Her head was pounding, and there were too many hours left to drive. She pulled off at the next exit and headed for the Starbucks. Her phone sounded as she waited in the drive-thru line. A text message from Griff.
**Are you coming back?**
**Not sure when. Might be a while**
**Are you okay?**
**I will be**
She paid the young woman at the window, pulled back out onto the highway, and turned the radio up. The sooner she got to Colorado, the sooner she could get back to Griff.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Clarissa followed the GPS directions to her mother’s new house. She was beyond relieved she didn’t have to go to the vacation home they visited every year as a child. That was where it all started with her father. The first time he had visited her in the middle of the night.
She pulled into the circular driveway. The house was magnificent. Rustic, yet homey. It could’t have been more perfect for Jake and her mother if she had designed it in her mind. She opened the car door, stood and stretched. Glancing around, she wondered if anyone had seen her pull up. No one knew she was on her way, so they were bound to be surprised by her sudden appearance on their doorstep.
It was early evening and she wasn’t sure exactly who would be at home. Her mother and Jake may still be at work, but Amber and Lauren should be there. Or maybe no one would be home and she would be forced to sit and wait in her vehicle until someone pulled up. The doorbell chimed. After a few seconds, the latch clicked and the front door opened wide.