“Doesn’t he know that Mika has already invested your money and that both of you are worth more each by yourself than any money inherited?”
“Of course, he does. He isn’t interested in the money. He wants my shares. He knows that the company has quadrupled under Mika’s leadership and he wants the power that comes with it.”
“More like he has octupled the company’s worth,” I say proudly.
At the age of nineteen, Mika is one of the youngest people to take charge as CEO of a fortune 500 company. He was forced to drop out of Harvard business school after his grandfather’s massive heart attack and take over the company since the Kingsley patriarch did his vanishing act after the disappearance of his wife. Under Mika’s leadership, Kingsley Incorporated was now a fortune 100 company. I can’t say that I don’t understand why Mason wants his part of the pie.
“Why does he think you’ll give him anything? He must know how much you hate him.”
“He does. But he also knows that I love my mother more than I could ever hate him.”
“Your mother? What does she have to do with anything?”
“He says that he knows where she is. And that she’s still alive, Eric.” She whimpers.
Tears stream down her face. “I know that he’s most likely lying. The rational part of me knows that. But what if he’s not?”
“Listen to me, baby. You know who we are dealing with here. But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that your mom is alive and well, and he does know where she is. First, he’s a piece of shit for using that as leverage. Second, he doesn’t nearly have the number of resources at his disposal as your brother does. And believe me, your brother has spent a fortune on trying to find out what has happened to your mom. If your sperm donor does end up telling the truth about this, it also confirms the notion that he likely is the one that was responsible for her disappearing.”
She nods. “I know. I know all of this and still, I need to know if he’s telling the truth.”
“We have to tell Mika.”
“No!”
I rake my hand through my hair. “No? You want me to keep yet another thing from him? Your father is a dangerous man. We can’t let Mika be blindsided.”
“You know that Mika took our mother’s disappearance even harder than I did. I can’t put him through this again. Not until I know for sure. And we can protect him until then.”
I remember the devastation. Mika has never really recovered, and he hasn’t been the same since. I can feel my resolve waver.
“When Mika finds out that we hid this from him, he will be more than pissed. Especially since it is not the only thing we are keeping from him.”
“I know. But like you said, it’s probably not true, and if that is the case, we won’t have to tell him about this at all.”
“I don’t know about this. I don’t like keeping things from Mika.”
“Please Eric. I need to know, otherwise, I’ll never be able to let it go.”
I sigh. “Okay, we will use my contacts to look into this and keep track of your dad. But the second we are sure of anything, we are telling Mika everything. Even about you and me. Deal?”
She nods her head. “Deal.” She breathes.
Mikaela throws her arms around me and seals her lips over mine, bestowing upon me the most scintillating kiss I’ve ever had. The woman bewitches me, she’s magic.
She pulls back slightly. “Thank you.” She whispers against my lips.
I don’t even have the chance to respond before she recaptures my lips and makes me forget what I even wanted to say.
* * *
It has been a few days since Mason Kingsley made his surprise return. For some reason though, he is choosing to lay low, and frankly, that suits me just fine right now. Once Mika figures out that his old man has returned, he will have a lot of questions that I am not yet ready to answer. Keeping something from him is one thing, but I will never flat out lie to him. That is a line I will never cross. Not even for Mikaela. We have been doing some digging of our own though. We have hired a detective to put a tail on Mason, which thus far, hasn’t given us much to go on. I am meeting Mikaela for lunch today so we can discuss what we want to do next. Since we have been friends for such a long time, it isn’t weird for people to see us have lunch together. We can go pretty much anywhere together and people won’t bat an eyelash. And that certainly makes it less complicated for us in some ways. But harder also in others. Since we are so comfortable with each other, it’s easy to forget people around us. And although we are still trying to keep our relationship a secret, we have an almost animalist desire to constantly touch. Which we clearly cannot do in public. Maybe that is what is making it more exciting? The hand holding underneath the table. The sneaky stroking of her bare leg while nobody is watching. The stolen kisses in stairwells when we can barely maintain to keep our hands off one another. I’m in the car with Sean, after having dropped Mika off with some girl he wants to rub skin with, when I get an interesting email from the private investigator. Apparently, our investigator has stumbled upon a competitor. Someone else besides us is having Mason Kingsley tailed. I suggest that he meets us at the restaurant and I get an immediate response. The man is on his way. My first thought jumps to Mika. But I dismiss that idea quickly. If Mika was looking into Mason, he would have asked me to handle that. I text Lady Kingsley, making her aware that we will be having company. She responds just as Sean pulls into the parking lot of La Pluie pourpre, the restaurant that Mika has just acquired. I thank Sean for the ride and head inside. The hostess is all smiles as I approach her. Her eyes rake over me in a way that makes me a little uncomfortable. But I flash her a smile and ask for my table. The hostess places her hand suggestively on my arm and I am about to remove it when another hand takes care of it for me.
“Is there a reason why you are putting your hands all over my boyfriend?”
The territorial edge to her voice is sexy as hell and it has me even hotter for her than I already was. The girl drops her hands as if my arm was on fire. Mikaela walks up to me and presses her lips against mine. “Hey, lover.” She whispers huskily.
Holy fuck. I’m about to burst out of my pants. “You’re playing a dangerous game here, Lady Kingsley.” I whisper against her temple.
She smiles big and takes my hand into hers as she leads us to our table.
“I think I like possessive Mikaela.” I tease, as we reach our table.
“Well, you are mine, are you not?” she retorts.
“Body, mind and soul.”
Mikaela bites her lip. I am about to break all the rules and pull her onto my lap when I see a man being led toward our table. I abort my mission and shift my focus on Calvin Brennan.
“Mr. Hardwick.” He says with a slight nod of his head.
He takes Mikaela’s hand and presses his lips on top of it. “Ms. Kingsley.”
She flashes him her polite smile, which strangely enough pleases me. I never thought I was a jealous man, I guess I was wrong.
We have lunch while our private investigator tells us all about the competitor. He’s approached the guy and had the guy contact his employer. It turns out to be a woman by the name of Margaret Sims. She isn’t agreeable to meeting me, but she does want to meet Mikaela. It set some alarm bells off for me.
“She probably feels uncomfortable meeting with some guy. A woman feels safer, don’t you think? If it were me meeting someone, wouldn’t you feel better if it were a woman?”
That does make sense to me. “I’ll set it up,” I promise.
7 years ago…
Although he isn’t happy that I am meeting her alone, Eric has set up the meeting with Margaret Sims. There is a swirl of nervous knots in my stomach. This woman is a mystery to me, and I want to know what her interest is in my dad. We are to meet at Bryant Park because Eric insisted that we meet in a public place. I suspect that he is keeping an eye on me from a distance, and frankly, that thought makes me feel better. I am twenty-three minutes
early when I arrive at the café behind the library. Which is a good thing too, since the place is already pretty packed. It is summer, so they have outside seating and I get a table with a perfect view of the entrance—perks of slipping the hostess a $50 bill. I am wearing an olive green fitted pants suit, with a silk gold shirt. Paired with large brown sunglasses to hide most of my face and my long blonde hair is pulled back and in a tight bun. Which is an effort to disguise myself somewhat, as it is very unlike me. The weather today is uncharacteristically mild, so I take my suit jacket off and drape it over the back of my chair. It feels lovely outside and the breeze that caresses the bare skin of my arms is comforting. My eyes are fixed on the entryway and while people watching is normally one of my favorite things to do, today, every fiber of my body is taut with tension every single time a person walks in. I fidget with the strap of my purse and I swear that anyone looking at me, might think that I am practicing my Sharon Stone in Basic instinct impression with the constant crossing and uncrossing of my legs. I just cannot seem to get comfortable.
I’ve never met Margaret Sims, but I recognize the woman the very second she walks in. It’s not her face I recognize, but her demeanor. She recognizes me too. She makes a beeline for my table and offers me a tight smile.
“Ms. Kingsley?” she asks as she approaches the table.
I nod. “Mrs. Sims?”
She extends her hand. “Yes. Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kingsley.”
“The pleasure is mine, I am sure,” I reply with a warm smile.
She takes a seat across from me and the waitress approaches our table before her backside hits the chair. I guess that news of generous tipping travels fast. We order some drinks and I quickly scan the menu. Glancing over the top of my menu, I take a moment to examine the woman across from me. She is wearing an unflattering grey two-piece set. I noticed the ill-fitting skirt when she walked in. She is older, and you can tell that although she isn’t unattractive, she doesn’t put a lot of stock into her looks. The server clears her throat and I realize that I have just been staring at Margaret instead of the menu. I plaster on a smile and just order the first thing I see on the menu. Two seconds after the server has left to put in our requests I have already forgotten what I’ve ordered. Not that it really matters, because I honestly doubt I’ll even taste any of it. I decide to just jump in.
“I’d like to thank you for meeting with me today, and especially on such short notice. I’ll try not to take up too much of your time. Did Mr. Brennan mention why I wanted to meet with you today?”
“He did. And I have to admit Ms. Kingsley, I was a little surprised, but mostly intrigued by your request to meet with me. I would be lying to you if I told you that I wasn’t curious about your motives for hiring an investigator to shadow your own father.”
I want honest answers from her, so I decide to extend the same courtesy, to an extent. I smile and shift forward in my seat. “Mrs. Sims, I am aware of my family’s less than stellar reputation; we’ve unfairly earned this reputation by the actions of our father. My brother and I have been working very hard to prove to people that we are not cut from the same cloth.”
Mrs. Sims raises a brow but doesn’t speak. I take this as a sign to continue.
“My brother has worked very hard to build from the ashes my father left behind. It is he that turned the company my father left for dead, into an empire. My father has not been in touch with us in years. Not since our mother’s disappearance. He’s back, and naturally, we don’t trust him.”
The waitress returns with our drinks and I fall silent for a moment. Mrs. Sims picks up her glass of water and slowly takes a sip. It seems deliberate, as if she is mulling over my words or carefully choosing hers. Her demeanor, while not entirely unpleasant, is very austere. She places the glass back on the table in front of her.
“Less than stellar is a mild way of putting it, Ms. Kingsley.” She says coolly. “Your father has all but annihilated my family, and for no other reason than his amusement. Not only did he torpedo our family’s company by seducing my sister in law, and then blackmailing her to give him inside information, he also pushed my brother’s wife to kill herself. My brother has never recovered from that. Leaving me to raise their kids. I won’t deny that I used to harbor more than a little resentment towards that vile man. As for my own motivations to hire someone to investigate your father, I have always kept my ear close to the ground, just in case, he came back to finish off the rest of us. When I heard a rumor that Mason was back in town, I had to find out for sure. This isn’t the first time this rumor circulated. And if he is back, then I need to know what he’s up to. If not for my peace of mind, then for my family’s.”
My chest aches. Yet another nail in the coffin that holds my love for my father. It’s well past time to bury it, once and for all.
“Mrs. Sims, many have suffered by my father’s hand, and I share your concern. I wish there was something that I could do to help ease some of your pain.”
“That is kind of you to say.”
The server arrives with our food, stalling the conversation for a moment. And honestly, I am not sure what else to say. I feel guilty for my father’s actions, as irrational as that sounds. I’m not even a little hungry, but force myself to take a few bites of my chicken cobb salad. I’m playing round with the food on my plate when Mrs. Sims breaks the silence.
“I have to ask, Ms. Kingsley, what exactly were you hoping to get from this meeting?”
My eyes snap up to meet hers and our eyes lock. For the first time in this conversation, I feel as if she is actually present. We sit there in silence, but strangely enough, it is hardly uncomfortable. And frankly, the conversation that flows between us without words is more illuminating than the one with them.
* * *
It’s been a few days since my meeting with Margaret Sims. And I have not been the same since. Her question floats through my brain. What exactly were you hoping to get from this meeting? What indeed. I certainly didn’t expect my answer. After hearing what she had to tell me, I felt as if I had found someone who understood what it is like to survive the tornado that is Mason Kingsley. I guess, Mrs. Sims, that I was hoping to find an ally. I shake my head as if it will dismiss the thoughts from my head and force myself to focus. I am sitting at the drafting table in my office, working on yet another design. I have been throwing myself into work, and actually, I can’t think of a time that I have been more productive. I have designed almost my entire fall collection in the last few days! I’m sifting through some patches of fabric when the silence that has reigned in my office is broken by the elevator ding. A moment later, I hear slow but deliberate footsteps on the travertine floors in the hallway in front of my office. I glance at my watch and see that it’s almost ten p.m. My assistant left hours ago, and even if it wasn’t too late to meet with clients, I know for a fact that I have no more appointments today. I also know for a fact that it cannot be Eric or Mika, because they won’t land until after midnight. They’ve flown to Vegas for a business meeting. I stiffen, and I feel like my heart is trying to win first prize in a race. The echoing footsteps grow louder as they come near. The door to my office shuts and I inhale deeply and swivel around in my chair. My head snaps up and the blood in my veins turns icy.
“Wha—.” I clear my throat. “What are you doing here?”
He steps forward, eyebrows shooting to his hairline. The expression on his face is a mixture of exhilaration and amusement. As if he’s enjoying toying with me.
“Now, now little one. I am sure that your mother raised you better than that. What kind of a way is that to speak to your father?” he croons.
The mention of my mother, particularly by him makes me sick to my stomach.
“Get. Out. Now.” I hiss as I rise to my feet.
“Get out?”
I’m not sure what it is that emboldens me at this moment, but I don’t question it. I’ve jumped that train and now I am going to ride it until there are no more tracks t
o follow.
“If you have something pertinent to say, say it and leave. Otherwise, just leave. Now.” I bite out as I point resolutely to the door.
His mouth twists into a sneer.
“Finally, able to stand up to big bad daddy, little one?” he says eerily calm.
He steps closer and even though every fiber of my being is screaming to retreat, I stand tall.
“I am not a little girl anymore. You don’t scare me.” I say, surprising myself with the evenness of my tone.
My father takes another step forward, every single muscle in my body stiffening.
“Not scared huh?”
He takes another step and my heart constricts painfully inside my ribcage.
“Are you sure, little one?”
There are only a few feet between us now and my eyes are fixed on his every move. The corners of his lips pull up and form a sinister smirk.
“You know better than most what I am capable of, Mikaela. And you know I will stop at nothing to get whatever it is that I want.”
He takes another step and his eyes that seemed devoid of life at first are burning. The bastard is enjoying this.
“I will stop at nothing to get back what is rightfully mine, even if I have to annihilate my own flesh and blood.”
An icy chill runs through my veins as he speaks, his tone unequivocally wicked. He closes the distance between us, now just mere inches away from me. Our eyes lock in a wordless skirmish for a moment.
“I am well aware of all you are capable of,” I tell him, not taking my eyes off his.
But do you know what I am capable of Daddy? Do you know what lengths I will go through to protect what I hold dear?
“Then you’ll give me what I want?”
“If I do, will you tell me where mom is?”
“Scout’s honor.”
I am having difficulty resisting the urge to scoff, but I know that I need to keep him pacified until I can come up with a plan. And in order to come up with a plan, I know that I need to buy some time. “I’ll have the paperwork prepared. But I’ll need some time, these things don’t just happen. Meet me here a week from today at nine p.m. Everyone will be out of the office by then.”
Reclaiming Tomorrow: Kingsley Series Book 3 Page 4