by Ava Harrison
“I’ll be there.”
The hours pass slowly, but eventually, I’m knocking on my brother’s door. My nerves are all over the place. What am I walking into? When I get inside, my father is there, but what surprises me most is the visitors Spencer was referring to. My eyes widen. The Price siblings, Jax, Gray, and Addison are all present, as well.
The Prices have been family friends our entire lives. Their net worth rivals my father’s on any given day and they’re precisely the types of friends you want in your corner. Addison is the last person I expected to be in Olivia and Spencer’s apartment. Spencer and Addison share a romantic past and let’s just say it came to a head between Spencer and Olivia at one point. It was worked out, but with women, those sorts of things never seem to be completely buried. The way her cheeks are sunken in as if she’s biting them says she’s uncomfortable.
Nonetheless, here she is.
I’m still trying to figure out where they all fit into this equation.
“Come in,” Spencer calls, seemingly annoyed at my standing about.
“What are you all doing here?”
“We think we found the solution to your problem,” Jax says, reaching out his hand to shake mine in greeting. “Spencer called me in to do some computer reconnaissance.” He smiles widely.
Now it’s making sense. Jax is a computer genius. He’s done work for the government helping to catch hackers. Rumor has it he’s one of the best.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Spencer says. “But since you said Chelsea bid on a few of the Prices’ properties, it just made sense for me to reach out to Addison.”
Addison is the largest private landowner in the world. She owns property everywhere, making her the perfect contact when looking to expand. Most of the properties Chelsea has bid on have been hers. She’s acted as the Lancaster realtor of sorts for properties.
“I was finding it very strange that within minutes of Spencer’s team putting in a bid, your team was as well,” Addison explains. “With our family’s history”—she looks at Spencer before continuing—“I really didn’t want to get in the middle of a feud and I just accepted the highest offer, but when Spencer told me what was going on with you and Chelsea, things were starting to add up.”
My eyebrow rises, not knowing where she’s going with this.
“A hostile takeover,” she explains, putting her hands up as if to say, duh.
“I had them look into the transactions and Jax hacked into the accounts you gave me,” Spencer jumps in, trying to piece it all together for me.
“Chelsea was very careful in what she said in her emails. She’s smart, but not smart enough.” Jax wiggles his eyes like the cat who caught his prey. “She led us to the idiot.”
I smile, waiting for them to roll it all out. I’ve wrestled with all the scenarios for years. I’m ready for someone else to take the fucking wheel.
“Apparently, your wife has been shacking up with the help for years.”
My brows knit in confusion. Help? What help? Then it dawns on me. Who’s the one person we’ve both had access to for years who could play both sides? “Fucking Miles. The head of security at my own damn hotel.” My knuckles clench into a fist at the revelation.
“Bingo,” Jax offers.
“That’s why he’s been avoiding me and Chelsea has always been one step ahead. That fucking rat.”
The need to strangle him is intense. I don’t give a fuck that he’s been with Chelsea. He can have her. It’s the fact he’s been playing me all along.
“It’s not just Miles, though. Karen from the Karen Michelle Agency has been playing both sides. When we would call to have her set up contractors to give estimates on the sites we were looking into, she’d send an email immediately to Chelsea,” Spencer adds.
My blood boils at the mention of Karen. She’s also the one who placed Bridget at The L. She was involved from the beginning. I make a mental note to destroy her and any reputation she has.
“We’ll worry about her another day. She’s a small issue in comparison.” Spencer reads my mind. He’s right. Another day.
Gray steps forward. He’s the financial guy in the Price family. He acts as Addison’s CPA. “I pulled all the receipts and information for the transactions between Chelsea and the property deeds. The original holding company you used when purchasing the land for The L was a different company than has been used for the last few transactions. We always look into everyone we do business with, but we didn’t with you because of our family history. Typically, we would’ve looked into any changes, but this one slipped through. We had Jax pull up the new company and that’s when it got messy.”
“Messy how?”
“The new company leads to an off-shore account. One that’s not affiliated with you at all.”
“She’s stealing money and funneling it into an account?” I need to make sure I’m following what he’s saying. His nod affirms my understanding.
“It gets worse, though. Off-shore accounts are tricky to infiltrate,” Gray explains.
“Not for me.” Jax’s lips turn up into a wicked smirk. “She’s been pulling funds from accounts that weren’t hers to pull from and funneling it into this account.”
I gathered this much. She doesn’t do anything outside of The L to have her own money and we just concluded she’s embezzling. How much worse can it get?
“She’s been pulling money from Isabella’s trust.”
I see red. Stealing from me and my company is one thing, but stealing from our daughter?
“Not only is she stealing from Isabella, but she’s been ‘selling’ residential properties in The L.”
“We don’t have residential properties.”
“Exactly. The paperwork she filed isn’t legit. If someone from the hotel ever noticed that people actually lived in one of these so-called apartments, The L would have the right to terminate the fake contracts. This wouldn’t look good for The L and would surely result in a lawsuit.”
“Wouldn’t this hurt me and the hotel’s image more than anything?”
“Not when we can show proof that all of the funds were siphoned into an outside account that does not have your name attached to it. She was dumb enough to put her own name on it. She’s been using those sums not only to try to ruin Lancaster, but she’s also been spending an extreme sum of money on herself and Miles Smith.”
“It seems she’s been having an affair with the head of your security for quite some time,” Spencer chimes in.
“She made me hire him. She . . . How long?”
“We dated it back over six years according to Miles’ emails and texts.”
Jax is a genius.
“Over the course of the six years, she’s stolen in little increments as to not raise a bell on your end.”
“How much?”
“Over four million, but only a little over one million is still in the account. They’ve clearly been enjoying themselves.”
I shake my head at the audacity of those two. Stealing from a child. How fucking low can they be? All the trips and fancy clothes have all been on her daughter’s dime. The fact that Miles has stuck around for six years floors me. What is he getting out of this? She’s had several affairs with different men so why stay? The money? Then it hits me.
Isabella.
It all makes sense. My blood runs cold and my face falls.
Miles Smith is Isabella’s father.
“What’s wrong, Grant?” Spencer asks, concerned.
“They were stealing from their daughter.”
The room goes silent as everyone allows me to process this information. It’s too much. Way too fucking much.
“How do I fix this?”
“Don’t you see? We’re saying we got her. We fucking got her. You can use all this as leverage. No way that bitch will want to go to jail. She’ll give you anything,” Jax explains.
“What about him? I can’t risk losing my daughter. Not when he can take her from me.”
“Nah, man. We got him, too,” Gray says. “He’s all over this. The email correspondence coming from his account is very damning. You got them both by the balls now. As for Isabella, he doesn’t care about her. What father allows another man to raise his daughter? And for what? Money?”
I let his words sink in, looking up at Spencer.
“So, what are you going to do?” he asks.
“I’m going to show them how it feels to live your whole life at the mercy of someone else. I’m going to get my life back.” Not wanting to waste a minute, I turn to face the door and see Olivia Miller blocking my way. She smiles.
“Keep her safe. Make her happy. Love her. And if you can’t, let her go.” She walks past me and out of the room.
I’ll do all of those things and more. Bridget deserves it.
“Thank you,” I say to everyone, my eyes concentrating on Spencer and then turning to my father. “Thank you.”
What they’ve done for me is more than I deserve. For years I’ve been underhanded in my dealings and did my best to take them down. And for what? My own pride.
“It’s what family does,” Spencer replies.
“I want to make things right, but right now I need to get my baby girl.”
“Go.” He laughs.
A small smile forms on my face and I make my way toward the door. It’s time to reclaim my future, but first I need to deal with Chelsea.
I stroll into Chelsea’s office, standing tall. She’s sitting behind her desk on the phone. “I have to call you back,” she tells the person on the other line before placing the phone down on her desk.
“You thought you had me. You thought you could manipulate me one more time, but there’s something you missed,” I say, approaching Chelsea.
“I miss nothing.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You just don’t get it. You don’t get family. You never have and you never will.”
She laughs the haughty, irritating laugh I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. It’s grated on my nerves forever, but today it doesn’t. I’m not bothered by it in the least because I know it’s the last time I’ll ever have to listen to it.
“What you missed is that a real family, no matter what, is there for each other.”
“You don’t have a family either. I made sure of that.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I chuckle. “A real family always has your back. Years might pass, but they never give up on you. They’re there for the good, they’re there for the bad, they’re there to listen to you apologize, and . . . they’re there to fix the problem.” I let the words hang in the air around us until she pales, and her mouth drops open. “That’s right, Chelsea. They’re there to fix my problem. Turns out they found a whole bunch of problems.”
I shove the papers from Jax in her hand—pages upon pages detailing her embezzlement with her signature on the forms, and his emails detailing everything. Her hand noticeably shakes as she looks down at the paper before lifting her gaze to me. I watch as a myriad of emotions play across her flawless face, confusion, shock, and then her cheeks suck in as she squares her shoulders.
“It’s over.”
“What do you want?”
“My daughter.”
“Or what?”
“Or this all goes to the police. Or . . .”
“Or?”
“I turn a blind eye to what you did to me. To what he did to me.”
“I want half of what is owed me,” she says with defiance, her hand resting on her cocked hip.
“You’ll get nothing. I’d say you’ve more than collected over the years.”
Her eyes widen, and I finally see the fear hiding deep within them.
“You can’t give me nothing! How will I live?” she cries.
“I’m sure you can get Miles to help you.” I shrug because I don’t give a fuck.
“Can’t you find it in yourself to go easy on me?”
I look at the ceiling and consider. “You’ve made a fool of me for a very long time. You made a fool out of my family. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”
“What about Isabella?”
“Like I said, I want custody. Full custody.”
“That’s never going to happen, Grant. She’s not yours.”
“It’ll happen. My name is on her birth certificate, and to make sure that never changes, I’ll give you one million to sign away all your maternal rights to me.”
“Her father—”
“Has never been a father to her. He knew all along and she was right there,” I seethe. “Miles is no better than you, using her to his benefit. He’s not her father. I am. I don’t care what blood runs through her veins. She’s mine. I loved her. I raised her. I held her when she cried and I wiped her tears. When she’s older, old enough to understand, I’ll tell her the truth about all of you. Until that time, you stay away or you both will find yourselves in jail. Am I clear?”
“One million?”
She’s considering it based on her expression. I can almost see the cogs moving in that brain of hers. She’s calculating what she can do with one million dollars.
“Yes, and not a penny more.”
“One million isn’t nearly enough to survive.”
“It’s more than you deserve. Invest wisely, Chelsea, because you won’t get a penny more from me.”
She huffs.
“One million. You stay the hell out of my life and you don’t contest me as Isabella’s father. It’s that or jail. You choose, but I’m running out of patience.”
I watch as her shoulders fall in resignation. She’s not happy, but what choice does she really have? She can’t live without the money and she wouldn’t last a day in jail. Let’s not forget how cramped her life would become if she actually had to take care of her child.
“Fine. I’ll take it,” she bites through her teeth.
“Leave.”
“You’re kicking me out of The L?” Her eyes are wide. How in the hell could she have thought I’d allow her to keep her job here?
“Our time is up, Chelsea. Every aspect of this relationship is over.”
“Now you’re divorcing me?”
I laugh haughtily. “It’s been a long time coming. Now get out so I can celebrate the end of my time in hell.”
Her mouth drops open. The reality of the situation finally sinks in. We’re through. Her reign at The L and over me is through. She stands on shaky legs, beginning to gather her things.
“You can leave all that here. It belongs to The L and you’re no longer a part of it.”
She goes still, looking lost and confused for the first time ever. I’ve never seen her so forlorn. It’s a different Chelsea entirely. She almost looks . . . human.
A tear falls down her cheek and then another.
I might’ve actually felt bad for her, but then I remember she just signed over the rights to her child for a measly one million dollars and all sympathy is lost.
“Go,” I say in a softer tone, not needing to kick her any farther although she deserves it.
Without a word, she slithers out the door and out of my life for good.
I resigned from The L and was given a letter of recommendation that will land me any job I want, as promised.
And I haven’t heard from Grant.
I bury myself with various other hobbies but can’t seem to concentrate on anything. I won’t let Olivia speak of what’s happening with Grant, but from the little I heard, I know that Spencer and him along with his father have reconciled. Hearing about him is bittersweet, and normally leads to a tear-filled sob fest with my sisters. Lynn keeps telling me time will heal my wounds, but I don’t believe her.
Just because Lynn and Olivia have their fairy tales doesn’t mean it will happen for the rest of us. If I’m being honest, I’m sick of hearing it from them. Their words of wisdom are much the same and never help. Nothing will. My life is dull without Grant, and that’s a fact I can’t live with.
I hear a knoc
king at the door and jump up to grab it. Lynn is annoyingly consistent with her pounding when I don’t answer. My head can’t take it today.
“Stop with the noise already,” I say as I swing it open.
Grant.
He’s here, standing in my doorway. He looks more disheveled and even more handsome than ever before. My legs give way and my hand reaches out to hold on to the doorframe for support.
“Grant,” I whisper.
“Can I come in?”
“I, um . . . Yeah. Sure. Come in,” I say, moving aside to allow him entry. “Sorry about the place. I’ve been . . . busy,” I lie. I’ve been heartbroken, but that about covers it.
“You do realize I’m only here to see you, not your place.” He smiles.
“What brings you here?” I go for small talk because I’m out of my element. I’m caught off guard and not sure if I’m relieved to see him or about to break all over again.
“I filed for divorce.”
The words fill the air and I think I’m about to faint. I blink a few times before finally finding my voice again. “Wh-what?”
“I fucked up, Bridget. I should have tried harder with you. I never should have let you go.”
Speech escapes me. I can’t form words. Everything I’ve wanted to hear for weeks, everything I’ve dreamed every night . . . he’s saying it. I want to pinch myself awake, not wanting to delude myself any longer, but not wanting to wake for fear it’s only a dream.
“I’m lost without you, Bridget. Please tell me I’m not too late.”
My heart seizes, and all the broken parts begin to mend themselves. Hope swells. Am I hearing him right?
“God, I missed you so much,” I whisper. “More than you will ever know or even understand.” I hiccup a sob. “I love you.” The words spill out of me, and I suddenly feel very uncomfortable. I lower my head, but then his fingers tip up my chin.
“Don’t look away from me,” Grant says.
Through tear-rimmed eyes, I peer up into his green gaze. “Promise me right now,” I whisper.
“I’ll do even better . . . I’ll promise you forever.”