“Her father ruined her mother—”
“You punished her because of her parents?” I ask in complete disbelief.
“Her father…”
“He’s been dead since right after I was born, what the hell does he have to do with anything?”
Chapter 37
Nicholas
“Sir?” Carter approaches us.
“What?” I say more harshly to Carter than I intend to, but this night is turning out like nothing I ever expected.
“I have secured a private room across the hall if you wish to continue this… conversation this evening,”
Carter glances around the room reminding me that we are at a public event. Somehow it appears no one has yet noticed the tense discussion, which I’m grateful for. The last thing Kenzie needs right now is for someone to overhear her life story and run to the press with it. Why I didn’t think to move us to another room before now is beyond me. My entire focus has been on Kenzie and the piece of shit in front of us who caused her so much pain. I completely forgot, that although we were near the entrance to the room, we were still very much in a public place. I was so wrapped up in the drama unfolding in front of me, that I didn’t realize Carter and Hunter were essentially keeping anyone from getting too close.
“Donald, there is a room where I think it would be best if we continued this… discussion,” I take Kenzie’s hand in mine and lead her out the door, where Hunter opens a door to a small but empty meeting room. Obviously, Carter thought ahead as there were two bottles of wine, along with a couple bottles of liquor on a small table at the front of the room. I’m about to turn to ask Kenzie if she would like a drink, when Hunter walks over with two glasses in his hand. Before I have a chance to point out what she is about to drink, Kenzie takes the tumbler full of whiskey and downs it in one quick gulp before handing it back to Hunter.
“I’d like another one please, Hunter,” although still polite as always, her voice is almost… detached and cold.
I long for the woman I had on the dance floor earlier this evening to come back, but I can’t blame her for her reaction to everything that is going on. It’s taking everything in me not to inflict the same amount of pain on the piece of shit woman as she inflicted on Kenzie for so many years. I have to constantly remind myself that I was raised better than to hit a woman. With every minute that passes, this woman pushes me closer and closer to giving into the urge.
Kenzie downs a second glass, before slamming it down on the table in front of. While Donald and I both jump in surprise, neither Kenzie nor Estelle move.
“Explain how my father ruined my mother.”
“You’ve always been such a drama queen—”
“Estelle! You will answer whatever questions she has, or so help me, you will find your own way home tomorrow,” Donald grits through his teeth.
“Donald!” her shock is evident on her face. Something tells me that no one has ever spoken to her like that before.
“You tell her everything she wants to know right now. You don’t get to mess with this young woman’s life more than you already have.”
“Fine,” she says reluctantly. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” I answer before Kenzie even has a chance. “Tell her everything you know about her father, his name for starters and then everything else.”
“I don’t know why it matters, he may not even be your father but she told me his name was Brett… Rose, I assume, since she apparently gave you his last name,” Estelle says. “Your mother met him when he was on temporary leave from the military. They were attending the same wedding of mutual friends or so I was told. She was barely eighteen at the time, yet he gave her alcohol and then took her back to his hotel room for the night. She came home the next morning completely hung over and refused to tell us who she was with. It wasn’t until she told us she was pregnant, a few months later, that she finally revealed his identity. Your grandfather tried to locate him, but he had already been shipped overseas and was not scheduled to be returned to the states for several years.”
“So that’s how he ruined her life? By having sex with her and leaving, not knowing she was pregnant?” Kenzie asks.
“In a way, yes,” Estelle answers. “Your mother was supposed to get married; everything was arranged—”
“Wait… arranged? Like an arranged marriage?” Kenzie interrupts.
“UGH, don’t you know how rude it is to interrupt young lady?”
“Estelle!” Donald exclaims.
“Don’t you—” I jump in.
“Don’t you know how rude it is to blame a child for her parents’ actions her entire life? To take your own anger out on them, when they didn’t do anything to deserve it? To constantly put down a child, who had already been through so much? Don’t you dare stand here and act all high and mighty with me,” Kenzie spits.
“Yes, the marriage was arranged,” a few minutes pass before Estelle resumes her story. “Avery was to marry the son of a prominent business man in California, which would have brought the two companies together. This had been arranged for years; they had been dating since she was sixteen and he was scheduled to propose marriage to her after she graduated from high school. Only, by then, we had learned she was pregnant, which negated the entire arrangement. I mean, who would want to marry a pregnant eighteen-year-old? No matter how much money your grandfather offered, the man refused to take the responsibility on for another man’s child. And your mother stupidly waited too long to tell us she was pregnant to terminate the pregnancy. She refused to consider adoption, which would have allowed the arranged marriage to continue.”
A small noise catches my attention, normally Carter would be waiting outside with Hunter, but I think there was so much tension in the group that he felt it necessary to stay in the room. He’s standing at the door, keeping an eye on the situation, but I have no doubt he can hear everything that is said. While I would prefer it be Kenzie’s decision what he knows about her past, she hasn’t indicated dissatisfaction with him being in here.
“Let me see if I understand this correctly,” I try to process everything that Estelle just revealed. “Because Kenzie’s mother accidently became pregnant and refused to put the baby up for adoption, you thought that gave you the right to take your anger out on Kenzie when she came to live with you?”
“Surely a successful businessman, like yourself can understand what was lost by the failed marriage—”
“Because of a business deal? That’s how you’re explaining your behavior?” Kenzie asks. “A fucking business deal?!?!”
“It wasn’t just a business deal,” Estelle snaps. “It was our entire future—it was everything my husband had worked for his entire life! We weren’t able to have any other children, which meant that Avery’s husband would be the only one who could take over for my husband when he was ready to retire. Instead she meets some… private in the Army…”
I watch Carter’s fists clench and unclench, as we all heard the distaste and lack of respect in her voice, for someone who served in our military. It’s obvious money and reputation is the only thing this woman cares about; if I hadn’t already lost all respect for the woman already, that would have done it right there.
“You do understand that all enlisted men start off as privates, right?” Donald asks. “Including myself.”
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Estelle tries to back pedal when she realizes her glaring mistake. “I just meant that as opposed to the son of a successful businessman, who was a Yale graduate…”
“That’s how my father ruined my mother?” Kenzie asks, shocked.
“Yes! Her entire life was set, before she met him that night—her life would have been absolutely perfect! Instead, she ends up pregnant and alone with no one to support her. She took you and ran away one night and it was years before we heard from her again and only then, it was to call and beg us for help.”
“You didn’t help her, did you? I didn’t even know
you existed until the caseworker told me she tracked you down,” Kenzie says.
“No, I didn’t help her! It was her decision to keep you; it was her decision to ruin the life we had planned for her. I told her to call your father and tell him he needed to own up to his responsibility; he should have been the one to help her–not us!”
“Did she contact him?”
“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Avery insisted she tracked him down, but he was still overseas at the time. She claimed he was going to start sending her money and once he returned they would be married.”
“What happened?”
“He was killed in action a few months later.”
“So they never saw each other again?”
“Not that I know of. She called me a few days later asking for help, but as I told her: she made her bed, it was time for her to lay in it.”
“You set her up for failure! She had nothing beyond a high school education and was a single parent with no support. How the hell was she going to make it on her own?” Kenzie fires back.
“It was the decision she made when she decided to keep you. I only stepped in when I absolutely had to—”
“After she died and I had been living alone in a shitty trailer for weeks by myself! You have no idea the life we lived! She was drunk and high all the time; we constantly moved from place to place because she couldn’t keep a job to save her life. She jumped from man to man trying to find someone who would take care of her. God… you have no idea what our life was like! You could have made things so much better, if you just offered the help she was asking for. It didn’t have to be like that… it could have been so different.”
Estelle doesn’t respond, but the look on her face is anything but surprise, and I immediately realize without a doubt that she knew how they were living. My stomach revolts with the idea that this woman allowed her own flesh and blood to live in the conditions that Kenzie has shared with me. I may not know everything, but I know enough that anyone who had seen where she lived should have stepped in and done something about it. Instead, she allowed her granddaughter to suffer at the hands of her drunk mother and the various men she allowed into her home.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I ask, Estelle immediately looks away, confirming what I already knew.
“You knew?!?!?” Kenzie exclaims. “All those years of living in different shitholes with little food, sometimes no heat or electric, with all those… men… you knew?”
“From time to time, I would I hire a PI to check in on you both. I knew the conditions my daughter was living in—”
“And you didn’t think to do anything about it? Hell, you could have at least called child protective services who would have done something!”
“Your mother made her choice, it was her life to live.”
“But it wasn’t my choice! I didn’t have a choice in how I lived!”
“Again, Mackenzie you are being so dramatic,” Estelle sighs heavily, shaking her head.
“Estelle, ENOUGH!” Donald speaks up. “Mrs. Parker, is there anything else you would like to know? Do you have any other questions you would like answered?”
“No, I’m finished here,” Kenzie says firmly.
“Mr. Parker, I would like to thank you for your time tonight,” Donald shakes my hand with a look of determination on his face. “If you don’t mind, I would like to reach out to you sometime next week to discuss PFS’s proposal—”
“Donald, with all due respect, my decision from earlier remains. PFS will not be associated with individuals who abused children.”
“Abuse? I never—”
“Shut up, Estelle!” Donald snaps. “I completely understand and assure you, that when I speak with you again, I will no longer be associated with a child abuser. I still think PFS is the best option—”
“What are you saying?” Estelle gasps.
“I told you to keep quiet! If you won’t listen, and you want to further air your dirty laundry in front of these lovely people, then so be it. I have already contacted my attorney to begin divorce proceedings—”
“DIVORCE!?!?! Because of what this little BITCH is saying, you’re going to divorce me? You’re going—”
“You need to listen to your husband and shut up, Estelle, before I have my team physically remove you from this room. I have listened to you long enough today; I will not continue to allow you to put down my wife. She is a wonderful, beautiful person who has done nothing wrong in her entire life. She never deserved the life her mother gave her nor did she deserve the life that you gave her—”
“I gave her everything she needed! She went to one of the best high schools, attended college, she had a roof over her head and three meals to eat every day!”
“A child deserves more than to be treated like a prisoner! You made her sleep in a god damn closet, even though you had plenty of guest bedrooms she could have slept in. You left more scars on her than her fucking abusive ex did, even though you were her flesh and blood! Don’t you dare try to stand here and pretend you gave her the perfect life that she deserved,” I’m livid, utterly and completely livid. How dare this woman try to justify what she did.
“Nicholas, I’d like to leave now,” Kenzie says.
“Of course, baby,” with a protective arm around her waist, I lead her to the door where Carter is waiting for us. I have to give the man credit, he no doubt overheard everything, yet his face remains as passive as it always is. The only sign that anything is getting to him is his clenched fists by his side.
“You can’t divorce me, Donald! You can’t! I’ll have nothing—” I hear Estelle beg as we walk out of the meeting room before the door closes firmly behind us.
The car ride and subsequent elevator ride are quiet. Kenzie doesn’t say a word but leans against me with her head on my chest letting me simply hold her. I feel like I should say something, that I need to say something, but I have no idea what to say. Although, I could care less about Carter and Hunter being here with us, I know she wouldn’t want to talk about anything with them here. When the elevator doors open, she allows me to guide her down the hall as she leans on me. A nod to Jacobs confirms the room is secure, within minutes we are alone in the room.
“Kenzie… I’m so sorry how tonight ended up. I never expected Estelle to have been there—”
“It’s not your fault,” she walks to kitchen and helps herself to another glass of wine. “Actually, even though tonight was nothing what I expected, I’m still glad we came.”
“Really?”
“I learned so much tonight: my father’s name, how my parents met, what really happened to him. And maybe, if what my mother told her was true, a glimpse of the type of man he was. I didn’t know anything about him before tonight.”
“I’ve requested a background check on him, so we should have more information by morning—”
“Really? We’ll know more about him that fast?”
“Basic information, who his parents are, whether or not he had any family, that sort of thing. A more in-depth report will be available in forty-eight hours. It’s not much, but it might help… you know more about the type of man he was.”
“Thank you, Nicholas.”
“Of course,” I wrap my arms around her and pull her close so her head is on my chest. Her arms automatically wrap around my waist, anchoring me to her.
“Nicholas?”
“Hmmmm?”
“I’d like you to take me out of this dress now,” she whispers so quietly, I’m forced to ask myself whether or not I heard her correctly. It only takes a split second for me to remember her promise earlier in the evening, when I asked her why we were even leaving the room when she looked as beautiful and sexy as she does right now.
“Kenzie,” I sigh letting my hands run over the silk fabric that hugs her curves so perfectly. “Baby… you’ve had a rough night and you drank quite a bit… we don’t need to do this—”
“I’m not drunk, I know exactly what I’m do
ing right now. I need… I need you to make me feel better; I need for you to erase everything that seeing her reminded me of tonight. Please, Nicholas... I need you.”
Chapter 38
Kenzie
“Sweetheart,” he whispers just before his lips find mine. His arms wrap around me waist, holding me tight against him. The kiss is gentle, sweet and full of emotion, quickly taking my breath away along with everything that happened tonight. Within seconds the only thing that matters is Nicholas…
“Are you sure, baby?” he asks when his fingers find the zipper at the side of my dress.
“Please.”
His fingers tease my skin as he slowly lowers the zipper of the dress. With his lips never leaving mine, he gently tugs the straps of the gown down my arms, which has it pooling on the floor within seconds.
“I’ve been wondering if you had any panties on under this dress all night,” he takes a step back from me so he can take in the barely there fabric covering my sex. The dress was well fitted but thankfully included panties that wouldn’t show lines. Essentially, it’s a piece of very thin black string that goes around my waist and between my ass cheeks before connecting to a very small piece of black lace that barely covers my sex.
“Turn around,” Nicholas requests and I do so slowly, letting him take everything in. “Hell, those have got to be the sexiest panties I’ve ever seen.”
I laugh and blush at the same time at his bluntness; he takes my hand so I can step out of the dress before leading me to the bedroom. I sit on the edge of the bed, leaning down to take off my shoes when Nicholas stops me and guides me back up to him.
“Leave them on,” his lips are on mine before I can respond. I moan when he sucks my lip into his mouth while pressing his erection against my sex. The entire room seems to heat up, as our breathing increases and our desires begin to take over. Reaching between us, I unbutton his shirt before sliding it down his shoulders. He quickly tosses it to the side before lifting me onto the bed, laying me down so he is over me. He alternates between kissing, sucking and nibbling at my skin as he slowly makes his way down my body. Taking his time, he slowly makes his way to the panties he admired only a short time ago. His mouth is on me with only the thin fabric of the panties is separating us. I moan as he teases me with them, the material rubbing against my bare skin. My hips come off the bed… either as an offering or because I’m begging him for more.
On Her Terms (The Arrangement Duet Book 2) Page 34