by Karen Deen
“No, Daddy, you knew what my life would be. You want my answer? You’re right, it needs no thought.” I take a deep breath and relax my shoulders. This is my life. I need to live it my way. “I’m marrying Mason. Not a doubt in my mind. I love him with a love I’ve never known. One day we will walk down the aisle in a big white wedding, like little princess girls dream of. We may even have a child or two. Who knows, but what I do know is that this is my decision. Not yours, not Mason’s, but mine. I choose to marry the man I love, not be married to my work. That doesn’t mean anything has to change with the business, nor will it. So, there’s your answer, Daddy. Are you happy now that you pushed when you should have listened and worked through this? There is so much more to tell you; now you get to choose whether or not you will stop being stubborn and sit here and listen, if you will bother to get to know Mason like I do.”
This is like being in a boardroom. My nerves are going crazy on the inside, yet on the outside I’m not giving anything away. It’s like a standoff. Neither of us is prepared to give in. My father looks a little shocked at everything I’ve just said and the fact that I haven’t backed down yet.
I reach out the olive branch.
“Please, Daddy, you need to hear what I have to say. Then if you still don’t like it, you can leave and start whatever actions you need to remove me from the company.”
Storming to the table, he mumbles to himself under his breath, “That’s not happening. No one run’s my company except my daughter. So, we need to sort this farce quickly.” Taking his seat, he clasps his hands together on the table.
Shit, I’m not prepared for this. I wanted time to get straight what I wanted to say. He has taken that choice away from me.
Feeling Mason’s hand on my lower back, a sense of calm comes over me.
“You’ve got this, baby, I’m here with you the whole way.” His quiet whisper is enough to let me know I’m not alone. Although determined to do this myself, it’s good to know he has my back.
I sit down opposite my father in the chair Mason pulls out for me.
“Daddy, I will always love you more than anything, and I’m so eternally grateful for you taking care of me. Being my father and giving me the gift of being your daughter. No matter what happens in my life, that will never change.” I take a little breath.
“I know it’s only ever been the two of us. You shared your love and all the knowledge and skills I needed to be your successor. I’ve loved every minute of it. But there is a part of me that yearns for more. The last few weeks with Mason have shown me a life I never knew. Laughter, fun, being crazy and reckless but in a good way.”
“Hmmm,” he growls at the thought of me being crazy and reckless.
“I know you have wanted only the best for me all my life and made my decisions for me. To protect me. I’m not that little girl anymore. I don’t need you to make my decisions. I will always want you there for advice and guidance, but I’ve got this, Daddy. This life thing, I can do it on my own.”
“You make your own decisions and look what happens,” he snarls. “You have a boyfriend who wants to boss you around and punish you. He better not be a man like that movie that everyone talked about. You know, with that Grey man.” Both Mason and I burst out laughing. I can’t help myself. My dad looks angry at our reaction, but I can’t help it. I quickly get myself back under control.
“No, Daddy, Mason is nothing like that. I’m also concerned why an eighty-one-year-old man knows anything about BDSM, but let’s leave that alone, shall we.” Mason is choking next to me. “Mason is my pilot, that’s how we met.”
“Oh, good lord, so he’s after your money. Well, bad luck, I have it all tied up.”
“Not one single dollar. I don’t need your money nor want any of it. I’m in love with your daughter, not her money,” Mason booms. “I take offence to that, sir.”
“That’s enough, both of you.” This is going to take forever if they keep butting in.
“He captains my plane and keeps me safe every time we are in the air. We’ve had a connection for many months, but we both tried to keep our distance because of the working environment. It just got too hard. We have a good relationship and need to be together.”
I wait for a comment from him, but he stays quiet.
“Being with Mason does not affect my working life for one single moment. You can drop that line of thought before you even start. We are both professionals and can keep our work and personal lives separate.”
“Gee, look how well that worked, keeping things separate, when you’re here together like this. How separate did you keep it?”
“Oh, for god’s sake, Daddy. You aren’t even listening.” My frustration is rising rapidly. Mason puts his hand on my leg under the table to help ground me.
“I’m listening, but all I’m hearing is waffling, Paige.”
“Sir, with all due respect, this is really hard for Paige. What she’s asking you to do is listen, not only to the words she’s saying but also the ones she’s not. Please let her finish.” My heart leaps at the support he’s giving me. He’s not trying to step in but instead gives me the confidence and space to do this on my own.
“Daddy, what I’m telling you is I’m in love with Mason. I love my career and the company. I’m not giving any of them up. I can live a life and have them all. I know you don’t think I can, but for the first time in my life, I’m making the decision on this. You don’t control the company anymore. I do. You trusted me to run it, so you need to continue to do that.” The look on his face is actually one of shock right now. He’s not used to me laying down the rules.
“Paige,” he says, his voice softening a little.
“I know you were never lucky enough to find your love, and you replaced that void with me. For that I’m grateful. But didn’t you do all this so I would be happy?”
He nods.
“Well, Mason makes me so happy. He protects me and makes me feel safe and secure.” I lean across the table to takes his hands in mine. “Do you think you can at least try to get to know Mason and see how amazing he is? Please, it’s important to me.” I see the moment his fight breaks a little, and my whole body feels the tension start to dissipate.
“Mr. Ellen, I love your daughter more than I ever thought it possible to love another person. I promise you right now that I will lay down my life to protect her, love her until the day I die, and try never to hurt her. What you heard as we came in was just a little fun between two adults who are madly in love, and with that comes…”
“Son, I’m struggling here, I suggest you don’t finish that sentence. All I’m going to say to you is this. I’m not happy about it, but I will try to tolerate it, just for my Paige. But know this, I may be an old man. But if I find out you have hurt her in any way, I will kill you. Finishing my life in jail won’t be a problem if it means I have killed the man who hurt my daughter.”
Mason leans over the table to shake his hand.
“That’s a deal, sir, and I totally respect that.” They give each other the chin lift. Like a bro code.
“Oh my god! Daddy, you did not just say that. You can’t go around threatening to kill people just because you’re old. Seriously! I’m thirty-nine years old. I’m not a little girl anymore. Stop with the melodrama. Now, can I get you a drink so we can talk about what you’re doing here on a Saturday afternoon unannounced?”
“Let me do that, baby. What can I get you, sir?” Mason stands and rests his hand on my shoulder.
“Jonathon, although I enjoy the sir, Paige will yell at me. Please call me Jonathon. I’ll have a soda water with a wedge of lemon. The stupid doctor won’t let me have alcohol yet. So damn Beth has locked up the liquor. That woman is so bossy.”
Mason and I share a look. I know we’re both thinking the same thing. Maybe he has known love.
“She’s just looking after you, which I appreciate. I love Beth and will always be grateful how caring she is in everything she’s done for us. You can
’t deny you love her too.” His eyes pop a little wider, then mumbles something and ends the discussion as Mason places his drink in front of him.
“Can I get you a wine, baby?”
It’s been a long day. After thinking for a moment, I say, “A vodka. Wine just won’t cut it this afternoon.” Smiling and rising his eyebrows, I know what he’s thinking. A tipsy Paige is a fun Paige, or so he tells me.
Trying to keep the conversation light for a moment, we talk about the weather and how he’s feeling. Once he’s settled in then I want to know what is going on.
“Daddy, why did you come to see me this afternoon and not call? What’s going on?” He sits back in his chair looking at us both. Back and forwards.
“One of the staff may have let it slip you have a man that you were seeing. I wanted to know what was going on. Why you hadn’t told me. I don’t like secrets, Paige, or finding out private things from the staff.”
I can feel the hair on my neck raising.
“Who told you?”
“That doesn’t matter now. I just would have liked to hear it from you.”
“I’m sorry, it all happened quickly, and you were very sick. I knew initially when I told you that I would get the negative reaction, just like I did today. I couldn’t risk that with your health.”
My head is torn about sharing everything else that is happening in the company. I’ve always hated keeping things from him, but I just don’t know if it’s a risk to what we have already planned to try to catch out Tyson.
Mason reaches over and puts his arm around me. This man reads me like a book, even when my pages are blank.
“It’s time, Paige, you need to share it all. He deserves to know.”
I know he’s right. Just how do you tell your father the business he has worked so hard to build is being attacked from the inside? It’s going to be the biggest kick in the guts.
“God, Paige, don’t tell me you’re pregnant. I’m not sure how much more I can handle today. I’m an old man, or so you have reminded me.”
Mason and I look at each other and smile a stupid grin. I mean, it’s not impossible. I’m on the pill, but with the amount we’ve been having sex, there is only so much modern medicine can hold back.
“No, I can confirm that’s not the case. Although it would be far better than what I’m about to tell you.” His face drops a little, showing me how old he really is. While his mind is still active and strong, his body is starting to fail him.
“I don’t like the sound of this.”
“No, you won’t, but just let me tell you everything before you let loose, okay?”
“I can’t guarantee that, but I’ll try.”
I proceed to tell him the whole story and what we know so far. How Uncle Franco is involved and helping me with the investigation. That we made the decision together, not to tell him until he was strong enough to cope with it. True to his promise, he doesn’t say anything. Just sits there showing all the emotions; anger, shock, hurt, and confusion. All of which I have been feeling from the moment I first found out.
“I know how you feel. It’s eating me up alive too. I just don’t understand why Tyson is doing this and why us?”
Finally, my father speaks in his calm and quiet voice. “I wish you had told me earlier, but I understand why you didn’t. The hurt in my heart is intense. What have we ever done to him that deserves what he is doing to the company? I’ve always operated my business by not attacking others. Been ethical and never underhanded. I just don’t understand.” He looks every one of his eighty-one years, sitting at my table.
Mason walks away and pours him a small scotch. “No matter what the doctor said, I think this will do you more good than harm right now.” Looking up at Mason, my father for the first time since we walked in really sees him. The kind man he is.
“Thank you, Mason, I think you may be right.”
Taking a sip, he closes his eyes as it slides down his throat. I can tell he’s struggling with everything that has happened today.
“Daddy, you have to promise me you won’t talk to anyone about this or try to do anything. We are close to this plan being implemented so you need to leave it to us.”
After another sip of his scotch, he looks across at me.
“Paige, I hate to admit this, but I have to let you handle this. I’m actually too old to cope with this. To digest it all and handle the stress.” He laughs to himself. “I bet you never thought you would hear that from me, did you?”
My heart is in my throat. The worry I’ve had for the last few weeks while he was sick are finally coming true. My father is an old man. He needs to be cared for and enjoy his old age. Although he can still be part of the business on a general level, he can’t be part of the stress that goes with it.
“I should be doing a happy dance that you are finally realizing your limits and letting me run things how I need to. But Daddy, you have always been part of every element of this business. I don’t know how to do this without you.” Until this minute, I didn’t realize the fear of being completely on my own.
“I didn’t raise you to be weak, Paige. You are a strong woman and the most accomplished and admired business owner I know. You don’t need me, you haven’t for the last ten years. It was me that needed you. I wasn’t ready for the scrap pile or to feel useless. So, I kept pushing you to live a life that didn’t allow anyone else into it, except me. I made you need me. I’m sorry, Paigey. That was wrong of me. Who am I to deny you love? Just watching Mason and you together, I know I need to step aside and let another man take the reins of being your man to lean on.”
Tears are flowing fast down my cheeks again. This is becoming an annoying habit. Mason’s arm is tight around me. I feel his love, and in my father’s eyes I see his. With all the bad things that are happening, there is so much love around me, and I’m blessed in this life. Standing, I walk to my father and wrap my arms around him, hugging with all my might. One day he won’t be able to hug me back, so I will cherish every day he still can.
“We will get them, Daddy. I promise. These bastards won’t get away with it.”
I hear Mason move behind me.
“I promise I will keep her safe through all this too, Jonathon. You have my word. I will kill him before I let him touch her.”
My father laughs at Mason. “You did good, Paigey. He knows the most important asset in his life. You!”
“Damn straight she is.”
As I pull away from Dad and stand, Mason wraps me into his arms, comforting me.
“Enough of this mushy stuff,” I huff. “You’re both supposed to be these hard-ass men, yet here you are making me cry. Time for a subject change.” Giving myself space to breathe and collect my thoughts, I walk into the kitchen to get some water. Behind me, I can hear Mason talking to my father about sports. Finding out what he follows and who his favorite teams are.
Leaning on the counter, I take in everything that’s just happened. I knew eventually he would accept a boyfriend. I forgot, though, that Mason—who can charm anyone instantly—would have my dad wrapped around his little finger within ten minutes.
Thank god. I don’t know what I would’ve done if that hadn’t happened.
Now to concentrate on catching Tyson and fixing this mess once and for all.
~
“Do you think your father will object to a wedding next week?”
“Not a chance, Mason. You haven’t even proposed. Plus, I want the big white fairytale wedding. Not happening in a week.”
I’m lying on his chest in bed late after my father finally left. It was like he knew we were going to have sex as soon as he left.
He was right.
He hung around for what seemed like forever.
We’d been wound up since we arrived at home, so as soon as the elevator door closed, Mason was on me. My hands were stripping him, while he was taking what he could from under my clothes.
We couldn’t wait. Mason needed to fuck me and reinforce that
he is my man. I needed to just feel him and nothing else. I just wanted to be taken away to that place where he makes my body sing.
“Why are you worrying what my father will want? You’re not marrying my dad.”
“Thank god, because it would be weird to be marrying Jonathon while I’m fucking his daughter.” He’s laughing at his own jokes again.
“Oh my god, what a visual that just gave me. Not one I ever want to see again. You need to give me something else to think about.” I flutter my eyelids at him.
“The next thing you’re thinking about is food. You need to feed me, woman. I need recharging, you drained every bit of energy out of me.”
“Literally.” I giggle.
“Yes, Tiger. Literally. Now, let’s order some food, and then I can test out this bath of yours. With bubbles. It looked very inviting the last time I saw it,” he says with a smirk.
“It wasn’t the bath that was inviting to you. It was the drunk naked girl in it.” I roll my eyes at him.
“Drunk? I didn’t notice. I just thought she deliberately fell out of the bath to get my attention.”
“Yep, let’s go with that answer, shall we.” Laughing, I reach for my phone.
“What do you feel like eating?” Opening the app, we scroll through the choices.
“I could really go for some pasta, you know, good energy food. I have a busy late night scheduled tonight.” His hands slowly slide up the outside of my thigh.
“Hmm what makes you think that?” I pretend not to be affected by the sensation creeping up my legs.
“This.”
Squealing, I drop my phone as he rolls on top of me, growling like an animal as he takes my breast in his mouth, and at the same time, his fingers are on my folds. He swipes one finger from bottom to top while I moan out load.
“You can’t deny you don’t want to play some more. You can try to trick me with your words, but your body never lies to me, Paige.” What words, I can’t even think.
“Mmm… play now, eat later,” I mumble
“That’s what I thought. I’ll just use my reserve energy. I’m not missing out on another chance to hear you scream my name.”