He arrived while the place was still abandoned and dark, even the most conscientious employees still tucked up in their beds. He turned on his computer, settled back in his chair and lost himself in emails and memos and contracts for as long as he could.
By the time the sun was fully up, he’d caught up on everything that had happened since he’d left for Italy. He almost wished he hadn’t spent so much time keeping on top of his emails when he was away—it would have given him more of a distraction now, when he needed it.
And more time to spend with Helena, before everything he’d thought they were building together came crashing down.
‘So, you made it back.’ His father’s creaky voice jerked Flynn out of his own dark thoughts. He looked up to see the old man standing in his doorway, staring down at him the same way he’d always done when Flynn’s school reports came in, however good they were. ‘I heard tell you’d cut short your honeymoon. I assume you got your wife to sign the papers, as we discussed?’
Of course, that was all he was concerned about. His best friend and business partner was in hospital, his own wife hadn’t left the man’s side, but all Ezekiel Ashton cared about was paperwork.
Exactly what Helena had accused Flynn of.
‘Helena’s father just suffered a massive heart attack. Last I heard, he still hadn’t woken up. Forgive me for not pressing her on the formalities just yet.’ His voice sounded icy-cold, even to his own ears, but Flynn wondered how much he was speaking to his father and how much to himself. He wanted this sorted as much as the old man did.
He wanted it finished so he could move past the ache that never seemed to leave his chest.
‘I understand that Thomas has the only woman he needs dancing attendance on him already.’ There was bitterness in Ezekiel’s voice, deeper than Flynn had heard from him before. ‘I’m sure his daughter is superfluous to the proceedings.’
‘She’s in love with him, you know. Mum, I mean.’ Flynn didn’t say it to wound. Just to see if his father would react. If he could even feign surprise this late in the game.
‘Of course she is,’ Ezekiel scoffed. ‘Any fool could see that for the last ten years or more. But she never left me, did she? She always knew I could give her more.’
Flynn thought about his mother’s face, careworn in a way he’d never seen it as she’d brushed her hand against Thomas’s cheek. ‘She might now, I think.’
‘Then she’s more of a fool than your brother and your runaway bride put together.’
‘Actually,’ Flynn said, ‘I’m starting to think that Thea and Zeke were the only ones to get things right in all this.’
Ezekiel’s blank expression told Flynn all he needed to know. His father would never understand love—not the way that Flynn hoped to understand it one day.
‘Get that post-nuptial agreement to me by the end of the week,’ Ezekiel said before turning and walking away.
Flynn stared after him long after he had gone. Whatever happened next with him and Helena, it wouldn’t be about paperwork, not any more. It wouldn’t be a schedule or a plan.
He couldn’t love a woman who couldn’t love her own child; it was as simple and as hard as that. Couldn’t trust a woman who had lied, and left a helpless baby behind, not to do the same to him when it suited her. And no amount of planning or paperwork could change that.
* * *
Helena awoke from dozing in her chair at the sound of a phone ringing. It took a moment for her to identify it as hers, and longer to find and answer it.
‘Helena? It’s Henry. I wanted to let you know that I got hold of your sister. She’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as her flight gets in tonight.’
‘I’ll be there.’ She wiped the sleep from her eyes and tried to focus. ‘Thanks, Henry.’
Dropping the phone into her lap, she stretched her arms up above her head, trying to relieve the ache in her shoulders. It was almost six; Flynn would be home before too long, she assumed, and she wanted to be out of the way again before that happened.
She bit her lip and stared at the mass of paper in her lap, no longer neatly clipped together and numbered, but loose and covered in her messy scrawl that grew less intelligible by the word. It would probably never make sense to another person, and she wasn’t even sure she could take it with her and look at it every day without remembering the day she hadn’t signed it. But she’d written it, and somehow that felt like enough.
Leaving the agreement on Flynn’s desk, Helena grabbed a few of her things, packing a bag with some changes of clothes and the basic necessities. She’d need to come back sooner rather than later, but it would see her through the next day at least. Isabella might have moved her stuff here, but Helena knew she couldn’t stay. She’d figure something else out.
So, with only a brief glance back at the manifesto she’d written, Helena Ashton straightened her hair and clothes and silently slipped out of the house that should have been her home.
It was time to move on.
* * *
The hospital room looked almost exactly as she had left it. Thomas still lay peacefully sleeping, the heart monitor beeping at his side, and Isabella sat in the armchair beside him, pretending to read a magazine. Helena thought she might still be on the same page she’d been staring at that morning.
‘No change?’ she asked from the door, and Isabella’s head jerked up at the sound of her voice.
‘He woke up earlier. Not for very long. But he seemed himself. He...was glad I was here.’ The relief in Isabella’s voice was palpable and Helena felt the knot in her middle start to loosen, just a touch.
‘That’s great. That’s...wonderful.’ Helena sank down into the other, less comfortable chair in the room. She might not be sure how she felt about her father right now—beyond furious and hurt—but she wasn’t ready to lose the only parent she had left. Not yet. And not before she’d figured out what to make of her relationship with him.
‘Henry called earlier,’ Helena said, smoothing down the edge of Thomas’s sheets, even though they didn’t need it. ‘Thea’s on her way—presumably with Zeke; I didn’t ask. She’ll be here tonight.’
Isabella froze, the lines of her shoulders and neck suddenly sharp. ‘I must admit, I didn’t expect to see them again so soon.’
‘I imagine they feel the same.’
Helena had assumed that everyone would have had time to get over the wedding fallout before they were all together again. That she and Flynn would be happily living their lives and Thea’s runaway bride act could become a near-miss, a funny story to tell at dinner parties. Can you believe how wrong we nearly got this? Thea almost married Flynn! Isn’t that crazy?
But not now. Now, those conversations would go very differently indeed. And Helena had been so preoccupied with the idea of having her big sister here, where she belonged, where she needed her, that she hadn’t even thought about what she was going to say. How she was going to explain what had happened since she’d left.
Or how other people would feel to see her.
Their father had been furiously disappointed in Thea. But surely that would change now? Now that he was lying in a hospital bed with an uncertain future, of course he’d want both his daughters there.
Helena had to believe that or there was no hope for her family at all.
‘I’m going to get coffee,’ Helena said. ‘Do you want coffee?’
Isabella nodded, but her eyes were already fixed on Thomas’s face again.
Three cups of coffee later, Thea arrived in a flurry of activity, sweeping through the hospital as if she were back in her power suit and high heels instead of the floaty sundress she was actually wearing. Zeke followed in her wake, grim-faced and suitcase in hand.
Their father was sleeping again, so Thea quizzed his doctors more thoroughly than Isabella or Helena had m
anaged. Helena waited outside while Zeke spoke with his mother and Thea asked more questions.
Then they stepped out of the room again and Helena felt the weight on her shoulders start to lift.
‘You’re here.’ Helena stared at her sister across the hospital corridor. ‘You came.’ And then she burst into tears.
* * *
‘Okay, so I was gone less than a week,’ Thea said, putting her arm around Helena’s shoulders. Helena resisted the urge to snuggle up to her like a toddler, but only just. ‘Explain to me exactly how everything went up in smoke in my absence?’
‘Firstly, it is not my fault that Dad had a heart attack,’ Helena said. ‘Or that Isabella appears to have left Ezekiel and moved into Dad’s house.’
Thea blinked. ‘Okay, well, that’s a start. What is your fault, then?’
This was the big one. Helena almost wished she didn’t have to tell her. Thea looked so relaxed, so happy—and at least five years younger. It was amazing what love could do, Helena thought, as Zeke brought over more coffee and a couple of plates of sandwiches. The hospital dining area was nicer than Helena had imagined it would be, even in a private hospital. Too nice, in fact, for the scene she was pretty sure it was about to witness.
She took a breath.
‘I married Flynn.’
‘You what?’ Zeke swore as he spilt boiling coffee over his hand. ‘Give a guy some warning for that kind of news, will you?’
‘Sorry.’ Helena flashed him a quick smile then turned her attention back to Thea.
Her sister’s eyes were wide and disbelieving. ‘Why? Did Dad make you? Or Isabella?’
‘It was my idea,’ Helena told her. ‘All mine. After you left, when I thought about actually having to go down there and tell everyone the wedding was off, this seemed like a better option.’ It sounded stupid out loud, Helena thought.
‘A...better option? After you spent weeks—months!—telling me to get out, that I couldn’t marry someone I didn’t love.’ Thea sounded outraged at the very idea.
‘I know. I know. But it was different for me.’
‘Different—how?’ Zeke asked, frowning. But Thea’s eyes had gone wide and sad, and she touched her fingertips to her lips as she said, ‘Oh, Helena. You loved him.’
Helena shook her head. ‘Not at the start. It wasn’t that simple. I mean, maybe I never got over that crush I had when I was fourteen, not totally, but I wasn’t planning on basing a marriage on that. I thought, since there was no contract, we could just get a quiet little divorce once the scandal died down. I knew he wanted kids and I...can’t think about that. So I knew it couldn’t work out. But then...he convinced me it could be more. That we could have a future together, have everything he was supposed to have with you.’
‘Want me to kill him?’ Zeke asked Thea conversationally. ‘I gave that man everything he wanted—the company, mostly, admittedly—and he took Helena too. I can kill him.’
‘I’d...rather you didn’t,’ Helena said. ‘Even after everything.’
‘Tell me about “everything”,’ Thea instructed. ‘And, Zeke, stop interrupting.’
‘I don’t even know how to describe it. I can’t say what changed. We talked a lot. I learned a lot—about him, about how he grew up. He bought me a ring.’ Her gaze jumped down to her left hand, where only the too tight wedding band remained. ‘I fell in love.’
‘So what went wrong?’ Thea asked. ‘Because, given that this all happened over the course of the last week and you’ve been crying pretty much constantly since I arrived, I’m figuring it has to be big. Tell me, so I can fix it.’
Helena gave her a watery smile. ‘You can’t fix this one, Thea.’
‘Watch me try.’
‘I couldn’t sign the post-nuptial agreement Henry brought over. It had a line in it...I had to swear that I had no children.’
‘Oh.’ Thea’s eyes closed as she listened.
‘So I had to tell him about...’ Helena swallowed. ‘I told him I was sixteen, I had a baby and I gave her away.’
‘What did he say?’ Zeke asked, his voice tense.
‘He called me a monster.’ Helena shrugged. She figured that covered the basics.
‘Okay, now I really am going to kill him.’ Zeke was on his feet before Thea grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
‘Did you explain? What happened to you?’ Thea’s gaze focused so tightly on Helena’s face that she squirmed under the attention.
‘I didn’t get into details, no.’ Helena sighed. ‘I don’t think it would make any difference, anyway.’
‘If he knew you were raped?’ Zeke shook his head. ‘You’re wrong. My brother might be an idiot but...it makes a difference.’
‘Does it really?’ Helena wasn’t sure if she was asking them or herself. ‘I put myself in that position. I went there, I got drunk and they told me I said yes. And I know, in my head, that they were wrong—that they abused me and they committed a crime. I know that, I do. But...’
‘But?’ Thea pressed when Helena stopped.
‘But I was the one who couldn’t love that child, no matter how she came into the world. And that’s what I know he’ll never forgive me for.’
The tears came again then. Thea wrapped her arms around her, and Helena clung to her big sister like a lifeline.
Thea couldn’t fix this one, she knew. But maybe having her there would be enough to help her through it.
‘You need to tell him, sweetheart,’ Thea murmured against her hair. ‘He deserves to know everything.’
‘I know,’ Helena whispered back. Because not telling Flynn everything had got her into this mess. And maybe it wouldn’t make a difference—maybe she didn’t even want it to. But if she ever wanted to move past this, she had to get it all out.
And then leave it behind.
‘I’ll go with you,’ Zeke said. ‘We can pick up the rest of your stuff while we’re there.’
Helena nodded, grateful to have someone else making the decisions for a while.
‘You can do this.’ Thea tucked a finger under Helena’s chin, making her look up into her eyes. ‘And I will be right here for you, every step of the way.’
Helena gave another shaky nod. Thea was right.
She’d survived worse than this, with her sister beside her. And she’d survive it again.
She turned to Zeke. ‘Then let’s go and get this over with.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
FLYNN IGNORED THE knock on the door the first time. He’d already spoken to Henry at the office, dealt with his father and phoned his mother. Anyone else could go jump as far as he was concerned.
But, by the third knock, even Flynn had to admit that whoever it was didn’t seem to be going away.
He wrenched the door open and found he couldn’t even muster up any surprise at seeing his brother on his doorstep—or Helena standing just behind him.
‘We’ve come for Helena’s things.’ Zeke glanced at Helena, who seemed to shrink back further, then turned back to Flynn, his jaw set and eyes full of fury. ‘And while she’s packing, you and I are going to have a word.’
The anger that had never been more than a moment away, ever since Thea and Zeke had left, simmered up closer to the surface. ‘I suppose that’s logical. You run off with my fiancée on my wedding day, and you think now is the time to talk.’
Zeke stepped inside and from the corner of his eye Flynn saw Helena slip in behind him, heading for the staircase. He wanted to stare, to take her in one last time, but he wouldn’t let himself. He had to cut her out of his life completely. It was good that she’d come for her things.
‘Nothing about this situation is logical. Flynn—’ Zeke started, but Flynn couldn’t let him finish.
‘So what? You don’t like the mess you left b
ehind so you’re here to whisk Helena away too? What’s wrong with you? Is one sister really not enough?’
He felt the punch before he saw it, the blossoming throb of pain radiating from his cheekbone as Zeke pulled his fist back. The surge of adrenalin had him wanting to return it, to break his brother’s face for coming here after everything that had happened, for acting so righteous. His hands balled up into weapons as he prepared to strike—
Until a small hand grabbed his arm and yanked it back.
‘Stop it. Both of you. Idiots!’ Helena’s cheeks had spots of red in them as she glared at them both. ‘Zeke, I thought you were coming here to support me?’
‘And I thought you were going to do the talking,’ Zeke countered.
Helena’s jaw tightened and Flynn couldn’t help but wonder what it was she still had to say. How could there be anything left?
‘Fine.’ She grabbed a bag from behind her and thrust it into Zeke’s hands. ‘In that case, you go and pack. We’ll be in here when you’re finished.’ She jerked her head towards the door of the library.
Inside, Helena seemed perfectly at home in a room he hadn’t even realised she knew existed. With decisive strides, she made her way to the desk and, grabbing two tumblers, poured them both a whisky. Turning, she handed one to Flynn and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes, even as she ran the show.
She thought he would reject her again, even though she’d sent Zeke upstairs to pack so she could leave him, once and for all. How many more ways were there for them to show each other they weren’t meant to be?
‘Okay, look, this is what’s going to happen here,’ Helena said, clutching her own glass with both hands as she sat down in the chair nearest the desk. Raising his eyebrows, Flynn followed suit, settling into his own chair. ‘I am going to tell you some things. Not because I think you deserve to hear them, and not because I think they’ll change anything.’
‘Then why are you bothering?’ Flynn asked because he had to try and remember which Helena this was now. It was just harder with her sitting right there, blonde and lovely and tired and hurt.
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