by Molly O'Hare
“That sounds like a good place.”
Holly tried to smile, but the gesture fell flat. “First, we need to get some things out of the way.”
Henry looked at her slightly confused. “Okay.”
“I haven’t been honest with you.” Holly took a deep breath.
“What do you mean?” He cocked his head to the side, studying her.
“The bills haven’t been as up-to-date as I would like.”
Both of his brows shot to the ceiling, one slightly higher than the other.
“I’ve fallen behind on everything.” Holly’s head fell in defeat. “I know I should have done better. I’ve disappointed you as a daughter. I should have tried harder.”
Henry pulled her into his arms as tight as he could. “Holly, pumpkin. Don’t say that. Why didn’t you tell me things weren’t going well?”
“I didn’t want to burden you. You’ve taken care of me your whole life. It’s my turn to take care of you.”
“We’re family, Holly. Family sticks together and when one of us is struggling, all of us are struggling.” He kissed the top of her head.
Pulling back, she did her best to look at her father through her watery gaze. “I realize I should have told you, and I’m sorry for keeping everything a secret.” She placed her palm on the side of his face that drooped. “After seeing you struggle after the blood clot, and how hard it was for you to give up something you loved, I couldn’t put you through anything that would hurt you again. I couldn’t see that look of devastation on your face one more time.”
Henry watched her with the pain in his eyes burrowing into her. “So, you took on everything so your old man wouldn’t feel sorry for himself?”
Doing her best to lighten the mood she shrugged, before saying, “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds silly.”
He kissed her head. “It is silly, Pumpkin.”
“I promise to be more honest with you.”
“That’s all I ask for. That’s all any father asks for.”
She pulled herself from her father’s arms, as she took a deep breath. “You might want to sit down, Dad.”
He looked at her quizzically.
“If honesty is what you want, I’m going to tell you everything.”
Her father moved to the kitchen table before sitting. “I’m ready.”
* * *
Ben stormed into Richman Industries. The moment he made it through the lobby, the cold dread he felt anytime he entered the building started to seep in. He did his best to avoid this place. Nothing good ever came from being inside of here.
Making his way past the receptionist, he headed towards the elevator. Thankful, he knew no one in the building would question him.
Stepping into the elevator, he hit the top floor. He knew the layout all too well. As a child, he spent countless days playing at the foot of his father’s feet. This whole building had been his personal playground.
He used to love the days his father took him to work.
Now the thought of stepping one foot inside of Richman Industries made him sick to his stomach.
Reaching the top floor, the elevator doors opened.
He knew exactly where to go. Walking down the short hall, he turned the corner.
“Mr. Richman, it’s so nice to see you again,” his mother’s assistant, greeted.
He took a controlled breath. He wasn’t angry with her assistant, and he refused to take it out on her. “Is Barbra in her office?”
“Yes, your mother is in there.” She beamed at him, doing her best to stick out her chest and entice him, which caused him to roll his eyes.
“She’s no mother of mine.” He blazed past her and threw open the office door.
In front of him sat his mother. With a magazine open on his father’s desk. She had absolutely no right to sit where he sat.
She was a fucking fraud. Always had been, and always will be.
Hearing the door open, Barbra looked from, what he assumed was a fashion magazine, and eyed him. The smug smile that spread across her face sent new waves of anger to course through his body.
“Benjamin, it’s so nice of you to have stopped by,” she sneered while sitting back in the chair.
“Cut the crap, Barbra.”
She should win an award for the fake look of hurt and confusion that swept across her face. “Whatever do you mean?”
He strode towards her. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, mother. I knew you were a slithering bitch, but I never thought you’d stoop so low.”
His mother straightened, her fake act dropped. “Oh son, haven’t you figured it out by now. I will do whatever I need to in order to get what I want?” She smirked at him.
Ben fisted his hands at his sides, trying to control his rage. “You’re a fucking piece of work. How dare you go to Holly and threaten her and her father? Do you really think you have this much pull around this city? Newsflash, Barbra, you’re nothing around here.”
Her eyes hardened. “I’m everything in this city.”
Ben moved closer to his mother. “You’re a fucking joke. No one can stand you. They only tolerate you because you’re unfortunately the head of Richman Industries.”
“Oh, Benjamin.” Her hurt act making its appearance once again. “Don’t you understand? I only want to help you. I’m doing this all for you. Your words hurt me.” She had the gall to place her hand over her heart.
He raised his brow. “You are not doing this for me. You’ve never done a damn thing for me in my life.”
She sat back in her seat. “How could you say that? I’m your mother. The only mother you will ever have.”
“Not anymore.” He turned, ready to leave and start his plans to take her down once and for all.
Barbra’s features darkened. “You’ve always been an ungrateful brat. Now that you have that cow in your life, you think you’re better than the rest of us,” she spat.
Ben spun around, his eyes narrowed as he glared at her. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me, you ungrateful nuisance. As a mother, I’ve done everything I could to help you succeed. You were supposed to take the head of Richman Industries when your father died. I’ve groomed you for this moment, but you know what you did instead? You took everything I’ve ever done for you and threw it in the trash. Not only that, you think spending each day with mangy flea infested creatures makes you better than everyone else. Your silly clinic ruined you.”
“You ruined me.”
“I did no such thing. I tried to help you. Even your father tried to help you.”
His blood boiled at the surface of his skin as his lips flattened. “Don’t fucking bring him into this. He’d still be here if it weren’t for you.”
Barbra crossed her arms over her chest as she smirked at him. “You’re so naïve.”
“Fuck off.”
“Seriously Benjamin, do you really think your father would approve of you mingling with disgusting creatures all day? Not to mention, you are now associating with that… can you even call her a woman? Absolutely disgusting.”
Ben’s control snapped. He leaned over the desk entering her personal space. “Listen here, bitch. Get your story straight, Dad paid for my practice. He never wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He wanted me happy, and so help me god, if you so much as look in the direction of Holly or her father again I will end you.”
Barbra chuckled. “Oh really, son. Do you really believe, you, of all people have enough pull in this town to do anything to me?”
For the first time since entering the room, Ben smiled. “Why yes, Barbra, I do.”
She stared at him a few moments, trying to call his bluff. When she got nowhere, she reached for the phone. “I guess you leave me no choice.” She picked up the receiver. “I do hope your plaything has another job lined up. Oh wait,” she said. “I know she doesn’t.”
Ben snatched the phone out of her hands slamming it onto the desk. “Fucking Christ. You’re serious
ly messed up in the head.”
“Is it messed up in the head to want what’s good for you?”
He threw his hands up in disbelief. “In your eyes what’s good for me, is to destroy the woman I’m in love with?”
“You do not love that dreadful woman. She’s below you.”
“Yes, I do love her. She makes me whole. I have never in my life wanted someone more than I want her.” He placed his hand on her desk leaning even closer into her space. “And, I will destroy anyone that thinks they can hurt her.”
“Please, you can’t do anything.”
“Watch me.”
“It sure is a shame, Benjamin. I wonder how her father will feel about losing his home.” She opened the magazine on the desk and started thumbing through it again dismissing him.
Ben saw red. He might have lost his own father to his crazy mother’s demanding ways, but he’d be damned if he lost Henry too. No one could ever replace his father, but when Henry came into his life, much like when Holly did, the void he’d felt for years slowly started to disappear.
He’d be damned if anyone threatened to destroy it. Including his mother. It was time to bring out the big guns. The pieces of information he’d had in his possession for years that he let stew in case he ever needed them.
His blood rushed with adrenaline. He knew his mother thrived on confrontation. If he wanted to end her, he knew the perfect way to do it. He took a calming breath.
He righted himself, before popping his left hip on the side of the desk. Casually, he pulled out his phone and started thumbing through it. “I didn’t know you cared so much about me,” he remarked looking at her through his peripheral vision.
Barbra’s posture switched to one of a champion. “Of course I care, Benjamin. You’re my son.”
“I see that now.” He nodded.
“I’m so glad you’re finally coming to your senses.” Barbra excitedly opened the desk drawer taking out a calendar. “Now that you realize where you belong, I’ve got a list of events for you to attend.” She looked at him. “You know, schmooze the investors so we can get to their checkbooks. I know quite a few of them have daughters your age, some a little younger.”
He felt the bile rise in this throat.
“Oh, the Jackson’s have hinted recently how they want to see their daughter married to someone who aligned with their views. Howard Jackson owns a textile company a few cities over.” Barbra clasped her hands together. “Could you imagine the income we can acquire if we merged with them?”
Ben’s gut clenched. “You mean, you’ll sweep in for a hostile takeover?”
The evil gleamed in his Barbra’s eyes. “Of course.”
“And you think it would be best if I marry someone like the Jackson’s daughter?”
“She’d be perfect on your arm. Everyone will be in complete envy of her, oh and of you.”
He continued to swipe through his phone, looking at pictures he’d sneakily taken of Holly throughout their time together. “And envious of you, no doubt.”
Barbra’s smile widened. “Precisely.”
He looked toward her. “I have a question for you, mother?”
She nodded.
“Have you ever heard of a person that goes by Douglas?”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “I cannot say that I have.”
“Huh?” Ben put his phone back into his pocket. “Before Dad died, he let me in on a little secret.”
Barbra’s mouth thinned. “What secret is that?”
“Towards the end, Dad stopped trusting you. He had a feeling you were up to no good, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.”
“What are you saying, Benjamin?”
He looked her square in the eyes. “Did you know private investigators can find out anything? Including, but not limited to insider trading, threats, transferring funds from the company to an offshore account in the Bahamas, that just so happens to have a monthly transfer that matches the exact amount deposited into your separate account each month?”
Barbra paled.
“Interesting how those funds have somehow always avoided the tax man. Speaking of the tax man…” Ben tapped his finger on his chin. “I wonder what the going rate for tax evasion is right now?”
“You wouldn’t. I’m your mother.”
Ben lifted a brow as he smiled at her. “You’ve taught me so well over the years. I know I can ruin you in, how do you like to say it? Oh, yeah, one phone call.”
Barbra’s face hardened, her lips thinning. “I’ll destroy you first.”
“I dare you to try.” He pulled out his phone.
“What do you want?”
This time when Ben looked at her, he saw nothing but pure hatred. This should have been the woman to protect him from the world. This should have been the woman that wanted him to be happy and follow his dreams. This should have been the woman who was beyond excited that he’d found the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Instead, she was the woman, that killed his father with her greedy ways. She stole from the company his father worked himself to the bones to make successful. And worst of all, this was the woman that threatened the happiness of Holly, and her dad, whom he’d now loved like a father of his own. “For you to fucking disappear. Give this company to the board and leave.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“And listen clearly, Barbra, if you ever fucking threaten my family again I won’t hesitate to destroy you.”
“I’m your only family,” she sneered.
“You’ve never been my family.”
She sat straighter in her chair. “You’ll have no one.”
Ben chuckled. “Holly and her dad are the only family I need.”
Chapter Seventeen
After an extensive talk with Holly’s father about the events, including Barbra and her threats, Henry wanted to explode. He demanded she drive him to Richman Industries so he could give her a piece of his mind. She couldn’t blame him, she herself felt the same way.
Holly knew she needed to give him some time to digest everything. Especially, the financial situation and what more or less had been decided. He wasn’t too keen on taking Ben’s offered help, but at this point, neither one of them had much of a choice. She was sure her father would make it a point to try and talk Ben out of it as soon as he got the chance.
Once she gathered the documents Ben requested, she contemplated on where to go.
Before the shit storm of the morning, their original plan was to have dinner at Ben’s house. He’d given her his extra key and told her to bring Waffles over after work.
Could she still follow through with those plans? There was a part of her that wanted to abandon them and cocoon herself in her apartment. However, there was a more significant part of her that wanted to be surrounded by Ben’s stuff. Over their short time together, the sense of peace he gave her outweighed everything.
When the hell did I get so weird and needy?
Shaking herself from those thoughts she knew after a day like today needy was what she desired. Not to mention, she was sure whatever hell Ben encountered with his mother, he would need her as much as she needed him.
Not being able to help it, she worried her bottom lip. What if Ben decides his mother is right? Or what if he decides this whole thing is too much work and gives up?
Instantly, her heart constricted at the thought. No, that wouldn’t be the case. She would trust him, just as he’d asked. Relationships like this didn’t happen every day, and Holly knew that. She knew there was something special between them.
Ripley barked from the back seat clearly agreeing with her.
“You know what I’m thinking now?” She looked in the rearview mirror. Ripley barked again.
“You’re right, Rip. Let’s go get your comrade.” Shaking her head at Ripley jumping around the back seat, she turned onto her street ready to retrieve Waffles and head to Ben’s.
* * *
Sitting in Ben’s living room, Holly�
��s nerves started to get the better of her. At this point, she didn’t think anything else could go wrong, but based on her track record she knew it could.
Ripley and Waffles were playing in the kitchen, hopefully, not developing a master plan to jump on one of their backs, using the extra boost to reach the treats on the counter. She honestly wouldn’t put it past them. Ever since bringing them together, they’ve done a bang-up job of hatching elaborate plans.
She smiled to herself, thankful for the distraction.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Twitch make his way out of the other room. She couldn’t help but smile at the kitten. Ben brought him to his house on Friday. When she questioned why he didn’t bring him to her apartment, his excuse consisted of, “I’m the trained professional, and I want to Twitch to be close by just in case something happens.”
What a complete load of crap that was.
Other than the twitch he still had, the kitten was in perfect health.
Holly knew the reason Ben wanted Twitch at his place. He ultimately wanted a reason to end up at his house rather than her tiny apartment. She was sure it had something to do with his king size bed, versus her full.
Chuckling to herself, she couldn’t entirely blame him for that though. Two people, two dogs, and now a cat screamed bed hogs. With them and the two dogs, no one had any room to breathe. Now with Twitch added into the mix, it would end with restless nights for all.
“Hey, Twitchy,” she cooed as the groggy kitty, who’d apparently been sleeping, made his way further into the room. Once Twitch heard her voice, his ears perked. He ran towards her jumping onto the couch to be next to her.
Holly smiled. Maybe there will be an animal in this house that will listen to me.
Twitch settled in next to her. His little twitch, knocking into her every now and then. Even though most people would consider it an unwanted side effect, she couldn’t help feeling her heart warm with adoration. It made her love him more. Holly scratched behind his ear, enjoying the purr that erupted from him. She settled onto the couch and closed her eyes.