by Jessica Wood
After that, it was always Walter who attended Ben’s games and servants who drove him to the practices and took care of him after school. Brooke was usually home for dinner and to tuck him in at night, explaining that she’d been busy with friends and obligations all day. Soon, however, she wasn’t even home most evenings for that.
On the rare nights when she was at the dinner table, the atmosphere was clearly strained, filled with long silences and quiet stares across the table.
“Are you and Mom having a fight?” Ben finally asked his father one morning after hearing raised voices coming from their bedroom for hours the night before. Brooke wasn’t at the breakfast table again and it had been weeks, perhaps months, since she’d taken him along when she went shopping.
“No son, everything is fine; sometimes Moms just need to go out of town with friends for a weekend away. She’ll be back. She’ll be back and we’ll be fine.”
But it was a lie. Even as a child, Ben had understood that his father hadn’t been telling him the truth, but he knew it wasn’t intentional. Walter had been trying to deceive himself, but the truth couldn’t be denied.
Soon after, Ben came home from school and found his father sitting in his favorite leather chair just staring at a blank television screen. His skin was deathly pale and his eyes were bloodshot red.
“Why aren’t you at work?” Ben had asked him; his voice sounding far younger than his tender ten years of age. Even now, as a full grown man of twenty-seven, he could still remember how his heart had pounded as he asked the terrifying question and the way his father’s voice had sounded so hollow and strange when he answered.
“She’s left us, son. She’s gone to Mexico with him. I’ve lost her for good.”
Ben had never seen his father cry before and it terrified him. He wanted to comfort him in some way but he didn’t know how. He simply reached out and put his hand on his father’s trembling shoulder and listened as he rambled and sobbed.
“It was my fault. I’m the one who introduced her to him. I was meeting with the owner of a new company; Adams something. Your mother had stopped by the office wanting me to take her to lunch and I told her I didn’t have time. The bastard said he would be happy to take her to lunch and I was foolish enough to let him! If only I had been willing to take an hour out my day, maybe I could have made her happy like she used to be. But no, I was too wrapped up in my damn work and I let her go with him. Now she says they’re in love and it’s over between us. I’m so sorry, son. I knew she was too bright a flame for me to hang onto. I always knew I would get burned in the end, but I had to try and hold onto her while I could, no matter how briefly.”
Ben didn’t fully understand his father’s pitiful rant, but he knew enough. Whoever this Adams was, he had stolen his mother and she was never coming back. Even now the memory brought stinging tears to his eyes. Ben stared out the window of the Rolls watching the scenery rushing past and turned his thoughts to what happened next.
Walter Liamworth had been utterly devastated by the loss of his wife. He spent days crying inconsolably in the dark and refused to eat, sleep, or even shower. He had always been a rather small man, short and not particularly muscular, but with a great mind for business and dark gray eyes that noticed everything. With Brooke gone, he seemed to grow even smaller; shrinking before Ben’s eyes into a skeleton. It wasn’t until the doctor came to the house and prescribed him something that Walter finally returned to work.
Something in Walter had permanently shattered, however, and Ben would sometimes catch his father clutching a bottle of pills for prolonged periods of time as he sobbed in front of Brooke’s portrait. Sometimes Walter would sit in the car with the engine running and the garage door shut tightly for long periods of time before turning it off, and once Ben had even caught him tying a length of rope into a noose. The pain of losing Brooke was just too great for Walter to bear. If it hadn’t been for the responsibility of caring for Ben, it was certain he would have committed suicide.
For Ben, however, his mother’s abandonment had the opposite effect. Instead of falling apart with despair, he grew stronger. He harnessed his pain and used it to harden his heart. He vowed to never fall victim to love, trust, or even friendship. If he never let anyone touch his heart, he could never be wounded like his father had been. The responsibility of looking after Walter was a heavy weight on young Ben and he spent every moment he wasn’t at school watching after him, and hating the man who was responsible for turning such a great man into a brittle shell.
Fortunately, Brooke Liamworth hadn’t been able to stay away for long and in less than a month she was back. Young Ben never knew what had happened, but he supposed it didn’t really matter. The moment she swept back through the front door of the mansion, Walter forgave her instantly. As far as he was concerned, she was the victim in all this.
“I should have paid more attention to you.” Walter apologized to Brooke, unaware that young Ben was listening from under the stairs. “From this moment on, I’ll give you all the attention you deserve. You’ll never be bored or lonely again.”
Later that night, Brooke had tucked Ben in bed just like she used to and explained to him that an evil man had taken advantage of her when she was feeling vulnerable and seduced her into doing something she never would have done otherwise. That night his dreams were filled with a monster he named Adams in his imagination. The monster stole his mother away and tried to destroy everything in its path, but Ben alone was the hero who could stop it. He killed the evil beast and at last his parents were avenged. The dream came to him almost every night for years. Recently the nightmare had finally been replaced and now his dreams were filled with Gemma and how amazing her body felt beneath his.
Back when he was only ten, Ben had been happy to have his family back together, but he couldn’t shake the nightmares and how good it felt to get revenge on the one who had nearly destroyed everything good in his life. Soon his thoughts of revenge began to fill his waking hours too and he knew his life’s purpose was to find Adams and destroy him.
In the beginning, his plots were the silly fantasies of a child; but as he grew into a teenager and then a man, his ideas for revenge grew and matured with him. Everything Ben did in life held the ulterior motive of one day being able to bring those plans to fruition.
When Ben came home to the family mansion after getting his MBA, he began to work on his plans in earnest. There were countless Adams’s in the city, but he had the patience and the resources to research them all one by one.
Eventually he found the Adams Corporation owned by Harry, Sara, and their daughter Gemma. When he learned that was the same company that had applied for a loan at Liamworth Financial seventeen years ago, he dedicated all his time and energy to learning how to destroy the company and Adams himself along with it.
Harry Adams had a partner named Clint Carpenter and only a few hundred employees who owned most of the stock shares in the company. Ben had thought buying them out would be easy, but their loyalty proved to be a disadvantage to him. So, over the past few years Ben had been working tirelessly to undermine the company in every little way he could, driving down sales and increasing deficits. He used his power and influence to ensure that no bank would give them a loan and no corporation would partner with them. Soon they were on the edge of bankruptcy. With Harry Adams nearly destroyed financially, Ben moved onto to the next phase of his revenge; destroying him on a personal level.
Ben had known his enemy had a daughter, but he hadn’t expected Gemma Adams to be so beautiful. When he met her in that restaurant a few months ago, she reminded him of his mother, except there was no weakness in her. She did not long for the accolades of others; she was strong, intelligent, and independent. It would not be easy to seduce her into loving him; so he turned to emotional blackmail instead.
Ben had decided to offer Gemma the opportunity to save her family’s failing business if she would stay in his mansion for a month. He had hoped that would be enough t
ime to trick her into falling in love with him, but he hadn’t been prepared for the fact that he would fall in love with her in return.
Ben tried to ignore his feelings for Gemma and pushed forward with his plan. He even went so far as to trick Harry Adams’s business partner, Clint Carpenter, into asking Ben to buy all his shares of Adams Corporation stock when he thought he might need ransom money for his daughter. The girl, Lori was not actually kidnapped, but vacationing on Ben’s island resort; but Ben saw no need to tell anyone that. The purchase of the stock would give Ben controlling interest in the company and he would finally be able to complete his plans. All Ben had to do now was go into their office for his 9:00a.m. appointment, purchase the stocks, and he would have the ability to crush the man who had nearly ruined his family.
Ben had fantasized about what victory would be like for so long, he could see the whole thing in his imagination. Once he owned the stocks, he could sell off the company bit by bit, destroying Harry Adams’s lifetime of labor. Next he would reveal that he had turned his daughter into a whore, tricking her into sleeping with him in an attempt to save the company that was now destroyed. Then, when Adams was crying and asking him Why? Ben would reveal the truth, that this was in vengeance for that day seventeen years ago when Harry Adams had abandoned his wife and young daughter to run away with his mother. Then Harry Adams would have paid the price for the lives he had ruined and Ben would finally be at peace. Vengeance would be his at last. It was so close, his skin prickled as if he could feel it in the air. His tongue was dry and he could barely swallow. He’d never been so nervous in his entire life and he knew what he needed to do.
The Rolls Royce pulled to a stop in front of the Adams Corporation’s main office downtown. His longtime chauffer opened the door for him and Ben stepped out into the brisk morning air with his briefcase in his hand and took a deep breath for courage.
Everything he had worked for his entire life came down to this moment, only he couldn’t go through with it any more. Thanks to Gemma, he no longer wanted to destroy the company. He wanted to protect it and keep it safe so that no one else could ever attempt to do the same.
Today he would confess the truth to her family about what he had done and beg for their forgiveness. Then he would ask for their permission to ask her to marry him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Clint Carpenter waited nervously while Ben Liamworth wrote out a very sizable check in exchange for all his shares of stock in the Adams Corporation. His wife Nancy stood by his side, clutching his hand. It was a huge relief for the Carpenter’s to know they would now have the cash to save their daughter, Lori; but odd that her abductors hadn’t asked for any ransom yet.
After Ben handed Clint the check, the two men shook hands and Clint said to him, “Congratulations. I guess this makes you Harry’ new business partner. I trust you'll take good care of our little company.”
“I will.” Ben vowed and the two men shook hands heartily. Then he turned to Harry and Sara and offered his hand to them. Sara ignored the gesture and took him into her arms, hugging him tightly. “You’re part of the family now!”
Harry saw Ben’s awkward look of discomfort over the suffocating hug and gently pulled his wife away and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to keep her from attacking him again. Harry looked at Ben and said “Our Gemma never stops talking about what a smart business man you are. We wouldn’t have picked you if it hadn’t been for her glowing recommendation. She says you’re the best.”
“Thank you, sir, but I don't know about that.” Ben flushed under the praise. “She's a pretty great herself. She’s taught me a lot about the kind of person I want to be.”
He knew it was time to tell them the truth about everything, but it was hard to find the words. How did you just blurt something like this out? Still, he knew that the longer he delayed the harder it would be. Just then Gemma burst into the room looking frantic.
“Stop!” she cried out, and everyone in the room turned to stare at her in shock. Only Ben knew just what she was doing there. It came as no surprise to him that she had figured out what he had been up to and had come to stop him. She was just that kind of girl; brave, smart, and unafraid to do everything she could for her family.
Ben’s chest swelled with pride as he looked at the woman he loved and he couldn't wait to tell her the good news that his life had a new purpose.
“Gemma! What is this about?” Harry Adams asked his daughter with a look of utter disapproval. He had not raised her to act so irrationally and he couldn’t fathom what had gotten into her.
“Is it Lori?” Clint Carpenter asked and clutched his wife Nancy’s hand. They both looked pale with terror as they worried that something terrible had happened to their missing daughter.
“Yes, but it’s not what you think.” Gemma said “Lori is safe and unharmed.”
“Oh, thank God!” Clint let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and collapsed into the nearest chair. His wife cried tears of relief. With their greatest fear relieved, a million questions suddenly filled Clint’s mind and he peppered Gemma with them in quick succession, “Where is she? Can I see her? Did the police capture her abductor?”
“Lori wasn't kidnapped” Gemma explained to the room as simply as she could. “Ben sent her away to a tropical island and let us to believe she was kidnapped in order to trick you into selling him all your stock shares. Clint, don't let him have them. He's trying to gain a controlling interest in the company so he can break it up and sell it.”
“What is she talking about?” Harry Adams demanded of Ben.
The younger man couldn’t deny the accusations and looked down at his feet. He had violated the trust of everyone in the room and there was no excuse for it. He understood Gemma’s disdain for him and even supported her in it. He hated himself more than any of them possibly could know in that moment. His only hope was that once he explained his change of heart that they would forgive him.
Gemma answered her father for him, saying “Ben’s trying to get revenge against you Daddy, for having an affair with his mother, Brooke Liamworth.”
Gemma’s mother Sara Adams gasped and stared at her husband in shock. Her hands covered her face, which had turned red with humiliation and anger.
“I've done no such thing!” Harry Adams was dumbfounded by the accusation. He immediately turned to his wife, “Sara, I swear you're the only woman I've ever been with.”
Gemma hated to see her parents in pain, but she needed them to know why Ben was attacking them. She said softly, “It happened long ago, when you guys were split up and Daddy had his own apartment.”
“I never had an affair when I lived in that apartment!” Harry insisted. He turned to Clint and Nancy for support and they both just stared with their with their mouth’s gaping.
Ben finally found the courage to speak and said to Harry, “My father told me everything. The Adams Corporation was just a fledgling business and needed money. You went to my father for a loan and my mother happened to be there. You started an affair and soon she left my father and the two of you went to Mexico. It didn’t last long, but her brief abandoned nearly killed my father from heartbreak and caused me to become heartless and obsessed with revenge. That was until I fell in love with Gemma. I know it’s impossible to trust anything I say at this point; but you must believe me. I love Gemma and would never do anything to harm her. I couldn’t’ go through with my plan to destroy your family business. I bought the stock to protect the Adams Corporation and nothing more.”
“And what about kidnapping Lori? Was that out of your love for me too?” Gemma’s eyes were filled with hatred and her voice tight with barely controlled rage. If it hadn’t been for the room full of witnesses, he was sure she would have ripped his throat out where he stood.
Ben said “I never faked a kidnapping. I simply sent Lori away on a vacation to my bungalow. The note you found was written by her.”
“Ha! Why would she fake her own kidnappi
ng?” Gemma laughed without joy.
“I can’t speak for her. All I know is when everyone found her note and thought she’d been kidnapped, I should have spoken up right away and corrected the misunderstanding. It was wrong of me not to, but I wanted more time with you before you learned the truth.”
Ben looked longingly at Gemma but she glared at him with a searing hatred that broke his heart. She said “You knew how upset I was when I thought my best friend had been abducted. No one who loves me would put me through that! You’re a sick monster and I hate you.”
“You’re right. It was inexcusable of me to put you all through that and I can’t apologize enough.” Ben pleaded with them all, especially Clint and Nancy Carpenter who had been so worried about their daughter. “It’s just that Lori had met with the private investigator I had hired and learned that I was the Phoenix. I knew that you would hate me once you found out, so I sent her on a trip to give myself time to think of a way to correct all the wrongs I’d committed. When everyone read her note and thought she’d been kidnapped, I decided to let you all keep believing it. Then, Clint offered to sell me his stock shares and it was the perfect solution.”
“Of course it was. Now you control the company and can break it apart just like you planned!” Gemma spat at him.
“No, now I have the power to protect it and always keep it safe.” Ben’s eyes pleaded with Gemma to understand. “I’m not the man I was when I started all this. Your love has opened my heart. Even if you never forgive me; I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you and protecting everything you hold dear.”
The look in his eyes said that he meant it, and for a moment Gemma felt her anger soften.
Just then a team of cops in full gear burst into the office and aimed their guns at Ben. He offered no resistance as they handcuffed him and escorted him outside, shoving him into the back of the squad car. Everyone was in a state of shock as the police took their statements and Gemma told them where to find Lori. It wasn't until the last squad car had driven out of sight that Gemma allowed herself to crumble into tears in the arms of her father.