by Eva Luxe
“No, why would you scare Willow away, princess?”
Ariel closed her eyes and said, “I called her Mommy. I don’t think she liked that. She told me to just call her Willow. Then she left. And now she’s upset. So I scared her away, I just know I did.”
She gripped her dress. I loosened her hands and kissed them.
“Oh, honey, come here.” I hugged my sweet daughter. She had a heart of gold, unlike the one in the woman she came from. “You didn’t scare her, it was something else. She’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it. Let’s get you all ready for school.”
I couldn’t help but find it touching that Dahlie had wanted to call Willow “Mommy.” But I had no time to dwell on that now. My mind couldn’t stop racing around. Where was Willow off to? If I hadn’t been in my office for so long I’d have known. I packed Ariel’s lunch and drove her to school.
It was dangerous for her, or anyone, to drive while she was that upset. I feared for her safety, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles grew white.
When we arrived, I drove up to the front so she could open the door. She stayed still, looking down at her feet. It wasn’t normal to see Ariel like this.
I placed my hand on her forehead. There was no fever. She was clearly just feeling unwell emotionally, not physically.
“Okay, princess, do well. Daddy’s always proud of you!”
She didn’t answer me.
“Ariel? What’s wrong? Are you still upset about what happened this morning? That wasn’t your fault.”
“Daddy? That mean lady that hurt Willow… she hurts me too.”
She rubbed her eyes. I turned around more in my seat to look at her face.
“What? What do you mean she hurts you too?”
“She… she locks me in rooms and never talks to me.”
“Morgan?” I began to grip the steering wheel harder with one hand while the other curled up into a ball and shook violently as it rested on the arm rest in the middle of the car.
“Uh huh.” Ariel kept her eyes off of me.
I pulled over into the parking lot, afraid I might accidentally break the brake pedal from pressing it too hard. I was still worried about Willow, but Ariel came first. Always.
“Look at me, Ariel. Tell Daddy everything and you’ll never have to worry about seeing her again.”
Ariel wiped her eyes again, and I helped.
“She’s so mean, Daddy! She barely even feeds me. And her house always stinks!”
Now one more question. It was hard getting the words out of my mouth, only because I was afraid of what the answer would be.
“Has she ever hit you?”
“No.”
“Ariel, tell me the truth!”
My chest tightened into a tangled mess. Blood began to rush through my head. My daughter, my loving princess.
“She pulls me around, and holds my wrist really tight, and jerks my arms so it hurts. But she won’t hit me. I’m a good girl, so she doesn’t hit me.”
“Okay, princess, let me walk you inside. Daddy will make sure that Morgan never ever goes near you again.”
“I want Willow as my mommy!”
“I do too. Come on.”
Chapter 20 – Darien
“Jerry!” I yelled, charging into his office. There were three men in his office looking over paper work as Jerry stood before them speaking. He looked up at me like I’d lost my mind.
And for a second I did.
“What the hell?” a man said, turning around
The other men turned their heads too and looked up at me. Screw them. My daughter came first.
“Uh, gentlemen, I’m going to need a moment, I’m sorry.”
They got up and skittered out of the office, closing the door behind them.
“Darien, what the hell? What’s going on?” he asked me, sitting down in his chair and rocking back.
“That— that beast is abusing my daughter!” I growled, pacing his room like a hungry lion. “I want her head!”
“Shit…” He rocked forward and rifled around until he found a yellow legal pad. “Hate to be a pain in the ass, but I’m gonna need details.”
“She’s starving her, locking her in rooms and pulling my kid around like a fucking rag doll!”
“Fuck, this isn’t good.”
“I want my daughter to stay with me! I’m not giving her back next week. I refuse. I don’t give a fuck what the courts say.”
“Darien, this could get child protective services involved. That could potentially get Ariel taken from both of you. I mean, it’s not likely, but it’s always a possibility I like to warn clients about in contentious cases such as this.”
“What? Jerry, I’m Darien Thrilling. I am no abuser!”
“And I know that. But the media wouldn’t care, and all Morgan would do is throw a false accusation at you to balance things out. That’s probably been her plan for a while. Think about this. The divorce is almost over.”
“I don’t care. Ariel is not returning to that crazy bitch’s house.”
“Look, I got some tricks up my sleeve. Usually I don’t use them until things get messy, but let me handle this.”
“Well I’m going to handle this too.”
I marched over to the door, and Jerry ran over, throwing himself in the way.
“Darien? Don’t do anything stupid!”
I wasn’t going to hurt Morgan. But I sure as hell was going to warn her ass.
I leaned in close to him and snapped, “She hurt my daughter, so I’m going to talk to her. Or else this will get really messy.”
“Wait!”
“Out of my way, Jerry. Do you even have children?!”
“No. But—”
“But, my ass. Ariel was the only good thing that came out of that farce of a marriage. Morgan is harming my only daughter as a means to hurt me.”
Jerry stood behind his desk.
“I understand, but if you do something reckless, Ariel will lose you. You don’t want that. Do you?”
“I’m too rich to lose her.”
“Don’t be cocky, Thrilling. I’ve been a Thrilling family lawyer for twenty five years. Money won’t let you get away with everything…”
Chapter 21 – Darien
I sped over to Morgan’s house, which was on the other side of the county. I slammed my car into her driveway, pounding on the horn to get her ass out of the bed and down to the door.
“Darien, well, isn’t this a rare occasion?” Morgan said, leaning on her door frame.
I walked up to her door, stopping only inches away from her face. The chill of the oncoming winter blew through my jacket while I stood on her steps, staring deep into her eyes.
“Let me in,” I demanded, trying to keep my cool.
“Bossy, aren’t you? Did you come bearing any gifts?”
She slid her hand onto her hip, jutting it out to the side. She looked me up and down. Tired of her bullshit, I pushed my way inside and looked around. The place smelled like a bar.
Morgan shouted, “Hey! I didn’t say you could come in.”
“Since I own this house and pay all the bills, I can come in when I fucking want to. Leave her alone.” I folded my arms, glaring into her murky green eyes.
“The whore?” She threw her hands into the air, circling them around as she walked over to me. This entrance corridor gave me the chills, it was lifeless, and devoid of life, just like she was.
“Our. Daughter.”
“What’re you talking about?” she asked, tapping her lip.
“I know what you’ve been doing to her.”
I kept glancing around, trying to see if there was someone else in her house.
“What?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Locking her in rooms, not even feeding her. What the hell, Morgan?” I shook my head in disgust. “I know we don’t love each other, but I thought you’d at least treat Ariel like a decent human being. She’s your flesh and blood.”
My voice bounced o
ff the vases that adorned her hallway. Morgan stepped back in fear. All this because she wanted to control me. Why couldn’t she just say it?
She didn’t love me, and I didn’t love her. I loathed her.
Morgan waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, that girl eats—”
“What, a few crumbs? And what, do you lock her in a play room? Ariel is not an animal!”
“An animal? I thought that was what we were evolved from.”
“Don’t be sarcastic. Do you even care? Why would you even try to get full custody knowing damn well you don’t even like her?”
Morgan tugged at her robe. “Because she’s mine too—”
“Because you think you can get child support… you’re pathetic. You know that. I’ll warn you this once, stay away from Ariel.”
Morgan was smug and conceited, she really thought she had me under her command.
“Or what? You’re gonna tell on me?” She bent over and shook her breasts. Ugh, that was not attractive.
“Don’t push my buttons—” I threatened, taking a step closer to her.
Morgan grinned and chuckled. “But what about the whore? You call her the help, but she’s more than that. I thought you knew the courts frown upon married people dating during the separation period before they’re allowed to get divorced?” She tapped her fingers on her hips, scanning my face for a reaction.
“I have a legal contract with her. She’s my employee.” No, I was the one in control here.
“Oh? Do you? Well, I have something too.” She too out her phone from the pocket of her robe and scrolled around on it.
Lights began to flash, and I heard familiar voices.
I knew those voices. That was me— and Willow.
“What the hell is that?”
Impossible. Was she stalking us?
“Calm down, it’s just a little harmless sex video. You still know your way around a woman, don’t you, Darien?”
Morgan licked her teeth, nodding her head to the side.
“How’d you—”
She cut her phone off and slipped it back into her pocket. “I still have access to the cameras in your home. You may’ve taken them out of Ariel’s room and your bedroom, but you forgot to take it out of the whore’s room.”
“Morgan…”
If that were to get out, not even my damage control team could do anything to soften the blows.
Then I’d lose Ariel forever and be forced to split substantial amounts of my hard earned money with her. Money that she wouldn’t spend on Ariel. Money that she’d swallow down and spend without regard to any responsibilities.
I gnashed my teeth, feeling the veins in my body bulge.
“You want to beg me not to show the court? How about this, get rid of the whore and I won’t pass this video of you fucking the help.”
“I’m not going to beg you for anything,” I snapped. “I’m not the begging type. You should know that by now.”
I inhaled deeply through my nostrils. I had never, ever, raised my hand to a woman, but right now the beautiful faces of Willow and Ariel were the only things keeping me from pounding a fist into Morgan’s face.
“Give me the phone.”
She laughed nastily. “Are you kidding? Come on, you might even have a chance at keeping Ariel if I keep this from prying eyes,” she said with fake sweetness. “And I might, if I have a good enough reason.”
I was silent, trying to keep a rein on my temper.
“I take that as a yes?” she taunted. She held up the phone and waved it around. “I’ll be watching.”
She must have been feeling pretty confident, because she didn’t even move when I stepped toward her and snatched the damn thing out of her hand.
“You want to talk to me about an legal obligations?” I snarled. “Sure, under the ancient and outdated laws of this state neither of us are technically supposed to date or have sex with other people until our divorce is final. But you and I agreed that it was over between us and you’re only invoking this archaic rule because you want to control me and have some way to drag me back to court. I highly doubt that you’re following this dumb rule, due to your precious double standards. Are you going to stand there and tell me that you’ve kept to that stupid rule?”
She tried to laugh, but her eyes kept darting to my phone. “I’m not about to tell you my private business, and there’d be no way you could prove it if I hadn’t.”
“No?” My rage was burning cold now. “Then you’d be willing to submit to whatever it takes to prove it?”
She went pale and stared at me open-mouthed for a few seconds. Then— I had to give her credit for the effort— she shrugged and choked out, “Of course.”
God, she was a piece of work. “Good. I’m stipulating that tests for STDs and drugs be part of the custody proceedings.”
Her head whipped around, and I knew I had her.
“Look, Morgan.” I kept my hand tight on her cell phone— I didn’t put it past her to come at me with her claws extended to get it back. “We both know you don’t really want custody of Ariel. If you agree that I get full custody and don’t, I’ll keep paying for this house and your car, plus a monthly alimony check for life.”
Morgan didn’t know it, but I’d already talked to Jerry about the agreement I would be okay with making during the failed negotiation phases of our divorce, and this was it. So, I wasn’t giving up anything in the deal, even though I was trying to act as if I was.
She rolled her eyes, but this was the fucking deal and she sure as hell better know where she stood.
“If hell freezes over and you get custody, I will pay for the house and the car, I will have your groceries billed to me, I will have all Ariel’s clothes, toys, and medical expenses billed to me, and you will never see a cent of cash. And when Ariel graduates high school, all my support will end. You’ll be on your own for the house, groceries, and your liquor, and there will be no alimony or support at any point. Are we clear?”
I didn’t actually care whether she was clear or not, as long as she knew how deadly serious I was. Who did she think she was fucking with? I built up a billion dollar company on my own in less than ten years— I’d seen every attempt at manipulation, extortion, and blackmail there was. Bigger players than she was had tried to control me, and they had paid for it. She wouldn’t be any different.
I slammed the door to my car and rested my head on the steering wheel. Damn it, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice Ariel or Willow. I was going to fix this, if I had to bribe every judge in the state to make it happen.
“Fuck!” I growled, raking my fingers through my hair.
I began to drive back home until the last remnants of this morning played in my head. I touched the phone app in my car and called Willow. She didn’t pick up the first time, but she did pick up when I called her a second time.
“Hello? Darien?” she said, her voice weak and dull.
I breathed a sigh of relief and loosed the grip on my steering wheel. “Willow? Are you okay? Where are you, I’ve been worried. You were so upset this morning.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine.”
I drove slower so I could talk to her more. I didn’t want her feeling or sounding like this. Willow sighed on the phone and I heard faint beeping in the background.
“Are you at the hospital? With your brother?”
“Yeah.”
She was grieving. It came off from her voice.
“Is he okay?”
Willow didn’t respond for a few seconds, and I thought she had hung up. But the touchscreen still showed our call as connected.
“… I’ll be back later in an hour or so,” Willow said.
I bit my lip.
“Okay. You’ll be able to get some rest now that Ariel is in school. Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”
“I’m good. Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
“Willow, you know if there’s anything I can do to help you, ju
st say it.”
“Bye.”
The sky rumbled, and it began to rain. I picked up my speed and went to my office instead of back home. I already had my security company on the phone.
First thing I needed to do today was dismantle my entire security system and put in a new one.
Like hell was I going to give up Willow or Ariel.
Chapter 22 – Willow
I drove home in a daze, not even caring that I was in a world class sports car. I dimly recalled that I should be driving the Audi, the safe, secure car, but the thought left as quickly as it had fluttered through my brain. I just had too much else to think about.
First, of course, Sam. I was still furious with my parents, but things weren’t quite what I had thought they were. Yeah, we owed— that is, my parents owed— a ton of money to the hospital. Insurance was balking at paying a lot of that, and we couldn’t pay it with what my parents made. They weren’t billionaires like Darien; they were just working class people with crappy, overpriced insurance that stopped paying the minute you needed it.
My mom, with her usual brilliance at communicating important ideas, had only been trying to tell me that they were going to move Sam into long-term care. Like, a nursing home.
I’m not sure I would have liked that idea very much if she had just come out and said it in the first place, but it wasn’t the same as taking him off life support. It did feel a lot like giving up hope on him, but it wasn’t the same as killing him. So now that I knew what she really meant, I didn’t feel as desperate.
I just kept thinking: if we could only keep him alive, I’d keep hoping for all of us. I had more than enough hope to go around and I didn’t like when they talked so negatively about his prospects, even if logically I knew that they were being a lot more realistic than I was.
I just wanted to do everything possible to keep him with us. But the nursing home wasn’t cheap, either, and Medicare would only pay for it if our household made under a certain amount of money…which we would, if I moved out.
Well, that was fine. I wasn’t really living there anymore anyway. And maybe…I shook my head. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Willow. I had no idea yet if Darien would want me to stay long term. As more than Ariel’s nanny.