Storm Ravaged (Storm Damages 2) (Storm Legacy)

by Alexander, Magda

  “Very well.” He pushes the same button and the frost dissipates making us visible again.

  I breathe out a sigh. I’m not fooling him. He knows how uncomfortable I felt. Which is ridiculous, if he had the usual office I would be behind a closed door. But the frosted glass lends a certain air of inappropriateness. I mentally shake myself at the silly thoughts. “Thank you for seeing me.”

  “How could I pass up the chance to talk to you again? How’s you son?”

  This time my smile is real. “Thriving, happy.”

  “And Ainsley?”

  “He’s fine.”

  “Well, now that we have taken care of the niceties, what can I do for you, Elizabeth?” His eyes light up with mischief. He’s enjoying this game of cat and mouse, except that I refuse to play along.

  “As I told you at your aunt’s party, I’m studying to become a corporate lawyer. I’ve had to take a bit of a sabbatical between terms. And I find myself with time in my hands.”

  “One would think marriage to one such as Ainsley and a new child would keep any woman quite busy.”

  “Andrew’s nanny is quite efficient and Gabriel, well, he works all day. So there’s really very little for me to do.”

  “And you’re used to working full time.”

  “Yes. And going to school at night. So I would like to work three or four hours a day. Get some legal experience until the next term begins in January.”

  “And you came to me to offer your services.”

  “I would love to work in your legal department. If not a job, then an internship of some kind. I brought my resume with me.” I hand him the sheet of paper which took me several hours and drafts to produce. “As you can see I have two years of experience in the legal field. I’ve performed quite complex legal analysis, including the deal involving the SouthWind Brazilian wind farm assets Storm Industries purchased.”

  “Is that how you met Ainsley?”

  “Yes.” Heat rides my cheeks. Even after all this time, I can’t help but get flustered about all the things we did.

  Rather than comment on my state of discomfiture, Sebastian studies the resume. After a few minutes, he says, “You graduated summa cum laude from an ivy league school and made law review in law school. Your grades are top notch.”

  “You can contact Thomas Carrey, my boss at Smith Cannon, if you need to discuss the quality of my work. I got his approval for you to talk to him.”

  “Why do you want to work for me rather than Storm Industries? Surely, Ainsley would find a position for you somewhere in his company.”

  I fiddle with my hands. “Gabriel’s proving stubborn. He’d prefer I remain at home.”

  “Ahhh.” He pushes the paper aside, folds his hands over his desk. “You have stellar credentials, Elizabeth, and I don’t doubt you’d be an asset to my company. I would enjoy having you work under me.”

  I smile at the innuendo.

  “But have you thought about the harm such employment might cause your marriage? I can’t believe Ainsley would take kindly to you working for me.”

  “Let me worry about my husband, Sebastian.”

  “Very well. I’ll let you handle him.” Another smile.

  He’s enjoying playing this game. But since I’ve learned from the best. I don’t give him so much as a ghost of a grin in return.

  “I’ll consult with the head of my legal department. He’ll be in touch. I imagine he can find something for you to do.”

  “If I may ask a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “At the party, you said Gabriel took something from you. What was it?”

  “At an auction, we were both interested on a particularly beautiful object. It’d belonged to my grandmother, but my father let it slip from his hands. Ainsley outbid me for the piece. It happened several years ago when I wasn’t as successful as I am now. A year ago, I offered to buy it for twice the amount he paid. But he refused my offer. I was on the outs with my aunt, so I imagine he refused as a show of support for her.”

  “Oh.What was it?” I finger the pearls I’m wearing, a gift from Gabriel upon the birth of our son.

  “You’re wearing them, Elizabeth. I can tell from the clasp.” He rounds the desk and stares at me. “May I?”

  I nod my consent.

  His fingers finger the necklace, slide under the catch. “See. Our family crest is engraved upon it.”

  “Here.” I start to unclasp it to give it to him.

  “I won’t take it. Your husband gave it to you.”

  He’s looking down at me when a commotion erupts in the outer office. I look up to find the last person I expect to see. Gabriel.

  He barges in, hauls me up off the chair by my elbow.

  “Gabriel. What are you doing here?”

  But he ignores me and addresses Sebastian. “Stay away from my wife.”

  “Really, old chum, you’re acting positively medieval.”

  “I’m warning you, Ravensworth.”

  “Are you now?” Without looking at me, Sebastian says, “Elizabeth. I don’t need to consult with my head of legal. If you want a job working with me, it’s yours.”

  “Thank you, Sebastian.” I toss over my shoulder.

  With an iron grip, Gabriel hauls me past Sebastian’s secretary’s station to the elevator where he proceeds to push the button several times.

  “You’re out of line.” I spit out, so angry I can hardly speak.

  “You will not work for him, do you hear me?”

  I say nothing on the way down. But I have plenty to say once we climb into the car with Samuel at the wheel.

  “You embarrassed me.”

  “Except for Ravensworth, nobody heard what I had to say, and he doesn’t count.”

  “Why do you call him Ravensworth? Isn’t his name Sebastian Payne?”

  “Yes it is. Sebastian Payne, the Marquis of Ravensworth.”

  Great. Another aristocrat. Do they grow like weeds?

  “You will not talk to him.”

  “Kind of hard when I will be working with him.”

  “No, You won’t. You need to stay home and be a mother to our son.”

  “I’m not his mother now?”

  He yanks a hand through his hair. “You know what I mean.”

  “No, I don’t. Please enlighten me.”

  His teeth make a clicking sound. “Andrew’s barely three months old. He needs his mother.”

  “I breast feed him alternating with formula. I would only be away three to four hours a day. Surely he can live without me that long. In the meantime, I’ll gain experience working at Sebastian’s company.”

  “I don’t want you near him.”

  “I don’t understand your animosity toward him. Please explain.”

  “We were in Oxford together. He got a girl in trouble and she went to him for help. When he refused, she committed suicide. She was only eighteen.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “After a night of drinking, he admitted it in the Junior Common Room.”

  “You heard him?”

  “No. I learned about it second hand. When she died, he quit school, disappeared and did not reemerge until four years ago. In the ten years in between, he acquired a fortune. Nobody knows how he earned it, but he used that money to build Payne Enterprises, Ltd.”

  “He said this necklace belonged to his grandmother.”

  “It did. I bought it to give to my godmother, his aunt, but she refused to accept it. Said it rightfully belonged to Ravensworth.”

  “So you held on to it.”

  “Yes. And when my son was born, I gave it to you. The Marchioness would have approved, you know. She loved children. She used to bring us sweets when she visited Winterleagh Castle.”

  “Your families were friends?”

  “Yes. My father was specially close to Sebastian’s father. They were both cut from the same cloth.” He snorts. “Ne’er do wells with nothing but the thought of pleasure in their heads
. And in my opinion, Sebastian’s just like his father.”

  “I can’t believe Sebastian abandoned a young woman pregnant with his child. There has to be more to the story than that.”

  “Well, believe it. I won’t have you working for him.”

  I don’t say anything. No sense going over the same ground again and again. But as it turns out other events intercede upon our arrival at our penthouse that thrust my going to work for Sebastian Payne into the back burner.

  Chapter 40

  ______________

  Gabriel

  WE RIDE THE ELEVATOR in silence from the garage to the penthouse where, to my surprise, Jake waits for us. The somber expression on his face tells me his reason for being here is not good.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  Elizabeth whimpers as she clutches my arm. “Andrew?”

  “No. Your son is safe in his room. It’s the earl. He suffered another stroke. A fatal one. I’m sorry, Storm.”

  “Gabriel.” The tension within her body fades and a well of caring replaces it.

  I’m surprised by the tears in my eyes. God knows my father and I had never been close. “Bri?”

  “I haven’t told her.” Jake explains in his usual deep voice. “I thought it would be better coming from you.”

  “Yes, of course.” My legs give way, and I drop into the living room sofa.

  Elizabeth sits next to me stroking my arm, Her warmth, her nearness at such a moment comforts me.

  Jake strides to the liquor cabinet, pours two fingers of the Macallan and hands it to me.

  I knock back the alcohol. “We’ll need to make arrangements.”

  “We’ll do that,” Elizabeth says, “but you must tell Bri and Royce before you do anything else.”

  “Yes, of course.” I reach for my mobile, ring up Bri. Thankfully she answers on the first ring.

  “Gabe? Funny hearing from you. I’ve been unsettled all afternoon. Everything okay?”

  “Are you in your apartment?” It’s a fair question. I’ve rung up her cell, so she could be anywhere.

  “Yes.”

  Thank God. It would have been an ordeal to wait to tell her the news. “Could you please come up?”

  “What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

  “Please, Bri. Just come up.”

  While we wait for her to climb the stairs that connect the two floors, I call Royce and ask him to do the same. By some miracle he’s in his apartment as well.

  “Now?” Royce asks. “I’m kind of busy.” Something rustles in the background and a woman’s voice calls his name.

  “Yes. Now.”

  “Be up in five.”

  By the time I hang up, Bri’s coming through the door that leads from her floor to ours. “What’s going on? Did you find mummy dearest?”

  I stand and take two steps toward her. “Bri. It’s our father.”

  Her gaze bounces from me to Jake whose expression has darkened considerably. “No.”

  “He suffered a fatal stroke,” I say.

  She collapses but before I can get to her, Jake does, wrapping his arms around her, holding her tight. “I’m so sorry, Brianna.” For once he calls her by the name she prefers, rather than Lady Brianna, the sobriquet she hates.

  “He can’t be dead, Jake. I just saw him yesterday. Tell me it’s not true.” She must have seen the truth in his eyes, because she breaks down into huge sobs while Jake kneels on the floor and brushes his hand down her back, murmuring soft comforting words to her.

  A clatter on the stairs precedes Royce’s entrance. But he comes to a halt when he takes in the tableau. “What’s wrong? Why’s Bri crying?”

  “Father.”

  That’s all I need to say for him to understand. “Damn. When did it happen?”

  “A couple of hours ago. It was quick. He did not suffer.” I have no idea if this is true, but it’s something Bri needs to hear.

  He’d never been close to our father, rarely seeing him, so no surprise our father’s death does not affect him the way it does our sister. Still I can tell he’s stricken by the news. I splash liquor into another glass, hand the tumbler to him.

  Without saying another word, he tosses it back.

  Jake helps Bri gain her feet, holds her while she stumbles to the couch. She falls into Elizabeth’s arms and another round of grief ensues. I hand her a glass of the alcohol. “Drink.”

  Elizabeth takes it off my hands and gets Bri to take a sip.

  “We’ll need to make arrangements.” Royce echoes the same sentiment as me.

  “Yes.”

  “Is there a protocol for this?”

  “Protocol?” Elizabeth asks.

  “He was an earl. There probably is with the succession and all. Bloody hell, Gabe. You’re the Earl of Winterleagh now.” He tangles a hand through his dark hair. “How are we going to explain our missing mother? Everyone will expect to see her there.”

  I’d planned for many things, but not this.

  “Gabriel.” Elizabeth comes to her feet, rests her hand on my arm. “You’ll need to fetch your mother from where she is.”

  “Fetch her?” Royce asks. Both he and Brianna glare at Elizabeth like she’s gone bonkers on them.

  “From Scotland. From where you’ve been keeping her for the last several months.”

  Bri hiccups. “You know where she’s been all this time?”

  I don’t try to deny it. But how in the blazes did Elizabeth find out. “How do you know?” I ask her.

  “At Christmas time, you and Jake talked about it in the baby’s nursery. I’d turned on the monitor to show Gina. It was still on when you and Jake walked into the room.”

  “You’ve known since Christmas and you haven’t said anything?”

  “Bloody hell, Gabe.” Royce tosses into the mix.

  “I figured you’d tell me in your own good time.”

  “Why? How?” Bree asks.

  “I knew what she’d do to Elizabeth, to our baby. So I put her away where she couldn’t hurt them. In the family’s hunting box in the highlands.”

  “She’s been in Scotland all this bloody time?” Royce asks.

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us? I would think you would want us to know.”

  “I didn’t want you implicated in case things didn’t pan out. You can walk away and claim you didn’t know.”

  “Wait. If she was under wraps in Scotland, she couldn’t have had Tilly killed.” Royce says. So the thought had occurred to him as well.

  “No.” Of this much I’m sure. “Tilly was killed by a local junkie. She caught him with his hand in her purse and fought him off. He grabbed the nearest thing, the knitting needles, and plunged them into her heart.”

  “What do you want to do about your mother, Storm?” Jake’s voice of reason interjects into the maelstrom of emotions swirling about the room.

  “Bring her back, but put several guards on her at all times. She may not have killed Tilly, but I don’t want her near Elizabeth or my son.”

  “She won’t be.”

  Bri wobbles up from her knees..“I want to see my father.”

  “No.” This from Jake.

  “You don’t get to tell me what to do.” She lashes out at him.

  “Bri,” I intercede. “He wouldn’t like you to see him this way. You’ll get an opportunity to say your final goodbyes at Winterleagh. The entire family will. Would you like to spend the night here?” I glance at my sister and brother, half hoping they’ll say yes.

  Bri shakes her head. Royce passes as well. The secret I kept about my mother has put a rift in our relationship, one that won’t heal anytime soon. I’m not sorry. If I had to do it the same way again, I would.

  Without saying another word, Royce wanders back to his place. Alone. Or not alone. That woman, whoever she is, waits for him.

  To my surprise, Bri takes Jake’s hand. “Come down with me?” As fa
r as I know this is the first time she’s sought his company.

  His features sharpen as he scrutinizes her, “What about your artist friend?”

  “We’re through. I kicked him out.”

  Typical Bri. None of her boy toys last long.

  “Please, Jake. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

  My heart bleeds for her pain, but I hope she doesn’t plan on playing him. Because I need him as my head of security. I can’t intercede, though. I’ll need to trust Jake knows her well enough to handle her. “Fine, Lady Brianna. Lead the way.” He disentangles his hand and allows her to precede him down the stairs, back to her co-op.

  The arrangements are both simple and complicated. The business of death is the same no matter where or who. My father’s body is taken to a mortuary for a post-mortem. The body will be released to an undertaker who’ll perform his services and we will have the funeral at Winterleagh. He’ll be buried with all the honors due an Earl of the realm.

  We’ll place a notice in the papers with the details of the service. For family and close friends only. In lieu of flowers, I’ll request a donation be made to the hospital which first cared for him. In death at least he’ll do some good, even if he did little while he lived. He loved Bri. And that’s what I’m going to remember about him. Well, that and my tutor’s murder.

  With Bri and Royce gone, I drift into the bedroom where Elizabeth is finished feeding Andrew.

  “Thank you,” she says handing our son to his caretaker.

  “Yes, milady.”

  I stop Nanny on the way out and drop a kiss on Andrew’s head. With my father’s death, he’s now Viscount Ainsley, but I shall never call him that. It would always remind me of my mother.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to Elizabeth once we’re alone.

  Elizabeth clips her nursing bra, slides into her blouse. “We don’t need to talk about it at the moment. Not now when your father’s arrangements need to be made. But after the funeral, when we return to London, we will need to discuss things.”

  I expect I will not like what she’ll have to say.

  Chapter 41

  ______________

  Gabriel

  “YOU WILL NOT WHISPER A WORD about your stay in Scotland. To anyone. Do you hear me, Mother?” It has taken five days for the funeral arrangements to be made, more than enough time to retrieve her from Scotland. She arrived today, just as Elizabeth, Andrew, and I have. Royce and Brianna chose to drive separately from us and should make it here by tonight. My decision not to tell them what I’d done with our mother still rankles with them.