by Piper Knox
“What is it?”
He frowned. “You haven’t heard the news?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your father.”
“What about him?”
“Where is he?”
“What do you mean, where is he?”
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Can you be more specific about whatever you’re talking about?”
“Are you saying nobody told you? Not even your brothers?”
“What is going on?”
“He fled his Hamptons home this morning. It was also before he was about to be served with an indictment over his handling of company funds and misuse of shareholder funds.”
All of that was news to me. I had spent the entire day fussing over other things I hadn’t bothered to check the news.
“It happened around day end so I don’t think it’s in the news yet,” he said answering my silent question, “Although it could be by now. Are you sure no one told you? Not even some text you missed.”
“I’m not lying if that’s what you’re insinuating. I don’t know where he is. They don’t tell me anything.”
He glared at me for a few more seconds and left. What was that all about? I took out my phone and dialed a number. Dad’s phone was unreachable. I called Bryce. His phone kept ringing. I shot him a text.
What the heck is going on. Dad’s missing?
I called Greyson. He answered.
“Dad’s missing? Is that true?”
“Hi Hailey.”
“Is it true?”
He paused at the other end. I could hear someone in the background that sounded like Bryce yelling constantly.
“Yes. He was last seen taking out his boat for sailing.”
“Maybe he got lost?” I said that knowing that it was not plausible. He loved sailing. He used to be a competitive sailor. The man knew his way around large bodies of water.
“Yeah. Maybe.” He too didn’t sound convinced. I didn’t want to think the worst. What if he had…
“Is that Hailey?” I heard Bryce say in the background. A few moments later he was speaking to me directly. He boomed into the phone, “Are you happy now?” his voice was high and rough, “Are you happy about what your husband did? Did you put him up to this!”
“What are you talking about!”
“If anything bad happens to him. It’s all on you!” The phone went dead.
A few minutes later, I was the one banging on Caiden’s door. He opened it nonchalantly. He had an apron on and a towel in his hand. “What now?” he said. He looked irritated by my presence.
“What did you do?”
He shrugged. “I’m going to need to know what you’re talking about?”
“What did you do to my father?”
He turned and strolled back into the apartment such that I had to follow him, “Nothing that I hadn’t always wanted to do. It’s what he's done to me and other people that’s important.” He stopped in the kitchen and went to the stove. There he began stirring what seemed to be a pot of stew. There were a lot of ingredients around. A lot more for one person. Was he having guests? A date? I felt my heart clench at the possibility and immediately willed the thought away. I was here on a serious matter.
“Did you have something to do with his disappearance?”
“Hailey, I’m the last person who wants him gone. He was supposed to finalize a deal with us when he went AWOL.”
“What do you mean?”
He turned off the stove and faced me. “He went missing essentially, just as he was about to sign a deal that would sell the company to us. The entire thing. We were supposed to be in a meeting with him this morning, but he never came.”
“So why is my brother blaming you?”
“Probably because I exposed the true nature of his deeds. If it weren’t for my digging, most people wouldn’t know of his shady dealings. It’s more on him than it is on me, to be honest. Your brother’s looking for a scapegoat. Why do you care about that man so much he hardly cares about you?”
“Because he’s still my father?”
He paused as if thinking about it, then went back to his cooking.
“Is that all you’re going to say?”
“I should ask you that?” he stirred his pot and added some carrots. The aromas that were coming out of it were making me feel hungry again, “If there’s anyone who might have any idea, it’s you. You’re his daughter, after all. But if you want my guess,” he faced me, “I think he’s ran away. Julian’s a coward.”
I felt like a fool standing there watching him cook. He was right, and I was wrong. I thought of going back to my place, but I didn’t feel like doing so. After a few moments I turned, about to make my way back when my phone rang. It was Greyson. I pressed the answer button. His voice was low and groggy when he said, “Hailey?”
“Have you found him?”
“The coastguard found his boat.” Just his boat?
“What about him?”
“He was there. He’s dead.”
44
“What?” Caiden turned to face me when he heard my voice. He stopped what he was doing and was now staring at me.
“They found his body with one gunshot to his head. They um,” he paused and I think I heard him sniff, “they think it was a suicide.” We spoke for a few more minutes and then I ended the call.
“What did they say?” Caiden asked. His brow was furrowed.
“Um, he died. They think he committed suicide. I guess what you want has happened.”
He looked dumbfounded. “No.” He crossed over to where I was standing in a few steps and took me into his arms.
“There’s no need for this,” I said into his shirt.
“He was your father. It’s okay to cry.” I didn’t want to, I was sure I would not cry, but I ended up feeling my face become wet as tears fell down. He held me like that as I poured out tears into his chest. It was a long while before I felt I could let go of him.
“Thank you for that,” I said between sniffs. I made my way to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to my apartment.” He took my hand and drew me back into his arms. “You don’t have to sleep alone tonight.” When I widened my eyes, he added, “Not like that. You can even take the other bedroom if you want.” I tried to parse his intentions. He seemed genuine. Then I looked at the pots of food on the stove. It looked like he was cooking for more than one. “Don’t you have company? I wouldn’t want to be in the way?” I said as I tried to clamp down the beast of jealousy roaring inside me. He frowned, and followed my gaze and then grinned, “Oh. Th-hat’s all for me. We can share if you want some.”
“All of that?”
He nodded.
“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”
“You wouldn’t be. Come on.” I was feeling hungry again. It must be the lack of food for the last few months that brought on this new hunger. And probably the pregnancy too. I followed him to the kitchen. He took the stew off the stove and poured it into a large bowl while I took out two plates.
We ate in silence. The food was nice, warm and tasted as good as everything he made. I also could not help thinking about my father.
It still felt surreal. He was gone. I couldn’t believe it. There was something about him that had felt immortal until now. It was odd that he was no longer there. I had to settle with that feeling now. I also had to admit that I felt like a heavy log lifted off me.
After we ate, we went over to the couch. Caiden brought a glass of wine for himself and a cup of hot cocoa for me. We sat drinking our respective drinks in comfortable silence. He drew me closer to him until I was splayed over his left side. He cradled me and his hand went over my hip. I felt a warmth creep over me as his scent filled my nostrils. I could stay like this forever.
I must have slept, because when I woke up, I was in his bed and it was morning. I was still in my clothes. The tightness of the bra reminded me
I hadn’t taken it off for too long. Caiden was sleeping next to me and the sheet partially covered his shirtless body. He looked both innocent and a tempting devil; it was difficult not to stare at him.
Slowly, making sure that I wouldn’t be heard, I lifted the sheet and got my feet onto the ground. My shoes were nowhere to be found. I tiptoed out of the room and went downstairs. There, I found my phone on the couch and my shoes next to it. I got out of the apartment.
45
I woke up to an empty bed. I shouldn’t have thought of it as peculiar since this had been the norm for the past months until I remembered Hailey had slept next to me. Her essence was still present, even though I knew she had gone. We had done little talking yesterday. She had slept beside me like a baby.
As she laid there cradled beside me, she felt as if she belonged there. As if she was a part of me. When I took her upstairs, I never thought of taking her to the guest bedroom. Sleeping next to her had felt like the most natural thing in the world. I had to admit that seeing the empty bed this morning brought a feeling of emptiness. I shut those thoughts.
I got out of bed and checked my messages. There were a bunch of them. Most were from business partners and friends. Some were offering condolences. A few were from Ax. He sent me a coffin emoji, a witch emoji and a bell emoji. Ding dong, the witch’s dead. Huh. Very funny. I was about to throw the phone on the bed when I saw a missed call from Fred.
I called him back.
“What is it?”
“You won’t believe what I’ve found. I wasn’t sure if I should send it to you because of what happened with your in-laws and all.” I thought it funny that he cared about them when he knew I was investigating the entire lot.
“What did you find?”
“It’s regarding your wife and your brother, in a way.”
My heart fell. I went back and forth on whether I wanted to hear it. What could he say that would change things? The worst was out in the open, anyway.
“What is it?” My phone beeped. There was an incoming call. I checked it. It was Ax.
“Can I call you back later? I have another call coming in.” I hung up and took Ax’s call.
“What is it?”
“Did you hear the news? Of course you did. He’s fucking dead!”
“Is it?”
“Yep. Saw it on the news. They dragged his body out of his gaudy boat. My phone has been going off the hook. Why weren’t you picking up?”
Because I was consoling my wife who I hate. I didn’t know how to explain it without being told how ‘obsessed’ I was. “I was working. I had my phone in the other room.”
“So you didn’t know that your in-law blew his brains out.”
“You just told me.”
“Gosh. How’s your wife taking it?”
“How else would she take it; he was her father.”
“Yeah, yeah. Pass my condolences to her.”
I thought if I should tell him the other news. He was going to know, eventually. I would rather it be now. “By the way, she’s pregnant.”
“Who?” he was slow to connect the dots but when he did, “You mean Hailey!”
“What the fuck! When did that happen?”
I told him everything.
“Are you sure it’s yours?”
“It’s mine.” I knew it was mine, I didn’t need confirmation.
“Fuck. So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet.” It was the truth. I hadn’t thought about what I’m going to do about the entire situation except for what I had done so far, keep her close.
“Make sure she doesn’t use it against you. You know how she is. Fuck. Your luck, man.”
“Tell me about it.” As I said the words, I could hear them sounding insincere. I didn’t consider it unlucky that I was about to be a father. I felt the opposite, actually.
“Speaking of, Julian kicking the bucket might be good for us. His dumb-ass sons don’t know how to negotiate for shit and we could get a better deal out of all this.”
“Good. I want you on top of this.”
“You’re sure? It has always been your thing?” It was, but it felt less fun now that the main villain was no longer alive.
“Yes. I’m sure.”
I got off the phone, took a shower and changed. There’ll probably be people outside waiting to hear a comment from Hailey. I went into the elevator and as I was about to press the basement button; I hovered over the button to her floor. She’s not ready to face them. Plus, she looked a little stressed last night. I should let her go to the wolves, I thought it was her problem not mine. Her sad face floated in my head. I jabbed the button to the parking floor and sent her a text.
Don’t go to work today. There are probably reporters swarming this building and your workplace.
I was doing it because she was pregnant with my child. That’s the only reason I didn’t want to see her stressed.
◆◆◆
The office was in pandemonium at the news that Julian had passed away. Everyone wanted to know what the strategy was going forward. They had already congregated in my office by the time I came in. The CFO, legal counsel and Ax were all huddled over my desk and arguing.
“Let’s go on with the sale. They came to us first.”
“We can’t. It’s too early. It will make us seem callous. The reporters will have a field day and the stock price…”
“What do you think?” I nodded at Ax. Surprised to see me walking in. They all went quiet.
“Let's wait for them to come to us. He came to us first. He wanted to sell. They’ll definitely sell. Shareholders are pulling out and some will convince them to sale at some point after the funeral. Lets face it, nobody liked the old man, I wouldn’t be surprised if the shareholders pressure them during the funeral. “
“I’m with Ax,” I said, throwing my things on the desk, “I won’t be staying for long by the way.”
“Why not?” Ax looked baffled.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my father-in-law died.”
“I thoug—fine. Go do what you gotta do, I guess.”
“Good.” I was in the middle of giving a few instructions and delegating when my phone rang again. It was Fred. What was it that was so important? Fred rarely rang twice in a day. After it rang the third time, I left the office and went to answer it.
“What is it, Fred?”
“We got cut off earlier.”
“Yes, I’m aware. What’s so important?”
“The issue we were talking about. Your wife and your brother. It didn’t happen the way we thought it happened.”
I was on my way to the elevator and I stopped mid-stride. “What do you mean exactly?”
“I did some digging. She was admitted to a hospital that day. At first they thought she was drunk, so they ordered a toxicology report.”
I knew all of this. She was drunk; it turned out. “Why are we rehashing this?”
“The report said she had high amounts of gamma-hydroxy butyric acid in her bloodstream.”
“What?”
“She was high on GHB, a date rape drug.”
I felt like someone had punched me in the gut.
“I did further investigating, spoke to a few people who were at the party she attended, and somebody mentioned that she was with a couple of friends who were known for doing that sort of thing. Drugging girls, that is. But that’s all the information I have. I don’t know why they would do that, or even who did. All I know for sure is—”
“She was a victim too.” Fuck.
46
I looked down at my black dress and black pumps in the full-length mirror. My outfit said demure and sad, hopefully enough to be correctly identified as the daughter of the dead person. I took a deep breath and shook my shoulders. Don’t be afraid, I told myself. Why are you afraid? It’s dad’s funeral for chrissake. The doorbell rang. I took one look again, grabbed my purse and went to answer the door.
“You read
y?” he said as soon as I swung open the door. Caiden filled the frame and looked as suave as always in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie.