by Suzanne Hart
“I’m Lisa,” I said to him and we shook hands and then laughed.
“Can I buy you a drink, Lisa?” He asked, stubbing his cigarette in the ashtray. I considered his offer for a moment, and the fact that I was attracted to him—but there was one thing I definitely wanted to avoid on this trip. I didn’t want it to become a series of one night stands. That was not what this journey was about.
I licked my lips and shook my head.
“No, I’m sorry, I was just about to leave,” I told him and Cian scrunched his brows.
“Really, you haven’t finished this pint yet,” he said and I smiled, beginning to stand up already.
“Yeah, I have to be somewhere else, sorry. It was nice talking to you, Cian. Hope you have a good night,” I said and began to walk away.
“I’ll be here if you change your mind, beautiful Lisa,” he called after me, with a laugh in his voice. I threw him a smiling look over my shoulder. These guys always knew just what to say!
I walked back towards the B&B again, still smiling. Nothing could bring me down now. I was having the experience of a lifetime and I hoped that when I returned to New York, I would be a different person. That I would have the strength to stand up to my father. Maybe finally, I would be able to tell him the truth. That I didn’t want to do what he had planned for me.
I knew Crowley Holdings was my legacy, my father had been trying to train me into taking over the company from him. But that wasn’t what I wanted for my life. I wanted to be a teacher.
The only reason I went to business school was because he wanted me to. Because I didn’t want to disappoint him. When in truth, I wanted to be a teacher all along. I wanted to go back to school, train and then teach. I had never been able to tell my father this, but now after this trip, maybe I finally would.
I thought my experiences here would be able to give me the courage to stand up for myself and take ownership of my own life. Before I entered the B&B, I checked my phone again and saw there were no calls or texts or emails from Daddy. He was still angry with me.
4
Julian
Behind my desk at my corner office was the Hudson Bay and I sat there now, thinking about the twists and turns my life had taken to bring me here. I thought about this often. I was thirty-seven years old and I was at that time in my life when I didn’t take everything I had for granted. Especially, since I was born into circumstances that were quite different.
For starters, my family was poor. Technically, I didn’t belong here, on the forty-fifth floor of a New York skyscraper.
My parents died in a car accident when I was eight, and they’d left me nothing. My grandmother had taken me in, reared me and tried to provide the best childhood she could. I grew up in poverty, and watched my grandmother struggling to make ends meet. The only thing she had to give me was the home we lived in, and even that was falling apart.
By the time of her death, I was twenty-two and the house was crumbling down. I had a couple of part time jobs but nothing enough to maintain the house. She died peacefully in her sleep, which was some relief, and for a long time, I couldn’t get over the fact that I had no family left in the world.
I wanted to repair the house and then sell it, but none of the banks would lend me any money because I had no credit score and no savings. I’d turned to Crowley Holdings then. They were a Non-Bank Financial Institution and my only hope for being able to repair the house.
For weeks, I visited their offices, literally with my palms open and begging them to lend me the money I needed. Alan Crowley, who was the owner of the company, met with me a few times, going over the plan I had. I wanted to repair the house, sell it and then use the money to start my own real estate agency.
I knew I had a good business sense and with some capital, I could turn my business into a success. But first, I needed to make that initial capital and the only way I could do that would be by selling my grandmother’s house.
Alan Crowley was my only hope and I tried to do everything I could to convince him. Crowley Holdings was a well-established financial institution and they claimed that they backed small local businesses.
After two months of back and forth, they turned me down and I knew it was solely because Alan Crowley didn’t have faith in me or my business idea. For some reason, he was convinced that my business would fail, that my real estate company would never be a success and I wouldn’t be in a position to pay back the loan I’d take from him.
When they turned me down, I was distraught. I was sure that I would have to live as a failure all my life. Without the money coming in for the repairs of my grandmother’s home, I’d never be able to sell it.
But I did.
What I did in order to make that sale wasn’t entirely legal.
I inflated the condition of the house. With a few licks of paint and rearranging the decor, I was able to present the house as a good investible property and there were buyers for it.
I failed to mention the fact that the integral structure of the house was falling apart. That the roof was leaking, that the walls were damp and the house needed several thousand dollars, worth of repair. It wasn’t exactly a crime, but it wasn’t fair either. The people who bought the house from me eventually were a family of four and I knew that I’d done something horrible to them.
They were already spending a lot of money in buying the house and now all their savings would go in repairing it.
At the time, I didn’t care. I wanted the money and I got it. With the money I made from the sale, I was able to invest in a different property. I had enough money now to flip it and sell it for a sizable profit and within a year, my new business was flourishing.
But I never forgot what Alan Crowley had done to me. If he’d given me the loan I was asking for, I wouldn’t have had to cheat that family and sell them a sub-standard house.
Now that I’d made billions of dollars in the past twelve years, I knew that Alan Crowley regretted his decision and I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to destroy him. To make him feel how I felt twelve years ago. Helpless and miserable and forced to take adverse actions. I wanted him to feel it too.
Now they were selling their shares.
I sat at my desk, reading the news report on my computer and a smile was quickly spreading on my face.
The fact was that Crowley Holdings were in deep shit. Their finances were out of control and they owed so much money to so many people that within months, they’d go into bankruptcy if they didn’t try and make money somehow. So, the only thing they could do now was begin to sell personal shares that used to belong to the family. It would mean that control of the business would now be distributed to other people once those shares slipped out of Crowley hands.
I’d been waiting twelve years for this opportunity and now it was finally here. If I bought all the shares that were on offer, I’d gain majority control of Crowley Holdings and I’d be free to do with it as I pleased.
This felt like the best vengeance on Alan Crowley that I could have asked for and I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. Everything was falling into place.
5
Lisa
Two weeks of Ireland and I was ready to leave for France.
I had my tickets for the ferry and my bags packed early in the morning. After a quick goodbye to the nice old lady who’d looked after me the past weeks, I headed out to the riverside for breakfast.
I bought myself a coffee and a plate of waffles and sat outside in the cool Irish sun. The River Liffey was a beautiful sight and I knew I was going to miss Dublin when I was gone. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to France and the experiences that were waiting for me there.
I hadn’t spoken to my father since that day I’d stormed out of his office in New York. Even though I felt less guilty now, I still checked my phone often. I was hoping that he would at least write to me now, that he would at least want to know if I was safe and okay. But he didn’t, and just like him, I was stubborn too.
I was just finishing up my plate of waffles when my phone rang.
I looked in my bag excitedly for it. It had to be Daddy, I could feel it in my bones! When I saw his name flashing on my screen, I could hardly contain my excitement. I tried to calm myself, so that I could have a normal conversation with him and not allow my emotions to take over.
I answered the call in a forced calm voice.
“Daddy?” I said, holding my breath to hear him.
“Lisa?” It was a woman’s voice that greeted me and immediately I knew something was wrong.
“Who is this?” I snapped.
“Lisa, hi, this is Rose Mitchell, your father’s secretary,” she said and I felt my heart drop to my stomach. Rose, who I’d known for several years now, had never called me from my father’s phone before.
“So, he’s making you call me because he doesn’t want to speak to me himself?” I asked, settling back in my chair. I couldn’t believe how stubborn Daddy was being. That he didn’t even want to hear my voice! I was all the family he had left, we only had each other and he was going to let this trip get in between us.
“Actually, Lisa, no. Your father hasn’t asked me to call you, because currently, he can’t. He’s unconscious,” Rose said.
I jumped out of my chair, knocking over my cup of coffee all over the tiny table.
“Unconscious, what are you talking about, Rose?” I barked.
“There’s been an accident… y… your father, Mr. Crowley, he’s been in an accident. His car collided with another car. He’s in the hospital now, I’m here with him. I didn’t know how else to reach you.”
Rose’s words fell like heavy weights on my ears, and my knees wobbled. Slowly, I sat back down on the chair again. Everything around me had disappeared and people’s voices sounded like white noise in my ears.
“An accident… is he… will he be okay? How is he now?” My voice was shaking as I forced the words out.
“The doctors can’t be sure, yet. It’s too early to tell. He’s not recovered consciousness yet and he’s going to need spinal surgery. I’m so sorry, Lisa.”
Rose broke down, and I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks too. Somehow, I felt like this was all my fault.
“I’m… I’m in Dublin. I’m going to take the first flight back to New York, but I don’t know how long it’ll take me. I don’t think… I don’t know.” I was crying too.
Rose sniffed hard.
“It’s okay, I’m going to be here in the hospital. But the doctors will need your written permission for the surgery. It’s going to be very risky. They need you here to sign off on it.”
I shook my head, picking up my bags and beginning to run down the street. I had my hand stuck out, trying to flag down a taxi to take me to the airport.
“Okay, I’m going to try and get there as fast as possible. I’ll be there soon,” I spoke through my tears.
“Okay, I’ll see you shortly,” Rose said and with that the call ended.
I had never felt this miserable before. It all felt like my fault.
If I hadn’t fought with him, if I hadn’t been this pigheaded and rushed away on this trip, I would be there for him. I would have been able to sign off on that surgery right away without delay. Now every moment that went by was like a ticking bomb, counting down my father’s life.
I cried in the taxi that took me to Dublin airport. When I ran up to the counter, I was told that the first flight to JFK was three hours away. More delay.
In the airport, I locked myself in a bathroom stall and cried some more. I hadn’t spoken to my father in two weeks and now it might be too late.
I had no idea how bad the accident was, what his chances of survival were and if he’d be alive when I got to the hospital.
This trip felt like a mistake now. Chasing after my stupid dreams felt like an error in judgement—because nothing would have been worth the cost of my father’s life. And now, the last memory I might have of my father would be the scene of a fight. With both of us mad at each other.
I waited at the airport for the following three hours, trying to not burst into tears again. I kept Rose updated about my journey and she told me that my father’s condition still hadn’t changed, and that he still hadn’t regained consciousness.
I vowed to myself that if Daddy made it through this ordeal, I’d do anything he asked of me.
6
Julian
It was Sunday morning, and I was driving to New Jersey in my Rolls. A car I wouldn’t have dreamed of driving twelve years ago when I didn’t have a penny to my name.
I could have been in bed, fucking another super gorgeous super model right now, but I wasn’t. I hadn’t been on a date or even been interested in a one night stand since Lyra. Not because I missed her… I couldn’t even remember her face anymore… but because I was done with all that. I wanted to focus my energy on something real. I wanted to find something, or someone, who would actually make me happy. Right now, the only thing I thought would make me happy was the destruction of Crowley Holdings.
I still couldn’t get Alan Crowley out of my head. I knew it was a petty thing to hold on to, to still think about… but the truth was that I hadn’t stopped thinking about him for these twelve years. Every time I was successful at something in life, I thought about that day he’d turned me away.
I drove up to my old home now, the one my grandmother had brought me up in. Now, it was barely standing—derelict and falling apart. I’d bought it from the previous owners some years ago but hadn’t touched it since.
All I knew about the family who I’d sold the house to was that they’d spent a lot of their savings on it and eventually had to make a distress sale when they’d lost all their money. I was aware that my actions had possibly wrecked a happy family and caused them to fall apart. I didn’t know where they were now or how they were, but I knew they would curse me all their lives. They’d found out too late that I’d cheated them.
I walked into the house now and realized that the place didn’t look anything like the home I’d grown up in. It had passed through too many hands and too many unhappy families and now I barely recognized it.
Yet, if twelve years ago, I hadn’t done what I did—I wouldn’t have been at the position I was in now. I wouldn’t have made all this money and I wouldn’t have been a success.
Regardless, I still blamed Alan Crowley for it and now I knew that he was paying for it. I was certain that he knew about my success now. I was one of the most recognizable faces in New York City. And where was he now? He was the one who was begging people to lend him money and to buy his shares. I wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t even close to being the good decision maker for his business as he thought he was.
I had no sympathy for him. Just like I had no sympathy for the banks that had turned me down too. If I could avenge them, I would have, but right now it was only Alan Crowley who I could destroy and I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.
I’d already fixed up a meeting with him for the next day, and I was looking forward to it. We hadn’t met in the past twelve years, but I couldn’t wait to see his face when I walked into his office now. I was going to make him an offer for the shares that he wouldn’t be able to refuse.
His position was so dire currently, that he would have no choice but to accept my offer. And once all the shares had passed into my hands and I had control of the company… I knew what I was going to do. I was going to dissolve the company without a second thought. Crowley Holdings was going to be a piece of bad history. I would be pulling the rug right off from under Alan Crowley’s feet and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
The thought brought a smile to my face again.
I was walking around the derelict old home and thought about the repairs. Why hadn’t I repaired it yet? Why did I just let it keep crumbling down without doing anything about it?
Maybe it served as a constant reminder of my past, of my roots. Despite all the fancy cars and my penthouse apartm
ent and my walk-in closet, as long as this crumbling old house existed, I would always remember where I came from. I would always remember how hard my grandmother had struggled to give me a good life. I would never forget the way I had cheated that family of their money and most of all, I would never forget Alan Crowley.
My parents and my grandmother would have been proud of me if they saw me now. If they saw everything I’d achieved in my life. But I also knew that as long as my grandmother was living, she would never have allowed me to cheat that family. The only reason I had achieved all this success was because she was dead and because I was free to do something horribly cruel to an unsuspecting family.
For that, I would always feel guilty, and angry towards Alan Crowley and the banks that refused me. If they’d given me the money, I would have made the repairs and then sold the house. I wouldn’t have subjected that family to this crisis.
But I couldn’t change that now. The only thing I could change now was what was going to happen to Crowley Holdings.
I left the house, driving back again to New York and thinking about the meeting the following day.
I had a speech prepared. I knew exactly what I was going to say to him. I would make sure that when I took the company away from him, he remembered exactly what he’d done to me.
7
Lisa
I arrived at the hospital with my bags in my hand and feeling like I was ready to collapse. I hadn’t slept or eaten in over twelve hours. Rose and a group of people from the office were huddled in the waiting room and I ran past them.
“Lisa, I don’t think you’re supposed to go in there!” Rose chased after me as I ran past the nurses too, and the reception desk. Rose had already told me which room my father was in and I rushed to it.