His eyes scanned around and I could see the tension on his gorgeous face. “The garden is as good a place as any. He always liked the roses. As big an asshole as he was, the roses brought him pleasure. Amongst them will do.”
I smiled reassuringly at him. “Well, let’s do this then.”
He left me to open the car and get out the foam box. He didn’t hesitate, just walked straight to a row of several rose bushes, covered in an array of white, blood red and pale pink roses.
When Shay opened the box, he froze, staring down at the fine ash inside.
Rushing to his side, I placed a hand on his back, rubbing circles over the firm muscles I could feel beneath his shirt. “It’s ok baby. I’ve got you.” I whispered and with a shaky smile in my direction, he bent and poured the ashes out around the base of one rose bush covered in blood red roses.
Once the job was done, Shay straightened, a shudder working its way through his body and I knew that had just taken everything out of him.
I reached for the empty foam box and headed towards a row of bins I’d seen lined up beside the house when we’d pulled up. Lifting the lid on one, I tossed the box inside, watching it fall amongst the other garbage.
Walking back to Shay, I smiled brightly. “So, now what? Are we looking for anything in particular?” I asked. I hated to see him so uncertain and unsure of himself. Now his father’s ashes were dealt with, he needed to sort out anything else he was here to do, then get the hell away from this place. I could see what it was doing to him, being here and we hadn’t even gone inside yet. He was physically drooping. Becoming hunched over and I suspected it was to try and make himself look smaller. A habit he had probably adopted around his father to try and avoid being noticed.
“I need to get his safe opened. If he had anything remotely like a will and his intentions for this mausoleum, they would be in his safe. I just find it hard to believe that there’s no will. I thought for sure he’d want to set things up so I got nothing.” Shay’s voice sounded flat, monotone. “Not that I want anything from him, anyway.”
I gave his arm a squeeze. “A safe? He has a safe?”
Shay nodded. “One like in the movies baby. You know, mounted behind the picture frame. My father trusted no one so anything that held any significance or value to him would be in that safe.”
“What will you do if you find a will? Do you really think he’d want to cut you out of inheriting anything from him?”
“He hated me. He never made any secret of that. I don’t care. I don’t want anything my father owned. I want nothing to do with his home or money or any fucking thing. I work and earn well, not to mention I’m what some might consider wealthy because my mother left her money to me.”
“That’s nice that she thought of you and left you something.”
Shay shot me a brief smile. “She left me five million dollars baby. It’s probably a bit more than what some might consider something.”
I stumbled mid stride and Shay’s hands shot out to steady me. “Five million dollars? Fuck. Jesus. Fuck. You shouldn’t have told me that.”
He chuckled. “I’ve never told anyone before how much it was. I wasn’t interested in women for anything more than a night and I didn’t want them to know about the money or they might have been after me for that too. It’s not five million anymore of course. I bought my Primrose Sands home, renovated it all and the apartment. The Porsche was purchased from the money too. I have no real interest in living some lavish lifestyle but women…women like money.” I opened my mouth to protest but his fingers came out to flutter over my lips. “Not you though. I know you’re different. You want me and you love me despite all that is wrong with me.”
I reached up to press my lips to his. “There’s nothing wrong with you Shay. You are every woman’s wet dream, but it’s not just the sex. You’re sweet and sensitive and at times vulnerable and you’ve survived a horrific time in your life. I love you and I would love you even if you were penniless.”
I saw his eyes light up with a wicked gleam. “Wet dream huh? Are you wet for me now?” He pulled me into his arms and one hand moved down, hitching my dress up enough that he could work his fingers up and into the side of my panties. I gasped when he pushed a couple inside me and groaned against my neck. “Oh sexy girl, you are wet.” He whispered before pulling his fingers from me and sticking them in his mouth, making quite a production of sucking the moisture off them.
I blushed watching him. I don’t know why after everything we’d done and how intimate we’d been. Seeing him lick me off his fingers like that, tasting me and apparently enjoying it, never failed to embarrass me.
“Come on, let’s get on with it. Distracting me with your sexiness isn’t going to work today.” I went to brush past him to head up the stairs to the house, but not before I saw the smile vanish from his face and his expression sober.
When I saw the rapid change in him I felt a wave of guilt flow through me. The nervous tension in his eyes was a clear reminder of how stressful this was for him, being at his father’s home. Of course, his show of fingering me and licking them clean was all part of his familiar pattern to distract himself.
Grasping his hand in mine, I gave it a squeeze and this time I let him lead the way up the wide stairs. When we got to the front door, he pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked it before swinging it open and waving me in ahead of him.
Shay
It didn’t matter how many times I walked through this door, the feeling was always the same: dread. Sure, it helped a bit that Lyla was with me this time. To know her love was like a protective cloak around me to ward of the bad memories that surfaced in me. I knew I could lean on her for strength but even knowing that, I still wished I was anywhere else but here.
I had to be here though. I had to get into my father’s safe and see what he might have hidden from me. It was hard to believe that he wouldn’t have had a will in place. I’m sure he would have done anything he could to make sure I got nothing from him. His hatred of me was that great. He’d never tried to hide it and he’d enjoyed telling me often enough.
Taking Lyla’s hand as her touch did help to calm me, I moved straight through the house, not stopping anywhere along the way until we reached the wing where my father’s office was. Each step that led me closer to it. To that room, brought my heart rate up and made my palms sweat.
His wing was located right at the back of the house, down a few steps that led to a section that had been closed off to my mother and I most of the time. Of course, I knew why it was closed off, but I had to believe my mother never knew what really went on behind those closed doors.
I helped Lyla down the stairs that led to the door that for the first time in a long time, stood open. I could only assume it had been left open when the paramedics and police were here removing my father’s body, given he’d been found in his office.
We walked down a short hallway, past doors that led to a bathroom, small library and at the end: his office. My steps faltered as we walked past the bathroom and my eyes moved to the expanse of timber panelling with a large mirror mounted over it.
When I saw myself in it, I wondered if Lyla would be able to see the fear I saw in my own reflection. Balking slightly, I then continued walking, until we entered the large room that had been the source of many of my father’s shady dealings. As far as rooms went, it looked ordinary enough. One wall had a row of filing cabinets running along it, while the one on the opposite side of the room had a large screen TV mounted to the wall. There was a long window that took up most of the wall behind my father’s desk and the last wall was where several pictures hung. One of which was where the safe was concealed.
Staring at my father’s desk that was positioned so the window was behind it, I noticed the paperwork on it looked to be scattered, with some lying on the floor. His plush leather chair was pushed to one side and I presumed that had all happened while the paramedics were here.
Rounding the desk, I pu
lled at the drawers at either end of it, but as always, only the top left one opened. All the others were locked. I had a quick glance at the paperwork scattered over the surface of it but it didn’t yield anything that looked to be of importance to me.
Stepping around the desk, I headed for one of several paintings hanging on the wall. There was a medium sized painting of an Australian outback scene and I knew that it was the one the safe was concealed behind.
“This room…I don’t like this room.” Lyla’s voice made me jump. I’d been so distracted by the deluge of feelings and memories, that I’d forgotten for a moment that she was here. When I turned my head towards her, she was walking around, arms folded, rubbing her palms up and down them as if she was cold.
Seeing her obvious discomfort triggered an answering shiver in me. “Neither do I, but it’s not the worst room in the house.” I pointed out and she gave me a questioning look.
Although it was going to test me, I had no intention of leaving this house without showing Lyla where I’d been forced to help pay out his debt. “Later, I’ll show you later.” I told her. “I need to get this safe open first.”
“Do you know the combination? It’s hard to imagine your father would want you to know something like that.”
I shrugged. “You would think so, but he keeps the combination in the top drawer of his desk, left side. Not very secure, but the main door to this wing was always locked if he wasn’t in here. It’s not like anyone could have walked in, found the safe combination and helped themselves.” I tipped my head towards the desk. “Top left drawer baby, please.” I reminded her, watching as she moved around the desk to look in the drawer. “Like I said, my guess is, there’s something inside the safe he’d want me to find after his death.”
“You make it sound like he planned it.” Lyla shivered. “The coroner found nothing suspicious. It was a heart attack. He had a weak heart.”
“I know. I just hope I haven’t inherited his heart then. I don’t want to die as young as he did.”
“Sixty is young I know, but you look after your body Shay and from what I could see of your father, he didn’t. He wasn’t hugely overweight or anything, but he wasn’t as fit looking as you are.” She came to me, slipping her arms around my waist and dropping her forehead against my chest. “There’s no point dwelling on it. We can’t change what is destined to happen. We just have to keep you as healthy as possible.”
I kissed the top of her head before gently straightening her. “I need to get in the safe. Did you get the combination?”
Lyla handed over the laminated strip of paper that contained a sequence of numbers and letters that might have some thinking it was a code, but it was the details on opening the safe.
“Is this it?”
I nodded. “That’s it.”
I moved over to the painting that hid the safe and felt down one side of it until I found the tiny button mounted flush into the painting’s frame and pushed. With a small click, the picture swung away from the wall revealing a dark grey metal door.
“Wow, I feel like I’m in a movie. It’s all very James Bond, isn’t it?” Lyla stepped forward for a closer look as I began twisting the dial back and forth, following the sequence on the sheet of paper until with another audible click, the lock disengaged. I pulled the door open and we both leaned forward to peer inside.
There wasn’t as much in it as I’d expected. A couple of stacks of money, predominately fifties and one hundred dollar notes, and leaning against the opposite wall of the safe were a few folders and what looked like a CD or DVD.
“Oh my god. Look at all that cash.” Lyla’s eyes were wide, staring at it.
“Why do you want some?” I lifted out a stack and tossed it to her. I had no desire to keep it. I didn’t want anything from my father. I’d seen enough cash exchange hands with my father and his ‘associates’ as he referred to them. Money like that, was a stark and painful reminder of a past I wanted to forget.
Her eyes bugged even more when she caught the bundle I’d thrown at her, and she began to frantically switch it from hand to hand as if it was too hot for her to hold. “No. Hell no. I’m not trying to walk out of here with a pile of cash.” She flicked the end of the stack in her hand so the notes fanned out. “Still, you must have some idea what to do with it? It’s cash. Your father has no say over what you do with that. Since it’s in his safe and apparently, no will, I doubt anyone but him and now us know about it.”
“Got any favourite charities baby?” I asked. “I don’t want it. You have no idea what money like that does to me.”
She frowned before throwing the money onto my father’s desk. “I’m sorry Shay. I don’t want to do anything that reminds you of him and what he did, but something should be done with this money. Charity is an excellent idea. Do you have any in mind? There’s got to be thousands of dollars here. If you want to give it away, perhaps it can be distributed over a few charities?”
I shrugged. “Fine.” I reached into the safe and pulled out the files and the disc. “Donate it to whoever you wish. I don’t want it. Chances are it’s money he got through something illegal or money he borrowed. I don’t care; I just know I don’t want it.”
“So what else is there? Is there anything that looks like a will?”
I dropped the disc and files on the desk. “I don’t know yet but I’m about to find out.”
I opened the first file and sifted through it, finding nothing particularly interesting. It looked to be documents related to various business dealings. I moved onto the next file and again found nothing of interest in it, but the third one was marked ‘Personal’ and looked more promising.
When I opened it, the first thing I saw was a birth certificate. It was mine and I lifted it from the folder to have a closer look. My heart skipped a beat when I saw my father’s name typed there, followed by crushing disappointment. I knew deep inside, part of me had hoped desperately, that he wouldn’t end up being my father.
“So that asshole was your father.” Lyla said, her eyes on the certificate in my hand and I realised she’d had the same thoughts as me.
“Yeah. Is it wrong that I’d hoped he wasn’t?” I asked and she shook her head.
“It’s natural Shay. If he wasn’t your father, you might have better understood his behaviour, but this proves the man was your blood relative and he treated you the way he did? That makes him an animal in my eyes.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
Lyla
“Is there anything else of interest in those files?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He continued rifling through the papers, scattering them over the desktop. Underneath a few more sheets of paper, Shay found a sealed envelope and when I looked closer, I could see it was addressed to him.
I felt my heart begin to skitter out of control and ominous dread settled in the pit of my stomach. Something told me this was what we’d been looking for. Whatever was inside that innocuous looking envelope, could totally mess with his head again, and he’d been better, happier lately. I hated this. I hated that even beyond the grave, his father still had the potential to hurt Shay.
Tearing the envelope open he pulled out a second copy of his birth certificate which he ignored in favour of the other thing, an envelope with the name and address of a laboratory on it. It looked old and well-worn as if it had been opened and closed numerous times.
Someone had bound tape around it. So much of it, that the envelope was completely wrapped in it. There was no way anyone would get into it without a knife or something. On the front of it, in bold red lettering were the words, ‘Don’t open until you watch the DVD.’
“Fuck!” Shay spat out the single expletive. “That disc from the safe.” He snatched it off the desk and waved it at me. “This is from him. He wants me to watch it before opening this.” He then waved the sealed envelope in front of me. “I thought I was done having to see that bastard’s smug, arrogant face again.”
“You don’t h
ave to watch it.” I told him, hating to see how much this was hurting him, but he shook his head.
“I do, of course I do. It will drive me crazy if I don’t and he would have known that. It’s all part of that bastard’s way of fucking with me. Even dead, he still fucks with me.”
“Well we need to find something to play it on.” I suggested looking around.
Shay snorted, his hands raking through his hair and his eyes wild. “I’m not watching it here. I’ll take it with us. Take the fucking cash. We’ll work out where it should go.” He handed the stacks of money to me and I slipped them in my handbag.
“Ok. Make sure you bring anything that could be worth looking through. There might be something in these files.” I indicated the ones he’d pulled from the safe and discarded earlier. “Is there anything else you want to take from here?”
“I’m not going through the house today. There’s one thing though. I told you I’d show you something.” He tensed up and I immediately knew something was bothering him. “It’s…it’s a room…” His voice trailed off and the look he shot me was filled with so much pain and anxiety, I couldn’t get to his side fast enough to wrap my arms around him.
“What is it baby? I’ve got you. That bastard can’t hurt you anymore.” I tried to reassure him, but he simply shot me a shaky smile before taking my hand and leading me from the room.
Once we were out of his father’s office, he began to walk back along the short hallway, stopping next to the doorway I saw was to a bathroom. We didn’t go into it, just stood outside it, right near a section of wood panelling with a full-length mirror attached to it. I met Shay’s eyes in it and seeing the agonised expression on his face caused my heart to begin a heavy, thundering beat.
He looked…god…he looked so pained that I felt a flash of intense fear surge through me, causing a momentary light headedness.
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