All we can afford is enough to keep my dad comfortable with a portable unit in his office.
The office door stands open, but I knock on it anyway as I round the corner into the only cool air in the house. My clothes stick to my skin. “Hey, Daddy.”
He looks up at me from his desk. A wide ledger covers the surface in front of him. I don’t ask what he’s doing with it, or who it belongs to. I know better than to ask. Anything written down like that is old—old enough to be private. “Hi, honey. How was the office?”
“I didn’t go to the office today.” I take the seat across from him. I’ve never been more desperate to change out of my clothes, but I’m also desperate for this conversation to be over. “I had a meeting in the city with a potential investor.”
My father’s eyes track the folio as I place it equally between us. He raises narrowed eyes to me with a set jaw. “Investors, Charlotte? For a business venture of yours?”
“No. For Van Kempt Industries.”
He lets out a bark of a laugh. “The company isn’t looking for investors.”
“We need an investor, Daddy. It’s the only option we have left. I’ve had meeting after meeting with the team, and we all came to the same conclusion.” Steely rain lashes the window behind him. My dad bristles in the yellow light of his desk light, but I have no choice. I have to keep going. He might not remember that he’s had to fire almost everyone at Van Kempt Industries. He might be denying it to himself. But the team—there’s practically no one left. It’s me and a handful of people who have been trying to keep the Cornerstone development from imploding. “The only way to go forward with construction is to form a partnership with an outside investor.”
He reaches out a white-sleeved wrist to pick up the tumbler on his desk. Only a single drink waits for him in the glass, and he downs it in one. I know that’s not all he’s had. I know he’s been drinking all day. Wearing his nice office clothes can’t disguise the tremors he’s beginning to have. The liquid in the glass doesn’t lie. My dad brings it back down to the desk with too much care. It scares me, how careful he is. How hard he’s trying to disguise the amount he’s had.
It’s worse when he’s not trying.
“I never have partnerships.”
“But…you did. You’ve had lots of them.”
“I don’t have them anymore.” He’s put the glass down but he hasn’t released it from his grip. “They’re dangerous. They’re shitty. They always end with someone getting hurt.”
Partnerships are dangerous. More than I ever realized. Mason hasn’t just demanded my time. He’s also demanded my body, all but guaranteeing that I’ll get hurt.
My stomach turns over. Am I really considering this? Selling myself to him to save my family?
Oh, god. I am considering it. I’ve already taken it for granted, but it’s only now that I’m home that reality is setting in. Mason will touch me. He’ll do more than that. He’ll use me in every possible way, ways I haven’t even considered yet.
Is it worth giving up my dignity to save my family?
An expression flickers over my father’s face in a blink. Shorter than the flash of lightning outside. But I see it—I know I see it. His lips draw back from his teeth. They’re out. Bared. Not a smile, but it makes me think of satisfaction. And then he’s scowling again. The leather folio on the desk feels almost alive. He glances down at it like it might bite.
“Daddy.” Folding both hands over my purse presses wet fabric into my lap. “I’ve found an investor for us. This contract guarantees the construction of the Cornerstone development. It guarantees a minimum sale price for the property after it’s finished. The money will be enough to pay off the company debts and all of our family debts and start fresh. All it needs is your signature.”
“Charlotte.”
His tone is mildly scolding, and the urge wells up to admit that I’m in over my head. It was always this way growing up. I felt so guilty every time I stepped out of line. The smallest mistakes felt like enormous failures. “I think you should take a look at the contract.”
My dad snatches the folio up into his hands and I bite back another wave of that old habit. It would feel good not to lie to him, but that feeling wouldn’t last. I would have to shoulder the guilt of watching my parents’ house get put up for auction after the mortgage payments stopped. Watch the town car get repossessed by whichever creditor got to it first. Our humiliation in front of New York society would be complete. Right now, at least, we can hide from it behind the doors of the mansion. My mother can pretend to her friends that she’s not up for parties. My dad can pretend he’s exploring new business ventures. Right now, everything has a chance to work out.
He thumbs through the pages. Too rough on them, but Mason Hill used thick, heavy paper for this. If he wanted the contract to feel like the only real thing in a cardboard house, he did it. The sound of the rain almost drowns out the subtle swishes of the paper. I need to check the bucket in the upstairs guest suite. It’s sitting under a leak that gets bigger with every storm. I hope it hasn’t overflowed.
A sigh, and then a slow, deliberate turning of the pages. All the way back to the beginning. Another bolt of fear—did Mason lie to me? Did he put the terms of our deal on the first page, where my dad would definitely see them? The hair on the back of my neck pulls up. Oh, god. If he did that, if all this was a cruel game, then it will be worse than rock bottom.
I take a slow breath. He didn’t do that. Mason Hill might be an asshole. He might be the meanest person I’ve ever met. But somewhere, even if it’s buried deep, there’s good in him. There’s good in everyone.
There has to be some good in everyone.
“Phoenix Enterprises.” The name sounds unfamiliar in my father’s mouth. Not the way he’s said Van Kempt Industries all my life. There’s no pride in the way he says Phoenix Enterprises. Only resignation with a hint of suspicion. “This is Hill’s company.”
My shoulders sag. Thank God. I’d been going through scenarios, trying to figure out how to describe it while giving him the minimum amount of information, but he already knows. No hiding it now. “Yes.”
A muscle in his cheek twitches. There’s no telling how much he’s had to drink, and I don’t know if it’ll make his pride duller or sharper.
“Find another investor.” He moves to close the folio. I lurch forward in my seat, my purse falling wetly to the rug, and block his hand. My heart thuds. If it weren’t for the storm, he’d be able to hear it.
I tried to find another investor. I couldn’t. Mason is doing everything in his power to stop me from finding a deal with anyone else, and he has significantly more power than I do.
“There are no other investors.” I’ll break down if I have to. My dad never liked tears. He never liked what he called theatrics. But that’s because they work. The problem I was having would be solved in a matter of hours. “I’ve looked. There’s no one else. You don’t have to deal with Phoenix, Daddy. I’ll do all of that. All I need is one signature.”
His lip curls and my stomach sinks. He’s not going to sign it.