On the Sly : The Grange Complex Book 2

Ellie

“Dad, someone is blackmailing me. I’m here because I know that you can’t afford another scandal. I’m here to warn you,” I explained, getting straight to the point, knowing that he wasn’t looking for an apology. My father would view an apology as a sign of weakness and he detested any kind of weakness, especially from me. On top of that he was brutally honest.

He hadn’t always been so focused. The past shaped him into the man that he was today—not affectionate, indifferent. I usually had trouble reading his emotions, and right then, standing in front of him, I had no idea what he was thinking. He inhaled, closed the book, and stood up. He was very tall, over six foot five, with broad shoulders and deep lines on his cheeks. People often told me that I was the spitting image of him, but he never acknowledged it.

“That wouldn’t surprise me, Ellie. People don’t forget about things like your indiscretion, but we both know that we can’t afford another scandal. I thought the last catastrophe would have taught you a lesson, but I guess I was wrong.” He sighed his disappointment. I just stood there, ready for anything. I wasn’t stupid; I knew he wouldn’t simply forget about what happened, but this time, the blackmail was directly connected to him and seemingly manageable.

“I have had to use a different surname in order to sustain myself financially, but I think that someone recognised me. I didn’t come here for sympathy. I needed to warn you, so here I am,” I said bitterly, hoping that he was at least ready to listen to me. He was working with Andrew, who couldn’t be trusted.

“You don’t need to warn me, Ellie. It’s probably nothing. You’re exag—”

“For God’s sake, Dad, Hamilton can’t be trusted. I found out things that could ruin your whole career forever. You need to understand that he used me to get to you. How can you be so blind not to see it?” I cut him off, shaking with rage. I had no idea what happened, but I just snapped. Before now, I wouldn’t even dare to interrupt him, and now I was shouting at him in his office. He didn’t realise that he had a new Ellie in front of him, someone who was ready to fight.

“First you barge in here, when I ordered you to stay away from this building, and now you’re bringing up that whole affair again, telling me some unbelievable tale about Andrew?”

“They aren’t tales, Dad. I’m a reporter now and my job is to investigate cases that might not have credibility without real evidence. I find that evidence, Dad. Andrew wants you to represent him in court, in case something goes wrong. He doesn’t work in finance; don’t be a fool. He has his hands in more pies than fraud,” I continued, keeping my voice low and controlled. Last time I tried to talk to him I was crying and shouting, and that irritated my father. He hated when I threw tantrums, but now I was calm, speaking to him like an adult.

He kept looking at me intensely, looking slightly surprised, probably because he didn’t recognise the new me.

“You know that I don’t like empty words. False accusations like that can hurt a man’s reputation, unless you have proof. Have you got any proof?”

“Yes, I do, but this is my case. Someone knows about me, about the fact that I’m using a new surname.”

“What do you expect me to do? You made your bed, so now you have to lie in it. ”

“I don’t disagree. I am disappointed in myself that I fell for this man and allowed him to manipulate me, but I have learned my lesson. I’m asking you to keep him away from your main cases. Andrew Hamilton used the affair to his own advantage and he can’t be trusted with too much freedom. Yes, I accept responsibility, but this time you have to believe me.”

My father was quiet then, running his hand through his thick beard. This whole conversation wasn’t going the way I had planned it. Last time, he lost his normally cool temper with me. He’d called me a whore and told me to get out of his sight forever. This time my words and demeanor made him think. He had this ability to see through people, but Andrew had managed to fool him.

“A reporter? So I’m guessing that you’re not thinking about law at all?”

I had this urge to roll my eyes, but I forced myself not to. He was starting this again, trying to figure out if I was ever going to get back to law. I guessed it was time to end this conversation. I didn’t know what I was expecting when I came here.

Maybe it was the fact that I missed him. Yes, we didn’t get on, but we had this familial bond that worked well when it came to his cases. I did enjoy helping him, but only because we were very close with prejudging people.

“I’m a journalist, Father. This won’t change. I’m sticking to what I said earlier. Andrew is deceiving you. He expects you to protect him because of attorney-client privilege and he could pull you into this shit with him, if you’re not vigilant. I still care for you enough to let you know that you have to be cautious.”

“In that case we have nothing else that we should be discussing, Ellie. I have work to do, a lot of work,” he said, switching back to that indifferent tone of voice and returning to his work.

“This is about Kathy, isn’t it? That’s why you’re treating me like this, because you can’t get over the fact that she isn’t here anymore.”

I didn’t really know why I said that. We had never discussed it and I thought that at this point my father didn’t even care about the scandal anymore. Yes, he had disowned me, but it was because I was weak in his eyes. He was impulsive, but I never thought he meant to keep me away.

“Don’t even go there, Ellie,” he snapped at me.

“This wasn’t my fault and you know it. I’m a human being and I made a mistake. I miss her too, you know, but you never understood that. I don’t think you will ever understand it.”

I couldn’t do this anymore. I didn’t let him get on top of me, so I picked up my bag and stormed out of the office, swallowing my tears. I couldn’t catch my breath. Anna was shouting after me, but I didn’t want to talk to her. I achieved nothing by coming here. He obviously didn’t believe me.

I ran to the stairs, thinking about my little sister, about how much I missed her. That terrible fire all those years ago destroyed our family. Deep down my father didn’t care about the affair. He turned his back on me because I embarrassed him. His reputation was all that was important to him.

I never really understood him. Maybe he was just a sad, old man who blamed himself for what happened eighteen years ago. I ran down the staircase, my breaths coming in short, ragged pants. I felt claustrophobic, like I was trapped. My head was throbbing, because finally I understood what Andrew wanted all along—to push me away so Dad had no one left to support him. Dad’s reputation was damaged and Andrew probably offered him support. Slimy bastard. I couldn’t believe it.

What were the odds that I would move next door to Andrew’s partner in crime, Adrian Lurkin? God, all of this was so messed up.

After taking control of my shaking body, I stepped outside, glad that Tobias came with me. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to be there with me, but I felt a bit more secure knowing that he was close in the car.

“Ellie?”

I stopped in my tracks, hearing that voice, and slowly turned around. Andrew stood by the entrance, smoking a cigarette and looking straight at me. The dark clouds of my insecurity started gathering over my head, but I swallowed hard, telling myself that he was just a guy I slept with, and soon enough he would be rotting in prison.

Andrew looked even better than the last time I saw him, wearing a black fitted suit and his usual brilliant smile.

No wonder my father acted the way he did. Dad was probably expecting him.

“Hi, Andrew,” I said, trying to act confident, like his presence didn’t affect me. Part of me was slowly dying and the other part wanted to rip his face off. I had given him so much love and he just used me in the most manipulative and disgusting way.

“God, you look amazing. I have been trying to get in touch with you, but I think you must have changed your number,” he said, approaching me and invading my personal space again. I glanced back at the road. I knew that Tobias could see me from there, and I was certain that he was aware that I was talking to my scum ex.

My heart threw itself against my ribcage, and all my remembered emotions of Andrew stormed right through me reminding me how miserable I was once I found out that I didn’t mean anything to him. He lied to me, and now it turned out that he was a wanted drug smuggler, connected to my neighbour.

“You were obviously busy, Andrew. Besides, there is nothing that we need to talk about,” I said, my rage keeping me immune to his usual charm. His eyes flickered with challenge, moving down my cleavage.

“We have plenty to talk about, darling. We had fun, but we both knew we couldn’t carry on like that,” he said, moving his finger over my face. “I was going through a lot at the time. You know, the divorce. Theresa has been a nightmare.”

I just couldn’t believe this guy. He was acting like nothing happened, like he had never promised to love and marry me, like he hadn’t told everyone lies about me seducing him. Anger made me clench my fists so hard that my fingernails cut discs into my palms.

He was perfect—the clothes, body, and that tanned skin—but behind his facade he was simply a criminal who didn’t care about anyone but himself.

“I don’t have time for this, Andrew. Someone is waiting for me and I have to go. I came back because I needed to speak to my father about something,” I said, indicating that this conversation was over and I was ready to leave. Then he came closer and I found myself between him and the wall. I felt nauseous all of a sudden, aware that he still wanted me.

When I glanced towards my car I saw Tobias; he was already getting out of the car. I had to be careful. Tobias couldn’t afford any sort of confrontation at this stage of the investigation. The scent of Andrew’s cologne reminded me of my tears that last time I slept in the bed we’d shared—and of how hard I cried after finding out everything he said was a lie. My throat was so tight I felt like I was choking on my own misery.

“Ellie, you’re sexy as fuck and you don’t know how much I missed you,” he growled and leaned over, kissing my neck. Fear shut down my defence mechanism. I could have easily slapped Andrew, but I had to play my cards right, behave like the old Ellie—so clueless and naïve—that was ready to do anything for him.

“Yeah, you were missing me so much that you had to get engaged to a six-foot-two blond supermodel,” I snarled, being very close to losing it.

His eyes darkened, but his pathetic, cocky smile didn’t disappear.

“What are you doing here, Ellie? We both know that your father doesn’t want to see you.” He replaced his smooth tone with the one that he used when his wife caught us in their bedroom.

“He doesn’t want to see me because of you!” I spat back, knowing that I needed to choose my next words very carefully, as he still had no idea that I had discovered his little secret. “I will accept it for now, but if I were you I would watch out. You never know what’s around the corner.”

He chuckled, looking at me like he didn’t believe that I just said that.

“Is that a threat?”

“No, a warning,” I added, turned around, and walked away. That piece of shit thought that he was above the law, that no one could touch him; well, he was going to have the biggest wake-up call in the history of mankind. I was looking forward to his tragic end. When I approached Tobias at the car, his jaw was tight and his eyes focused on the space behind me. He was staring at Andrew with pure hatred in his eyes.

“You were just talking to your ex, Johnny Hodges,” he stated. I nodded, knowing that something wasn’t right. Tobias exhaled loudly and handed me the car keys. “Drive. Let’s get out of here before I explode.”

He opened the door and slid inside the car, and I stood in the middle of the pavement, confused. My head was spinning, but I realised that something was not right with him, as he stared vacantly at the road ahead.

“Are you all right, Tobias?” I asked, once we were driving away, fading into the upcoming traffic.

When he began to bang his fists into the dashboard, I realised that I shouldn’t have asked this question.

“Tobias, tell me what’s wrong. Please. You’re scaring me,” I kept asking when he finally stopped and sat there breathing heavily next to me.

“I can’t take it that a piece of shit like him walks free and that he keeps getting richer. She’s gone, Ellie. She’s gone because of him.”

I didn’t get what he was talking about. Maybe he was angry that we had a relationship. Seeing him so emotionally vulnerable shocked me, but I was surprised that I was so calm about this whole thing that I handled it the way I did.

“Tobias, I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“Charlotte, my ex-wife. She was brutally murdered during a raid that went terribly wrong,” he said. I couldn’t take the way he said this, with so much anger and fury, like he was breaking into small pieces.

“Breathe, Tobias, breathe,” I soothed, knowing that this was the best way to handle whatever he was going through right now.

“She was raped. That scumbag wanted to make an example of her, so he told the guy that she was investigating to do that, to hurt her.”

My heart stopped.

“Oh my God, Tobias, I’m so—”

“It was Hodges. He made the call; he told that bastard to make sure that she was almost dead by the time the special unit arrived.”