“He’s forgiven you, Harrison. He told me so himself.”
“He hasn’t told me,” Harrison said bluntly and opened the double doors. “Which is the sum and substance of my relationship with my father, now isn’t it? Good evening.”
Carter exhaled. He’d never understand that man as long as he lived. He was, in many ways, just like his father. “I told Gweneth I’ll need your approval before we move forward. I already told her you’ll find a nice fat ring to put on her finger for her troubles. You’re still having your dinner party the week before your father’s retirement bash, correct?”
“As of right now, yes.”
“Then think about it and let me know at your dinner party. You’re due at your father’s estate the Thursday after that. It’s only fair that we give her at least that time to pack and prepare herself. This isn’t going to be easy for her either. But she’ll do it for you. She still loves you.”
“Don’t.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t oversell it,” said Carter. Then he exhaled. “We have so much riding on you taking over Bainbridge Oil. So much, Harrison.”
“Stop worrying about that,” Harrison felt a need to say to his friend. “If it’s to be, it will be. Stop worrying.”
“And still work for you? Not possible,” Carter said, Harrison smiled, and then Carter left.
Harrison stood at the door watching his CFO make his way along the corridor toward the foyer.Gweneth, he thought.The idea of her back in the conversation was another shock to his system. His father. Felix. Now Gweneth too? And all at once? He shook his head and headed for his private elevator. All he needed.
CHAPTER THREE
The high-revved engine of Harrison’s Maserati Mc20 could be heard even from inside his private garage on the ground floor of The Shalimar building where he lived. And when the garage door lifted up, and he sped out, the valets high-fived each other as he drove away. During the day, he was always a passenger in his limousine. He was the businessman then. But at night, he cut loose. They always laid bets on which sportscar he would cut loose in. Those that said the Mc20 were happy.
But Harrison never “cut loose” for loose sake. He had a destination: New Jersey. To a big bash for one of his senior executives. From there? He had a lady waiting for him.
But after crossing the George Washington and driving along numerous back roads that led to the enormous mansion, he felt a sense of freedom. All of that New York congestion was behind him. His car now could perform the way it was built to perform, and he took off.
He was going so fast along various side streets that when he sped through a green-light intersection, and a dark-brown Toyota Rav-4 SUV that didn’t have the right-of-way sped through the red light of that same intersection, it could have been an horrific crash. And it almost completely missed his Maserati.
Butalmostwasn’t a miss. They collided when the Rav-4 clipped the back side of his sports car with its front bumper, causing Harrison to immediately spin out of control.
As Harrison was attempting to regain control of the spinning steering wheel, he realized it was no accident. Thatthe Rav-4 had repositioned itself to go in for another hit that this time could take, not only his car out of commission, but Harrison as well.
That was why Harrison fought with all he had to regain control of his spinning automobile to get out of harm’s way.
But the Rav-4 was just as determined and its’ driver, though concealed by the total dark tint of its windows, wasn’t out of control that way Harrison’s Masi was. That driver had complete control. That was why the SUV that had hurled across the street after the clip, sped up toward the smaller sports car and was ready to crash into the front side of the car where Harrison was seated. This was going to be the kill hit. But as the Rav-4 sped across that intersection, Harrison finally grabbed that steering wheel, flung his gearshift into reverse, and floored it too. His car sped backwards as the Rav-4, unable to correct itself, flew across the highway and ran across the sideway and into nothing a group of standing trees, knocking some from their roots.
But when the driver of the SUV realized the chance was missed, there was another reversal, and then the Rav-4 sped away.
Harrison was relieved beyond measure that he had survived what felt like a targeted hit, but he wasn’t about to let that driver get away. He threw his gearshift into Drive and took off after that SUV.
The two vehicles sped through the streets of Jersey City as if they were on an obstacle course. Although Harrison had the faster vehicle by a mile, the Rav-4 kept going across bumpy fields and side streets with potholes that caused the sportscar some trouble keeping up.
But Harrison wasn’t about to let it out of his sight and he kept on speeding and swerving around holes and slowing down for bumps for several miles.
Until the Rav-4’s driver very deftly flew through a red light just as a cargo van entered that intersection. Harrison had to swerve again, to avoid that van, but he ended up clipping the van’s front driver side lights and spinning out once again.
When the spinning finally came to an end, his back bumper had crashed into a fire hydrant, trapping his vehicle in place, and that Rav-4 he had been chasing so diligently was long out of sight.
He hit his steering wheel with his fist as the van driver of the cargo van hurried over to make sure he was okay. But then he leaned his head back. His adrenalin was dying down and the reality that he was almost a goner set in. And although he was angry that that reckless driver had gotten away, he was thankful to God Almighty that he was still alive and well.
His security chief, whose job it was to monitor the GPS on all of Harrison’s fleet of automobiles because of Harrison’s order not to have a security detail following him after hours, had been phoning him throughout the entire ordeal when he saw all of the sudden stops and starts. Harrison was also grateful to be able to answer that call.
CHAPTER FOUR
It was one week later and Jayda was falling. She didn’t know what she was falling from, just that she was falling. Kenny was there. Makela too. Her mother. Her siblings. They were all there. But none of them were falling. Just her. They were all stationary, as if it was their station in life, and they were all pleased.
But then, even as she was still falling, they were beginning to rise higher. She was going down while they were going up. And they were looking down at her laughing. Everybody was laughing. Even her own mother. And then they suddenly looked horrified. Even her own mother. And they started pointing. And when she looked down where they were pointing, she saw that she wasn’t just falling into an ocean or a field. She was falling toward spikes that were arranged like an obstacle course. And every spike had its natural sharp tip.
