He looks defeated as he takes a seat and picks up the brandy glass, swallowing what’s left in one big gulp. He then pinches the bridge of his nose, and runs his hands down his thighs, letting a huge sigh from his chest. Beth is still standing in front of me when he stands from his chair and comes toward me again. More calmly this time.
“I-I’m sorry. Okay. Beth, please…” He gestures towards me with his head, as if asking permission to speak to me.
“Fine. But, no more yelling or laying blame, got it?” Beth jabs a pointed finger in his chest and fixes him with a warning glare.
“Yes,” he says softly, looking suitably told off before Beth moves aside and takes her seat behind her desk again.
“I’m sorry,” he says, gently stroking the backs of his fingers down my cheek. He pulls me in, molds me to him, and cradles my head in his hand. “I’m sorry,” he whispers into my hair, nuzzling and placing small kisses everywhere his lips touch. It doesn’t take more than a few kisses and his skin touching mine, to soothe the frustration I was feeling just a moment ago. Nerves are on high alert, and the tension is pulsing from all of us.
I don’t want him to feel bad. He didn’t frighten me. I know he would never hurt me. He made me feel guilty for not seeing what was in front of me, and for making the whole situation possibly a lot worse by letting my guard down and thinking I could move forward with no complications.
“I should be protecting you, Ari. I haven’t done a very good job of it, have I?”
He thinks he failed. That’s why he got so mad.
“Denham,” Beth says, pouring herself another large drink. “Neither of you could have stopped whatever is going on here. I’m guessing it has something to do with your past, Arianna? And if I’m correct, which I usually am, if it hadn’t happened now, it would have happened another time soon. So, you just need to be grateful you have each other, and a whole circle of friends and family, who will do whatever it takes to sort this out. Are we on the same wavelength?”
Denham holds out his arm and Beth comes forward and dips in underneath it, so he has both of us wrapped up. I’m pretty sure that Beth is one of the few women I will be comfortable with Denham being close and affectionate with. I don’t know why I don’t feel threatened or jealous over her, I just don’t.
Beth places her hand over mine and winks.
“Okay, enough. I have somewhere to be. Where are you going from here?” Beth asks, checking her watch.
“Well, we obviously can’t go back to The Kingdom. But I suppose we’ll have to go back and pick up some clothes and necessities. I’ll get Spike and Jack to do a sweep of the place to make sure there’s no one there—”
“Denham …”
“I know just the place where we can go, we’ll go for a week or, or as long as it takes…Beth? That’s okay with you?”
“Denham,” I say, louder this time. “I am not going anywhere.”
“Yes, we are.”
“No, we are not.” I loosen myself from his arm and stand in front of him with my hands on my hips.
“We can’t …”
“We can’t, what? I’ll tell you what we can’t do…We can’t keep backing away from reality. I’m fed up of running. I’m tired of being the mouse in this sick game.”
“But …”
“No. I won’t do it. Whoever this is…” I hold a finger up to silence Denham before he speaks. “And we don’t know for sure that it’s Jonny, I will not let him or anyone else win.”
“But it could be dangerous…”
“Or there could be a simple explanation, like your crazy assed ex-girlfriend, thinking she can play a few mind games. It wouldn’t be the first time now, would it?”
“No.”
“Well then. That’s settled. We carry on as normal. I want to work. I want to go out for coffee with my mom, and yours for that matter. I will not hide away like a timid little mouse any longer. If it means I am free for fifty days or fifty years, I am going to make each moment count. I am fed up with living like a caged bird, watching everyone else go about their daily lives, but not being able to live for myself.” I make my little speech with a steely determination in my voice and surprise myself at just how much I mean it. I’m not just saying it to put Denham and Beth at ease. I’ve realized that if you want something in this life, then you have to reach out and grab it with both hands. I’m done being weak and manipulated. I want freedom. I want happiness and I want a future.
Chapter 9
Arianna
It took a lot of convincing for Denham to let me go back to The Kingdom. And if I’m honest, it would have been far easier to run away than to go there knowing that someone has been in my room, every day, leaving me flowers. Deep down I know that it’s Jonny. Roses don’t hold any significance for me, other than with him. He would always choose the deepest red, and only the flowers with the most perfectly formed petals. I feel stupid and naive to have thought they were from Denham and looking back, the evidence was staring me in the face. But when you’re blissfully happy and blinded by excitement about the future, it’s an easy mistake to make. I don’t know whether I’ve finally resigned myself to fate after all this time, or if it just hasn’t sunk in yet, but I feel oddly calm about the whole thing. There’s only so much you can control, and all I’ve achieved by running awayis a hole in my heart. A huge void in my life that can only be filled by living life to the max and surrounding me with people that are special. I’ve learned the hard way that money doesn’t buy happiness, and family cannot be replaced. Life comes to a standstill if you’re miserable and don’t have the people that are important to you in your life to share it all with. So, I feel resolute. I decide to embrace life and make the most of every second.
Denham made several calls before we left Chique. His tech guy, Dom is sifting through the CCTV camera feed from the last few days, and Jack has a list of instructions as long as his arm, poor man. I wonder if he ever gets tired of being ordered around by Denham. Although they seem to have a mutual respect, and I have the feeling that if Jack were to put his foot down, Denham would do as he was told instead of the other way around.
