‘Are you all right?’ she asked him worriedly.
Jason answered with a tight nod and attempted to lever himself to a standing position.
‘Stay. Give yourself a minute,’ she said, passing him the glass of water she was holding.
His hand shaking, Jason accepted it gratefully, his teeth chinking against the glass as he gulped it back.
‘Did he turn you down?’ Abbie asked, after a second. ‘I don’t mean to pry, but I—’
Jason laughed cynically. ‘No,’ he said, his voice hoarse. ‘He didn’t turn me down. He’s willing to give me all the financial backing I need.’
Relieving him of the glass, Abbie looked at him quizzically.
‘On one condition,’ Jason added.
‘Which is?’ Abbie asked warily.
‘Oh, nothing much.’ Pushing himself from the wall, Jason heaved himself to his feet. ‘I just have to walk out of my marriage.’
‘What?’ Abbie’s look was one of shock. ‘But…’ She shook her head, bewildered. ‘Why would he…?’
‘Because he’s a complete bastard.’ Jason shrugged, offering her a semblance of a smile for the kindness she’d shown him. He actually felt like breaking down and weeping. But he wouldn’t do that. Not here. ‘You might do well to start looking for another job, Abbie,’ he suggested. ‘The man’s toxic.’
‘I am,’ she called after him, as he turned to go. ‘And as soon as I do…’
She would hopefully shop the fucker for sexual harassment, Jason thought, fury smouldering like white-hot lava inside him as he walked towards the car park.
But it occurred to him, as he climbed into his car, that it wasn’t Fenton who was the bastard, was it. Apparently. Starting the engine, Jason laughed again, sucked in a tight breath, pinched the bridge of his nose hard, then dropped his head to the steering wheel and stifled a cry that came from his soul.
Go. Desperate for Fenton not to witness any of this, his total and utter humiliation, he pulled himself up sharp, crunched the car into gear, rammed his foot down and screeched away from the premises.
He drove to his own company almost on auto. He didn’t even realise he’d cut a red light until he was blasted by a horn from the side. His driving was erratic. He was losing his grip – on his life, on his mind.He was losing his family. Fenton had finally won. He’d thrown down the gauntlet years ago, when he’d tried to entice him to walk away. To convince Karla to abort their child: Holly, his beautiful daughter. And Jason had fought. He’d fought hard. He just didn’t have the will to keep fighting him any more, fighting for survival. He couldn’t fight this. He had nothing to fight it with.
What in God’s name was he going to do? Wiping the back of his hand across his eyes, Jason tried to control the fresh wave of nausea rising inside him. What could he do but what Fenton had always wanted? No way. He couldn’t walk away from them. He wouldnotwalk away from his children.
Parked in the car park outside Upwards Online, he braced his hands against the steering wheel and tried to contain his spiralling emotions. Resting his head against the headrest, he stared, unseeing, at the roof upholstery for a long, agonising minute. He’d never contemplated suicide, not in his darkest moments – and there had been some, when he’d wondered as a small child whether anyone could truly love him – but the thought was going through his head now. It was possibly the only way he could leave Karla withherpride intact. Leave his family provided for, via the proceeds of his life insurance. But it would haunt them forever. That reality hit him full on. He had no life any more, but no way out of it either. Robert Fenton really had stuffed him. He’d always aimed to take away what mattered most to him: his family. He’d succeeded. Had it occurred to him, anywhere along the line, that he would be taking away his daughter’s family too? She would be losing her husband, the father of her children. If she found out the truth, she would also be losing her own father. She could never forgive him for this.
Diana? Did she know about any of this? Jason hoped she didn’t. Prayed, for Karla’s sake, that she didn’t. Because if she did, if she’d kept this information from her, Karla would want nothing to do with her either. And without her mother, she would have no one.
He needed to go inside. Jason glanced towards his office, where he’d once hoped to build a business that would thrive. He’d never wanted to compete with Robert Fenton as a businessman. It had been Fenton who’d made that part of the war between them. He’d simply wanted to support his family, and have something to hand down to his son, who showed an interest in computer technology. He’d failed. It was abundantly clear that he had. He would need to let Mark and Rachel know the outcome of his meeting – there would be no injection of cash. It was amusing, really, that Fenton actually thought he could buy his way out of this, throw money at him in exchange for his silence. Jason would keep his secret, for now, because he had to, until he’d worked out what to do. He wouldn’t be bought though. Because whoever he was, he was nothing like the man who prioritised the accumulation of wealth above the people he was supposed to love and care for.
He suspected Mark and Rachel would insist on sticking with him and continuing to try to keep the company afloat, but he couldn’t allow that. He had no idea how he was going to pay them their salaries beyond another month – two at most. He would have to be honest with them about that aspect of things, tell them to jump ship now before they went down with him.
Feeling jaded to his very bones, he dragged a hand over his neck and climbed out of his car, reaching for his ringing mobile as he did. It was the major client he’d been hoping to hang on to – had thought he would be able to hang on to, with some funding behind him. He debated briefly and then steeled himself to take the call.
‘Jason, hi. Paul Edwards here,’ the guy said, his tone cautious.
‘Hi, Paul.’ Jason tried not to sound as desperate as he felt. So, did he tell him that the customer-fronting software he’d promised to deliver within the week wouldn’t be ready? Or did he try to stall – again? The latter, he decided. His children were still his children. He still had to provide for them. He wouldn’t accept defeat until he had to. It would mean working 24/7, but he could at least give it one last shot. ‘Look, Paul, I’m going to be honest, we’re making some headway, but we need a little more time. There are just a few minor problems we need to iron out. Can I call you back on Friday?’ he asked him. ‘I should be able to give you a definite timing by then.’
Jason heard the man’s long intake of breath, which didn’t bode well. ‘No need, Jason,’ Paul said eventually. ‘The thing is…’
Apprehension knotting his stomach, Jason stopped walking.
‘There’s been a development,’ Paul went on, sounding apologetic.
‘As in?’ Guessing he was about to hear his company’s death knell, Jason held his breath.
‘Logic Solutions,’ Paul supplied awkwardly.
