PENNY

 

I needed to see Theo. Now.

 

I couldn't let him think I would pick turtles over him. I headed in the direction of Theo’s house while I reached for my phone.

Straight to voicemail. Fuck. Trying a few more times, I stepped on the accelerator wanting to get there as fast as I could.

When I arrived at his condo, I knocked until my hand hurt. Where was he? I tried to think of all the places he could be and dialed the Lopa’s number.

It was early, too early for him to be at work. 

With an ounce of hope, I dialed his number again, it rang—and rang and rang. Please pick up.

A woman’s voice answered, and my heart lurched.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“Blair. Who’s this?”

Oh, thank God. He was there to see Lucy.

“Is Theo there?” After she confirmed he was, I told her to have him stay put, and I would be there shortly.

I raced to Blair’s house, remembering my way only a little from the one time Theo told me where she lived. I rushed to the door and knocked. Blair answered the door wearing a small silk robe and led me to Theo.

“Holy shit. What happened to your face?”

Theo’s face appeared as if he’d been clubbed by a bear, and it was painful to look at. His ribs were bruised and he held his arm close. I rushed to him, not wondering why he only wore a bath towel. Wait, why was he only in a towel?

“Don’t touch me, please. I’m in a lot of pain.” He stopped my advances, and I lowered my arms. I wanted to feel the bruise on his lip. Make it better for him somehow.

“Should you go to a hospital? What happened?” Why didn’t he come to me after this happened?

“Dex and Xavier happened.” He spoke slowly as if every breath was a pain to make.

“I’m so sorry.” I had no words. I wanted to scream at Dex and make him pay for what happened.

Blair left us alone, and Lucy was still sleeping when Theo eased himself onto the couch. “Penny, Xavier set me up, and I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

His implication was loud and clear. He didn’t call me last night after this happened, so a small part of him probably suspected me.

“You can trust me.” I cringed when I glanced at his face. Pain and hurt was all I saw there. With one eye swollen shut he tried to open it.

I reached for his hand, and he pulled away from me.

“Don’t.”

“Theo, you have to believe me. I never knew any of this. I swear. I wanted you to know I would never...”

“Don’t,” he cut me off with his words and I scooted closer. I loved him. I wouldn’t let him think ill of me.

“Please, I didn’t know.”

He rose from the couch on unsteady feet as he moved toward the door. Still in a towel, mind you.

“I’m staying here for a while. You, your father, and Dex can go fuck yourselves.” He opened the door and I was dumbfounded.

“Theo,” I begged.

“Just go.”

“Listen, I had nothing to do with this.”

“Go save your turtles.” He pulled the towel tighter around his waist.

“It was never about the turtles for me.”

“Penny, fuck, I don’t know what to think anymore. I don’t know who to trust. You and Dex dated before. Who’s to say this hasn’t been some scheme or something.” He spoke low and even, and I knew I needed to tell him everything.

“I only went with the plan to marry Dex because if I didn’t my father said he would take Lucy from you.” I crossed my arms.

“What?”

“I would never want for that.”

His brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I didn’t have a solid answer for him. I should have told him, but I was scared. Scared he’d fly off the handle and ruin everything. “I couldn’t let you ruin it all.” Shit. That came out all wrong. “Theo, that’s not what I mean.” It was too late; his face was the epitome of anger.

“Get out.”

“Wait, please,” I begged.

“Penny, I really don’t know what to believe right now. How could your father even take her from me?”

“He knows lawyers, judges. I’m not sure. Maybe he thought he could bribe Blair.”

He laughed a short laugh. “She would never do that to me.”

Was he defending her? “Money is very powerful, Theo.”

“You need to go.” He opened the door more, and I went through for fear of digging myself into more word vomit. I couldn’t formulate my thoughts of what I wanted to say.

I left Theo, only because I didn’t know what else to say to him. He didn’t trust me and that was all. The end. Our story was over, and I left feeling sorry for myself.

 

*** 

 

Once I returned home feeling defeated, I moved slowly throughout my house. I didn’t know what to do, and the feeling to give up washed over me. The fight in me was gone. Let my father win and let it all be over.

Margo knocked on my door as I sat in my room throwing the world’s most pathetic pity party for myself. Party of one. No other guests invited. I was a loser in love.

“Are you ok?”

I sobbed like a baby as I recounted the events for Margo. When I finished, she didn’t have anything to say. She just held me and rocked me on my bed back and forth.

“I feel like giving up.” I hadn’t cried this hard in so long, and it felt good to just let it all go. All the feelings I held bottled in were being released.

“No, absolutely not. Where’s the fearless Penny I know and love?”

“She’s gone.” Yeah, I was feeling sorry for myself. But, everything felt so pointless.

“No, she isn’t. Theo’s friend didn’t find out anything?”

“No. I don’t know.”

After a few more hours Margo tried to convince me to keep fighting for what I wanted. But, how could I? How could I risk Theo losing his daughter?

The next few days I rarely left my home. I worked only a bit, which I didn’t need to worry about seeing Theo while he stayed home to heal.

To heal. I thought about this daily. Not being there for him while he suffered. It hurt me to lose someone who had become a piece of my soul, and I hated everything about my life.

It angered me every time I thought about what Dex had done to him. My emotions ranged from hurt and sorrow to anger and denial.

Dex and his mother moved the wedding up, even though I protested it every step of the way. Margo yelled at me daily to get my head out of my ass which was easier said than done. There was nothing I could do. Nothing at all.

Finding out information on my father would be hard to do unless they had access to his office. Like I did.

 

Now, I had a plan.

***

 

The sun wouldn’t be up for a few more hours still, and I was snooping around in my father’s office. Looking for anything, any single thing, which could help get me out of this mess. There was no way in hell I would be marrying Dex.

I had no clue as to what I was looking for, and yet there I was rifling through file cabinets and his desk drawers.

Please let me find something.

I ran my hand along his computer. Wonder if he keeps everything on it?

Sitting down, I pressed the button on the large flat screen monitor. The computer opened. A password was needed. Shit. I’d never get in. I tried his birthdate. Tried his wife’s name. I tried a few other combinations and even tried my own name, but nothing was working.

Call it a gut feeling, but I felt there was something important on the computer. I tried one last name before giving up. Darla. My mother’s name.

The computer sprang to life. I was in. A smile spread and butterflies fluttered through my stomach. Now what? A detective I was not. I didn’t have the first clue as to what to look for. But, I pressed on. I clicked and clicked until I saw a document titled: Croix.

St. Croix. It was an island in the Caribbean, and as I clicked on the file I held my breath, silently praying this was my answer. It wasn’t.

But, it gave me an idea.

I looked through all the remaining files.

That’s when I saw it…

A file titled: Darla.

My heart raced as I opened it.

Stunned, I read the file over and over. This file contained document after legal document of something he hid from me. Something I had no idea existed. Something which gave him every reason in the world to control me. An inheritance.

My mother left me everything she had, which amounted to far more than I could fathom. Astronomical. It was to have been turned over to me at the age of twenty-five, a year ago. My hands shook as I read file after file and clicked print. My father used this money for all of ‘his’ investments. Including the Lopa. He used my money which meant I owned it. I owned all of this. A laugh bubbled out of me. How ironic I was trying to find a way to save something I owned. Even better, the frosting on the shit cake, was being forced to marry a man so he could run the company that had been built with my funds.

I leaned back in the chair. If they wanted to play dirty, I could too.

Maybe I was my father's daughter after all.

 

*** 

 

“What are you doing here?” my father asked.

I leaned back in the large leather chair behind the desk. “Why don't you have a seat,” I said, motioning to the chair across from me.

He crossed over to me. “What the hell is going on, Penny? Why are you at my desk?”

I leaned forward, tapping my finger on the stack of papers in front of me. “Well, actually, according to these papers, I think this is my desk.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I can explain.”

“Explain what?” My voice rose. “How you stole my inheritance? How you tried to force me into a marriage with a man I hate?” I stood and picked up the stack of papers.

“Penny,” he started, “your mother never wanted this life for you. I was protecting you.” He crossed over to the large window and looked out. “Dex found out about the inheritance and threatened to tell you if I didn't force your hand in marrying him. That's why I did what I did.”

Desperation was a funny thing. It made you say and do anything. My father was clearly desperate if he was playing the protective father card. “She may not have wanted this life for me, but she knew I could make a better one and do something good with that money. I wouldn't have used it to hurt people.”

His lips pressed into a thin line as he thought about what to say next. I cut him off before he could say anything. “So you made all those threats against Theo for what reason?”

“Because you're stubborn, just like your mother. If you thought he was going to lose the Lopa, lose his daughter, then you would do what I asked. I knew you would do anything for love, just like her.”

I nodded. “You're damn right, I will.”

A knock sounded on the door. I smiled.

“Come in,” I called out.

The look of surprise on Dex’s face when he came in was comical.

“Why are you here, Penny?” he asked.

“Can I say something?” I set the stack of papers down. “You are so fucking rude. Do you realize that?”

His eyes widened, and a crimson flush spread up his neck to his snarky face.

“Penny, calm down,” my father said.

“I don't seem calm to you?” I perched on the edge of the desk. “I will not be marrying your repulsive ass.”

Dex stood still, his nostrils flaring like a bull about to charge me.

“She knows,” my father said.

Surprise passed over Dex’s face before he shuttered it. “Penny, listen…”

“Nope,” I cut him off, “you two have fucked with me enough. Done being fucked with.” I slid off the desk and gathered the stack of papers. “My attorney will be contacting you to work out the details of claiming my inheritance. Oh and Dex, you can shove that shrimp scampi up your ass.”

Stopping in front of Dex, I balled my hand into a fist and knocked the fuck out of him. He went down quicker than I had on Theo in my dreams. Blood spilled from his nose. “That’s for Theo, asshole.”

I crossed to the door and slammed it behind me.