Chapter Eighteen

Hegan

The weight of all the years I had dealt with my father's demeaning and abusive remarks had finally come to an abrupt halt. Once he started on Noella, that was it, I was done. It was one thing for him to berate me in front of these people, it wasn't new to me.

But for him to go as low as he did, airing out her dirty laundry in front of people who had no business knowing... That was something I wasn't going to stand for.

The room around me had grown quiet, tunneling my sight onto just my dad. He was breathing fire through his eyes, his face looming in my direction like a charred piece of old oak.

Deep trenches had overtaken the weathered skin of this working man. His face had lengthened, mouth furrowed down. Watching his nostrils flare, the lids around his eyes had thinned, the pupils looking as though they were floating on a sea of white.

Everything was moving in slow motion, my body was stepping forward but the distance between us appeared to grow. The room was extending out, running away in front of me. My dad still had some people around him, the fuzzy forms were trying to calm him down.

Their arms were rested on his shoulders, opaque faces leaned in to whisper in his ear. But he didn't react, didn't shake his head or acknowledge the words pushed into his head.

He watched me coming, fingers curling up into tight balls by his waist.

Fuck this shit! It ends now! I was already sick of everything he had put on me since fucking birth. There was nothing I ever did right, until now.

I was going to make him wish he hadn't screwed with Noella. Every piece of him was going to know how I really felt, what I was thinking, and if I had to...

Fuck, it didn't matter anymore. That woman had finally breathed life into me. And she deserved to be treated with respect, nothing about her past, her present, or even her fucking future, was any concern of his.

Quickening my pace, my feet hit the marble tiles. I didn't move around the others in the room, I walked through them. Clearing a path with my shoulders, my hands, and my fucking glare.

No one was standing in my way, not this time.

Stopping at the toes of his fancy black shoes, my lip snarled up. “You're a real fucking asshole.” The words road off my tongue effortlessly. “Noella didn't deserve that, you don't know shit about her.”

My father was exactly my height, his nose a fucking hair from touching mine. “Back up, Son,” he said under his breath. “You will not disrespect me in front of these people, do you understand?”

“I'm not a child anymore, and you can't talk to people the way you do. She isn't below us, she isn't below you. Noella, she's going to be around for a while. So you better get used to it.” I could feel my arms starting to shake, explosions firing off in the sinew. The burning was seeping into my bones, filling my body with rage.

An evil smile peeled up one corner of his lip. “Your girlfriend is a whore, Hegan. And she will never be good enough for this family.” The air he exhaled, filled my nostrils. A mix of champagne and caviar.

My stomach had turned, boiling in the acid. I couldn't stop myself at that point. He had just said the worst thing to me he ever could.

Calling her a whore? He didn't fucking know her, who was he to judge? The man who had called himself the savior of the smallest state, with a billboard that read— 'I'm a man who takes pride in what all men do.'

My dad was a fucking fake.

Before I could stop myself, or even process what I was about to do; my arm pulled back, the muscles retracting on pure instinct, and raw emotion. In one heavy swoop, my fist crashed into his jaw.

My father's body fell back, straight as a board. I heard the entire room inhale a loud gasp. Short screams pulsed at me from different directions, hands fell over mouths and grabbed forearms in disbelief.

Hovering over him, his lids flashed to life. Blinking wildly, he rubbed his chin. Leaning down over his face, my shadow crawled over his pale skin. “You deserved that, and you know it.” My chest was rising and falling rapidly, I had regained some control. “And just so you know, I don't care about your fucking offer. You can take your money and shove it up your ass. I don't want it anymore.”

I wasn't sure what had just come over me. Before, all I cared about was keeping my share of the business, having my hand dipped in the pot. But after what he said and how he treated Noella, that all washed away.

The money, the baby, him threatening to yank it out from beneath me; none of that bothered me anymore.

I knew what I wanted, what I needed. It was her, Noella.

She needs to be in my life, I can feel that. I don't want to be without her, ever. All of my life had been dictated by my father and his thoughts. But not this, this wasn't his choice, it was mine.

And without her, nothing else would matter.

Turning around, I walked with hard strides away from his downed form. A surge of people had surrounded him, helping him up off the floor. I could hear the faint yell of my mother from the back of the room.

Glancing over my shoulder, she had crouched down next to her husband and was angrily yelling at me to come back. Holding my head down, I just shook a silent no.

Not this time.

Throwing my arm out in front of me, I shoved the door open that Noella and Stefan had gone through. There were several different phones in the house, which one did he take her to? I had no clue. It was going to be a matter of hunting them down.

Stefan was going to be the next one to get a piece of my mind. He had obviously been the one to tell my dad about her being a stripper. It wasn't his business to do that, and he was going to find that out first hand.

I was fucking pissed, a shaken bottle not done popping yet. My dad went down, and now it was Stefan's turn.

He had wriggled his fingers into my world. And I didn't like that one bit. I thought he had let it go after the whole incident at the mansion. A couple weeks had gone by, and he acted like his usual self. A sneaky, creepy butler.

I was able to relax, thought he maybe realized that he'd gone too far. Now I knew he didn't, he had just waited to tell my father. Waited to make sure he had exposed her at the perfect time for my dad to really jab her with his serrated blade.

He was going to pay for this, and I was going to make sure he understood how badly he fucked up.

Crossing through the living room, it was empty. He hadn't brought her to that phone, but it was close to the party. For an important phone call like that from her family, she might have wanted to have a little more space from the hoots and hollers of drunken guests.

“Noella? Stefan?” I called out through the hall as I entered. There was nothing but silence, no muffled voices, no patter of feet. Where the hell did he take her?

Spotting Claudette, one of the maids, I asked, “Claude, have you seen Stefan and Noella? She had a call and I'm not sure what room they went to.”

“No, Sir. I haven't seen them. But maybe they went to your father's office.” Shrugging her shoulders, she continued dusting the pictures lining the walls.

Turning towards my father's office, I stopped to listen. There was still nothing, no sounds, no movements. Everything was dead silent.

My heart started to beat against my chest, breathing heavily, my lungs strained to keep calm. The two of them were nowhere to be found.

Alright, calm down. They have to be around here somewhere. Maybe she got bad news? Maybe she needed to get some air? Rubbing my forehead, I started for the backyard.

There was a courtyard outside, plenty of lounge chairs filled the area around the pool. Noella could be there, getting her head together, I thought, as I scanned a few more empty rooms. She had just been belittled and embarrassed, and I had no fucking clue what her phone call was about.

Standing at the double glass doors, I tried to look through the glass. The reflection from inside mirrored the room behind me, I couldn't see a damn thing. Gripping the handle I tore the door the open, and walked briskly into the darkness.

Shifting my head side to side, my eyes bulged out, trying to make out any shapes in the black winter night. “Noella! Stefan!” I yelled out. And still nothing.

Fear began to settle in my skull, crawling down my spine and wrenching its fingers into my chest. Running through the snow, I reached the front of the house. Twisting my head in all directions, I looked for anyone. Any shape, any person I could find.

“Mr. Alexander? Is everything alright?” Anthony, the valet attendant asked, walking up from behind.

Jerking around, I ran my hand over my jaw. “Have you seen Noella? Or Stefan?” Leaning forward I rested my palms on my knees. I was out of breath from running and the frozen air I had swallowed.

“Yes, they came through a little while ago. Why?” Arching his brow, he drove his hands into his pockets.

“Where did they go? Did you see where they went?” Gripping his shoulders, I squeezed down hard, shaking him.

“Stefan said he needed to drive her somewhere, they seemed to be in a rush too. What's going on, Sir? Are you okay? Concern started to blend with his confusion.

“Where did they go, Anthony? I need to know where they went.” For the first time in my life, I felt completely lost. My head ached, trying to put pieces of vague insight together. Why would she leave without coming to tell me? Why would she leave with him?

“I'm not sure, Sir. Stefan said something about her family and getting her to them.” Furrowing his brows, he said, “I think he said a name... Uh, Bernadette.”

Opening my eyes wide, my mind was spinning. Bernadette? Bernadette? Is that a hospital? Her mother's name? I was trying to figure out what place he was talking about exactly. If Noella needed to leave and be somewhere, why didn't she come and get me? Or waited for me and told me what was going on?

Digging into my pocket, I yanked out my cell phone. Scrolling to her name, I hit the call button. The ringing seemed to climb through my whole body, vibrating through my bones and shaking me to the core.

The sound was endless, each drawn out tone, rolling and being followed by another. A click echoed and it was her voicemail. Fuck! Answer your phone! Dialing again, I still got nothing.

Even my text messages went unanswered. Anthony's words replayed over and over in my head. Then it hit me.

Bernadette, it wasn't her mother's name or a hospital. Bernadette was the name of my father's boat, the one he had been renovating for a couple years now. I had totally forgotten about it, he basically gave up on it the day he decided to start that project.

My mom always gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to my dad and his 'hobbies,' I however knew the truth. He liked to just have things and say he was working on them. When in reality, all his projects went unfinished. Until he finally payed someone else to pick up the pieces and fix it for him.

Why the fuck would Stefan bring her there?!

My blood had started to boil, bubbling up and driving into my veins. He had taken her from here, taken her from me. But why? What was he doing?

Fear for Noella and her safety, fear that he might try and hurt her, settled in my mind. Stefan was a cold and calculated person, I learned that first hand.

In the mansion that night, when he confronted me about her. I got a glimpse at his darker side, the one he had hidden from my family. I didn't know what his motive was or why he felt so compelled to ruin my life, but he hated me with a passion, and now I knew he would do anything to get me out of this family.

Stefan always looked at me with a sense of disgust, an eye of disdain. And when he was around my father, it went a whole level deeper. I had put up with it for years now, and tonight I was going to finish it.

This time he had gone too far.

He took what was mine.

Now, he had to pay. No one fucks with what I've claimed.

Noella, she wasn't his to take.