Chapter 21

GETTY

Just jump.

I’ll never forget the sensations. The drop of my stomach. The wind on my face. The frozen silence when I tried to scream, followed by the exhilarated sound of my laughter. The feeling of flying. Then the obvious pride on Zander’s face when he came zipping along minutes later to see me standing there, grinning ear to ear, and shouting to him that I couldn’t wait to take the next line down.

My reflection in the mirror shows how alive I felt today. How after the incredible sex last night and the rocky start this morning, this day turned out to be one I’ll never forget.

And I hate that now it might be marred by the dinner with my father.

I have almost two hours yet, but I attempt to lose myself in the preparations, trying to think of this more as getting ready for Zander than to see my father. It makes the whole thing a little more tolerable.

The knock on my bedroom door startles me. It seems so weird to have doors shut and privacy like we’re roommates when we’ve already seen each other naked. But at the same time, we still need to figure out the whole context of whatever we are together and so the time to myself is appreciated.

“Come in.”

Zander opens the door and walks into the room, eyes doing a lazy walk up my bare legs where my robe has fallen open before he meets my gaze. That half-cocked smile is on his lips and damn if parts of me don’t react immediately.

He walks over to the vanity and sets his cell phone down. “You need to call your father and let him know his car won’t need to pick us up. We’ll meet him at Piedmont’s instead.” Our eyes meet and I question him silently. “You’re not her anymore. Obedient. Compliant. You’re Getty Caster. You set your own terms. Not your father.”

Taking a deep breath, I find myself wondering if he has any idea that this is the first time anyone has ordered me to do something with my better good in mind. It seems so silly but means so very much.

“How did you—?”

“It’s a small town, Getty. People talk. All it took was for me to make a call to my new friend Mable to get the town gossip about the obviously well-to-do man who stayed at the PineRidge Inn last night. How his driver asked the clerk at the gas station for directions to the restaurant. And how he complained about the low thread count of the sheets, among other things, and the lack of Nespresso machines in each room.” He rolls his eyes. “Cars with drivers are rare here and they stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Right. I’m still not used to the everyone knows your business aspect.” I shake my head, more for my father’s elitism than anything else.

“I know, but we’ll use it to our advantage tonight. Everyone here assumes we’re dating, so be prepared that your father thinks the same thing.”

“Okay.” I’m not sure why that phrasing bugs me, but I shrug it off, shift in my seat, and reach for my phone.

“No. Use mine. Unless you want him to have your phone number.”

I freeze momentarily, understanding the implications of what he’s saying—the possible tracking of my phone—before sitting slowly back down and picking up his phone.

*   *   *

With a fortifying sigh and Zander’s hand firmly wrapped around mine, we enter the restaurant. I focus on remembering Zander’s reaction when I entered the family room earlier, instead of acknowledging the nerves humming through my system.

His quick inhalation. The widening of his eyes. The whistle he blew out. All three made for the confidence-building reaction I needed in order to do this.

It’s unsettling for me to walk into the most expensive restaurant on the island looking like the woman I used to be—hair in a chignon, the Stepford makeup on, wearing a classically cut dress more expensive than most people’s rent—when I’m nothing like her anymore.

I glance over to Zander for reassurance—strange to see his styled hair when I’m used to it messy, face smooth when sometimes he goes days between shaving, his button-down shirt and khaki trousers when he’s typically in gym shorts or jeans and a T-shirt. And while I like this dressed-up version of him, I like the everyday look better.

“Here goes nothing,” I murmur as the hostess leads us to a table on the far side of the crowded restaurant. It is by far the best seat in the room with the table perched against the wall of glass facing the ocean. My father sits with his head angled down, attention on his cell phone, a bottle of wine already open, and the tables immediately surrounding his are void of customers. I have no doubt he heavily greased some palms to make sure it remains that way during our dinner.

We’re ten feet from the table when he lifts his silver head of hair and meets my eyes. And there’s a moment—quite brief, but it’s there—when he jolts in surprise and narrows his eyes in shock over the unexpected guest beside me. Between the dismissal of his driver earlier and now Zander’s presence, I know he’s already irritated with me. Displeasure owns his expression as he shifts his gaze back to me, that subtle sneer I know all too well gracing his mouth.

“Gertrude,” he says after clearing his throat as he stands up, always the polite gentleman.

“Father.” I nod and bite back the comment on my tongue, for him to call me Getty. Because as much as I want him to acknowledge the new me, I also don’t want to have the memory of his voice saying my nickname in that tone of utter disdain like he does my birth name.

I hate that for a split second, I still want him to be the father I remember him being when I was a little girl. Smiling. Cuddly. Caring. But that was before my mother died and I think I’m remembering even those times through the eyes of a child wanting her father’s unconditional love. Desperate for his affection.

When I really look closely at him, his hand motioning me to have a seat without any overtures to hug me after he hasn’t seen me for months, a small part of me dies, one I hated anyway for wanting that gesture from him.

“You can go now,” he says to Zander with an indifferent flick of his wrist and without so much as looking at him. “Please, Gertrude, take a seat.”

My lips pull tight and before I can gather an acceptable response for the formidable Damon Caster, Zander responds for me. “Zander Donavan.” He reaches his hand across the table in an open-ended offer of a shake. “And thank you, but I’ll be staying for dinner.”

My father looks down to Zander’s hand and then back up to his eyes while they have a silent battle for control of the situation. As the seconds stretch out, my heart pounds like a freight train. My body is so riddled with adrenaline that I have to clasp my hands to prevent any trembling from showing.

Sitting down without shaking Zander’s hand or saying another word, my father makes a show of sharply snapping his napkin and placing it in his lap. Zander turns and places his hand on my back—a simple gesture of warmth as he ushers me into the chair he’s pulling out farthest from my father. As I step past him to sit down, we make brief but reassuring eye contact. His smile is encouraging as he mouths, “Just jump.” And I welcome that subtle reminder that I can in fact face my fears.

When I look up to my father, he’s directing his glare solely at me.

“Thank God you still know how to dress like a lady. I was afraid you’d lost all sense of class and your responsibility to uphold the Caster name when I saw you in that disgraceful outfit yesterday, Gertrude.”

“Well, if someone hadn’t manipulated my accounts, there wouldn’t be the need for me to have a job that requires a uniform. . . .” I shrug, finding strength to stand up for myself with each word. Beneath the tablecloth, Zander’s hand rests on my knee and squeezes ever so slightly in silent support.

“Hey, I kind of like the socks,” Zander says with a smirk, eyes darting to my father with an unapologetic lift of his shoulders before he returns his look to mine. And then without preamble he leans in and unabashedly plants a kiss on my lips. It’s a simple brush of lips, but the statement it makes packs quite a punch.

“Gertrude.” My father’s sharp warning resonates around the room. We’ve been here no more than five minutes and his temper has already surfaced—the hum of conversation in the restaurant stops, forks scraping against plates cease, and the uncomfortable air around us thickens with tension.

And while everyone else around can sense the underlying and unapologetic rage in my father, including me, Zander fights back the sarcastic smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Is there a problem, sir?” Zander’s voice sounds completely innocent, but the lift of his eyebrow and the tension in his jaw say, Try me. I have no problem making a scene.

My father refuses to acknowledge Zander or the words he’s spoken. “How dare you let this grease monkey touch you when you’re a married woman?”

At that, I’m quickly transported back to my teenage years. To the endless criticisms over whom I was and was not allowed to hang out with. To the genuine friends I lost, who were replaced with shells of parent-pleasing kids afraid to be themselves. Afraid to step out of their carefully constructed lines. And I’m so flustered and rattled that I don’t have a clear enough head to wonder why he referred to Zander as a grease monkey, because the tears burn in the back of my throat, his words ring in my ears, and Zander’s fingers tense on my leg.

But it’s not until he gets that gloating hint of a smile on his lips . . . the one I’ve seen countless times as he prepared to screw over a competitor and seal the deal through some type of unscrupulous means . . . that I regain my courage. Distance is the only reason I can recognize it now. The only way I’m able to see once and for all that the man who was supposed to kiss my scrapes and hold my hand through the death of my mother was more interested in manipulation and his success.

It hurts like a bitch. The truth often does. And I’ve known this, but I think when I see the smirk that I’ve seen countless times from him, it really hits home.

So I grab on tight to the knowledge. Push down the hurt that resurfaces. And use both to my advantage.

“I’m not married, Father. I can do whatever I please with whomever I please.” My voice is soft but sure despite what feels like a bowling ball pressing on my chest.

“Casters don’t divorce, Gertrude.”

I cringe at the mantra I’ve heard countless times. The obligation he threw in my face the one time I confronted him about Ethan’s cruelty. “You’re wrong. This Caster did.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Ethan still loves you—”

“Love?” By this point I’m practically shrieking. My mind scrambles, trying to recall any ounce of emotion during my marriage.

“Yes. He loves you and therefore will not sign the paperwork. Your marriage isn’t over. He and I talked and came to an agreement. We let you have this respite before coming to collect you. But now your vacation is over. It’s time to come home.”

Heat rushes over me. His words feel like a knife scraping over my skin. The memories of all the ways my father would exert his stifling control had started to fade in the time I’d been away. Now I’m reminded how he must have control over everything in his life. People included. His daughter especially.

My hands fist into my napkin. “An agreement?” I grit out as the anger makes it hard for me to concentrate on the topic at hand without throwing in every single wrong that has transpired. “My life is not an agreement. It’s not something you and Ethan get to discuss and barter over while I stand by in silence. My marriage, on the other hand, was an agreement. One between Ethan and me, and frankly, it is none of your business. It is over—dead, done—whether you and Ethan like it or not. I filed a request to enter default over a month ago when he refused to accept the paperwork, as is my right. The divorce will finalize whether he signs it or not.”

My father tsks at my tone and gives me a dismissive roll of his eyes. I should be used to his blatant disregard, and maybe before I would have let it pass, but not now. Not the new Getty Caster.

“And there will be no collecting of me. I am not a stray dog or a helpless child. I am a grown woman who you’ve controlled for too long, and that stops now. I have a right to go or stay or do as I please. Neither you nor Ethan owns me.”

He takes his time sipping his wine, rolling the liquid around on his tongue to mask his fury over my unexpected disobedience. “Haven’t you disgraced this family enough?”

“Disgraced?” I whisper angrily. “Half of all marriages end in divorce. Caster or not.” My shoulders hurt, the tension so tight in them my head aches.

“You’ve made your point, Gertrude.” He huffs out a breath—the sound so full of disdain it feels like it’s coating my skin.

“My point?” I scoff. “I know you chose to come to a public place to keep the dramatics to a minimum. To try to control the situation. Thinking I wouldn’t dare attract attention by raising my voice, because society ladies don’t cause scenes, now, do they, Gertrude?” I mock in his tone, mimic his expressions, the ones I’ve memorized over my lifetime.

“You’re acting like a spoiled child. It’s time you stop this charade of being Little Miss Independent and come back to your family.”

“No.”

“Do. Not. Test. Me. Gertrude.”

Zander’s fingers tense on my leg at the sound of my father’s hinted threat. “Or what?” My voice is just as even and spiteful as his. I’ve shocked myself by now at the conviction with which I speak to my father.

With perfect timing, the waiter appears and sets salads down in front of us. “Thank you,” my father says stiffly, although by the expression on his face and his rigid mannerisms, it’s clear he thought I would acquiesce to his demands without much of a fight.

“Ah . . . let me guess? The gentleman ordered already for everyone?” Zander says sarcastically, noticing something my scattered mind has overlooked.

“Yes,” the waiter says cautiously, his eyes looking to each of us in turn, noticing the obvious tension at our table.

“Control at its finest,” Zander says with a laugh and a shake of his head, leveling a challenge at my father with his glare. I may be a ball of bundled nerves, but there is something comforting—a relief almost—in knowing that I’m not the only one going head-to-head with my father tonight. I’m not alone. And I can’t remember the last time I didn’t feel like I was alone.

Maybe since my mother died.

My shaky inhalation goes unnoticed because Zander, feeling like he’s made his point, turns back to the waiter. “Thank you. We’ll take the salads, but you can cancel the main courses. We’ve had something come up unexpectedly and won’t be staying long enough to eat.”

The waiter nods his head and shuffles away quickly as Zander returns his glare to my father.

“It must be devastating to not know your daughter anymore. But then again, I don’t think you ever took the time to really see her. Rather you used her as a pawn to secure the future of your empire.” My father turns his full attention toward Zander for the first time. The vein in his neck is bulging, his jaw set, and his eyes burn with a vitriol I can’t remember ever seeing before. Zander chuckles long and low. “Oh, yes. I’ve done my research on you, Damon.” He leans across the table and lowers his voice as if he’s telling a secret.

My eyes must be as wide as my father’s in reaction to seeing this new calculating side to Zander, as well as knowing that sometime between now and coming home from zip-lining, he researched my father. “Google’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? I read all about the multimillion-dollar government contracts you were awarded once you merged with Ethan’s company. You must be one helluva parent to trade your success for your daughter’s happiness.”

“You son of a bitch—”

“I saw the society pages, Damon. The pictures from their perfect, storybook wedding where all the captains of industry attended. How rumors flew that palms were greased and—”

“Young man, you don’t know who you’re messing with.” My father spits out the threat, but Zander stares at him unfazed with a cocky smirk on his lips. My heart pounds and my head is spinning. When did Zander find all of this out and how did I not know about it?

You were controlled, Getty. That’s how. When you live in a bubble, he who controls the amount of glycerin can also constrict the size of the bubble around you and what it contains.

I’m so grateful Zander is here and more than astounded at how hard he’s fighting in a battle that’s not even his to fight. I link my hand with his, fingers intertwining, as he continues.

“I know exactly who I’m dealing with. You think I’m scared? You think this grease monkey is scared of you? Yeah, I noticed you sitting across the street while I worked on the car the other day.”

His words connect the dots for me. Yet I’m too mesmerized watching Zander stand up for me in a way no one has before to react to the revelations. In a way I’ve never seen anyone stand up to my father.

“How’s it feel to have to sit behind the tinted windows of your town car parked on your daughter’s street to find out about her life? But if you ask my opinion, I’m not really sure you care. You’ve washed your hands of her well-being for years, so why change now? Ahhh, but you were controlling her in those years, weren’t you? And now you’re not. So you sat there and took in the weathered house and the blue-collar guy under the hood of a car and made assumptions just so you could pass more judgment on her. You have no clue what she’s been through. But I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less from you, should I? She’s just the collateral damage in your empire, and how dare she fight for herself for once, because she might leave a stain on your pristine reputation.” Silence descends around the table. Tension so thick it could be cut with a knife. Both men are frozen in a silent standoff.

My father breaks it first, striving to get the upper hand in a situation he clearly has no control of. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to your immature and unfounded bullshit any longer.” My father throws his napkin down, the picture of flustered fury. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone ever get to him like Zander has. “Stand up, Gertrude.” He shoves his chair back, where it crashes into the wall behind him as he raises his hand to summon the waiter.

“What?” Reflex has me saying the word. Shock has me rising to my feet without me even realizing I’m following his orders. Rather I’m so stupefied over his audacity that he’d think I’d want to go with him even now.

“It’s time to go pack your things and get you back home where you belong.” He grits the words out, temper so close to snapping all I can do is stare at him wide-eyed.

Then Zander’s laugh rings out in the restaurant. Mocking. Taunting. An audible fuck you. “She’s not going anywhere.” The words are delivered with a measured slowness. His tone ice-cold.

“You. Don’t. Control. Her.” The silverware on the table rattles as my father uses his finger to jab its top with each word he spits out. His shoulders are squared and body stretched to full height as he looks down at Zander, who is casually leaning back in his chair.

Zander flashes a smarmy smirk, but his eyes are dead serious when he stands up, now clearly at a height advantage. He leans forward, voice quiet but powerful. “Neither. Do. You.”

My father glares, jaw ticking, before shifting his gaze back to mine. “You have a soft heart, Gertrude, and in this cruel world, it’s a major weakness. Falling for this man is proof of it. He’ll take advantage of you and you’ll come running home broken, with your tail between your legs. I have no doubt.”

My eyes burn. My heart hurts. My head spins.

“Having a soft heart in this cruel world is brave. Not weak. But you wouldn’t know the first thing about bravery, now, would you?” And without another word, Zander links his hand with mine and we walk out of the restaurant together.

“This isn’t over,” my father calls after us.

But all I can think is that it was over a long time ago.