“Interesting,” she muttered, her eyes glazing over, obviously thinking it was anything but.
“Well, no matter where you’re working, Fern, your family should come first. Nothing should have kept you away this long and now you’re here we need to discuss it not happening again. Your mother has been miserable. You don’t even need to work. I’ve told you that again and again.”
“Dad,” she hissed out angrily.
“What? You should be married by now. Like your sister. Children on the way. Looking after your home and your husband. Not working stupid hours looking after bands who can’t behave like adults.”
Wow, this is going to be a fun week.
“Dad, not now. I’m here to spend Christmas with you. I’d like to catch up with my family and have a nice time.”
He huffed, swirling the whiskey he was drinking, which I was eyeing enviously, around his highball, crystal cut glass.
“I’m going to take Charlie on a tour of the house so he doesn’t get lost, and then we’ll go unpack.”
“Dinner’s at nine,” her mum announced. “Oh, and your friend sent you both some things. They’re in your room.”
“Friend?” she questioned.
“Yes, the one who gave you the week off. He had a strange name… Nemo?”
“Neo,” she laughed. “My boss.”
“Yes. Him. I had Helen put them upstairs.”
“Thanks.” And with that, she stood, pulling me up and dragging me from the room.
We moved through the parquet floored hall to the curved staircase that led to the balcony style first floor. I looked around as we walked, taking in the life size oil paintings of long deadancestors. I was used to money. I came from money. But this was old money.
“Are you loaded, Princess?” I whispered in her ear as we climbed the stairs.
“My family are. I don’t want a penny of it.”
“Really?”
She glared over at me, looking like that was the strangest response in the world. “Really. I left home years ago and I’ve never asked them for a penny. I don’t want to live like...” Her hand moved to the space around us. “Like this. Women in my family are expected to be a certain way. For a long time, I thought that was what I wanted and then, well, then, I decided that I wanted more… that I deserved more. My family isn’t so impressed with my decision.”
She led me to a door halfway down the long, wide hall. Twisting the handle, she opened it and moved to the side so I could step inside. “My decision meant he had one less bargaining chip.”
She pulled her hand from mine, making me realize that I’d been holding it this entire time.
“Chip?”
“Yeah, you know… want to get some insider business tips that will help you make a fortune… want to get someone important on side? What better thing to offer than your daughter, or at least the promise of her?”
I froze, my eyes fixed on Fern. She was one of the most confident women I’d ever met. It was probably why she pissed me off so much. I was used to women who threw themselves at me and took whatever I wanted to give them, but Fern seemed on a higher plane. Unobtainable. The way she held herself, her no shit attitude, her confidence. Addi was the Ice Queen at the label, but Fern was a very close second—giving and taking no shits from anyone. It drove me mad. But I wouldn’t want to seeher lose it… dent it maybe, but never lose it. But right now, it was missing completely.
Since the moment we’d stepped off the plane, she seemed to have been shrinking. Her confidence dimming, as if it was being sucked into an invisible black hole. The sparkle in her eyes was gone, her permanent, annoyingly cheerful smile flat, her straight spine that made it look like she had a stick up her ass, vanished, leaving her looking smaller than normal.
I longed to ask her if she was alright, but that wasn’t me, so I did what I did best. I poked.
“Oh, come on, Princess. I bet you were born to be a trophy wife. It all makes sense. The attitude, the air of authority you wear like a cloak. Wouldn’t you rather have a life of cocktails with the girls and shopping than be surrounded by rock stars?”
I fell back onto the king size four poster bed, pushing my hands behind my head and crossing my legs at the ankles, leaving my shoe-covered feet off the edge of the mattress, because… well, because I wasn’t a monster.
“Fuck off, Charlie. You know nothing about me and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop passing judgment on me. Pass judgment on my family and where I come from—I don’t give a shit about that, but me… you don’t get to do that. I’ve worked hard to be where I am and I won’t have you belittle that because you’re an asshole.”
Pausing, I watched her unpacking her things into the large dresser at the far side of the room. That was when I noticed the two huge wooden trunks on the floor. I slipped from the bed and walked toward them.