AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You won’t be able to feel it kick you know”, Sash says. “They don’t do that for another few months at least.”
Abbey takes her hand away. Really, Sash doesn’t even look pregnant. If she hadn’t been told, she wouldn’t know. Sure she has a glow, but people have glows for a number of different reasons. It could be that she’s just in love.
“You know, I can’t believe you are pregnant. I mean, I totally wasn’t expecting that. Ok, so I suppose I wasn’t expecting the hymen reconstruction, nor the fact that Dante already has another kid as well, but this is, like, way out there. I mean, you’ve got a little thing growing inside you!”
“I know”, Sash says, suddenly feeling immensely proud, a tiny little bit embarrassed and very scared all at the same time. “Nobody knows that either”, she adds. “Only me, you and Dante.”
“My lips are sealed”, Abbey says, performing the corresponding action to indicate that fact. “Your dad is going to freak when he finds out though. I mean, I’m still freaking out. About everything.”
Sash lowers her eyes. “I know, me too.”
Chapter 9
Dante stands by the window in a brand new suit, the last swallow of a limited edition Skye island whiskey in his hand, looking at the enormous crowd that has gathered below. When Alex comes into his office to cough nervously and tell him what he already knows, he takes a deep breath, sinks the golden liquid and turns towards her.
“Lets go”, he says, the corner of his lips turned up into a smile and a storm already brewing in eyes that a thousand women have fought to lose themselves in.
This is a God about to greet his people. This is a movie star about to come face to face with a million adoring fans. This is Dante Hix, the billionaire owner of Hix Industries, who will do anything to keep things that way.
The elevator journey to the lower floor is taken in silence. This press conference could have been conducted anywhere, but Dante didn’t see the reason for having it anywhere else but the ground on which he has built his empire. If Alex had her way, she would have insisted on a script, several pre-agreed questions and a time limit. Dante being Dante, cocky and confident, what they are actually about to involve themselves in is nothing like that. He’s refused a scriptwriter, has indicated that he will answer any question that are put to him, by journalists or civilians, and will not leave until he is satisfied that his message has been communicated and understood. They are both of the agreement that Sash not being by his side is a perfect way to demonstrate what he is about to say.
News channels from across the state have gathered, and the press conference is going to be broadcast in over a hundred and sixty countries across the world by over thirty network stations. Almost a million people have gathered outside Hix tower, and a thousand times that amount, including Sash, her father and Tracy, are sat watching at home, waiting for the controversial billionaire to appear. If Sash was going to get dumped on live TV, three times the population of America watching, she wanted to be in the audience to hear it. Like that, at least, she could start to get on with her life.
Dante straightens his tie. He checks his hair in the wall mirror. The numbers count down. Finally the doors whoosh open, and immediately, even through the thick glass of a double layer of entrance doors, the crowd can be heard screaming for him.
As the two of them walk towards the wall of noise, and just before they leave the office tower and throw themselves into it, Dante leans over to Alex. She can feel him there even before he speaks, and expects him to utter words of encouragement, or perhaps even tell her to cancel the whole thing completely. Instead, his mouth so close to her ear he could bite her earlobe if he wanted to, he says - his voice firm and filled with menace - “After this is over, you’re fucking fired.”
Alex feels like someone has just kicked a hole through her chest. She looks up to him to see if he’s joking, but he doesn’t look back to her. Instead, his head held high and his arm raised to wave at the crowd, he pushes through the entrance doors alone, and moves confidently to the pre-constructed lectern.
A moment later, a flustered Alex is by his side. Even though she’s just as tall as her former boss, next to him she looks like she’s wilting. The crowd don’t care who she is, they’ve come to see Dante, and hear the story from the horse’s mouth. The crowd bays, hungry for information. Some hold placards of support, others hold placards of hatred. There are boos and insults and words thrown from the crowd that mash together and lose their sense completely. Dante smiles at them as though he’s about to make an Oscar’s acceptance speech and this is a standing ovation for his winning role. Cameras flash and journalists jostle each other for the best position. Alex tries her best to look confident, even though she feels like dying inside. The world waits with baited breath. Sash sits on the edge of her stepbrother’s bed, her hands hugged tightly around her. Eventually, after what seems like an eternity, the crowd finally settle down.
Dante taps the microphone.
“Hello”, he begins, his voice hooked up to a huge stack of speakers that spread it all over New York and almost as far away as where Sash is sat watching. “Thank you for coming.”
The crowd erupts in a wave of noise. From where Dante is stood he can’t tell what is a cheer and what is a boo, and he couldn’t care less either way. Up on his podium, he looks like a newly elected president giving his first national address, although Dante feels way more important than that. Sash stares at the deflated figure of Alex and knows she should be there standing in her place instead. Her stepbrother looks incredible in his suit, but he’d look incredible in anything he decided to wear. If he stood there in Bermuda shorts and tie-dyed vest top he’d still be the best looking and most appealing man in the room, and the room in this instance, at least as far as Sash is concerned, isn’t just New York or even America, it’s the whole damn world.
When the crowd finally settle down enough to allow him to talk, Dante continues.“My name is Dante Hix, and I am the CEO and owner of Hix industries and several other companies across the world. I have investments in gentleman’s clubs, casinos, property, technology and telecoms, software, hardware, oil, mining and travel.”
There are more outbursts from the crowd, but this time they last less time.
“My net worth is valued at forty billion dollars. According to Forbes magazine, I’m the tenth richest man in the world, and the youngest of the top thirty five. I began my career with a small inheritance from my father which allowed me to begin my computer programming company at twenty one. At twenty four I was a billionaire.”
Sash seethes at the TV, her finger hovering over the standby button on the remote control, ready to turn it off as soon as it gets too much. The crowd murmur while Dante pauses, letting them take his words in.
“In short”, he says. “I’m a big fucking deal, and I’ve got a hell of a lot to lose.”
He sees it almost as soon as it is thrown, deciding to duck at the very last minute to make his escape look all that more spectacular, so the lanced egg breezes past and explodes impressively against the glass doors behind him. Undeterred, Dante continues, while the police work hard to settle down the crowd.
“Sash”, Dante says, looking directly down the barrel of one of the cameras in front of him and instantly he appears on the huge screens that have been hung either side of the stage against the enormity of the black tower behind him. Across town, in the house that they both grew up in, his stepsister’s heart stops dead as soon as she hears her name.
There is a silence that descends on the group now, a general sensation that they have reached the climax of the story and will either hear the confession in full from the main suspect, or an out and out denial. Cameras flash like crazy. Police push people back from the metal cordon, and at the center of it all, the eye of the storm, the corner of Dante’s lips curl up into a smile. “I hope you are listening to this, Sash, because you of everyone here needs to know what this has done to me.”
The whole world waits, o
n the very edge of their seat.
“What this will do to me.” he continues. “What this means to me, and what I’m going to lose trying to keep it.”
“Fucking ass-hole”, Sash shouts at the TV, loud enough that Henry and Tracy, also watching Dante’s address, can hear her from downstairs.
“Sash”, Dante says again, addressing her directly. “All of this. The billions of dollars, the several businesses, the clubs, the companies, my whole life, it means nothing at all if it doesn’t have you in it.”
There is a collected intake of air that sounds like a rocket ship firing up. What starts as a murmur ends up as a rolling wall of noise directed straight at Dante. Did they hear him right? Did they misunderstand? Is it a trick or a double bluff?
