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CHAPTERTHIRTY
Aurelia
Isaac isright behind me as I step into the office my ex-manager just ran to like a petrified dog with its tail on fire.
Chuck has made himself temporarily at home, bent over one of Eric Starling’s expensive computers with his phone tacked to his ear. He looks up as we enter and positively snarls.
“Get out,” I say, evenly. I can’t put into words the elation I feel at finally being able to tell this guy to go run and jump.
“It’s a load of crap,” he seethes. “You can’t move anything at this time of night.”
“Then keep staring at those numbers. They’re not gonna get any bigger, believe me.”
I feel Isaac’s chest filling up behind me, either from pride or from readying himself to pounce on a man he’s made no secret of disliking since the first day we met. I wanted to do this on my own, and I did, but I couldn’t have done it all without Isaac. I want him to share this moment with me. I owe him that much.
“It was all legitimate, Aurelia,” Chuck says, rising from Starling’s chair. “The houses, the vacations. I did nothing behind your back. It was all there in the accounts for you to see, in black and white, in broad daylight.”
“You knew I trusted you with the accounts, Chuck,” I hiss. “The first house purchase was four years ago. I was sixteen. You don’t honestly think I was capable of staying on top of my business’s finances at that age while also performing a world tour and camping out in studios, recording not one but two new albums, do you? I guarantee the lawyers don’t see it that way.”
“Lawyers,” he sneers. “You had to get the lawyers, Aurelia. Always one for the drama weren’t you?”
Instead of defending myself, or recoiling from the accusations, as I would have done previously, I step towards him and cock my head. “Drama is underrated. How on earth do you think I was going to make all that money, Chuck? I wasn’t going to do it being a wallflower, was I?” I step backwards again, my eyelids heavy. I feel drunk. “Even this announcement… I couldn’t waste an opportunity to get some serious column inches. But isn’t that what you always drilled into me? Get the column inches where you can. Because I only have another couple of years, and then no one will be interested in me anymore.” My smile widens. “Good thing I still have the rights to all my music though, huh? I can cash that in as soon as people stop caring. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure my mom and sisters have everything they could possibly need. That wasn’t your intention though, was it?”
He's dumbfounded.
“You were going to take the money and disappear with that woman, weren’t you?”
I can sense Isaac’s brain working overtime, picturing the blonde from the CCTV. I turn to him. “The very one,” I confirm.
Isaac’s jaw drops. Chuck, to his credit, stands his ground and stops lying. “Yes. I was.”
“What about the girls? You were just going to leave them?”
“They’re not mine.”
I fix my face firmly, even though this is the first I’ve heard of it. “Can you prove that?”
“Yes,” he laughs bitterly. “I’m incapable of having more children. After Joan had the boys, I wasn’t interested in adding more to the family. We couldn’t afford it. I had the operation. I can show you all the damn paperwork.”
“Does my mother know?”
“Well, she got those girls from somewhere, didn’t she?” Chuck snarls.
Did Mom go to another sperm bank? She must have tried to trick Chuck into believing the girls were his.Chuck starts walking to the door, his face twisted up and pointed like a rat’s.
“Do you have anything to say to my mother?” I say as I watch him go, probably for the last time.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Like what? You’ve said it all for me.”
He goes to open the door but I’m not finished and Isaac knows it. He pushes his hand against it, slamming the door shut.
“You’re not even going to say sorry?”
He laughs, bitterly. “I’m the one who deserves an apology,” he snaps, deluded. “If you think that woman ever loved me, you’re more naïve than I thought.”
I feel Isaac’s eyes on me, waiting for my next instruction. I close my eyes and jerk my head away. Isaac releases the door and growls low as Chuck yanks it open and storms out. Isaac pushes it closed again and faces me.
“Jesus H Christ,” he breathes out.
