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I shake my head back and forth because I know I can’t.
Rolling his eyes at me, he slowly lets my lips go when he must realize there is no way humanly possible that I’ll sit here quiet. From the moment we met, I’ve never been able to keep my opinion to myself.
“You can’t just drop that sentence and not expect me to fire up at you wondering…” My blood is bubbling with the anxiety.
“Cassie!” Shit, he’s brought out the big tough voice. He knows that does funny things to me. “Stop. Talking. Now!” Oh, he means business. As wound up as I feel, that voice is sexy as fuck and has my body tingling when I should still be in fight mode.
How the hell does he do that to me?
Stopping me mid thought, now I’ve lost what I was going to say. Which is exactly what he was intending to happen. I’m about to open my mouth again to tell him he distracted me when he blurts out one thing I wasn’t expecting.
“I’m a billionaire, Cassie.” He looks at me, waiting for a reaction, but I’ve got nothing. I’m not sure I even heard what he said correctly. I rewind his words in my head and replay them over and over again. And every time it sounds the same.
“What?” is all I can manage, sitting up a little straighter and trying to get my head around that.
“Finally, I have rendered you speechless. Miracles do exist,” he says, laughing at me, probably still looking stunned, like he has never seen me before.
“Not funny.” I’m annoyed at his laughing.
“I know, I’m sorry, but it was the only way to stop you from freaking out so you would let me explain. I had to be blunt and straight to the point. It’s not a word I would normally use, and to be honest, I’ve never said it out loud, but yes, I’m a very wealthy man.” He takes both my hands in his and squeezes them to center me.
“Wait, how? Like, where…” My mind is spinning so fast that I can’t even string a proper sentence together.
Watching him take a deep breath, I can tell there is a big story behind this, and I’m desperate for him to say it all in fast forward so I can know it all now. Patience has never been my strong point.
“You know about my family and how dysfunctional they are; well, that’s not all of my family members. I had a grandfather who we never got to see very often when I was growing up. He was my father’s father, and he was appalled at the way he and my mom lived their lives. I didn’t know until after he died that when I was born, he tried to get shared custody of me so that he could keep an eye on me. Not that I’m sure I agree with his methods, and I think it’s a bit high-handed to try to take someone’s child away from them, but I can see he was just trying to care for me when he was worried they wouldn’t do a very good job at it.”
What an awful dilemma for the old man, I’m sure, but I agree with Ghost, and no matter what, no one will ever take this baby from me. Not while I’m living and breathing.
I don’t comment at all, and now understand that I just need to sit here and listen until he gets it all out. I feel bad for the yelling I did in the beginning.
“Obviously, he lost that battle in the courts, and he and my parents had a big falling out after that. He didn’t even bother trying again when my sisters were born, as he knew he wouldn’t win. We never went to his house that I can remember as a child, and the few times he visited, he looked and dressed just like my father. He was reaching out to them and trying to make amends, but it never worked, and there was shouting after we were sent outside to play or to our rooms. It was hard to imagine he wasn’t just the same as our family. Middle class, just trying to get by with the money we got each paycheck.
“Thinking back after he died, over the years there were a few arguments between Mom and Dad that made so much more sense now. I just assumed it was sarcasm when she would scream at him that she was just there for the money or one of them would say something about when this is over, I can’t wait to get as far away from you as possible. Again, in the scale of things, it seemed normal in our house. They hated each other, and that was the truth.”
I can only assume they stayed together because they thought it may have been needed to inherit the money. The sadness in his eyes is slaying me. He may not love his family anymore, but there is a longing there, wishing in some small way that it would change one day.
“Oh, Ghost, I don’t even know what to say. My heart is hurting for you.” And it is. I can’t imagine growing up like that. I pull his hand with mine to my stomach, holding it and looking into his eyes. “Our child will never grow up in a house with anything else but an abundance of love. That’s a promise.” His smile tells me my words are a comfort for him.
Adjusting myself now so that I’m facing him on the couch, he moves his leg up onto the couch too, leaving one foot on the ground, and we both lean sideways onto the back of the couch. We’re getting comfortable for the long conversation we are entering into. He needs to get out everything he has been holding on the inside all his life, and I need to listen so I know all there is to know about Ghost, my protector, and Noah, the man I love.
“Anyway, not long after I moved away from the family, after I had the disagreement with my sister who was just wanting to use me, I had a call from a law firm. At first my heart dropped, thinking that my parents had done something stupid and they were chasing me for money. Not that I had much at that stage. But instead, it was to tell me that my grandfather, Lionel, had passed away and that they wanted me to come in to collect a letter he had left for me. I was a bit confused about why he would write a letter to me and no one else. I was busy at work and put it off for a week. I was disappointed that I hadn’t even heard from my parents to tell me he had passed. But I found out later they didn’t even know, he had left instructions that they weren’t to be told until I was seen by the lawyer and his assets were sold and everything converted to cash.” Stopping to take a moment, Ghost is sorting through his words, and this is so not like him.
I don’t want to interrupt, so I just nod at him to keep going. This wasn’t easy, I’m sure, and I don’t want to cause him any more pain than is needed.
“Imagine my absolute disbelief when they told me that he had made me the sole beneficiary of his estate. His wife had died before I was born, my dad was an only child, and we were his only grandchildren. In his letter to me, he spoke of how devastated he was every day that he had no part in our lives and that to him his son was dead. He had watched me grow up from the sidelines, and he said I was the only one who had followed his footsteps in working hard and making a decent man of myself.” I can’t fight the tears that are slowly dripping down my face. Ghost’s hand softly wipes them away. I’m not sure if I’m crying for him or his grandfather or both.
“Overnight I had become a multi-millionaire, with strict instructions from him not to give any of it to my family unless they turned their lives around and became decent people, his words not mine.” His eyes wander toward the candle on the table beside us, flickering around in the slight breeze that is blowing in through one of the windows.
“I was scared, Cassie. I didn’t know how my family would react. I was torn if I should just give them some of the money. Christ, I could never spend that amount of money in ten lifetimes, so why shouldn’t they have some. I waited for them to be told, and then it was suggested we have a meeting at the lawyer’s office. I arrived a little early, like I always do. My parents were waiting outside for me. All my dad said to me was‘It’s my fucking money, you thieving little shit. I’m telling them your mother had an affair and you aren’t mine. So, then the inheritance has to come to me.’My mom stood next to him, holding his hand and nodding her agreement. I had never seen them hold hands in all my life, and the first time they agreed on something, it was to disown their son for money.”
I can’t help myself, gasping at the thought of how that must’ve made him feel. How could anyone do that to their own child.
His head falls back onto the couch, and he continues speaking toward the ceiling because I don’t think he can look at me right now. It’s too hard.
“I know what you’re thinking, how could they, but money breeds evil, and my family fell into that trap of greed before anything else.” Now restless, he stands and starts to pace.
I don’t know if I’m even able to ask, but I must. “What did you do next?” I feel my heart beating a little harder, watching him with the anger starting to pulse through him.
