Golden Crown (Arthur Academy Book 2), page 25
I wasn’t sure she would still love me.
“Well since you have all staged this behind my back no less, when I have been the reason for everything you all have! You should have all taken the time to read the by-laws to the extent that our founders created them. Because as you can see on the screen, by-law 619b, states that if a chairman takes over from the original founding member, they must be 25 years and not a day younger.” He circles the by-law on the screen with a flick of his wrist before dropping it to the table with an overconfident snap. “So, to all family members, and my son, you may be able to stage a coup to overtake a seat – but you are not old enough little boy – to take over the chair!”
Not necessarily….
This was it.
This was the moment I wasn’t sure I could pull off.
But when I hear the soft knock on the boardroom door, I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding, and stand to my full height so I could tower over my father.
“I agree, which is why in my appointment in the Reed seat I wish to raise a motion to bring in a new founding family.”
Emmett Dawson, also known as the QB from Lake Shore, swaggers into the boardroom ahead of his father Garrett who was trailing behind him. He stands beside me, a subtle nod in my direction confirming our plan had now come full circle. It’d been a gamble, mainly because I didn’t trust him, but we had a common goal.
And that was taking care of our families.
“What the hell is this?” my father bellows, slamming his fist on the table in front of him.
For the first time in my entire life, I could feel the finish line I’ve been racing towards.
I could see the line just up ahead.
“You see, I can’t physically take the chair until I am 25, but you know what – I don’t want this life. I want to go into the draft at the end of the year and play professional ball. I want to get mom better and build a new life for her where she can be happy. I want Lucy to grow into the women she chooses and not be forced to live a life the way I was. And I want to be able to love who the fuck I want to without it becoming part of some business deal. So I raise, that we need a new direction. We need new blood. So, if any one of my other fellow board members would like to second my motion to not only instate the Dawson name onto our board, and not just as a member, but as our new chair - do so now.”
My fathers’ eyes scan each member with a venom I didn’t know he had. There was nothing but threat and contempt across his face like he was resorting back to his old tactics of trying to put fear into the rest of the board. Until Austin’s father mutters…
“I second.”
“What? David you have to be out of your mind! How they came into their money? You know the illegal links they have?! And to be your chairman? I won’t stand for this!”
“Actually Phillip, I’ve had several meetings with Garrett over the last two years and he has more than proven that their money was well above board. It turns out that they were rumors, and they were rumors linked very carefully back to you. So, in terms of leadership, he isn’t the miscreant you had the town believe. In fact, it was your procurement of the Hayes brand that was done with dirty money, which included a drug ring among many other trades I do not wish to speak about here with our sons present. But under no circumstances should they be something tied to our empire. Something you were more than happy to try and link to the Dawson name though for your own gain it seems, and for me, that stops right here.”
“What?! You don’t have the right!” My father shouts before River’s father adds, “Actually Phillip, I too had my security firm look into your claims about The Dawsons’ wealth back then, and it seems the cover up was on your side intentionally to ensure you stayed as majority. As our chairman. And as you know, bringing in a sixth member could mean there is the potential for a stalemate which in my mind only strengthens the majority rulings. More of us need to agree and be on the same page. It strengthens us, it strengthens our rule, and it strengthens our boys’ future. But you Phillip, were always against that.”
“It seems you were against a lot of things that didn’t benefit you,” I grind, noting the ill look my father then glares at me with.
“I would hate for something to happen to you son. After all, be careful who you make as an enemy.”
I take slow measured steps toward him, until the tips of my trainers touch the polished leather of his designer shoes.
“You see, I don’t think you will.”
I lean toward his ear, and continue in a voice only he can hear. “Because if you so much as lay a hair on anyone I care about, and I mean anyone, it won’t only be the laundry about the dirty money and the Hayes brand that I will air - but your involvement in the Westwood heirs’ daughter as well. Imagine what the Westwood’s would do to you once they hear you had such intimate dealings with the girl when she was not ‘of age’, and who knows what else.”
I pull back, noting the harsh swallow he takes as he all but grinds his teeth to powder. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. You have no proof.”
I shrug, feigning casual. “Maybe, maybe not; but I have enough records of messages and conversations between you and a certain someone, which will prove you were more than involved and who knows how those dealings changed her path. Which means, everything you have worked for will evaporate in an instant. Imagine the headlines when the elite head goes to prison for his crimes, including his involvement with a minor. A girl who is now dead and a girl who you wanted betrothed to his son.”
The smirk he gives me is ugly, but he is aware we still have an audience, so he discreetly adds. “Well played son. Well played… So, what is it that you want?”
“Simple. You leave, with whatever assets you have now. Sell the house, take the cash, I don’t give a fuck where you go. But you do not go near mother, Lucy, me, the elite or Hendrix - ever. Do you understand. You disappear. You cease to exist.”
“I knew that that girl…” he starts, but I pull back and add more loudly.
“Do we agree?”
His tongue rolls around in his mouth, but he jerks his head into a nod. “I agree.”
“Then grab your shit and get the fuck out.”
We all watch with baited breath as my father tucks his chair into the desk, and adjusts the lapels of his expensive suit. He holds his head high, and continues his slow stalk out of the room, and it isn’t until he reaches the door, that I add, “Oh and before I forget.”
I stalk toward him, my eyes narrowed fiercely, and just the way he taught me, I swing my fist so fast that he never sees the punch coming. The snap of his neck fills the air, as it jerks harshly to the side and causes the blood from his mouth to spray onto the clear glass wall beside him. He gasps, taking his time to regain his composure before wiping his designer sleeve across his mouth so it’s now smeared with his blood.
“What did I tell you. It’s I agree, sir.”
He doesn’t respond. But storms out and slams the door behind him, whilst all I do is take the deepest breath my lungs have ever had.
It was done.
I was finally, free.
Epilogue
Hendrix
It was hard to believe that we only had three more weeks of classes before I was finally done being a freshman. So many things had happened this year that it felt like I’d always just been here. And as I take a peek at my new home for the next few years, I was more than excited about what my future held, because if only that little girl could see how she turned out…
I would hope she’d be proud.
“How did I know you’d take this room?”
I shrug flirtatiously. “Maybe because it’s yours.”
I feel the strong arms of Paxton wrap around me, as he rests his chin on my shoulder where he presses the softest kiss.
“Well aren’t you lucky that I got drafted close by, so you can’t get too used to sleeping without me.”
I smiled.
Paxton had been drafted into the NFL with the Jets who were only two hours away. I knew there’d be nights that I wouldn’t see him, but there was a comfort in knowing he wasn’t far away. That we could try and make it work without adding distance to the mix too.
“Come on, we need to get going if we’re going to make it.”
He takes me by the hand, and drags me down the three floors of his dorm, until we’re just beside the front door.
“Wait!”
I quickly tug my hand free, and whip his hoodie over my head. Despite everything with the elite now being over, I was still cautious about parading around with Paxton on campus. He may be leaving at the end of the year, but I wasn’t, and I know how the gossip works when everyone thought I’d been with Austin. I toss it to the nearby sofa, jumping when I hear the shriek from Lucy after it hits her.
“Hey!”
“Sorry!”
“You’re just lucky I love you like a sister roomie.”
And roomie she was now.
Lucy and I would be living in the elite dorm for the next few years, and with Banks and River moving offsite into the neighbourhood, that left just one more person who was staying with us too.
“And she’s lucky I love her like a sister too.”
Austin strolls into the room, with that cocky swagger of his, fist bumping Paxton when he stops beside us.
“I’m lucky I have you here to look out for these two next year,” Paxton adds with a confident smile whilst Austin’s falters only a little.
You see, due to Austin’s injury and the stroke that occurred after surgery, the doctor advised he should take some more time to make sure his body was ready should he want to continue playing ball. Austin wanted to reassess, and redo his final year so he could start to pave his own way in the world. He also wanted to work on things with his father. He wasn’t ready to do that by living in his home or in their neighbourhood but he wanted to be close by. And although I knew the situation could get a little awkward, until Paxton understood the complexity surrounding him and his sister, I was selfishly relieved to have him stay with us. Call me old fashioned, but after everything that had happened around here it would be nice to have a guy around.
I know I wasn’t completely useless, but it did make me feel safer.
“Go on, get going or you’ll get the traffic on the freeway.”
We’d been driving for almost two hours when I could see on the navigation system that we were close to our final destination. It was almost time, and I was freaking the hell out.
I was about to meet Paxton’s mom.
Knowing how much she meant to him, it made me more than a little on edge.
Like I said, I was freaking the hell out.
“Stop thinking so loudly you’re hurting my ears,” he whines, smiling at me from the drivers’ seat.
“Ha-ha,” I moan sarcastically, before turning toward him. “I’m nervous okay.”
“She’s going to love you.”
I shake my head. “You don’t know that.”
He picks up my hand and presses his lips to my knuckle. “Yeah, I do, because I do.”
It’s words like that that melted my insides, and it was words like that that had become a common occurrence now that everything was out in the open between us. After the takedown of Paxton’s father, and the inclusion of The Dawsons in the elite, everything had become relatively normal. Whilst Paxton and I didn’t hide the fact that we were the ones dating and not Austin and I – I didn’t showcase it either. Like I said, I could only imagine the gossip that would start about the scholarship girl jumping from elite to elite, especially considering I had another three years at the academy to get through. I was thankful Paxton understood that too.
But it was the revelation of Paxton’s deepest secret that really saw us turn a corner. When he revealed the guilt he held close to his heart after feeling like he’d a hand in the death of his childhood friend Amber Westwood. When he explained that he was the one who convinced Tucker to confront Amber and fight for her, I couldn’t understand why that alone would cause such guilt. But it was because that was the night that Tucker took Paxton’s advice and lost control.
It was the night that her life had ended.
But Paxton being Paxton, had realised what was about to happen before anyone else could’ve even tried. When he rushed to Ambers’ pool-house just to check on a gut feeling, all he saw was her lifeless body through the window.
He’d been too late.
I understood his anguish over what had happened, but I tried to reassure him that his actions didn’t cause Tuckers.
Whilst they may have set the motion – it didn’t cause it.
With his disbelief that I could even still look at him the same way, let alone love him, there’s been a soft playfulness about him now, that wasn’t there before.
He was lighter now.
Happier.
And for whatever small part I played in him feeling that way, I was more than thankful for.
“Here we are.”
We park in the lot of the Springs Facility and as I step outside, I nervously tuck my white button shirt into my jeans. Paxton takes my hand and leads me toward the doors, squeezing tightly to help ease my nerves.
But we don’t enter.
He steers me down the side path, that winds its way around the main building, until finally, we’re met with an expansive garden housing white tables, chairs and alfresco dining.
“There she is.” Paxton nods towards a woman with auburn curly hair, just like Lucy’s. She has her back to us, her sight focused on the lush grounds before her, but when a staff member deposits some pills and a bottle of water on her table, she glances up and catches Paxton heading toward her instead.
“My boy!”
He dips and wraps his huge arms around her; swallowing her small frame while she clings to him from her seat.
“It’s good to see you mom.”
I stand back, allowing them to have a moment before her eyes open and she spots me instantly. She smiles.
“Okay, stop suffocating me so I can meet your girl.”
I step forward and offer her my hand. “It’s nice to meet you Mrs Reed.”
She stands, before taking me into a familiar hug. “Please call me Lacie.”
I take a seat beside Paxton and listen as he asks his mom about her treatment. I thought it might be awkward for her talking about it in front of me, but she was surprisingly comfortable about it. She was surprisingly open too. But I had to admit I was a little uneasy when I caught her glancing at me more than once with a sly expression on her face. It wasn’t malicious or anything, but it was all too knowing which was what unsettled me.
“Anyway, enough about me. I want to hear all about you.”
I jerk my head toward Paxton’s mother, when it was clear she was talking to me.
“I’m sorry…?”
“Mom…” Paxton starts, but it was a more of a warning than anything else.
“I’m sorry Pax, but I can’t hold it in any longer.”
Before I start to worry about what she was talking about, I saw her fragile hands meet mine across the table. “You look just like her. You’re beautiful.”
I froze.
I wasn’t sure what she was saying…
“Look like who?” I whisper, before I caught her eyes move to something behind me.
“Your mother.”
I’m not sure what happened next because despite those two words repeating themselves in my head, my brain barely understood them.
“Hendrix?”
I stare at Lacie’s overwhelming smile, frozen at the sound of the timid voice behind me. I gulp heavily and take a deep breath before turning around.
I was paralyzed.
I was suddenly in my living room beneath my fathers’ weight, staring at my mother’s grief-stricken, and weary face as she races out of the room before me.
Where she left me.
To the familiar face now standing over me.
Whilst her body wasn’t as thin, and her skin held a new healthy glow, the solemn look that she gazed at me with was the exact same as that last night I saw her.
“Mom?”
Her hazel eyes, like mine, were filled with tears just willing to escape. Her lip shook as she opened her mouth, but there were no words we could say right now.
But we didn’t have to.
Like I’d told Paxton - I never blamed her. I never cared what anyone else thought about that too, because I knew she wouldn’t have lasted another second in that room. I’d seen it. I liked to think that she knew I was strong enough to get out, and that’s the faith I’d always held with me.
It’s why I always wanted a part of her with me.
She gave me that strength.
Day after day, she turned up in that house, and every year she put up with that torment which I know was because of me. She didn’t have the means to get out, but she did what she could to try and protect me. It was the only way she knew how to.
I trusted in that.
It was why I didn’t hesitate when my limbs finally managed movement and I flung myself toward her. She held onto me just the same as I did her, and I didn’t dare let her go.
Never again would I let her go.
“How…” I whispered into her raven hair.
“You have a good man in that one my baby girl. Paxton tracked me down a few weeks ago and had me moved here with his mother. He’s visited a few times and Lacie has become a wonderful friend. You’re lucky to have such a beautiful family my girl. That’s all I ever wanted you to have.”
I didn’t have words.
The love I felt for Paxton in that very moment was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed. My heart was full to the point it hurt to be a mere space away from him.
He had protected me.
He had protected my mother.
