Cain (26 page)

Shannon looked at the board members.
She hoped that at least one of them would come to her aide. A
daughter just didn’t treat her mother—the door opened again and
four armed security guards stood there. One held a box and even
from a distance, Shannon could see it was full of the things from
her office. The office she’d just had decorated again. Anger burned
through her.

“
How dare you have
these…these people.” She pointed to the guards. “How dare you have
them go through my personal things. You’ve no right to do
that.”

Alyssa stood up, her grip hard on the
table. Shannon could see her knuckles turn white. When Alyssa
simply nodded to the men, the guards as one moved toward Shannon.
She turned once again to her daughter.

“
Alyssa, you can’t do this
to me. You can’t humiliate me like this. I’m your mother. I’ve…I’ve
missed you.” Shannon hated to beg, but there was just too much at
stake here and she needed to backtrack quickly.

“
Goodbye, Mother.” As
Shannon was nearing the door, Alyssa called out to her again.
Shannon nearly fell over in her haste to turn. Finally, she
thought, finally Alyssa was seeing reason.

“
You’ve been moved out of
my house on Lincoln, as well as the other houses I own. I’ve had
you set up in a nice house on Diaz Lane. The accounts have all been
changed and you no longer have unlimited funds. You might want to
consider that before each purchase for a while. The monies that
you’ve spent…well, I’ll let Drew talk to you about them at a later
date. There is a credit card with a limited amount of money on it
you can spend according to the terms of Daddy’s will.” Alyssa
nodded again and Shannon was out into the hallway.

The door closed behind her and before
she took two steps away, loud applause resounded from the
conference room. Shannon was escorted to the service elevator. She
looked at the guard next to her.

“
This is all a
misunderstanding—a mother/daughter spat. You’ll see. You should
just let me have my things back in my office and tomorrow we’ll all
laugh about this.” At least Shannon sincerely hoped they
would.

The guard turned to her and smiled.
Shannon took a step back. This was not a friendly smile. No, this
one was more of a snarl than a smile. Then he spoke, his voice was
just as frightening as his smile.

“
You make one move without
my say so, Mrs. Howard, and I will take great pleasure in blowing a
hole in your heartless chest. You may not remember me, but I do
you. Three days after the young miss in there disappeared, you
fired me and then told my new wife that we’d slept together. All I
can say is it’s a good thing she’s a loving woman and didn’t
believe a single word that spewed from your mouth. You go on
thinking it’s a spat and I’ll be waiting for you to try and make
Miss Alyssa see it your way.” He took the box from the other guard
and shoved it into Shannon’s arms. “You have a nice day, bitch.” As
the elevator doors closed tight, it left her standing in front of
the Howard building.

Shannon found herself on the street,
quite literally. When one of the guards came outside and toward her
with a smile, a nice one this time, on his face, she thought for
sure they were all realizing the mistake. When he reached out, she
actually held out the box in her hands, thinking he was going to
take it back upstairs for her. But he simply reached out and jerked
the name badge off her blouse, tearing a small hole in it. Stunned,
she turned to look at the man speaking to her as the guard with her
badge walked back into the building.

“…
said to take you to your
new home. She done paid me already so let’s get a move on. Meter’s
running.”

The man, a cab driver, took her box of
things, put them in the trunk, and then got back into the taxi. He
didn’t even hold the door open for her or take her hand as she was
led inside. Why, she’d never been in a taxi in her entire life.
Shannon just stood there. The back widow opening startled her.
Samuel stuck his head out of the back window.

“
Damned girl threw you out
too? She’s gonna have to pay for this, Shannie. I don’t think she
should be treating her own kin like this.” Samuel slid over. “Get
in, we need to talk. And doing it outside the enemy fortress as it
were isn’t such a good idea.”

If Alyssa was back, she now controlled
the money again. Shannon didn’t like that. She had plans, expensive
plans. She looked at the driver. “I want you to take me to my house
on Lincoln. I have things—”

“
Sorry, lady, I’m to take
you to Diaz Lane and nowhere else. You want to go somewhere else
after that then it’s up to you. I got my orders.”

They sped down the road and Shannon
just knew that things were going to, if they hadn’t already, hit
the fan. She used a phrase her late husband used all the time. It
seemed appropriate right now.

“
Fuck a duck and watch it
waddle. We’re so screwed.”

~CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE~

It was nearly noon when she asked them
to take a break. Alyssa had been running on pure terror since her
mother walked out…had been escorted out of the room nearly two
hours ago. Lunch was being catered and Mr. James, one of the board
members, was telling her all the things she shouldn’t be doing with
the Kincaid Clinic.

“
Mr. James. As I have said
several times now, the clinic is a nonnegotiable item on the list.
If you bring it up again, I will have to have you removed from this
room. That being said, if you have any more objections to this
project, put them in writing and send them to me. I will give each
reason careful consideration. But the clinic stays.”

“
Your father would have
been—”

“
My father trusted me. I
won’t be browbeaten every time I spend my money. This board was put
together as a courtesy to those of you who wanted a piece of the
action. You are in no way associated with Howard Enterprises and as
such, have no real vote here. I am giving you the details of what
actions I am going to take, again as a courtesy. If you don’t like
what I’m doing then I’ll buy you out. I’m sure that Andrew will
help you out. I would like to…”

The door had opened and she looked up
in time to see Cain standing there. He smiled at her and crooked
his finger at her to come to him. She stood up and was moving
toward the door when Drew cleared his throat and smiled.

“
You want to adjourn the
meeting first there, boss lady?”

“
You want me to kick your
nuts for you there, law boy?” She looked at his face. “You knew he
was coming here?”

“
Yes. I thought you could
use someone in your corner, or maybe a kissy face time out later.
He’s been here since eleven. Cain probably needs some time with you
too.”

Alyssa looked at the man sitting there.
Drew was all right and she liked working with him. She told
everyone that they would be meeting again in one hour and then
leaned down to Drew. “There’s a fat raise involved if you buy out
Alex James before the end of next week. A substantial one
too.”

“
How much?” he whispered
back. “Worth me putting an offer on that new car I want
‘substantial?’”

“
Worth you buying the car
and the boat too ‘substantial.’ Friday, noon, and I will make it
six figures. Deal?”

He jumped up so fast he tipped the
chair back onto the floor. She was still laughing when she went
into the hall. Cain took her hand and led her down the hall. He
steered her into her daddy’s office. The door was clicking closed
when he had her pressed against the wall and his mouth over
hers.

“
I’ve missed
you.”

Cain leaned his head on her forehead
and looked down at her. They were both breathing hard and she moved
against him.

“
I missed you too. How’s
your patient? Is she all right?”

He looked at her and smiled. She’d
never seen that particular smile on him before and it sent chills
down her body. It wasn’t a bad smile. On the contrary, it was very
nice.

“
I love you, Alyssa. Very
much. And the fact that you asked about my patient…she told me to
come here and speak to you. Her name is Sadie Sue Danielson. We
don’t have to name our first born after her, but she wants us to
think about.”

Alyssa put her hand on her belly. Did
he know something she didn’t? Was she pregnant even now? She
suddenly felt weak in the knees and started to slide to the
floor.

“
Hold on, sweetheart.
You’re fine. Let me explain.” She wanted him to, but then again,
she didn’t. Then he grinned again. “Can you stand up on your own
yet?”

“
Cain, tell me what you
know. I’m so…am I pregnant? I forgot to get the…what are you
laughing about, you hyena? This isn’t funny.” Cain dropped to one
knee and looked up at her. She didn’t know what to think and could
only stare down at him. “Cain?”

“
Alyssa Howard, I love you
with all my heart and I would very much like it…no, I would very
much love it if you’d marry me.” The little ring box suddenly
appeared in his hand. She stared at it with an open mouth. Then she
looked at him.

“
If I’m pregnant, then you
don’t have to marry me. We can—”

“
I have no idea if you’re
pregnant or not. I love you and I want to marry you. However, in
the very near future, like immediately following you saying yes, if
you want to work on said baby then I’m okay with that too.” He
wiggled his brows at her. She, of course, started to
laugh.

“
You really want to marry
me? Seriously? And have a baby with me?”

“
Very seriously. And I
want to have lots of babies with you. I want to spend the rest of
my life with you.” He shifted on his knees. “Honey, this floor is
hard and my knees aren’t. Can you please say yes so I can stand up
and kiss you properly?”

She continued to stare down at him.
“Marry you? Why then? I mean…” Cain watched as she made her way to
the large desk and sat in one of the chairs facing it. “You’d have
to put up with me. I’m not…I don’t do well around
people.”

Cain felt himself relax. This had
nothing to do with him not being in her class of peers, but more to
do with her insecurities. That, he felt he could deal with. He
stood and walked to the desk, but instead of sitting in the chair
beside her, he sat in the chair at the desk.

It was covered with files, though they
were all neatly arranged. There were pens and pencils in a holder
and a ruler with highlighters in a tray next to it. A state of the
art laptop sat open; the screen saver “Howard Enterprises” danced
across it. A book, a manual really, was open and several sticky
notes hung from pages. The title Computers for Dummies made him
remember how much she had missed in the past ten years.

“
This desk, it was your
father’s? He used it?” Alyssa nodded. “And he left it every night
cleared of project and memos, no matter how late he worked?” Again,
she nodded.

“
Being married to me would
be a second place position, Cain. You’d have to be the person
behind all of this.” She waved her hands at the desk. “I don’t
have…I don’t know how to leave things until later.” Cain thought
that was untrue, but left it for now.

“
My father would be here
last in the evening and in well before anyone else came in the next
day. This was his life’s work. It will be mine as well. Marrying me
would be a mistake. We should just live together.”

Cain leaned back in the big chair and
regarded her. She looked so lost, so forlorn that he wanted to
gather her into his arms, but knew that this was important to them
both.

“
Did you spend time with
him here, Alyssa? Or was he here alone every night?” He nearly
smiled when she bristled.

“
I know what you’re
getting at. Well, you’re wrong. He didn’t stay here to get away
from me. We worked hard together, he and I. He loved me. We built
this company together.”

“
Of course he loved you.
That isn’t what I was saying at all. But who is the one person he
didn’t spend time with when he was here? You think that’s who he
stayed here to get away from?”

He could tell by her face that she
hadn’t. He watched as she processed the time she spent with her
father and who he hadn’t spent time with. And why. Cain let her as
he looked around the room.

The desk was massive. He thought it was
at least six feet long and as much as three feet wide. The design
on the top was beautiful with its different types of light and dark
woods inlayed into it. The front facing him was a long column of
drawers two by two on both sides of him. There were tall shelves
along the walls. Most of them were filled with books, but a great
many had frames and art as well. The dark walls were offset by the
wall to wall floor to ceiling windows that let in the bright
sunlight. Cain looked back at Alyssa when she spoke.

“
My mother isn’t a nice
person. She hates me. She’d hate you just to spite me. Or she would
try to recruit you into turning against me.”

“
That isn’t going to
happen, baby. I love you. And I know all about hateful mothers.
Remember mine? She is as mean and nasty as they come.” She nodded
then looked at him. “Will you marry me, Alyssa Howard?”