The Ties that Bind (Kingdom) (30 page)

“Whatever they’re talking about is bullshit.”

Those were the first words Hope ever spoke to her, and Aviva would never forget them.

“What are they talking about?”

“You of course. What are you, some kind of British idiot Nixon intends to offload on us?”

Aviva was at a loss, she had never been so attacked by a perfect stranger. Although unsure of her current situation, she refused to show it.

“Looks like this is your lucky day. It seems to me that you need someone around to teach you not to hide in the rafters and only make an appearance when the coast is clear. If you’re gonna be a badass you need to do it with conviction.”

Hope’s laughter surprised Aviva, but she didn’t show it. “You have no idea what’s in store for you, do you?”

“Why don’t you tell me, seeing as how you have all the answers?”

“If I guess correctly this is now your home.” Aviva watched as Hope spoke without expression. “The real question is, can you survive in the house of the forgotten, the house of the ignored. The house of control?”

“You look like you’re surviving it. In fact, you look like you’re thriving. If you can do it, I know I can.”

“Such fateful words,” was Hope’s reply.

Aviva wanted to do nothing more than laugh. The girl who had been watching her since she had stepped into the house was a drama queen. To Aviva’s mind it seemed as though she got off on the theatrics.

A year of living with Taryn and Mason had shown her how truly wrong she was. Hope had the right of it. Although she sometimes wanted to slap some sense into her, Aviva could see that her friend was involved in a battle she didn’t fully understand.

It was apparent to Aviva if not to Hope, that both of her parents adored her. But they were too caught up in fighting each other. Throughout their continued feud, Taryn and Mason failed to realize that the main casualty of their war was their daughter.

Aviva had asked Hope on more than one occasion why her parents had agreed to allow her to live with them, Hope had eluded the question. Aviva’s doggedness in her pursuit of an answer had never worn Hope down. All she would ever say was that Nixon couldn’t be trusted, as though Aviva needed to be constantly reminded.

Nixon, it was always, Nixon. It was time to readdress the balance. To finish what he had started. He might very well slam dunk her, but in her heart, Aviva knew the eradication of his power over all of them would be well worth anything he could ever do to her.

Chapter 32

As Nixon waited for Aviva’s arrival a countless number of thoughts played through his mind. Looking back on his memories, he couldn’t remember a time in his life when he wasn’t in control of all that was going on around him.

Even when the tongues had started wagging about his many indiscretions, he had managed to hold on to his wife. Her family had been another matter.

When Rita had first introduced him to her family he had been a young fighter pilot who was on his way up in the world. The charm he had cultivated from the age of ten had been honed to perfection over the years. Nixon knew he could get Rita to fall in love with him, and never doubting himself for a moment, he made it happen.

He had been married for a little over three years when he met Taryn. She had been one of the most beautiful young women he had ever seen. He had known she was special to his cousin and he didn’t care. For three years he had played the perfect husband and son in law and he wanted a little fun. The sanctity of his marriage never fazing him for even one moment. He had wanted her, so he had charmed her and he got her.

Their affair had been short lived. When he had found out that she was having his child, Nixon remembered that a blind rage had settled over him. If his pregnant wife and her family, not to mention the air force, ever found out about Taryn it would ruin him. He wasn’t prepared to let that happen. He had even given serious thought to killing her, to put an end to the threat she posed.

Thank God for Mason. The poor besotted fool had played right into his hands by telling him things that he should have kept to himself. Mason’s love for Taryn had proven to be his lifeline and had come just in time. With a little coercion and a lot of blackmail he had finally persuaded Mason to see things his way.

Feeling assured that his marriage was no longer in jeopardy, he accepted a short-term training inspector position in the UK.

Leaving all the drama and his pregnant wife behind, he had newly arrived in the UK when he met Ruth, Aviva’s mother. Thinking back he couldn’t honestly say what had attracted his attention to her as she really wasn’t his usual type. Maybe it was her innocence, her naiveté, her total lack of artifice. But for sure it was the way she adored him and at the same time fed his ego.

When she told him she was pregnant he was furious and had insisted that she terminate the child. He should have known little Ruth would refuse. When she couldn’t be persuaded to see things his way, he had made a deal with her. He would make sure that he supported the child as long as he never had to see either of them again.

His offer had been posed as a means of humiliating her, it had worked and she had agreed to his terms. That was all he needed to forget about her and the child and move on.

Here he was over thirty years later about to really speak to Aviva for the first time. He knew she and Hope were close but if he played this meeting right he could ultimately use her as a tool for exacting punishment over the Richards family as well as Stephen Blackman.

Nixon was sure she had heard much about him and probably believed all that she had heard. However in his arrogance, he harbored thoughts that Aviva still wanted to get to know him. After all she had crossed the Atlantic to be near him, her father. He had read somewhere that all little girls hankered for the affection of their father. Today he would test that theory.

In his need to regain the control he had lost when Mason’s exam papers were stolen, Nixon conveniently forgot about the last conversation he had with Aviva.

The subject of his thoughts caught his attention as she walked towards him as though she didn’t have a care in the world. She was late and Nixon made a mental note to remind her that any disrespect directed towards him wouldn’t be tolerated. However that lesson could wait, first he had to gain her trust.

**********

When she finally walked into the diner, Aviva did so with the air of a woman who had come into her own. Her life was as she had always wanted it to be.

She had a career. She had more money in the bank that she had ever thought or dreamed to have. By her own hands, she had accomplished all that her mother had ever wanted for her.

That same woman had given her daughter the tools to accomplish what she had been unable to do. Because of Ruth Johnson, she was fully prepared to face the man who had wronged so many people because of their misfortune of being associated with him.

Aviva was deliberately exactly sixty minutes late. Well aware that he would be right where she expected him to be when she arrived. She understood exactly the type of person Nixon was. He had lost what he supposed was his power base, and his sudden call told her he had designs on establishing another at her expense. Aviva was determined to disavow him of that belief by the time she was ready to conclude their meeting. When she was finished with him, he would rue the day he ever insulted her mother.

Nixon was sitting facing the door. The look of impatience stamped on his face gave testament to his anger at being kept waiting. Although he tried to hide it, his true feelings were reflected in his eyes. His annoyance pleased Aviva to no end. She also thought he should think himself lucky she was only an hour late. The mean side of her had wanted to keep him waiting even longer, but she wanted this meeting to be over and done with. She wanted Nixon Clement out of her life for good. Therefore the sooner she handled her business the quicker that fact would become a reality.

When Nixon caught her eyes, Aviva noticed that he tried to adjust his expression. If he was going for fatherly indulgence over her tardiness it didn’t work, and Aviva didn’t care one way or the other.

“Hello, Aviva. You’re late!”

“Don’t state the obvious, it’s boring. Are you about to bore me... Nixon?” Aviva deliberately hesitated before saying his name in the hope that her disdain of him was made clear.

“You will address me with respect, missy.”

“Please excuse me, of course I’ll I address you with the respect you’re due.”

At Nixon’s puffed up look of satisfaction, Aviva only just stopped herself from rolling her eyes.
Was this man for real?
He must be completely demented if he thought she was here to pander to his ego.

“You wanted to speak with me?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I now think it’s time that you and I became better acquainted. I’m sure you have questions for me. You may ask me anything, and I will answer truthfully.”

“Thank you. There is one question I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time.” Aviva smiled her sweetest smile and held his eyes. Buried in their depths was a cunning she recognized as the same look he had bestowed on Mason the day she had first met him.

“What happened in your life that made you such a monumental man-whore because it sure isn’t your good looks or sharp wit?”

Nixon’s magnanimous look was instantly replaced with the rising tide of his anger, and Aviva didn’t give a damn.

“So that’s the way you want to play this, is it? So be it. I thought we could take this opportunity to get to know each other but I see I was wrong. You’re not asking the right questions so I’ll just go ahead and fill you in on certain facts. You are the worst of my children. I mean look at you.”

When he finished, Aviva merely rested her elbow on the table, supported her head in her palm, and blinked her long lashes at him. “Please do go on, I find your insight fascinating.”

Aviva could see that Nixon was racking his brain to pull out more words that were meant to hurt and humiliate her. What he in his self-absorption failed to recognize was that there was nothing he could say or do that could bring those two feelings about. For her, Nixon had ceased to matter a long time ago.

“I have four children. Two are lawyers and the other is a world famous supermodel. What are you, Aviva?”

Aviva came back as quick as a flash, “Sorry you’re my father, next question.”

“You are also the ugliest child I have.”

“Good God, what are you, a five year old girl?” Aviva laughed in his face. “Is this why you called me, so you’d have an opportunity to attempt to throw juvenile insults at me? I say
attempt
because so far you’re crap at this.”

“Your mother was also the worse lay of my life.”

“Well thank God for that. At least that meant she didn’t have to spend undue time in your repulsive company.”

“She was also the easiest. I didn’t even have to work for it. A few words and she did whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It was so easy, pretending to like her, getting her to fall in love with me. Getting her to deceive her parents. To do anything and everything I wanted her to do.”

The calculation of Nixon’s words had the desired effect. Aviva sat up in her seat, her attention riveted on him. He had just managed to gain her full attention. Aviva had known this meeting would ultimately settle on her mother. She had known that once Nixon realized she cared nothing about his impression of her, he would switch his tactics to her mother. She had just thought he had more finesse, she was wrong.

“You have no idea of the type of woman my mother was. Shall I tell you why, Nixon? You have absolutely no idea how to deal with a
woman
. From all accounts your wife was a teenage bride, who you married for her money. Taryn was also a teenager when you deliberately pursued her, in my opinion for no other reason than to hurt Mason.

What happened with my mother was probably the worst of your offensive behavior where those young women were concerned. She was a total innocent, you knew it, and you used her and then discarded her. I don’t care what you think about me, but she didn’t deserve your treatment of her, you low life piece of excrement!”

Aviva could see that nothing she had just said to Nixon had registered with him. His next words proved her right.

“I also have it on good authority that you’re just like her.”

Aviva remained completely still unsure of his meaning, waiting for him to fill the silence that now surrounded them. At that moment her senses expanded. For the first time she realized that their voices had risen. They were attracting attention from at least one other diner. Aware of the covert looks, Aviva disregarded him. What he or Nixon thought of her was of no consequence.

“From what I understand, you didn’t waste any time moving in with that Jason King. Two weeks, Aviva,” Nixon said with a shake of his head. “I have to say like mother like daughter... easy.”

Aviva had had enough. The conversation, in her opinion was completely inane. It was time to bring it to an end. “I have no idea where you get your information, but you have been misinformed...”

“Don’t even try to sit there and deny you moved in with that man after knowing him for two weeks.”

“I do deny it. You really need to check your facts, Nixon. Actually, I moved in with him after two days, and you know what... I don’t regret it. If I had it to do over, I’d do the same thing without a moment’s hesitation.”

“You admit to that and you sit there in judgment of me!”

“Yes I judge you. The difference between you and Jason is that he would never seduce and impregnate an innocent young woman while he was married with a pregnant wife. Not to mention deceiving his cousin with the woman he loved, and impregnating her along the way!”

“Lower your voice, you’re embarrassing me!” Nixon said through his teeth, furious that she was listing each of his indiscretions aloud. Glancing around, Aviva could see that he wasn’t so much worried about how he had behaved. Rather, his concern was focused on whether the other diners were aware of the content of their conversation.