Time to Play (22 page)

“Don’t interfere, Malcolm. We’ll
come to you in a minute,” her brother said.

Simone did not take her eyes off
John. “Why did you do it?”

John looked at her and sneered. “It
is all right for you. You grew up in luxury. I needed the money.”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Malcolm
yelled.

John stared at her father, and she
saw the look of revulsion on his face. “I did everything you asked. I’ve given
you more than enough to take down their company. The moment they took over the
agency it was a piece of cake.”

She looked at Cole and
Callum
to see their reaction. The file in front of her
father contained important information. Daniel grabbed it off the desk. He
flicked through the contents and paled. “Do you have any idea what you’re
doing?” he asked.

Malcolm reached for the file, but
her brother held it out of his reach. She watched, shocked, as her father
remained silent.

“You could ruin everything with
this,” Daniel said.

“What do you mean?” Simone asked.

“Stealing is a criminal offence. If
he’s convicted he’d be doing time,” Cole said.

Simone looked over at her father.
“All this over a woman?”

John laughed. “He’s got a real
grudge against these two. He wants them out of the picture.”

“Why are you suddenly being
forthcoming?” her brother asked.

“You’ve got me. I think it’s best if
I cooperate.”

“No, his debt collectors are after
him,” Malcolm said, finally saying a word.

Her head was beginning to hurt.
“Debt collectors?”

Malcolm smirked. “I do my background
work properly. You like the cards and pretty much any game that risks losing
you
money,
don’t you? He’s up to his neck in debt and
not from the sort who can wait for their money back.”

“Wait? This is all about money?”
Callum
asked.

She watched John bite his lip but
didn’t say a word.

“How much are we talking?”
Callum
spoke again.

The two men remained silent.

“What does the debt matter?” she
asked.

“Why would someone steal money from
us as well as being paid to steal facts about our business, and then set up
cameras in your apartment? There are too many money grabbing schemes here. How
much money are we talking?”
Callum
explained the
facts. John must be making plenty from the two jobs. Why set up the cameras?

John mumbled a seven figure sum.
Simone paled at the amount. “How can you get into that much debt?”

“I guess you haven’t been to Vegas,
baby,” Cole said. “In twenty-four hours on some high price stakes you can lose
triple that.”

Her body was shaking at the amount.

“Let me guess. They were coming to
collect?” Cole asked him.

John stared at Malcolm and then
turned to
Callum
. “He goes down with me?”

“He won’t be leaving this unscathed.”

“Three collectors were knocking on
my door, and Malcolm paid enough to keep them off my back for a price,” John
said.

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

“We already have the evidence,
Dad
,” Daniel said, silencing their
father.

“I was to get employed by the
marketing firm that was handling your advertising. While I was there I was to
gather as much information as possible.”

“We’d never suspect anything from an
unknown source,” Cole said.

“When you bought the company, I was
able to get everything he needed. He’s supposed to pay me the rest when the job
was done.”

“Why did you put the cameras in my
apartment?” she asked.

John sighed. “My creditors
came
calling.”

“There were more creditors than I
anticipated,” Malcolm said.

“Not only was I using every penny
paying off debt, I was broke. I figured you’d never find out, and it brought in
enough for me to live on. I needed the money.” His shoulders slumped.

Simone was so angry at him. “You
used me to pay for your own life?”

John had a gambling problem, and he
used everything and everyone at his disposal. “I’d have used any woman I was
dating.”

She shook her head, sickened by him.
“All this time it was about money.”

“I had debts, Simone. It wasn’t
about you. If I knew you were his daughter I’d have fucking kept you on a
leash.”

Simone slapped him ‘round the face.

The intercom interrupted them. “Sir,
we have over five policemen asking to see you.”

Simone watched the door opening.

“I’ll be pressing charges as well,”
she said.

“We’ll take your statement shortly,
Miss,” the police officer said.

Cole and
Callum
touched her hair as she watched the other man go.

“So the newspaper reports were
correct. You are sleeping with both of them?”

Simone tensed at her father’s words.
Why did she let him bother her? He meant nothing to her. Simone stared at her
brother seeing the hopelessness of the situation. He’d been right in the back
of the limo. She’d been living her life in fear that every man was like their
father. For as long as she could remember she’d been putting her life on hold
because of him. No more. The moment she left his office, it would be the last
time she ever thought about him.

Turning toward him, she flicked her hair over her shoulder. “So, what
does that have to do with you?”

“I’ll disown you. You’ll have nothing from me.”

She looked at her father and smiled. “You disowned me when I was six
years old. You were never my father. Being a father takes a hell of a lot more
than donating sperm. You’re not man enough to be my father.”

Simone turned on her heel and began walking out of the door. The sound
of clapping filled the room. She turned seeing her brother raising his hands.

“About time,” he said.

“It was long overdue.”

She continued out without looking at
Callum
and Cole. Simone knew she needed to leave the building on her own. She hoped
they understood. With each step she took, she felt the constraints of her past
letting go. Never did she think it would be as easy as that. Letting go of her
father and what he had to offer was the best decision she made.

When she was outside of the building, Simone took a deep breath. Through
her mind she saw the six year old girl following a weeping mother. Helen had
done everything she could to spare her. Simone knew that. Sometimes, the best
way to care for someone was to show them the truth. For so many years she had thought
she was the one responsible for her father’s adultery and the mistakes he made.
She finally knew it was no one’s fault
but his own
.

****

Callum
watched her go with pride. Cole
made to follow her. He caught his arm shaking his head. “She needs this. Let
her have it.”

His friend looked like he wanted to argue.
Callum
shook his head. This time, he knew he was the one who was right.

They both turned to the older man behind the desk. He looked red in the
face. Simone had hit a nerve. “You’ve turned her into a slut. A little
plaything for you to mess with whenever the need arose,” Malcolm said.

Cole looked ready to pounce.

“You can’t get over your resentment, can you?” Cole said.
Callum
waited for what else was about to be said.

Malcolm sneered at them. Daniel looked ready to throttle the man.
Pulling away,
Callum
saw the police officer waiting
for them.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“We had her first. That is your problem,” Cole said, catching
Callum’s
attention.

“What?”

“The singer, the one we had that never wanted Malcolm.
The same woman who got away.”

Callum
didn’t understand. “You wanted the
singer?”

“I don’t give a shit what you think. You don’t deserve the reputation
you’ve got. You’re disgusting.
Sharing a woman.
No
daughter of mine would have ever fallen for your tricks. I can tell Helen
raised her.”

“Hey, don’t you ever speak about my mother like that.” Daniel advanced
on Malcolm.
Callum
held him back.

This is what Malcolm wanted.
A reason to smear their
name.
He couldn’t do it with Simone because she was his daughter, and it
would look bad on him.

“You really are a selfish bastard,”
Callum
said.

The police officer walked into the room. “Mr.
Allusifa
,
you’re going to have to come with us.”

Malcolm glared at him. “I’m not going anywhere without a warrant for my
arrest. Fucking get one.”

Malcolm picked up his phone dismissing them. They left his office, and
the officer left reluctantly. Daniel handed the officer the file he’d taken
from the desk. “I think this will contain everything you need to get the
warrant for his arrest.”

“I doubt it will work. He’s probably sorting out a good lawyer,” the
officer said.
Callum
couldn’t argue with the man.
Malcolm was a powerful man, but he shouldn’t get away with what he’d done. The
office left them to get into his car.

Daniel was running a hand down his face while
Callum
and Cole were trying to gain their composure.

“I’ve never known him to be like
this. He must really hate you two.”

“There was a singer a couple of
years back. We took her for the night, and since then, your father won’t let
anything go. I think he had a thing for the woman.”

“What was her name?” Daniel asked.

Callum
shook his head along with Cole.
“Don’t remember. Names were not part of the get to know equation.”

“Simone is not the girl you toss
aside,” Daniel said.

“We know.”

“I mean it. If you break her heart I
will find a way to end you.”

Callum
stared at her big brother knowing
he’d do anything for Simone.
Callum
felt relieved
knowing there was someone else out there who cared about her very deeply.

“Sorry to interrupt you gentlemen.
You’re needed at the station to give a statement,” the police officer
said.
 

“I’ve just got to collect Simone.”

“The lady who was
here earlier?”

All three nodded.

“She has already been taken down to
the station. She’ll be finished soon or be done by the time we get there.”

They followed the officer out of the
building.

Chapter Eighteen

Simone sat in the waiting room.
She’d given her statement, and the woman in charge had told her they’d do
everything they could to keep John away from her. Whatever they did wouldn’t
change the fact her apartment was ruined. How could she
go
back there knowing
people had watched her? Every little thing she did
would make her wonder. Shaking her head, she waited for her brother, Cole, and
Callum
to finish giving their statements.

She’d been ordered to wait for them.
The look Cole and
Callum
had given her meant she kept
her butt firmly placed in the seat.

A male officer handed her a cup of
coffee while she waited. The coffee tasted acrid, but she smiled and continued
to sip away at the liquid.

What was she going to do with her
life now? She had no job, no boyfriend, and her reputation from being with
Callum
was probably ruined.

“Hey, princess,” Daniel said, taking
the seat beside her.

“Wow, that didn’t take long.” She
handed her brother the cup. Simone contained the chuckle when he winced from
the taste.

“Awful. You did that on purpose.”

“Consider that payback for giving me
chocolate liqueurs at Christmas.”

“Simone, you were ten, and it was
funny to watch your face scrunch up.”

She chuckled at the memory. “You didn’t take long.”

“I was only in there to confirm his identity and to explain the other
allegations from before. My work here is done.”

Simone sipped her drink, staring at the doors where both men were
behind.

“They’re good men, Simone. A little weird with the whole sharing thing
they’ve got going on but good men.” His voice sounded strained.

“Is that your way of giving your consent?”