Unbreak my Heart
Authors: I. R. Johannesen
Unbreak
my
Heart
a broken billionaire novella
I. R. Johannesen
Published by Vine Publishing, 2014.
©
I. R. Johannesen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the written permission of the author or publisher, unless permitted by law.
Texas billionaire,
Crank Jackson, has just spent the last six years of his life behind bars languishing in an Austin prison for killing the man who killed his ex-wife, Georgia, and his only daughter Ellie.
After being released on parole for good behaviour
he leaves Austin and heads to his newly purchased cabin in Caddo Lake to be alone and grieve for his daughter in peace; something that he was unable to do properly whilst in jail.
However, a
fter having his heart completely shattered, the last thing he wants is to be around other people, especially gorgeous Clare Bennett, who sets his heart racing every time he is near her, and her beautiful and innocent daughter, Willow, who reminds him of the daughter he lost.
Clare Bennett
has also tragically lost her spouse – her husband Clay – in a light plane crash the previous year and now her and her daughter Willow have to vacate their family home in the affluent suburb of Woodlands in Houston because she can no longer make the payments. To give herself time to decide where they will live once it is sold Clare and Willow pack up their belongings and head to Caddo Lake for a couple of weeks to check out the small cabin her granddaddy left her in his will.
The only problem is,
ever since Crank Jackson stopped to help her after her car broke down a few miles from her cabin, Clare hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her tall, dark and handsome rescuer and to make matters worse she has just found out he owns the neighbouring cabin just fifty yards away from her own.
Crank Jackson took a deep, nervous breath as he watched the two correctional officers
in front of him open the large, metal, external gates of the medium security prison and step aside to let him through. All he had to do now was take those few final steps and he would once again be a free man.
“You
keep yourself out of trouble now Jackson,” Patterson, the officer on the right, drawled. He’d followed the news headlines back in 2008, surrounding the Jackson case, from the very beginning when news first broke of the vehicle accident that had claimed Jackson’s family:
‘EX WIFE AND DAUGHTER OF TEXAS BILLIONAIRE, CRANK JACKSON, KILLED IN DRUNKEN HIGHWAY CRASH,’
right through to the unexpected conclusion;
‘BILLIONAIRE KILLER GETS EIGHT YEARS FOR MANSLAUGHTER OF EX WIFE’S LOVER.
’ You don’t get to keep your privacy when you’re a prominent Texas billionaire and, as expected, Jackson’s face had been plastered on every news channel and newspaper in the country for months; from the day of the accident that claimed his family right through to the end of his own trial and the handing down by the judge of the eight year jail sentence for manslaughter.
“
Men like you don’t belong in here, you hear me?” Patterson continued. On impulse he held out his hand to shake Crank’s as he was about to leave the facility, but pulled it back when the other officer, a spiteful young intern named Smyth, who had also been assigned to escort Jackson to the prisoner release gates, called for him to stop; warning that physical contact with prisoners, even when they were about to walk free, was strictly against the rules.
Crank,
however, had never been one for following what he considered as
‘dumb bureaucratic rules’
, especially knowing that absolutely no action would be taken against him if he was to show gratitude to Patterson for being such a fair and helpful correctional officer throughout the last six years. “I’m actually gonna miss you, you great big son-of-a-bitch,” he drawled, giving Patterson a friendly slap on the back despite the no physical contact policy. “But I promise you this; I sure as hell won’t miss you enough to ever end up back in this joint again.”
“I intend to hold you to that,” Patterson grinned, handing him a
large, brown, paper bag containing the few meagre belongings he had arrived with at the prison: a wrist watch and cell phone both with dead batteries; an ugly patterned tie his sister, Macey, had bought him for court appearances; an unopened packet of spearmint gum and a black leather wallet containing his driver’s license, two out of date credit cards and thirty-three dollars in cash.
Fortunately,
Crank’s most precious belonging, a close-up photo of his daughter Ellie, sporting a huge grin from ear to ear, which he had impulsively snapped while she sat at the breakfast bar in his kitchen just days before she had been senselessly killed, had been approved to stay with him in his cell.
Instinctively, Crank put a hand to his pocket and
reassuringly felt the stiffness of the photograph through the thin, cotton fabric of his shirt.
He may have lost six years of his life, but it had been worth every last second knowing that justice had been carried out.
“Hurry up Jackson
, move it!” the novice younger officer Smyth barked, stirring Crank from his reverie. “We don’t have all day. Just take your crap and git on out of here.”
In compliance,
Crank tucked the rolled up paper bag under one arm, raised his other hand above his eyes to block the glare from the harsh Texas sun and squinted as he took his final few steps through the heavy, iron gates to freedom.
Six long years
had finally passed since the judge had handed down his eight year jail term, with a six year non-parole period, for manslaughter back in 2008. And during those six long years he had spent many solitary hours each and every day thinking about what he would do once he was finally released
.
As Crank headed out into the
almost deserted prison car park, a petite blonde woman jumped down from a brand spanking new, black, Ford dual-cab, 4WD and rushed over to greet him. “Crank Jackson, I am so god-dam happy that you are finally a free man again!” his younger sister, Macey, exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around him.
As they hugged,
Crank picked her up and swung her around affectionately. “And you are a god-dam sight for sore eyes Macey Birch,” he said playfully, as he placed her gently back down on the ground and looked across at the new 4WD.
“Is th
at mine?”
Macey
nodded proudly. “It sure is.”
“And the cabin?” he asked hopefully.
“That too Crank,” she said reassuringly. “Right by Caddo Lake in Harrison County just like you asked. In fact everything that you asked me to do has been done. I got great money for your house in Rosedale. I bought you the cabin at Caddo Lake, fully furnished of course, and paid cash for your new 4WD.”
“How much was left
over from the sale of the house for you and Eli?” he asked excitedly, hoping she would distract his thoughts by telling him about all the things they had done with the money he had gifted them.
Macey dropped the keys of the 4WD into
Crank’s hand and walked with him over to the vehicle without answering. “The receipts and papers for every transaction that I made as your Power of Attorney are in the glove compartment for you to check when you get time. You had one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars left over and that has all been deposited back into your bank.”
Noticing that his sister had her eyes averted,
Crank stuck his hand under her chin and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Mace, I told you to have the leftover money deposited into
your
account for you and Eli and the twins. It was supposed to be a gift for all of your hard work. Why did you put it back into my account?”
Macey
firmed her jaw and looked him square in the eyes. “I know you wanted us to keep it Crank, but it just didn’t seem right. You worked so hard to make your money; much too hard to start giving away big chunks of it like that. Besides, you know what a proud man Eli is. If I’d have kept the money like you asked he would’ve just made me give it right back. He ain’t ever gonna accept that much money as a gift; not even from his incredibly rich and handsome brother-in-law.”
Crank
couldn’t help but smile at her steely reserve. He knew only too well what proud folk his sister, Macey, and his brother-in-law, Eli, were and he respected them immensely for that, but he also knew that they had been doing it tough financially for years now and he was not the type of man who backed down when it came to helping out his family.
“How long now before those twin nephews of mine start college?”
he asked.
Macey smiled proudly, “Just two more years.”
“And just how much tuition money have you and Eli managed to put aside for them so far?” he prodded.
Macey immediately averted her eyes
again. “We’ll get by, Crank, we always do. Eli is thinking about taking out a second mortgage on the ranch, which will more than cover their tuition expenses.”
Crank wrinkled his brow. “And what about you Mace; are you happy to double up your shifts at the diner for the next ten years to help pay off a second mortgage?”
Macey swallowed hard. “I always do whatever needs to be done for my family Crank; you of all people know that.” She turned away and placed her hand on the passenger door handle of the 4WD to open it but Crank grabbed her elbow and gently turned her around to face him again.
“Mace
, be straight with me; how much is left owing on your ranch mortgage?”
Macey
continued to avoid eye contact as she spoke. “Eli handles most of the finances, but I believe it should be around one hundred thousand dollars, more or less.”
“Then let me
use some of my money to pay the mortgage off for you and Eli,” he pleaded, “and let me pay for Edward and Michael’s college tuition fees. It’s the least I can do for my only sister after all you have done for me. Besides, you guys are the only family I have left now. What’s the point of being filthy rich if I can’t help out the people I love?”
Macey
wiped a tear from her eye and lifted her hands in defeat. “Okay, okay, I accept, but only under one condition.”
Crank eyed her tentatively. “And what condition is that?”
“You have to stay with us at the ranch tonight and get Eli to agree. You know I can’t go against his wishes.”
Crank raked a hand through his
thick, dark hair. “I would dearly love to Mace, you know I would, but …”
Macey cut him off before he could finish his sentence. “It’s the only way
it’s ever gonna happen Crank. You know that. Ain’t no way Eli’s ever gonna agree to accept money from you ‘less you talk him into it man to man.”
Crank knew his little sister was right. Even
though her husband, Eli, knew that he had a net worth of well over 1.5 billion dollars, he was not likely to be easily persuaded to accept a gift of cash – especially one so generous.
