Chapter 159: An uneasy feeling

Gideon

"He is a man who has been stalking me for years. I believe him to be dangerous. I would urge the public to be vigilant, and to report any sighting of this individual to the police at once."

The room around me suddenly went distant.

Her words made no sense.

A stalker?

That was the best nonsense she, her father and his press team could cook up? I knew that Ro’s identity wasn’t in danger but still it was insulting.

A stalker for years, Felix would never change. His tactics were the same. Her ex-husband, the man who had dragged her across a plaza by her hair, was now recast as a hero.

My teeth ground so hard that my jaw ached.

Roman had told me, last night, in that wrecked voice, hunched over in the doorway with blood drying on his knuckles that she almost said his name. She had known it was him despite the prosthetic disguise.

Was this her way of getting back at us? Standing in front of the cameras, doing what she did best by lying to the entire city, that the man who had spared her was a predator.

You know she’s not like that, a voice in my head argued and I squashed it to pieces like a bug.

"Aunt Ivy is so pretty," Lily cooed, clapping her hands excitedly. One of the older kids frowned, his lips pursing before he turned to me.

"Uncle D? What’s a stalker?"

"Someone who watches other people without permission," I replied automatically despite the mix of anger and annoyance brewing inside me.

She and that dirty bastard father meant to use the public and the police to track down Tom Padilla. She must have told her father that it was Roman.

I can’t believe I almost fell for her tears that night.

I remembered how she had begged, her amber eyes swimming with tears.

I never meant to hurt you. Please trust me.

I had very nearly done that shit. For half a second, I had almost believed her. My fingers curled into a fist behind Eddie’s back, my knuckles cracking. She must think I’m a fool.

"I wanna be like her when I grow up!" Lily sighed, her chin in her hands, eyes full of hearts.

Trust me kid, you don’t.

"She’s the sweetest lady I know," the matron commented softly, her eyes fixed on the screen. "I confess, I was shocked to learn she was some millionaire’s daughter from the news. But I had my suspicions. She’s such a young woman and has been funding our orphanage for over two years." She sighed. "She looks so weary lately anytime she comes in. The poor girl. I wonder what she’s going through."

Irene had said something like this too...What if her father was making her do this? But why?

Ivy finished her speech, bowed and climbed off stage. Her small shoulders were so stiff, her legs briskly carried her out of the view of the camera.

The possibility was likely.

But that information was completely irrelevant. It didn’t change what she did and who she was. Even if she was sorry, she was still Kingsley. And as long as that tie existed, I could never forgive her.

No matter how much I wanted her.

I could not listen to any more of the matron’s ramblings so I stood up so abruptly, my chair scraping against the floor. I settled Eddie into the matron’s arms gently, and the toddler squirmed immediately and burst into a wail.

"No no!"

"I’m sorry, Eddie, I have to go."

"Aww," went the whole table, in a mournful chorus.

"Stay, Uncle D! Stay!"

"There is work," I mumbled, going one chair after another to ruffle their hair. "I’ll be back soon. I promise."

A small, sticky hand caught my sleeve. Lily looked up at me, her braids lopsided, her big eyes melting straight to my heart. "You have to come on Saturday. It’s my birthday."

I crouched down until we were eye to eye and adjusted her braid. "I wouldn’t miss it for the world."

"You forgot Benji’s own," She grumbled adorably.

"I did not forget Benji’s. I was in Singapore." I kissed her forehead. "I’ll be here, Lily. I promise."

She beamed, satisfied, and let go of my suit. Ivy would come for Lily’s birthday as well. I ignored the rapid thud my heart made at the realization.

I walked out of the orphanage into the chill morning air. My face schooled itself back into its blank mask with every step down the front path. By the time my driver opened the car door, my face was cold and blank as always.

"Where to, sir?"

"The Pandora estate project." I slid into the back seat and he shut the door. Once he was back in the driver’s seat, I added. "Stop by the office first, I’ll change my clothes."

I pulled out my phone as the car pulled away from the curb and dialed Steven’s number. He was the head of one of our subsidiary companies and I had given him very important work.

"Good morning, Sir. I was meaning to reach out to you,"

"Where do we stand on the Kingsley property acquisition?"

"That’s the thing, sir," He replied after a short pause. "I was just about to contact you. Something unexpected happened."

I remained quiet waiting for him to get straight to the point.

"R-Right. Felix Kingsley’s office contacted us directly this morning. He said there is no need for us trying to poach. He is willing to sell the property off."

Now that was odd. Felix guarded his properties like a dog to a bone. The ones we poached off him were gotten out of his tight grip.

"He’s willing to sell?"

"Not even that, he wants the money urgently, so even the price he called is about twenty percent lower than the amount we planned. His lawyer said he wants it done quickly and quietly."

I glanced out through the tinted window at the city sliding by. My grip tightened on the phone until it creaked.

In all the years I had known and loathed that man, I had never seen him let go of a single square foot of anything without bleeding the buyer dry first.

"Sir?" Steven prompted. "Shall we accept?"

"Not yet," I replied, mulling over it. It was either he was trying to trick us into not buying the property. But even so, he had to have a backup plan for if we took the bait and bought the building.

An uneasy feeling settled in my gut. That old bastard was up to something. Felix Kingsley didn’t panic. Unless something had finally cornered him.

I called Kai immediately. "We need to speed things up. How about Roman meets with Braddock on Saturday morning instead of waiting till Monday? I have a birthday party to attend in the afternoon."