Enchant Me by J. Kenner

16

Damien wasn’t sure if he was surprised or amused that Ashton was staying at the Stark Century Hotel, but at least that made it easy to locate him. At the moment, though, Ashton wasn’t Damien’s priority. First, he needed to meet with Charles and Ryan. And if Ashton happened to pass through the lobby bar and notice the three of them together, then all the better. After all, Damien wanted Ashton to know that he was taking the paternity claim seriously.

He settled in at a four-top in the bar, then smiled when Carla brought him a bourbon. She’d worked for the hotel for over five years, and he’d been honored to comp her the penthouse for her honeymoon last year.

“Anyone joining you, Mr. Stark?”

“Charles and Ryan,” he said. “Bring Charles a—”

She waved his words away. “Please, Mr. Stark. Don’t insult me. Mr. Hunter’s the same as you, and Mr. Maynard wants a dry martini.”

“This place couldn’t survive without you.”

“I know, right?” She grinned, then headed back to the bar. A few moments later, Charles joined him. By the time Carla returned with the drinks, Ryan was at the table as well.

“Anything more from the Chicago team?” Damien asked Charles.

His attorney shook his head. “Nothing yet, but Ryan and I spoke earlier. He’s got some thoughts. But before that, I want to address Nikki’s question.”

“She made a good point,” Damien said. “Why now?”

“Exactly. We should’ve realized. The trust.”

The trust Charles referred to was a newly revised trust that Damien had originally created for Lara’s benefit when they adopted her, and it was specifically written to provide for all of his kids. As a result, it hadn’t needed to be revised after either Anne or Bradley was born.

A few months ago, however, Damien had moved some assets into the trust, both securities and real property, which increased the value of the trust’s corpus by about ten-fold.

Because Ashton was over twenty-one and Damien’s son, he was entitled to monthly draws from the trust. And that, honestly, was something that Damien hadn’t thought about yet.

So, yes, the trust potentially answered the why now question. Except that there was still one gaping hole. “How would Stone even know about the trust? Much less that I’d recently increased the assets?”

“That’s a different question,” Charles said. “But you have to agree the timing is suspicious. You increased the corpus two months ago. Now this guy shows up?”

“That was about the time he approached Noah,” Ryan pointed out. “I don’t like it.”

Damien tapped his finger on the tabletop. “We have no evidence that he even knows the trust exists.”

“You’re getting sentimental,” Charles said. “And why wouldn’t you? He’s your son. You want a relationship. But Damien, he wants to hurt you.”

“I don’t actually know if that’s true,” Damien said. “For that matter, we don’t know what he wants. But as far as the trust is concerned, none of that matters, because now that paternity has been confirmed, he is entitled to his share.”

Charles leaned back looking grave. “So you’re just going to hand him a check? You’re not going to put up a fight?”

“No, Charles. I’m not.”

“Damn it, Damien, get your head out of your ass.”

Damien bristled, something that would have made a lesser man cower, but Charles had been around since his tennis days, and didn’t miss a beat.

“The man’s looking for a payday,” Charles said. “This is just another business deal that needs to be nailed shut. You don’t want him in this trust. Pay him off and let him go away. This guy’s been poisoned against you. Make the deal and consider yourself lucky.”

Damien rubbed his temples. For the first time in his life, he felt like he didn’t know where he stood on a matter related to the fortune he’d worked so hard to build. Or, maybe he did know…

Because the bottom line was that Ashton Stone was his son. For better or worse, that talented, angry, arrogant, complicated, brilliant man was in this world now because of Damien.

He remembered the profound joy that had filled him when he’d first seen Lara. When Anne and Bradley had been swaddled and put in his arms. And damned if that same emotion wasn’t growing in him now. Yes, it was messy and confusing, and all the worse because Ashton reviled him. But it was the truth.

He sighed, thinking of Nikki and of how goddamn hard some truths could be.

On the surface, she’d been nothing but supportive, and yet he knew this wasn’t easy on her. An adult son who was also Sofia’s child. He’d been so caught up in his own confused emotions that he hadn’t had time to truly understand what a nightmare this must be for her.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said to Charles. “But I’ll give him the choice. We already know he doesn’t want anything to do with me. So I’ll offer him regular draws from the trust or one lump payment. I’ll treat it as any other business deal, and at the end of the day, money will be the bottom line.” And maybe that really was for the best. After all, Damien knew better than anyone how little blood really mattered.

“Good,” Charles said. “But you know that’s not the end of it. Son or not, this man’s been harassing you. These are threats to expose very personal matters, and that’s not something we can look the other way on.”

“Agreed,” Damien said.

Ryan shifted in his chair. “I’ve sent Winston and Linda to Illinois,” he said, referring to two operatives in Stark Security. A formerly married couple who were reunited after Winston had spent years thinking his wife was dead.

“I want them to chat up Ashton’s mother,” Ryan continued. “She’s Richter’s half-sister, and I’m curious if she’s the one who’s been telling him lies about you intentionally staying away. For that matter, I want to know what the family told Ashton about Sofia. What was she supposed to have known?”

“I don’t think she knew anything about the baby,” Damien said. “I saw all her psych reports for years. Nothing like this was even hinted at. Nikki suggested she’d repressed it, and I think she’s right.”

“Very likely true, but somebody told Ashton that you knew, they might have said the same thing about her.” He leaned forward. “At any rate, Winston and Linda will see if they can learn anything about his early life. They’ve decided to pose as racing fans. It might amount to nothing, but we might get lucky. And anything to help figure out this guy’s angle will be useful.”

“This all sounds good. In the meantime,” Damien added, pushing back slightly from the table, “I’m going to go see him.”

Charles’s brows rose. “I’d advise against that.”

Damien shook his head. “No, you’ve convinced me. This is all just business. And you know perfectly well that I can handle myself in a business transaction.”

What Damien didn’t say was that he had to see him. Needed to stand right in front of his son and speak with him.

He needed to watch Ashton’s face and study his eyes and discover if it was respect that he saw there, or hatred, or something in between.

And if in the end he realized that he had to walk away and use his checkbook to build a wall around himself and the rest of his family, then he would do that.

He only hoped that he wouldn’t have to.

“What do you want?” Ashton leaned against the doorframe, his eyes on Damien.

“To be honest, Ashton, I’m trying to figure you out. On the one hand, you’re direct as hell. You stood up at my vow renewal and aired your grievances to the world.”

“Noticed that, did you?”

Damien bit back a smile. For better or for worse, he definitely saw himself in this man. “Hard to miss. But what I don’t understand is why you act like the bold, abandoned son in front of the world, but then sneak around in the dark texting threats and defacing my property? Are you confident or a coward?”

He’d been watching Ashton’s face as he spoke, and unless the man was a very good actor, there was genuine confusion in his eyes. “Threats? Defacing property? What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he pressed. “So why not just lay it on the table? What is it you want from me?”

“I don’t want a goddamn thing from you, Stark. Nothing except to take your business away, piece by piece, step by step, and with the whole world watching.”

“Not even your share of the trust?”

Ashton lifted his hands in what looked like an expression of genuine confusion. “Can you just spell it out for me so I at least know why I’m standing in the hall talking to you?”

And so Damien did. He laid out how he’d established a trust, the beneficiaries of which included all of his issue, which was legalese for all of his kids, by birth or adoption.

“Until I showed up, you only knew about the three,” Ashton said. “Expecting a slew of kids like me to start coming out of the woodwork?”

“I’m not sure there’s anyone quite like you, Ashton. And no. It’s just the way lawyers draft things.”

“Well, congrats to you for doing such a good job with your financial planning. But you can leave me out. I don’t want your money.”

Damien studied him, unable to tell if he was playing a game or not. “All right. Let’s say I believe you. Will you invite me in? I’d like to talk.”

“Talk? You’ve had almost three decades to talk to me. Why now?”

“Because I didn’t know you existed before Saturday as anything other than a racecar driver. I know you don’t believe that, but it’s the truth. And I think there are things we should talk about.”

For a moment, Ashton remained perfectly still, his face an unreadable mask. Then he pulled the door open, allowing Damien to enter the suite.

“Got anything to drink?” Damien asked, and Ashton actually chuckled.

“So we’re going to have that kind of conversation?”

“I figured a drink might do us both good,” Damien admitted.

“Bourbon?” Ashton asked.

“Perfect.” Damien crossed to the sitting area and took a seat on the sofa. As Ashton poured the drinks, Damien looked at him. “Who told you I didn’t want you?”

“My mother.”

“You mean Richter’s half-sister.”

“So? She adopted me. She loved me and raised me. I get that you may not have her on your favorite person list. After all, you killed my grandfather, her brother. Probably aren’t warm fuzzy feelings between you and the Richter family.”

He brought the drinks over, and put one in front of Damien before taking a seat in the chair facing the sofa.

“I know you won’t believe me, but I didn’t kill him. He fell off the roof. But I do take responsibility for not saving him. I think I could have. I didn’t even try.” He lifted his eyes and looked at Ashton. “I don’t regret that. The man was vile.”

Ashton’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t ask what Damien meant. It didn’t matter. Damien was certain that Ashton had heard all about the abuse.

“So who else knows that I’m your father?”

Ashton lifted a shoulder. “As far as I know, no one. Well, no one before yesterday. Now I guess the whole world knows. News about Damien Stark does tend to spread.”

“Why no one? Why was it kept a secret?”

Ashton sipped his drink and seemed to genuinely consider the question. “Honestly, I don’t know. It just was. I think my mother may have been scared of you, after what you did to her brother. Maybe she was afraid you’d find me and take me away.”

“In the beginning, that was hardly going to happen. I was a child, too.”

“But you’re not a child now, are you?”

“We both got the raw end of the deal, Ashton,” Damien said. “And your grandfather was the reason for it.”

Ashton studied him, but didn’t say anything. Damien waited for a moment, then finally said, “After so many years of not seeking me out, what finally made you do it?”

“I thought we’d been over that. It wasn’t the damn trust. I didn’t even know about that. And I don’t want any part of it. I’ll sign whatever papers you want. That’s why you’re here, right? To make sure I don’t get any of your precious money?”

“No. It’s yours if you want it. You’re entitled. I’m not disputing paternity. I’ve seen the evidence on paper, and I see it in your face, too. There’s no question that you’re my son.”

Ashton had a decent poker face, but Damien was certain he’d surprised the man.

“I believe you that it’s not about the trust,” Damien continued. “But if that’s not why you suddenly popped into my life, then why did you?”

“Maybe I finally have a way to get back at you. Maybe I’ve spent my life hating you, Stark, and maybe now I have the power to do something about that.” He smiled, then shrugged. “Or maybe I just wanted to get to know Daddy.”

Those words—said by a man who was his son—twisted in Damien more than they should have. He didn’t even know this guy. He didn’t know how he was raised or what kind of demons were taunting him.

Ashton Stone was a mystery, and letting him into the family could be dangerous. Dangerous in ways that were different from the way Jeremiah Stark and Elizabeth Fairchild had fucked with them over the years.

But at the same time, this man was his son. Perhaps nothing would ever come of that. Perhaps they’d never have any sort of relationship, much less a good one. But until he knew for certain, Damien had to try.

“You may be right,” Damien said slowly. “You may have a product that will truly take off. The cornerstone of your own growing empire. Maybe one day, you’ll dwarf Stark International. You have a good product with impressive potential. You know I believe that. And I haven’t made a secret about the fact that I’d like to be part of that. But I understand why you don’t want to let me in.”

Damien took a sip, then leaned back. “So who else knew about me back when you were a child?”

Ashton shook his head. “No one, as far as I know.”

“What about Dr. Beauchene?”

Ashton seemed to consider the question. “You mean the doctor who worked with the team?”

“Yes.” It was a long shot, but Alaine’s parents had taken care of Sofia after Richter died, so perhaps Richter and the doctor had been close friends.

“As far as I know he didn’t know anything. Why?”

Damien ignored the question. “What about Jeremiah?”

Ashton leaned back in his chair, then took his own sip of bourbon. “You mean Jeremiah Stark? Your father?”

“Yes. Did he know Sofia had a baby?”

“I have no idea.”

Damien watched Ashton’s face, but it was completely unreadable. He wondered if it was true.

He had no specific reason to believe that Ashton knew about Jeremiah. But he definitely suspected that Jeremiah knew about Ashton. Back then, Jeremiah knew everything that was going on, including what Richter had done with and to Damien and Sofia. So was it really that long of a stretch to believe that he also knew about Sofia’s child?

It wasn’t.

“Did Jeremiah tell you that I knew about you? That I stayed away on purpose?”

“I never even met the man.”

Again, his face was unreadable, without any of the usual tells that he might be lying or holding back.

“All right,” Damien finally said. “But Jeremiah Stark has a way of popping up when you don’t want him to. Now that you’ve announced to the world that you’re my son, I imagine he’ll be popping into your life. So let me tell you a few things about him. For that matter, let me tell you a few things about your mother. About Sofia, I mean. She was a sweet girl. Kind and loving. And also brilliant. I see a lot of you in her.”

“I heard she was nuts,” Ashton said, his voice flat. “That she tried to kill your wife.”

“That’s true. She was messed up. She had reason to be. But to be honest, she also liked Nikki. In the end, she saved her. She was jealous, though. And as for Nikki, she understands what happened to Sofia. What happened to both of us.”

“You mean the abuse,” Ashton said. “I read all about it in the news. My mother said it was bullshit.”

“I assure you, it wasn’t. You’ve seen the pictures. I can’t believe you didn’t watch the news when I went public.”

Ashton stood and walked to the window, looking out as he spoke. “The pictures were blurred. All we have is your word saying that my grandfather was vile. And it was in the context of that murder trial, right? The court got a hold of that evidence and dropped the charges? Wonder how easy it would be to Photoshop something like that. You were that close to life in prison,” he adds, holding his thumb and forefinger millimeters apart. “Makes the timing seem pretty damn convenient.”

“Perhaps it does to an outsider. Let me bring you inside the circle.” He opened his phone to show the worst video of all. The one the court hadn’t received, or at least the one that no one had ever given Damien. The one where his face and Sofia’s face weren’t blurred out, and there was no mistaking what they were doing.

He passed it to Ashton. “That’s me,” he said unnecessarily. “And that’s your mother.”

He studied Ashton’s face as he watched the video. The disgust, the horror, and even the sadness. When he handed back the phone, he looked a little ill.

“Your grandfather forced us to do that. For years he forced us to do … things. It broke your mother.”

Ashton turned away, not meeting his eyes. “I thought you were going to tell me about my other grandfather. Your dad.”

“There’s not much to tell, except that he’s a shark. He’s a worm. He spent most of my adult life backstabbing me. When I was a child, he knew about the abuse, what Richter did. He knew all of it. He considered it the cost of doing business. The price that I was paying to be a tennis star. It’s not a price I was willing to pay, but I was a child. I wasn’t given a choice. And believe me when I say I never knew that Sofia got pregnant, much less that she actually gave birth.”

When Ashton looked at him now, he seemed a shade paler. “You’re saying that my grandfather was a monster. Hell, you’re saying both my grandfathers were monsters.”

Damien heard the anger and confusion, and he kept his own voice level when he said, “Family can be the best. But it can also be the worst. And yes. My father and Merle Richter were bad men. You say you didn’t know Jeremiah, and I believe you. But be careful. Because like I said, he may come knocking at your door. And a smart man doesn’t let a snake into his bedroom.”

He put the glass down and stood up. “Thank you for letting me talk to you.”

“That’s it?” Ashton said. “I don’t get any big speech about retracting what I said at the renewal? About being a good boy and playing nice?”

“I hope you stop with the text messages—”

“I swear, I’m not sending those. I don’t know who is.”

“All right,” Damien said, not sure if he believed him or not. “As for what you said at the ceremony, of course I don’t expect you to retract it. I am your father, Ashton. As for your statement that I’ve known about you, I’ve already denied that. People can think what they will. And as for you and me? Well, I guess we just have to move forward one step at a time.”

He crossed to the door, opened it, then stepped over the threshold. When he turned back, Ashton was right behind him in the doorway. “I genuinely like and respect you. I’m sorry you don’t feel the same, but I do understand the reason. You were fed a lifetime of lies. Some day, I hope you realize that.”

Ashton said nothing, but Damien thought that maybe, just maybe, he saw a hint of respect in his son’s eyes before Ashton closed the door firmly in his face.