“Leilah!” Vaughan’s voice sounded anxious as he ran up behind her. “Where did you go?” He reached for her and Leilah backed away until her backside touched the truck.
“Home.” She gritted her teeth and stuck her chin in the air, warding Vaughan off with her aura of disdain. He ignored it.
“We need to talk.” His fingers brushed her forearm and Leilah batted him away.
“I’m sorry for taking Hector’s truck and I’ll return it when I get my own car back.”
“I don’t want the truck. I intended to give it to you, anyway. I think that’s what Horse wanted to do.”
“Then let me go, Vaughan. I need a chance to move forward without you getting in my way.”
He looked hurt, darts of pain flaring in his dark eyes. “Yeah. That was my problem, aye? Always in the way, wasn’t I?”
Leilah gritted her teeth. “Don’t try to make me feel guilty. It’s not my fault your life didn’t work out.”
“Well, it sure as hell wasn’t my fault!” Vaughan moved closer and ran a rough hand along Leilah’s cheek. She closed her eyes against the memories resurrected by his touch and he capitalised on her weakness. “Leilah.” His voice was soft and she felt his breath caress her cheek. “I don’t want to leave it like this. I want to marry you and I won’t take no for an answer.”
“You have to.” Leilah’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m bad news and you need to trust me on this.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Vaughan’s lips quirked upwards in humour as he felt her resolution falter. His smile was seductive and touched something deep in Leilah’s soul. Leilah Hanover shook her head in rueful disdain, feeling the pull on the lid protecting her secret. Vaughan’s hands either side of Leilah’s waist were persuasive and she exhaled in a sigh. “There’s something you don’t know,” she began. “And you won’t be able to forgive me.”
“Miss?” Tai’s voice conveyed his concern. “You ok, miss?” His gaze strayed towards Vaughan’s imposing figure and flicked back towards Leilah.
“Hey.” Claus appeared from the car park, his hair on end as he rubbed at his eyes. “Tai says you sacked the morons. They took my work phone so I couldn’t call you.”
Leilah shucked Vaughan’s grip and turned to greet Claus with a smile. “Yeah. They pushed things too far and ended up with a trip to the police station. Are you planning on sticking around?”
Claus shrugged, his spikey hair shuddering in the breeze. “I wasn’t. Give me a reason.” His South African accent had a lyrical quality which invoked a sense of peace into Leilah’s shattered nerves.
“There’s a vacancy for a good builder up at my place,” Leilah said, forcing a smile onto her lips. “Only problem is that I’m living there. I want to concentrate on the outside first so I can start my new business. How about you begin tomorrow?”
“What about me? Can I work for you too?” Tai’s eyes widened with anxiety and Leilah gave him a watery smile.
“If you behave. I’ll see you both tomorrow.” She turned with a wave and side stepped Vaughan’s outstretched arms, diving into the driver’s seat and closing the door behind her. She knew his brows knitted in consternation and ignored his pain, starting the truck and gunning the engine so that the vehicle lurched away from the curb. “Sorry, baby,” she whispered, seeing his misery as she glanced in the rear-view mirror. “I can’t bring the mistakes of my past into my future. I have to start again.”
Leilah’s phone beeped as she made the turn onto her driveway and she pulled over to the left and grappled with it. Seline’s voice issued from the device as a wail. “Mum, Dad’s gone mental!”
Leilah felt the energy drain from her body, her bum sinking into Hector’s well-worn seat as the weight of her failed marriage and ropey parenting bore down on her head. “What’s he done?” Her voice sounded lethargic and listless.
“He says unless you call off the merger, he’ll tell everyone your secret.” There was a pause before Seline’s inevitable question. “Mum, what’s the secret?”
Leilah gulped. “I wasn’t well after you were born and spent time in a mother and baby unit?”
“Oh.” Her daughter’s voice was a low hiss. “So, you wouldn’t want people to know that? But it’s not a bad thing. Nobody will judge you.”
Leilah nodded, realising Seline couldn’t see her. “Don’t worry, baby. It’s fine. He can’t hurt me anymore than he already has.”
“But what if he tells the papers?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Leilah allowed the scorn to seep back into her voice. “We’re not the golden couple anymore, baby. Nobody will care.”
“What about all your friends? Won’t they resent you not sharing with them?”
Leilah snorted. “Oh, they’ll hate me for not providing more fodder for their gossip mill but this was never something I’d share with them. Don’t worry. They’ve had enough time to get in touch and find out how I’m doing but they haven’t bothered. I’ve no intention of seeing any of them again.” Leilah ran a dusty hand across her eyes. “What about you? Will you be ok if he drops the proverbial bomb?”
“Yeah, Mum. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me. I’m back at my flat with the others. Dad doesn’t even know where that is.”
“He’s been paying for it for the last year,” Leilah said. “He loves you, Seline. Please don’t doubt that.”
“Mum, you don’t have to make excuses for him. I saw how he behaved towards you; I just pretended I didn’t because you worked so hard to keep it from me.”
Leilah pressed her fingers to her lips and suppressed the sob. She refrained from answering until her voice sounded normal again. “He wasn’t always like that.”
“I know. I remember.” Seline sighed. “He was kind once.” Her voice hardened. “He wasn’t nice when I tried to look after him, Mum. I wanted to help, but he got nastier the longer I stayed.”
“Yeah, he probably needs a fix.”
“Don’t say that, Mum. He’s not a junkie, is he?”
Leilah gritted her teeth. “Face facts, baby; I’ve had to. What started as the odd, recreational dabble with his private school friends got out of control. He’s an addict now and after his affair I couldn’t bear to stick around and be his punch bag. I’m sorry, Seline. I’ve made a mess of my life and dragged you along behind me.”
“Can we talk soon, Mum?” Leilah’s daughter asked, her tone plaintive. “Will you tell me the truth about everything?”
“I promise, baby. Everything. I need to go back to Hamilton to clear out the apartment and I’ll drive up to see you then.”
“You sound happy.” Seline sounded wistful. “Have you found somewhere to live?”
“I’m home, baby. I’ve bought Poppa Hector’s farm and I’m renovating the house. You can have my old bedroom. What colour would you like it to be?”
“Ooh, don’t paint it yet. I’ll pick something and we can do it together.” Seline sounded upbeat at last, excited about something instead of weighed down by adult concerns.
“Deal,” Leilah said, smiling into the phone and feeling the peace of the mountain wash over her. But as her daughter disconnected, the sick feeling raced back in like a tide reclaiming lowland. Michael’s desperation induced terror and she bit her tongue against the lie she’d fed Seline. Nobody would care about a teenage mother who found herself on a mental ward aged eighteen; that much was true. But if he really wanted to damage her, Michael Hanover would tell the press the juiciest piece of gossip imaginable and crush Seline in the fallout. He’d tell them all he raised another man’s child, robbing Leilah of the chance to come clean. “That’s why you stopped me,” she mused, staring at the lonely mountain ahead. “It wasn’t because you wanted to be her father; it was so you could use it to control me.”
A strange phone number appeared on her screen but the tone of the message made it clear her ex-husband had found her. Michael’s threat hung in the air like a dirty mirage. ‘Call off the sale or I’ll hurt Seline.’