DARK HEARTS - BILLIONAIRE MARRIAGE CONTRACT ROMANCE

A DOG'S DINNER

My dad

My best friend.

The best dad a chap like me could ever ask for has gone to the heavens. And I am utterly gutted. Unable to put two thoughts together to have an intelligent conversation with anyone because it happened so quickly.

And my mum knew about it.

She purposely kept it from me, even.

I will never forgive her for that.

I could have helped him.

I could have saved him if given the chance. But he and my mum took that choice from me.

Furious, I grab my coat and leave. Needing to put some space between us. Only, I don't know where to go and end up driving around aimlessly for hours before Benji finally pulls the car over.

"Is everything alright, boss? Is your father alright?" He asks me.

"No, Benji," I inhale deeply. The pain in my chest growing stronger by the second. "He's gone."

For the next sixty seconds, we sit in silence as the gravity of the situation washes over us.

Threatening to drag my sanity with it.

We didn't just lose my father today... we lost the face of the King dynasty.

Our visionary.

And any chance of reviving our floundering business once the world gets wind of my father's death.

I need to vent, and think, and breathe... but for the first time I don't have my father to help me sort through my thoughts.

I am lost.

"Where would you like to go, boss?"

"Honestly, Benji, I don't know."

"Well, you should be wherever will make you happy?" He speaks to me through the rearview mirror. Concern lacing his tone and present in his eyes. "No one should go through something like this alone."

He's got a point. Except, I'm miffed with my mum and sister. I'm not ready to speak to them.

How could they hide this from me?

The future of everything we've built rested on my dad's shoulders, and now that he's gone, our shareholders will be looking to me to pull a miracle out of my arse.

The only other place that would make me happy, is the one place I'm not sure I am welcomed. Even though she dropped everything for me today. Still... I must try. And I need answers.

Pulling out my telly, I give Evelyn a tinkle on the blower. But I'm hesitant when I hear her voice.

"Benji, is that you? Is he alright?" She asks. Worry lacing her tone.

"I need you." I tell her.

Evelyn goes quiet on the other end of the line.

As do I.

That wasn't what I intended to say, and yet... I'm surprised by how much I mean it.

"Where are you?" She asks after several moments of silence.

"I'll send Benji to retrieve you," I skirt around her question. "Send me your location."

"First, tell me where you are." She refuses.