Caleb's POV
Callahan Cross was a tall and imposing man. Always had been. With his sharp, angular features, broad chested body and haughty expression, he had a way of commanding respect in any room that he entered.
I remembered a time when I had been in awe of this man, when I would have gone to any length just to get that slight nod of approval that he so rarely bestowed. How the times have changed.
But right then, it seemed that he still had some of that impact on me. Even in his 60s and with his heart condition tiring most of his body, he carried himself with the grace of an aristocrat.
Of course, the effect was dampened by his walking cane and a slight slouch he had when he leaned on it.
But still, when he stepped ahead, inviting himself in, I stepped back to make way. I told myself that it was the shock of watching him stand on his feet again, but knew that was a lie.
He walked in the middle of the room and looked around, while I stood frozen at the threshold with my hand still on the doorknob.
"Tis' not so bad," he grunted as he took in the corridor that led to bedrooms and then continued.
"Of course, its not the Cross mansion. But livable, for the time being."
I kept quiet, letting his comment slide. It was not worth losing my temper over, I reminded myself as I closed the door.
"It is your house, you know? The mansion. Despite that Oaf claiming it for himself. It has always belonged to me, and by default to you."
I sighed. It was an old discussion, one that I had absolutely no mood to reignite. My father always believed that I should have been the 'heir' of the Cross empire.
The companies, property, and the mansion all belonged to him after his elder brother's death and, by default to me after he retired.
I begged to differ. And not because Leo was my elder brother and the only son of the man who lifted Cross empire back from the ground.
I did so because Leo was the only person who deserved to own it all. He had every quality of a true leader and was a deceivingly shrewd business man, something that my father refused to accept.
That was probably why he had made Leo's life miserable, making him feel like an unwanted guest in his own home when his father had died.
Leo had been 17 then, and had still in highschool. He had looked up to my father, hoping his uncle could give him some consolation for his loss.
Instead he had been made to feel like a stray dog who was leaching off his rich relative's monies.
My father, having taken over uncle Martin's business after his death, thought himself to be the master of Leo's life and mine for all of 5 years he was incharge of it.
That was until Leo had turned 22 and wretched it back from his clutches before he could run it to the ground completely owning to his over-aggressive business approach and turned it back into the flourishing empire it was now.
But despite Leo still supporting him, sheltering him and even keeping him afloat now, Callahan Cross never quite got over the idea that Leo had dethroned him, and wanted his son to take over the empire from him. Predictably enough, those were his next words.
"As does the empire. All you need to do is stop chasing small parts of it and aim for the ultimate trophy. I want to see you as the Managing Director of the Cross empire. I want to give you the world, Caleb. Yet you insist on wanting to own something worth a pebble in it."
"Its not yours to give and —"
I cut myself short and pinched the bridge of my nose to keep from repeating this age old argument again.
I was determined to remain calm and ignore everything he said so he'd get the hint and leave already.
But just like every other parent, my father knew just which button to push to get the reaction he wanted out of me.
"If only you were as ambitious as Tristan," he sighed in regret and shook his head, running a veiny hand over the backrest of the couch as if checking for dust.
"He has no claim over anything and yet he has the drive to conquer the world. If only you were as good at—"
"— manipulation as Tristan is? Or as greedy as Tristan is? Is that what you were gonna say? If only I was as much of a bastard as Tristan. Or perhaps, if only I was as willing to backstab someone as Tristan is?"
I snapped, feeling the blood rushing through my ears. Tristan was all those things and more, and my father knew commending him was a sure way of firing my ire and that was exactly why he had mentioned it.
The worst of all was that it wasn't even an act. My father knew all of this and actually respected Tristan for his 'determination and resourcefulness' as he put it.
He admired how Tristan had swindled Audrey analytics from me and how he was now doing the same with CrossRoads softwares.
Infact, I now knew for a fact that he not only supported Tristan's vile acts, but was the instigator behind all of them. Maybe that was why despite my resolve to stay calm, my anger burst out.
"You loved it when he took Audrey analytics from me, didn't you? The company that I built from the scratch - the company I named after mom! - he forged and tricked it from me, making me desperately seek for a job just to stay afloat and you just patted his back and told him how proud you were on your decision to marry your illegitimate daughter to him—"
"Watch it, Caleb." He warned, but that only made me fire up more.
"Oh, but its true, isn't it? You married your bastard to another bastard, surely a match made in heaven."
"All that I did, that I still do, is to bring you back, Caleb. To bring you home."
"What home? When had I ever had a home with you, father? All we had was a lie."
"All we had was not a lie, son," he shakily stepped ahead in a show of rare vulnerability catching me off-guard.
"Our home wasn't a lie. Our relationship is not a lie. Despite all my misgivings, I loved your mother with all my heart. I loved you, Caleb. I still do."
He stepped ahead, and I wasn't sure if it was real or an act, but he wobbled more and more with each step until he reached close enough to touch me.
"You know I do. You've always known, haven't you son? If you'll just come back Caleb."
His voice had gone hushed now, as if a casting a spell. "Everything is yours. Everything belongs to you. You want CrossRoads software? Its yours. You want Audrey analytics back? It'll be yours. Just come home, Caleb. Come back to Boston. Leave the rest to me. I'll give you everything you deserve, son. We'll be a family again."
I looked at him then. At the man whom I hated and loved all at once. The man who I once worshipped like God, only to realise that he was mere human.
"My family died the night mom was killed in that car crash," I started with a quiet fury in my voice, something that my father obviously heard too because he pulled back.
"What remains of it is the man who was always there for me. The one who lost his father, but still kept his grief aside and helped me through mine."
I watched my father's face flush with anger as my words sunk in, but I didn't stop.
"The same one who stopped me from walking away from the best thing that ever happened to me just 2 days ago."
"The best thing. For God's sake, Caleb," he spat out in disgust. "Things like that can come dime a dozen. You think she'll be there for you when you need her the most? I bet she won't even wait for you to come around if better opportunity came up. And as for Leo, mark my words that if he set you up with that gold digger, then he has some ulterior motive in it. Its in his blood, afterall."
"No father. Its in my blood. And the idea of you wanting me to betray the man who's done so much for me is so appalling that it makes me hate you a little more."
I watched his jaw clench shut and his eyes turn venomous. No longer did he look wobbly, old man who was imploring his only son to come home.
Now he looked like Callahan Cross. The man who had unflinchingly deceived and lied to his wife whom he claimed to love for years after tricking her into adopting his own illegitimate daughter while continuing to have an affair with her mother.
"You didn't just deceive mom when you tricked her into adopting Ana, you know? You blindsided me too. And I will never forgive your betrayal. Especially since it cost me my mother."
"I didn't cost you your mother, Caleb." He cut me off harshly, standing ramrod straight. For the first time, it looked like he didn't even need his cane.
"You did. If it wasn't for you she and uncle Martin wouldn't have been on road that night. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have lost my mother and Leo wouldn't have lost his father."
By the time I stopped talking, my breathing was ragged, my hands shaking with anger. How dare he insult Ruth? How dare he instigate me against Leo yet again?
I felt ready to punch something. This was not how I had wanted tonight to go and the sobering reminder cleared some of the fog that was clouding my sight ever since we had started talking.
But as I blinked and looked at my father's face, I was overcome with an uncanny feeling that tonight might not be going as I had planned it to go, but it was going exactly as he had planned it to go.
I felt like a moth who had flown straight into a spider's web as I watched my father's expression morph into something that resembled victory.
But despite that, his voice was calm as he spoke the next words.
"You really believe that your mother and my saintly elder brother were in that car crash because of me? You honestly never stopped to think why they were together that night to begin with?"
With that, he walked past me and to the door, letting his words and their meaning hover in the air. He paused as he pulled the door open and looked back at me as I stood frozen, trying to decipher the meaning behind his words.
"Oh, and as for that 'best-thing-that's-ever-happened-to-you', I've already arranged for Tristan to bring her over to you, just like everything else. So you don't have to make a detour and go straight to the party."
"She will never choose convenience over me." I replied automatically, robotically, but my father just smiled at me in pity.
"Oh, Caleb. You still have so much to learn about women. Be it your assistant, or your mother."
Before I could say another word, he walked out and slammed the door shut in my face.
*
Ruth's POV
"Well, not just me," Ana replied in a voice that could have easily belonged to an angel.
I stared at her for a moment, as if my mind was frozen in shock before looking past her to where she was indicating, and saw a tall figure hovering behind her. Tristan.
He smiled and nodded at me in greeting, but tried as I might, I couldn't manage to muster a genuine smile in return even though I didn't know why.
Personally, I didn't know him enough to bear any ill-will towards him. And the fact that Tristan was the person who had given me the promotion I had always wanted to earn should have made me at least feel thankful to him.
But instead every time I looked at him, it felt like cold fingers were dancing up and down my spine. Logically I knew I wasn't scared of him, but my instincts didn't exactly follow my logic in this case.
That knot in my stomach was back with a vengeance now, and it only felt heavier as I looked back at Ana even though her child-like serenity was an exact counterpart of Tristan.
Why were they here? And why wasn't Caleb? I didn't know all that much about their family yet, but from what I had gathered in Boston and the last few days at work, they were far from being close.
So it made absolutely no sense to find them at my doorstep where Caleb was supposed to be.
"My God, Ruth. You look drop dead gorgeous," Ana's voice pulled me out of my thoughts as she looked me up and down with those sky blue eyes.
"Thanks. As do you." I cleared my throat and replied before returning her genuine sounding compliment.
Because it was true. With her golden locks pulled back into a sophisticated bun and loose strands framing her face, she looked nothing short of a fairytale princess.
The thick lashes around her eyes were lined and curled so it almost brushed the top of her cheeks every time she blinked.
Her golden dress was peeking out from beneath the thick fur coat making her look like a Goddess. One that made every other woman look like a peasant in comparison.
As opposed to her, Tristan looked like a fallen Angel in his sharp tux and hairs glossed back to reveal his edgy features.
An icy wind blew in making me shiver and I suddenly remembered my manners.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Please, come in. You must be freezing out here," I invited them in with a tone of apology and moved to open the door wider to let them in, but Ana simply shook her head with a smile.
"Oh, no, not today. I would love to come in some other time, but if we do now, I'll lose my will to venture out in this cold again tonight, and we have a party to attend."
Her tinkling laugh made Tristan smile down at his wife for a moment, before looking back up at me.
"The Christmas party, you mean?" I asked.
Tristan was as much a part of the company as Caleb was, at least for now, so it made sense that he would attend the party with his plus one.
"That's the one. We're actually running a bit late, so if you're ready, shall we get going?" Ana glanced at her diamond studded watch before looking back up at me in question.
But instead of answering her, I frowned at her expectant expression.
"Excuse me?"
"To the party. That's where you are dressed up to go, right?"
"I am. But I was waiting... Caleb was supposed to pick me up," my cheek burnt as I said this but I pushed my reaction back. I didn't have to feel embarrassed about my relationship with Caleb. It wasn't their business and they certainly didn't need to see my reaction to Caleb.
"Well, that's exactly what we are here to do as well, Ms. Brooke. Seems shameful to make such a beautiful woman wait, but frankly I expect nothing less from Caleb."
Tristan spoke up for the first time then, shaking his head regrettably. With his arm around his wife, he gave me a piercing look that made a cold slice in the pits of my stomach and made my defences rise on Caleb's behalf.
Who was he to speak of Caleb in that resigned tone as if he was talking about an insolent child? Caleb might be running late and he should have had the decency to call me and explain, but it wasn't Tristan's place to point this out no matter what their history was with each other.
And Caleb certainly wasn't a child like Tristan was making him up to be. I felt irritation pierce through my polite demeanor and that was why even though I replied back with a smile, the edge in my voice was unmistakable.
"You are still not at the party too. Looks like we are all running late today, isn't it?"
"Ah, tell me about it. Dad is going to be so mad when he sees that hosts are all arriving later than guests."
Ana returned my smile, seemingly oblivious to my silent reprimand, but Tristan's eyes sharpened. He had definitely caught my tone.
And because I was so focused on observing Tristan's reaction to my words, it took a moment for Ana's casual remark to sink in.
"Dad? As in, your father? He's going to be at the party?"
Ana and Tristan looked at me with varying degrees of confusion and pity. Both of which, I didn't like at all.
"Of course, he is. He's been here since 23rd. That's why we have been dispatched to pick you up. He'll be arriving at the party with Caleb, and didn't want any, um.. any interruptions."
"He'll be arriving with Caleb?"
"Uh, yeah. Contrary to what my husband believes, you and I both know that Caleb is generally very punctual. He must've forgotten to drop you a message."
Ana shrugged her delicate shoulders, but my mind was reeling. Forgotten to drop me a message? After asking me to come to the party with him?
Ana's words suggested that Caleb had known his father was in town for days. Why hadn't he mentioned anything in the last two days that we spent together?
Then again, why should he? His father could be here for any number of reasons that had nothing to do with me. Besides, he didn't owe me any explanation about the whereabouts of his family.
Still, a little warning would have been nice considering my not so pleasant encounter with the man in Boston. Or the fact that he was sending his sister -whom he didn't seem to like much - and his brother in-law - whom he absolutely loathed - to pick me up.
Something wasn't fitting here. And Tristan seemed to sense it too because he was looking at me with a strange expression. A mixture of regret and admiration, like he didn't expect me to put on much resistance while riding with them.
That expression was enough to make the last of my doubts melt away and I knew I definitely shouldn't go with them even if it meant missing out on the party.
So I started to decline their dubiously generous offer as politely as I could.
"That's really kind of you to come all the way here to pick me up. Especially because you were considerate enough to know how uncomfortable it'll be to arrive there alone, or worse with Mr. Cross Sr."
"Oh don't mention it," Ana replied earnestly, oblivious to the fact that I was about to decline her offer.
"We just volunteered to pick you because I couldn't bear to see you wait for hours, or worse stood up because of dad."
"Yeah, that would totally suck but—"
I started again, but was cut off by a cold voice from behind Ana and Tristan that cut through the air like a knife.
"Totally."