Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 3

Ch. 2: Uncertain Future

When I finally get myself back under control I take a step back, look up to see that my grandfather has been crying too. Not as much as me, but his eyes are definitely moist.

He pats me on the back awkwardly, then goes over to the sink to get a wet paper towel and brings it to me. I sit down at the table again, and he walks back to the sink to splash a little water on his own face and dry his eyes.

He sits down again and just looks at me.

"I have so many questions," I tell him.

He nods. "Go ahead then, and ask me."

"Why didn't you tell my father all this after she was gone?"

He sighs. "Laura asked us not to. She didn't want him to be disappointed in her for not wanting to fight anymore. We chose to honor her wishes." He rests his hands on the table again and, looking down at them, I am reminded that despite his vitality in the office, my grandfather is an old man. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at him again, even in the most contentious meetings at work, without seeing just a hint of the vulnerability he showed me today.

"Besides," he said, "your father never would have believed us. He needed someone to blame, someone to hate."

"But you lost me," I say softly.

"Not completely," he says, and for the first time since we sat down together, he actually smiles. "We always kept track of you, your accomplishments."

"How?"

"Hadley," he says, "who do you think paid for your college, your living expenses, the time you studied abroad, law school?"

"I . . . there was a trust fund that my mother would have received when she was 30, but since she didn't live that long it came to me."

He leans back in his chair, studies me.

"There was no trust fund."

"What do you mean? I received the checks form the lawyer who served as trustee. I have paperwork."

"When Laura told us we needed to refuse to give Brandon the money for the treatment, we asked her if there was anything we could do to help. She wanted us to make sure you got an education, that you didn't have to borrow money and work multiple part-time jobs just to get through school. She asked us to pay the costs for whatever career you wanted to pursue."

He gives a short humorless laugh. "Not just if you followed in my footsteps and went to law school. Whatever you wanted. It was the least we could do. It's what we wanted to do."

"But . . . why the subterfuge?"

"Hadley, think about it. Your father would never have accepted money from us for your education when he thought we were unwilling to pay money to save Laura's life. He'd have called it guilt money and thrown it back in our faces. But we knew he wouldn't deny you the benefit of a trust fund he thought belonged to your mother."

"So much of what I believed all my life wasn't true." I look into his eyes, hoping I'll now be able to separate the truth from the lies. "Would you ever have told me?"

"No." His answer is fast and firm. "Not if you hadn't threatened to get on a plane tomorrow and go back to Philadelphia. I didn't just want you here for your grandmother, Hadley. I'll admit that was a big part of the reason, especially for the timing. But it was so much more than that."

His eyes take on a distant look now, like he's gazing into the past.

"From the moment you were born," he says softly, "everything I built in the law firm has been for you. Your mother didn't want it, and that was fine. Your father . . ." He stops then, seems to shut down.