Page 4 of Ashes of Us

His relationship with his sons deteriorated shockingly quickly, making Danica realize that Cassandra had been the glue holding their family together.

If Danica didn’t put it in his schedule, he often went weeks without calling Alex or Craig, unless it was related to work.

He stopped celebrating the holidays and gradually began delegating more of the hotel chain's everyday operations to her. She had to admit she had enabled him quite a bit; she did a lot of what he asked without questions or pushback, partially because she was enjoying the work and partially because no matter what she said about his noticeable decline in his mental and physical health, he dismissed her. When she’d finally gotten up the courage to suggest calling Alex home, he had raised his voice at her for the first and only time.

“No! No, you won't call Alex, Craig, or anyone else! Just do as I ask and stop your goddamn fussing!”

Shocked and hurt by his outburst, she left him to cool down for two days before he called and apologized for yelling at her but insisted that she leave well enough alone and let him handle things his way.

Not wanting to upset him again, she went along with him but still occasionally tried to quietly suggest a doctor or therapy, which he refused each time, telling her he was fine and to stop fussing over him.

The pilot came over to the speaker and told her to prepare for landing.

She quickly buckled her seatbelt and put away her laptop, which she had opened and not touched, and braced herself to land.

When they taxied into the hangar and came to a stop, she gathered her belongings and instructed the pilot to be ready to leave by eight the next morning.

As she walked out to where the car she had arranged was waiting to take her to Alex's penthouse, she pulled out her phone and called him to make sure he was home.

“Did you forget about the time difference, Dani?” Alex's sleepy, irate voice came over the phone, and she closed her eyes briefly in annoyance. “It's after ten.”

“I just landed; I'm on my way to your place.” She told him, trying to keep the slight waver out of her voice; she knew he went to bed reasonably early and was in his office at seven every morning to accommodate the time differences he had to work around, but since it was Saturday, she hadn’t expected him to be in bed so early.

“What happened?” He sounded much more awake now, and she heard the slight creak of his bedframe as he shifted.

“I would rather tell you in person,” Danica said quietly as she climbed into the car.

“I'll be there in thirty minutes.” There was a moment of silence, followed by a low curse, before the line went dead.

“Bye then.” She muttered as she put her phone back in her purse and instructed the driver to take her to the Rose Gold Hotel.

Forty-five minutes later, she stepped off the elevator into the small entranceway in front of the penthouse suite after a brief stop at the front desk to check in and another to drop her bags in her room.

According to his father, Alex's soon-to-be ex-wife was refusing to move out of their house in Kensington, so he had moved into the penthouse suite two weeks prior in an attempt to escape her.

Danica raised her hand to knock. But before she could, Alex opened the door and stepped back to let her in.

He was dressed in a pair of black sweatpants that were low on his hips, and that was all.

Danica found herself trying to look everywhere but at him.

She couldn't deny that he was still an extremely attractive man, and she hated how her eyes were immediately drawn to the line of black hair that ran down from his belly button and disappeared under his waistband. He was very different from her husband in both looks and personality, who was a red-haired, burly teddy bear of a man, but Danica had come to accept she didn’t have a type.

Clearing her throat, she forced her eyes on his cold, grey ones so she wouldn't blatantly stare at his chest and abs. “Well?” He demanded, folding his arms across his chest. “What happened that you flew across the ocean to tell me?”

Danica had a feeling he already knew and was just waiting for her to confirm it.

“I found your father this morning...” She stumbled over her words, unsure of how to say it without sounding too blunt and uncaring.

“He's... dead, I'm sorry.” Alex's expression never changed, confirming to her that he had already figured it out. “You need to come home with me.”

“Okay.” He nodded abruptly. “When do we leave? Does Craig know?”

“We have to be at the hangar at 6:30.” She pulled out her phone and checked for messages from Nigel, but there weren’t any. Hoping he hadn’t run into any problems, she decided to call him when she got back to her room. “And Nigel should be telling Craig now.”

“Did you draw the short straw or something?” He walked away from her as he spoke, going into the small kitchenette and grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge. He held one up to her, and she shook her head. “You could have just told me over the phone.”

“I didn't feel right telling you or Craig over the phone.” She admitted, not sure why she had thought he would appreciate her coming to tell him versus calling him or having the police inform him.

“And since I couldn't be in two places at once, I sent Nigel to Craig because he was the one who alerted me that your father wasn't answering his wake-up call and the only other one who knows what's happened.”

Alex nodded, running his hand through his messy black curls.

“Good job on keeping it quiet. We'll make an announcement tomorrow afternoon.” He drank half the bottle of water and looked at her when he was done.

“Assuming, of course, that I'm the one in charge now.” his tone was dry, and while she could tell he was trying to pass it off as a joke, she could also see a lot of resentment in his eyes.

“Yes, you are,” Danica confirmed, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets so he wouldn’t see the slight shake.

There was something about the way he said it that made her want to lash out at him.

His father wasn’t even buried yet, and he was concerned about being in charge?

Really? Forcing herself to keep her voice calm and professional, she continued, “Your father never changed the plans for succession. I have all the paperwork in my office.”

“Then I'll see you in the lobby at 5:45 tomorrow morning.” He turned and walked away, heading into the bedroom and shutting the door behind him.

Shaking her head and reminding herself that everyone grieved differently, Danica left the penthouse and went back down to her room.

It was only seven in the evening back in Boston, so she wasn't ready to sleep just yet.

With a sigh, she called Nigel, but was sent to voicemail, which was followed by a text telling her he had yet to find Craig.

No one seemed to know where he was, and he was currently searching the various casinos for him.

She sent him back a “Good Luck” text, knowing there was nothing she could do to help him from London, then followed it with a “Call if you need anything” message and went to grab a shower, and popped two Gravol so she would at least get some sleep before she had to be in the lobby in the morning.

She then made a quick call to her husband to inform him that she would be back in Boston just after lunch, but not to expect her before dinner, and to say goodnight.

To her surprise, he apologized sincerely for his earlier attitude and told her he should have been more sympathetic to her grief.

“Your mother made you realize you were being a dick, didn't she?” Danica asked, a little amused by his one-eighty in attitude and having a feeling it took someone else telling him he was behaving like an ass to understand that he was being a jerk.

It used to annoy her when they first started dating, but he explained that sometimes he had a hard time understanding her point of view when she was upset because he felt defensive and upset, so when he explained things to someone else and they took her side, it helped him realize he was in the wrong.

“No... Dad did. Mom was out with Aunt Geri,” he admitted, sounding a little sheepish .

Danica let out a tired chuckle and rubbed her sore eyes.

She adored her husband's family. While his parents doted on their only son, they weren't afraid to call him out on his occasional idiocy. ”I really am sorry, Danikins.”

“Don't call me that.” Danica sighed. He insisted on that stupid nickname, despite it driving her crazy. “But thank you. Make sure you take your suit to the dry cleaners tomorrow.”

“What? My suit? Why?” He sounded completely mystified, like what she was asking was coming out of left field.

Danica rolled her eyes and counted to ten in her head.

Jasper’s inability to make connections and think ahead about things was one of his most annoying traits.

He had a lot of great ones that more than made up for it, but sometimes she just needed him to think without help.

“Because when someone dies, there's usually a funeral service that you need to dress properly for.” She said shortly, unable to keep the frustration out of her tone.

“Do I have to go to the funeral, too?” His voice was whiny, and Danica gritted her teeth, reminding herself that she loved her husband; he had many amazing qualities, but growing up as an only child with two parents who let him do whatever he wanted had made him used to getting his own way.

“I would like you to because I would like support, but it's fine, don't worry about it.” Danica quickly changed her mind about wanting Jasper there.

He wouldn't be any help to her and would constantly ask if they could leave until she told him to go, then he would feel bad and become clingy, so that she wouldn’t stay mad at him.

“I won't be able to spend much time with you during it anyway.”

“Okay.” The relief in his voice was palpable. ”Let me know if there's anything I can do before or after to make things easier for you at home.”

“Yeah.” Danica did her best not to let her disappointment in that statement show.

She knew he thought he was being supportive by saying that, but she felt he should be able to figure out that doing things like cleaning the house or cooking meals would be a massive help without being told.

Her phone beeped, and she told him she had to go.

Checking the message, she saw Nigel had found Craig and told him about his father.

It sobered him up pretty quickly. We'll see you and Alex in Boston.

Thanks Nigel. See you tomorrow.

Feeling a tension headache coming on, Danica plugged in her phone and decided to take advantage of the giant jacuzzi tub in her ensuite. She had a six-and-a-half-hour flight back to Boston on a plane with Alex the next day, and she needed to be at her best to survive it.