Page 7 of Damaged Billionaire Daddy (The Lanes Series #1)

Chapter seven

Kandis

“You should come,” Mila stressed over the phone, forcing me to remember what it was like to be friends with her before I ever stopped coming to visit my grandparents.

In the short time that I’ve been here, Vineyard Home, California had become my safe place again.

After the New York years, with my mother, it was something I could appreciate.

Especially since my grandparents and Mila seemed to be the only people in my corner.

“I’m not really a partier, Mila,” I told her again. “The last time that I went to a party, I caught my boyfriend cheating on me.”

“Well, you’re single and men suck, so that won’t happen again.” I could imagine her smile on the other end of the line.

“Easy for you to say.”

My phone started vibrating against my ear, so I pulled it away, shocked when I saw my mother’s name on the top. She never called me unless she needed something, so I doubted it’d be anything good.

A cruel part of me didn’t want to answer.

Why should I be there for someone who had made it clear on numerous occasions that she cared more about a beer bottle than she did me?

At the same time, she was my mother, and it was a primitive instinct that made me want to hear her voice even when I knew I shouldn’t.

“Mila, I have someone on the other end. Can I call you back later?” Probably not until the end of the day. I’d noticed a pattern that whenever I ended up having to deal with my mother, it threw me off for the duration of the day and put me in a bad mood.

She sighed. “You better not be trying to talk your way out of going to this party.”

“I’m not, I’m not. Really, I’ll call you back. This is important.”

“Fine. Talk to you soon.”

I ended the call and answered my mother’s thankfully before it could ring for the final time. There was quite a bit of white noise going on in the background and shuffling around. “Momma?” I called her name, not knowing what to expect.

It was silent for a while before her voice popped up on the other end.

“Kandis.” Her voice was shaking as if she’d been crying.

“Oh, my dear sweet baby, how have you been?” It always started out like this.

She started out acting as if she was an affectionate mother just wanting to check in on her child when she was anything but.

“Momma, is something wrong?” Over time, I’d become the only person she could call when she got into trouble, a fact that the both of us knew extremely well.

“Oh, Kandis…” There was yelling in the background. “Momma needs to ask you for a favor, alright?”

Of course.

“What is it?”

“Momma lost her job baby, and Sean, he’s being a rat’s ass and refusing to pay for anything. All I need’s a twelve pack and some cigarettes. Maybe fifty dollars? Really, that’s all I need and then I won’t bother you again, I promise you.”

Fifty dollars was such an insignificant amount of money, and to be honest, it wouldn’t bother me financially to give it to her, but hearing what she was going to use it for? That was what made me uneasy.

I’d been telling my mother for years to stop drinking and smoking; however she never listened to me, and that was one of the reasons I couldn’t stand to be around her.

What those things did to her…but at the same time I’d never known her any other way. My mother’s always been a drunk who couldn’t stop lighting a cigarette, so why should I expect her to change?

Her priorities were all jacked up. That was why she spent most of my childhood pawning me off on my grandparents rather than raising me herself.

Apparently before me and with the help of my dad, she’d been clean and good at one point, but when he died, everything changed.

I was sure he would’ve hated the person she was now.

All in all, that’s the reason my grandparents and I were so close. They were the parents I never had the opportunity to have, and I couldn’t thank them enough for everything they’d done for me.

The only difference? While I hung onto the hope that Mom would change one day, they’d already come to the conclusion that she wouldn’t. She couldn’t make these kinds of calls to them anymore because they had stopped picking up the phone.

“Momma,” I started. “If you really need something, then you know I’m here for you, always, but I’m not going to keep giving you money for you to destroy yourself, okay? I can’t. I love you too much for that.”

“But Kandis, I do need this. Don’t you know I’ve been trying to quit, but it’s hard. If I can just do one more week, then I’ll be able to let it go. I know I can.”

“Momma, I’m sorry, but no.”

She paused before speaking. “You are a no-good, greedy, ass skank, and every day I regret the day that you…”

I ended the call before she could say anything else and leaned against the wall of the winery, letting out a deep breath to calm myself.

It was the same thing every time. She asked me, and if I didn’t give it to her, she lied in an attempt to bargain before resorting to calling me all of the ugly names she could think of.

Not today.

I thought about calling Mila back before deciding against it.

What I needed right now was some time to myself.

I was sure she’d understand if she were in my situation.

Besides, it was not like I wanted to go to that party anyway, something she was completely aware of, so hopefully she wouldn’t be too upset.

After I’d calmed myself down a bit, I opened the back door to the winery, figuring I’d throw myself into work to get my mind off of everything. It was not like the day could get any worse.

Or could it?

Richie was in the winery, standing with my grandmother and speaking with her as if the two of them were friends and had been for years. My eye twitched as I watched them, and the anger began to overfill me.

I was already having a crappy day and now this? Hadn’t I made it clear to him that he was to stay far away from this business and my grandparents? What part had he not understood?

“You’re back,” my grandmother stated, grinning as if Richie was the best company in the world, something I doubted. “Good. I was wondering where you went.”

“Well, here I am.”

“I’ll be right back, okay?” She left to go to the back, and I glared daggers at Richie.

“Did you forget what I told you?” I snapped, all of my pent-up frustration spilling out onto him.

He smirked as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “I didn’t forget.”

“So why are you here?”

“The amount of power that you think you have over me is comical.” He took a step towards me, leaning down to whisper in my ear, so close that he was sending shivers down my spine.

He shouldn’t affect me this way, and I hated that he did.

“See, I thought about what you said, and you could tell your grandparents if that’s what you wanted to do.

However, how are you going to let dear old grandpa know that you were a slut and lost your virginity to me? ”

My blood ran cold, and my breathing became heavy. “How…how did you know that?” I’d certainly never told him, and the only other person who knew was Mila. There was no way she would have said anything, right?

He chuckled, pulling back enough to look me in the eye. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I put two and two together.”

My heart was erratic. “That doesn’t make you special, and it doesn’t mean that I have any amount of attachment to you. If that’s what you’re worried about…”

“I’m not worried about anything,” he cut me off. “It’s not as if I think that it means you’ll be drooling over me, but I figured you’d be losing quite a bit of your dignity telling your grandfather what happened between us. You won’t be his sweet little grandbaby anymore, will you?”

I don’t think I had ever been as angry as I was at that moment. “Are you trying to blackmail me?”

“I’m doing exactly what you did to me.”

“You’re never going to get the business. Grandfather won’t let you and neither will I.”

“How about you focus on staying out of the way?”

“Oh, aren’t the two of you just adorable?” Richie took a step back as my grandmother walked in, eyes so bright that you’d think she just won the lottery. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better match of people.”

If only she knew…

I turned away from Richie. “Where’s Grandad?”

“About to come back up. Richie here told me he had a few errands to run today, and now that I’m looking at the two of you, it’s clear that you guys have something going on.

” She put a hand on my shoulder. “I just know your grandfather would approve of a fine man like Richie. You two are just adorable and have our complete permission to go out.”

The words almost sent me into an epileptic shock. I couldn’t believe what she was saying right now. Immediately, I started to shake my head but didn’t manage to get the words out before Richie did.

“Nia, that sounds like a wonderful idea.” How he could make himself look so genuine while being a total snake was something I’d never understand. “I can take your granddaughter for one heck of a time.”

“No thank you.” I frowned. “Grandma, I don’t need you trying to set me up.”

“Usually, I would stay far away from your love life dear, but someone like Richie doesn’t come along all that often. I think you could have a wonderful time if you just give him a chance.”

“It’s not that simple. He…” How was I supposed to finish that sentence without worrying about Richie telling her all of our intimate details?

“Come on, Kandis, I’m far from the worst kind of guy, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.” His words had a hidden meaning that made my hands clench into fists.

If my grandmother weren’t here, I wouldn’t be able to promise one fist wouldn’t have found his cheek by now.

Grandma was looking at me so excitedly, and I couldn’t bear to disappoint her. I sighed, frustratedly. “Fine,” I gave in. “One date.”