Page 31 of The Facilitator, Part 2

We made our way over to Gabriella and Alex who, like me, was getting the third degree on England, the Queen—and I was sure he’d be able to answer the question of ‘have you met her’ more successfully than I had—did he know the Harrington’s of Edin burg , and such like.

I hid the smirk, even as Alex rolled his eyes at the, ‘Did Prince Philip kill Diana’ question.

“We’re going to head off now. I’ll call you in the morning,” he said to Gabriella.

“If my mother wasn’t likely to kill me, I’d be with you. Lord, these people are boring,” she whispered, as she hugged me.

I laughed, embraced Alex, and we made our way to Mrs. Collingsworth, who was still standing in her heels, but holding the arm of another young beau. I wondered what had happened to the previous one.

We said our goodbyes and left. As we walked to the car, Mackenzie whipped off his tie, took off his jacket, and threw them on the back seat as he opened the door for me.

He walked around the front, his hand trailing over the bonnet, and climbed in behind the driver’s wheel. For a moment he just sat.

“You know, go back a year and socialising, parties—all that crap would have been an opportunity to network—but now…I love Vivienne, Gabriella, and Alex, obviously, but I could so do without all the pomp and pricks that go with it. Maybe I’m getting old.”

I laughed. “Maybe you’re just seeing it for what it always was.”

He chuckled as he turned the key and the engine roared. He drove us much slower back to his house, where we sat with one last glass of wine on the veranda and watched the ocean.

“I’m wondering what I have to do to either go back a week or forward one with amnesia.”

“Why would you want to do that?” I asked.

“I don’t know… my dad’s news, Father Dickhead.”

“I think you handled Father Dickhead rather wonderfully; not as grand as Vivienne, obviously, no one could have the level of class that woman does.”

He chuckled at the comment. “If you hadn’t been with me, Lauren, I think I might have punched the prick.”

“Well then, I’m glad I was. You can’t punch people, Mackenzie, because they upset you. More so a priest, or vicar, or whatever the Father actually is. Anyway, I don’t think I’d like to see you fight with anyone.”

“I doubt I would have, other than your ex—who deserved every fucking punch—I don’t generally go around fighting.

He knew exactly what he was saying and I don’t think we would have, had I been alone.

No one likes Frank, other than Father Dickhead, because I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to just how much he can charge for his part in the funeral. ”

“If he’s not liked, would the funeral be so lavish?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, there are plenty of people who would want to make sure the fucker was buried, not least his doting daughter. She seems to think he’s sitting on a treasure trove somewhere, but he’s mortgaged to the hilt on everything, and of course, I own the loan company.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the glint in his eye.

“At what point do you let it all go?” I asked, knowing I was treading on rocky ground.

“Huh?”

“At what point do you let the anger and resentment, the hurt at her betrayal, and his subsequent shitty dealings with you go? You won,” I said.

“It’s the anger that drives me still,” he said, although the angry tone of voice had changed.

“I bet it’s exhausting.” I smiled at him and then sipped my wine.

“The tiredness I’ve seen of late, the pinching of the bridge of your nose, in concentration, or to stave off yet another tension headache, is that because of the share thing?” I asked.

“I guess so,” he replied.

“See, exhausting. If it were someone other than her father, would you feel the same? You own that business, Mackenzie, what can anyone do to you, in real terms, if they buy a load of shares?” I asked.

“If it’s him, believe me, Lauren, he can cause me problems. He paid off the police, remember? He thinks he has something on me and he’ll use it.”

“Then how about you make one last effort to rid him, and her, from your life. Make your peace with yourself over your father, and then let it all go, for good. What do I need to do to help?”

I expected him to be snarky with me. What I was suggesting was for him to change tens of years of pent-up anger over what happened to him. Instead I got a smile that melted my heart.

“Just stand by my side, always.”

I raised my glass to him. “Always. Unless you kill someone. I might not want to be beside you for that,” I teased.

I was woken by a shout. At first I just lay still, listening. When I realised Mackenzie wasn’t in the bed beside me, I swung my legs over the side. I reached for one of his shirts and pulled it over my head. As I walked to the bedroom door, I heard him cuss.

“Fucking…” He didn’t finish the rest of his words, and I suspected the creak of the floorboard alerted him I was up.

I crossed the hallway and walked down the stairs to the open-plan living and dining space below. Mackenzie sat at the dining table with his laptop open.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m sorry. I woke you, didn’t I?”

“You did. What are you shouting at?”

“You know I said someone was buying those shares? I know who. Three people are.”

“Addison’s dad?”

“Jerry, Addison, and Daniel.”

I blinked a few times. “How do you know that?”

“Two reasons. I asked someone to check out who owned the accounts in the Bank of Grand Cayman, and Jerry has emailed me his top secret project. He said he had been told of some shares in a company supplying military intelligence equipment that is about to be awarded a huge contract, and did I want in on it.”

He rested back on the chair and placed his hands around the back of his head. “Jerry has invested over a million dollars. I don’t know what he tells you, Lauren, but he isn’t cash rich. That could very well be most of what he had.”

“But if you’re about to be awarded this contract, it’s okay, where Jerry is concerned, isn’t it?” I asked.

“There is no contract. I’m about to lose the one I have, by choice.

That’s what I was meeting the MP for. I have other military contracts, and it’s felt by those in government there could be a conflict of interest. I don’t manufacture military intelligence equipment; it’s simple navigation stuff that could be fitted to any aircraft. He’s been duped, for sure.”

“Why would they say that to him?”

Mackenzie sighed. “I guess this is where it gets complicated. I leaked there was a new contract when I started to see those blocks of shares being bought. Obviously, I had no idea Jerry was involved but suspected Frank. I knew that once the company announced it had lost the government contract, those share values would plummet. They will all lose all their money, or most of it, anyway.”

“Oh, shit. I don’t care about Addison or Daniel, but I do care about Jerry. What can I do?”

“Not much, really. I’ll go back and tell him I’ve investigated this company and that what he believes isn’t true. Hopefully, he can sell what he’s bought and at least get his money back.”

“Can’t you tell him you made the story up?”

“No, and I’d appreciate if you didn’t, either. Although, I can’t demand that of you, of course. It’s not good business practice to leak a story that involves a share buying boost, in fact, it’s probably illegal.”

He seemed most unconcerned if it was, in fact, illegal.

“So you’d go to illegal lengths to continue to punish Addison and Daniel?” I asked, quietly. The look on his face told me I’d moved from rocky ground to a dangerous one.

“I’d go to illegal lengths to protect what is mine when I know devious methods are at hand to steal from me.”

The steely tone to his voice brokered no response from me.

I stood to make two coffees. The machine was on a timer, so it would have filtered for the morning.

I pushed buttons randomly to override it, unsuccessfully.

It didn’t help the tears I had in my eyes blurred my vision.

I felt Mackenzie behind me. He reached over and sorted the machine; he then wrapped his arms around my body and rested his chin on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to speak to you that way.

I protect my businesses, Lauren, in any way I can when I know something underhanded is happening.

I had no idea Jerry was involved. I’ll do whatever I can to ensure he doesn’t lose out, but it’s going to be my word against Addison’s, and we know how smitten he is with her. ”

I turned in his arms.

“I shouldn’t have made it personal. You’re right, you have to do what you believe is best for your business. I just worry about Jerry, he’s my friend,” I said, and then shrugged my shoulder. “However, I won’t tell him anything. I’m going to stay out of this one. I love him, but I love you more.”

Whether I could stick to that promise was another issue of course.

I wasn’t dumb. For Mackenzie to have gotten to the level of businessman he was, to own the companies he did, meant there would be a ruthless streak to him.

I would be a hypocrite if I condemned him for that.

I enjoyed the trappings of his success, of course, and I’d made decisions when working for Jerry and with Trymast that went against my beliefs but were necessary.

The thought of Jerry losing everything, however, had me worried.

I just had to trust Mackenzie when he said he’d do what he could to ensure that didn’t happen for him.

Mackenzie walked back to the table with his coffee. He sat and typed a reply and when he finished, he lowered the lid. I sat opposite him.

“I told him that I had it on good authority there was no new contract, and I advised he get out quick. I said my sources told me that company was going to lose its existing one soon, so his shares would be worthless. I also told him whoever was advising him of this deal might not understand what they are doing themselves. I thought it better than to just tell him they are using him.”