In Love with a Stranger (22 page)

Chapter 26 - Unsettled

HANNAH

Dealing with William’s mother was more than a little unsettling. I did my best to keep a level head. The extravagance of the vault room proved how unstable his family was. I could see why William and Camille had immediately considered their father as a prime suspect for the fire.

My mind was still reeling over the extent of his father’s involvement in mine and Penelope’s lives. The way Emmaline was acting made me glad Henry had kept Penelope’s existence to himself. I had no doubt Emmaline would’ve been all over us. I completely understood William’s desire to keep our distance from his parents now.

If I’d learned anything from William when it came to dealing with them, it was to be stern and put my foot down. I had to draw a clear line that Emmaline wouldn’t be allowed to cross. I also knew she’d be very annoying, if I didn’t find a way to appease her just a little bit. William had looked like he was about to explode, when I suggested that if Penelope showed interest in her royal lineage, Emmaline would be involved. William had obviously not seen Disney’s
Cinderella
. “If” was a relative term that pretty much meant no.

I agreed to the outing for purely selfish reasons. I knew that while William would be very busy getting things settled at work, Penelope would’ve been climbing the walls of the flat. It was bigger than my old apartment, but we’d spent most of our time down in the store with more open space, not to mention the frequent visits to Carter and Ophelia’s homes, along with any shopping that needed to be done.

Like the last time I’d visited London, I didn’t feel completely comfortable wandering around by myself, especially with Penelope tagging along. I didn’t know how long we’d be in the country, but William was adamant about getting us a new home in the U.S. again. Besides, I didn’t want to risk Emmaline suing for grandparental rights. If I eluded that she could be a part of our lives, she’d hopefully be placated.

I tried to explain my reasoning to William, but he didn’t understand and was still livid. There was nothing in his mind that’d justify interacting with his mother. The only way I could settle him down was to bring up the files we’d printed off from the pictures on our phones.

I decided to save the file with my mother’s information for another time. I wanted to know more, but I didn’t at the same time. Like William had said, there was nothing she could say that’d make what she’d done alright. After all this time, she’d never once tried to contact me. I wondered if she’d even recognize me if I was standing right in front of her. I quickly brushed aside those silly thought. Meeting my selfish mother was the last thing I wanted to do.

“We should widen our suspect pool. My father had already been compiling a list of suspicious people who were friends with the people we knew.”

William cross-referenced using the facts we had. The arsonist had been a woman, and she’d had puffy hair. From what Henry had in his file, that only left three people. Once again, Henry had Marvin high on the list. I was completely shocked, when William informed us all that his father had been nearly positive Marvin was my daughter’s father. That was never going to happen, though the amount of photos he had with Marvin in the background was a little unnerving. I worried that Marvin was stalking me on some level.  He seemed to have a less-than-healthy attachment to me and the store. One of our final suspects was associated with Marvin as well. Layla Mercer was a woman with puffy hair, certainly fitting the bill.

“Stuart said she has a crush on Marvin. Although I doubt she even knows you exist, so her coming after you wouldn’t make sense. Lily Sax and Karen Bennett would be more likely candidates. Karen’s daughter is on a waiting list for Penelope’s school. She didn’t think you were good enough to attend. She was reprimanded at one point for harassing another woman who was also on the wait list before her daughter. She was sentenced to anger management classes for attacking another person at her daughter’s cheer practice. She has a history of violent behavior that could’ve easily translated into arson.

“Lily doesn’t have a violent history, but things tend to fall apart after she’s touched them. There were too many incidences to be considered accidents. There was minor destruction of property on several occasions. As for Layla, the only reason she was considered was because of the potential for jealously, and the fact that her brothers were fireman.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t put her high on my list, and the facts on the other two women are a bit unnerving. Karen Bennett sounds like she should be in a straightjacket. What would be Lily’s motivation?”

William flipped through the blown-up pictures of the files, scanning them all. “It doesn’t say what it’d be. Do you know Lily Sax?”

“The name isn’t familiar at all. We should turn this information over to the detectives. Maybe they can figure it out. What are your thoughts on Layla?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll send Stuart after her. Hopefully, he can do a little quiet digging.”

I noticed a note to see Marvin’s file next to her name. “William, I think your father has a file on Marvin.”

“I’m not too worried. I have my own on Marvin as well. He’s a little odd, but I don’t believe there are any untoward intentions for you on his part.”

“I don’t think so, either.” I looked at the file I had on my mother and then saw William eyeing his own file. “It’s a little crazy that your dad has a file on you.”

He shook his head no. “It’s just like him, actually. He always has his hands in everybody’s business. I never realized the extent until today.”

“Are you going to read it?”

“I don’t know if I could handle it. He’s already done so much. He’s interfered so gravely in my life, and I’m afraid that what I’ll read will make things so much worse.”

“Do you want me to look it over?” He glared at the file in his hand and passed it over to me.

I turned to the back page that was the start of the file. I smiled at the baby picture that was posted in it. “Look at you. Your first picture.”

“Well, he had to get a mug shot from somewhere,” he grumped.

Under the picture were William’s full name, his weight, length, and little footprints. Below it all, written to the side out of the way, was
“Best Day Ever!”

“Your father thought your arrival was the best day ever.”

I looked up to see William frowning at his hands.  “He made me miss mine. I wasn’t there for Penelope.” He let out a huff. “I’m going to step out. I don’t think I can handle this right now. You let me know if you find anything of importance.” He stomped out of the room, and moments later, I heard the front door close.

It hurt that he’d left, but I understood. I continued on with his file. It was more like a scrapbook than a blackmail folder. There were school notes and the occasional threat to teachers and tutors, never anything major. There were several proud exclamations about William’s grades or work. He was an excellent student and required very little interference from his father. It was mostly due to William’s issues with other children and one other teacher, who’d had a brother who’d come out on the wrong side of Henry’s work.

He had several photos of outings, and just like Emmaline had said, after the age of seven, they’d tapered off a bit. The nanny, Ms. Maggie, had been hired, but not until after her mother had been moved into a home that was managed by people in Henry’s control. He’d even paid for the majority of her mother’s care.

William had played cricket in high school, and apparently, his father had made sure he made the team, as well as threw some key games. They’d been champions every year, because of his father’s meddling. I knew William would be furious if he found that out.

He’d had plans to swap out William’s college entrance exams, but William had done so well on his own there hadn’t been a need to.

I think the most disturbing thing was Henry’s deep interest in William’s love life. There were several notes about girls showing interest and Henry stepping in and scaring them away, using their family against them.

There were worried notes about a few college parties William had attended. He’d been part of a house that threw parties. William had had a girlfriend of sorts. Henry had made sure she was on birth control. He’d also blackmailed another guy to step in and steal her away from William.

I was shocked at the detailed notes he’d kept of William’s depression afterwards. The internal warring that’d gone on in the file made me wonder why he’d interfered with William and me. Henry was so worried that he might’ve caused him the same pain he struggled with. It was shocking to see the panic in his notes, as he followed his son’s upset for the course of three months. It was only when another woman stepped in, arranged by Henry, did William perk up again.

Once William went to work for Victor, Henry’s notes thinned considerably. He’d referenced several files on each of the board members of the company. Even though William had gotten the job on his own merit, he was to be the first considered for any promotion. Apparently, one of the board members had been able to reason with Henry and had insisted that William not be forcefully promoted, or he’d feel in over his head and stressed out. He enjoyed his job, so Henry conceded, not wanting his son to grow to hate his new positions.

It was obvious William would be livid when he found all of that out. It looked like the last major interference was when William had been looking to buy a flat. There had been two other bids, but because his son loved the place, Henry forced the seller to take his son’s offer, with a little monetary persuading, of course.

There were notes of girls, mostly things he’d overheard at parties he’d attended. Anytime anyone showed any bit of interest in his son, Henry thoroughly vetted them and often found something he didn’t quite approve of. Even still, he’d allowed Emmaline to introduce William to them, but not before Henry had stepped in and forced the girl to have a birth control shot to prevent any risk of trapping his son.  That had to have been an odd confrontation.

William had dated a few girls lightly, but they all seemed to back off. Henry was sure that when William met the right girl, they’d understand his interference and push forward with the relationship.

There was another woman who’d started to get close to William, but he’d been traveling a lot with his new promotion, and Henry was sure she wasn’t sincere in her feelings. He’d bribed her with fifty thousand pounds to leave William alone, and the sick bitch had taken it.

“I’m so worried for my son. He has such an innocent heart, like his mother. He pushes his rank away and thinks true love isn’t a part of the peerage. It’s his damn nanny who filled his head with thoughts of love for the underclass. She treated the children like her own, making her safe, but ruining them all the same. She put the children at such a risk for heartache. Greed runs so deep in the poorer class, he’s at such a risk to be taken advantage of. I’ll never forgive her if he’s hurt, if he has to suffer the way I had to. I refuse to let him be exposed to such pain. No child of mine will ever suffer if I can help it.”

The paper in the photo looked a little warped on the bottom, and I wondered if Henry had cried over it or dripped his drink.

There were only quick notes of praise when William would return from trips, but there were so few visits with his parents that his mother’s worry had been marked down.  Henry had even questioned Ms. Maggie about William, since he knew William was shutting his parents out of his life.

William had shown no interest in women for six months before his trip to the U.S., where he’d met me. It was George, one of the board members of Victor, who’d alerted Henry to William’s erratic behavior.

A private investigator had been sent. I was vetted, and my lack of funds in my family and my mother’s flighty behavior was noted. My willingness to run off with William at a moment’s notice had scared Henry so deeply. He was so sure my intentions had been to take advantage of his son and use him. The deep pen grooves were clearly visible in the photo, when he’d written about me. Again, the bottom of the page had several drip marks. Henry was either a messy drinker, or he had cried over his son.

The notes after my disappearance stayed thin. He’d wondered if William was having flings, because he tended to disappear from parties early, at the same time as some young ladies.

What I found next was disturbing. He’d put a tail on his own son with the help of George. Duncan had been assigned to William. The first year after my disappearance from William’s life, it had been noted that he’d become an angry cynic.  It wasn’t Henry who’d tried to set William up with women, but his mother. He’d just vetted them before they could be introduced.

He’d wanted to leave William to his morning of me. William had been hurt enough, and he’d wanted no part in hurting him again. The fact that I’d never sought out his son was proof to him that I didn’t love William and would only cause him more pain.

My body shook, and I gasped in panic, when I read that Henry had considered kidnapping my daughter to give to William, but he’d had no way of explaining her parentage without risking William trying to find me.

I dropped the file, backing away. I’d sympathized with the man up until that moment. He’d wanted to steal my daughter from me to give to his son, in hopes of easing his son’s pain. He would’ve, too, if he could’ve found a way. Instead, he’d made reference to a file labeled “Penelope Greyson.”