Twist of Fate (26 page)

“Do you want to eat out tonight?” Hannah asked as she paused in front of a long row of bright yellow peppers.

Gideon looked at her, remembering the quiet evenings they had spent in Elizabeth Nord's cottage. “Not particularly.” At least she was accepting the fact that he would be sharing dinner with her. One step at a time, Gideon told himself.

She said nothing but turned to order two massive artichokes. Gideon trailed behind her as Hannah went on to buy a papaya for breakfast the next morning. Perhaps, if he handled her carefully, he wouldn't have to wake up on the sofa tomorrow morning. Just one night, Gideon told himself. Just one more night in bed. He was sure he could reestablish what they'd had together on Santa Inez Island if he could just get Hannah back into bed.

By the time he eased the car out of the crowded downtown area, Gideon was feeling confident again. Hannah sat beside him, apparently relaxed. Her sacks of vegetables and fish were in the back seat. The whole scene seemed quite comfortable and intimate. Gideon was sure Hannah had lowered some of her defenses.

He carried the groceries into her apartment with a feeling of anticipation. Gideon was still aware of a growing sense of satisfaction when the knock came on the door. Hannah propped her cane on the arm of the sofa and went to answer it.

“Well, hell,” she said. “Don't you use the buzzer any more?”

“I was hoping for a slightly warmer welcome,” Hugh Ballantine remarked. “Besides, the door was open.”

Gideon felt everything inside him turn to chilled steel. Slowly he set his grocery bag on the counter and walked to the door of the kitchen. Ballantine looked over Hannah's shoulder and saw him.

“Does this mean,” Ballantine asked Hannah very casually, “that you aren't interested in my offer?” But his eyes never left Gideon.

“It means,” Gideon said evenly, “precisely that. Did you really think you could get to me through her?”

“It was worth a try.”

“No,” Gideon said. “It wasn't worth a try. It's going to cost you.”

Hannah found her tongue, her eyes filling with a quiet rage. “Stop it, both of you. Do you hear me? You're like a couple of boys squabbling over an ice-cream cone.”

“Stay out of this, Hannah,” Gideon said. “It doesn't concern you.”

“Doesn't concern me? This is my apartment, in case neither of you had noticed. I haven't invited either of you here. You have both tried to use me to further your stupid battles with each other. You say it doesn't concern me? All right, I'll go along with that. Get out. Both of you.”

Gideon didn't look at her. “Easy, Hannah.”

“Out!” Her voice was tight with fury. “I will not be the ice-cream cone in the middle of this. You will not use my home as your battleground. I want you both out of here this instant or I will call the cops and have you removed. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

“Perfectly,” Ballantine said. His mouth crooked faintly in his characteristic smile but his vivid blue gaze held no trace of humor.

“Go on,” Hannah charged forcibly, her eyes burning into Gideon. “Get out. Your main interest in life is making war with him. Don't let me stop you. Go play your male games in the street. I want you both out of here.”

Gideon finally jerked his eyes from Ballantine's face to Hannah's. He took one look at the fierce determination in her features and knew he would have to leave. Without a word he picked up his windbreaker and walked to the door. Ballantine stepped aside. The door slammed shut behind them.

Gideon hooked the jacket over his shoulder and started toward the stairs. “I don't suppose,” he offered casually, “that you'd be interested in talking?”

“Probably not. But you can try.”

“You wasted your time trying to use Hannah, you know.”

“Oh, I don't know.” Ballantine followed slowly down the stairs. “It was worth the trip just to see her throw you out.”

“I'll be going back. You won't.”

Ballantine took a deep breath of the cool, crisp air. The day had turned out sunny, and some of the warmth lingered as evening began. The two men stood facing each other at the foot of the stairs. Ballantine smiled whimsically.

“If I'd pulled it off, it might have worked.”

“What might have worked? Using Hannah?” Gideon shook his head. “Not a chance.”

“She's gotten to you, hasn't she?”

“That's beside the point. It wouldn't have worked because she would never betray the man she's sleeping with.”

Ballantine raised his eyebrows. “Not even if the guy had used her?”

Gideon started walking, not surprised when Ballantine fell into step beside him. The tension they were both radiating under their laconic poses was an invisible screen that kept a couple of feet of distance between them. “Is that what you tried to tell her? That I used her?”

“It was the truth. I can see how it might have been after that business with Accelerated Design. Kind of flat for you, wasn't it? Seducing Jessett's sister probably seemed an interesting idea. But you didn't count on finding her too interesting, did you, Cage?”

“As usual, Ballantine, when it comes to analyzing people you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Let's try and stick to business.”

“I'm listening.”

“You can have Surbrook.”

Ballantine's head came around, shrewd blue eyes hard as ice. “Bullshit.”

Gideon shrugged. “Okay, if you don't want it, forget it. I'll go ahead and take it. It's a good, solid little firm. I'll find some use for it.”

“What are you talking about, Cage?”

“I'm telling you that I've decided not to fight you for Surbrook. The price is getting too high.”

Ballantine sucked in more fresh air. “What would you tell your backers?”

“That the game wasn't worth the candle.”

“I don't believe you, Cage. You're not going to back down.”

“Why not?” Gideon watched a black-and-white cat dart across the quiet street in hot pursuit of a squirrel. The squirrel saw the cat out of the corner of its eye and every time the cat got close the squirrel simply moved farther away. The presence of the hunting feline did not stop the squirrel from gathering dinner.

“You know damn well, why not. Back off from this and I'll just keep coming at you. You can't back off forever. If you do you'll achieve the same result as if you simply put up a fight and lost. Either way your investors are going to start having doubts. Those doubts will turn to panic. They'll desert the sinking ship so fast you'll never know what hit you.”

“Like I said. Take Surbrook if you want it.” Gideon watched the squirrel edge out of reach of the cat.

“I'm not falling for this, whatever it is, Cage. You'll stand and fight. You've never backed down from a confrontation in your whole career.”

“I am from this one.”

“Why?” Ballantine demanded.

“Other things have become more important.”

“That woman back there in the apartment? I don't believe it. Nothing is more important to you than the reputation of Cage & Associates, least of all a woman. Besides, how long do you think she'd want you once she finds out you're on a skid?”

“Let's not bring Hannah into this. As I recall, she specifically asked to be left out of the war. I think she's got a point. I'm removing myself from the war, also.”

“You can't. You're trapped.”

“Only if I let myself be trapped.” Gideon sighed. “Face it, Hugh. You can't hurt me the way I hurt your father.”

“Jesus. You even admit it.”

“That I destroyed him financially? I've never denied it. There was a time when I would have sold my soul to the devil for your father. I'd have done anything for him. The bastard knew that. He used it. Then he calmly slit my throat and left me to find my own way out of the ditch.”

“You're lying.”

Gideon sighed inwardly, wondering why he was even bothering to try to explain. Normally he didn't attempt to explain himself to anyone. People inevitably interpreted explanations as a form of weakness. “You didn't know your father as well as I did. Not back in those days. I did know him. Knew how ruthless he could be. But I thought I had some protection because I was his protégé and then his partner. I owed him. He'd given me more than I ever dreamed I'd have. He was the father I'd never had.”

“Can the drama, Cage.”

Gideon lifted one shoulder negligently. “All right. I won't bore you with the unpleasant details. When he walked away and left me in that mess I swore I'd make him pay. You could say I dedicated my whole life to it. I lost a lot along the way.”

“If you're referring to the fact that Sharon left you, I'm not buying it. Everyone knew the two of you were having problems long before you and Dad broke up the partnership.”

“Those problems got a lot worse when I set my sites on making Cyrus Ballantine a nonplayer in the corporate world.” Gideon remembered the fights and the endless recriminations over the twenty-four-hour days he began putting in after Ballantine had walked away with the assets of the corporation.

Sharon had been restless and unhappy before the disaster. When he'd married her she'd been a prize, a glittering jewel from the right side of the tracks who was just what he needed to crown his growing success. When he'd been younger, women like her had seemed to be from another planet—totally unavailable to a boy who made a living selling hubcaps and running errands for Cyrus Ballantine. By the time he met her he was making real money for the first time in his life. He knew where he was going and he was sure the sky was the limit. Sharon had agreed with him.

Even though he'd reached the point where he could have his choice among a variety of cool, blond beauties, Sharon had still seemed unique. Not only did she have the looks, she had the background. Good family, good schools, just the right amount of third-generation money. There had been an initial physical attraction that had lasted through a three-month affair and six months of marriage. There had been some problems, but Gideon was sure they could have been worked out. Then the crunch came.

After the financial crisis, Gideon knew he wasn't going to be able to hold Sharon. She was angry, and bitter at him for what had happened. There had been too many embarrassing articles in the paper, too many humiliating moments at the country club. She was the wife of a loser instead of a winner. She blamed him for making her look like a fool to her family and friends. Eventually she took a lover, making little effort to conceal the fact from her husband. It was as if she were trying to punish Gideon. But by that time Gideon didn't care as much as he should have cared. He was immersed in his plans for revenge. There were times when Gideon wished he had time for a lover himself. But the task of going after Ballantine proved to be a harsh mistress.

“So you went through a divorce,” Hugh said. “Is that supposed to matter to me?”

“No.”

“I don't believe for one moment that you saw my father as a substitute parent. You would never have done what you did to him if you'd felt that way about him.”

“Hugh, I did what I did to him precisely because I felt that way.”

“I'm not buying any fake psychology, so skip the personal analysis. It makes no difference.”

“Have you ever looked into the whole story of what happened when your father's corporation fell apart?”

“He told me what happened. He explained how you'd been screwing around with the banks and the Feds for two full years before the whole thing caved in on you.”

“It was your father who was playing games. But he was smart enough to know that it might all fall apart. So he stashed the profits out of the country. On the day the government walked in, he was boarding a plane for the Bahamas. I was the one left sitting there with a very dumb expression on my face.”

“The way you're going to be sitting when I get finished with you.”

Gideon watched the squirrel decide it had had enough of evading the cat. With several long bounds it headed for a tree and climbed it in seconds. The cat gave up and went off in search of easier prey. “No, Ballantine, I don't think so. Once was enough.”

“I'll take everything you've got. All your backers and clients. Your reputation's going to be shit by the time I've finished with you.”

“We'll see.” Gideon came to a halt and faced the other man. “I think this conversation has reached its logical conclusion. Good night, Ballantine.”

Ballantine stood braced on the sidewalk. The wind ruffled his hair, enhancing the farm-boy image that served him so well in business. It was easy to underestimate Hugh Ballantine because he just didn't look like the shark he was evolving into. But Gideon didn't underestimate him. He'd known the man's father.

“You won't back down, Cage. You'll fight. You've got too much to lose.”