The Billion Dollar Affair [#7]

Chapter 2

Tristan was running late again. With a sleeping wife to leave behind, he was a little hesitant to walk out the door, but he did nonetheless when the time on his watch read half past eight.

Èric, their eldest son at the age of six, sipped from a cup of milk when Tristan stepped out onto the porch. They shared a look of confusion, but Èric broke it when he set his cup down and ran to his father for an embrace.

"What are you doing here, bud?"

"Ma let me out."

He quirked a brow at his son. "Ma? I told Mommy not to give her a spare key."

Daphnia emerged from behind the patio with muddy gloves and scowled at her son. "Olive is very much appreciated in this situation, but we have another one at home."

He knew the look in his mother's eyes all too well. His daughter, Emily, shared the same one when she knew there was trouble. "Èric, Daddy needs to talk to Ma for awhile so go inside and play, okay?"

His son nodded and ran inside the house, leaving the two adults to converse.

"It's Eloise," she told him, peeling off the dirty rubber gloves.

He jerked back. "She nearly ruined my marriage, Mom."

Ignoring her son, she continued. "She and Killeen took off together shortly after her birth. They're back, and now the family is in distress. She's sick, Tristan."

"She isn't my problem," he sternly told Daphnia. There was no way he would allow Eloise back into his life after the stunt she pulled, nearly costing him the love of his life. "If the Chases have any problems, don't involve me."

"Killeen has been shot, for heaven's sake!" she shouted at him. "There was a family dispute. His father pulled the trigger, and now there is no telling whether he will wake. Come home for him. He was once a brother to you."

Tristan deeply sighed into the palm of his hand and checked the time on his watch. He had to leave for work. "I'll call you tonight, Mom."

"Tristan Devereux," he heard Olivia say just as he stepped off the porch. "I know I didn't just hear you deny your mother's request to have you home."

He turned to face her and involuntarily smiled. Despite the situation, his wife always managed to surprise him at every turn. "Baby, go back to bed. You need the rest."

"I'll pack a bag, Daphnia," Olivia said to her mother in law. "Tristan will be on his way as soon as he leaves work."

"There is no way in hell-"

Olivia shut her husband up with the single shot of a glare and shook her head. "I'll follow in the morning."

"Oh, Olive!" Daphnia exclaimed, engulfing her in her arms. "What would I do without you? You seem to be the only one my stubborn son listens to now."

"That's why I married him."

Tristan scowled and hastily turned to the car down the driveway, and Olivia immediately followed. "Turn around, belle."

"And let you go to work pissed?"

"That word doesn't begin to describe how I feel."

She tugged on his arm, pulling him back to her. "You tell me all the time how much you want to visit home."

"This is my home."

"No, it's not. There's something you need that I can give you if you'd just say the word."

Tristan sighed. "Olive-"

"Just say it, Tristan."

"There's no place in this world that even compares to where my wife and kids are. Let me go, baby. Let me go to work."

"Promise me you'll go home."

He squeezed his eyes shut. She couldn't see him, but he knew she could feel the rapid beating through his chest as she held him. "Only if you come with me tonight. I can't face Eloise on my own. I could have lost you for what she did to us."

"Okay," she agreed, kissing his shoulder. "I'll have the kids in the car by seven sharp."

"I love you dearly."

"I love you, too."

He chuckled when she tightened her hold around him. "Babe, you really have to let me go now."

"I'm sure Theo and Isaac will understand if you're late," she murmured. "Or if you just don't show up at all."

"You have to be gone soon, too," he reminded her, which only earned a groan from her pretty mouth. "Soon, I'll see you, Olive. Soon."

•••••

"Where the fuck have you been?" Isaac asked the second Tristan stepped foot into his office.

Tristan loosened the tie around his neck and poured himself a glass of water. "Some family matter."

"Is the family alright?" Isaac wanted to know. The Devereuxs were his family, too.

Tristan shook his head in response. "I got rid of Eloise long ago, but now she's gonna fuck everything up again."

"What happened?"

"Killeen ran off with his goddamn step sister after Olivia and I got out of that place. They're back, and the idiot had to get himself shot."

"Fuck," Isaac muttered, dragging a hand down his face. "What'd Olive say about all of this?"

"She wants me to go. I can't face them."

Isaac didn't know what to do, and he sure as hell didn't know what to say, so he pulled the flask from his coat pocket out and held it out to Tristan. "If you need me to, I'll be there."

"Please," Tristan said, taking the flask from him to take a swig of the content. "I don't want Olive and Athena around Eloise."

"I'll make sure she steers clear of them."

"And I especially don't want her around the kids," he told Isaac sternly. "Èric repeats everything he hears, and if Eloise gets near my kid, I know she will manipulate him in any form she can."

"I've got this," Isaac assured him. "Let me handled the girls and the kids, and you deal with Killeen."

Tristan knew why Isaac was one of his most trusted family, and he knew he'd need someone like him during the current events.