Wicked Games (Bishop Mafia Series 1)

Chapter 6

Copyright © 2014 by Athena Heart

"There was no other way." Gloria spoke, seated opposite her daughter.

"But why, Dean?" Elena paced to and fro in the room. "We have other partners for The Peridot. Why did you turn to, Dean?"

Gloria blew her nose. Her eyes were still red. The tears had fallen as she explained to her very angry daughter. "Dean is almost family. The Bishops were the only ones I could trust."

"Family?" Elena scoffed. Her mother's words were getting more absurd by the minute. "He is forcing me to marry him. You call that family?"

"Elena," Gloria slowly arose from the chair. "I know all these is too sudden for you. But the situation is such. Dean helped us at a time when I had no one to turn to."

"And you didn't tell me about the debts incurred by The Peridot. Why, mum? I am a Cruise as well. After dad, the hotel comes to me."

"You never had a head for business, Elena. You and I both know that."

Elena stopped walking and looked at her mother. It was true. She didn't want to manage the hotel. Each day, saw her at the studio she had bought and decorated on her own. The studio where she taught Salsa to the seven-year-olds to the seventy-year-olds. Life as a dance teacher completed her.

"When your father passed away..." Gloria gripped the armchair for support. Speaking of her husband's passing always weakened her. "When you father died, you didn't even to attend his funeral. And you locked yourself in the room for days. I had to take over the business. You know The Peridot was your father's blood and sweat." Gloria paused. "Besides, all you cared about was to sway around the ballroom. That wasn't even a decent job, Elena."

"It's my passion, mum. Passion." Elena shook her head at her mother. "You could have told me about the problems in The Peridot. We could have thought of something. And now, Dean is threatening to tear it down if I don't marry him."

Gloria sighed. "You never once asked me about The Peridot. Every morning when you woke up, you will run off to that studio of yours. I hardly saw you. There was so much to do in the hotel, Elena." Gloria threw her daughter a long look. "I know all this is hard to take in. But you will grow to love, Dean. He is a lovely man."

Elena spun around and looked at her mother in disbelief. Did her ears hear, right? Dean, a lovely man? Hell no, he wasn't.

She sat on the edge of the bed. "How much did he pay for the debts?" Her mind prepared to calculate. She still had her shares in The Peridot.

Gloria sniffed. "All $2.7 million."

"What?" Elena's jaw dropped open.

Gloria nodded. "Every single debt was paid off. All $2.7 million."

"How on earth did things escalate like this, mum?" Regret began to pound on her heart. She should have paid more attention to The Peridot. Instead she had wallowed in the guilt of what had happened to her father. The only way she knew how to deal with his death was to throw herself into her dancing.

"There was an embezzlement."

"Mum... you didn't tell me any of this before?"

"You weren't speaking to me, Elena. I tried so many times. But you were still thinking about your father and that dance of yours. I had to do something." Tears rolled down Gloria's cheeks.

Elena's heart twisted within her. It was at that moment, she realized her mother had aged so much. Gone was the vibrancy and laughter from her face. In their place, was sorrow and drunkenness. She knew her mother drank every night. They had lived in the same house but they were two different strangers. She had heard her mother genuinely laugh when the Bishops had visited a few days ago, back in their Florida home. That was the first laughter she had heard from her Mother in about a year. And in that year, so much had happened and she had been oblivious to it all. This was her fault.