A New Beginning

Chapter 58: Less Restraint

Chapter 58: Less Restraint

Caledon Hockley that was not a happy man. Life seemed to be continually getting worse. First, his father berated him for spending so much money on a private investigator, then his meetings at work went horribly wrong. One of his steel plants were threatening to go on strike unless they were paid better wages and he tore his newest business suit. When he got home, he'd discovered that his fiancée's mother had left with her maid, leaving a note saying that she needed to go back Philadelphia to take care of some things and that they'd be in touch very soon.

Confused, Cal sat down on his couch.

"Riptide!" He calls. "Please bring me a bottle of whiskey and the paper."

"Would you like a glass, sir?" Riptide asks as he finished hanging up his master's coat.

"Just the bottle!" Cal demands.

Riptide does as he is told. Cal looks at the letter Ruth left him. He's very bewildered that she left so suddenly. Her grief over Rose had made her very frail and he couldn't imagine that she would ever want to leave New York until her daughter was found unless...

Unless she knew something, he didn't. Cal takes a long swig of whiskey and thinks it over. Obviously, Ruth was hiding something. Maybe she did know where Rose was but was keeping it to herself so she could continue using his money to pay off their debts. Perhaps Rose was back in Philadelphia and was attempting to find a new husband. He shakes the thought from his mind as the private investigator would have called them if he had found Rose unless he did and Ruth didn't tell him.

Riptide brings over the mail to Cal.

"There are a couple yellow envelopes here sir, I believe they are from the courthouse."

"Why the hell would the courthouse be giving me papers?"

"Heck if I know sir."

Cal rips open the first envelope.

To Mr. Caledon Hockley from the Judicial Court of New York City,

This is an order of permanent protection against you from the home of Ms. Emma Carson and Peter Whitman. Due to their reports of physical violence towards them and the alleged abduction of Miss Sybil Carson, you have been ordered by the courts to never come within approximately 700 feet of their established home and place of work. Any contact between the subjects or any of their offspring is strictly prohibited. Violation of this order will result in immediate arrest and fines of up to $200,000 with the risk of prosecution from the victims.

Judicial Court of New York City

"SON OF A...!"

Cal's voice rings out so loudly that most of the people across the street could hear him. He hurls the whiskey bottle across the room and it smashes against the wall. He crumples the letter in his fist and throws that away from himself too. He screams every obscenity that he can think of at the top of his lungs so that God himself could hear them. Riptide's eyes are wide in fear and horror; he merely leans against the wall and pretends to be invisible as his master continues his rage. Cal smashes an antique vase against the wall and then kicks over the coffee table, sending everything else to the floor. He walks up to the wall and manages to put his fist through it. He practically pulls out his hair in agony. His eyes burned with angry tears and his throat was going explode from his outbursts. His head ached fiercely with the amount of rage that seemed to be coursing through it.

The two brats were alive as well as the baby! That couldn't be possible, Cal made sure he shot the boy in the leg, knowing he would bleed out and he saw the girl go over the railing of the ship. There was no way in hell she could have survived and yet, he was served with a restraining order to stay away from them on the threat of arrest and a ruined reputation. Those two had been thorns in his side from the very beginning, filling Rose's head up with silly fantasies. He thought that abducting the infant got the point across as well as the shooting, but apparently not. He stomps on the balled-up letter. He presses his hands against the wall as if he could push it away from himself and he sucks in a sharp breath.

He sees the same coloured unopened envelope laying on the ground now, staring at him...mocking him. He didn't want to open it. What was it now? The brats were going to press charges for something they couldn't prove and that happened in international waters?

He storms over and opens the other envelope. A similar restraining order only from...

ROSE and JACK DAWSON!

The bastard was alive. That couldn't be possible! I saw with his own two eyes someone being buried at sea. He wasn't on the list of survivors. God must be cursing him in some way. WHY DID HE DESERVE THIS PAIN?!

Cal's entire body seems to explode in pain when the realization hits him.

SHE RAN AWAY WITH HIM! He must have been at that dinner. Damn him for not paying more attention to the crowds. He should have handcuffed her to him to ensure she didn't run away. He should have beaten the truth out of the maid. He should've gone searching for her himself. Cal punches a second hole in the wall and shouts more obscenities. He goes into the kitchen and practically tears the place up. Kicking over chairs, smashing dishes and anything else in sight. He takes his reign of terror all over the apartment. Nothing is safe.

It's a long time before the place becomes a little bit quieter. By the time the rage has worked its way through his system, the entire apartment is a wreck, looking like it had been hit by a tornado and a hurricane.

Cal sits in the middle of the kitchen floor among the shattered plates and glasses. His clothes a wrinkled mass, his fists black and blue from punching things and his apartment a total war zone. Cal pants as the adrenaline slowly settle in his system, he takes several strangled breaths as he tries to calm down a bit. His mind beings to clear just enough that he can start thinking again.

He wanted so badly to find those stupid brats and that whore and gutter rat and shoot their brains out, but he couldn't, by law he couldn't, without the risk of arrest and he'd already spent enough time in prison. His father would disown him if he was ever taken to court and that was something he simply could not have.

Cal assumes that Ruth knew about this and left. She knew Rose was alive and living freely with the bastard of a man. He had wasted all that money on a private investigator who did absolutely nothing in bringing his fiancée back to him. He wanted to confront the old woman on what she knew, but slowly, new ideas form in his head.

He could sever the engagement, buy their property and put that woman on the street. He never knew why he put up with the whiny, weak Ruth in the first place. She was a nuisance, another thorn in his side.

He smiles a bit at the thought of his fiancée's mother becoming a seamstress or something even more awful. But then there was the problem of Rose and...Dawson.

He knew he had to show them that he always won. He would not be made a fool of by a bunch of brats... he always won. No doubt the two were back together and would be likely getting married soon. He had to put a stop to it. He had Rose first and he was not going down without a fight. He wanted to put a wrench into their plans, ruin their happiness, make them feel the pain that he felt. He would make them pay...

The only problem was... he couldn't by law. He couldn't lay a hand on any of them. He knew that they were in New York since the courts here in the city had served the orders. He needed a new angle. He needed a new way to get around the law. He would not be stopped. He had to do this quietly and without notice by his father or anyone else...

Well, almost anyone else...

Cal smiles.

"Riptide..." he says. "I have something for you to do."