Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 52

52

DARIUS

I stick my head out my driver’s side window and yell. “For crying out loud! Stay in your lane! How many dicks did you have to suck to get your driver’s license, assface?!”

“Excuse me?!” my lawyer barks through my car’s bluetooth system.

Oops! “Sorry. Not you, Frank,” I mumble in response.

I’m on the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, honking at all the slowpokes. It’s fair to say that I’m not in my friendliest mood today, as I focus on my one and only mission.

Operation : Get to Honey Hill as fast as my luxury sedan can take me .

I wouldn’t have to be such an asshole if Frank really understood the urgency here.

But he doesn’t know what it was like, walking into my bedroom in the dead of night only to realize that Ziggy was gone. Without a trace.

The woman I love left me last night and now I’m desperate to figure out where I went wrong .

It was after three in the morning when I trudged out of my home office, ready to fall into my bed and pull her into my arms. But when I stepped into the bedroom, my disheveled sheets were empty.

At first I was frozen. Confused. Then I rushed over to the balcony overlooking my driveway, only to realize that Ziggy’s bus was gone.

She left.

Without a word. Without a sound.

I called her phone number again and again, each call sent straight to voicemail. Even though there was no trace of her, I jumped into my car, speeding after her ghost down the dark, winding hills.

It was a ridiculously dangerous choice, especially when the rain started coming down. But Ziggy was all I cared about in that moment.

As I drove, I wracked my brain, thinking back over the night. Trying to figure out what could have sent her running. Only one thing came to mind.

That phone call. Fuck.

She overheard the phone call. She misunderstood everything.

And she left.

Shit. I’ve ruined everything with Ziggy. Now I’m just desperate to track her down so I can explain myself.

But I couldn’t find her last night. She didn’t go to her usual spot in the woods of Honey Hill and she didn’t show up at my office this morning. So here I am, rushing toward the only place I’m sure to find her.

I know she’s got to be working at her metaphysical shop in Honey Hill. And if I don’t get there in the next few minutes, she’ll be closed up for the day, and only God knows where that woman plans to park her bus this evening. If she wants to hide, I’ll never find her.

I can’t wait another day.

I need to talk to her now.

“Darius, I don’t like this,” Frank whines. “You know I’ll do everything in my power to make sure this new transaction you’re proposing goes through as you requested. But what you’re doing is crazy. It’s lunacy. You're going to regret it. I’m certain of that.”

Frank and I have been over this several times already. He about had a heart attack when I first told him of how I plan to win Ziggy back. He prepared all the documentation that I asked him to prepare, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to talk me out of it this whole time.

The man is only trying to be helpful. He’s got good intentions. He’s always made it a point to look out for my best interests. But at this point, his constant yapping is just slowing me down.

“I don’t care that it’s crazy,” I snap back. “I need to win her back, and this is the only way to do it. I have to get her to trust me. Fully. This is the only way.”

“Darius, please. There are better ways to handle this. I have to advise against this. You can’t just sign over every single dollar you own to Ms. Beaumont and hope for the best. When you come to your senses, you’re going to be beside yourself. This isn’t something we can just ‘undo’.”

“Dammit, Frank. This woman is the love of my life. I loved her before I had a dollar to my name. I loved her before I even knew what the word meant. And I will do anything to win her back. I know you mean well, but right now, I don’t care what you or anyone has to say. I’m doing this. ”

I’m willing to risk it all for Ziggy. Point blank period.

I hang up on my lawyer. Honestly, I’m doing him a favor. He’s just wasting his breath trying to talk me out of this.

I need to prove my loyalty to Ziggy. I would never, ever betray her and the rest of the town in this waterfall deal.

But Ziggy doesn’t know that.

And now she’s somewhere out there, thinking that I’m just like Edison. Thinking that I only bought the land to sell it off to the highest bidder in the future. I can’t let her go on believing that. I have to make sure she knows the truth.

I arrive at Divine Treasures just as Ziggy is saying goodbye to her last customer of the day. She’s standing there at the door, getting ready to lock it. I let the customer walk by, and then I slip through before Ziggy has the chance to slam it in my face.

She doesn’t look happy to see me. She’s doing a hell of a job to mask her pain. She’s showing me her red hot anger. But staring into her sad blue eyes, I can tell that she’s hurt.

I did that.

I took away the smile and the unique sparkle that Ziggy always embodies. I hate myself for it. But this is all just a horrible misunderstanding, and once she knows what’s really going on, she’ll smile again. I know it.

I flip her welcome sign to ‘closed’ and she seethes at me.

“I need to talk to you,” I plead, standing just inside the doorway.“I want you to hear me out.”

She scoffs, rolling those blue eyes at me. “It’s all about what you want, huh? So damn typical.”

I shake my head. She’s going to make this hard on me, I see. “No, it’s not just about me. It’s about us . I love you, Ziggy.”

She falters.“It sure didn’t sound that way when you were on the phone last night. It sounded like you’ve been lying to me this whole time.” She seems a little like a wild, skittish animal right now. One sudden move, and she’s going to flee again.

So I start talking. Quickly. “You don’t understand what you overheard last night.”

“Oh, I don’t? Well, spell it out to me in plain English. Because I heard you with my own ears. You said that you’ll do whatever you please with the waterfall and you don’t care what anyone has to say about it.”

I grunt in frustration. “I was speaking with one of those shady building inspectors from the mayor’s office, Ziggy. One of those assholes who’ve been giving me a hard time and trying to run my business out of town.” I inhale sharply. “You were right. Something shady is going on at the mayor’s office. I’ve been walking on eggshells, trying not to start a fight with the inspectors. I’ve been trying to remain on fantastic terms with them until the new waterfall deed was properly registered. Because I couldn’t give them an opening to sabotage the deal. You have to know that you and I are on the same team here. I would never betray you.”

“Why should I even believe that, Darius?!” she shouts at me.

“Because I don’t own the waterfall, Ziggy!” I shout back. “I can never sell it because it doesn’t belong to me!”

My words bounce off the windows and the walls. All the color drains from Ziggy’s face.

“Wh-what…?” she whispers.

Taking a careful step forward, I hand her the thick document that Frank and I spent the morning pulling together.

“What is this?” she asks, her eyes narrowing as she reads through the stapled set of papers.

“It’s a detailed inventory of all my assets. Everything of any worth that I own. My bank accounts. My properties. My investment portfolios. Every last dime.”

Ziggy’s eyes bulge. She blinks rapidly like she’s struggling to make sense of what I’m saying.

“The only thing you won’t find on that document is the waterfall,” I blurt out.

Ziggy’s head snaps up, question marks in her blue irises.

“The thing is, I didn’t exactly buy the waterfall,” I go on.

Her eyeballs bulge like they’re about to fall out of her head. “ What …?”

I rush to clarify. “I mean, I did. But it’s not in my name. Frank helped me set up a unique arrangement for the waterfall purchase.”

“A unique arrangement?” she asks, looking genuinely terrified of what I’ll say next.

“I decided to set up a non-profit organization, and I purchased the property under the non-profit instead of under my own name. I wanted to make sure the waterfall remained a protected landmark that belongs to the people of Starlight Falls, and a non-profit was the best way to do just that.”

That was the big secret I was keeping from Ziggy. I was hoping to surprise her with the news.To prove to her once and for all that I’m actually a good guy, someone she can trust.

Instead, I ended up achieving the opposite effect. Because Ziggy overheard my conversation with that corrupt town inspector last night and she misunderstood everything.

“So, the waterfall doesn’t belong to me,” I go on. “It’s owned by a newly created legal entity that I set up for the benefit of the town. For the people of Starlight Falls. ”

“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?” she whispers, her voice quivering and loaded with suspicion.

“I was going to surprise you with the news as soon as I was sure that the new deed was properly registered. I know what you heard last night, but I promise, I can’t ever sell the property for my own personal gain. The waterfall is not mine to sell.”

She’s silent, letting it all sink in.

I’m telling the truth and she knows it.

I try to stay quiet. I try to keep my mouth shut and let her process what I just said. But I’m dying to spill everything. I need Ziggy to understand my intentions.

I draw her attention back to the document she’s holding in her hands. “Turn to the last page,” I instruct her.

With a wary look on her face, she does so. Her eyebrows crinkle as she reads and re-reads the sheet of paper.

Ziggy shakes her head in disbelief. “It…it says…”

“It says I’m handing my fortune over to you, Ziggy Beaumont.I don’t need any of it, not if you aren’t mine. Not if you don’t trust me.I want you more. All you have to do is sign,” I say softly. “And then everything I own is yours.”

“Why are you doing this?” she whispers.

“Because I love you, Ziggy. And the only thing I truly need in this whole world is for you to love me back.”

I know it’s crazy, handing over everything I’ve worked so hard for on a silver platter. But when I say I’d do anything for this woman, I absolutely mean it. She means more than all the money in the world. And this is the only way to prove it. Despite what Frank may think.

Ziggy silently reads over the document again. I’m practically bouncing on my feet, watching. Waiting. But her face is completely blank. I can’t tell what she’s thinking.

“I mean it. I love you, and I’m going to prove it to you,” I say softly. “I want to put your name on everything. I want to transfer it all over to you.”

Her eyes fill with tears, as she continues to stare at the papers.

I instantly feel lighter, breathing a sigh of relief.

It worked.I’ve done it. I’ve won her back.

I step forward, ready to kiss her tears away, but I stop in my tracks when Ziggy suddenly rips the contract in half and lets the torn papers flutter to the floor between us.

I blink in shock. “What…? Why…? I don’t…”

“Yeah. You don’t get it. You never will.” She takes a step back. Then another.

“You’re right,” I say, exasperated. “I don’t get it.”

I just handed this woman my entire life’s work on a silver platter and she’s still running away from me.

“Look—I can’t do this. You make everything about money and now you’re trying to buy my trust.”

“I’m not trying to buy your trust. I’m trying to prove my loyalty!”

“You kept secrets,” she wails. “You knew how hard it was for me to trust you, and yet you chose to hide things from me. How do you expect me to trust you when you’ve demonstrated time and again that integrity means nothing to you?”

“Ziggy, no. I wasn’t…I just…Can’t you see that this is different?”

She keeps talking. “You are willing to do anything and everything to close a deal. How do I know that you won’t throw me under the bus to get what you want one day in the future?”

She’s still stepping away, shaking her head as tears continue to roll down her cheeks.

“I can’t do this. My heart can’t handle it. This whole relationship thing is not for me. Please just go back to ignoring me, like you have for the last sixteen years. Close the door behind you when you leave.”

And with that, she runs off, disappearing into the back of the shop, and leaving me completely and utterly lost.

Things between us were going so well. How did we even get here? How did I make such a mess of everything?