Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 2

Ch. 4: Truth and Lies

Although I realize now that he was right about all of that, I still don't like the idea of him trying to tell me who I can and can't see. I ripped my own heart out Monday night when I told Max my decision that we couldn't be together, and I'm really not in the mood to discuss any of that with my grandfather.

I step into his office. He looks up from the desk and tells me to shut the door, and I think, oh, no, this can't be good.

"Have a seat, Hadley."

One of the things you learn as a lawyer is not to show your emotions on your face, since it could give the other side an advantage. My grandfather is damn good at it.

He leans forward, resting his arms on his expansive desk.

"What are your plans this weekend?" he asks me, and my mind goes blank and my whole body freezes for a second. Has he found out somehow that I'm going out of town with Max this weekend? I hope my poker face is half as good as his as I stare back at him.

"Why do you ask?" I manage.

"I'm not trying to drop a new case assignment on you this weekend," he says, misunderstanding the reason for my evasive reaction. "I just thought you might want to spend some time with your grandmother." Again, for a moment, when I look at him I see a glimpse of man behind the invincible always-in-control image he protects to the world. "And with me," he adds, seemingly reluctantly.

"Perhaps a short excursion. She and Laura used to enjoy spending an afternoon there. Laura was particularly fond of the Koi pond and the butterfly garden."

I can picture her there, and the thought of my mother as a young girl - before whatever happened that drove a wedge between her and her parents, and before the cancer that later took her life - gives me a wistful feeling. In a way, walking through those same gardens with my grandmother now would be like being a part of my mother's life that I never got to share.

"Somehow walking through botanical gardens doesn't seem like your kind of thing," I tell him, and he nods.

"It's not really. But I want to join you for two reasons. First, it really means something to me to see Patricia happy. And you give that to her. When she thinks she's with Laura again, she's content."

I get that. My grandfather is a hard man, but his softness for his wife - and his paid at watching her slip away more each day while still being physically there, was obvious when I was at their house. And I remind myself that that's the reason he brought me here in the first place.

"What's the other reason?" I ask, curious, because I doubt it's the desire to spend time with me since he's ignored me my entire life.

He taps his pen on his desk. "I need to run interference in case I see anyone Laura knows. She was so outgoing, involved in so many things. There are so many acquaintances she had who have no idea what . . .the current circumstances are."

He seems to be speaking with an effort, choosing his words carefully, and I realize he hasn't completely accepted how my grandmother is now.

"When someone approaches her, clearly seems to know her," he continues, "and she can't place them, she gets confused and upset. I don't want an outing to do more harm than good. That's why we rarely go out anymore."

It makes me sad, thinking about how my grandmother's world has shrunk, not just mentally, but her physical world as well. Both her mind and her luxurious home have become a sort of prison.

My grandfather seems to have been lost in thought for a few moments, and I wonder if he's thinking back to happier days when he and my grandmother were involved in social and charitable activities in Miami, always someplace to go and something to do. I realize with a state that her illness has become his prison as well.