The Only Way is Up

Part Fifty One

When the phone went dead, Nicole leaned back in her chair. She'd told Kim to give him her address, which meant he'd be here...soon. The revelations from their talk were still echoing around in her head, how close she'd come to being harmed by the Alekis, how evil the father of the man she loved truly was. She believed everything that Maim had told her, but she was still angry that he hadn't found some way of letting her know. All it took was an 'I have to go away,' she was sure she'd have understood. Instead she'd been humiliated and left alone, not knowing what was happening; dealing with everything alone with the thought that he'd betrayed her.

Could she ever get past that? As time went on, she still wasn't sure. But he was the father of her baby; she had to give him the chance to be just that. It was going to be hard, but she had to separate her relationship with him, and his relationship with their child.

Running a hand over her stomach she got the serenity and contented feeling that this baby brought to her life almost immediately, it had been missing the last couple of days. She didn't want stress, didn't want anger or sadness, she just wanted that little cocoon that she'd created since she left the city. She wanted that bubble back, but she knew nothing was that easy.

So much had happened in six months, and nothing was certain anymore. The previous week she'd thought that the phone call from her brother was the biggest worry she had. As she sipped at the herbal tea that had replaced her coffee addiction since she'd discovered she was pregnant, she thought about Simon, the brother who'd called her bleating pitifully about their parents. She hadn't listened, but suddenly she needed to know. All the time she thought that she was integral to the deal, that Alekis wanted to deal with her...now she knew it was apparently to manipulate Maxim, and that he in turn acted to protect her...physically, but also to get her family off her back.

Suddenly she wanted to know why her family was falling about, what happened over the deal with the Russians.

She glanced at the clock, half past three, she had no idea what her brothers would be doing, but she didn't care. Rather than call back Simon, she searched for David, he was the older of her brothers, but the most normal in all honestly. She'd get closer to the truth rather than Simon who would have an agenda.

David answered immediately. Since she's left London she'd changed her phone number, so he had no idea who she was.

"David...it's Nicole."

She could hear the intake of breath, the surprise obvious, "wow. How are you?"

She smiled, and for a moment wished she'd been closer to her family, "I'm good. Thanks. How are Martina and the kids?"

"They're good. We're all finding adjusting hard. But there are worse situations than this."

That pricked at her intrigue, "what's happened? I haven't seen anyone really since that dinner party. What's gone on? Simon phoned last week but he didn't really say much."

David was silent for a long moment, then sighed, "the Russian deal...it wasn't what we thought it would be. I mean it stabilised the business. But, things weren't the same. You saw mother...she changed from the meek one to some sort of dragon over the last couple of years. She's divorcing father."

Nicole knew her mouth was hanging open, Aleksi saw the deal through! She had no idea that he'd honoured the deal. Suddenly she thought of Maxim...he would have ensured that. Instantly she knew that.

"Why? Why is she divorcing him?"

Again her brother exhaled, "she's run off...with Gerald Waite."

"Father's head lawyer?"

"Yup. And he has a remarkable amount of money."

She's always been suspicious of the legal man, but now...she felt vindicated. "Shit. So father's struggling and she's left him for someone on the up."

"Seems that way."

Nicole had no sympathy for her father, not after all he'd done, but she didn't take as much pleasure out of his downfall as she thought she would. "Are you ok, are you safe?"

"I'm working, nine to five for an acquaintance. We are being a lot more cautious and frugal. But it's ok."

"And Simon?"

Immediately she could sense the tension, "his wife is threatening to leave. He's stayed with father, but I think he's in a bad place."

She wasn't about to offer an olive branch to anyone in her family, she felt a little affiliation with David, and as she hung up, she promised she'd keep in touch.

After a bath, where she spent the time rehashing the phone conversation, she slipped on her favourite fleecy pyjamas, it was a cold night, but she wanted to sit out, star gaze. Anything to keep her mind off the man who would arrive and knock her door...soon.