Page 3 of Tainted Love
Chapter 2
Bea
I SLOUCH BACK against the sticky leather seats as the car makes its way across the peak-hour afternoon Melbourne traffic. The air-conditioning in the car service which Dad sent to pick me up from the airport makes the stifling February summer heat barely tolerable.
I’ve been travelling throughout Europe for the past twelve months, taking a gap year with my best friend, Maya. She fell in love with a handsome Italian guy who is the son of a hotel mogul, and stayed to see if they can make things work. I, unfortunately, was forced to come home.
My deal with Dad and Granddad was I could take one year off before returning home to study law and join the family firm. I love and miss them both, but my heart lies in fashion, not law. The year I spent travelling in Europe—going to fashion shows in Barcelona, Paris and Milan—only solidified that.
I will never convince Dad, though.
It's always been only the two of us, for as long as I can remember. I was born when my parents were young. Dad was only twenty when his girlfriend accidentally fell pregnant.Terrified her religious parents would disown her, my granddad took her in, and paid for all her medical expenses. According to Dad, she struggled with her mental health after I was born, and eventually decided she couldn’t handle being a mother at only nineteen. The last he heard, she was living in Perth, happily single, running a wellness retreat for women who experience post-partum depression.
I don’t have a relationship with her apart from receiving a birthday card from her every year, but that was my choice. Dad has been more than enough of a parent for me. He’s been super present in my life while also working hard to finish his law degree and earn his spot in Granddad’s law firm—Kirkland, Sullivan & Cromwell—one of the most prestigious law firms in Melbourne. The only downside, he wants me to follow in his footsteps.
While I dread starting my undergrad law degree in a month, I am excited to arrive home and see Dad. When I spoke to him a couple of days ago, he said he has a surprise to share. Granddad is only a few years off retirement, so I’m assuming it has something to do with his partnership in the firm. I’m so proud of him. At only forty, he’ll be one of the youngest partners in the city. What a catch.
He's never complained about being a single dad, but he’s also never dated. He said he was too busy with work to go out and meet someone, but I’ve always felt slightly guilty it was because of me.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out. I grimace when I see Hunter Cromwell’s face light up on the screen. With a sigh, I send it to voicemail. He’s another complication I don’t have the capacity to deal with right now. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I haven’t thought about my high school boyfriend at all while I was away, except for when he blew up my DM’s.
If I’m completely honest with myself, I’d fallen out of lovewith him long before Maya and I left for our gap year. I tried to break up with him six months before we left, but he refused to accept the situation. He said we are meant to be together. I tried to hold my ground, but he truly is a lawyer’s grandson, and his constant arguments wore me down and I gave into him as it was the easiest option.
By the time we left, I was desperate for the space and distance. It’s the reason I didn’t ask him to come with us. Sure, he mentioned it, but I brushed it off with the explanation of a ‘girls only trip’, and eventually he stopped bringing it up.
The day we left Hunter made a big show at the airport about how much he was going to miss me. However, the moment I was through the departure gates, he was the furthest thing from my mind. I’m the worst girlfriend in the world.
I heave a deep sigh and slip my phone back into my Chanel handbag, settling back against the seat. Hunter is a problem for another day.
THE CAR BARELY stops before I push open the door and race up the front steps of my family home. We made good time with traffic, and I grin widely as I let myself in the front door. I head straight to Dad’s office, as I know he will have worked from home, frowning in confusion when I find it empty.
I turn and make my way to the kitchen, wondering if Roberta, our housekeeper, has made him an early dinner. But I stop short when I hear an unfamiliar woman’s laugh coming from the patio area overlooking the pool.
Anxiety bubbles in my stomach as I change direction, tugging nervously on the hem of my forest green Versace minidress. My Jimmy Choo Dellena wedges don’t make a sound on the parquet flooring as I approach the doors leading out onto the patio.
The low timbre of my dad’s voice reaches me, and tears prick the corners of my eyes as I realise how much I’ve missed him. Even though I spoke to him every other day, nothing beats hearing his voice in person.
I round the corner and see him. My eyes widen when I see him lounging casually on the day bed, his arm resting along the back. He’s dressed in a white short-sleeved T-shirt and denim shorts. I don’t think I’ve seen my dad wear denim, well, ever. He’s smiling, and he somehow looks younger than when I left.
However, what surprises me the most is seeing a woman in a beige summer dress who is sitting too close to him for comfort, and my stomach drops. This looks too casual to be a business meeting.
“Dad?” I say, and cringe at the waiver in my voice.
They both turn to look at me, and my dad’s face lights up even more when he sees me standing there. “Bea, honey. You’re home.”
He climbs to his feet and crosses the distance in two long strides. He sweeps me into his arms, and I close my eyes, breathing in his familiar scent.
“I missed you.” My voice is muffled by his embrace, but he chuckles and kisses the top of my head.
“I missed you, too. Welcome home.”
I cling to him for what feels like an age, but also not long enough. When we finally step back from one another, my gaze can’t help but fall back on the woman who is now standing a few feet away with a shy smile.
“Bea,” Dad says, clearing his throat. “This is Elena. Elena, this is my Bea.”
His Bea. I love how my dad never introduces me as his daughter. I’ve always beenhis Bea.
“Hi,” I say cautiously as she steps forward and offers me her hand.
