Page 32 of The Tempo of Truth
Winnie leaned over and dropped a kiss on the top of Lowe’s head.“Thank you for listening to us.I know this is a big deal and a lot to handle.The grown-ups screwed up a long time ago, and it’s not fair that you have to deal with a bunch of yucky stuff because of them.Going forward, both your dad and I will do everything we can to make sure you’re safe and happy.We’ll do our best to make sure you always know the truth and figure out a way to deal with our problems together.We’re a team.”
Lowe pointed at his puffed-up chest.“As long as I get to be the goalie.”
She poked his cheek and playfully asked, “Are you sure that’s the position you want?Ky’s one of the best strikers of all time.He can hit the top corners of the net with no problem.”
The little boy seemed to consider her question before shrugging it off.“We’re on the same team.I don’t have to defend against him.That’s someone else’s problem.”Lowe switched subjects lightning fast.“Can I go look at the cakes?I want to take something next door for my cousins.”
Winnie waved Helio over with a flick of her finger.The intimidating bodyguard took Lowe’s hand like it was second nature, and he let himself get dragged off to look at all the baked goods and pastries in the glass case at the front of the dessert shop.
When Winnie and I were alone at the table, I released a pent-up breath and relaxed my tense shoulders.
“That went better than I expected.”I didn’t know why I thought Lowe might reject me and my role in his life.He’d given no indication that he was opposed to me spending time around him and his mother.“He’s such a great kid, Winnie.You did a remarkable job with him.”
She shrugged.“He’s only five.There’s plenty of time to fuck things up.”
I nudged her with my foot under the table.“He may look like me, but his personality is all you.He’s kind and accepting.He’s genuine and incredibly innocent.It’s going to be a tragedy when he gets old enough to understand everything that comes with being a Halliday.”
She tapped my foot back with the pointed toe of her high heel.“He’s only half Halliday.You never know, he might decide he’d rather be a Kent when he gets older.That’s his choice to make.”
I lifted an eyebrow and muttered, “I don’t even want to be a Kent now that my mom is married and has the family she always wanted.It’s just me and that asshole who abandoned us.God forbid you look up my last name.There isn’t a single positive story about me on the Internet.”Not even when I was at the top of my game and making a real impact on the sport I loved.
“It’s a mixed bag when you search the name Halliday.The business side is typically glowing and complimentary.The personal side gives TMZ a run for its money.No one makes it through life totally clean and unscathed, Ky.A name is what you make of it.”
Her words rattled around in my head.Since I was adopted, I never felt a distinct tie to the name I inherited.The only time it meant anything to me was the first time I saw it on the back of a jersey.Thinking about Lowe, maybe wanting to share it with me in the future, made me realize how little I’d done to leave a worthy legacy since losing my spot on the pro team.I gave up on everything, but mostly myself.When my dream collapsed, I refused to rebuild.Now, I understood I had to have a place for my son to grow up.A place for him to thrive and act like a typical boy and not a future CEO.He already had a mansion thanks to his mother.It was up to me to offer him a place to go outside the ivory tower.
“It doesn’t bother you that everyone is asking how you could have a kid with someone like me?”I leaned closer to Winnie, reaching out to wipe the corner of her mouth where she missed a spot of chocolate fudge.“People are calling me everything from a murderer to a gigolo.”
She watched as I stuck my finger into my mouth and licked away the sweetness.
“Does it bother you?”She threw the question back at me with a smirk.
“I’m used to bad press.And the fact that they keep bringing up the fight at the basketball court and the one in the park, trying to link the dead body to me, even though there’s plenty of proof I wasn’t involved, tells me it’s a targeted smear campaign.Someone is investing a lot of money in driving public opinion about me straight into the trash.What I can’t tell is if they’re doing it to make your stock price drop, or in an attempt to make you seem so unreliable that no one will ever want to invest with Halliday Inc.again.”
Winnie laughed, the sound was empty and brittle.“Both.Anything to keep the narrative alive that I am young and dumb, they’ll run with.I expected as much when I decided to come home and take over.I knew it was going to make a lot of people unhappy.I knew they were going to use Lowe, and once his father’s identity was revealed, they would use that, too.Even if Lowe’s dad was a stockbroker or an Oscar-winning actor, the stories would still paint me as a foolish girl who brought embarrassment upon the family name by getting knocked up young and out of wedlock.”
I cringed at how antiquated the world around her seemed.“Win never would have forced you to take over.I know Channing wanted you to stay far away from the family business.You studied design in college.Why did you decide to come back if you knew this was what was waiting for you?Why not stay overseas and live a simpler, easier life with Lowe?”
She reached out and grabbed my hand.Our fingers interlocked, and she gave me a lopsided grin.“How do you know what I studied in college?Did you only pretend that I dropped off the edge of the world after you left the city?”I grunted and felt myself blush as she immediately picked up on another long-held secret.I wasn’t as immune to her as I wanted everyone to believe.“I came back to prove that I could do what my grandmother raised me to do.Not because I’m a Halliday, but because I’m a Harvey.Colette tried so hard to squeeze every ounce of my mother out of me, but I brought her with me to the highest peak.As you said, a lot of young girls look up to me.I want them to know they can be the boss and they can do hard things.If they’re going to admire me, it’s because I managed to change things for the better, to make them more tolerant and inclusive.Not because I can post my Birkin and private jet on social media.”
I looked at our palms pressed together, my fingers still rough and bruised from fighting, hers elegant and perfectly manicured.This was the hand that pulled me to my feet when I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life on my knees.
Our hands didn’t look like they belonged together, but somehow, the fit was perfect.She was easy to hold on to and impossible to let go of.
Winnie
I looked down the length of the massive, custom-built boardroom table.Seated along each side were rows of men and women staring at me with blatant disappointment.My uncles sat on either side of me at the head of the table, glaring at the board of directors for calling this meeting last minute.The only reason they agreed to convene was to stop the petty whispering and halt the spreading unease circulating through all levels of the company because of the upheaval since my arrival.There were several pairs of eyes looking at Win and Alistair like they were the saviors the top shareholders had prayed for.I could see them silently begging for one of them to step back into a leadership role instead of standing as silent sentinels, guarding me against the hostility and judgment aimed in my direction.
“Since the inception of Halliday Inc., there has never been a time when our company has had such a bad image in the press and among our competitors.We’ve become a laughingstock.Investors are worried.The market is unstable.There are too many employees and too much money on the line to keep going like this.As one of the top shareholders, I demand that you, as the president and CEO, take immediate action.”The man who spoke has been on the board since my grandfather was alive.His only interest was how much his yearly dividends were and how much his shares were worth if he decided to offload them.
I spun an expensive pen through my fingers and met every accusing stare without apology.This storm had been brewing since I returned.And every time my name was in a headline, it made the rising tension worse.
Win was tapping the tip of his index finger on the table, his annoyance bleeding through every pore.
“How convenient for you to forget my father’s affairs and my mother’s psychopathy.It wasn’t too long ago that my younger brother was brought back from the dead, and the press had a field day with his resurrection.On the day my mother died, our stock price hit the lowest price in the company’s history.”Win looked at Alistair and stated, “Not to mention more than one of us sitting at this table survived an attempted murder at Colette Halliday’s hands.Those headlines were far more polarizing than the ones we’re dealing with now.Unless you think being amurdereris less offensive than being a single mother, in which case you are not suited to sit on this board of directors.”
Deathly silence followed Win’s words, and several of the board members shifted uneasily in their expensive leather chairs.
Alistair threw his head back and laughed like a madman.When he finished chortling, he made a big show of wiping away fake tears.“The only reason I’m here at the head of the table is because my mother had an affair.I’m a bastard, and not even a Halliday, yet none of you in the room called an all-hands-on-deck meeting to discuss my leadership when Win stepped down.”
