The Intimidation Game (Game Series Book 1) Read online

  “Ugh, I know. I mean I’ve missed Georgie and Mark but oh man am I relaxed. I’ve forgotten what this felt like. Do you know I’ve slept more over this weekend than I have since my little cherub was born? So, tell me how the job is going then. Are you adjusting to your new life yet?”

  I sit up and turn to her, crossing my legs in front of me and leaning forward. “It was hard to start with, but I really feel as though this could be a great opportunity. Dan says he knows how talented I am, and he thinks I’ll do well in the job.”

  “Ooh look at you all excited. I’m so pleased for you. I’ve missed this. Us, talking and knowing we’re not too far away from each other now. You know I hated to leave you, but I hated South Africa even more. I never felt as though it was ever my home.”

  “I know you had your reasons; you don’t need to keep apologising for following your dream. I wish I’d done it sooner, then maybe I wouldn’t have got involved with…” I trail off, having forgotten myself and who I’m talking to. I know I’ve said too much when she narrows her eyes at me.

  “Involved with what?” She sits up mirroring me on her lounger.

  “Oh, it’s nothing really,” I lie. And she sees right through me.

  “Liar. Spill. Now.”

  On a sigh, I decide now is as good a time as any to tell my sister about Mike.

  “I was in a relationship with a man I met at work for around a year and he was horrible to me.”

  “Did he hit you?” Her eyes are like fire and I fear if I tell her the whole truth, she will be furious at me for not telling her in the first place, so I lie again.

  “No. No, it wasn’t like that.”

  “Oh, thank God. If he’d laid a finger on you, I’d have hunted him down and cut his balls off and fed them to him.”

  Yeah, I don’t doubt that for a second Charlie.

  “He was very controlling. He wouldn’t acknowledge that we were in a relationship when we were at work. Granted, there were rules against employees dating but there were disclaimers you could sign for it. He wouldn’t do it. He said it was best if we appeared as colleagues only because it would stop us getting promotions.”

  “And how did that work out for you because I know you never got promoted? Bastard used you, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah that’s exactly what happened. He got promoted and I stayed where I was. The higher up he went the worse his behaviour got. He started checking my phone and telling me who I could see. He only let me stay at his place on certain nights too and when I wasn’t with him, I had to be constantly within reach. So help me if I missed his calls. When mum and dad said they were moving back here I was never so glad. I left and didn’t tell him I was going.”

  Charlie opens her mouth in shock and laughs. “You Dear John’d him?”

  “No, I didn’t even leave him a note, I just left.”

  “I’m proud of you baby girl. That took balls.” Her eyes shine with pride and my stomach twists.

  “No Charlie, it was the coward’s way out, but it was the only option I had. Anyway, that’s my story and now that you know I’d like to put him out of my mind.”

  “Fucking bastard is lucky you don’t like to share your personal life freely. Who knows what dad would have done to him?”

  I roll my eyes at her, mostly because I know dad wouldn’t have done anything. It’s what he would have had done to him that would have had me worried.

  “Why didn’t you tell someone, me even?”

  “I was ashamed. I mean come on; I’m supposed to be intelligent. I should never have got involved with him at all.”

  “Come here you,” Charlie says, her eyes filling with tears.

  I sit beside her, and she pulls me into a tight, reassuring, big sister hug.

  “You’re incredibly intelligent but matters of the heart makes us crazy and sometimes we forget ourselves. Hopefully you’ve come away from it stronger and now you know what you’re not looking for in a partner, maybe you’ll find the perfect guy for you.”

  I think I already found him!

  “Thanks Charlie I needed this. Not just this conversation, but this whole move and making new friends. I really feel as though I’ve finally found somewhere I can call home. South Africa never felt like home to me. I think we both knew it was never going to be permanent anyway. I don’t think there was a day that went by that mum didn’t wish she was back in the UK. It’s possible it rubbed off on us after a while.”

  “Well it’s the very reason I came back here as soon as I could. I wish you’d been able to come too. I really missed you. But you’re here now and that’s all that matters. And mum and dad are only an hour’s flight away now, so I feel much better knowing we are all in the same country again.”

  “Yeah I remember mum’s reaction when she found out you were pregnant. I’m pretty sure she had someone kidnapped and held to ransom until they gave dad a new job back here.”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me”, Charlie laughs, her prosecco sloshing in her champagne flute. “Mum always gets what she wants in the end. I like to think she’s the reason our family stayed together. If I had a husband who was as married to his job as dad, I’d have been long gone. She’s a tough cookie for sticking it out.”

  “Hmm, yeah she is that.”

  Our last afternoon at the spa is so relaxing and, for a few hours at least, I put thoughts of Dan and my shitty former life out of my mind and enjoy my time with my sister. My beautiful, strong sister, who’s shadow I’ve always been grateful to walk in. I never wanted to be better than her. If I had turned out to be anything like her, I would have been grateful, but she is a million times the woman I am. She’d never have let a man treat her how I did, and I never want her to know what really happened because I could never bear to see her disappointment in me.

  Chapter Twelve

  My weekend at the spa certainly had a wonderful effect on me and has led to my week being rather subdued and uneventful. My team have been busy beavering away on their project and Jed has been quieter than usual, mostly due to the fact that his little cohort has been away on a secondment to the London office. I don’t even care why she was sent there. I’m simply thankful of the peace and quiet. It’s been an absolute dream to get up and come to work every morning knowing there wouldn’t be any drama from her. I’d liken it to an old Disney animation where the birds all tweet, mice make dresses and the princess goes about her day singing.

  “So, Miss Nikki, are you all set for the big day tomorrow?” Damo plants himself in the seat in front of my desk as we start to wind down for the weekend.

  “Oh Damo I can’t wait but I swear I’m looking forward to this all being over. It’s made my sister insane. Since we came back from the hen weekend, she’s been unbearable.”

  “Aw you know she’s just stressed out. She wants her friend’s big day to go without a hitch and from what you’ve told me about Gina, that’s understandable.”

  “I wish you could come with me tomorrow.”

  “I do too, I love weddings, but my mum doesn’t turn fifty every day. I hope she still has no clue about her surprise party but knowing her she’ll have got it out of someone in the know. She’s a bloody nightmare with things like this.” Damo looks at his watch. “Right it’s tidy-up time. I have a buffet to help out with. You have the best weekend and no kissing the groomsmen okay.” He stands and throws his bag over his shoulder, blowing me a kiss as he leaves.

  “I promise, no kissing. Enjoy your mum’s party.”

  As the last of the office leaves to start their weekends and I’m left alone, I take a deep breath. I’m really excited about Gina’s wedding but at the same time all I can think about is the fact that Astrid will be back on Monday. I love my job, but she’s tainted everything for me since the day I walked through that door. I’ll never understand the maliciousness of people sometimes.

  The lift sounding its arrival on the third floor makes me jump slightly and as I watch the doors open a smile spreads across my face. Dan smiles back
and I watch him walk towards me full of purpose. He looks so handsome in his suit and casually laid back with no tie and open collar.

  “Hey Nikki, I’m glad you’re still here.”

  “I’m usually last to leave Dan, you know that. As soon as it hits one on Friday, that lot all forget I exist. What brings you down here? I was just getting ready to leave myself.”

  He stalls slightly, his eyes looking right into mine and I sit back slightly, feeling a little self-conscious.

  As if my movement made him remember what his purpose was, he shakes his head slightly and takes the seat Damo vacated earlier. “Yeah um, I came down give you these.” He hands me a slim, white envelope.

  “Okay what is it?”

  “It’s two tickets to a software conference at the exhibition centre next week. I was thinking you could give them to two members of your team. Conferences aren’t for everyone, but they can be good for networking. These guys won’t always be at this company and they’ll want to climb higher than the roles they have now. I’d never stand in their way and I’ll always encourage anyone to spread their wings and move on if it’s what they want to do. If I can help them in any way while they’re here, then at least I’ll know I’ve made a difference in someone’s life.”

  This guy is forever full of surprises. “You’re a good person Dan. There’s not many company owners who’d ensure their employees were well enough trained for someone else to poach them.”

  “Everyone should end up where they want to be in their lives, and no one should ever be able to keep them from achieving their full potential, even if it means me losing them. I know there are many employers in my position who want to keep their best employees for themselves but all they manage to do is oppress them. When you oppress people, they rise up in a fiery anger.”

  I hold my hand up, stifling a laugh. “Did you seriously just quote Step Brothers?”

  “Damn I thought you were too refined to watch that sort of film Nikki.” His smile is wide and lights up his beautiful brown eyes.

  I smile back. “Ah Mr King there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  He regards me for a second longer than necessary before he speaks again. “Yeah, there is.”

  His tone has turned a little contemplative and I don’t fully understand why I choose this moment, when I know I need to be out of this office sharp today, to ask about his parents.

  “Dan, I told you I took this job without doing any research on you or your business right?”

  “Mhm,” he answers giving me a suspicious look.

  “Well I did some research the other day and I know why you have that tattoo.”

  He holds his wrist, shielding it from me, protecting himself almost. “Well it is public knowledge.”

  “Is it true? Was your dad involved with gangsters?”

  Dan sighs. “My dad’s name was Marcus King. He had his fingers in so many pies I don’t even think he knew which business was which. He was filthy stinking rich, but it was always at the expense of other people. He was ruthless, dangerous even. I think he thought he was a fucking gangster himself. That was until he crossed the wrong people.”

  I watch him as he talks. I can feel the pain behind his words.

  “He scammed someone who wasn’t a patsy like his other victims, and they put a hit out on him. It turns out they had connections to real gangsters. People who didn’t care who they killed because it was a pay check at the end of the day. These were people who always managed to stay out of jail no matter what they did because they were clever.”

  “Where were you and Jason when it happened?”

  “Dad sent my brother off to a holiday camp in France for two weeks during the summer. We said goodbye at the airport, I went on holiday to Spain with my girlfriend and that was the last time we were ever a family.” He sits back and clasps is hands, twiddling his thumbs nervously as he talks.

  “You don’t have to tell me this if it’s making you feel uncomfortable Dan.”

  “You’ve already read most of it anyway, so I’ll fill in the blanks that Wikipedia has left out. Anyway,” he looks at me and smiles, “I want to tell you. I don’t like to talk about it much but with you, it feels okay.”

  I nod and smile. “Okay.”

  “We were gone a week when we were both summoned home. Jason, my brother, had no clue about any of dad’s dodgy dealings but I had picked things up, I wasn’t stupid. I had heard whispered conversations, arguments between my parents and even people at school had talked about how my family was corrupt. I knew something terrible had happened and Jase could see that I was worried. When I met him at the airport he was as white as a sheet. We were taken to a police station as soon as we were back in Glasgow and were met there by a social worker. It turns out that, rather than be caught by these gangsters, my dad decided to off himself. I could have lived with that, but the bastard took our mother with him. We lived on a huge secluded estate just outside Glasgow, so no one knew what had happened until the housekeeper came on the Monday, three days later. He had shot mum in the head with a shotgun then hung himself.”

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I can’t even begin to imagine how terrible that must have been for those two poor boys. “Christ.”

  “I don’t know what was gained from him shooting mum. I’ll never know, but he was a twisted son-of-a-bitch, so it was probably justified in his own mind. Maybe she knew too much. Or maybe he just hated us so much that he wanted us to suffer for the rest of our lives. It made me realise that the only way to conduct business is legally and beyond reproach. Every asset my dad had was seized because the police linked it all to being gained through fraudulent activity and money laundering. Jase and I were put in foster care and as soon as I turned eighteen, I became his legal guardian.”

  “Two Thousand and One. That’s what that tattoo is for then.”

  “Yeah, well done on that one. Having the date in binary saves me having to explain it to too many people.”

  My heart is breaking for him but, as I look into his dark eyes, I don’t see sadness, instead his resigned look makes the story that much more tragic. Losing one parent must be bad enough but to lose both and in such tragic circumstances must have had a huge impact on both Dan and his brother.

  “Thank you for telling me Dan.”

  He regards me with a tiny smile pulling at the corners of his mouth and as I’m anticipating what he might say next he stands abruptly and nods to me, breaking whatever was happening between us. “Right get out of here Nikki. Go and enjoy your weekend. See you Monday.” He tips his head to me and makes long, forceful strides to the waiting elevator.

  He gets in but doesn’t turn around. Instead I watch as he pushes the button for his floor and pulls his phone out of his pocket. As soon as the doors close, I breathe out and slump back in my chair. What the hell was that? I can see trying to think about Dan in any way other than as my boss is going to be harder than I expected.

  As I leave the building my phone rings with the now familiar strains of The Imperial March. I changed my ring tone for my sister when she started bugging me with her attitude over this wedding. Anyone would think it was her getting married. Darth Vader has nothing on her this week. It’s not as though she hasn’t done this before, she was Gina’s chief maid when she got married the first time. I understand that this time it’s different given Gina’s history but still, there’s no need to be such a bitch to everyone. I roll my eyes as I pull my phone from my bag and answer the call.

  “Where are you?”

  “Hi Charlie.”

  “Well, where are you? I thought you finished at one on a Friday. I’m at your flat right now and you’re not here.”

  I sigh louder than I mean to and I know she hears me. “Charlie, I had some stuff to do before I left but I’m out now and on my way. Give me ten minutes.”

  “Okay but hurry up we need to be at Gina’s soon. She’s freaking out because Steven is having his stag do tonight.”

  “Does
n’t she trust him?”

  “She trusts him, she just doesn’t trust his pals. She’s got herself all worked up thinking he’s going to end up in another country tonight, tarred and feathered, and not make the wedding tomorrow.”

  Poor Gina. She’s been through so much already, she doesn’t need the stress, especially in her condition.

  “Okay I won’t be long. I’m packed anyway so I just need to get changed and I’m good to go.”

  We hang up and I make my way home promising myself that I’m going to ignore Charlie’s tantrums and enjoy my weekend.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “There you are.” Charlie’s voice comes from behind me. I turn to her and stifle a smile at the harassed look on her face.

  “I’ve been here for ages. I didn’t know you were looking for me.”

  “The cars will be here soon. I need to help Gina down the stairs, so I’ll need you to take Georgie.” She hands the baby to me and disappears.

  It’s Gina’s wedding day and my sister is in full on chief-bridesmaid-from-hell mode. I can’t wait till later when she can relax, she’s doing my head in right now. I look down at the beautiful little girl in my arms. We managed to get her a dress made from the same material as ours. She’s like a little mini-me of Charlie. I can’t believe she’s already almost four months old. How time flies.

  Charlie’s voice booming from upstairs makes me sigh. “Nikki the cars are here.”

  “Let’s go Georgie before your mummy has a breakdown.”

  Georgie gurgles and shoves her hand in her mouth. She couldn’t give two hoots about what’s going on today. I walk out into the hall just as Gina and her dad get to the bottom of the stairs, followed by Charlie. The sight of Gina in her wedding dress takes my breath away.

  “Oh, Gina, you look absolutely beautiful.”

  “Thanks honey, so do you two.” Her smile could light a million candles.

  The place Gina and Steven are getting married is absolutely beautiful. It’s at Glasgow University and apparently you can only get married here if you are a student, graduate or the son or daughter of a graduate or member of staff so it’s very exclusive. Gina is both a graduate and the daughter of a former faculty member. As the entrance music starts Gina looks back at us and my sister ends up in tears. I’m so glad the make-up artist who did our faces used waterproof mascara. We make our way in and down the aisle and I try to keep my head forward but a face in the congregation catches my eye. It’s Dan. He sees me and looks at me with the same bemused look as I do him. For the last few weeks we have chatted easily with each other although there’s always an underlying, unspoken tension between us. I can’t believe he’s here and my God does he look good. I can tell from the upper half of him, that I can see, he’s wearing what every other man at this wedding is wearing. You don’t go to a Scottish wedding and not wear a kilt.