Page 48 of Thrown

And Robbie had heard it all, had been witness to his humiliation.

FIFTEEN

It waslike watching footage of some horrible natural disaster. Robbie knew what Charles Duckworth meant to Toby, knew that Duckworth was someone Toby had always looked up to and whom he admired. To watch the man eviscerate Toby now, not only for some perceived wrongdoing, but to attack Toby’s character and family was too much.

“How dare you speak to him like that?” Robbie demanded, shifting closer to Toby’s side.

“I beg your pardon?” Duckworth glanced to him like he wasn’t any better than Toby.

Robbie stood taller, making no attempt to acquiesce to Duckworth in any way. “Nobody should speak to anyone in the cheap way you just spoke to Mr. Tillman, but for you to insult someone who has been such a help to my family is unforgivable.”

Duckworth reeled back slightly, then surprised Robbie by laughing.

“Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like you’re some Victorian lord of the manor. It’s the twenty-first century, mate. Your kind is nothing but a footnote and a joke that’s grown old and stale, just like this piece of land you’re sitting on.”

Robbie went cold and stiff on the inside. “I think you should go now,” he said quietly, nodding to the door.

Duckworth laughed again, another surprise that had more of an effect on Robbie than he liked.

“Oh, you’re throwing me out now, are you?” Duckworth snorted. “Are you going to call your butler and have him do it?” He pulled himself up to his full height, which made it look like he was looking down his nose at Robbie. “You don’t have the balls, you weak, domestic poof.”

Every fiber of Robbie’s being wanted to ignore the petty insults and show just how strong he could be. He felt like he was just on the verge of being the protector he knew he could be, like a lion chained by a too-thin leash, but that quiver of doubt within him made him too slow to defend himself or Toby before his dad marched onto the scene.

“What’s going on here?” Dad demanded with a scowl.

Early walked a few steps behind him, looking deeply worried. They must have alerted Dad that a fight was brewing in the front hall.

Duckworth didn’t skip a beat before saying, “This piece of street trash here is sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong, and your useless son is trying to defend him. Are they giving it to each other up the backside or something?”

Robbie had never seen anything as frightening as his dad’s sudden expression of fury as he charged up to Duckworth. Robert Hawthorne rarely lost his temper, but when he did, he was like a fire-breathing dragon.

“I will not stand for insults to my family or our friends,” he snapped at Duckworth.

Duckworth evidently expected Dad to side with him, for some inexplicable reason. His smug expression turned to a look of incredulity when he was hit with Dad’s anger. “I would have thought?—”

“I’m not interested,” Dad cut him off, raising his voice a bit, another thing he never did. “You’ve done nothing but bully and badger my family since you first arrived on our doorstep with your insulting offer.”

“The offer is?—”

“We didn’t ask to do business with you, and for some reason, you have disregarded everything I and everyone else in my family have told you about the personal value of this estate to both us and to the community. You’ve shoved money in our face, thinking it’s the only thing of any value in this world. Well, it’s not.”

“You cannot think?—”

“We reject your offer,” Dad said, making Robbie feel as though he’d been struck by lightning. “The Hawthorne family is not interested in selling out to Willoughby Entertainment Group. Take your proposal and your arrogance and get the fuck off my property.”

The front hall was far from empty as Dad ended his speech with the loud command, pointing to the door. Everyone who had witnessed the confrontation, and it was about a dozen people, stood stunned and silent, jaws dropped and eyes wide.

Robbie could hardly breathe, he was so impressed. He glanced to Toby with an invigorated look, hoping to share the beautiful moment with him.

Toby still looked as if he’d been run over by a lorry. He glanced between Duckworth and Dad with pain in his slightly glazed eyes, like he was trying to absorb the confrontation from the other side of a rushing river.

Robbie stood close enough that he could reach out and take Toby’s hand. That seemed to move him from the painful moment he was caught in enough for him to blink, glance briefly to Robbie with a blank expression, then focus on the confrontation again.

“You’re a damned fool,” Duckworth seethed at Dad, eyes narrowed. “I’m giving you one last chance to change your mind and come to your senses.”

“I’ve already come to my senses,” Dad said, calming down again and resuming his usual, casual stance. “I should have been sensible from the start and hung up after that first phone call. Now get out.”

Duckworth stood where he was, but rocked slightly, like he was ready to leave, but pride was holding him in place. “You’ll regret this,” he said in a tight hush. “This deal will go through one way or another. I’ll make certain of it. You will regret not doing it the easy way.”

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