Page 52 of Arden and the Girl Downstairs

Did I mention I love this girl? I wouldn’t dream of saying that to Dad because he’s my dad. But she summed it up perfectly. He’s always been a part of our lives, but not in the way a dad should be. He’d become more of the distant uncle you just call for the holidays.

“How did Dad take it?”

“Not how I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

I’ve seen Dad go off for things a lot less personal than what Ella hit him with.

“He went really quiet and pale. It was as if he never realised what he was doing. That’s why he thanked Ella so much and was willing to pick up the bill if you two separated. Ella gave him a wake-up call he didn’t know he needed. He told her he would attempt to do better, and he did. When Julia and I got back to Canary Bay, he was there and the stepmunster wasn’t. He’s far from perfect, but he works from home two days a week so that he can be home to have dinner with Julia,andhe even took Julia and Millie to the movies a few weeks back. He may have hired the entire theatre, and got an early screening of some movie he knew they wanted to see, but it was the fact he was there.”

“Wow.” I’m shocked and happy at the same time.

It’s too late for Dad to be there for me in that way, but Julia still has eighteen months of school left. He still has time to have an actual father-daughter relationship with her.

“Forgive me for not telling you sooner. I wanted to make sure you were okay first, and I also wasn’t sure it was going to last. But it’s been two months, and he came this weekend, so I figured now was a good time. Also, I have something else to tell you.”

The way he says it has me instantly suspicious.

“What?”

“So, you know how you planned to pay your dad back for everything and wanted to create your own business and name?” I nod, not sure where this is going. “Well, if you wanted to, you could pay off the debtandhave enough to start that business on your own.”

I’m confused. I’m still in my first year of school, and my plan is to pay Dad back before I turn twenty-five. When I turn twenty-one, I have access to the second part of my trust fund. I was going to start the company then, and pay Dad as soon as I could afford to. He’s never asked for the money. It’s just something I choose to do. I want to prove to him I can do it on my own and show the rest of the world what I’m capable of.

I can’t read anything from Ralph’s cryptic expression. “I don’t understand . . .”

“Your dad still pays my salary.”

“That makes no sense. I started paying your salary three years ago.”

“Your dad basically refused to stop paying me. He knew I worked for you, but it was his way of making sure. So instead of upsetting you, I started investing the money you were paying me. As of today, this is what your current investments are valued at.” He slides his phone over to me and shows me a P&L statement for Blakely Industries.

A company I knew nothing about. I scroll through the document and drop the phone when I read the last profit statement.

Two hundred and thirty-three million dollars.

Profit.

I pick the phone back up and start scrolling through the investment portfolio. Blakely Industries has invested in a bit of everything, from tech and crypto, right the way through to real estate. I stare at Ralph, confused.

“It’s all yours. Mr Gilmore helped me set everything up, but I’m just an executor on the accounts and I’ve been managing it until you are ready to take over. If you don’t like the name, we can change it. I just needed something for the paperwork.”

“How did you even do this? These aren’t just standard investments . . . You’ve invested in some pretty risky things.” I keep looking through the paperwork while waiting for his response.

“I don’t talk about it, but my parents sort of taught me about it all when I was growing up. When I found out my dad was having an affair with my high school girlfriend and was the reason she died in a car accident, I left and enlisted. My brothers moved out as soon as they finished school, and we all refused our inheritance. As far as we’re all concerned, our parents don’t exist. There was more that happened, but that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. When Julia started school, I had more time on my hands. I did some courses here and there, and started learning, and from there it just sort of grew. I’m your security guy, and I always will be, but I just wanted to be a little more useful. You, Julia, and now Ella are like the kids I never had, and I want to be a part of your lives. I want to see you be successful and kick ass.”

I take a moment to let everything sink in. I can’t believe Ralph did all this. For me.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I made some investments that aren’t exactly profitable. Have a look at page forty-three.”

I go to the page he mentioned and start reading. “You bought Grumpy’sandDoc’s?”

I’m surprised and thankful. Ralph knows that even if my friends' businesses weren’t doing great financially, I would still look after them because their happiness means more to me than money.

“Yeah, Chad knows that you technically own the bar, but he’s okay with it because you are practically family. Doc’s, on the other hand, I purchased on a whim. Doc has been struggling for a while. They make ends meet, but he just hasn’t been able to scale the business. He hasn’t really had the right team working with him. He came into Grumpy’s one night while I was there watching you, and we got to talking. You’ve purchased the business and floated some cash for the upgrades needed, and the extra staff he needs to hire, and he is still in charge of the shop, in exchange for Chase not knowing. Doc says he only has another year or two left before he wants to retire, so he’s agreed to stay on and teach Chase. Then I figured you’d like to gift it to Chase. You’ve both dreamed of having a body shop where you could help with design work, and Doc’s is a prestige place—they’re just going through a rough patch.”

“You did all that? For me?” The words come out choppy as my voice wavers.

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