Page 97 of Lochlan

“Why do we always end up in a kitchen?” I ask, stacking Logan's boxes of wine in the corner.

Kenzie stops in front of the refrigerator, staring at the door. I come up from behind and the door becomes transparent, allowing us to see all the items inside. “Jesus, the guy has three types of caviar in here.” She yanks the door open. “Shit, that looks like cold lobster. Oh God, this is better than a restaurant. Could you find some crackers for the caviar?”

I bang open cabinets, hunting for crackers. Her hunger gives me a temporary pause before I continue my story. I'm enjoying being with her, even if it might be the last time. When she has a plate piled with food in front of us on the counter, she lands on a stool, reaching for the cracker box. “Sorry, I only need a few bites; please continue your story.”

I retrieve the bottle I opened earlier and find fresh glasses. “For weeks, Fiona tried to convince me to reconsider. She suggested I go into the business and do my photography on the weekends. Every time she asked, I refused. She was desperate and went to my brother to ask him to convince me not to leave the business.”

I slide a glass of wine to Kenzie. She sips, thinking. “Why would she talk to your brother when the two of you didn't get along?”

I pick up a cracker and break it in half, then scoop a wee bit of the black caviar.

“I never told her about the animosity between my brother and I. As far as she was concerned, he was my older brother who liked to needle me. Fiona began meeting with him, and each time he promised to talk with me. At one point he said he had and that I wouldn't see reason. That was a lie; we never talked. He told her he'd always been in love with her and that she should marry him and they could manage the MacTavish interests together.”

Kenzie's eyes widen; bits of cracker crust over her bottom lip. I reach out and use my thumb to drive the crumbs away. She staring so hard at me I don't think she even noticed I did that. “You're saying she decided to marry Harris instead?”

“He promised if she called off the wedding, they would get married. When I stopped the wedding instead, she became a scorned bride. Harris forgot his promise. He told me later he never planned to marry her. She had nothing but an internship with my granda. It's always been Fiona's dream to be an executive in the company.

“Granda will groom her for projects, but he doesn't believe a woman should be on the executive team. Fiona first saw me as her steppingstone, and when I didn't pan out, Harris was offering to open the door for her.”

“Ian was willing to work with Fiona after what happened?”

I'm coming to the part of the story where I don't come out looking so well. “He doesn't know why I called off my marriage. I never told anyone, because I knew one day, I'd use the information to ruin both of them.”

“Why couldn't you tell me you didn't choose Fiona?”

“What was I going to say? I chose Fiona, but I'd like you to wait for me while my retaliation scheme plays out.”

She turns this over while staring at the food in front of her. “You're still choosing Fiona over me. It doesn't make sense. You don't need to get back at her. You can walk away from your revenge fantasy.”

I shake my head; the complexities are too great to explain. It's what I've been plotting all these years I've been away from Scotland.

“She'll never be out of my life. Granda has given her control of the California interest. She still sees me as her steppingstone; she's never going to stop trying to get an advantage. There's another wrinkle in this story, maybe even a silver lining. I might have found a workaround, but it will take some time to resolve. Once I solved the problem of Fiona, I was going to come to you and tell you everything and then hope that it wasn’t too late for us.”

She jostles to her feet, her meal forgotten. “You're right. I don't want to be a part of your revenge scheme. You could walk away from all of this, but you're choosing not to.”

“I can't leave after I built the winery and now Catriona. If I leave it to Fiona, she'll strip the business and run it like a heartless bureaucrat, partly because it's her nature. The other part would be revenge on me. Right now, I'm the only barrier between her and the California operation.

“Geordie is happy in America; he enjoys being the winemaker of MacTavish Cellars and he's brilliant at his job, but she's already suggested that Geordie be demoted and she’d make Connell the winemaker. I can't let that happen.”

The mention of Geordie's fate is something she didn't know hung in the balance. There's more that she might not accept, something much darker, but it has to be said. No secrets, no lies, she said.

I stand too, anticipating she might find her phone before I have a chance to finish. I come around the counter. “There's something else that I did while I was in Scotland. You need to hear this—”

“I need time to think,” she says, glancing at her coat on the chair. “It's time I leave.”

Rain pounds the windows like demonic forces are trying to gain entry. There's a sickening crack from outside, followed by a large object smashing against the pane. Kenzie jumps back.

We freeze, listening to the ungodly howling of the wind. It feels like the house is shuttering under the force of the storm. I reach for Kenzie's hand to offer comfort, but in that moment, everything goes black.

CHAPTER41

HEART OF DARKNESS

LOCHLAN

Sudden, complete darkness disorientates the mind and lays the groundwork for unreasonable thoughts. The first notion is that you've gone blind. Second, you're dead. Third, someone has cut the electricity and a mass killer is about to wreak havoc with a chainsaw.

I force my morbid fears away, which were probably produced by the last horror film I saw, and consider what Kenzie's mind is battling with in the dark.

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