Chapter 5 Homecoming

When Micah married Darya three years ago, she had been penniless, jobless.

He wasn't even sure if she had finished college-or ever gone to one.

Come to think of it, he also had no idea where she had been living before he brought her home.

She had become a full-time housewife, with zero marketable skills.

She hadn't asked for anything during the divorce-just walked out of the house with the clothes on her back.

How was she supposed to fend for herself now?

What was she going to live on?

Micah ran through several scenarios in his mind.

He turned to Elliott. "Get in touch with the hospital director. I want a copy of the surveillance footage from the last hour, covering this floor and the car park. Also, send two men to my house. Call me if they find Darya there."

"Yes, boss."

***

Darya started fidgeting as the Rolls Royce pulled into the circular driveway in front of the five-storey house perched atop a hill.

Grand and leafy trees, some of which were a hundred years old, stood silently like sentries, guarding the front entrance and welcoming her home.

Avery got out and held the door open for her.

Darya climbed out, walked past green lawns and flowering shrubs on both sides, jogged up the stone steps, and paused at the threshold.

"Go on." Avery gave her a bolstering pat on the shoulder.

She stepped into the spacious living room, done up in beige with splashes of soft blue.

Tall arched windows let in plenty of natural light.

Matthias McAllister set down the newspaper he had been pretending to read, slowly got to his feet, faced his only daughter, and worked up a mildly disapproving look.

"So, you've finally decided to end your rebellion and come home?"

Darya launched herself into her father's arms and burst into tears.

Matthias sighed, stroked her back in the same way Avery had done.

"You didn't even let me finish my speech. I had a whole thing prepared."

Darya smiled through her tears. "You can still give me the lecture. I'm all ears."

Matthias pulled back to study his daughter's face and shook his head. "Looks like you've suffered enough."

Anger flashed across his eyes.

Not directed at Darya, of course.

He was thinking about Micah.

Like Avery, he had used his own resources to monitor Darya's situation-discreetly and from a distance, of course.

The more he learned about the kind of life she had led in the Cavanaugh household, the more he grew to despise the man his daughter had offered her heart to.

If not for his promise to her, he'd have taught that unfeeling, heartless bastard a lesson years ago.

Now that Darya had come home, Matthias would wait an appropriate amount of time-just to make sure she had truly gotten over the man and moved on-then he would set things in motion.

Within three months, Micah, along with every other Cavanaugh, would be out on the street.

They'd be lucky to get a job washing dishes.

"I'm sorry, Daddy."

Guilt overwhelmed her as she thought of what she had put her father through-running away from home for three years and cutting off all contact.

"I suppose you've learned your lesson."

"I have."

"All done with that Cavanaugh man?"

"All done."

Matthias thought for a while. "Plenty more fish in the sea, honey."

Darya smiled. "I know, Daddy."

Avery perched on the arm of a sofa. "I've booked a private room at Lutter & Wegner. Eight o'clock reservation."

"Good." Matthias seemed to have just realised his eldest son was also in the room. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"I took the day off," Avery grinned. "Which, as the boss, I'm entitled to. I wouldn't miss Dolly's homecoming for the world."

"But now that your job's done, don't you think it's time to head back to the office? The company's not going to run itself, you know."

"Speaking of, Dolly has agreed to come work at the company. We could go over the plan at dinner."

"Well now, that's a pleasant surprise."

Before she had left three years ago, Matthias had been pushing for Darya to take a management position at the Paragon Group.

She had a good head for figures, was ruthless at the negotiating table, but still needed some honing in the area of strategic planning.

Matthias had hoped to groom his youngest daughter to eventually take the helm of the entire group.

Darya nodded. "I'm ready to work."

She had wasted three years in a foolish pursuit of an unrealistic romance.

Now that she had had her heart thoroughly broken, it was time to throw herself into work.

"Attagirl. But work can wait till tomorrow. Come, let me show you to your old room." Matthias took her by the hand and steered her towards the spiralling central staircase. "Billinger kept everything as it was."

"How's Uncle Bill?"

Darya was fond of the long-serving butler.

Tall, gangly, with a mind like a steel trap, he was more a member of the family than an employee.

"He's fine. Just ran out for groceries. He knows how much you like those Ruby Roman grapes."

Darya bounded into her old bedroom, flung herself onto the Super Caesar-sized bed, inhaled the lavender scent of the freshly laundered sheets, then hugged Po, her favourite childhood stuffed toy in the shape of a giant panda.

Uncle Bill never missed a trick.

"You should take a nap," Matthias said from the doorway. "I'll come and get you when it's time to go out for dinner."

"Okay. Thanks, Daddy."

Matthias stood there and waited for Darya's eyes to close before he pulled the door shut, gently.

Avery was waiting for him downstairs.

Matthias sat down, folded both hands over his lap.

"Now, tell me what you found about the Cavanaughs. I don't want the publicity stuff. I want the dirt."

Avery brought up a passcoded file on his tablet and scanned it to refresh his memory. "We can start with a woman called Regina Fischer..."