THE UNSTOPPABLE JASON SALFORD

CHAPTER 4

Vivienne couldn't move.

She stood in the middle of the living room and stared.

The butler. The old man. The convoy outside. All of it.

Jason looked at her one final time.

"If I ever hear you speak about my daughter like that again," he said quietly, "you will pay for it."

Vivienne opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

Jason took Sophie's hand and walked out the door.

The butler stepped aside immediately. Richard Harmon smiled warmly at Sophie. The young woman beside him crouched down and said something soft to Sophie that made her giggle.

The convoy doors opened.

Jason and Sophie got in.

The doors closed.

The vehicles pulled away smoothly and disappeared around the corner.

Vivienne stood at the window alone.

The street was empty again. Quiet. Like none of it had happened.

Then the fury hit her.

She snatched her phone.

"Rachel. He hit me."

***

Rachel's voice went sharp immediately.

"He what?"

"Jason slapped me." Vivienne pressed her hand to her cheek. "Right across the face."

"Why would he hit you?" Rachel demanded. "What happened?"

Vivienne paused.

She remembered exactly what she had said about Sophie.

"He refused to sign at first," she said quickly. "I had to push him. I used every angle I had to get him to cooperate and he lost his temper and hit me."

"That is unbelievable," Rachel said. "So the divorce talk was just a bluff. He was never going to sign willingly. He just wanted to scare me before the IPO."

"Obviously," Vivienne said. "He was after your money the whole time. I had to fight him for every line of that agreement."

Rachel's breathing was tight with anger.

"Where are you now?"

"Still at the house."

"I'm at the Grand Monarch Hotel," Rachel said. "Waiting for the Harmon family representatives to arrive for the signing. I'll deal with Jason personally. I'm calling him right now."

"Good," Vivienne said. "Make him apologize."

Rachel hung up.

Vivienne lowered her phone and looked at the empty street one more time.

Those cars were real. She knew that much.

She just didn't know what it meant yet.

***

Across the city, the convoy pulled into the private entrance of the Grand Monarch Hotel.

Richard Harmon had not stopped smiling since they left the house.

He sat across from Jason in the back of the lead vehicle with his hands clasped and his eyes bright.

"Young Master," he said. "I have waited years for this day."

He shook his head slowly.

"All those years ago, I was nothing. A servant. No name, no future, no family behind me. You were the one who saw something in me. You were the one who gave me everything I have today." His voice thickened. "The Harmon family exists because of you. Every building, every contract, every connection. All of it traces back to you."

Jason looked out the window.

"You built it yourself, Richard," he said.

"With your guidance," Richard said firmly. "Don't take that from me."

Sophie sat between them eating a small cake that one of the staff had produced from somewhere. She was paying close attention to the conversation.

Richard laughed softly at her.

Then he turned and gestured to the young woman sitting across from Sophie.

"Young Master, I want to introduce someone properly." His voice carried a particular warmth. "This is my granddaughter, Claire. She has been studying abroad for the past six years. Top of her program every year. I called her back this morning."

Claire smiled. It was a small, careful smile. Her eyes stayed mostly on her hands.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Salford," she said quietly.

Jason nodded politely.

Richard watched the two of them with poorly concealed satisfaction.

Jason didn't notice.

Sophie noticed. She looked at Claire, then at Richard, then at her father.

She said nothing but her eyes were sharp.

Richard leaned forward.

"I have arranged a banquet in the Supreme Hall tonight," he said. "The finest food in Creston City. Everything prepared specifically for your return." He looked at Sophie. "And I have been told there will be at least four different desserts."

Sophie's eyes went wide.

"Four?" she said.

"At least," Richard said seriously.

Sophie turned to Jason.

"Daddy. Four."

Jason almost smiled.

Then his phone rang.

He looked at the screen.

Rachel.

The car was quiet. Richard watched Jason's face carefully.

Jason answered.

"Jason." Rachel's voice was tight with controlled anger. "Did you hit Vivienne?"

"Yes," Jason said.

Silence.

"You hit her," Rachel repeated. "And you don't even sound sorry."

"I'm not," Jason said.

"She is my best friend and my lawyer and you assaulted her in my home—"

"She called Sophie a bastard," Jason said. "She said Sophie's own mother doesn't want her." His voice didn't rise. It didn't need to. "She made my daughter cry. So yes, I hit her."

Rachel said nothing for a moment.

"You are a violent and irresponsible man," she said finally. "You will call Vivienne and apologize. Today. Or I will make things very difficult for you."

Jason looked out the window.

The hotel entrance was approaching.

"If you want to call the police," he said, "you're free to do so."

"Jason—"

"I have nothing more to say to you, Rachel."

He ended the call.

He set the phone face down on the seat.

The car stopped.

Richard looked at Jason quietly.

Jason's expression was calm. Empty. The face of a man who had closed a door and walked away from it permanently.

Outside the window, the Grand Monarch Hotel rose up in glass and gold.

Sophie pressed her face to the window.

"Is the food in there, Daddy?"

"Yes," Jason said.

"All four desserts?"

"All four."

Sophie sat back, satisfied.

***

Inside the Grand Monarch Hotel, on a different floor, in a different hall, Rachel Salford put her phone down and stared at the wall.

Her hands were shaking.

Not from sadness.

From fury.

Derek Chase put his hand on her arm.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

Rachel straightened her jacket.

"Fine," she said tightly. "The Harmon representatives will be here any minute. Let's focus."

She pushed Jason out of her mind entirely.

She was very good at that.