All Chapters of His Wicked Games series: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

- LILY -I don't know whether to be pissed at or worried about Calder.Not because he needs to be here, but let's be honest - he was the one who insisted on taking the whole week off, and he is the one who tells me time and again that he refuses to let his work come before his family. Yet there he goes, rushing back to the office after only a day. And then staying much later than he said he would. It's a little infuriating.When it comes down to it, though my worry wins out over my annoyance. Both Calder and I are trying hard to balance careers we love with our home life, but Calder takes it a step further. I've seen it in his eyes - the fear, the determination. He's afraid that this - me, his sister, his family - could slip away from him again at any moment, and I know he'd quit his job before he allowed anything to jeopardize it. If he had to race back to work, it was because something serious happened, and I don't want him dealing with that sort of stress this week. I want him to

- CALDER -I wasn't lying when I said I had work to do. But though I initially locked myself in my room with every intention of losing myself in my accounts, I should have known it would be a lost cause. No matter what I do, I can't get this whole Taran Harker business out of my mind.I tell myself that I'll have more information in a couple of days, once Joe Osborne has had the time to do his research. But I'm not sure I can wait that long. And I'm not content to just sit around doing nothing.Which is why, not half an hour after Lily and Louisa leave to get the dress, I borrow my sister's car and take off on my own errand. I'm now at the public storage locker where I left boxes and boxes of my father's effects in the months directly following his death - those things I couldn't sell and didn't want to deal with. I spent months going through his financial statements after he died, but I largely ignored his other papers and keepsakes. I didn't want to dive too deeply into his memori

- CALDER -I wake to a headache that threatens to rip my entire damn skull apart.I groan and sit up. My arm hits something - a bottle. It slides away from me - across the table? Desk? Where the hell am I? - and falls to the floor. I curse at my clumsiness, but as the grogginess leaves me, I'm relieved to find that the bottle is empty. I bend over and grab it up off the rug, then rub my face as I sit up again.I'm at a desk in what was once my old office. I'm sure this room was used as a bedroom during the house's brief stint as Huntington Manor, but it looks as if Louisa has started to put things right again. This desk really should be on the other side of the room, though. And they need some curtains on those blasted windows. The paint on the walls is a little too light for my tastes, but I know my opinions about this room don't matter much anymore.Still, this room serves its purpose. It's a place to think.For all the long hours at my job, it's been a while since I fell asleep

- CALDER -Joe Osborne is useless.For as much as he charges for his investigations, I expected better. So far he has only managed to confirm things anyone might have discovered with a thorough internet search: that Patricia Harker is a real person and that she has a son named Taran of about my age. Or at least she did. Apparently she died two months ago.Taran Harker, he tells me, lives up in Cincinnati, and he worked as an insurance broker up until last fall, when he was fired for unspecified reasons. He's done nothing remarkable since then. As far as Joe has been able to trace, Taran has been down here for a week, and up until two nights ago, he had a room at a large chain hotel near my office. That fact isn't particularly surprising to me, but it's still unsettling. What worries me more, though, is that Joe can't seem to discover where Mr. Harker is currently staying. He learned of Mr. Harker's stay at the hotel after the man had already checked out; he had no chance to follow h

- CALDER -Lily tells me I owe Louisa's man an apology.I, on the other hand, say that there's nothing wrong with expressing normal brotherly concern, and I refuse to apologize for questioning the methods of a man who hasn't married the woman carrying his child. I have every reason to doubt him.But I'll give credit where credit is due - Ward has been handling this situation well, at least since he returned with Louisa last night. Both mother and child are fine, but the doctor recommended she take it easy for a few days, and Ward has insisted that she stay in bed this morning. I even saw him take breakfast up to her earlier.Maybe there's a good man hiding beneath that grubby exterior after all.But that doesn't mean I owe him an apology.Besides, I have other things to handle today, like helping greet our guests. They've been arriving since noon, and we've been helping them get settled in their rooms. Lily's currently leading her coworker Morgan and her husband up to their suite