The Aviator by Morgan Karpiel Read Free Book Online Page A

expensive business.” Gilda turned her attention to the wine goblet, lifting it from above her plate.
    “These gentlemen have already reviewed our books,” Nathan said tightly. “Our profits are well recorded.”
    “Oh yes, those books. Do forgive me.”
    There was a moment of terrible silence. Gilda sipped from her goblet.
    “What do you mean ‘ those books’?” the Earl asked.
    Gilda blinked. “Oh, please do forgive me. It’s not that the actual figures are so miserable. They were vastly improved from the previous year, after all. Nor are the official books inaccurate. It’s really nothing more than a slight and cosmetically pleasing rearrangement of the decimal places.”
    “Gentlemen,” Nathan interrupted.
    “Are you saying that there are two sets of books?” another investor asked quickly, a note of panic entering the room.
    “Please,” Nathan said, his tone far sharper than he intended, stilling the men at the table. “If you will excuse us for a few brief moments, Lady Sinclair and I have a few matters to discuss.”
    This, in itself, was a severe breach of etiquette, yet Nathan saw nothing but relief in the faces seated around the table. The Earl led the way, clearing his throat and rising from his seat. “I much prefer a cigar before the afternoon meal, creates the exact condition needed for proper digestion.”
    There were vague murmurs of agreement, deferential nods and polite excuses from the table. The servers stepped in quickly to assist the group, now led by the Earl as they filed through the doorway.
    One of Gilda’s maids closed the polished doors behind them, locking a cold silence in the room.
    Nathan glared at her, feeling his patience thin to nothing. “Congratulations. It took months to arrange this meeting, as well as countless hours of preparation, and you have likely ruined it all in the span of a few moments.”
    “You brought this on yourself,” she announced.
    “I did what ?”
    “You cannot leave, not like this. Your work for us is unfinished, your commitments abandoned. I will not accept it.”
    “You will not accept it,” he repeated, dark visions burning from the depths of his anger. He rose from the table. “But what if I don’t belong to you? What if I can’t be controlled anymore, your ladyship? Would you still want me then? Shall we find out?”

    Gilda stared at him, stunned. He was more than furious, positively enraged, his green eyes flashing, his teeth clenched. There was something different in the way he looked at her, something no longer quite so…Nathan. She pushed up from her seat as he approached, stumbling on the hem of her dress in an effort to reach the doors. He intercepted her in three strides, his hands capturing her wrists, his large shoulders pushing between her and the brass knobs.
    “What’s this?” he hissed. “You’ve provoked me to the very edge of sanity and now you expect to escape as I careen over it?”
    “Don’t speak to me of provocation,” she shot back. “You act as if you’ve had everything stolen from you, everything that you thought you had a right to. Tell me, Mr. Lanchard, how does it feel?”
    His eyes narrowed. “I am not your father. And I am not my mother. You can curse me until the very hour of your death and it will gain you nothing. Can’t you see what you’ve done? This selfish need for revenge, always revenge…you’ve dragged us both into darkness, made a ridiculous play of your own life. For what? For what , Gilda?”
    “You blame me for your unhappiness.”
    “Who else?”
    “Who else, indeed. At least I have lived my life to my own satisfaction, as my own person. If you are not my father, who are you? You accepted everything he gave you, tried to please him at every turn. When did you ever care what damage that would bring? To me? To my mother?”
    “Neither of you could legally control the company.”
    “So you stepped right in, didn’t you? And you took everything, not just control of the