The Raw Deal
Elle picked up the phone and dialed a number she knew by heart. Her father had been in Europe for the past couple of weeks. She hadn't been able to talk to him yet about the potential interview for Maria Sanchez. Ms. Sanchez had done her one better by not only giving her the original copy of the tape of her serenade, but also placed a copy onto a thumbnail drive as well. The least she could do was talk to her father as soon as he was available.
His secretary had assured her he had arrived back in Chicago two days ago. He had a day to recover first, so he was sure to be in the office today. The call would go through on his direct line, so unless he was out of his office for a meeting or something . . .
"Hamilton," was the short, clipped answer.
"Hello, Poppa," Elle began. "How was your trip?"
"Arabella, my love," Cedric's tone warmed up immediately. "What a surprise, sweetheart! I don't suppose you are back in town, hm?"
"No, Poppa. I'm still in Bludhaven," Elle sighed. "You didn't answer my question. How was your trip? Did you enjoy yourself?"
"Business is business, darling child," he murmured. "It feels as though you have dropped off the face of the earth, however. You do not call your father nearly enough. I would have enjoyed this trip had you joined me, though. It would have been like old times."
"I have been to Brussels many times," she reminded him. "Besides, you would have spent all day in meetings. I wouldn't have seen you at all."
"It was not all meetings, you know, Bella," he teased. "There were dinners, and I went to the theatre while I was there. You would have kept busy with shopping and the museums as well. I would have arranged for you tours . . ."
Elle rolled her eyes. "I have done all of that many times, Poppa. I called you for a reason, though." Might as well get this over with, she thought, before Poppa starts pressuring me to forget about my dreams and move back home.
"Indeed," he sounded surprised. "What reason do I thank for having my beloved daughter call me?"
Elle grimaced. Guilt trip, much? "I have made a . . . friend, Poppa." Well, Maria Sanchez couldn't exactly be called a friend, but she really didn't want to get into the real reason why she was asking him for this favor.
"A friend?" Cedric's voice grew more curious as well as more cautious. "What is this friend's name, pray tell?"
"Her name is Maria Sanchez," Elle placed heavy emphasis on the feminine pronoun. "And she's a reporter."
"Haven't I told you, Bella, that reporters are scavengers; never friends," he chided.
"Poppa," she said, a warning in her voice. "I am not a child. I am perfectly capable of making my own friends."
"And what did this reporter friend of yours ask of you in payment for her friendship," Cedric asked, knowingly.
Elle wanted to hang up. Everything had a price for Cedric Hamilton. She was walking directly into this knowing that her father would be judging her as a naïve, little fool, and taking it as proof that she was incapable of running her own life. He was constantly worrying that she would forever be taken advantage of by the wolves of the world. But she refused to give him the true reason behind this favor. The last thing she wanted was for her father to know about Dick Grayson. Not yet . . .
"It isn't a payment for her friendship." That much was true, anyway, since they weren't actually friends. "Her boss was bugging her about bringing in something that was truly newsworthy. I was the one who suggested that I might be able to swing a possible interview with you."
Elle hated lying, but this was one she considered necessary. She would need to let Ms. Sanchez know the back story before she let anything important slip when her father grilled her about their 'friendship'.
"I don't do interviews, Arabella. You know that." This was the voice of Cedric, the businessman; not that of her father.
"Poppa, please," Elle huffed a little. "Could you do this one interview for my friend? Could you do it for me? Please?"
There was a long pause. She could almost hear him thinking. She had not only said, please, but had said it twice. His little Bella seldom ever asked for anything, and she never ever begged. Elle knew she had gotten his attention.
This wasn't for anything petty, he knew. Cedric wondered what the real reason behind this favor was. He would have given his daughter the world, if she had asked . . . but she never asked. She had never been a greedy child, nor had she grown into a materialistic woman. Had she, his daughter wouldn't even now been living in a city more than two hours away from him at this moment. She would have still been living with him; safely ensconced in his penthouse or his home on the lake, surrounded by people he trusted to place themselves between Arabella and any danger.
He hated this need she had to be independent of him. That she preferred to make her own decisions rather than continue to trust him to make them for her as she had as a child. This experiment she had practically forced him into grated heavily on his nerves, and he worried about her constantly. She mistakenly believed that the dangers that came with being a rich man's daughter were somehow mitigated once she reached adulthood.
That part of him that made him such a successful businessman came to the fore. Perhaps he could somehow use this favor to get something that he wanted in return.
"If I do this thing for you . . ." he began. "Might you reciprocate by doing me a little favor in return?"
"What sort of favor," she asked hesitantly.
Cedric smiled at her caution. She was right to be suspicious.
"You know I worry about you," he said. "This silly attempt to go off on your own is ill-conceived. You know this."
Elle interrupted him before he could insist on her moving back home. "No, Poppa! I will not move back in with you."
"Then what about we find you a nice apartment here in Chicago? Closer to home and to me? Hm?"
Elle laughed in spite of herself. "You own Chicago, Poppa. If I am to have the opportunity to be independent and earn my own way, I need to be out from under your jurisdiction. Bludhaven isn't so far away. It could be Gotham City, you know, or New York."
"New York," he repeated, startled. "That is too far away; a plane flight away. Gotham is yet another hour further from me."
"See," she smirked. "Bludhaven is just around the corner from you. Much better than New York City."
"It sounds as if this favor is turning out to be very one-sided. You should have followed me into the family business, Bella. You would be a natural negotiator."
"I have no desire to spend my days inside of a boardroom, thank you, no. That is more Aidan's thing."
Cedric shrugged. It was true his son was a talented businessman, but Arabella was the child of his heart; the daughter of his second wife, his true love. From the moment he held her in his arms, looked into her rich, dark eyes, he had desired nothing more than to give her everything. When his beloved Esmeralda had died on that black day sixteen years ago, he had clung to the child with all his might. He could still see his beautiful wife in their daughter's eyes, in some of her movements and expressions. At times, it was almost as if Esmeralda had never left him.
Perhaps it was wrong of him to choose a favorite from amongst his children, but he couldn't help himself. It created a sibling rivalry that he often used to bring his children to heel, or make them strive to improve themselves. It certainly worked in molding his son into a strong businessman and able partner in his growing empire. Arabella, however, didn't respond nearly as well to his parenting tactics.
"Then how about visiting me, then, if you won't end this debacle and move back?"
"It isn't, nor will it be, a debacle, Poppa!" Anger flared in her voice, traveling through the phone with ease.
"Whatever you want to call it, then, Bella," he said, wearily. "I have a meeting in about another ten minutes. If you want me to seriously consider granting this one time interview with your reporter 'friend', then my price for it is a visitation by you once a month during which you will attend one event with me."
"Is that event truly with you, or do you plan to set me up with yet another escort?" Elle asked, warily. "I have no desire to spend an entire evening on the arm of one of your business associate's sons or with anyone else for that matter."
"How do you know if one of those sons isn't the 'one' for you, if you do not attempt to at least have a conversation with them," Cedric teased.
Because I have already found him, Poppa! She chastised herself for thinking it, even as the truth of the words struck her heart. It wasn't something she could say aloud, however, at least, not yet. And certainly not to her father . . . That would definitely send the poor man running from her, if he had to face down her father.
"Isn't there anything else you desire of me, Poppa," Elle asked. She did not want to go back to Chicago for anything.
"I would say for you to marry a man of worth, and provide me a bevy of grandchildren that I can groom to take over my empire one day, hm," Cedric replied, jovially. "I know of several young men who would fit the bill."
Elle cringed. She was ready to call the whole thing off. Taking a breath, she made him the next best offer that she thought he might agree to. "I will visit with you, Poppa. I might, on occasion, go to an event with you, but on your arm; not anyone else's. That is my deal."
Elle dreaded the idea of returning to Chicago for any reason. She didn't doubt that any visit she made would be filled with all manner of machinations meant to prevent her from returning to Bludhaven. Her father would do his damnedest to keep her in Chicago with him, which will create all kinds of problems in and of itself. And now that she was finally on her own, she had to promise to return every month for a visit throughout the rest of her trial.
"You drive a hard bargain, child," he sighed, although the both of them knew he had gotten the best end of the deal.
"I do not," she blew out a frustrated breath. "If this benefited me at all, I wouldn't have promised to do something guaranteed to create yet more friction with Aidan. He's going to hate this, and as a result, make certain I will hate it even more. You know he's going to take my visits as some sort of failure on my part, and treat me accordingly."
"Nonsense! I do not know why you two are always at each others' throats. You are brother and sister, for God's sake!" Cedric groused. "You will come home, and Aidan will do what I tell him to do."
In business, yes, Aidan always did what their father told him to. That wasn't an issue, however. It was what he did in the rest of his time that created the problem. Her brother had hated her from the moment of her birth. It had taken many years for her to understand the reasons why. There would never be peace between them, she knew. It was just one more reason why she had been so desperate to move out of her father's home, and out of Chicago proper.
She prayed that Dick continued to be worth effort she was going through for him. Thinking about the time already spent with him, Elle reconsidered her bargaining skills. Maybe she wasn't such a bad negotiator at that, when she considered the prize awaiting her come tomorrow night after her performance. He was work, she decided, but he was worth it.