“Yes, you can stop going on about it now,” a male voice interjected from a few feet away. Lena glanced in his direction and smiled at the older gentleman she assumed must be Sean. He shook her hand and introduced himself. “I will agree that it’s good to finally meet you, though, Lena. We’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Lena grinned at Owen. “It’s wonderful to meet you both. You have a lovely home.”
“Thank you,” Mary replied sweetly as she led them toward the dining room. “I hope you’re both hungry. I might’ve gone a little overboard in the kitchen this morning.”
Sean’s eyes widened theatrically, and Lena chuckled. Although she knew that Owen’s tendency to push food on people hadn’t come from Mary, it was amusing to see the similarity. When Lena caught sight of the spread in the dining room, she was immediately grateful that she’d skipped breakfast that morning in favor of eating a normal lunch.
“Where’s Julia?” Owen asked, pulling Lena’s chair out. Mary smiled approvingly as she answered.
“She’ll be down shortly. I’ll warn you though, she’s been in a bit of a mood this week.”
“Everything okay?”
“I think so. Thirteen can be a difficult age. Eric won’t be home from New Hampshire until next week, of course. He’ll want to meet you as well, Lena. I hope you’ll join us for dinner at least once over your school break.”
“I’d love to,” she smiled. “Eric’s in New Hampshire?”
“Dartmouth,” Sean clarified, chuckling as he gestured to Owen. “Still think I should’ve tried harder to convince this one to go Ivy League too. Maybe for graduate school…”
“No grad school,” Owen shook his head, smiling in spite of himself. Sean hadn’t given up on trying to persuade Owen to accept more financial help from him and his wife. While Owen appreciated their constant offers, he was determined not to take any more from them than was absolutely necessary.
“Hey, Owen.”
Everyone turned to see a teenage girl enter the room, and Lena smiled as she watched Owen stand to greet her with a hug. She was relieved that in spite of his residual issues with physical contact, they didn’t seem to extend to the Langfords.
“Julia, this is my girlfriend, Lena Gardner. Lena, this is Julia.”
“His sister,” Julia announced proudly. “Official or not.” She gave Lena a pleasant smile and dropped into one of the open chairs.
“It’s very nice to meet you.”
Julia nodded and fell silent as everyone got situated. She was slightly shorter than Lena, and although most thirteen-year-old girls were typically in the middle of their ‘awkward phase,’ Julia certainly was not. Her thick, dark ringlets swirled around her shoulders, catching the light every so often, and her tawny skin seemed to glow around her brown eyes. Although she seemed a little reserved, her smile was kind.
They began to pass around a few serving dishes, filling their plates as they exchanged small talk. Lena often tended to withdraw around new people and simply observe, but she found herself contributing to their conversation quite easily. It was easy to see how much they all loved Owen and that, regardless of what his birth certificate might say, he was very much a member of their family. Not for the first time, Lena wondered why they’d never made it official. Owen hadn’t given her much information about his transition from Monroe to Langford.
Lena was relieved at the way all of the Langfords seemed to like her immediately, as though her acceptance into the fold was a foregone conclusion. She knew that Owen had explained their childhood connection, however, and she supposed that at least partially explained the tears in Mary’s eyes as she watched Owen play the doting boyfriend. Not that it’s an act, Lena amended silently. He was every bit as attentive and considerate in private.
“You’re telling me you got this guy on a carnival ride?” Sean laughed. “I’m surprised he didn’t call me to get his final affairs in order first.”
“I thought about it,” Owen nodded. Lena nudged him with her elbow.
“Several rides, actually. And I got him to eat a funnel cake.”
“There was fruit on it,” he said in mock defense.
“When it’s soaked in syrup and covered with powdered sugar, it’s no longer considered fruit.”
Everyone chuckled, and after a few minutes, the talk turned to GC. Sean’s firm had been hired to represent Nate’s company in a contract dispute several months ago, and Lena politely asked if things were going well. He replied with a few generic details, but her questions quickly became more specific. Julia had excused herself from the table, but Owen and Mary sat silently, watching the two of them converse. It was clear by Sean’s expression that he was impressed with Lena’s business acumen, particularly since her name hadn’t been on any of the files to indicate that she was directly involved with the matter.
“She’s like a female version of you,” Sean told Owen a short while later. “I guess growing up with Nate Gardner as your father has that effect.”
“That it does,” Lena laughed. “And Mary, you’re a doctor?”
“Yes. Almost fifteen years in internal medicine,” she nodded. “I was a nurse for a few years before that.”
“That’s remarkable.”
Mary and Lena chatted amicably about the hospital where Mary was employed as well as the work she did for several local charities. Mary’s gaze flickered back to Owen every so often, conveying her approval, and as she was bidding them farewell a short while later, she pulled him aside.
“She’s wonderful, darling. So sweet and obviously very bright.”
“I agree,” Owen smiled, accepting another hug. “I’m glad you like her.”
“Try to bring her for Christmas, alright? We can shift things around a bit to make sure there are no conflicts this time. And you know Eric will want to meet her too, of course.”
“I’ll let you know,” he nodded, not wanting to dwell on the thought of his Lena in the same room with Eric Langford, whose sexual exploits had only gotten more impressive in the last two years.
Mary and Sean waved to them as Owen opened the car door for Lena. Once he was settled in the driver’s seat and the Langfords had disappeared, she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
“Oh, I’m sure you can do better than that,” Owen grinned, turning his head to kiss her properly. By the time they separated, it was necessary to defog the windows in order to pull out of the driveway safely. “They liked you.”
“I liked them too. What’s Eric like?”
“He’s… nice.”
“Nice?” she laughed.
“He’s very easy to like. He’s really funny, and he seems to have a gift for putting people at ease. He’s a good guy… except maybe where women are concerned. He will undoubtedly try to hit on you.”
“I’ll be sure to wear my ‘I Heart Owen’ t-shirt. Should I stamp your initials on my forehead?” Lena teased.
“It might not be a bad idea,” he replied, sounding grim.
“Oh, come on. It’s obvious the Langfords think of you as part of their family. Would he really try to score on his brother’s girlfriend?”
“Well… No, probably not. He’s been trying to get me laid for years.” It was true. If anything, Eric’s response would more likely be a showering of sexual innuendos and free condoms.
“Well, there you go. Don’t worry so much.”
Traffic was heavier than usual for a Sunday afternoon as they drove back to Lena’s apartment. They’d planned to spend the remainder of the day studying separately for finals, so she took the opportunity to ask him the question that had been on her mind since they’d first set foot into the Langfords’ home.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” he smiled, reaching over to take her hand.
“Why didn’t they formally adopt you?” She watched him purse his lips as though troubled, and she continued, “I only ask because… well, like I said, it’s obvious they love
you and consider you family. Why isn’t it official?”
“That was my decision,” Owen sighed. “When everything came out about my mother and I was removed from my parents’ care, I was a ward of the state for a little while. Both Eric and Julia were adopted through the foster system, and Mary and Sean were still registered at the time. They petitioned the judge for guardianship, and it was granted. With Sean’s help, I was able to get emancipated when I was sixteen.”
“And that’s when you changed your name?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay… so was adoption even discussed? I mean, it seems like a more obvious solution than emancipation.”
“They offered, but I said no.” At her confused frown, he went on. “I know you’ll probably say I was being illogical and irrational, but… At the time, the idea of being adopted again made me nervous. It’s not like it had turned out well for me the first time, and I was afraid that if the Langfords adopted me, things would change too much. I didn’t want to risk them changing for the worse rather than the better. And it was just too much, I guess. They’d already saved me from my mother’s abuses. They were giving me free room and board and were planning to help me pay for college, and that was all the charity I could stand to take from them.”
“You’re right,” Lena said after a moment’s silence. “It is irrational. But it’s not illogical. I can see your reasoning, and I can’t say that I might not have felt the same way were I in your position. But they do love you. I just met them, and I could tell right way. Making you their son, their brother… That wouldn’t be charity. You shouldn’t look at it that way. And you know, there’s no law that says you can’t be adopted as an adult. It doesn’t matter that you’re over eighteen.”
“I know,” Owen nodded, finally reaching Lena’s exit off the freeway. “I understand that my thought process didn’t really make sense back then. I can see that now. And I guess if they ever brought it up again, I wouldn’t turn them down a second time, but… at this point, it doesn’t really matter. I’m a Langford in all the ways that count.”
“Yes, you are,” she smiled, squeezing his hand.
In spite of her best efforts to focus solely on her exam notes that evening, Lena’s mind found its way to Owen more than once. She’d heard Mary’s request that she be invited to their Christmas celebrations, and she hoped that perhaps there would be an opportunity to speak to Mary in private at some point. Granted, she’d only known the woman for a few hours, but Lena felt certain that if Mary knew Owen’s feelings had changed in regard to being adopted, she would be ecstatic. The Langfords were the only loving parental figures Owen had ever known, and they deserved to be more than just his ‘honorary’ parents.
Whether Owen had realized it or not, Lena had recognized a bit of herself in him as he’d explained his former irrational opinion about being adopted a second time. She could identify all too well with the low self-worth that line of thinking revealed. Just as she felt obligated to meet all of her father’s expectations, Owen felt obligated to make his own way. The evidence of that was present not only in his words but his actions as well. He’d applied for every available scholarship, only allowing the Langfords to cover the remainder so that he wouldn’t have to take out student loans. For years, he’d held a manual labor job to pay his own bills, often working full time hours and having a full course load year-round.
It’s no wonder he’s so uptight, she smirked as she lay in bed that evening. It was nearly midnight, and her waking mind flitted back and forth between her boyfriend and the facts she’d memorized for the following day’s exam.
When at last she slept, however, her dreams were full of Owen.
Friday
Owen sat at the breakfast bar in Lena’s apartment, mesmerized by the rhythmic sway of her hips as she stood over the stove. Her iPhone was playing a song he didn’t recognize, and Lena seemed incapable of standing still while the catchy beat filled her kitchen. He knew he had a dopey smile on his face, but he didn’t care. Mine, he grinned inwardly, tilting his head to admire her ass.
He was pleased that she seemed to be in a good mood, in spite of the continued radio silence from Logan. Owen hadn’t seen much of her that week, other than the limited time they’d spent at GC together. Lena had insisted that they forego sleepovers until their exams were over, and they’d both finished their last test that afternoon. Owen was fairly certain that it was the first time they’d gone a full week without sex, and he was all too aware of the uncomfortable tightness of his jeans as she shook her sculpted ass a mere five feet away.
Focus, Langford. Talk first, sex later.
They’d both spent a few hours at GC the prior evening, and their elevator ride to the parking garage had been interrupted by none other than Jeff Phelps. Once again, Lena’s subtle tells had given her away, and although Owen doubted Phelps had picked up on her animosity, he’d had no trouble sensing it in her tone and body language. Once Phelps had strolled off in the direction of his vehicle, Owen had insisted she explain her dislike of him. Lena had been in a rush to return home and study for Friday’s exam, but she’d promised to tell him over dinner the following evening. He’d let it pass once because he’d been able to tell that the situation was upsetting her, but they’d shared so much since then. Owen refused to let the matter go unaddressed a second time.
When at last Lena carried their plates to the bar and took the seat beside him, Owen leaned over to kiss her cheek appreciatively.
“Thanks for dinner. And the show,” he grinned suggestively.
“Anytime,” Lena smirked, squirming in similar discomfort as she realized that the smell of their food wasn’t strong enough to mask the heavenly aroma that always surrounded Owen Langford. It had been a long week for her as well.
“So…?” he prompted.
“So… I’m really not sure what to say or where to start. I don’t like Phelps. You seem to be the only one who’s noticed.”
“Yeah, I got that much, but why don’t you like him? Your dad can’t stop singing his praises.”
“Oh, trust me, I know,” Lena replied, her tone slightly bitter. “It was really just a feeling until a few months ago. He’s always creeped me out a bit.”
“Does that have anything to do with the fact that he can’t keep his eyes on your face where they belong?” he growled quietly.
“Yeah, I figured you’d notice that,” she nodded. Owen gave a grunt of irritation.
“So, what happened a few months ago?”
“Well… Do you remember that accounting project I did using sample budgets from a few of GC’s subsidiaries?”
“For Meyer’s class, right?”
“Right. Well, Wes fixed my permissions so that they matched Nate’s in terms of what I could see. I just couldn’t make changes to anything I wasn’t assigned to, of course.” He grunted again, his lips tightening at the mention of Wes’s name. “The odd thing was that when I picked up the laptop they wanted me to use for the project, the supervisor in Accounting warned me not to mention the project to anyone who might tell Phelps.”
“He’s the CFO, and he’s not supposed to know who’s in the finance files?”
“That’s what I thought. Plus, my dad certainly outranks him, and he’d given his permission. But Gina said it was because he oversees a handful of accounts himself and is very protective of them. She didn’t think he’d like me having access to them. I thanked her without saying anything else, but when I got home… I got curious. The whole thing sounded weird.”
“Depending on the nature of the accounts, it’s not unheard of,” Owen admitted, but his features were twisted into a frown that matched hers. She could see that his analytical brain had clicked into gear.
“I know, which is why I wanted to see what the accounts were. I’m sure you know that GC didn’t start contracting heavily with the military until Phelps came on board. The contracts he brought with him from his own company were much larger and more lucrative, especially once they’d
been altered to adhere to GC protocols.” She paused as he nodded. “Well, there were six accounts under his name. Two were military and pretty large, so that didn’t seem so strange. The other four were civilian, and only one of those was maybe large enough to warrant personal attention from the CFO.”
“And the other three?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “What I saw didn’t look that out of the ordinary, but I couldn’t see much.”
“I thought you said the IT nitwit gave you the same permissions as Nate.”
“He did, but Phelps had a number of the files for each of the other three accounts password protected. I was grabbing sample budgets from quite a few accounts that night, and I didn’t encounter the password block on anyone else’s files. From what I could see, the companies looked pretty normal. There was nothing to explain why he would go to the trouble to oversee them himself and take an extra security measure.”
“You think he’s hiding… what? The guy’s worth billions.”
“Well, money would be the most obvious thing to be covert about, but you’re right. It’s not like he needs to embezzle. And it’s not like GC is struggling or documenting huge, inexplicable losses.”
“Yeah, but in a company this size, catching embezzlers can be difficult. Proportionate losses are rare and draw attention, so when they happen, the people in charge find out pretty quickly. Most corporations have checks and balances in place, but someone who knows what they’re doing can get around that. It happens all the time. They usually only get caught by the FTC, which -”
“Which has no involvement with GC because it’s privately owned,” Lena finished.
“Right,” he frowned. “But you’re not even sure this is about money?”
“I don’t know. The whole thing gives me a bad vibe. Especially because two of the three accounts he has locked down are accounts payable. They’re both foreign companies, but I couldn’t really see any details on what we’re paying them for or how much.”
Ember (Constant Flame Duet Book 1) Page 28
