Tia winced. “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
Niko touched a chair and sat down in it. “You don’t trust men. None of them proved to be worthy. Including me. We’ve all hurt you in some way. Your father. Your boss at the management company. Me. The jerk who assaulted you. The pastor in Las Vegas. The list goes on and on, doesn’t it?”
Tia gasped.
“You didn’t hide this from me on purpose. You are used to keeping secrets to protect yourself.” He rose and walked over to her. “Sweetheart. I love you. I forgive you. I hope in time you will find me trustworthy enough to share all your secrets.”
Tia wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. “There’s more.”
“More?” Niko put her at arm’s length. “As in money or secrets?”
“Secrets.”
“It’s time we get those out in the open, huh? I love you, Tia. Nothing is going to change that.”
Tia nodded and shivered. “Now?”
“It’s a little chilly here. How about at home? But first—can we take this chair? It’s really comfortable.”
“That’s fine.” She picked up a small box to take with her.
Niko put the rear seats down, lifted the chair, and shoved it into the back of their new sport utility vehicle. He helped Tia in and went around to the driver’s side after making sure the storage area was secure.
Once they were home, he carried the chair into the family room. He brought another chair from the kitchen and turned on the gas fireplace. “Come and sit, Tia. Let’s talk.”
Tia dropped her purse by the garage door, hung up her coat, and joined her husband, bringing the box with her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
He who revealeth a secret makes himself a slave.
Greek proverb
Tia knelt on the floor.
“Sit, Niko. Enjoy the chair.”
He did as he was bid. What had her so scared to share her secrets with him?
She pulled out a scrapbook. The box closed, and she used it as a table. Tia turned to him. “This tells it all, and the rest I’ll fill in.”
He nodded and waited.
“First. I’m the oldest of five children. My siblings didn’t appreciate how I tried to protect them when my father lived at home. When he went to prison, I got a job. That meant mom was home with the kids when she wasn’t working herself. I told you she drank. When my mom died, they made it clear they wanted nothing to do with me—or my faith. I’ve not heard from them in almost four years now.”
She flipped open the first page. A family portrait. “This is my dad, mom. Me at sixteen. Ben was fourteen, Ted was twelve, Ada and Abby were ten.” She flipped a page. It was a newspaper article.
“This is about my dad. He embezzled money from musicians. Niko. He was a manager who worked for a big-name firm, and he stole funds designated to pay for singers and performers like you, Johnny, and the rest.”
She lifted up the paper and handed it to him. “Read it.”
Niko started to scan through the article but stopped when he came to this line. “The Washington Times finds it interesting that it was Mr. Bartel’s eldest daughter, Tia, who uncovered theft and turned her father into authorities.”
“Now you understand why my family hates me and I dread seeing my father.”
“He said he’s a Christian now.”
“True, but he used to say a lot of things. He was a charming man in public and a cruel man behind the scenes.”
“You still need to forgive him.”
“I do. But forgiveness doesn’t mean I have to be reconciled to him or have a relationship. I don’t know if I could do that.”
“Is there more?” He handed the newspaper article back to her. She nodded.
She flipped through and shared with him the details of the court case. “He does have money coming out of prison. He hid other funds. They hired a forensic finance specialist to track it down, but I suspect there was more they didn’t find.”
“Tia, why did you think I would hold this kind of stuff against you? He was a schmuck. He’s reformed, but all of that affirms your integrity and ability to handle resources well.”
“We’ve never sat down to look at the books, and I’ve been afraid to show you. Like maybe there’s some secret part of me doing the same thing he did and not even aware of it.”
“You submit your books to an outside accounting firm, right?”
“Yes. That’s one way I’ve tried to keep myself from any suspicion of wrong if someone were to tie me to my father and his crimes. There are parts of this industry who wouldn’t work with me because of what he did. I loved music and wanted to be better than him in how I worked with people. And I am. I don’t cheat clients.”
“You cheat yourself.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’d cheat yourself before you would ever let a client suffer loss.”
Tia nodded.
“When I fired you, what happened with our accounts?”
“I made sure you all got everything coming to you, and you received residual income during the entire time.”
“And what about you?”
“I wasn’t working.”
“You were paid on commission as well. Weren’t you supposed to get a cut of the royalties?”
Tia shrugged. “I signed them over to divide amongst the band.”
“So you struggled, and we lived well.”
“You worked hard.”
“So did you.”
Tia sighed. “It’s over. It’s in the past.”
“I want to review the books with Roberto present.”
“Why?”
“Because if we find any irregularity, he can determine how best to rectify it.”
“What does it matter now? We’re married.”
“Ah, ha. So there is something to hide.” Niko pulled out his phone and called Robbie at his office. “Yeah. Hey, Robbie. Do you have an hour or so? We have something we need to talk to you about.” He kept his eye on his wife, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. She was hiding something else. “Four this afternoon? Really? Great, we’ll be there. On the clock. Yes. Okay, later.”
Niko glanced at his watch. “You have an hour to gather your papers together.” His comment came out more as a growl than a reasonable request. Why was he so angry all of a sudden? Wasn’t it his own fault that all these years he’d never even asked about her? Why would he expect her to fill in all the blanks now? He took a deep breath. This really wasn’t her fault. His anger really was more at himself. And he was tired of waiting. He needed to know as much as he possibly could.
Tia nodded and stood to go get her stuff. Niko looked through the rest of the scrapbook, funeral arrangements, the will, the deposit slip for the inheritance money, and her birth certificate. He looked at it closely. “Tia? Why didn’t you tell me that Bill Bartel wasn’t your real father?”
Tia came back to the room slack-jawed. “Not even my brothers and sisters know the truth. As a kid, it was something my mother told me was a secret. Do you know who the man on that certificate is?” she asked.
Niko nodded. “The President and CEO of Jazzy Records. One of the chief complainants against Mr. Bartel.”
“Yeah. It’s complicated.”
“Does your biological father even know about you?”
Tia shook her head. “No.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“Once at a corporate event. He was polite but didn’t really see me. I’m nobody to him. That was when I first learned I could be invisible. My dad’s gift to me.”
Niko shook his head and put the papers back in the box. He stood and grabbed his keys and coat and held out Tia’s for her. “Let’s go. Hidden money. This inheritance? There’s too much I don’t understand. Is there anything else you’re hiding from me? ”
“Not intentionally. I’m not sure what it is you need to know.”
“Robbie will help.”
“I hope so. I really do, Niko. I’m afraid
my father is coming back to find the money he hid, as if I have it. But I don’t. I swear I have no clue where it went.”
“The grandmother who died. Was she maternal or paternal?”
“Paternal.” She gasped. “Oh—she wasn’t even related to me.”
Niko pulled out of the driveway and wondered if maybe Tia’s fears were real after all. Would he learn something that could destroy their marriage?
* * *
They walked into Robbie’s office, and since most of the bookkeeping was on the computer, Robbie hooked it up to a bigger monitor so they could all view the same thing clearly.
“Okay, Tia. This isn’t an inquisition. Explain what these numbers mean.”
“Sure. Here are the royalties that came in for the record sales. The next lines are the distribution of the funds by percentage to each of the band members. The money was direct deposited into their accounts.”
Robbie pointed to another line. “Is this your cut?”
“Yes.”
“It comes in, and it goes out. Where does it go?”
Tia flushed.
“Tia? Where did it go? You’ve not done anything wrong here at all. You have the right to spend your money any way you like. But for the sake of honesty, where did it go? Your own private checking or saving account?”
“It went to the fundraising account.”
Roberto frowned. “Fundraising for what?”
Niko shook his head. “For the new studio album?” He couldn’t believe it. Really? Did she have so little faith in them?
Tia nodded.
“What? You didn’t think we could reach the amount without your help?”
“That wasn’t it at all. It was actually a separate account. I didn’t impact your numbers, but your calculations for the cost of the studio were too low, and I tried to tell you guys. You wouldn’t listen, so I decided to make up the difference I figured you would need. The rest you earned on your own merits.”
“We exceeded our limits.”
“That was a wonderful surprise.”
They went through line by line all the accounting for the past two years, from before she took over for Jazzy Records, and her deal with them.
“Tia, they robbed you,” Robbie said.
“I let them. I felt so bad over what my father had done. I’m surprised Jazzy even accepted my bid to manage the band, but the people working there never connected me to my dad. And Niko and the guys had no clue.”
“Can we see your other accounts?”
“Sure.” Tia opened up her various accounts online, from her checking account and debit card to her savings and the mutual fund investments.
“Is that it?”
“No. There’s my IRAs too. Hold on.” She typed in her account numbers and password, and her retirement funds showed up.
“Nothing unusual here either.” Robbie looked at Niko. “Is everything good?”
“I guess. I just don’t want any more surprises.”
“Wait. Tia. Before your marriage. Who was the beneficiary on these accounts, and have you changed them since your wedding?” Roberto asked.
Tia closed down the paperwork. She was obviously stalling. “You know. You had my will in your files.”
“Tia?” Niko asked.
“Years ago, my father conned a young man out of the rights to his original music. If the rights had remained with that singer and musician, he probably would’ve made it big in the industry sooner. Granted, that’s my opinion, but still.”
“Who would that have been?” Robbie asked.
“Nikolos Acton. It was a deal through a sweet-talking middleman.”
“I was young and stupid, Tia. I was so full of myself I deserved to be taken in.”
Her eyes flashed fire as she jumped to her feet. “No. You didn’t. I’ve seen those compositions, and they’re beautiful. The words are poetry, and the arrangements are brilliant. But dad owns the rights to them, and you can never record them unless he gets all the royalties. He talked you into doing a recording and billed it under another artist’s work and made a killing. You were an unknown, but he made money off you.”
“Tia, his wrongdoing wasn’t yours to right. Did you marry me too to make up for all he took from me? Are you a payment on his debt? Is our child interest I’m earning on this investment as a compensation for my earlier arrogance and naiveté?” He bit back a growl.
Tia shook her head and stared at her hands. “I fell in love with your music. I met you and fell in love with you. I didn’t uncover that fraud until he was already in prison.” Her voice was a whisper.
Niko sat back and sighed. Her fierce devotion to him was humbling. Tia’s breathing had calmed even as she paced on the other side of the table. “You said you still think your father has money hidden?”
“Before he went to prison, he told me he would find me to get his money. I had no idea why he’d say that. I had nothing. He left us destitute. It scared me. And now he’s getting out and wants to come see me.”
Niko looked at Robbie. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know. I’ll look up the court case and see what I can find out. One thing I have learned, though, about women is this—if she has a premonition of something, pay attention. It’s probably real.”
“Thanks for your time. Let me know what we owe you, and keep track of the time you spend researching. Matter of fact. Let me sign a contract for you.” Niko signed and so did Tia, and they left.
“Wanna stop and get another chair?” Niko asked.
“If you think we can fit it in.”
They drove to the storage area and gathered a few items, including the rug Stephanie indicated. Niko dragged them all into the house.
Tia stood in the middle of the family room. A little girl lost. He went to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry I doubted you. I just didn’t understand.”
“You never had a need to before. We got married, but we’d never really talked about any of this. I can see how that would be suspicious to you. I never intended to deceive you. I’m not used to having anyone who was there for me. Someone who would accept the truth of my history and love me anyway.”
“I do love and accept you. Why have you never let your biological father know about you? Doesn’t it make you curious to get acquainted with him?”
“I’m not sure. If we go to the Fan or Dove awards, we’ll possibly run into him, since your nominated album was released by them. I don’t want him to see me as an opportunist. Especially after all my stepfather did to him. Funny that your self-recorded single was also nominated.”
“I think I can understand. Would you mind if I tried to contact him?”
Tia stared at him and didn’t speak for the longest time. “You are the head of this home. You can do whatever you think is best. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”
“Wait. Tia. Tomorrow can we shop for a king size bed and all the trappings? Pick paint colors?”
“Sure. I’d like that.”
She wandered off to the bedroom, and the faucet squeaked when she went to brush her teeth.
Hmm. I think I’m going to need help learning to take care of all these little things. But Lord, help me do what’s best for Tia.
* * *
The next morning, Tia awoke alone in bed. Niko’s guitar case was open, so she suspected he had sung to her again last night. She didn’t deserve his faithful devotion during her night terrors. She rose to find him in the kitchen frying up eggs. He glanced over at her with those dark eyes and a grin.
“Hungry?”
“Yeah.” She walked up behind him. He wore only a t-shirt and his pajama bottoms. Why she thought that was sexy she didn’t know, but she loved the look. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head into his strong back. “I love you, Niko.”
He turned around in her arms with one hand still holding the spatula. He leaned down for a kiss. “I love you too, Tia. Grab some coffee and sit. Breakfast is ready.”
; Tia did as he requested and soon was eating her eggs and toast. “I think I’m going to have to seriously learn to cook now that we have a real kitchen.”
“Mom can help teach you. I know a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Macaroni and cheese from a blue box, frozen dinners. I can do a potato in the microwave and heat up a frozen pizza.”
“We’re doomed, as are our children.”
Niko laughed. “Seriously. Mom will help us learn. Regular American dishes, basic Italian and Mexican, and of course, Greek food too.”
“No Chinese food?”
“Nah, we’ll order out for that.”
“Okay.”
“Today we buy a bed and bedding and pick out paint colors.”
“Well, whatever we buy for the bedroom probably needs to be in the blue palette.”
“Why?” Niko asked.
“Because it’s your favorite color.”
“I don’t even know your favorite color.”
Tia paused in her chewing. “I’m not sure, really. I like many colors. The one that makes me happiest is yellow.”
“We could paint your office that color.” Niko suggested.
“I’d like that.”
“What about the baby’s room?”
“We don’t even know what we’re having.” Tia took a sip of water. “Let’s leave that for another day.”
“Sounds good. Done eating?” Niko asked.
“Yup. My turn at the dishes while you hit the shower.”
Tia scrubbed up the few dishes and realized they had a dishwasher. Well, for the few they had, it wasn’t worth running, but still. It was nice to know it was available. She went to get dressed and sat waiting when Niko came out.
“Washer and dryer today too.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” She saluted him, and he laughed.
“Come on, matey.”
First stop was to order the laundry appliances. They would be delivered on Thursday. They ordered a mattress. It seemed to take forever to find one they both liked. The bed would be delivered Wednesday. After that, they headed to Mayfair mall to shop for bedding. The mattress pad was easy, but finding the perfect comforter was a challenge. They finally found one with a nice quilted pattern of blues and yellows. They found matching blue sheets, and Niko insisted they purchase new pillows as well. They ordered blinds and some valances to be delivered and installed next week.
Feta and Freeways Page 23
