Michael couldn’t believe this was really happening. “What about the compensation for losing the other companies that had put in bids but pulled out because they thought we had it?”
“There’s that,” Carter said, “but that’s workable. If we delay, it could cost us less or more. It depends on what happens to the company between now and then. If competition jumps up again, we’d probably lose the deal and everything we’ve invested.”
“There goes that we again,” Michael said, meeting Carter’s glare with his own. “You still get your legal fees for all the work you’ve done.”
“Shut up,” Steven said. He sat back in his chair and placed his hands over his face. Sighing heavily, he felt a hundred years old. “I have to think of your mother.”
“Mom has nothing to do with Chase Beauty,” Michael said.
“But she has everything to do with me,” Steven answered. “And I’m tired.”
It was difficult for Carter and Michael to see their father like this. Steven was a god to them, he always had been. A tyrannical and occasionally merciful god that assured them that he loved them despite everything. He was a titan and impenetrable. He was a king and he was always stronger than the both of them combined. But now he looked tired, like he said, and Carter and Michael knew that they were the reasons why. They had put a chink in the armor of their king.
“She’s tired,” Steven continued. “I don’t think either of you really understand what the toll of these last six months has done to us. That murder cover-up and the plane accident have exhausted our emotions. We don’t blame you for the accident, but we thought you were dead and it almost killed us. Putting out your sister’s fires is one thing. But this is just another mess that I’m not willing to fix. I could, I’m sure, but I don’t want to. It’s over. You two deal with this Monday.”
“Dad,” Michael protested.
“It’s over.” Steven gestured finality with a flat wave of his hand. “The tabloids are one thing, but the business papers are questioning our integrity and holding us to a higher standard than they place on anyone else. For whatever reason you let Kimberly stay in your life, get over it.”
“That’s not as easy to do as you might think,” Michael said.
“I don’t care,” Steven said. “I have tried to understand that you love her, but whatever this sick thing you call a marriage means to you, you need to choose. Her or Chase Beauty. You can’t have both.”
Michael was stunned as his father stood up and walked by him without another word. Steven left the room with haste, leaving his sons to contemplate his surrender to the trouble they had caused him.
Michael came face-to-face with his brother. “I’m sorry. I . . . I didn’t mean to hurt you, Carter. I just . . . I was so angry and fucking sick of being the brunt of his venom. Maybe it’s best this way. No matter what I do, Chase Beauty won’t give me what I want.”
“You don’t mean that.” Carter placed a hand on his little brother’s shoulder.
Michael looked up at him. “I don’t know what I mean anymore.”
Carter was just about to bang on the front door of Charlie and Nikki Jackson’s home for a third time when Nikki finally answered the door. She met him with her usual disapproving stare and Carter responded with his usual I-don’t-give-a-damn stare.
“You’re early,” Nikki said. “Connor isn’t ready.”
“What do you mean she isn’t ready?” he asked impatiently. “She’s six months old. Does she have to pack? Is she on the phone or something?”
“Don’t give me your attitude,” Nikki said. “Avery said you were coming by at five. It’s only three-thirty.”
“Can you just go get her?” Carter ordered more than asked.
Nikki didn’t move an inch. “Look, boy. It isn’t my fault that you ruined everyone’s life.”
Carter tried to calm down. “I just want my daughter and I want to know where Avery is.”
Avery hadn’t returned any of his calls. She’d sent him a text asking him to pick Connor up at her mother’s and keep her for a few days. She would talk to him when she got back. Back from where? He stopped by the house, but no one was there.
“I’m going to be a moment.” Nikki took a step back, opening the front door all the way. The baby was in the living room, fast asleep on the sofa, guarded in by pillows. “I don’t want to wake her up.”
“I can find out easily where she is,” Carter said.
“Carter, she isn’t trying to hide from you,” Nikki said. “I just found out this morning about your affair. You two have really screwed things up.”
“I’m not looking for your opinion.”
“Well you’re going to get it. Whatever hold you have on my daughter, it’s almost ruined her life. But she’s a strong woman and she is going to save her marriage.”
“She said that?” Carter believed that Avery was trying to calm things down with Anthony, but she was certainly not going to make him any promises.
“She’s in Florida, Carter. She went with Anthony to help him settle in at his hotel.”
Carter saw a ray of hope. “Anthony is moving back to Florida?”
“They all are,” Nikki said, approaching the sofa and gently picking up Connor. “As soon as she clears everything up here, she is taking Connor and she is going to make things work with her husband.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Carter fumed. “She wouldn’t leave me and she wouldn’t take Connor away from me.”
“She’s not taking her away.” Nikki carefully offered Connor to her daddy, followed by the baby bag. She might have put up more of a protest but she needed to be freed up to deal with Taylor. “There’s breast milk and formula bottles in there. You’ll work something out. She knows you’re Connor’s father and she wants you to be just as much a part of Connor’s life as she is. But you two will not be together.”
Nikki leaned in and kissed Connor on the cheek. “Now, I have to get back to my other daughter.”
Carter wanted to believe that Nikki was only saying this to hurt him because she had never liked him. But he also knew that Nikki told the truth. Avery had said she did so, to a fault, when it came to the serious things. If this was true, then Avery had betrayed him, and he wasn’t going to wait until she got back from Florida to know. He had to find her now and remind her that her heart, body, and soul belonged to him, just as his belonged to her. And Connor belonged to both of them.
“You have to save this, Michael,” Elisha pleaded over the phone. “You can’t let this die. You have to.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” Michael said. “You and Kimberly put an end to that.”
Standing in his living room, Michael took the last remaining sip of scotch from the glass in his hand.
There was a short silence before Elisha spoke again. “What did she tell you?”
“She would have to talk to me to tell me something,” Michael said. “Why?”
“She was talking crazy, Michael. There’s something really wrong with her. You can’t believe anything she says.”
“I never have.” Michael looked at his empty glass before tossing it into the fireplace, and smiled at the blaze. “You’re both crazy. All women are.”
“You’re drinking,” Elisha said. “You don’t mean this. I know you care about me, Michael. And I know you’ll do anything for your father.”
“Not anymore,” Michael said. “No, that boat has sailed and so has yours. You can cancel the ceremonial signing at Chase Law tomorrow. Of course if you want to watch while we draft and sign cancellation papers, you’re welcome to join us.”
“You can’t do this. You’ve come too far.”
Michael could tell from the tone of her voice she was about to get emotional and he didn’t have the stomach. “You’ll have no problem selling it, Elisha. Good-bye.”
He hung up before she could respond and made his way back to the bar to get another glass. He could hear Kimberly’s high-heeled shoes walking his way. When she app
eared in the archway to the living room, he could swear she had a smile on her face.
“How nice of you to show up,” he said. She had slipped out of the back room while he was defending himself from his brother and father’s onslaught of accusations. He hadn’t seen her since. “Where did you go? And don’t say Avery’s.”
“Avery’s,” she answered with a vindictive smile. “It’s none of your damn business. I wasn’t going to come back here for more of your abuse.”
“Were you hoping I would have calmed down by now?” Michael asked. “Because you’d be right. I have.”
Kimberly nodded to the glass in his hand. “Still drunk I see.”
“Not at all.” Michael put the glass down. “I am possessed with a sound mind.”
Janet shuffled both of her grandsons into the house. They had managed to fall asleep in the car during the drive from Chase Mansion to their home, and now she could barely get them to walk. She didn’t even want them to be here, but Michael demanded to see his kids, and she had promised to bring them home as long as Marisol was there.
“Go on upstairs to bed,” she said sweetly as they both looked up at her. She loved them desperately and hated every time she had to walk away from them.
As the boys set off for the stairs, Janet turned her attention to the voices she was hearing. She was certain she’d heard a woman, and it wasn’t a woman with an accent. Kimberly must be home. When he called this morning for his kids, Michael told her that he hadn’t seen Kimberly at all.
Janet took a few more quiet steps toward the living room and peeked in. She didn’t have the strength to confront Kimberly at the moment, but couldn’t help but care about what was happening between her and her son.
“What you’re possessed with is a great deal of liquor,” Kimberly said. “I’m actually enjoying this, watching you turn into an alcoholic. Daddy Chase will be so proud of you.”
“Shut up!” Michael took the glass in his hand and threw it against the wall.
Janet jumped as the glass exploded into little pieces and the liquor stained the rose-colored wall. She noticed that Kimberly didn’t even flinch. He’d clearly done this before.
“You win, Kimberly.” Michael raised his hands in surrender. “You ruined the deal and now my father hates me.”
“I knew Steven and I would eventually find something in common.”
“You’d better shut your mouth about my father right now!” Michael ordered as he approached her.
Kimberly stepped aside. “You want to hit me? Go ahead, but you better not ever go to sleep again, because you won’t wake up.”
“Are you threatening to kill me?” Michael laughed. “I ought to hit you just to see you try.”
“Go ahead,” she teased. “Make sure that what little ounce of pity your father had left for you goes up in smoke. He’s already covered up a murder for you.”
“And he can cover up another one!” Michael backed Kimberly against the wall. Her lack of fear startled and angered him. He wasn’t going to hit her, but it looked as if she didn’t even care if he did.
“What are you going to tell the twins?” Kimberly asked. “Mommy slipped and fell? Maybe I ran into a wall.”
“I’m not going to tell you again to shut up.”
“It won’t matter what you say to them because they already hate you.”
Michael slammed his fist into the wall right next to her head, making a huge dent in the wall. Kimberly flinched, but she didn’t try to move.
“My boys love me,” he said. “And I’ve been doing you a big favor by allowing you to stay in their lives. That’s over. You’re never going to see those boys again.”
Kimberly was tired of this diatribe. “Well, now you’re going to have to kill me because I’m not leaving this house without my children!”
“You will leave without the children,” Michael yelled. “You’ll leave without them and without even half a penny. You’ll be back in the gutter in no time!”
Janet took a couple of steps away from the archway because she just couldn’t take it anymore. It was beyond pitiful and heartbreaking. Since the first day she met her, Janet had always known Kimberly would only be bad news for the family, but she never imagined it would get this bad. This was completely unacceptable. For the sake of her grandchildren, Janet had to . . .
She swung around at the sound of sniffling. To her horror, both boys were sitting on the bottom step and both were in tears. They hadn’t gone upstairs like she told them to, and she’d been too caught up with Kimberly and Michael to notice.
Janet rushed over to them, not bothering to ask what they had heard. She knew they’d heard everything, and from the tortured looks on their faces as they wiped their tears, she knew that they had heard many other hateful exchanges between their parents.
“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to them both. She kissed their cheeks and helped them stand. Without saying any more, she quickly led them outside and into the car, instructing her driver to go back to Chase Mansion.
For these boys, Janet knew she had to put a stop to this. It had to end now.
14
When Garrett opened the door to his office, Haley wasn’t surprised by the confused look on his face. She hadn’t been returning his calls since the ball, and she had never been to his office before.
Garrett nodded to the assistant he shared with the part time associate who occupied the office when Garrett wasn’t there. She looked a few years beyond retirement age and didn’t seem to appreciate Garrett getting a social visit.
“What are you doing here?” Garrett asked as he shut the door behind him.
“You’ve been calling me, haven’t you?” Haley positioned herself on the firm leather sofa against the wall of his small office.
“Yeah, but.” Garrett looked around nervously before joining her on the sofa. “I’m just really busy.”
“Why are you even still working here?” Haley asked. “You think these people . . .”
Haley was shocked when Garrett quickly covered her mouth with his hand to silence her. She slapped his hand away. “Are you crazy?”
Garrett leaned in and whispered. “They’re listening.”
Haley looked around before asking, “Are they watching?”
Garrett shook his head before returning the volume of his voice to normal. “I want to work here. The firm has supported me through all this.”
There was a knock on the door and Haley thought that was rather quick, until she realized it wasn’t Garrett’s assistant. It was a young man of Middle Eastern descent carrying a stack of papers.
“Hey, Garrett.” The kid waved with his free hand as he smiled at Haley. “Girlfriend visiting, huh?”
“Are those the files?” Garrett was up and grabbing the files quickly. He placed them on the desk.
“All of them.” The kid stood in the doorway, his gaze moving back and forth between Garrett and Haley.
“You can leave now,” Garrett said.
Disappointed, the boy shrugged and left.
“He wanted you to introduce me,” Haley said.
“He’s an intern.” Garrett sat down at his desk, sorting out the folders in front of him. “He hasn’t earned introductions yet.”
“Aren’t you an intern?” Haley asked.
“I’m a law clerk,” Garrett corrected. “One step up from an intern.”
“Whatevs.” Haley walked over to the desk and sat on the edge. Her short skirt lifted up, revealing her shapely, smooth cinnamon legs. “Are you going to take me to lunch?”
“I can’t,” Garrett said. “I want to, but I had to wait for him to bring me these files and I’m running late.”
“Why didn’t you get them yourself?” she asked.
Garrett frowned at her, tossing the file in his hand on the table. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“You can’t access files, can you?” Haley leaned in, but she didn’t whisper. When Garrett didn’t respond, she knew she was right
. “They’ve cut you off.”
“It’s a precautionary thing,” he said. “If any of the members of the firm are in legal trouble, their access is limited. What’s important is that I’m still here.”
“For now.” Haley reached behind her and tugged at the drawer right beneath her. Locked. Of course. Where in the hell was that garage guy anyway?
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door before the disapproving assistant stuck her head in. “It’s Joe in the garage. He says something’s up with your car.”
Finally. Haley was ready to get this thing started.
“Great.” Garrett pressed the flashing red light on his phone and then the Speaker button. “Joe, please don’t give me bad news.”
“Sorry buddy, but you’re out of luck.” Joe sounded like a mobster from Jersey. Haley could only imagine what he looked like. “All four tires, buddy. Someone is pissed at you.”
Garrett looked confused. “Who has been down there?”
“No one that I saw, ” Joe answered. “I can call the shop that the firm has on retainer and they’ll take care of it, but I need you to come down and fill out the request.”
“Can’t I just send Alana?” he asked, looking up at his assistant still standing in the doorway. She frowned her disapproval of his offering of her services.
“She can fill out the form,” Joe said reluctantly, “but she’d need all your driver’s license info and stuff and you’d still have to sign it. Plus, she’s kind of mean.”
Haley laughed as Alana huffed and closed the door.
“Shit,” Joe said. “Was she there?”
“Yeah,” Garrett reached into the drawer to his right and pulled out his car keys. “I’ll be down in a second.”
As he stood up, he turned to Haley. “You want to come with me?”
“Are you serious?” Haley asked. Inside she was screaming just get out of here.
“Of course.” Garrett headed for the door. “Just wait here. I’ll be back in five minutes. And don’t touch anything.”
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