King of Devon

by Naleighna Kai

  “They don’t matter anymore,” Jai whispered, cupping her face in his hands. “Right now, India, me, your art—that’s what counts. No one else gets a front seat in your life. You hear me?”

  She nodded.

  Jai placed a call to Shaz, explained the situation, then followed up with a query.

  In response, Shaz said, “I can’t answer that question without knowing all of the details and reviewing your case first. Can you call my office and schedule a consultation?”

  Temple’s anxious expression made Jai’s rejoinder necessary.

  “Shaz, this is me you’re talking to,” Jai warned. “If you’re treating me like some walk-in off the street, the next time I see you, I’m putting my foot so far up your ass you’ll be spitting shit for dinner.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Shaz shot back. “I’m a fitness instructor who can bench press your ass if I need to.”

  Jaidev had to rethink his strategy, because he also had martial arts training at Macro and it would be a fair fight, but he wanted Shaz on his side. “Point taken, but we need your knowledge.”

  “What I’m saying is that I’m having dinner with Camilla right now,” Shaz said. “This is date night.”

  “Oh, well,” Jai said in a resigned tone. “Since you put it that way.”

  “Never mind,” he growled. “She’s already telling me to handle it. Get in here in an hour.”

  “That’s more like it,” Jai said. “I knew that threatening you with bodily harm would get you to see things my way.”

  “No, it’s Camilla threatening to shut off the love works that got results. And bring me some of that cabbage dish Sandy made last night.”

  “How do you know …” He shared a speaking glance with Temple who grinned. “You know what? Never mind.”

  * * *

  An hour later, Jai pulled out the chair across from Shaz and settled Temple, though her shoulders were still stiff with worry, then claimed the space next to hers.

  “I will be up front, I don’t specialize in that type of law.” Shaz placed the documents on his desk in his home office. “I’ve offered advice to friends and family before and it didn’t turn out so good. Mostly because I didn’t have a full understanding of the issues. With Camilla’s case, I managed not to foul up because … well, you understand. In cases where I didn’t know what I was getting into, the situation turned into something we couldn’t foresee, and I ended up referring them to someone else. I did the research, and this is going to be that kind of case. But I can tell you what you’re going up against.”

  Shaz narrowed his gaze on Jai and something unsettled his soul.

  “So, what I found from what one of my colleagues sent me, is that when a woman becomes pregnant, sometimes the alleged rapist has the same parental rights as any biological father. That is, unless a state has passed laws that say otherwise. Some women are forced to be in contact with the alleged rapist whether they want to be or not.”

  “We can cut the alleged part,” Temple snapped.

  “She was in a coma,” Jai offered. “She was raped. You know that.”

  “There is that, but in the eyes of the law,” Shaz answered. “Until he’s convicted of the crime he’s being accused of, there will be a lot of allegeds thrown around.”

  “But it doesn’t have to be used by you,” she said softly, lowering her gaze to the hands folded in her lap.

  Shaz’s shoulders relaxed as he shifted his locs so they fell behind his back. “No, it doesn’t. Point taken.” He stood, rounded the desk, and placed a hand over hers. “While you may not want to be in contact with him, you might be forced to, simply because certain States give him rights.”

  “But I thought the laws here in Illinois meant—”

  “Who’d you hear that from?” he asked.

  “Vikkas,” Jai answered.

  “Of course,” Shaz scoffed. “Our international law brother. But he’s not aware of the local laws, and truthfully, until you called, I wasn’t either. Though he is right about Illinois. Did you send him the paperwork or just give him the gist of what’s going on?”

  “We had a chat.”

  “Hmmmm.” Shaz gestured to the documents in Temple’s hand. “Pass that to Jai.”

  She complied, and he scanned the document and looked back at Shaz. “What am I missing here?”

  “The same thing as Vikkas because he hadn’t put eyes on that part riiiiiiight there.” Shaz tapped a fingertip to the top edge, bringing special attention to the caption on the Petition for Sole Custody.

  “State of Iowa …”

  “Iowa,” Shaz pointed out. “Not Illinois.”

  “But what does that mean?” Temple asked, plucking the paper from Jai’s hand and taking another look. “Curtis doesn’t live in Iowa.”

  “Evidently, he does now,” Shaz countered. “He did it for one reason alone.”

  “Iowa does not have the same laws on the books as Illinois,” Jai said, releasing a long, slow breath before he let loose with a string of curses in Hindi.

  “Right now, there are thirty-one states with some type of laws on the books where rapists can’t seek custody of, or visitation rights, to children they fathered from such a vicious act. Iowa is not one of them. Neither is Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama and Maryland.”

  Shaz let his gaze move between Jai and Temple as though making sure they were still with him. “And every state that does have some form of protection for victims also has different conditions to make sure the requirements are met. Twenty states require an absolute conviction to block parental rights. Twenty-six states allow a victim of rape to place the child up for adoption without the rapist’s consent.”

  Temple’s grip on Jai’s hand tightened. “So that means he can get custody, or joint-custody of India?”

  “If we don’t get a change of venue, then I’m afraid so.”

  “He doesn’t want that child,” Jai growled, and his grip strangled the arm of the chair. “He needs money. Probably trying to figure out a way to make a break for it. I’ll call Daron and have him put a track on things, but what I need you to do is set up a meeting with his lawyer and get the ball rolling to find out what amount he really wants.”

  “I’d advise against that,” Shaz warned. “You need to let this play out in the legal arena to—”

  “That could take months,” Temple protested. Her chin lifted and it became obvious that she was holding back tears. “I don’t want him anywhere near our daughter. Point. Blank. Period.”

  “Set it up,” Jai commanded, giving Temple’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I don’t want her reliving this experience in print or in court.”

  Shaz dipped his head once. “Consider it done.”

  CHAPTER 35

  Big Red’s office was as cold and hard as the woman herself. The décor, the furniture was all bright institutional white, as if to suggest a purity that was not a part of her nature.

  “So, damage control is in order,” Jai said to Big Red as Marilyn took the seat next to him. “All nine of them need to have their records expunged.”

  “I can’t do that,” she said.

  “You have connections,” Jai argued as he held her gaze. “People alter or lose paperwork all the time. Consider it computer glitches and all that.”

  “Are you asking me to do something illegal?” Her beady eyes widened. “You, of all people.”

  Marilyn shifted in the seat next to him and stifled what sounded like a guffaw.

  “If you were willing to lay that on the table for Hiram and Falcon when you wanted them to do something that was clearly unethical. Then—”

  “Unethical isn’t illegal.”

  “So is having a recording of you admitting that you did something that could land you in jail,” he said with a satisfied curl of the lips.

  Bid Red winced, and if it was possible, her skin turned a color that matched her moniker.

  “And we want that same press coverage i
t took to smear their names, to be the kind that clears them,” Marilyn said, and Big Red put a scathing glare on her former employee who now worked in a high-level capacity for Jai.

  Big Red shrugged and said, “I’m not authorized to do that.”

  “Sure you are. By the same man who had you expedite shutting down Chetan and go on an all-out campaign, a biased one, against nine men who had nothing to do with the crime.”

  The case had been sensationalized in the media with reports being carried by various stations each day. At first, things seemed to be going against the Center’s employees until the evidence they collected was admitted as part of the case. Then everything shifted and the Bureau, Donald Amos, and Big Red were so under fire that everyone around them got burned.

  “Mr. Maharaj, I cannot do any of what you’re asking.”

  “You know, maybe the board should take a deeper look into your interactions with Donald Amos.” He shrugged. “Phone records and all that.”

  “Well, he is my boss.”

  “And that would explain those one, two o’clock in the morning calls to your residence? Every single night when the wife was sleeping, and your wife, too. Followed by sliding out to a no-tell, motel, Holiday Inn.”

  “Don’t forget the Express,” Marilyn added.

  “Right. Holiday Inn Express, the one in Lansing.”

  Her skin went beetroot-red as she snarled, “Now who’s being unethical?”

  “But it’s not illegal,” he replied, grinning. “For some reason, Donald took a pointed interest in destroying my facility. For personal reasons. You know it and he used you to do his dirty work.”

  Jai let that statement do a walk around the room. Then she squeaked, “I want to keep my position.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Marilyn said. “Especially since he was able to taint your ethics and it’s easy to back track to all the times you did, and also find others this may have happened to.” She slid forward in her chair. “You knew good and hell well that what he asked you to do was wrong, yet you plowed ahead with his initiative. Somehow, I think that’s going to be frowned upon in someone’s neck of the woods.”

  “This isn’t the last time you’ll hear from me.” Big Red sat straighter in the chair as if she’d been given a shot of adrenaline. “We could’ve dispensed with all of this if you had simply signed a transfer of your Castle stock and ownership to him. That’s all he wanted.”

  “I have my brothers to answer to,” Jai said, getting to his feet. “He doesn’t hold any weight when it comes to them. Donald is done. And if you don’t make things right, so are you.” He tossed the papers toward her. “Wipe their records and get each one of them U.S. Passports.”

  Big Red slumped in her chair, then stood, gathered her wits and glared at them on their way out the door.

  CHAPTER 36

  The Knights were still feeling the effects of the unfortunate events. The morale of the facility was a little low, given the fact that when the truth of what some of the staff had done came out, some vicious words had been said, that once spoken, could not be taken back. Accusations against innocent men who now had no trust in the professionals who were supposed to be above board.

  Their actions had caused a whole new protocol to be instituted. Checks and balances all the way down the line as a result of the Knight’s efforts.

  Donald Amos had been brought before a Senate ethics board to answer for his actions. He would never work in a capacity with a government entity that gave him access to such power again. Although, some of his corporate cronies were set to welcome him into the private sector so he would probably land on his feet. Any connection he had with The Castle had been severed. Khalil had seen to that personally.

  Marilyn was supposed to be in attendance, but Hiram requested that Jai allow her the time to work with Cameron, Milan, Sandy, Temple, Mira, Aashna and some of the Kings who were helping to prepare for their wedding that would take place in a few days. He was more than capable of handling the parts of the meetings that required her input.

  “I called this meeting today because we need to get some things out in the open.” Jai’s gaze scanned each of the employees situated in Chetan’s board room. “Each one of them in here will have a chance to speak their peace. What I’d like for you to do is listen. Not to respond, but to actually hear what they have to say. They deserve that after what went down, yes?”

  Murmurs of agreement echoed. Though the nurses and the doctors who were now under professional review because of what they had done were situated in the center of everyone.

  “This is my family.” Hiram stood at the head of the boardroom table. “Until several months ago, when I met the love of my life, you were all I had. When I went up on that bogus charge, some of my family members turned against me.” Hiram threaded his way through the employees who were standing with their backs to the credenza. His designer suit fit him to a “T”. All of the Knights had taken to wearing suits to work, meetings and when attending classes. Their transformation into near mirror images of the Kings was astounding. Jai had been right to insist on calling them the Knights. They had taken to their calling even better than the Kings had the first time around. Each of the Knights had spent one on one time with Khalil, and he approved of their efforts. Sometimes beaming like a proud Papa.

  “Our facility isn’t too much different than other places,” Hiram said, gesturing to the window. “It’s a building. It has equipment. It has medication. It has patients. It has a vending machine that takes our quarters sometimes …” Everyone laughed as he shifted his gaze to Jai.

  “I’m working on it,” Jai said, chuckling.

  “The difference is you,” Hiram continued, and paused to stand near Ryan and Andre. “Every single one of you are the reason Chetan’s numbers and success rate is high. Jai—Mr. Maharaj—does have an approach, yes. But it still takes people who believe in what he’s doing.”

  “We want to open more facilities,” Falcon said, picking up where he left off. “More places means we’ll have more positions and the ability to move up in the organization. More ways for people who have no choice in the currently overwhelmed, overstaffed and underfunded medical system which disregards some people because they don’t have money.”

  Jai switched on the screen which showed the drawings that Hiram had completed for the new center. “Each one of you plays a part in this. I don’t just look after the patient’s well-being, I look after yours too. That’s why we have debt management, a fund for down payments for housing, family trips to reward for exceptional service, and things of that sort that show that you are my family.” He scanned the expectant faces of those around the room. “I love the hope and the determination in your eyes when a new patient comes in. The feeling is never the same. Where are they going? When are they going to wake up? All that energy goes a long way into their recovery.” Jai put a gaze on the four people, who, along with Curtis, Sharon, Donald and Big Red had almost single-handedly destroyed Chetan. “So, it especially hurts when people break that trust. And when trust is broken within a community of people, there is no way to gain it back.”

  The Knights circled around the two doctors and nurses as Hiram held out his hand. “We’re going to need your badges, please.”

  Gasps and shock echoed in the room the moment realization dawned.

  Three of them complied, but one … the woman who had orchestrated everything with Curtis Burnside, not only because of the money, but he was also sleeping with her.

  “You gave them a second chance.” She gestured to the Knights. “Why not me? I’ve learned my lesson, too. And I’m not a criminal, either.”

  Jai remained silent, preferring to let the Knights handle this one. They deserved it.

  “Let me explain to you the level of depravity that your greed allowed.” Hiram traded places with Michael so he was only inches away from her. “He paid you to set things up so he could violate a woman who could not say a word in her own defense. A woman who would not, based on
his history with her, give consent.”