Neil, Louisa - One Queen with Two Kings (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

by Neil, Louisa

  The next afternoon, Thea left for the office with her two kings beside her. It was the first time she smiled since they left the mountains. With the family and a full squad of lawyers, they would work out a deal to get their lives back.

  Lloyd acknowledged in front of the district attorney that he’d sabotaged the plane. He admitted that he’d given out the wrong search coordinates in order to keep Dexter and Russell from being rescued. He begrudgingly admitted to his plan about marrying Thea to take over the company. That part didn’t matter. They had that on tape from the morning of her almost wedding. He also admitted to the inconsistencies in the accounts and the missing company funds.

  Thea had sat quietly between Dexter and Russell, listening to Lloyd make his admissions. But something wasn’t right. There had to be something much worse for him to admit to all of this. He was looking for an out.

  He’d wanted to make a deal with no jail time, but that was overruled immediately. Eventually, they’d agreed that he’d return the funds he’d stolen and admit to the sabotage. He’d spend five years in a federal prison, a country-club prison rather than a state facility where he’d be expected to do hard labor. Again, Thea realized Lloyd’s worst fear was a public trial. What was he holding back, and who was he afraid would find out?

  When they took a break, Thea couldn’t let go of the suspicion she felt. Her father and brother felt it was a good deal, considering the years it might take to get him to trial, leaving him to live his normal life. Russell and Dexter were just relieved he admitted to his part in their crash. Lloyd had even admitted he started the rumors about her drug addiction.

  “It all wraps up into a nice little package,” Michelle said offhandedly during their break.

  “Too nice,” Thea grumbled. And suddenly it struck her, that snippet of information she’d long forgotten. She excused herself and went back to the office, retrieving Lloyd’s original employment records. Scanning the pages, she knew something wasn’t right. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.

  Just when she was about to let the feeling go, she found it. A little notation in the margin of one of his initial employment interviews about his aging mother in a nursing home out west. Since she’d known him, Lloyd went out of his way to make it clear to anyone who would listen he was an orphan, his parents dead and no living relatives.

  With Michelle and Grace’s help, they started making calls. Grace found Mrs. Jenkins in a nursing home in Wisconsin. She arranged to have a conference call with her later in the day. Michelle was the one who found the rest of the missing information. It was Orson Jenkins’s obituary from Wisconsin.

  When they checked further, none of Lloyd’s contacts or information on his resume matched. The information matched Lloyd Jenkins’s last name along with his scholastic credentials.

  “Ladies, I’ve found our mole. Rita Cox from human resources. She was the one who vetted Lloyd’s employment. I’ll bet if we check a little further, we’ll find some contact beyond the office between them.” Thea let out the breath she’d been holding. “Michelle, can you call the HR department and have Rita Cox brought down to the meeting, but keep her out of sight for a few minutes. Ask security to accompany her.”

  “Thea, what are you thinking?” Grace looked nervous.

  “I’m thinking we just found the final nail in Lloyd’s coffin.”

  “Thea, don’t even say the word. It’s bad luck.”

  “All right, Grace, let’s just say I found our mole and will use her to confirm my theory on Lloyd’s true history.”

  Michelle hung up the phone and looked at both women. “Security will accompany her down in half an hour. She’ll be watched until then.”

  “Good, and now we know who tipped off the press. She could have gotten access to our travel plans.”

  “How?” Grace asked. “That wasn’t her area. Hell, some mornings I have trouble accessing my own records for the day care.”

  “If you know how a computer works, you can find out anything, especially if you have a motive.” Michelle said it with a bit of disgust in her voice. “I’ll have her computer checked and her phone line gone over to see if she made any calls to media outlets. I’ll ask our lawyers if we can check her home phone and cell for the information.”

  “It annoys the hell out of me that we have to check we don’t violate her rights while she’s most likely the one who’s been leaking information to the press.”

  Grace hugged Thea. “We’ve come this far, Thea. Let’s get it done, then we can all start to live our lives again.”

  “Does yours include Alex?” When Grace blushed bright red from her throat to her cheeks, Thea laughed. Grace didn’t answer verbally but hugged her tighter. “I think it’s about time you both had someone to love.”

  “He’s amazing with Lucas,” Grace admitted and smiled broadly.

  Michelle interrupted them. “What else do we need before going back to the meeting?”

  “Just to say thank you for all you’ve done to help me and my family.” She watched Michelle blush this time. The three women laughed together and hugged until the intercom interrupted them. After drying tears and checking makeup, they were ready. As they were going back to the meeting, Thea paused. “Michelle, please have security check if Rita’s was in contact with Lloyd in the last months before the wedding date. Have them go over the security tapes of the entrances and garages. Maybe we’ll get lucky on one of them.”

  “But quietly, Michelle,” Grace added, wringing her hands. “This is all getting too covert for my comfort. Maybe we should get more security up here just in case.”

  “Already handled. I’ve a team coming to the conference room.”

  “Thanks, Michelle.” Thea gave them both a shrewd look. “Ready to watch Lloyd do some fancy dancing to get out of this?”

  This was it, her last card to play. After keeping everyone waiting, Thea walked into the conference room triumphant. She waved a folder in front of her and stared at Lloyd.

  “Well, Orson, I bet you didn’t think we’d ever uncover this.”

  “Orson?” The name was echoed by several people in the room.

  “Yes, Orson Jenkins. Lloyd’s cousin.” She knew from the graying of his skin tone she was right. Michelle followed shortly, nodding her head to Thea. Apparently, she’d confirmed what Thea had put together with his aunt. She was ready on the phone to add another nail in Lloyd—Orson’s—coffin.

  “You see,” Thea started, standing behind Dexter’s chair, her hand on his shoulder, “that Lloyd Jenkins did have the education and background in this file. Only the man in this room isn’t Lloyd. This man, ladies and gentlemen, is Orson Jenkins. He was Lloyd’s first cousin, and according to sources, a very jealous cousin at that. He didn’t excel in school, always looked for the easy way out. The original Lloyd was killed in a car crash two years before this man applied for the job with the company. Only he applied using his cousin’s reputation and life. That’s why he’s so willing to take the deal today. He was afraid we’d find out that he wasn’t the real Lloyd Jenkins. That he was his sniveling cousin. If the police found out, they might want to question him back in Wisconsin in regard to the motor vehicle accident.”

  “Thea, this is insane,” Lloyd’s lawyer objected. “You could have manufactured this to harm Lloyd.”

  “Yes, I could have, but I didn’t have to.” She pulled pages from the file and handed them around. “If you read it carefully, it says that Lloyd and Orson were in the vehicle when it crashed. Both men had facial injuries from the windshield. When they were finally able to talk to the survivor, he claimed to be Lloyd. Asserted and swore that Orson had died in the crash.”

  “This is outrageous,” Lloyd said loudly, pounding the table with his fist.

  “His aunt never believed her Lloyd survived. She knew deep down that Orson had switched places with her son. But she could never prove it. When she pushed for the police to check further, she found herself being tucked into a nursing home, her loving son Ll
oyd thinking it best for her condition.”

  “What was her condition?” Alex asked.

  “That she knew the truth about who survived the accident and Orson couldn’t let her ruin his plans. So he took control of her estate, as her son Lloyd, and had her put away. This man Orson moved east, starting over as Lloyd.”

  There were many outraged grumbles from Lloyd’s team of lawyers, but Thea smiled at him across the table. She held the card even Orson didn’t know.

  “She’s on the phone now.” Nodding to Michelle, they all listened to her conference call, reiterating her feelings about the crash, that Orson was the survivor, and that her real son would never have put her in a home and taken her money.

  “Let me hear him,” Mrs. Jenkins asked. “Make him talk to me. Their voices were always very distinct.”

  “Lloyd, say hello to your mother.” Thea nodded to Michelle, who took up the receiver and told Mrs. Jenkins Lloyd was refusing and they’d get back to her later with more information. There were mumbled conversations in the room and several angry outbursts from Lloyd to his lawyer about being railroaded.

  “Lloyd, if this is all my ravings to save my husband’s career, then you won’t mind us taking a DNA sample and matching it against your family. Your aunt, excuse me, your mother has consented and seemed anxious for us to discover the truth.”

  “No! I object, I won’t submit.”

  “Thea?” her father questioned.

  “You can’t give us your DNA, can you, Lloyd or Orson. Because it won’t match the real Lloyd Jenkins’s family. You see, Orson was adopted as an infant. It won’t match the family line. According to Mrs. Jenkins, the adoption was very private. Her sister couldn’t have children and didn’t want the world to know. So she and her husband went away for the last months of what would have been her pregnancy. When they came home, it was with little Orson in tow, as the son she delivered early while away. Nobody outside the immediate family and their lawyer knew about it.”

  Again, Lloyd slammed his fist, quieting her room. “You bitch. If you’d just gone along with my plans, none of this would have happened. But no, you had to be in love with Dexter, mourning him for two years. God, what a waste of time. You sniveling bitch, I should have drugged you a year ago and just gotten us married. Then I could have been rid of you and this company with a full bank account.” He was so angry, spit was flying from his mouth when he spoke.

  “And you two were supposed to die in the crash. Who crashes in a plane and lives on a deserted island for two years only to return and spoil my plans, my very carefully laid plans?”

  “None of it matters anymore, Orson.” Thea knew using his real name would annoy him, but she did it because it made her feel good. “I have Rita Cox giving her statement now. She’ll confirm she covered the inconsistencies in your history for your affections and cash.” Thea walked to the office door and opened it wide enough for them to see the woman waiting nervously in the outer room. Closing the door, she moved back beside Dexter and Russell.

  Thea didn’t see it coming, didn’t consider that this man would attempt to hurt her in front of a room full of people. She was talking with Alex, pointing out something on the page in front of them when Lloyd stood and drew a small pistol from his jacket pocket. Everyone in the room seemed stunned, and she just stood still looking at him, unable to comprehend that he’d really use it. He pulled the trigger and shot her. From that moment, Thea didn’t remember much. She acknowledged the look of horror on Alex’s face. She saw the movement of people in the room around her and heard noise. She looked to Dexter and Russell, who were holding her, mumbling words she couldn’t comprehend.

  Thea woke with a terrible headache and pain in her chest. It was obvious from the whoosh and beeps of machines she was in some kind of medical facility. Her body hurt all over, but when she tried to move her right hand, she cried out in pain.

  Dexter was standing over her immediately, smoothing back her hair. “It’s okay, my aqua queen, you’re going to be all right.”

  “What happened?” Her voice sounded hazy to her own ears. “Where am I?” She started to sit forward a second time and was pushed back by the rush of pain.

  “Just stay still, Thea. You’re going to be fine.”

  “What happened?” She saw the angst on Dexter’s face and glanced to the doorway, spotting Russell hovering. “Russell,” she said, and he approached the bed. “Talk to me.”

  She watched the look exchanged between the men and tried to get up again. This time a machine beeped louder, and a woman in green scrubs came in. After several minutes of checking her over, the men were told to stay only a few minutes.

  “Thea, do you remember the meeting where you revealed Lloyd’s real name?”

  “Yeah, Orson, the sniveling adopted cousin.”

  “You didn’t give any of us warning, and he…” Dexter’s voice cracked.

  Russell moved closer to the bed, brushing her hair from her head. “My queen, you were shot.” He and Dexter exchanged an overt glaring look. “She has a right to know.”

  “I agree. I thought we were going to be a bit more careful how we told her.”

  “Lloyd shot me?” she said in disbelief.

  “Yes.” Russell nodded.

  “Was anyone else hurt?” She glanced from one man to the other.

  “Only Lloyd,” Dexter told her, resting his hip on the side of her bed. “We don’t know how he got a gun through security, but when you found his true history, he figured he had nothing else to lose. It’s general consensus that it’s been hidden in his office.”

  “Where is he now?’

  “Dead,” Russell said, with a smile of satisfaction she hadn’t seen since their last sexual encounter. “When he shot at you, Alex pulled you to the floor. Dexter and I both fell on top of you. But there was a major scramble in the room. Security came rushing in and, ultimately, Lloyd’s lawyer shot him trying to wrestle the gun from him.”

  “It was an accident, according to the final report.” Dexter sounded angry.

  “He didn’t hurt anyone else?”

  “He got off two more shots that hit the conference room wall and one that hit the credenza behind you, but nobody else was hurt.” Russell spoke so quickly he sounded out of breath to her.

  Thea felt a strange kind of relief. “Where did he hit me?”

  “In the neck. He was aiming for your heart but didn’t expect the gun to jerk upward. Thanks to Alex, he only hit your collarbone. But it’s going to be sore for a long time. Collarbones take the longest to heal, and yours had to be…reconstructed.”

  “Is Dad okay?”

  “Yes, everyone else is fine. They’re all camping in the waiting room to see you.” Dexter started to cry and dropped to hug her. She groaned without thinking, and he moved back quickly. “Sorry.”

  Glancing to Russell, she noted he was sitting in the chair beside the bed, his head in his hands, his body racking.

  “Guys, why are you both crying if I’m going to be okay?”

  “Damn it, Thea, don’t you realize how close we were to losing you? There was so much blood…” Russell’s voice trailed off.

  “I know what it’s like to think you’ve lost someone close, two people in fact. How long have I been out?”

  “Almost two days,” Dexter told her.

  “What about Rita Cox? Was I right about her?”

  “Yes, when it was all over, she admitted to falsifying Lloyd’s records. She claims he was very affectionate and attentive at the time, leading her to believe he had feelings for her. We have her statements, and she’s gone from the company.”

  “How long do I have to say here?” she asked.

  “Probably a lot longer than you’re gonna like.” Russell was laughing again.

  “A few days, and then a few weeks in a sling. You won’t be able to use your right arm for a few months.”

  “What a group.” Thea let out a laugh. “Dexter’s leg, Russell’s left arm, and now I can’t use m
y right arm.”

  “You’ll heal, Queenie.” Russell leaned down and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’m going to get Alex and your Dad. Neither of them will relax until they know you’re awake and bitching as usual.”

  “Bitching…Buddy, you haven’t begun to experience bitching. If I have to keep my arm in a sling for that long…” She paused and looked from one man to the other. “Okay, I get it. I’m lucky to be alive, and I’m more lucky to have two men who love me and care for me.”

  “You know where this is going?” Russell asked Dexter.

  “Yeah, we’re going to be doing all the work for a while in bed.”

  “You poor guys, having to do me.” Finally, she laughed until she cried. When she was composed, Russell slipped out and called for Alex to visit his sister. She tried to smile and reassure them but found her strength zapped quickly.

  The next weeks were hell for Thea. She understood she could have been a lot worse off, like dead, but the inconvenience of not having the use of her arm was frustrating. It was also a constant reminder of the whole situation she and her kings were trying to put behind them.

  Alex and Grace were openly dating, Lucas quickly becoming attached to Alex. She had never seen her brother or best friend look happier. Her father and Michelle were going to take a cruise together. They were seeing each other, but much more privately, and she wouldn’t be surprised if they married shortly. Her father also decided to cut back on his work hours to spend more time with Michelle.