Private Stock

by Iris Bolling

  Mike guided Brentwood to the room. Monica and Jonathan followed.

  CHAPTER 22

  “All right Brentwood,” Monica sat across from her ex-husband. “You want to tell us why you are in the States?”

  “What I will tell you is the lawsuit I put on you will cover what you cost me ten times over.” Brentwood said as he rubbed his chin.

  “You are not going to get a dime,” Mike said. “I don’t know what game you are playing Mr. Michael, but the Dunnings are not going to be your pawns.”

  “I cannot imagine what more you want Brentwood,” Monica sighed. “You wanted your freedom, I gave it to you. What else is there?”

  “You are living the life I should have,” Brentwood laughed as he stood. “You and that damn brain of yours, which like it or not you got from me. The manly thing to have done was to let things be, but no you had to interfere in my life. Therefore, it is fair game for me to disrupt yours.” He walked over to the door to leave. “Did I say disrupt, I meant destroy. Every little delightful aspect of your life. Beginning with her.” He pointed to Monica.

  Jonathan walked over to him. “Listen to me, you are and always will be a piece of human garbage. As you stated, I have some remnants of you in me.” The calmness of his voice was dangerous. “Come anywhere near my mother again and I will cut you up for body parts similar to a chicken, put your bloody arse into the incinerator then turn it on full blast.” His smile was chilling. “Do you get my meaning.”

  “Let him go Jonathan,” Mike interceded again.

  “Of course,” He opened the door then stood in the opening watching his father walk away. The man looked back once then exited the club.

  Mike walked up to stand next to Jonathan. “How do you want to handle him?”

  Jonathan turned to his mother. “How did he know you were in the States?”

  “I have no idea,” she replied.

  “He is talking to someone here,” Jonathan said as he turned back to Mike. “How is the security on your mother’s home?”

  “Similar to what we just put in AnnieMarie’s house.”

  Jonathan nodded. “Here’s what I know about my father. He will not tamper with me. He will come after my Mum and Grace.”

  Mike laughed. “That should be interesting. But why do you think he is talking to someone here. Does he know people in Virginia?”

  “No, but he knows Dewberry.”

  “Richard Dewberry, from Phase?”

  “Yes,” Jonathan nodded. “Be a good man and compensate the club for any inconvenience from tonight. I will handle things with my father. Come along Mum. I do not want you to worry on this.”

  “I am not concerned about your father. You are my worry.”

  “No need to be,” Jonathan replied.

  “Son, you threw your father across a bar.”

  Mike nodded. “You did do that.”

  Jonathan smiled. “Good of you two to see how in control I was.”

  “Control? You were anything but in control,” Mike huffed.

  “To the contrary, I was in total control. The man is still alive.”

  $ $ $

  Jonathan dropped his mother off at the Dunnings and was on his way home. He placed a call to Jack who was still in London.

  “My apology for the late hour my good man, I was wondering if in your work for Dewberry did you ever come across a chap by the name of Brentwood Michael?”

  “Not to my recollection. Do you need information on him?”

  “Yes. Recent locations and connections. See if Dewberry pops up on your end.”

  “Will have something to you in the morning.”

  “Thank you. Jack how is your family?”

  The question seemed to have caught him off guard. “Well.”

  “How are they adjusting to moving? Sydney tells me you’ve selected a home.”

  “Yes we have. We should be making the final arrangements in the upcoming week.”

  “Take your time, Jack. We want you and your family to be comfortable once you arrive. Do not leave it all on your wife to handle.”

  There was a moment of silence. “I will do my best. Thank you.”

  “Take care, Jack. I will speak with you in the morning.”

  Jonathan disconnected the call. He called Sydney next. “Any update on Brentwood’s finances?”

  “He did not have any until a few days ago. Five hundred thousand appeared from an off-shore account. I placed a tracker to determine where it originated.”

  “I see. Keep me posted, Sydney. I have a feeling Dewberry may be involved.”

  “Not a surprise. Dewberry stoops low. We know this. There was no way he was going to step aside gracefully.”

  “The question is what is the intended outcome?”

  “Funny you should ask,” Sydney replied. “My sources indicate he has been ordered to get you back on board.”

  “Like bloody hell,” Jonathan smirked.

  “If he doesn’t, he is out as Chairman of the Board.”

  “See if you can determine how the count is going. Particularly, who is voting for him.”

  “I will have it when you get into the office in the morning.”

  “Thank you, Sydney,” Jonathan replied as he pulled into his garage.

  Grace was standing at the door waiting for him. “Well, did you kill him?”

  “Not yet.”

  She kissed him as he entered the house. “Hmm…I can feel the tension in your body.”

  “Can you now,” he replied as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him. “I suspect you have a way to relieve that.”

  “You know I do,” Grace smiled. “But first you need to tell me, why in the hell is your father here?”

  Jonathan dropped his keys on the kitchen counter top, then leaned against it with her in his arms. He spoke as his hands roamed down her back. “I think Dewberry and my father have connected in some way in a silly plot to bring me down.”

  “Why would your father team up with Dewberry?”

  “If they have,” he glanced down into her eyes. “I could be wrong.”

  “You are rarely wrong. The question is what is their desired outcome?”

  Jonathan smiled at her. “This is why I love you Grace-Heather Dunning. Your mind works like mine. That is precisely the question I’m asking myself.”

  Her hands slid down inside the back of his slacks. “And what did you come up with?”

  “Hmm,” he picked her up, turned their position then sat her on the counter. “Sydney stated he has been directed to get me back to Phase.” He kissed the side of her neck.

  “Really?” She asked as she unzipped his slacks. “What, in their minds, do they think it would take to get you back?”

  Jonathan thought as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, my darling Grace,” he gazed into her eyes as he pulled her body to the edge of the counter, “the answer to that will guide our next steps.”

  She tilted her body slightly back, then wrapped her legs around his waist. “Dewberry threatened you professionally.”

  “True,” he replied as his slacks dropped to the floor. “However, my father,” his hands dropped to her hips, pulling her core to the tip of him, “threatened me personally.” He smiled. “You have on no panties?”

  Grace’s legs tightened around him, pulling the tip of him closer. “Panties are overrated,” she slid forward then gasped as he entered her.

  “Love is not,” he pushed deeper inside of her. “That, my darling Grace,” he pushed further in, “is what men like Dewberry,” her head fell back, “and my father do not understand.” He kissed her throat, her lips, and then fully embedded himself inside of her. “Ahh, what a relief you are.”

  CHAPTER 23

  “I thought AnnieMarie was the quiet one.” Monica took a sip of her tea as Daisy put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Winnie.

  Daisy laughed as she walked back to the stove.

  Winnie glared at her. “Would you please
take that away?”

  Daisy raised an eyebrow. “You love eggs Winnie.”

  “Not this morning, Daisy,” she moaned.

  Daisy came over with a few slices of plain toast and placed them on the table then removed the eggs. “Should teach you how to act out in public,” she mumbled.

  “What?” Winnie laid her head on the table.

  Daisy leaned over and yelled in her ear. “I said it should teach you to get drunk in the middle of the week!”

  Monica laughed as Winnie jerked up from the noise.

  “Winnieford you were telling me about AnnieMarie’s temper. I cannot believe it can be as fierce as Jonathan’s.”

  “Oh, AnnieMarie,” Winnie bit off her toast, then sipped her tea. “She has a tendency to be on the shy side…”

  “Ha.” Daisy shouted.

  “Will you stop shouting?” Winnie frowned at Daisy. “She is a very reserved young woman.” Winnie emphasized as she then turned back to Monica. “AnnieMarie is graceful with an inner beauty that is only surpassed by her intelligence and caring nature.” She glanced quickly at Daisy as if daring her to contradict the statement, then continued. “There has been a time or two when her temper has sparked in unusual ways. But that was when she was a child.” Winnie sipped her tea.

  “Yeah,” Daisy said with a chuckle, “you swallow that tea to keep that lie from choking you on the way down.”

  “Daisy…” Winnie scolded.

  “Daisy, my ass. You know that girl can carry a grudge like no other. And when she comes back for you….watch out. Her revenge has no limits.”

  “Ahh…” Monica nodded in understanding. “She is what I refer to as a simmering temper.”

  “Simmering temper?” Winnie questioned.

  “Yes. You take what people give, all the while planning your revenge.” Monica smirked. “My Jonathan has a simmering temper.” She glanced at Winnie, then sat forward placing her tea cup down. “What he did last night was so out of character for him. Only his father brings that violent temper out of him.”

  “I don’t remember all of what happened last night,” Winnie chuckled. “All I saw was old boy flying through the air,” she laughed, then paused from the pain in her head. “However, I did witness Jonathan’s temper the night he brought you to the States.”

  “What happened that night?” Monica asked.

  “Jonathan knocked the crap out of Agent Roark,” Daisy laughed.

  “Who is Agent Roark?”

  “An FBI agent who thought he was in love with Grace, until Jonathan convinced him otherwise.” Winnie laughed.

  “Oh no, he hit an FBI agent?”

  “Knocked him out,” Daisy laughed.

  “I cannot believe someone other than his father could bring that kind of anger out of him.”

  “Oh, there is,” Winnie nodded. “How did he handle the snake Brentwood?”

  “Hmm…. That’s a story for you,” Monica smiled. “Jonathan’s father left us on his eighth birthday. His reason was his marriage to me was holding him back from reaching his full potential. He left me to marry a woman of considerable means. Jonathan did not understand all of what was happening but he was very angry at his father. Each birthday he would tell me, Father will pay for leaving us.” She shrugged. “As a mother you learn to smooth over childish thoughts. As he grew older, I would tell him to let it go. Don’t allow his father’s actions to corrupt his heart. Without fail every year, on his birthday, Jonathan would repeat his claim that his father would pay for leaving us. On his twenty-ninth birthday his statement changed.” She glanced from one lady to the other. “It took him twenty-one years to deliver his revenge, but he did it.”

  “What did he do?” Daisy asked as she pulled out a seat at the table with her coffee.

  “On his twenty-ninth birthday, Jonathan said his father’s financial and emotional banks had been drained. It caused me to pause and ask, what he was talking about. As it turned out Jonathan had been tracking his father’s movements for years.” She paused to laugh, then continued. “It seems Brentwood, was up to his old tricks of carrying on with multiple women, each one more financially fit than the last. He always married up you see. The last wife was very well off and established in the financial world. As with the other wives, Brentwood had a mistress on the side. Don’t ask me how, but Jonathan was able to get into some correspondence between his father and his latest mistress. Just when Brentwood was about to close a major deal that needed the financial support of his wife, Jonathan sent a birthday present to his father in the form of a video. The video was played during a celebration at his home. It showed pictures of his father and his mistress at different times and from what I understand in some rather provocative positions.”

  “Oh no,” Winnie shook her head.

  “Oh yes,” Monica continued.

  “What happened?” Daisy asked.

  “His wife, shut down his current deal and cut off funding to several others. The action literally ruined not only Brentwood’s business, but his reputation as a financial wiz. He went from living in Kensington to a flat in the neighborhood we lived in when we were together. Not a penny to his name, or a woman of wealth to take care of his expensive taste.”

  “Karma is a bitch,” Daisy nodded with a smirk.

  “Sounds like it went full circle to me,” Winnie added as she sipped her tea. “Deservedly so.”

  “I think people forget that hurt and anger can lie dormant right beneath the surface for a long time.”

  “AnnieMarie doesn’t have it in her to go that far,” Winnie shook her head.

  “I bet Mike would differ with you on that statement,” Daisy huffed.

  “Why would you say that? AnnieMarie would never carry a grudge that long.”

  “Ha, lies you tell.” Daisy laughed. “Have you forgotten the time Mike messed with AnnieMarie’s dolls.”

  “Oh,” Winnie waved her off. “They were children and there was nothing life changing in what she did.” A smile crossed her face.

  “Even hungover, you can’t even keep a straight face sitting there telling that lie,” Daisy replied.

  “What happened?” Monica asked.

  Winnie smirked at Daisy, then began to laugh. “It’s funny now, but it wasn’t funny when it was happening.”

  The women began laughing so hard Monica joined in. “One of you spill the beans.”

  Winnie wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked up at her. “Back in the day, I would do my children’s hair myself.”

  “That stopped on the day AnnieMarie tried to perm Mike’s hair.” Daisy laughed.

  Winnie burst into laughter again, then took a deep breath to continue the story. “Let me tell this story without your commentary.”

  Daisy threw her hands up then sat back. “Do you.”

  “Okay,” Winnie took a deep breath. “As I was saying, when the children were younger I would do my daughters’ hair. It was a Saturday morning. The house was quiet for a change. The children’s rooms were across from each other with a bathroom between each. The boys’ rooms were on one side of the hallway and the girls were on the other. I was in the girls’ bathroom touching up the roots of Grace’s hair.”

  “Touching up roots?” Monica asked.

  “This was before we all went natural and I used the home perm kits to straighten out the girls’ hair. Well, AnnieMarie was standing in the doorway watching as she always did,” Winnie shrugged, chuckled then went on. “There was a stick that came with the perm kits to mix the chemicals together. Well,…” she started laughing again, “AnnieMarie took the stick out of the container then walked out of the room. I did not see what happened, but a few minutes later I heard Mike yelling at AnnieMarie. I had just finished applying the last section of Grace’s hair when I hear Mike breathing hard.”

  Daisy began laughing again. “I’m downstairs in the kitchen when I hear all this screaming and stomping coming from upstairs.”

  “I ran out of the bathroom to see Mike in the ha
llway naked as a jaybird, holding his little thing in his hand with a pillow fanning.” Winnie continued while laughing. “AnnieMarie ran past me into the bathroom with Grace. Mike was on tiptoes hopping around in a circle yelling, ‘it’s burning…it’s burning.’ I couldn’t see what was burning because he had the pillow in front fanning. So I grabbed the pillow and his little weeny was covered in the perm cream.”

  “I came upstairs just as Grace grabbed a spray bottle from the bathroom and began spraying him down,” Daisy added. “The cream started running down his legs.”

  “Myles came out of his room,” Winnie picked the story back up. “Of course by now it was time to rinse the perm from Grace’s hair or she would be crying soon. I yell, to him to take his brother to the shower to clean him up. Myles, with his silly self is shaking his head. ‘I’m not going to wash him down there.’ I grabbed Mike and then shoved him in the shower in the boys’ bathroom. I gave Myles some of the neutralizing shampoo to wash Mike off. Then I went to finish Grace’s hair. As soon as I finished, I took Mike to the emergency room to make sure there was no permanent damage. Poor Mike was so embarrassed to show the nurse where he was burning.” Winnie laughed. “They gave him some burn cream to apply and sent us home. When we got home, Hep and I went to AnnieMarie’s room with Mike in tow. She was in her room playing with her dolls. Hep picked her up and placed her on his lap with one of her dolls as I stood near the door with Mike. Hep asked what happened? Mike said he was lying on his bed reading magazines when AnnieMarie came in and put the cream on him. Hep asked how did she get it on his privates. Mike turned two shades darker trying to explain what he was doing when his sister came in the room. Hep took pity on him, understanding then turned to AnnieMarie and asked her why did she put the cream on her brother. She looked up with the most adorable eyes as she explained, ‘I only did to Mike what he did to my dolls.’ Mike yelled back, ‘I was ten years old when that happened AnnieMarie.’ AnnieMarie replied. ‘I just turned ten years old, so now we are even.”

  Daisy began to chuckle again. “The boy couldn’t wear real pants for a week. He had to wear sweat pants with no drawers.”