“I mean, stay awhile; relax. I’m just getting started. Besides, I have every right to say or do anything I want. I own controlling interest in Kane and Medici.” I revealed, as I directed my attention to Madison’s daddy.
“You’re bluffing. Nicky owns this company with your father.” Madison quipped in the background.
“Let her speak, Madison.” Her father was calm, as he listened to my explanation. His eyes never left mine.
And mine never left his until I addressed his sick excuse for a child. Then I only turned my head in her direction. “Actually, you're wrong, Miss Van Buren. I do indeed own much of this law firm. You see, I inherited it from Vincent Kane when he passed away. Then not too long ago, I signed over part of my interest to Dominick Kane, but unfortunately with everything going on in our lives, he never filed the papers legally, so that leaves me owning controlling interest once again.” My eyes reverted back to Madison’s daddy.
“And to answer your question about these proceedings, Mr. Van Buren. You will notice that in addition to the order to have Judge O’Neill legally removed from this case, I also made sure that the New York City court system appointed a new judge to oversee my husband’s hearing and the impending criminal actions against you and your family. Here are those papers for your review. The Honorary Judge Reynolds will now be the authority who will observe everything here today.”
Both Madison and her father reviewed the legal documents briefly that approved Judge Reynolds for this case. They both began to turn a lovely shade of red, as they read each page.
“Now that the legalities of these proceeding are out of the way, Judge Reynolds, would you care to sit at the head of the table?”
“Thank you, Rain, but I prefer to sit in the middle, so that I can be closer to the people that surround these proceedings.” His appearance was stoic, but a glimmer of amusement for what was about to come danced in his eyes. He then pulled up a chair directly across the table from Dominick, but in between Madison and her father.
Hmmm… this should be interesting.
I pulled out my chair at the head of the table and got comfortable. I was front and center. The best seat in the house. Michael and Marcello came to sit at my side; Michael on my left and Marcello on my right. This seating arrangement didn’t seem to sit well with my husband.
I leaned forward in my seat to address my brooding husband. I whispered, but still spoke loud enough for him to hear me. “Too bad, Baby. Get over it. I’m here to save you.”
He made no remark; Dominick eased back in his sit slowly, while is eyes stayed on me.
Detective Stack on the other hand remained by the entrance doors to the boardroom or should I say the only exit to escape. I was sure he was there to secure the position, should anyone decide that they needed to make a quick getaway.
Judge O’Neill slowly walked to the corner of the room and sat quietly there. He didn’t make one remark or even try to fight back. It was the sign of a man that knew he had to surrender.
Once everyone was settled in their seats, Judge Reynolds rose to speak of the usual formalities and in this case, the not so usual ones. He was also ready to render his judgment, at least in Dominick’s case. Yet we still had more to go over before we left here today.
“In light of the new evidence brought to the court’s attention by Mrs. Kane, it is in my opinion that the charges and accusations brought here by Mr. Van Buren and his daughter Madison against Mr. Kane, should be dropped.”
The entire room became vocal with the yay’s and nay’s of the participants, but Judge Reynolds remained calm and waited for everyone to settle down before he continued.
“Therefore, I trust that the Bar Association and its members present here today, in all its fairness and wisdom can see that these accusations are false and should be noted as such. I have reviewed the papers on the alleged kidnapping of Rain Medici and found no evidence that an abduction of Miss Medici had ever taken place. Her presence here today and subsequently her marriage to the accused speaks volumes to me, so I will also recommend that the criminal case involving Mr. Kane be reversed and stricken from his record.” The judge would have continued, but right on cue came Madison’s not-so-surprising temper-tantrum.
“You are not buying this, are you?! He kidnapped her! He held her against her will and you're just going to let him get away with it? He gets away with everything in his life and now this?! I won’t stop until you pay!” She screamed, as she leaned across the table. Her anger was clearly directed at my Mr. Kane.
Mr. Van Buren said nothing. He knew that the gavel was about to come down hard on his past dealings, but he had yet to hear how his past also played a role in what happened to me and my family recently. I guess it was my turn to enlighten him and everyone seated here and to finally get the justice I had been searching for all these months.
“Your Honor, may I have the floor?” I addressed Judge Reynolds.
“You certainly may, Mrs. Kane.”
Satisfaction loomed, as I rose from my seat to hammer the final nails into each of their coffins.
“First, let me say thank you to Mr. Van Buren and Madison for alerting my apparent kidnapping to the authorities. If you hadn’t, then I would have never looked into your dirty family secrets. Since you accused my husband, I felt it only right to research you and your past dealings with the Kane & Medici clients that ultimately left the practice and signed with your firm in the end.”
“What does any of this have to do with Nicky and his case?” Madison was like a spoiled child. Yet, her type of spoiled bordered on evil.
“It shows to the reputation of you and your daddy. And from where I stand, that stellar reputation you present to the public is an outright lie.”
“Daddy, are you going to just sit there and let her, this nobody, malign our good name?” She pouted, as she turned and begged her father to speak.
“Madison, I’m going to ask you for the last time to sit down and shut up.” He didn’t look at her. He looked to me.
Apparently, Mr. Van Buren had more sense than his crazy daughter. I wondered how she ever made it as a successful attorney. Then that insignificant thought left my mind and I continued.
“As all of you can see from the papers before you, Mr. Van Buren has made quite a successful business here and abroad, but now you can also see that he and his firm, with the help of Judge O’Neill, made a tidy profit from illegal activities stemming from closed adoptions in Italy.”
I stopped, because Dominick raised his head from what he was reading to see where I was about to go with all of this. I merely nodded to let him know that it was all going to be okay.
“You see, all of the Kane and Medici clients had one thing in common; they couldn't have children. They signed with my dad and Vincent’s firm to adopt. It was costly and it didn’t always pan out, so they left the firm to seek…shall I say more attractive representation. They found what they were looking for in Mr. Van Buren.”
I stopped to see if Mr. Van Buren had wanted to try to exonerate himself, but he knew it was over, so being the brilliant attorney he was, he kept silent, probably in the hopes of some sort of a plea deal. Then I returned to my explanation.
“He counted on Judge O’Neill to get the adoptions through New York’s court system, so that way his actions would go unnoticed. He depended on several other judges to do the same for him in Europe.”
“This is all well and good, Mrs. Kane, but how does any of the information you’ve laid out before us relate to what happened to your husband?” One board member asked.
Then several others whispered exactly the same sentiments.
“I personally would love to know how our family’s firm relates to Nicky’s problem today.” Madison whined.
Shit! She really was a completely self-entitled idiot.
I continued because I wouldn't have dreamed of leaving poor Madison out of the loop.
“Go on, Mrs. Kane.” Judge Reynold’s graciously prompted me forward.
<
br /> “Thank you, your Honor. Dominick’s almost indictment came from a complaint that Mr. Van Buren’s daughter filed with the New York Bar Association, as you all know and in turn, they as law abiding citizens and attorneys alerted the police to what she had reported to them.”
Madison jumped to her feet. “I never reported Nicky to the authorities. I wouldn’t do that to him. You have to believe me, Nicky, you just have to!” She was a desperate woman, but not desperate enough to lose a possible chance to reunite with Dominick someday.
Although the dismissive expression on my husband’s face proved she lost him long ago.
“It’s true. What Madison states is true. She didn’t falsely report Dominick. Mr. Van Buren’s other daughter did.”
Dominick and the rest of my family looked at me like I was crazy, but when I looked to Michael and Marcello, they both nodded for me to proceed. I would have, but Madison needed to voice her opinion once again and dispute that my statement was wrong.
“Daughter? There has to be some sort of mistake. I’m his only daughter.” Madison stated with confidence.
Too bad she was the one that was wrong.
Shock and awe filled the room. Everyone’s voices could be heard all at once, but no one could make out what the other one was saying.
Judge Reynolds stood up to calm down the occupants of the boardroom, so that I could continue.
“Unfortunately, Madison Van Buren is incorrect. Her father has another daughter. Yet up until now he was unable to acknowledge who she is.”
I stopped as the people in the room looked around to see if a clue to what I had just stated was hidden somewhere here at the hearing. Not only would I tell the rest of the truth, but the truth was his other daughter was here in the room all this time.
“You see, Mr. Van Buren’s other daughter was extremely important to him, but unfortunately she was conceived out of wedlock, while he was already married to Madison’s mother. Just think of how scandalous that would have been if the news had gotten out.”
“I’ve heard quite enough!” Mr. Van Buren finally spoke up.
Probably because he knew that although he was now facing criminal charges, he still didn’t want his dirty laundry aired out here with colleagues from the law community present.
“Mr. Van Buren, I urge you to take your seat. From what Mrs. Kane has told me and because this is not a trial, yet her life was upended by your daughter’s slander against her husband, she has every right to continue and we have every right to hear what she has to say. Now I won’t tell you again. Sit down, sir.” Judge Reynolds used his position to keep Mr. Van Buren’s future outbursts at bay, so that I could finally finish this.
“Maybe it’s best if I start with the assault on my dad. He was run down earlier this year, by a woman with red hair. Then I was assaulted in my home while I was pregnant, also by a woman with red-hair. Now originally, I thought it was an ex-girlfriend of my husband’s, Darian Mann. She was jealous of my relationship with Dominick and she had red hair, but I was proven wrong. Darian is now lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life, as we speak. Someone with red hair tried to murder her too.”
“I thought she tried to commit suicide. That’s what the papers had said, Rain”
My sister soundly stated.
“And you would be correct, Raven, but after speaking with Detective Stack, it turns out that it wasn’t an attempted suicide at all, it was attempted murder.”
A hushed filled the room. No one knew what I was about to reveal next, but they clearly wanted to know the more.
“Anyway, all three of these crimes were committed by someone with red hair. Well, I should say two people with red hair. When my dad was run down, I started to investigate the crime. Then when I was assaulted, I lay in a coma for weeks. I missed the birth of my twins. A birth that no one, including me, thought would ever take place due to my childhood illness. So when this person, this…criminal took that away from me, I became enraged and because of that, I searched and searched for the truth; against my family’s advice, of course.” I stopped because for some strange reason I was overwhelmed. Everything…my confinement, my childhood, my kidnapping, my marriage, the twins, and everything in between came back to haunt me. I felt my throat close, I feared I couldn't speak, but then I received some help, from my lawyer.
Michael rose and put his arm around my shoulder. I looked at him and he gave me a quick smile, then I looked to Raven, who had tears in her eyes.
Michael whispered in my ear. “Go ahead, Rain, let them have it.”
I smiled and took a deep breath before I finally finished this.
“As I was saying, there were two assailants, but both of them are Mr. Van Buren’s daughters. Madison was the one who assaulted me at the beach house and she was also the one who tried to kill Darian. Yet the other assailant wasn’t as easy to peg. I needed to go back, far back, about thirty-six years ago to when Mr. Van Buren gave up his child by making his mistress give up her rights through one of his illegal adoptions in Italy.”
“Now as a grown woman she wanted to make her father proud; she wanted to ruin Kane and Medici, so she ran down my dad, thinking if he was out of commission or even dead, then the firm would go to his future son-in-law, Michael Conte. Yet she hadn’t counted on the fact that I owned the company and that my shares would be given to my husband Dominick Kane. So her best defense would be to discredit him and have him lose his license to practice law or even worse, lose his freedom and his family for kidnapping me. This way Michael would be the natural choice to take over for my dad, Victor Medici.”
“Incredible, you think you have this all figured out. Yet, as I stated before, I am my father’s only daughter.”
“No, Madison, you and Maggie are your father’s only daughters.” I turned to see Maggie jump from her chair. I found it odd, especially since she was in a room full of people with only one way out and those doors were protected by Detective Stack.
“Daddy, this can’t be true. I thought that bitch was someone you were just sleeping with. Tell me, tell me the truth.” Madison stood over her father, as her body and voice shook with fear and rage.
She thought Maggie was her father’s lover; some insignificant human being that shared her father’s attention, yet all along Maggie was her sister.
“Tell her. Tell her that I’m the one who fought for you, while she did all those sick things to get her own way. She was after our money and attention. That’s why she did what she did.” She pleaded with her father, before she turned to her sister. “I, on the other hand did, what I did for him, because although he gave me up, he came back and apologized. It meant everything to me. You see, I love our father, Madison, and you just use him to get further ahead in your useless, pathetic excuse for a life.” Maggie stood there and waited for Mr. Van Buren to speak, but he never did.
Mr. Van Buren was a broken man. He aged almost instantly since my story began today. It was strange, but for a brief instant, I almost felt sorry for him. He allowed his greed and his desire for power and wealth to rule his world. He gave up one child and overindulged another. The irony was that both of these women lived completely different lives, yet their fate would be the same.
My eyes moved from Mr. Van Buren to my dad. He stood there with a satisfied grin on his face. Then I saw something that I rarely saw from Victor Medici…tears. I wasn’t sure if they were being shed because he was relieved that this nightmare was over, or he was proud of my tenacity to find the truth, or just because we were family and he was grateful not to be in Mr. Van Buren’s shoes.
Whatever the reason, I was grateful for him too. I knew I hadn’t always showed it. Especially when I challenged him at every turn, but I loved him more than he would ever know and now I was finally able to say I truly forgave him for the past. I always knew it was hard on him. My mother wasn’t an easy person to deal with, but at times, even though I couldn’t admit it then, I did resent the fact that he allowed her to have that amount of control over m
e and he did nothing to stop it. Yet, today I feel very differently.
He was always protecting me. He wanted me to be healthy. He wanted me to be safe back then and now. His love for his daughters was completely different compared to the so-called love Mr. Van Buren felt for his.
I walked around the table to my dad and embraced him. He opened his arms and drew Raven in with us. Then we turned together to watch as the police made their arrests.
After some time, the crown in the room started to thin out. I watched as Dominick went to speak with Judge Reynolds. My dad left me to converse with Marcelo. Raven and Mike took this opportunity to talk. I watched as both of them walked out of the room arm in arm.
I stood there in the aftermath of the storm I had created and drank it all in. I was wiped out and it hadn’t yet hit me that all of this was finally over. Sure, I had some loose ends that needed to be tied up, but all in all it was a good day.
The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3) Page 32
