by Linda Verji
After that deal was over, Benisio was still unemployed. He was a good worker, and obedient now that Sharon had him on a leash. Why not use him at La Belle?
Though their first encounter might have been a little messy, Sharon had been good to him these last twenty years. He’d earned more working for her than he would’ve earned as a cop. He was supposed to be grateful to her. She’d made his life much, much better. His daughter was alive because of her. Why would he betray her like this?
Unable to voice her feelings, she just stared at him. She wasn’t even angry at him. Just shocked, and so very disappointed.
“Sharon,” Eve called out. When Sharon didn’t immediately turn her attention to her, she clicked her fingers several times like an owner calling her dog. “Here, here, attention.”
Sharon turned to her.
“Here are your choices,” said Eve slowly. “Choice one; quietly pack your box and leave La Belle. Choice two; go to prison. Make a choice, Sharon. Personally, I’d take choice one.”
Sharon had never imagined herself leaving La Belle. Not like this. She was supposed to hand it over to her heir like everyone before her had done, not get kicked out. She couldn’t leave like this. No. No way.
Her voice trembling, she said, “You can’t do this to me, Eve.”
Eve’s eyebrows rose. “Can’t I?”
“You can’t.” Sharon took a deep breath. “Have you forgotten what I have on you? If you go through with this, I’ll tell your father-”
Eve cut her off with a laugh. “You won’t tell him anything. If you do, then these videos will find themselves in the hands of the FBI within the hour. Then I’ll upload them online and let the rest of the world see just what kind of person you are.” Her expression hardening, she added, “Maybe I might even go ahead and let Carter know how his father really died.”
“No.” Sharon’s sharp gasp echoed in the room. It was one thing to be kicked out of La Belle, but for Carter to be brought into this mess was just… despicable.
“I assume that that means we have an agreement.” Eve pushed her seat back and stood. “Please clear your desk by close of business. Its new owner will be taking possession of the office tomorrow.”
Despite herself, Sharon found herself asking, “Who is the new owner?”
Eve paused then said, “We decided to keep it in the family.”
Surely, that didn’t mean that-
“Yes, Sharon,” Eve confirmed with a smile. “I’ll be taking your position.”
With those parting words, she walked out of the room. Benisio quietly followed her.
Feeling like the walls were closing around her, Sharon stayed seated. She was fired and Eve was the new CEO? How? How? How? She pulled in a shaky breath and cupped her face with her hands. This wasn’t happening. This was just a nightmare and she’d soon wake up from it.
No, it’s not a nightmare, the voice in her head screamed. This is reality. Eve has stolen your company.
Feeling like she was suffocating, Sharon pressed her hand to her throat. Those videos were beyond damning, and Eve was right. Those videos had ruined any chance Sharon had of using the law to get back her company. Eve had her by the balls.
Calm down, Sharon. Calm down. She sucked in mouthfuls of air and exhaled loudly. You’re not going down like this. Not this easily. And certainly not because of a dog you raised.
If she couldn’t force Eve to give her company back through lawful means, then there were other ways to do it. This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
CHAPTER 13
Carter was at the car-shop when Charlie called him. He stared at the ringing phone for quite some time, trying to decide if he should pick it or not. What would the man who’d almost turned his mother’s company into dust have to say to him? After four rings, Carter decided to give the man a break. He left the shop to take the call outside.
Carter answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Carter,” Charlie started, “what’s going on down there? What’s this bullshit?”
Carter frowned. “Going down where?”
“At La Belle.” His breath coming in a panicked rush, Charlie said, “I thought my confession would be enough to keep Sharon safe. What happened? Why did the Board fire her?”
Carter’s heart jumped to his throat. “The Board fired her?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you know?”
“No.” Carter was shocked. La Belle was his mother’s life. How could they fire her?
“I just heard it too.” Charlie explained, “There’s an announcement up on the staff’s digital bulletin board. Sharon’s been fired and Eve’s taking over from her.”
“Eve?” Disbelief pulsing through him, Carter took a step back. His back hit the wall, but he didn’t even realize it. “How did that happen?”
“I have no idea,” Charlie said. “That’s why I’m calling you. I was trying to reach Sharon but she’s not picking up.”
“I’ll call her and find out,” Carter said then hung up.
He immediately dialed his mother’s number. Though her phone rang, she didn’t pick up so instead, he tried Eve’s number. She didn’t pick up either. He left her a text message asking her to call him as soon as she got it, then he called La Belle. Ryan, Sharon’s executive assistant, let him know that his mother was still in the office but wasn’t taking calls. She was probably too traumatized, Carter surmised. Eve on the other hand had already left the office. To where? No one knew.
As soon as he ended that call, Carter walked back to the car-shop. Unfortunately, they weren’t done with his car yet. He was too worried about his mother to wait for them to finish working on his car so he called a cab. His first stop was La Belle.
The moment Carter walked into the building. He felt them. The stares. Everyone was watching him. Normally, people would greet him verbally or at least smile at him. Today there were just solemn nods and pitying stares. Even the receptionist who was paid to smile couldn’t force one out.
When the receptionist handed him a guest pass, Carter gave her a curt nod. “Thanks.”
He headed to the elevators. Thankfully, the executives had their own elevator so he didn’t have to deal with more pitying look. When the elevator doors opened at the executives’ floor, he headed straight to his mother’s office. Ryan was at his desk. However, Benisio was conspicuously missing.
Ryan immediately looked up at Carter’s entrance. “Mr. Welling, hi. I didn’t know you were dropping in.”
“I thought I should since she’s not picking my calls.” Carter gestured to his mother’s office. “She’s still in, right?”
Ryan nodded. “Yes.”
Carter heaved a sigh of relief. Glancing at Benisio’s empty desk, he asked, “What about Benisio? Is he in with her?”
Ryan looked started by the question. He paused for a beat before shaking his head. “No. He left with Eve.”
“Why would he leave with Eve?” Carter asked with a frown.
Ryan’s pause was even longer this time. “I think you’d better ask your mother that.” He reached for the phone. “I’ll just let her know that you’re here.”
“No, it’s okay.” Carter stopped him. “I’ll announce myself.”
He walked to the door, knocked once then let himself in.
Sharon was at her desk but facing the window and speaking on her cell-phone. There were two men in the room with her. The men wore windbreakers that announced them as employees of a security company. They were walking around the room touching and moving things around while seemingly searching for something. On the coffee-table were several small devices that looked like spy-cams. Carter was smart enough to realize what this was. The men were sweeping the room for bugs. Had someone been spying on his mother? He frowned. What the hell was going on at La Belle?
At Carter’s arrival, the men nodded in silent greeting then continued what they were doing. Turning his attention back to his mother, Carter crossed the room to stand in front of her desk.
Shar
on didn’t notice him. Still on the phone, she said, “No, you don’t need to be worried at all.” She sounded quite relaxed as she added, “This is just a temporary hiccup… a warning shot. You know how dramatic our Board can be. As soon as we resolve a few things, I’ll have my position back.”
She paused to listen to what the person on the other side of the line was saying before chuckling. “No. No. No. There’s no need to start looking at your options. I’m still a safe bet. Like I said, this is just temporary.”
The person on the other end spoke for some more time before Sharon ended the call with, “Okay, I’ll see you for lunch on Thursday. I should have good news by then.”
As soon as she was off the phone, Carter called out, “Mom!”
Startled, Sharon swiveled in her seat to face him. Her hand on her chest and her eyes wide with surprise, she said, “Carter, you scared me.”
“No, you scared me.” He took the seat opposite her. “I’ve been trying to call you for the last hour and you weren’t taking my calls.”
“Sorry.” His mother made a face. “I was busy dealing with a few things here and there.”
“I heard.” His voice and expression laced with concern, he asked, “Is it true that the Board fired you?”
Sharon instantly sat up straighter, and there was a thread of panic in her voice as she demanded, “Who told you? Did Eve tell you?”
“No, Charlie did.”
“Oh!” Sharon relaxed back into her seat. “Bad news sure has a way of traveling fast.”
“So, it’s true? They fired you?”
Sharon nodded.
Carter’s heart plunged to the pit of his belly. He’d been hoping against hope that Charlie had the wrong information. He released a heavy gush of breath as his eyes met his mother’s. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“It’s okay,” Sharon dismissed with a forced smile, but Carter could only imagine the distress she was feeling. La Belle was her whole life. She’d started working here since she was fifteen, and run it for close to thirty years. This company was as much her baby as he was.
He asked, “What happened?”
His mother watched him for a long silent moment before saying, “You’ll find this out eventually anyway so it’s better if I’m the one who tells you.” She paused to take a deep breath before announcing, “Eve is the one who orchestrated my firing.”
Carter’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Eve got me fired.” Sounding remarkably calm, Sharon added, “She teamed up with Lewis Wick and stole the company from me.”
Impossible! Carter couldn’t even say anything because he had lost the ability to speak. There was no way this was Eve’s doing, he wanted to deny, but his mother’s grave expression left no room for denial.
It took a while before he found his voice, and even then he sounded strangled as he asked, “Why would she do something like this?”
“Money and power,” Sharon offered. “If you ask her, she’ll probably give you some made up reason. But I have it on good authority that Wick paid her a lot of money to engineer this coup. He’s even given her the CEO position.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Carter muttered almost to himself. Now feeling nauseous, he added, “She wouldn’t sell us out like that.”
“But she did.” Sharon’s upper lip curled in a sneer. “She’s an ungrateful little twit, and we should never have brought her into the family.
Eve would never do this to them. To him. She’d told him that she loved him just two days ago. How could someone who loved you do something like this? A cold shiver raced down Carter’s spine. Was this what she’d meant when she was giving him that cryptic apology? Was that her way of warning him that she was going to break both him and his mother? No. No. No.
“But don’t worry. I have this under control. I’ll fix it.” Sharon reached for the phone on her desk. She pressed a button and Ryan’s voice came through.
“Yes, Mrs. Welling?” Ryan greeted.
“Have you managed to get Wick on the line?”
“I’m trying but his people are giving me the run around.”
“Keep trying.” Just as she finished her conversation with Ryan, her cell-phone rang. She glanced down at it then smiled. “It’s Captain Peralta.”
Carter immediately recognized the name. Peralta was the captain of the local police force.
Instead of answering the phone immediately, Sharon turned to Carter, “Carter, I need to take this call in private. Why don’t we talk at home?”
“Oh… okay.” Carter slowly stood.
Sharon gave him a comforting smile. “Stop worrying. I’ll sort all of this out. You know how capable I am.”
Carter wanted to say something to encourage her but he couldn’t speak through the tightness in his throat. He was still reeling from the news that Eve was the author of his mother’s downfall. His footsteps felt heavy as he walked out of his mother’s office. Almost as if by instinct, his steps led him to Eve’s office.
Eve’s executive assistant, Mona Petersen, immediately looked up when she saw him. “Mr. Welling?”
“Is Eve in?”
“No, she already left.”
“She did?” He frowned, then remembered that he’d already been given this information earlier. To himself he muttered, “She left with Benisio.”
“Yes,” Mona confirmed.
His brain was so foggy that it took him a minute to figure out what to ask next. “Do you know where they went?”
“I think she went home.” Looking concerned, Mona asked, “Mr. Welling, are you okay? You look sick.”
“Me? No… I’m fine.” It felt like his face was cracking as he forced a smile. “Thanks for the information.”
Slowly, he headed towards the elevator. Regardless of what his mother had said, he still didn’t want to believe that Eve had really done this. She wouldn’t. At least not of her free will. A light bulb lit up in his brain dispersing some of the fog. Maybe Wick had threatened her into doing this. She would never do this willingly.
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made and it sparked a little ember of hope within him. Once he spoke to Eve, she’d clear all this up and it would all make sense. His steps quickened. Yes, she would definitely have an explanation for all this.
* * * * *
EVE HAD ALWAYS assumed that she’d feel victorious after stomping on Sharon, but that wasn’t what she felt right now. She was relieved that she was finally revealing her cards. However, that relief also carried a healthy dose of unease because she knew that Sharon wouldn’t just lie down and die. Adding to that odd mix of emotions was sadness. Already she knew that several people would get hurt because of her actions today. One of them was seated on her bed right now.
“If you and Uncle Carter are getting divorced, then I want to go with you,” Jackson announced as he watched Eve packing. “Can’t you ask the judge to give you custody of me?”
“I wish I could, Jackson, but I can’t.” Her heart breaking, Eve added, “Even if I do, no one will agree to let me take you. I’m sorry.”
Though it would’ve been easier to just leave without saying a word to Jackson, it had seemed too cruel. They had been allies for too long for her to just abandon her nephew like that. Of course she wished she could’ve told him earlier so he could prepare himself emotionally. However, her whole plan depended on the surprise factor. Children, even smart ones like Jackson, weren’t great with secrets.
After the conversation with Sharon, Eve had immediately left the office and headed to Jackson’s school. She didn’t want him finding out from anyone other than her. It was lunchtime when she arrived, and she’d taken him out of school so they could talk. At his favorite restaurant she’d let him know that she was leaving the Welling family. He’d taken it surprisingly well, even pointed out some of his friends whose parents were also divorced. But she knew that deep inside he was hurting; he was just good at hiding it, like her.
His gaze downcast, he asked, “Is it
because I’m not your son?”
“You are my son.” Eve dropped the t-shirt she was folding into the suitcase then came closer to sit next to him. She wrapped her arm around his slim shoulders. “It’s just that the courts won’t see it that way.”
Jackson sighed deeply before lifting his eyes to meet hers. “Can I still come and see you then?”
“Of course you can come and see me.” She squeezed his shoulders. “I’ll give you my new address and you can ask Uncle Carter to bring you over whenever you want to see me.”
Though she hadn’t spoken to Carter yet, she knew that he’d be furious with her. However, Carter wasn’t a vindictive man. If Jackson asked to see her, he’d let him see her.
“Okay.” Jackson sighed again before standing. “I’ll go bring a pen and paper.”
Tears jumped to Eve’s eyes as she watched him trudge to the door. It hurt to see him hurting because of her. For one brief second she wished that she hadn’t done what she’d done. However, within that second she also acknowledged that this was something that needed to be done. Someone needed to stop Sharon, and unfortunately the task had fallen on Eve.
Once she was done packing, Eve took off her wedding band. She’d always assumed that she’d feel relieved after getting rid of it, but what was left was only sadness and loss. Her hands felt empty as her heart without it. She set the ring on top of the white envelope that held the already prepared divorce papers. However, a second later, she grabbed the ring and tucked it into her purse. If she couldn’t keep Carter, then she needed something to remember him by.
By the time Jackson came back, Eve had her emotions under control again. Benisio walked in just seconds after Jackson. The two of them helped her to cart her two suitcases and duffel bag out of the room.
They were just coming down the stairs when the front door opened and Carter walked into the foyer. Eve immediately froze on the spot as panic rushed in to overwhelm her senses. She’d hoped to get away before he came into the house. But there he was, standing at the door and looking up at her with shock glimmering in his gaze.
