The Maybe Series

by Ella Miles

  “You think my grandfather did it? You think he’s guilty?”

  He frowns. “It doesn’t matter what I think. I don’t get to form such opinions about my clients. I just try to defend them to the best of my ability. I’m very good. Even with the evidence stacked against your grandfather, I still think I will be able to get him off without him touching foot inside a prison cell or at most a few short years.”

  I narrow my eyes at him.

  “I really shouldn’t say anything more about your grandfather’s case. You will have to speak with him.”

  “I will.” I have to find out the truth, and the only man I can find out the truth from is my grandfather. I have a million more questions that need to be answered, and I have all afternoon to have them answered, but the person who will really be able to answer them is my grandfather. So, when I’m done here, that’s where I’ll go—to get the answers to the only questions that matter.

  The drive to the hospital is long. Granddad is being released from the hospital and custody of the jail tomorrow, but I can’t wait that long to find out answers. I didn’t find out the answers I was looking for from my lawyer, but I will find out the answers from Granddad. He doesn’t lie. He’s always blunt, and he tells the truth. He might not think whatever he did was wrong, but I don’t think he will lie to me.

  When I get to his hospital door, I’m shocked to see an armed officer standing guard outside his room, like he’s a threat to society. Like he’d grab a gun and start shooting everyone around him if the officer weren’t standing outside his room. The fact is, he’s an eighty-five-year-old man who just suffered a heart attack and major heart surgery, and he is lucky enough to still be alive and breathing instead of being buried six feet under by now.

  I walk up to the officer, not sure if he will let me see Granddad. Maybe I can’t talk to him until after he is released from both the hospital and police custody.

  “I’m here to see Lee Felton. He’s my grandfather.”

  “ID,” he says.

  I dig my ID out of my purse and hand it to him.

  He carefully looks over it before handing it back to me. “You can go in, but I need you to leave all your belongings with me. And I need to pat you down before you enter.”

  I nod and hand the man my belongings. He proceeds to pat me down and then holds the door open to my grandfather’s hospital room that is now also his prison.

  “You have one hour. He is being released tomorrow morning on bail, so if you need to talk more with him, you can do that then.”

  I nod and enter the room. The hospital room looks exactly the same as the last time I was here. There is just one marked difference. One of his arms is handcuffed to the bedrail. He can’t even get out of bed on his own, but the officer decided to handcuff him anyway.

  I run over to his side.

  “Granddad,” I say hesitantly as he lies in the bed, seemingly asleep. I should let him rest if he is sleeping, but this can’t wait. I need to know. I need to know as much as I can.

  His eyes slowly open, and then he smiles when he sees it’s me and not a nurse or doctor or police officer.

  “Kinsley, I’m so glad you came. I heard they released you last night, but I wasn’t sure if you would want to see me.”

  I take his frail hand in mine. “Of course I want to see you. You’re my grandfather. I love you. You’re the only family I have left.”

  He raises an eyebrow.

  “I don’t count Mother. I dropped her off in rehab this morning anyway. She needs to get better.”

  He pats my hand. “I’m glad you did that. She does need help.”

  “What about you? How are you doing?”

  He shrugs. “I’ve been better.”

  “They told me you are getting out of here tomorrow morning.”

  He nods but doesn’t say anything more. He’s not freely going to talk to me about this. He’s not going to tell me what the hell we were both arrested for without me asking first.

  “What is going on? What happened? Why were we both arrested?”

  He looks out the window of his hospital room without answering me. I give him a second to gather his thoughts, but I soon realize that is not what he is doing. He’s avoiding me, not answering me, which surprises me. I thought, once I asked, he would answer, just like always, but I guess being faced with spending the rest of your life in jail changes a man.

  “Granddad, did you and Dad do what they say you did? Did you lie and cheat to grow the company? Did you commit fraud and money laundering to build the company?”

  Granddad’s head whips to look at me. His face is red, and his nostrils are flared. “Hell no, we didn’t do any of those things! I can’t believe you would even ask me such a thing. You think your own grandfather would commit such crimes? Your own father?”

  “No,” I say firmly. “I don’t want to believe that what they say is true. I don’t believe what they say is true. I just need to hear you tell me the truth. I need to know why I’m facing charges of crimes I didn’t commit, why you are facing charges if you didn’t commit the crimes either.”

  He takes a deep breath, and his face softens, the shade of red turning to a pale pink. I hand him a cup of water from the bedside table, and he slowly sips it. It further helps to calm his face.

  “Why?” I ask again when he seems calmer. “Even our lawyer thinks you and Dad did this. What proof do the FBI have?”

  “Five years ago, when you were arrested and they found the drugs had come from one of our casinos, the FBI began investigating the company. They thought the company might be tied to a drug ring or something. It wasn’t, but it made them very suspicious, suspicious enough to plant undercover agents in the company, except we didn’t know that. We thought, when the FBI stopped talking to us about a year after your incident was over, that they had found us innocent.

  “Killian, the FBI agent they planted, never found anything. After five years, he never found anything, but the FBI couldn’t give up after spending five years investigating us. Killian framed us because his superiors had told him to. Killian had things to prove after he’d made a mistake that should have put him in jail.”

  “What mistake?”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is, you stay away from him. He’s the enemy, not me. He’s the criminal.”

  I nod. I believe the man sitting in front of me that I have known my whole life versus a man who has lied to me.

  “Good.”

  I watch my grandfather’s movements the whole time he is talking, trying to decide if he is telling the truth or not. I don’t know if he is telling the truth, but I feel like he is. I feel like he has to be because I know my father. My father wouldn’t have done something like this, and there is no way my grandfather could have done something like this without my father knowing.

  “Don’t worry about the company, Granddad. I just want you to focus on getting better and staying out of jail.”

  Granddad frowns, and I know he is going to protest.

  “I still don’t think you are strong enough or capable of running the company—”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “You don’t exactly have a choice. Killian was a terrible choice. You chose to give half of the company to the one man who had been working against you. Tony is a worse choice. There is no one else in a high enough position who can run it. At this point, it’s me or nobody. I can do this. I’ve made no worse decisions than you have.”

  Granddad winces as he reaches over to the bedside table and grabs a piece of paper. “I was going to say that, despite my reservations, you’re right. I don’t have a choice.”

  He hands me the piece of paper that he had typed up, and I quickly read it. He is giving me temporary power over the company until he is healed and his trial is over.

  “Thank you. I’ll do you proud.”

  He smiles. “You will because you’ll do everything I say.”

  I shake my head. “No, I won’t. I’ll do what is best for the company, no m
atter what that is. I’m not sure I have the best judgment in the world, but now, I know that it can’t be any worse than yours. If I sign this, I want full authority over my life and the company. I want your trust. I don’t want to be your puppet.”

  He thinks for a second and then smiles. “I was hoping you would say that.”

  He hands me a pen, and I hesitate over the papers.

  Can one signature change your life? One signature, whether mine or not, sent me to jail. I’m about to find out for the second time if one signature changes everything.

  I pull the car into the driveway of my family home. A home that I feel both closer to and further away from due to the events as of late. Closer because I feel like I have to rely more on my family in order to get through these next few months. And further away because I’m afraid the walls of this house hold secrets that I’m not ready to face.

  I turn off the car and then walk over to the passenger door. I open it for Granddad and help him out of the car.

  “Thanks, princess,” he says.

  I smile at him, not correcting him, just allowing him to use the name that only my father ever really called me.

  And Killian…

  Now, neither of those men will ever call me that again because both are out of my life. Hearing Granddad call me that makes me happy and sad at the same time.

  “Just take it slow. No need to rush inside.”

  “I know I’m safe as long as you are by my side,” he says.

  I smile and nod at him as we walk slowly inside. I hope that is true. I hope I can stand by his side through everything that is coming our way.

  I help him inside and to his bedroom and into bed. I glance at the clock. I need to get to the casino. I scheduled some meetings for this afternoon to ensure that everything has been running smoothly since his heart attack.

  “I need to get going, but the nurse should be here soon, and I’ll notify the staff to look in on you. Do you need anything before I go?”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To check on how things are going at the casino.”

  He carefully eyes me. “Don’t change anything without consulting me first.”

  I just smile. I don’t argue with him. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

  “I have to go,” I say before softly kissing him on the cheek.

  I quickly run upstairs to change into something more appropriate for business. I slip on a business suit and heels, and then I run out the door to my car.

  I am at the casino in a half hour.

  When I walk up to the casino, I’m surprised by the crowd gathered outside. I watch as people pull out their phones when they see me walking into the casino. I try to smile brightly as they take my picture, seeming unfazed by the scandal swarming around my family.

  I wave to the crowd at the door and then walk inside. I’m surprised to see the inside is just as crowded as the outside. I guess I expected that no one would want to gamble or stay at a casino filled with scandal. Instead, it seems we have tripled our crowds overnight. I guess what they say is true; any press is good press.

  I head straight to my father’s office and close the door behind me. I walk over to the desk that is now covered in notes and papers people have dropped off, but no one has received because no one has been here. My father is gone. And now my grandfather. And Killian. That leaves me.

  I quickly sort through the papers into things that need to be dealt with urgently and things that are less important.

  Then, I dial Tony’s number.

  “Hello?” Tony says in confusion.

  “Tony, it’s Kinsley. Can you get everyone gathered in the meeting room in twenty minutes? I need to make sure everything is being handled since my grandfather and I were arrested.”

  “Sure, Ms. Kinsley.”

  “Thanks, Tony.” I hang up the phone.

  The last time I’d tried to run a meeting, it went horribly, horribly wrong. I don’t even know what to say now, other than to make sure everyone is doing their job, especially since everyone who was anywhere near the CEO position is gone.

  I gather every drop of strength I have as I stand, and I begin walking to the meeting room.

  I have to walk past Killian’s office on the way. I pause at the door that still says Killian Browne on the outside. The door is shut though, so I can’t see inside. I don’t know what I expect to see though. He’s not in there. And he never wanted me. He was just doing whatever the FBI had told him. He was just getting my father and Granddad to trust him so that he could find out whatever he thought they were hiding. That’s it. Nothing more.

  I have to think of him as nothing but a man who worked for the FBI. Just a man my family tried to get me to marry. Nothing between us was real, but it doesn’t stop me from hoping that he is somehow still in the office, just like he was the day I walked in with Tony.

  I force myself to walk past his office to the meeting room where Tony is waiting for me at the door. He smiles at me but doesn’t say anything about the charges or situation I’m in. He just looks at me with a confident smile that I match on my face.

  “You ready?” he asks.

  I take a deep breath, trying to channel every part of my father’s strength inside me. “Yes.”

  Tony opens the door for me, and I confidently walk inside because I know I’m capable. I’m my father’s daughter. I can do this.

  Then, I glance around the room at the ten executives seated at the table and I feel my anxiety creeping back in. I take a seat at the end of the long table.

  But then Tony walks in with the same smile on his face, and I relax.

  I can do this, I repeat over and over in my head.

  “I called this meeting to…” I lose my train of thought as I feel everyone staring at me.

  “You can do this,” I feel my father telling me.

  I take a deep breath and start again. This time, I look up at the men and women gathered around the table, and I feel calmer than I ever have.

  “I called this meeting to discuss how things have been going since my grandfather had a heart attack and the sudden news that followed. I would like to hear from all of you about how things have been going and what ideas you have to keep the company moving forward during this difficult time for my family and the company.”

  I glance around the table, but nobody speaks. I don’t back down until I have met everyone’s eyes.

  Finally, one gentleman sitting to my right speaks up, “As you can see from when you entered the casino, the number of customers has increased almost threefold, which sounds great. However, we were not prepared for such an increase in customers. We don’t have the staff to handle such a large number of people, and we have had several employees simply not show up to work. As a result, we have had to turn customers away.”

  I nod. “Has this been the same experience across all of our hotels and casinos nationwide?”

  “Yes,” a woman to my left says.

  “Any ideas on how to solve this problem?” I ask the group.

  “We have been asking our employees to do overtime to make up for those who haven’t been showing up. It’s the same strategy we have used in the past when employees haven’t shown up, but we can’t ask them to do that forever.”

  I nod although I didn’t realize we had a problem with employees not showing up to work. “What about hiring new employees so that we can fill our hotels and casinos to capacity?”

  “That would work in the short-term, but when the decrease in customers returns to our old rate, we would have to lay off lots of employees.”

  I shake my head. “No, we won’t. We can hire the same amount of employees that we will need for the expansion of the hotel, so they can stay on. Test raising our rates during this period and see if demand decreases or stays steady to help pay for the increase in employees. Let’s get a marketing and PR team together to capitalize on the current situation and spin it to our favor so that the world is behind us.” I can’t believe the wo
rds that are coming out of my mouth, but there they are. Each word that falls from my lips makes me feel more and more confident.

  “Are you sure the numbers will work? Will we make enough profit? We can’t afford to be in the negative at a time like this,” the woman next to me says.

  I think back to the numbers that were lying on my father’s desk. I quickly calculate the risk and reward associated with the plan.

  I smile. “It will work.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “I just ran the numbers in my head. Even if the numbers fell off, going back to our normal rate—which wouldn’t happen because we are going to increase our marketing to capitalize on the situation—we would still be in the positive. So, make it happen.”

  Those around the table stare back at me with obvious confusion on their faces.

  “What?” I ask, looking around the table. I touch my face, afraid I have something on it since everyone is looking at me so weirdly.

  “Who is in charge now that Mr. Felton is incapacitated? Or will he be working from his home for now?” the woman next to me asks.

  “I’m in charge.”

  “You?” she asks.

  “Yes. So, when I say implement the plan I just told you, you need to do it.”

  I look around the table at everyone’s stunned expressions.

  “Is this a permanent position for you or just until your grandfather chooses a new replacement?”

  I glare at the man who just asked. “It’s permanent.” I don’t want them thinking they can just walk all over me until my grandfather chooses a replacement.

  “But will you be able to run the company with the charges against you?”

  I turn my glare to the woman who just asked me that. “I have full faith that the charges against me as well as the charges against my grandfather will be dropped soon. There is no merit to the charges.”

  “But what if—”

  I glare at the woman. “If, nothing. I will not be discussing the charges against me or my grandfather any further. It isn’t a concern for the company. We always have what is best for the company at heart. That isn’t going to change, no matter what happens.