Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Several partners chime in with agreement before Andrew adds, “Where are we on figuring out the fallout?”
“There won’t be any fallout,” I assure them. “But before I elaborate, I want to be frank. We can’t find the case file and I have almost no memory of the case. I was second chair. It all seemed up and up to me, but now, I’d say otherwise. I need to come to all of you with honesty no matter how painful. The reality here is that we wouldn’t want to release a case file that hurt us just to hurt them. The threat would seem to be a bluff, if not for one thing.”
“Which is what?” Andrews asks, seeming to be speaking for all.
“The Allen family is worried about what I know and what I could do to them. They assume I inherited knowledge about them I do not have. My father was a dick. He liked to play games, but I have the impression that family tried to blackmail us or our clients, and my father checked them with whatever this file holds. Maybe in his fucked-up way, the way he wrote the will was supposed to make me figure that out.”
“Why not just tell you?” Andrews asks.
“Because he hated me.”
A partner, a brunette fifty-something who’s damn good at her job, named Beverley Hallow, chimes in then. “That’s true. He was so jealous of you. He probably wants you to succeed but has to punish you through the process. We all saw that.”
There is a hum of agreement again, before she adds, “But this time, it affects us all.” She waves her hand around the room. “Does anyone know anything about the Allen family feud with us?”
There is silence and a lot of shaking of heads.
“All right then,” I say. “I’m trying to figure that out. I have no file. Needless to say, I need a way to check them. I need everyone on that. And if you wonder why Bella is here, I need you all to understand, she’s by my side now. The wedding is not a sham.”
“His father didn’t believe in love,” Bella adds. “He hoped being married would be torture to Tyler. It was supposed to be his final kick in the teeth, like ‘you can have my money and company, but you have to suffer to do it.’”
“He had no idea how I felt about Bella,” Tyler adds.
“We can all see that,” Beverly replies. “And we all respect Bella.” On that note, her attention turns to Bella. “I never told you I had the honor of meeting you mother. She’d be proud of who you’ve become.”
Bella gives her a nod. “Thank you for that. I try to make her proud every day. And I do love Tyler. We didn’t mean for it to happen, but the fact that our feelings grew over the years makes us stronger.”
“We’ve all talked privately,” Andrew interjects. “We believe we’re headed the right direction, and none of us want that disrupted. What happens if the Allen family comes at us and we don’t have whatever was in that file, which clearly was not something damning to us, but them?”
“Let me be clear. Knox Allen crossed a line with me that cannot be uncrossed, and I won’t elaborate. What I will say is that while I may be a more honorable man than my father, I’m the enemy he didn’t want to have. And I’m his enemy. Mark my word, the Allen family will be controlled.”
“What if that isn’t enough?” Andrew challenges.
“If you trust me that little, I’m sure there are partners at this table that will happily buy your stock. I’ll put in the first offer.”
Andrew smiles and then laughs. “I’ll keep my stock.”
“Anyone else?” I challenge.
The room is silent.
“Meeting adjourned,” I say, and my cellphone buzzes with a message I pull up to read: Tyler Hawk, it’s Knox Allen. We never finished our meeting.
Chapter Forty-Five
Tyler
We never finished our meeting.
My lips curve, and my amusement is real. If Knox Allen wants to play this game, we’ll play. My way. I don’t reply. Not yet. At this point the room has cleared except for Gavin and Bella, and I turn to Gavin, arching a brow. “You killed it. You won’t be challenged by the partners and anyone that might have been in question, stayed silent and got shut down. Now we just need to find that damn file for our peace of mind.”
“Agreed,” I say, thinking about the partners who’d led that confrontation with me yesterday. “Call the partners in that challenged me yesterday—Raiden, Jack, and Terrance, and offer them an out. Make sure they know I know who they are. Their silence today in the meeting did not make them invisible. I don’t trust them. Make sure you aren’t one of them, Gavin. Make sure I trust you.”