“It means that you will have no income during the investigation Noah,” Ann said sympathetically. “Neither will Dillon, or Michael and I.”
“We can get by on my pay from the hospital plus our savings,” Elle remarked. “You and Michael have savings you can use?”
“Yes. However, that brings us to another area of concern,” Ann sighed. “We need to find out if any of the assets that we were given in trust by David and Robert, or in Bethany’s case, her father, can be seized. Trust funds, shares, properties. If any of those were obtained with money gotten from illicit means but were passed down from father to sons, can they be seized? We aren’t certain of the law in this case. We need to get legal representation to find out how far this can go and what we can do to protect ourselves.”
“I thought Michael was a lawyer,” Drew questioned Max.
“His specialty is contracts and mergers, not this,” Max clarified softly. “What you’re saying Ann, is that we could lose everything financially.”
“Actually, you would be in the best position of us all. Other than your shares and the condo, all of your other assets you’ve earned outside of Ramesly Pharma,” Ann shrugged. “We just don’t know. We need to get this addressed as soon as possible.”
“I have a question,” Noah stared at the files. “Are we going to bail the old man out? The hearing is in two days.”
“I vote no,” responded Max. “Maybe being in prison will wake him up. Make him be a better person.”
Michael gave an involuntary snort of derision.
“Other than some books that don’t add up and the testimony of Bethany allegedly seeing them commit a crime over twenty years ago, what do they really have?” Elle asked.
“I saw it. I remember it,” Bethany stated firmly.
“Really? Last I heard, you were on a lot of drugs yourself,” Elle’s tone of voice was not kind.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Drew scowled. He didn’t like Elle’s insinuation. “They tried to kill her.”
“Hey!” Kelly stood up to get their attention. “Kid in the room.”
They all stopped, turning their heads to see Amy hovering by the doorway in her jammies, teddy bear in her arms and the dog FedEx beside her. Michael gestured, and she came running to him.
“Why aren’t you in bed, honey?” Ann asked as Michael picked up their daughter.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she replied. She looked at the group with wide eyes. “Why is Auntie Elle mad?”
“She’s not mad,” Ann closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. She was exhausted. “Sometimes she just speaks loudly without meaning to.”
Michael made motions that had Ann shaking her head. “No, I’m not going to bed. We’re going to see this through.”
He frowned at her statement, obviously concerned for her.
“Right now, we need to find out what the legal and financial repercussions of the investigation are going to be,” Dillon said reasonably. “Until we do that, we can’t determine our next steps.”
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Piaget got up.
Moments later a swarm of FBI personnel came in.
“Everyone remain seated,” one of them said. “Michael Ramesly?”
Michael slowly stood and handed Amy over to Elle.
“What is this about?” Ann questioned fearfully.
“We have a warrant to search the premises. We have a warrant to search and seize a boat owned by Michael Ramesly,” the FBI agent put some papers on the table. “We have a warrant for the arrest of Michael Ramesly.”
Another agent flashed a set of cuffs, hooking one onto Michael’s wrist, grabbing for the other.
“Michael David Ramesly, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have to right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights?”
