She exhaled deeply. “I will text him, since I don’t want to hear his voice. I doubt he and I could share a conversation without him noticing something is wrong with me.”
She looked at her parents. “Mom, Dad, can I hang out here for a little while? I’m not ready to see or talk to anyone right now,” she said.
“Of course, you can,” Chance said. “You can use Alden’s bedroom. He hasn’t used it since we got here. He’s been hanging out at his Uncle Bas’s cottage with his cousins, Susan and Heather.”
Tiffany nodded. Susan was Bas’s daughter, and Heather was Reese and Leah’s daughter. They thought of Alden as a big brother. “Thanks. I’ll go to my room later, but not now.”
“Stay as long as you want, sweetheart,” her mother said, giving her a hug.
CHAPTER 29
Gary strolled the path to the cabin where boxes were to be unloaded. He didn’t mind helping out because in a few days, he would be far away from these people. He had decided to break things off with Tiffany before her birthday in February. The last thing he wanted was to be invited to another one of her family’s celebrations. This time had been enough.
He would admit to feeling a little nostalgic on Christmas Day, but all it had taken was a conversation with his father to remind him that the reason their lives had gone to pot, and the Steeles’ life was good, was because of what they had done to his father’s company. They had destroyed it by stealing the formula that his father’s chemist had come up with. Not only had they stolen it, but they had also made sure they had messed up the original formula to ensure his father’s company’s failure.
As he drew closer to the cabin, he saw several cars parked in front, so he figured the other guys were inside. Taking the steps two at a time, he knocked on the door. It was immediately opened by York. He hadn’t seen much of the man since that first day, but he had no complaints. “Hey, York. Tiffany said you guys could use my help.”
York nodded, then stood aside. “Yes, come on in.”
Gary entered, and the door closed behind him. He recognized Quade, but didn’t know the other two men standing beside him. Were these family members he hadn’t met yet? And why were those guys wearing suits and not regular clothes?
“Hey, guys,” he greeted and then glanced around. “So whereare the boxes?”
“There are no boxes,” Quade said in a brusque tone. “Please have a seat.”
Have a seat? What in the world was going on? He suddenly got a funny feeling that something wasn’t right. He began backing up toward the door. “If there are no boxes, then I’m not needed here.”
“But you are,” Quade said. “Let me introduce these two guys. To my right is FBI agent Carlton Smalls, and to my left is FBI agent Jack Ingram. So, please have a seat.”
“FBI agents?” Gary asked, feeling a knot in his throat. “Why are they here?”
“So, we can explain to you how you were caught in an espionage and theft ring.”
Gary backed up a little more. “Espionage and theft? That’s crazy. There must be some mistake.”
“No mistake,” York said from behind him. Gary turned around to notice the man blocking the door, the one he’d thought he would be able to get out of. “We know all about your scheme to destroy the Steele Corporation,” York said.
Gary shook his head. “There has to be some mistake.”
“There is. Your mistake was in thinking your plan would not be discovered. You were wrong. We know how you entered Chance Steele’s cottage yesterday and attempted to hack his computer.”
“That’s not true.”
“The video camera we installed in the cottage, which shows you entering without permission and tampering with his laptop, confirms it. And that recording is admissible as evidence in a court of law.”
Gary frowned. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“I don’t think so,” Quade said. “Just like the Steele Corporation was one step ahead of your father when he paida spy to obtain the Gleeve-Ware formula from them years ago, we were a step ahead of you, too. That laptop you thought you hacked yesterday was a fake. Every individual who received that transmission is being arrested as we speak. Including your father and Morris Jenkins.”
“But you’re wrong. My father didn’t pay any spy. It was the other way around. The Steele Corporation is the one who paid someone to spy on Devonshire Manufacturing Company with the intent of ruining them. Their competition.”
“If your father told you that, then he lied to you,” York said, bluntly. “Although the Steele Foundation refused to press charges against Devonshire Manufacturing Company, they documented the incident with the Charlotte Police Department. Additionally, the reason for Morris Jenkins’s termination is documentedin his personnel file, which the Steele Corporation still retains, and was summarized in the termination letter provided to him.”
Gary refused to believe that. “I need to see Tiffany. I want to explain everything to her.”
“She doesn’t want to see you, but she wanted you to know that she will be filing a restraining order when she returns to Boston. So don’t even try to contact her. Not only did she view the video footage from yesterday, but she also listened to the recorded conversations between you and your father. Those, too, are submissible as evidence.”
Gary knew that if Tiffany had listened to those conversations, she would know that he didn’t love her, that he’d never loved her. He’d only pretended he did. Talking to her at this point wouldn’t serve any purpose. Lifting his chin in defiance, he said, “I want to speak with my attorney.”
