“I will give you one million dollars to move away from here and never bother me again.”He said that wasn’t enough.“That’s more than you’re going to get now, dumbass.Take it or leave it, there is no negotiating on my end.”
“You’re getting billions of dollars, and you’re only offering me one million?That’s not fair.Nor is it something that I’d entertain from you.You give me a billion, and I’ll think about leaving town.”She told him no and stood up again.“You’re going to stay right here until I get more money from you.And don’t think I don’t know what the estate is worth.You’ll be making a billion a year just after the firm gets its cut.”
“I’m selling the firm.”He asked her what she’d said.“I said I’m selling the firm to the partners.They’ve all agreed that they want it, and all they have to do is come up with the amount that I want.And it’s nothing compared to what they’ll be making once it’s a finished deal.”
“Yet you still are only offering me a million dollars.You’re a bitch.”She thanked him and told him that the deal was on the table; did he want it or not?“Not.I wouldn’t take that much from you if it were under threat of death.You should be happy that I’m not asking for half of the estate.”
“You won’t get it either, so that’s a moot point.I’m leaving here, and you have twenty-four hours to decide what you’re going to do.”He asked about jail time.“I have nothing to do with that.You’ll have to see what happens when you get to court.I suppose I could just wait and see how much prison time you get, then you’d be away from me, but I was trying to make it so that when you get out, whenever that might be, you have something to fall back on.”
“What makes you think I’m going to go to prison?”Debra started listing the things that he’d done, starting with the will that had been forged.“They don’t care about that.I know that when I get out, I’m going to need more than just the pocket change that you’re talking about.I’ll have some real needs.”
“Then I suggest that you take what I’m offering you and forget about me.It’s the only way that you’re going to survive.I’m getting married soon to a powerful family, and when I do, you won’t be able to come near me with a ten-foot pole in your hands.”He told her that he’d see about that.“Yes, we will.You just remember this while you’re lying in your little cot at night, while there are hundreds of prisoners all around you.How you could have a million dollars waiting on you, and you turned it down.”
“Damned right I’m turning it down.”When she got up to leave this time, he let her.There was nothing more that could be said on the subject until she was willing to pay him what she owed him.And he didn’t think that a billion dollars from her was going to hurt her at all.Hell, he’d spend a million dollars on his getting out of prison party he planned to have.If he made it to prison.And nothing was set in stone right now.He was going to get himself a good attorney and show her what it’s like to be taken down by a cousin.
As he was being taken back to his cell, he thought of the money that he could get from Debra.She’d have so much of it that it would be hard for her to keep track of it all.He knew that he would be like his grandda said all the time, women weren’t as smart as men.He knew that to be true, too.
Sitting in his cell, he listened to the old hag down from him.She was going on about her dinner and how they should give her what she wanted.She also bitched about her son and granddaughter tooa great deal, and he was sick of hearing about them.He’d seen her have visitors, but it didn’t seem to be anyone that she wanted to see, as she would scream at them to get away from her.Phillipp wondered who she was talking about and was glad that she wasn’t related to him.He might well have to put her out of his misery someday if she harped on shit the way that she was doing all the time.
He had his own thoughts to occupy his mind, and it was the money that he was going to convince the courts to give him from the estate.It was the least they could do after Debra got it all.He would have one of the attorneys from the estate talk to Debra about him getting what he wanted.That was the ticket: get them to appeal to her sense of family.
Never bothering with Debra when they both became adults, he’d been surprised when she turned out so pretty.Grandda had always called her ugly, and he had gotten into the habit as well.He’d not noticed that she’d grown up into such a looker until he saw her at the reading of the will for his grandda.He wanted to smack her face right off her and be done with her when she brought herself an attorney who seemed to know his shit.Phillipp wondered if he was available to help him out of this jam and decided to figure out who he was.It couldn’t hurt, could it?
For the rest of the evening, he thought about what he could do with a billion dollars.Debra would come around soon, he thought.She wasn’t all that smart if she thought that he was going to just let this go.A billion dollars would go a long way in setting him up nicely.Now all he needed to do was get her to give it to him.
Dinner was served like it always was.They told you it was ready, and then they’d slide it across the floor to you.He heard the old hag bitching about that, too, and rolled his eyes.Phillipp had been in jail before, and one thing that you didn’t do was mess with the officers bringing you your food.They’d spit in it or just happen to be out of things that you wanted.He had learned that the hard way.Apparently, the old hag hadn’t learned anything by being in this jail.
The food wasn’t that bad.There was plenty of it, too.Even the slices of cake or pie were bigger than you’d get in a nice restaurant.Tonight they were having chili dogs, and he got three of them.There was a nice pile of fries, too, that came with them, which had chili and cheese on top of them as well.He had soda to drink, two cans as well as a nice slice of lemony pie that was his favorite of all the desserts he’d been getting.He started on that first.No point in not having room for it at the end of the meal, he told himself.
After his dinner tray was taken away, he was asked if he wanted tea at the end of the night.It usually came with graham crackers or some cookies, always his favorite, so he told the cop that he was fine with that.If the old hag got anything extra, she no doubt bitched about it.The fact that she thought they should go to Columbus for her meals to him was funny.She even wanted a nice glass of wine to go with this meal.Like that was ever going to happen.
Lying down on his cot, he thought about the money again.He’d do something grand with that much money, then he’d spend it as fast as he could get it in his hands.To him, there was more where that came from, and he didn’t care if he drained Debra dry before he was finished with her.She should have stayed out of his business, and she might be better off.He knew that he was going to be as soon as he got him an attorney who was worth his weight.
“I wish I’d of paid more attention to the man’s name that got Debra what she wanted.”He knew it was a long name.Even his first name should have been something that he could easily remember.But all he could think of was Asshole.He knew that wasn’t right, but that’s all that stuck in his head.“I’ll get one of the half dozen attorneys that come here to tell me.That’s what I’ll do.And I’ll have them contact him for a good payday too.”
He didn’t know how that was going to work without any money, but he could always talk a big game.Yes, sir, he told himself this was going to be just perfect for him, and he’d have all the estate money coming to him.
~*~
Debra enjoyed working on her own defense.Axel knew his stuff, and she was proud to be working with him.He was working hard at getting her things back to her that Phil had stolen, and some extras.While he’d not been left anything in the will, he had accumulated some really nice things by stealing from Grandda while he’d been alive.Things that she was going to get because of the stress that he had put her under.
She was getting better every day.Stronger too.She’d been using the treadmill at the condo at Kahana’s home, and it had been working out well for her.Her once-a-week appointments with the heart specialist were down to once every other week, and that made her feel good, too.It had been a long road to recovery, but she was getting there step by step.
“I’m going to be picking up some medical records to take with me.Mostly, the emergency room visit on that first day you were brought in.That’s going to show the duress that he put you under, as well as the hospital.Not that I’m putting them all together, but they will be brought up when we talk about your having a heart attack at such a young age.”She said that she would sign off on anything that he needed, so long as she could keep getting what was left to her.“Good.The other attorneys are signing off on the will today, and that will give you access to everything that came to you through the right will.That means you’ll have to meet up with them in order to sign the deeds as well.I hope you don’t mind, but I told them that Kahana was to be put on the deeds as well.Did you still want that to happen?”
“I did, and thank you for remembering.I’m supposed to go to the bank tomorrow and sign off on all the properties and accounts that he has, too.It seems to me like we both own places all over the world.I wonder what we’ll do with them.”Axel told her that most of them were rentals for both of them.“He said that he has extra income coming in, enough so that neither of us has to work.I don’t know that I could become a lady of leisure.I’m more of a get-it-done kind of girl.”
“So is my brother.Our grandmother, who is still in jail by the way, never could understand why we all wanted an education when we had enough money to buy ourselves into anything that we wanted.As you can imagine, we don’t get along with her all that well.She’s my dad’s mother and hates our mom.”She said that she’d heard about her through the others.“Yeah, she’s not making things any better at the jail for the officers there either.I guess she expects them to go to Columbus and get her a fine meal with a bottle of wine.Of course, you can guess how that’s going over.”
“I can guess, yes.”They worked for another two hours, and she was just about ready to go back home to take her nap when he told her about some money that was coming her way soon.“Is it part of the estate?”
“Yes and no.It’s an insurance policy that your grandda took out on himself when he was in his twenties.It’s worth quite a bit of money.Your grandmother had been the beneficiary up until about ten years ago, and now it’s you.That’s another thing that Phil tried to take from you when he was stealing your funds.”She asked him how much it was worth.“Four million dollars.He would have paid on it for nearly sixty years when he took it out.The policy is coming to you today, along with some other insurance that he had.You’ll be able to deposit whatever you need into an account that only you and Kahana can get to.I set it up that way so that Phil, if he gets out, won’t be able to touch any of it.”
“I like that idea.Keeping him away from my money is going to be a full-time job, I think.”He agreed with her.“I’m headed home.My naps aren’t as important as they were at the start, but I still go home and lie down for about half an hour.I feel better when I get up.”
“Then by all means do what you need to do.”He had her sign off on one more deed, and then she left.On her way to the new house, all she could do was marvel at how lovely it was.
They had moved into it last night after getting all her grandda’s things moved out.He had quite a few suits that she donated to the shelter, so they could give them to people looking for a job.There were other things that she was going to donate when she got to them, but today she was going home to rest.
