He pulled my hands from my face and gave it to me straight. “Too bad. I’m telling you anyway, so you better listen. Your father somehow managed to put his portion of the company in your name.”
“What?!” I screeched. How was that even possible? My father couldn’t give me his company without me knowing about it, could he? “How did he—? Why would he do that?”
“Don’t know, sweetheart. But I can guaran-damn-tee that’s why your ex suddenly wants you back—to get the other half of his company back.”
I flopped back into the bed and blew out a breath in exasperation. “So, what now?”
“You need to have a serious conversation with your father, in person. And I’m going with you.”
* * *
We pulledup to my ostentatious childhood home, and I was out of the car the moment Aaron shifted into park. I was a ball of nerves, and if I waited any longer to confront my parents, I was afraid I would lose my nerve.
I faltered at the front door, unsure of whether to knock or let myself in. Aaron’s arm slid around my shoulders, and he pulled me close. “Take a deep breath, Macy. I’ll be right beside you the whole time,” he soothed as he rang the doorbell.
Moments later, one of the new servants reluctantly escorted us to my father’s home office. Despite it being the weekend, my father was behind his desk diligently working on his computer with the phone pressed to his ear.
My father looked up when he heard the knock on the door and was clearly surprised to see Aaron and me entering his office. “I’ll have to call you back,” my father hastily said and ended his call.
“Macy, you know how much your mother and I loathe unexpected visits. What are you and your,” he paused to curl his lip in disgust while he glanced at Aaron, “guest doing here?”
“Father, you know how much I loathe you and Mother meddling in my life, yet you continue to do it.”
He sighed in exasperation. “Macy, please say what you came to say. I’m a busy man, and I have a lot of work to catch up on.”
“And would that work have anything to do with MY company?”
My father went ramrod straight and spun his chair to face me, the ink pen in his hand clattering to the desk. “Excuse me?” he asked, trying and failing to hide the fear in his voice.
“You know, the company you bought half of from my ex-husband and then transferred into my name.”
My father cleared his throat and reached to straighten his tie, a nervous habit he had never been able to break. “Macy, I have no idea what you are going on about.” He cut his eyes to Aaron and back to me. “Are you using drugs?”
Aaron threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Marvin, that’s classic.”
He rose to his feet and started to come around his desk. “Macy, you and your heathen need to leave.”
“Sit down, asshole!” Aaron barked so sharply even I flinched. When my father stood frozen for a beat too long, Aaron roared, “Now!”
The moment his backside hit his chair, there was a knock on his office door. I fully expected to see my mother enter the room, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Phoenix Black strode into the room like he owned it, followed by Duke, Shaker, Byte, Edge, and Coal. “That’s it! I’m calling the police!” my father yelled and reached for the phone.
Phoenix crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. My father’s head shot up, a scowl on his reddened face, “What did you do?”
Phoenix shrugged, “I didn’t do anything. We passed the phone company’s van on the way in. Might’ve accidentally cut one of the lines while they were working.”
“I want you out of my house. Right now. All of you.”
“Not happening, old man. Not until we have a chat. Sit down, shut up, and listen. Don’t give us any trouble, and we won’t give you any, got me?”
My father audibly swallowed but did as Phoenix ordered. “Byte, you’re up.”
Byte approached the desk and placed his laptop in front of my father. “Macy was referring to this company, Beddingfield Holdings, LLC, founded by Robert Beddingfield. It did well for a few years until Robert made a bad investment and lost a lot of money, as well as a significant number of clients. To save his own ass and his company, he sold half of it to you. But the company continued to flounder. So, you transferred it into your daughter’s name, to keep the company from affecting you, but you never told anyone, not even Robert. How am I doing so far?”
My father’s face had gone from an angry red to a ghastly pale as Byte spoke.
Byte snickered, “Yep, doing great. So, while you never told Robert you transferred your half of the company to Macy, Robert never told you that he took your money and started a new company, which has been quite successful. He only hung onto the old one to use as a tax write-off since it was basically operating at a loss. However, recently, the newest employee brought in two huge accounts, which have significantly turned things around, causing Robert to pay more attention to the company’s performance. It didn’t take him long to discover half of the business belongs to Macy, which is why he suddenly wants you back.”
