“ You ungrateful bitch.”Olivia couldn’t help it, she laughed.“ What the fuck do you find so funny?I’m not happy.Have I told you that?I want you to give me all your money right now before I have to find you and beat it out of you.You know that I will, too.”
“ What I know is that you’re pissed off because you can’t get me the way you want.Has it occurred to you that it’s my money and I should be able to do with it as I see fit?And let me clue you in on a little tidbit.The plan is not giving it to you.So you can either give that up or find yourself in jail.I’m not above calling my goons in to have you beaten up for trying to hurt me.I’m sick of you thinking that since you gave birth to me, you own me.”Her mother sputtered around for several moments.“ I’m an adult and have been making adult decisions for a long time now.And believe it or not, I don’t need or want your permission to do anything I do.”
“ You’re going to regret this.See that you don’t.”She told her mother that she regretted nothing and would go on saying that to her last breath.“ Which might be coming sooner than you think.You ungrateful bitch.I’m going to enjoy seeing you get what’s coming to you.And when you do, I’m going to laugh my ass off.”
“ Well, I hope you get what’s coming to you as well, mother.I’ll never be as happy as I am right now to see you get your comeuppance for all the things that you and dad have done to me.”Her mother said that she was going to hang up.“ You do that.I’m changing my phone number as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
The line went dead, and she laid her phone on the table as gently as she could.She wanted to toss it across the room and bust it, but she’d get a better deal on her new phone if she had one to trade in.She had to keep telling herself that she was safe here at Zander’s home, and she liked the big house too.
“ Have you figured out what she wanted with your aunt?”She told him that her mother had done most of the talking and she’d never gotten a chance to see what they were plotting.“ So you think that they’re plotting?I did wonder how they figured out where you were working.You said that they didn’t know where you lived either.”
“ No.Thank you for bringing me here.There is no telling what they would have done to follow me home last night.I slept better than I have in a long time, too.”He said that he’d gotten all new mattresses when he’d redone the rooms.“ It was a comfortable bed, and I appreciate you allowing me to stay here.I’ve never been so afraid of them as I am now.Has the background check come back on Aunt Mae?I wonder if she even has any money.”
“ She doesn’t.As far as I can tell, she’s as broke as your parents, but she’s not in trouble yet with the law.”She asked him what he meant byyet.“ She’s behind on her taxes as well.Not as badly as your parents are, but she’s behind all the same.Also, there are no houses that she owns, either.That was a lie.I doubt very much she has a will made out.I don’t find anywhere where she has an attorney that she can afford to do that.”
“ The things that we’re finding out.I can’t believe that I’ve been so naïve in thinking that she was on my side all this time.And all along she’s been in with them from the start.I guess I’m going to have to be more careful when I’m around them.I certainly don’t want to be caught alone with them anymore.They’re dangerous.”He said that they were stupid too for threatening her so publicly.“ I do wonder at times why they had me.They never wanted me, nor did they, I think anyway, love me.”
“ We’ll get this figured out.And once we do, then we’ll be able to combat them with their own words.What I mean is, we can use what they say to you against them and have them put away until their prehearing about their involvement in the money laundering deals that are supposed to be going on with them.”She asked him if he thought they were involved.“ Several days ago, if you’d asked me that, I would have said no.But now?I have no idea.It sounds like something that they’d do.”
“ I believe you’re right.They’ve been up to no good for all of my life, and I’m just now learning that they’re not the parents that I thought they were.Or they are, and I’m just figuring out how bad they really are.I’m glad you asked me to come here last night.And thank you for not telling my aunt.I think her involvement with them is more than I thought.She was just asking me where I lived when I spoke to you about not telling her.She seemed put out about it, but I’m beginning not to care what any of them wants.”
“ That’s probably the best way to handle them.Just not be around them.But I want you to be careful when you’re out.Trent and Sammy will continue to follow you around until they’re in jail or your aunt goes home.I’m hoping that they all end up in jail, but I’m not prosecuting them.You can bet that I’d make sure they were behind bars.”She asked him what else he’d be doing to them.“ Digging deeper into their lives.This non-payment of taxes has been going on for a long time, and it’s small wonder that they haven’t been caught until now.I know nothing about the money laundering.I can’t find anything about it on the internet or in the files at the courthouse.Did you hear about it from them or from someone else?If they are doing it, which I don’t see because they’re so stupid about money, then they have to be low on the process.”
Last night, they’d talked about what her parents were into.Every time money laundering was brought up, neither of them could understand how they made that work for them.It didn’t seem to him that either of them seemed to understand how it worked, and Zander thought that with the deal that he’d heard of in other cases, they’d have more money than they do right now.He had no doubt, either, that they’d be skimming money off the top and taking that too.For all he knew, that’s what they were doing, but he just couldn’t see it happening.But he didn’t have privy to all their files that were being held against them.
Olivia thought about how she’d gotten here last night.It was as if she were some kind of spy and was being whisked away by a limo.As soon as she clocked out, she went out the back door to the place and slid right into a slick black limo that was waiting for her.Trent and Sammy knew where she was headed, but they stayed behind to look like they were waiting for her to come out.Zander got a good laugh at the faces of her parents waiting in the lobby for her to come out with their goons, he told her.She’d been brought to his house and set up in a bedroom that was very nice.They’d had a lovely dinner together and talked about her family until bedtime.And since she was off today, she didn’t even mind that she didn’t have much to wear after taking a shower.
“ Your new phone will be here by noon.It was cheaper to upgrade than it was to change your number.However, I have you on my plan now, and that will give us both a discount on them.”She was going to be careful who she gave her new number to.Olivia thought it was sweet that Zander didn’t assume that she’d want him to have it.He’d know it anyway on the bill, but she thought he was nice for saying that.“ Your old one is charging in my office.I don’t know if it’s rang or not, I’ve turnedit off.But I thought if you’re anything like me, you don’t know the numbers of people in your phone.I certainly don’t know anyone’s number.”
When her new phone arrived, she was quite excited.She’d not been upgrading her phone for a while now and it was exciting to get a new one that did everything that hers didn’t.As she was playing around with it, she did add in numbers like her work number and Zander’s, but no one else’s just yet.There were thirty-six missed calls and a lot of voicemail messages.Her family rarely text messaged her, but there was one from her aunt asking her where she’d gone the previous evening.She might well not tell her either.Olivia didn’t trust any of the three of them.
For the rest of the day, she transferred things from her old phone.There really wasn’t much.She did move her schedule from work to the new one and updated her calendar so she’d remember her appointments.Again, there wasn’t much, but she didn’t want to miss an appointment simply because she got a new phone.She and Zander talked about her job a little bit, but not too much about her parents.It was her day off, and she was going to enjoy it as much as she could.
At four, his family came over to meet her and to watch a football game on the big screen television.Food was brought in, and they enjoyed snacking all evening and yelling at the game.She wasn’t used to all the noise as she lived alone, but she did have a good time with his family.Especially the women of the family.They were fun and funny to be around.
“ I’ve been trying to get my tree up for a week now.I finally gave up and had someone come in and do it for me.With four kids, it’s nearly impossible to get anything done, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.I love my growing family.”Shipley was beginning to show her next baby.She couldn’t believe that none of the four were really their children.They acted like they’d been family forever.“ That’s the way we want it.Dusty can work from anywhere, and I have my moments when I need to talk to an adult, but we’re doing all right for only being parents for about three months now.I’m excited to see what this one I’m carrying does to the group.”
“ Don’t let her fool you.She’s brilliant at being a stay-at-home mom.She and Dusty trade off duties, and it works well for the six of them.”Alex was also going to have a baby, but she wasn’t showing as much as the other two.Mandy was going to have a baby as well.“ You should see them when they get all dressed up.They look like the perfect little family.”
They talked about how each of them met their spouses and how in love they were from the first moment.They were all surprised that she and Zander were just friends and she was living with him.After explaining about her family, they seemed to understand a little more, but they did ask her if she was in love with Zander.
“ I like him a great deal.He’s my hero right now.I’ve never known one until now, and I can’t think of a better person to save me than him.I’m only staying here temporarily, just until my parents’ court hearing in a week to put them in jail.I’m pressing charges against them for trying to get into my bank account, among other things that they’d been doing to me.”Shipley asked her if they’d been knocking her around.“ Not this time, but yes, they do when I’m out and about.Not them, but my mom has these two goons that find me and knock the shit out of me.It’s been nice having my own bodyguards while out.The way my mother is threatening me, I’d probably be dead if she were able to get to me.They think that my money should be theirs.I’m saving for my own house someday.”
“ There are plenty around that you can get too.”They talked about the housing market in their town and told her that the school system had hired new teachers.“ Jobs are coming in, too.They just opened a brand new manufacturing plant that deals with sheets out near the plant.And they’re hiring on with some of the temp services, too.But you have a job, don’t you?”
“ Right now, I’m a personal shopper.I do it every Christmas, but this will more than likely be my last one.I’m getting sick of people and how rude they can be.That’s how I met Zander.He and I shopped for the entire day on Friday last week.”They all looked in the direction of the men, and Zander just happened to stand up.“ He did most of the list.I just pointed him in the right direction as to what he wanted on his list.He said he’s never been done before Christmas Eve before.”
“ He’s not.Not even close.”He waved at her, and she waved back.“ You two getting along allright?I mean, has he told you that he loves you yet?”
“ We don’t have that sort of relationship.We’re just good friends.”They all nodded.“ Honestly.I don’t think of him as a potential date or anything like that.We just hit it off well enough, and he’s been keeping me safe from my parents and aunt.I don’t know what I’d do without him sometimes.”
As the women talked, she thought about how much of a good friend he’d become.She’d not wanted to like him, but she did.She supposed that he grew on her like old spores.Laughing to herself, she wondered if there would ever be something between them and decided that more than likely not.They were friends, and that’s what they needed to be.
~*~
Zander was happy that his family came over.It was an enjoyable evening watching the game on the television and hanging out with them.The food helped.There was always food for everyone when they got together, and he thought that was often enough that they should just buy a restaurant and have them cook for them.Demi had told him once that there wasn’t much profit in owning a restaurant, and if their family were to show up very often, they’d be out of business in no time.They certainly could put away the food.
He was glad to see that Olivia was getting along so well with all of them.She was holding one of Dusty’s kids in her arms, feeding them a bottle.He would have thought they were too old for the bottle as yet, but they’d been through a great deal and might need the extra comfort for a while.He knew that he would have had he been them.
