Sam finally speaks, “Andi, I’m so-“
I cut him off mid-sentence with my words and with my eyes. “Don’t. Don’t say you’resorry. You haveno ideawhat you’ve done – and I’m not even talking about what you’ve done to me.”
Sam opens his mouth to answer, then closes it without saying a word. He finally says, “I don’t understand.”
“Yeah, well, that’s pretty obvious,” I dead-pan.
“I didn’t leak those pictures, Andi.”
“You didn’t have to, Mr. Woods. The private investigator could’ve done it. The person he got them from could’ve done it. Anyone who that person told could’ve done it. There’s no telling how much money they made off those pictures. This was set in motion the second you hired that PI to investigate me. Another thing you don’t understand, Mr. Woods, is that because this has been leaked,you and your familyare now in danger, along with others who areinnocent.”
I think I’ve done pretty well at keeping the emotion out of my voice in this exchange. I’m dying to explode right now – start ranting, raving, throwing things, breaking shit. But I sit here with my fists balled up so tightly that my fingernails are digging into my skin. The family’s“statement” disgusts me – they are so full of shit. Thatfamily,and I use that term loosely, never cared about me or my traumatic childhood. They’re scrambling to cover their sins right now.
“Bill, I need to finish this now. I have other things to do today.” I state calmly.
We sign the papers and the property is now Sam’s. Bill asks everyone to wait as he steps out of the conference room and within a minute is back with Hugh Donovan, of Donovan Enterprises. He is a huge name in commercial property development and I’ve secretly negotiated a deal with him on Sam’s behalf.
I have inherited other properties he wants to develop and I agreed to work with him on it if he would do this for me. He’s here to offer Sam and Linda an enormous amount of money for the property I just sold for a dollar and for all of Sam’s adjoining property. The insane amount of money will more than set Sam and Linda up for life. I know I have no obligation to help them, but I can’t help but think Sam must be pretty desperate to do what he did.
Hugh makes the offer and the blood drains from both Sam and Linda’s faces. Sleazy grabs up the paper and quickly reviews it. He looks at Sam and nods. Sam and Linda whisper amongst themselves while Luke gives me curious looks. I won’t look at him though – because he can read me all too well. Sam agrees to Hugh’s proposal, they sign and close their own deal.
Hugh shakes hands all around the table before giving me a pointed look before he leaves. After a few minutes of Sam, Linda and Sleazy talking about Hugh’s sudden offer, I look at Bill and incline my head towards the door, “I’m going now.” The others hear me and stop talking. We all stand and I finally look at Luke. He looks like he’s about to say something to me, so I quickly turn and walk to the door.
I stop at the door and suddenly feel the need to make a statement to Sam before I leave.
“Mr. Woods, you’ve obviously wanted this for a long time. With your new found wealth, hopefully you’ll find your friends are more loyal than some of mine have been. Be careful what you wish for…because you may get more than you bargained for.”
LUKE
I’ve been staring a hole in Andi but she won’t look at me. I know she’s uncomfortable in this conference room with us – my mom, dad and me – and I can’t blame her. I insisted on coming after what my dad told me he’d done and because she won’t answer my calls. My dad’s lawyer is in Bill’s office looking over the paperwork before presenting it to Andi. All this over a damn piece of property.
My dad has been a nervous wreck all morning. I haven’t helped his anxiety in this situation, either. I’m still so pissed at him for what he did to Andi and I told him repeatedly all the way here. He didn’t even argue – neither did my mom. I found out that Mom didn’t know what he’d planned until she was sitting in the room. That’s why she was crying – she felt like she had to support her husband but ended up hurting Andi and me in the process.
I would be in love with Andi even if she hadn’t done all the things she has for me and for my parents. But knowing how generous and loving she is, it makes me even more furious with him. I have so much to prove to her and to make up to her. I just have to find a way to get her to damn listen to me. She has every right to be mad. And I have no right to whine and complain about how she won’t listen to me. Isn’t that exactly what I did to her?
I’m deciding on how to start a conversation with her when the lawyers walk in and take over the room. If it wasn’t completely inappropriate to change the subject, I would jump in and start talking to her. I decide against it when they said she has to set a price on the property. Her tone of voice saysdon’t-fuck-with-meand I can’t remember ever hearing her sound this hard before. I continue my analysis of her body language and blatant avoidance of making eye contact with me when I hear her name coming from the TV.
I turn my head to see pictures of her from her birthday celebration last night. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen them. I stayed glued to the TV and internet last night just to catch glimpses of her. My god, she looks beautiful in that gown. The first thing I noticed, though, was the pink splotches were missing from her hair. Then I noticed the gown’s long sleeve covered up her tattooed arm. The only tattoo that still showed was the one on her shoulder blade. It’s a small, colorful phoenix and it’s so sexy on her.
Then the image changes from my beautiful, confident vixen to a scared, young girl in a hospital gown, fighting with the staff at the mental hospital. They flip through all the pictures of her in that damn place, all the pictures that my dad has at home right now. They better fucking be at home anyway. I’m so fucking stunned to see these images on the huge flat screen TV, it takes my brain a second to register what the reporter is saying.
“Andrea cannot be blamed for what happened. She experienced too much trauma in her youth and we should’ve seen the signs earlier and sought help for her.Our only regret is that Andrea ever had to leave our home.”
Andi speaks and stuns the hell out of me. “Turn. It. Off.” I take back what I thought earlier –thisis the hardest tone I’ve ever heard her take before. My dad tries to apologize to her but she won’t hear it. I can’t say I blame her – it’s a little hard for “I’m sorry” to take away all the damage that’s been done. But I wish she would accept his apology because it would give me some hope that she would accept mine.
But she doesn’t. In fact, what she says next cuts me to the bone so I know it does my dad, too. He looks stunned – he never really thought through the consequences of what he had planned. He must have seen this whole thing going very different in his mind. Andi’s statement that she wasn’t even talking about what he’d done to her worries me. That implies my dad’s actions are worse than we know.
When Dad assures her that he wasn’t the one who leaked those pictures, I think he was trying to tell me, too. Because if he had been the one who did that, I don’t know that I could ever forgive him for that. Even if he is my dad – that would just be too much. I wish I knew what all this is really about because I see the pure panic in Andi’s face. Her words confirm the danger involved. But she also says that people other than her or my family are now in danger.
What. The. Hell. Happened?
She’s so ready to bolt but something is keeping her here. She’s signed the papers, the property is my dad’s, but she’s still sitting here. Bill suddenly gets up and within a few seconds is back with another man. When I hear his name, I instantly know who he is. And I know that the only way he could know about this meeting is either through Andi or her lawyer, because my dad’s company is not in this man’s league. This man is more in Donald Trump’s league.
Andi suddenly looks a little self-conscious. She’s fidgeting and keeping her eyes averted from me so that I can’t see them at all. I can’t see what kind of look she has, because she doesn’t have a poker face at all – her eyes always give her away. And that makes me even more suspicious and I know somehow she’s arranged this meeting with my dad and Donovan. She keeps amazing me.
When I glance at the offer from Donovan, I know for a fact that Andi arranged this. The amount is insane and there’s no way a man with his experience and resources would give that much for all the property my dad now owns. Even though it’s prime real estate and is the equivalent of the entire block. Donovan would find a way to squeeze any opponents and get it at the bottom dollar. He didn’t make his money and reputation by being this generous. Andi is generous to a fault, even when she has no reason to be.
Andi tries to make her exit as soon as Hugh leaves but I have been waiting for this. I stand as she does and my parents rise from their seats. She finally looks me in the eye and I’m ready myself to talk to her but she’s whirled around and rushing for the door in a split second. She suddenly stops and the hurt in her voice is like a dagger in my heart. I know she directed her statement at my dad, but it applies to me, too.
