“We’re not talking about you doing this with anyone else.”
She laughed. “I’m just saying… It took the right partner to be good at it. I bet you were always good at it.”
“Do I need to shut you up again?”
Before she could answer that, the BlackBerry rang.
He groaned as he rolled off her to reach for it on the bedside table. “It’s Eli.” Nick put the call on speaker. “Hey, bud, you’ve got both of us. What’s up?”
“You won’t believe it. Cleo’s parents are suing my dad’s company for her half.”
“Come on.” Nick sat up in bed. “Seriously?”
“Unfortunately, yes. The board chair called to notify me as the trustee of my dad’s shares.”
“This is completely outrageous.”
“I agree. The chair suggested we consider a settlement to make it go away, but I’m not interested in settling with them.” Elijah’s voice broke on that last part. “Ever since Dad and Cleo died, they’ve done nothing but try to get at my dad’s money without an ounce of concern for their daughter’s children. Someday… Aubrey and Alden will be old enough to know about the things they’ve done. I want to make sure they’ll be proud of how I protected them.”
“Elijah, honey,” Sam said, “they worship the ground you walk on. They will always be proud of you, no matter how you choose to handle this latest atrocity from their grandparents.”
“Sam’s right, Eli. But if you choose to make them go away with a one-time payment, no one could fault you for that.”
“That’s what they’re hoping I’ll do. Buy them off to make them go away. Why should I make it easy for them to raid their grandchildren’s inheritance? I’m not doing that. I’m going to fight them until they go the fuck away. They’ve never even checked on the twins… Not once. Fuck them.”
“We totally respect your feelings on this,” Nick said.
“If I didn’t have the resources to fight them, I wouldn’t. The company attorneys will take care of it once I give them the go-ahead.”
“Let us know what we can do to support you.”
“I just needed someone to vent to, and I’m sorry if I woke you up after the day you guys have had.”
“You didn’t. We were still up.”
“Sam, I’m so sorry about your colleagues.”
“Thank you for your text earlier. It was a sad day for the MPD.”
“And the VP resigned… What’s up with that?”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.”
“Try me.”
“She was having sleepovers with the Russian opposition leader at her official residence.”
“What the hell?”
“Right? You’re twenty, and you know that’s a problem, so why didn’t she?”
“Jeez.”
“Obviously, you can’t repeat that to anyone. I’m sure it’ll be in the headlines before long.” He had no doubt that every reporter in the world was actively working to get at the real story behind Henderson’s resignation. It was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped.
“Postscript,” Sam said, “the opposition leader was then murdered and was in our morgue when the bomb went off. When the dust settled, his body was gone, along with a witness to another case who happened to be in the wrong place when the Russians came to call.”
“Is this for real?”
