“How bad are we talking?” Michael could feel sweat beading on his forehead. He didn’t even bother asking his mother if she were serious; she was correct that he did know what his father was capable of. He’d come so close himself to being buried under his father’s crimes.
“Very bad. It’s misappropriation of charity funds. Embezzling. Extortion and quite a few SEC violations. It’s much worse than when he did it to you. If you don’t step in, and do something she’ll go to jail.”
“What am I supposed to do? I’m a lawyer not a magician. I can’t make things disappear.”
“Your father’s business associates want to see you at the helm in his place. Everyone is panicking that all the back room deals and lies are going to come crumbling down. It’s simply a matter of time before someone exposes what they know in order to protect themselves. I need you to speak with them and work through some of it. Assure them. Then take every legal measure to push the responsibility back on your father and off your sister. She needs you, Michael.”
There it was. That impossible-to-ignore lighter fluid that set his core ablaze. He was willing to watch his sister have to witness the wake of his father’s crimes but he wasn’t able to sit back and let her drown in it.
“Your wife and daughter are here now. They’re happy and comfortable and you can stay and fix this now. A week or two and you could save Josephine. Isn’t that worth it?”
“So that’s what this was all about. Chasing Jules down and bringing her here was just a ploy to sweeten the pot to get me to stay.”
“I’m sorry your father has put you in this position.”
“Please don’t act as though your hands are clean in all this. You are as guilty as he is. How could you let him do this to your daughter?”
“I didn’t know until a couple days before he died. I thought it was different this time. I assumed he was working with Josephine for her own good, not his wicked intentions.”
“Even if you didn’t know he was betraying her you still spent the money he brought into this house. You knew how he got it, you knew it was earned on the backs of hard working people and stolen out from under them. It never stopped you. Every gala you’ve thrown, every designer dress you buy—it’s all stained with his dirty money, and you let it continue. You stayed with him through every mistress and scandal he fought to keep quiet. You aided him in all of this. Jo doesn’t deserve to be left holding the bag, but you do.”
“Everything I did was to afford you the education and life that was built for you. Without it there would have been no expensive cars or private island vacations. You benefited greatly from that. You were happy. I never heard you complain.”
“I didn’t even know what happy was until I moved to Edenville and met my friends. I wasn’t rich until I had a house full of people money couldn’t buy. I feel sorry for you because you’ll never understand that. But I can assure you that cycle ends with me. Frankie will not grow up in this environment. She will not be fooled into thinking servants and diamonds make you a better person. They don’t.”
“I applaud your convictions,” his mother retorted sarcastically. “I’m sure you have a darling little life out there in the country. Are you so sure your wife doesn’t want more? I saw her eyes light up at that highchair today.”
“I won’t bother trying to explain it to you, Mother. It’s a gene you don’t have, but there is such a thing as simple pleasures, and our life is full of them. I’ll stay one week and whatever I can do in that timeframe I will. I’ll do it for Jo, but after that my family and I go back home, and if you want any contact with us from there on, you can do it through me.”
“Daniel Robertson is upstairs in your father’s office waiting for you,” Tabitha said with a victorious smile as she opened the doors to the nursery.
Michael’s blood boiled at the idea that his mother had been so confident in the outcome of this conversation she’d already lined up Michael’s first meeting.
“Let him wait. I’m talking to my wife first.” He stepped back into the room and looked down at his daughter who was cramming the trunk of a rubber elephant into her mouth.
“It’s a teething toy,” Jules explained. “It’s completely nontoxic and one of the best ones on the market. It’s from France. I read about it in a parenting magazine.”
“Nothing but the best for my granddaughter.” Tabitha smiled as she pushed a bit of lint off her shirt. “Are you going to tell them the good news, Michael, or should I?”
“We’ll be staying for a week,” Michael said with a sigh, feeling like he’d just hammered a nail into his own coffin.
Josephine rounded the corner of the nursery and skipped into the room. “Did I hear that right? You’re staying? That means you’ll be here for my engagement party this weekend.”
“Yes, we’ll be there.” Michael’s heart ached as he looked his sister over now. He had started to perceive her as a miniature version of his mother, but in reality she was still just his baby sister. She’d grown up in this toxic environment and he couldn’t blame her for taking on so many of her parents’ traits. Deep down at her core he still recognized her.
“I can’t wait to tell Wilson. He’s going to be so excited. Thank you for staying. I know we’ve been arguing but it means so much to me to have you there. Especially with Dad gone now.”
“I’m going to be doing a lot of stuff with Dad’s affairs so you won’t see much of me but I’ll be at the party for sure.”
“I’m going to call Wilson now.” Josephine jumped up and threw her arms around Michael. “I knew you’d stay.” She squealed with joy.
“There are still so many things to do for the engagement party so I’ll be on my way too. I’m excited to have you here with us a little longer,” his mother professed.
“Me too,” Jules said, squeezing Frankie tighter in her arms and taking another look around the new nursery.
“I’ll need your help getting everything ready for the party. It’s a lot of work and with the funeral I’ve lost some time. I have a feeling you’ll be a wonderful party planner.”
“I’d love to help.” Jules was like a kid on Christmas morning when faced with the idea of planning an extravagant party.
“And you too, Piper. All hands on deck as they say.”
“I’m afraid I’m not much of party planner. I don’t have any of those skills at all.” Piper shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips in a transparently non-apologetic smile.
“I’m sure you must be great at something.” Tabitha waved her hand dismissively.
“I’m a great judge of character,” Piper shot back, locking her eyes on Tabitha. “And I have a knack for finding things out.”
Once again Jules narrowed her eyes at Piper as though she couldn’t believe the blatant rudeness. Michael on the other hand drew in a deep breath to hold back a laugh.
“Well then, we’ll put you at the table with Martha Wolver. I’m dying to know her secrets. Michael, don’t forget your meeting. Daniel is waiting for you.” Tabitha deflected the warning and headed out of the nursery as though she didn’t have a care in the world.
“That was rude,” Jules said in a hushed voice. “What the hell has gotten into both of you? Michael, it’s like I don’t even know you. I’ve never seen you treat anyone the way you’re treating your own family.”
“We need to talk,” Michael said, shutting the door to the nursery.
“I thought your mother just said you had a meeting.” Jules picked up Frankie and placed her in the bright white crib adorned with pink and green sheets.
“He can wait. You need to know what’s going on here. I didn’t decide to stay because I had a change of heart about my family. I haven’t.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation in the five minutes you have before a meeting. I’m still very upset about how you left, about the lies and secrets, and how you’re acting.”
“My father put my sister in danger by bringing her in as a part of his business an
d charities. If I don’t fix it, she could go to jail.”
“Why would he do something like that?” Jules furrowed her brows and Michael felt sorry for her. She truly didn’t realize what people were willing to do for power and money. It made her a target here.
“He was an arrogant, power-hungry bastard who didn’t care about anyone but himself.”
“Don’t speak ill of the dead,” Jules shot back, making a hasty sign of the cross.
“I need you to please consider going home, Jules. I know my mother can be very convincing, but she isn’t the person you’re seeing today. It would take me all day to explain to you how dangerous she is, but please, in lieu of that, can you please just trust me?”
“You’ve shaken my trust in you, Michael. I need you to take responsibility and understand that keeping your family a secret from me, and me from them, was wrong. I can see that something about this place is eating at you and I now believe maybe you made your choices because you thought you had to, but I deserve the opportunity to form my own opinions. Frankie deserves the chance to know her family. All of them. I want to stay for the party.”
This was no surprise to Michael. He knew the answer before he asked the question. Jules would not leave now; she was too stubborn for that. “I won’t be around much. If I want to make an impact and help my sister in only a week then I’ll be busy the whole time. I want you to be wary of my mother, of the people she introduces you to. Please remind yourself over and over again she does nothing unless there is a benefit to her.”
“Well maybe that benefit is being a grandmother. From the sound of it you haven’t been back here in quite some time. People do change. We’ve seen it in our own lives. I want to give her a chance. I want you to give her a chance.”
“I’m sorry, Jules, I’m all out of chances with her. The only reason I’m staying here is to protect Jo. My sister deserves better than the hand my father dealt her.”
“I can’t imagine what your mother would have done to make you feel this way. It’s not like you at all.” Jules pulled the sage green satin curtains closed, bringing near darkness to the room.
“I should have told you everything from the beginning. You deserve to know the truth and what we’re dealing with here. That’s my mistake. I’m truly sorry for that. I know I damaged what we have, but I will work hard to repair every single dent and scratch. I need you to remember who I was before all this happened. Please remember how I made decisions and what I did for our friends and family. I think you always believed in me. You believed everything I did was to protect people I love. Just hold on to that for me. I’m still that man. I’m still your husband and Frankie’s father and you can trust me. You have to.” Michael felt on the verge of losing control as he pleaded with his wife. His eyes danced with worry and desperation, and Jules came in to rescue him from it.
“I will,” she assured him. “I know you are always trying to keep us all safe. I won’t forget that. Let’s just talk tonight. You can tell me everything. I want to know what you’re going through. Maybe I can help.” For the first time in nearly a week his wife’s arms reached around his waist and pulled him in. With her fire red hair beneath his chin he breathed her in, squeezing her with the conviction of someone who thought might have lost his chance to ever do it again. “I’ve got to get Frankie down for her nap. And I have to say, this room makes me look forward to hours of rocking her. Now you go to your meeting and good luck.”
Jules shooed Piper and Michael out of the nursery and closed the doors tightly.
“What exactly are we dealing with here, Michael?” Piper asked, her face painted with worry.
“I’m glad you’re here, Piper. I knew you’d be able to see through my mother’s bullshit. You’re going to have to help me.”
“You know I will, just tell me what you need.”
“The best thing that could happen in my mother’s eyes is for me to stay here for good. That would mean I could run all my father’s mess long term and keep her income flowing without a hitch. She won’t be satisfied with just his life insurance. She’ll want more and more. Now she has a grip on the two things that mean to most to me in the world. She’ll do anything to use that to her advantage. Jules and I are on shaky ground and my mother is a master at manipulation. It isn’t enough for me to just tell Jules she can’t be here, or my mother can’t be trusted. She won’t hear that. I’m going to be completely invested, dealing with my sister’s problems so I can get us out of here quickly. Please keep an eye on her. You just keep being that skeptical, untrusting pain in the ass you always are, and keep Jules safe while she is the warm and blindly accepting person she is.”
“I promise,” Piper said, not an ounce of hesitation in her voice.
“I think there have been a million reasons why you and I are lucky to have Jules and Betty and Bobby in our lives. We need them. They soften our edges and make us more human. But in this situation, Jules needs us. She needs our cynical caution to keep her from getting sucked in here.”
“She can be pretty stubborn. It’s not going to be easy to get her to listen once she’s headed in one direction.”
“By any means necessary, Piper. Whatever you need to do, I’ll support you. Just take care of her.”
“By any means necessary,” Piper parroted back, shaking her head in agreement. “This should be fun.”
Chapter Twelve
Michael unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt at the wrist and rolled them to his elbow before entering his father’s office to face a man he’d looked upon like an uncle. Daniel Robertson was the investment broker who had helped his father build his fortune. Michael could only imagine how many onion-like layers their friendship had.
As he pushed open the heavy dark wood door he assumed he was about to find out.
“Michael, damn, you’ve changed so much.” Daniel stood in the corner of the office eyeing old photographs hanging on the wall. Other than his hairline, which had receded by at least three inches, he seemed to have changed very little over the past eight years. He was a fit man, probably hitting the gym a few days a week to stave off the effects of age. That was something he and Michael’s father argued about often. Daniel was always trying to encourage his dad to work out with him. After his father’s first heart attack twelve years ago Michael thought he might start taking Daniel’s advice, but Michael Cooper, Senior was too stubborn for that. He liked his cigars and his scotch as well as his steaks.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Michael lied as he reluctantly took a seat in his father’s large leather chair. There was a time in his childhood when he’d put on a tie and pretend to be his father, even though his feet dangled off the large chair.
“Not at all, I’m glad you took this meeting with me. I know you must be up to your eyeballs sorting out your father’s different partnerships and agreements. I’m just one spoke in that wheel.” Daniel took a seat across from Michael and folded his hands in his lap.
“I’ve barely scratched the surface, really. But I have a plan in mind. It’s just a matter of executing all the paperwork.” Michael leaned back in his chair and took in the musky scent of his father’s cologne and cursed the flood of memories that came with it.
“I’ll be honest, Michael, that’s good to hear. There is a lot of chatter out there. People are worried about what kind of approach you’ll take with the business. You’ve been gone so long that you’re a bit of a wild card.” The look of relief on Daniel’s face was short-lived.
“I’m closing it all down,” Michael said flatly. “I’m scaling and legitimizing the manufacturing business. The charities, the back-room deals, and flat out stealing ends now. The only reason I’m leaving the manufacturing line of business open is because I don’t want to put hardworking employees out on the street in this economy. I’m going to make it dummy proof and turn it over to someone I can trust—if I can find anyone out here who fits that bill.”
“Michael,” Daniel stuttered his name out as he furrowed his br
ows in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. I don’t think you understand what you’d be walking away from. You’re talking about millions of dollars. I don’t know what kind of life you’re living down South, but it’s not going to compare to what you’d have if you kept on the track your father has set up.”
“My life back in Edenville is priceless to me, and I’m not going to get sucked into this world and turn into my father. You of all people know what he was capable of, how toxic his life was. I’ve already made my decision. There isn’t anything you can say to change my mind. Let’s just talk about how we sever any agreements you and my father had.”
Daniel hesitated as he loosened the collar of his shirt by releasing a button as though he were suffocating. “I was not expecting this. You know I know a lot about your father. I mean, I have a lot I could hold against him.”
“And I’m guessing tonight when I open his safe and tomorrow his safety deposit boxes I’ll find an equal amount of incriminating evidence against you. He’s dead. If you expose him now the only person you’ll hurt is Josephine. I have to imagine even you have a scrap of decency that will keep you from doing that. And if not, then the risk of being exposed yourself should do it.”
“When you go through the paperwork you’ll see I owed your father two hundred thousand dollars. He put some capital behind an investment of mine and it didn’t pan out.”
“Consider your debt paid. The only thing I want in return is your word that you’ll destroy anything incriminating you have on my father.”
Battling Destiny (The Piper Anderson Series Book 6) Page 7