“Now for our final order of business,” Alan said. “I’ve shared Abraham’s wishes with all of you. The board needs to approve Isaac’s installment as temporary president and CEO. We can do this by a voice vote.”
“Hold on a minute,” Michael said. “If the board has to vote, does the board also have the right to submit additional nominees?”
“Legally, yes,” Alan said, “but practically no. There are six votes on the board. I hold Abraham’s proxy, and I also have my own vote. Saralyn has a vote, Isaac has a vote, and your mother and sister have a vote. Thus, it’ll only take three votes to gain the approval. I’m casting my vote and Abraham’s proxy in accordance with his wishes, and I’m certain that Saralyn and Isaac will, too.” He looked at them. “Am I right?”
Saralyn stood. “Let’s stop playing games, Alan. There’s no need for a vote. There are four of us and two of them. We don’t need their approval. They should be happy to be in the room.” She shot a hot glance at Michael. “And Mr. Big Mouth over there doesn’t even have a vote, so I don’t want to see him at another meeting.”
“Who are you calling Big Mouth?” Michael shouted, nostrils flaring.
His mother stopped further input from him with a stern, “Michael!”
“You can’t do that,” Deborah said, jumping in before she could stop herself. Michael shouldn’t have come, but Saralyn had no right to treat him with such disdain. “If Isaac’s wife can be here, then I don’t see why my brother can’t. He is, after all, Abraham’s son.” Deborah took a huge dose of satisfaction when she saw Saralyn blanch. She opened her mouth to say more, but her mother shook her head and mouthed, That’s enough. Her “home training” demanded that she obey.
“In case you weren’t listening,” Saralyn said, “we have four votes, including Abraham’s, and you have two. I can do whatever I want.”
“Mother,” Isaac said, a warning in his tone.
Saralyn looked at her son. “I’ll see you in your office in ten minutes.” With that, she picked up her hat, put it on, and strode out of the boardroom.
Alan cleared his throat. “We’re about finished here. I’ll be working closely with Isaac to make sure the ongoing projects outlined today run smoothly. In addition, I’ll be assisting Deborah as she gets up to speed with Running Brook.”
“Just keep me updated,” Isaac said, looking at her for the first time.
Deborah wondered if he wanted updates because it was her project, but it didn’t matter. “Of course,” she said, deciding not to give in to her insecurities.
He nodded. “I’ll have my secretary set something up over the next week or so.”
Deborah nodded. What he proposed seemed fair to her. He was the boss, after all.
“You don’t have to look over my sister’s shoulder, Isaac,” Michael said. “She’s more than competent at what she does. She’s had to work for everything she’s ever gotten.” His unspoken unlike you was heard loud and clear.
Her brother was anything but subtle, Deborah thought. “It’s all right, Michael. I can defend myself.” She turned to Isaac. “You’re well within your rights to ask for updates. I think they’ll be good for both of us. We haven’t worked together before so the updates will be a chance for us to get a feel for each other’s work styles. I don’t have a problem with it at all. I think it’s a great idea.”
“Good,” Isaac said.
Alan gave her a smile that told her he was proud of the way she’d handled the brewing controversy. “Well, that’s it for today’s meeting,” he said.
Isaac and Rebecca hustled out of the room. Deborah guessed they were going to meet Saralyn in Isaac’s office.
“Good riddance,” Michael said when the door closed behind them.
“Michael Thomas,” his mother said. “What did you think you were doing? I know you have better manners than you showed today.”
Michael pressed a kiss on her cheek. “It was business, Mama. Sometimes it gets dirty. It can’t be helped.”
Leah didn’t look as though she agreed.
“Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Thomas,” Alan said. “This was a tame board meeting compared to some others we’ve had. Abraham likes—how can I put this—engagement.”
Deborah laughed. “Always the diplomat, huh, Alan?”
“Somebody has to be the voice of reason. Hot blood runs through those Martin veins.” He turned to Michael. “Abraham would have enjoyed sparring with you today.”
“The old man wouldn’t be a match for me,” Michael said. “Besides, if he’d wanted an equal sparring partner, I’d be on the board.”
“He has a point, Alan,” Deborah said. “Let’s hear the diplomat’s response.”
Alan smiled at her again and she smiled back. “I’d rather have that discussion with Michael man-to-man, over lunch.” He turned to Michael. “I’m free today. How’s your schedule?”
“I always have time to gain insight into how the old man thinks, if he thinks.”
“Michael!”
“Sorry, Mama,” Michael said. “I seem to be on a roll.”
“Well, you need to get off, and quickly.”
Deborah stood staring at Alan. “What?” he asked.
“I can’t believe you’re such a sexist—a man-to-man meeting? This is not the fifties. Women do think.”
Michael chuckled. “Down, girl,” he said. “Alan probably knows our conversation might get heated. Isn’t that right, Alan?”
“It is,” he answered, keeping his eyes on Deborah. “Otherwise, there’d be no contest. I’d choose you for a lunch date over your brother any day.”
Deborah couldn’t believe Alan was flirting with her with her mother and brother present. She brushed off his words. “Always the diplomat.” She turned to her mother. “Why don’t we do a girls’ lunch?” she offered. “We don’t need men, do we?”
“Speak for yourself, darling,” Leah said. Both men laughed.
Alan checked his watch. “It’s about noon,” he said to Michael. “Are you ready to eat?”
Michael nodded. “I’m ready to have this conversation. I don’t need food.”
“Well, I do,” Alan said. He turned to Leah. “It was good seeing you again,” he said. “I hope you weren’t too overwhelmed.”
“It was fine,” she said. “I’m used to unruly children.”
Alan smiled. “Deborah, I’ll see you at the three o’clock production meeting.”
“I’ll be there,” she said.
After the men left the room, Leah turned to her daughter. “What’s going on with you and Alan?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Michael followed Alan down the hallway from the boardroom to Alan’s office, his feet almost swallowed by the plush carpet. He tried not to be too impressed with what Abraham Martin had accomplished in his life but it was hard not to be, with all the awards and recognitions lining the hallway wall. He even caught a glimpse of the old man standing with Barack Obama. Still, Michael was determined to outdo him.
He followed Alan into his office and closed the door behind him. Instead of settling himself into one of the chairs, he lifted a palm and gave Alan a high-five. “I can’t believe we pulled it off,” he said.
Alan slapped his palm. “We haven’t done anything yet,” he warned. “We’ve only executed the first steps of our plan. We have a ways to go.”
Michael dropped down on the leather couch in the corner of the office. “That Saralyn is a piece of work, isn’t she?”
Alan went to his wet bar and opened a bottle of scotch. He poured two glasses and handed one to Michael. “She’s spoiled. Always has been. Started with her father and continued with Abraham. She’s used to getting her way.” He sat in the club chair across from Michael.
Michael thought of his own mother and how hard she’d worked to give them a decent life. No one had pampered her. He would some day, though. “I bet her son is spoiled, too.”
Alan chuckled. “Don’t be too sure. From where I was standing, he wa
s on top in that little skirmish between the two of you.”
Michael gulped down all of his scotch in one swallow. “I didn’t want to hurt the little pansy. I was feeling him out, trying to push his buttons.” He grinned at Alan. “It worked.”
“Maybe, but we need to cut the physical contact.” He tapped his forehead. “We’ll achieve our goal with brain power, not brawn. We’re going to beat Abraham on the field where he thinks he rules.”
“You hate the old man as much as I do,” Michael observed. “What did he do to you?” he asked, not expecting an answer. It was a question he’d asked before, without receiving an answer.
“Let’s just say your father is a taker. He thinks the world and everyone in it is his for the taking. He holds himself in the highest esteem and everyone else to no esteem.”
“What about his wife? He seems to dote on her. A blind man could see the sparkles in her jewelry.”
“Abraham likes women…all women. Saralyn only gets special attention because as his wife she’s a reflection of him. Same with the boy. They have to live up to his lofty standards. Be glad that you and your sister didn’t grow up under that kind of scrutiny.”
Michael wasn’t so sure. A boy benefitted from a father’s guiding hand. Having a father allowed a boy to be a boy. In a household of women, a boy had to become a man too soon. “So, was it a woman?”
Alan stared at his glass. “Yes, but not in the way you think. It was my sister.”
“What happened?” Michael wanted to know.
“What usually happens? It’s the same old story. Older married man seduces young, impressionable girl. She falls in love; he doesn’t. He ends it; she’s devastated.”
Michael hated the obvious similarity with his mother. “Did she get pregnant?”
Alan shook her head. “She drove her car into a tree. They called it suicide but I know it was murder. Abraham killed her when he broke her heart.”
Michael had no response. When Alan had come to him four months ago with a proposal for a partnership to bring down Abraham Martin, he hadn’t needed much coaxing. Alan was an insider at MEEG. He had access to information that they could use against Abraham. “We’ll make him pay, Alan.”
“I know we will,” the attorney said. “It was clear today where the votes are on the board. If Abraham remains in his coma for a while, we may be able to short-cut our way to victory. I’m the deciding vote in his absence.”
“How long before we can get everything in place?”
“Six months, tops.”
“That’s a long time. I doubt he’ll be in a coma that long.”
Alan shrugged. “He could die.”
The words took Michael aback. “You hate him more than I do.”
“My sister is dead. Your mother and sister are alive. There’s a difference.”
Michael realized his partner was right. Then he had a terrible thought. “The old man’s car accident,” he said, “it was an accident, wasn’t it?”
Alan chuckled. “I may hate Abraham Martin but I wouldn’t kill him. It wouldn’t bring my sister back and it wouldn’t hurt Abraham enough. He has to suffer—the way my sister suffered.”
Chapter Thirty
You can’t let Michael get to you like that, Isaac,” Rebecca said, once they were out of the boardroom. “He deliberately goaded you, and you fell for it.”
He gave her a cold glance but kept moving. “You don’t want to talk to me about Michael right now, Rebecca,” he said.
“We have to talk at some point,” she said.
“I said everything I needed to say the other night. This marriage is over.”
Rebecca stopped, grabbing his arm so he skidded to a halt with her. “Don’t you think that’s what Michael wants? He knows I love you, and he’ll take great joy in breaking us up.”
“You should have thought about that before you lied to me.”
“I’m sorry, Isaac. How many times do I have to say it?”
He shrugged his arm out of her grasp and resumed walking. “Too little, too late. It’s over.”
She jogged a couple of steps and fell into pace with him. “You can’t toss me out like the morning garbage,” she said. “I won’t let you.”
He chuckled dryly. “You can’t stop me.”
She was about to say more when they reached his office and he opened the door. She spotted his mother stretched out on his couch, one of her arms resting on her forehead. “This conversation is not over,” she whispered.
He walked toward his mother, ignoring Rebecca’s whispered words. “Are you all right, Mom?” he asked.
She lowered her arm and sat up. “I’m fine. I just needed to rest my eyes for a minute. I can’t put up with any more of those meetings,” she said. “Your father was wrong to put us in this situation. What was he thinking?”
“You know as much as I do,” he said to his mother. “I would invite you to lunch, but I’m already committed to meet with one of our vendors, though you’re welcome to join us.”
Saralyn shook her head. “I can’t do another meeting today.” Glancing at Rebecca, she said, “Rebecca and I can have a nice lunch and then I’ll head off to the hospital. You two can join me later for dinner. According to the schedule, Deborah Thomas is supposed to have time with Abraham tonight. God, these people have invaded my life.”
Isaac pressed a kiss on his mother’s forehead. “You can handle it,” he said. “I have faith in you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I had faith that you’d never get into a brawl in the boardroom, too, and look what that got me.”
“He was asking for it,” Isaac said.
“You’re a better man than he is, Isaac,” his mother said. “I don’t care what he does—you have to maintain your composure. When you go off like that, he wins. I don’t want it to happen again.”
Rebecca slid a sly glance at Isaac to see if he received his mother’s words better than he’d taken hers. She was disappointed when his response was a perfunctory nod.
He looked at his watch. “I’ve got to run,” he said. “You two enjoy lunch.”
After he left the office and closed the door behind him, Rebecca turned to Saralyn. “So where do you want to go for lunch?”
Saralyn patted the space next to her on the couch. “I can’t eat a thing,” she said. “You and I need to talk about Isaac.”
Rebecca welcomed the discussion. Her mother-in-law seemed to share her thinking in regard to Michael and Isaac. She took the offered seat, saying, “I’ve never seen Isaac react the way he did today. I told him he shouldn’t let Michael get under his skin.”
Saralyn crossed her legs and turned sideways to face Rebecca. “Evidently, Michael pushed some hot buttons. He insulted you, Abraham, and me. He had a lot of ammunition and he seemed to use it all.”
Rebecca began to grow wary of the way Saralyn was looking at her. She couldn’t think of a suitable response.
“To me, it seemed his insult to you is what tripped Isaac’s switch,” Saralyn said. “Has Michael done or said something inappropriate to you?”
Rebecca shook her head. She didn’t want to have this discussion with Saralyn. The woman was too observant. “Michael was just trying to get under Isaac’s skin.”
“Are you sure there isn’t something more?” Saralyn probed. “Michael seemed very specific when he mentioned anniversary gifts and seducing you.”
Rebecca looked at the framed artwork above Saralyn’s head. “It was all just talk.”
Saralyn leaned close and placed her hand on Rebecca’s knee. “Isaac is my son, Rebecca, and I know him about as well as any mother knows a son. Idle words from Michael would not have provoked him to physical violence.”
“I don’t know what Isaac was thinking,” she said.
Saralyn studied her. “I’d like to think our relationship has grown since Isaac first brought you home to meet us. It took me a while to warm to you and I’m sorry about that, but I’ve always been a bit overprotective where he was
concerned. I had to make sure that you really loved him.”
“I know,” Rebecca said. “And I understood.”
“From where I sit, you’ve been a good wife to him. I think you love him.”
“I do.”
“Yet I can’t help but think that whatever is wrong between you and Isaac contributed to his reaction to Michael today.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Saralyn met her eyes. “I think you do,” she said, “but since you won’t be more forthcoming, I’m going to have to ask you straight out. Did you have an affair with Michael? Is that what he meant with his seduction comment to Isaac?”
Rebecca kept her eyes fixed on Saralyn. “I have never cheated on Isaac with Michael,” she said, telling the truth but not really answering the question.
Saralyn sat back. “But you have slept with him, haven’t you?”
Rebecca looked away. She had no explanation to give Saralyn.
“You don’t have to answer. I’m assuming you didn’t tell Isaac before you were married.”
Rebecca shook her head. “At the time, I had no idea that Michael was his half brother. Why would I tell him? He didn’t tell me about all the women he’d slept with.” She didn’t see any value in telling Saralyn about the anniversary gifts. She needed her mother-in-law on her side.
“You may be right, but you should have told him as soon as you learned that Abraham was Michael’s father. When you didn’t, you should have kept it to yourself. Forever. That’s the cardinal rule of lying to your husband. Once you do it, you have to stick to it. I’m assuming you told Isaac in some grand moment of true confessions.”
“I didn’t want Michael to hold it over him.”
“Don’t kid me, Rebecca. I wasn’t born an old married lady. I know the games men and women play. You told because you knew Michael would tell him at some point and you wanted to beat him to it.”
“Maybe that was part of it,” she said. “But you know I love Isaac. Can’t you help me make him see that I do?”
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