Nolan (9 page)

“Tonight at seven-thirty. Call young Joseph
and ask him and his lovely wife to join us, please. I’d like to have them here
when he figures out that I’m well aware of it all. I thought about inviting David
for dinner too, but then he’d have to bring that woman with him. And those
girls….” Alta shuddered. “Have you ever in all your life met a pair of children
more like their mother in your life? My goodness, it reminds me of that movie
with the girl who rode to the dance in the pumpkin. But they’re the two
stepsisters, and not worth spit if you ask me.”

“I have noticed that the older they get the
more they whine. And those voices of theirs. It’s like nails down a
chalkboard.” Kason reached for the scones plate and handed her one, then he
took one as well. “I should like to see his face when you tell him what you’ve
found out. Oh, before I forget, I have done as you asked about his bank
account. And the hospital was very cooperative about making sure that any and
all future billings go to him and not to the family.”

“Good. The little bastard might as well make
up for lost time. Also, before I forget. I will need to have Jenkins here, as
well as Conrad, my attorney. Might as well get all our ducks in a row before he
tries to off me tonight.” Kason shook his head. “Well, you never know. But you
do know as well as I do that what he did with that young wife of his wasn’t
right. And all for a better piece of the cake. His parents would have been so
proud of him. If they weren’t already dead, I would be tempted to put them in
their grave myself. They did us all wrong by raising him to get whatever he
wanted.”

“The older he got, I kept thinking that he’d
grow out of it, but I do believe that he feels like things are owed to him.
Even at his age.” She nodded and put her empty cup down. “The Bentleys are
panthers. You are aware of that, aren’t you?”

“I am. I nearly forgot that…you should invite
their…what is he called, their oldest brother?” Kason told her. “Yes, leader.
You should invite them as well. Oh, bother and humbug. Invite Nolan and this aunt
too. Might as well get them all under one roof when this comes to a head. Might
be fun to watch the way she handles this man…Rylee, I mean.”

“I should make sure that your homeowner’s
policy is paid up too.” As he stood up, he picked up the tray as well. “I think
steaks all around, with maybe a pie. I’m to understand that Rylee has a great
weakness for cherry.”

“You do that. Make sure that cook knows that we
serve only the best tonight. We’re going to have some fun.” Nodding, he started
for the door and she called him back. “Kason, do you think that this boy…do you
suppose he’ll like me? I had no idea what David was about, and I’d really like
for him to like me.”

“I believe he will love you. With all his
heart. You are a good woman who has a family that…well, you and I both know
that they aren’t what you would have liked in children. And their offspring
have only gotten worse as the years have gone by. Perhaps this young man will
be the new blood that makes the other sit up and take notice. I believe…I
honestly believe he will be just what we all need. I think…with your permission,
I will have the young man come to visit you some time tomorrow. It will be good
for you both to get to know each other.”

She nodded, and then Kason left the room.
Alta was sure that there were going to be fireworks tonight. And more than
likely some things were going to be said that she might not want to hear about her
own flesh and blood. But Alta was sure as she was sitting there that the sooner
this was taken care of, the better off they’d all be. Certainly better for Shane
and his aunt. Pulling out the small picture of the boy that Joseph had given
her, she stared at his face.

“You’re going to be my saving grace, young
man.” She grinned. “Even if I have to make you do it kicking and screaming the
entire way.”

Getting up, she made her way to the stairs. Alta
wanted to look good tonight. Special things were about to happen, and she
wanted to have not just the confidence she might need when it was done, but she
wanted David and the rest of them to see her for what she was, not an old woman
who lived alone. Smiling, she wondered what Kason would say when she came
downstairs with her crown on. The one that she’d been given when she married
her late husband.

He’d been royalty. Marcus Michael Cole had
been the ninth in line for the crown in his country when he’d met her. And when
they’d married, his line had been even longer. As children were brought into
the world, his touch with the crown had been put further and further back. After
several years of wedding bliss, they knew it was never going to be an issue for
them.

When they’d married, his mother had presented
her with a crown and scepter as if they were really going to be the king and
queen one day. Then she’d taken her aside and spoken candidly with her. Her way
with words made Alta, a mere child in comparison to what she was now, feel that
she could say anything she wanted so long as it was done with grace and
decorum.

“I thought about not allowing him to marry
you. Right up until I met you. Then I knew he’d do it no matter how much I
fought him or you on it. My boy loves you.” She told her that she loved him as
well. “Yes, that too helped. But that is not why I wished to speak to you. I
wanted you to know you’re going to have to move to the Americas. There is…it
would be better for my son if he could get out from under his father’s rule. Not
that my Markus is a bad man, but he likes things his way, and that is,
according to him, the only way.”

Alta had lived in Thailand most of her life.
Her father had been transferred there when she was a child, and now that he was
retired, it was their home. But Alta, like her two sisters, had been to the States.
Their education had taken place there, as well as visits to the country when
shopping needed to be done.

So a few weeks after they’d returned from
their honeymoon, they were settled into the house she still lived in, which was
bought by his parents, and given a goodly income, as well as all the money he’d
had before marrying her. When his parents had passed, all of that and the homes
there and other places around the world had come to them as well. Then almost
exactly one year later, her Markus had passed away too, leaving her all alone except
for Kason and her son. Her son had more use for her money and what it could
give him than he had love for her. And his son, as it turned out, was not much
different than his father. A greedy little bastard that needed taking down a
notch or two.

After taking care of her dress and her hair,
Alta waited in the parlor until the guests arrived. She was so impressed with
Joseph’s wife that she could only hope that the rest of them were just as
sweet. And when Micah and his wife arrived with Nolan, Chris, and Shane, she
had to grip the back of the seat very hard when Shane put out his hand to shake
hers.

“You’re my great-grandson, did you know
that?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He then looked at his aunt
before looking back at her.

“You have something to say to me, young man? I
like straight-up talk, not beating round the bush.”

“You’re related to the man that killed my
mother.” She felt his pain like her own and nodded. “He hurt us, you know. And
left us to fend for ourselves. I don’t know if you’re like him or not, but my aunt
said I should give you a chance. Not all worms, Grandda told me, are
necessarily from the same patch of dirt.”

She nodded, then looked at Rylee before
pulling the child into her arms. When he wrapped his arms around her, she had a
feeling that they were going to be the best of friends. Shaky ones at first,
but things were looking up for her.

“Now then. I’d like to talk about my grandson
and the bullshit he pulled on your sister, young lady. Then we’re going to
discuss how we’re going to make his ass pay too.”

Rylee stood there for several seconds, and
then she laughed. “I think I might like you after all, Mrs. Cole.” Alta told
her to call her by her first name. “All right then, but you should know that
I’m not going to take his shit either. He’s on my list.”

“Mine too, dear. Mine too.” Alta could almost
feel sorry for David. Almost. This was going to be so much fun.

Chapter 8

David hadn’t been to his grandmother’s since
he’d married Rebecca, or as he called her when no one was around, Becky. Becky
had made it perfectly clear that she didn’t care for the old bat any more than
he did. But to be summoned this way, and told not to be late, was something
he’d been both hoping for and dreading for some time. He was hoping she was
going to tell him about the will, but afraid she was going to tell him to
straighten up or else. Straightening up wasn’t something he thought he could
live with.

He’d had his sources in the house. Not very
good ones, but he had them. And up until a few weeks ago, he’d been keeping up
with his grandmother goings on as much as if he was living in the house with
her. Then all the information had dried up. Not just dried up, but the two
people he’d had working there had suddenly just stopped contacting him, even
about their pay, which he was having more and more difficulty getting to them
all the time. His wife had told him that his credit line was no longer
available to him. She was next on his list of things to wash his hands of once
the old bat was dead and rotting in hell where she belonged.

Kason answered the door when David rang the
bell. He was never sure if he should have just walked in or knocked. But since
no one told him to just come on in when he’d been there the few times he had,
he’d stuck with pushing the bell. Kason asked him to meet the family in the parlor.

“Family?”

Of course, Kason didn’t say anything to his query.
The man had been treating him as if he were nothing since before his father and
mother had died. David had lived with his aunt and uncle until he’d gotten his
first check from his mom’s estate and had never looked back. He thought that his
aunt and uncle had died a few months back, but since he didn’t care, he’d never
looked into it. They didn’t have much anyway, and what little they might have
had would have gone to their only child. A girl who had not liked him there as
much as he didn’t care to be living in her home.

As soon as he walked in the room, he knew
something was up. The lawyer was sitting in the chair closest to the fireplace,
a place that David had always assumed as his own at his own house. There were
three couples there as well, none of which he knew, so he ignored them all. The
kid who was apparently with them stared at David like he wanted a piece of him,
but David just ignored him in favor of walking to his grandmother. He leaned
down to give her a kiss on the cheek, and had to refrain from strangling her
when she pushed him away.

“How are you tonight, Grandmother? I had no
idea you invited company. I thought this meeting was just going to be the two
of us.” She started the introductions, and he cut her off. “Shouldn’t matter
who they are, Grandmother. Not if you wanted to talk to me. Rebecca and I had
plans this evening, as I mentioned when you had Carlton call me.” He knew what
the butlers name was, but liked making him look unimportant to him.

“His name is Kason, as you well know. And you’ll
listen to me, David, or so help me this will go a good deal worse for you. I’m
in no mood for your crap tonight. As I was saying, this is Joseph Bentley and
his wife Chris. Reggie and Micah, who is brother to Joseph. This is another
brother of theirs, Nolan, and his fiancée Rylee. Rylee McClure.” Hearing the
name made him think he’d heard it before, but she moved to stand next to the
young man. “And this is Shane Cole. Your son.”

He stared at the boy, then at his
grandmother. Surely there was some mistake. Not that it wasn’t his kid, he
could see that now, but that she’d figured it out. David looked over at Rylee,
just figuring out how he knew her name. She grinned at him, and he felt his
world seem to tilt just a little off-kilter.

“I don’t have a son, Grandmother. You’ve met
my daughters.” For the life of him, he could not think of their names, but
moved on as best he could. His mind was circling around the fact that he had to
get out of this, and now. “If this is some sort of joke, I’m afraid I don’t
find it all that funny. I thought we were going to have a nice talk, but I can
see now that you think to ambush me with lies and half-truths. I think I’ll be
going now.”

“You leave this house now and I’ll have you
arrested before you get to the end of the drive. As it is now, you might live a
little longer if you just sat down and shut up.” He sat on the edge of the seat
and looked around the room. This was going to be death by family. “Now, as I
was saying. This is your son, Shane. Shane, I’d like for you to meet the man
responsible for you being born. He’s not done a whole lot else to be a part of
your growing up, but that’s going to change now.”

“He’s not my son. His mother, Shelby, told me
that she had affairs when we were married. I told you that. I even showed you
the paperwork that she signed off on to prove it.” He pulled at the tie around
his neck, thinking it felt very noose-like right now. “I should run home and
get them. I can have them—what’s this?”

The bundle of paperwork that was tossed at
him from the man across from him opened, and he could see the copies of the
paperwork. Actually, now that he was looking at it, he was pretty sure this was
the copies he’d given Shelby a day or two after she’d given birth to her baby.

“As you can see, that’s the paperwork that
you gave Mrs. Cole when she was still in recovery. The one that you’d had drawn
up about her having affairs was never signed by her, as you well know, so the
lies you’ve been spreading about her are false. The one you have had filed away
in the courthouse is not only a forgery, but very much against the law. There
is also, if you’d care to look at it, a copy of the DNA reports that were given
to Shelby when a nurse suggested that she do a test. That was on the day you
showed up at the hospital and accused her of all sorts of things that were
never true. They rallied around her when you would have had her tossed to the
streets.”

David didn’t even bother looking at them, but
let them slide to the floor off his lap. The boy was still staring at him, and
David wanted to get up and hit him in the face. But he sat where he was as the
lawyer handed him more paperwork that he didn’t want to deal with.

“These were written and signed by the staff
that day and put away in the event it came that they were needed. There are any
number of people that helped your ex-wife that day after you left. It seems
that you made quite a show of yourself.” He said nothing, but threw the file on
the table as the man, Joseph he thought his name was, continued. “Your
grandmother was kind enough to have a test done on herself as well. We have
narrowed it down that not only is Shane related to you, but quite possibly your
son. But you knew that, didn’t you?”

“I have no son.” He leaned back and looked at
his grandmother. “You let these people suck you into this story. The next thing
you’ll be telling me is that I’m the one that killed Shelby. Well, I know for a
fact that she died from cancer, and the last I looked, I can’t give her that.”

“No, but you did make it so that she couldn’t
get the care she needed, didn’t you, asshat?” He knew that Rylee was pissed at
him. And knew there was nothing at all she could do about it. They might be
able to prove that Shane was his son, but he could just say Shelby had never
told him it was his. It might work. “Why did you sell the house, David? Why did
she never see any of that money? She was, under law, entitled to half of the
sale of it. It would have gone a long way into making things better for her.
Certainly for her son, who still needs his mom.”

“Half? For having affairs during the time
that I trusted her? I don’t think so.” This time Conrad, his grandmother’s
attorney, stood up and handed him a file. “More paperwork? What do you think
this is going to do? I won’t need to read it to know that she all but admitted
to having affairs that day. It’s why I was so angry.” He had to make them
believe he was the injured party in all of this. He felt he was, really.
Injured that it had come back to haunt him.

“You were angry that she wouldn’t sign off on
the statement you brought to her in the hospital. No other reason than that. Screaming
and yelling at her as if she were nothing to you. But you should know, David,
even back then, the hospital had cameras with sound in each room. And since you
made such a big commotion about this, they kept that recording all this time in
the event that someone—and in this case, Joey here did—came back to ask
questions. To find out if anything could be done to prove not only was Shane
your son, but that Shelby had been entitled to more than you ever gave her in
the form of help.” Conrad nodded to the file in his hand. “That’s a transcript,
as well as a link you can go to and download it to see it. I have sent copies
to the newspaper, too, as well as your lovely current wife.”

He opened the file now; the sweat going down
his back was making him sticky and a little nauseous. This couldn’t be
happening to him, he kept thinking. What would happen to his money and
inheritance? What of his grandmother’s money? The more he read over the words
that had spilled from his mouth, the more he realized what a fool he’d been
with this. There should have been a plan in place, something he could fall back
on. David always had a plan. He had to get out of there, if for no other reason
than to try and fix this with Rebecca.

Standing again, he felt the hair on his arms
and neck stand up as the man with Rylee got up. He was sure he’d been mistaken
about the low growl that had come from him, but when he took a step toward him,
David was sure his face shifted and changed into a large black panther before
righting itself back to a man. David fell back rather than sat this time. He
looked over at his grandmother.

“Grandmother, you can’t let them treat me
this way. I’m your only remaining heir.” He glanced at his son and felt his
balls tighten up. “There is just no proof this kid is mine. Even DNA tests
aren’t one hundred percent accurate. And even if they were, he’s not fit to be
a Cole. Just look at him.”

“I have. And I’ve had a long talk with him as
well. His mother, rest her soul, was a good woman who told him daily that
despite your treatment of her and him, she was glad that he was born of your
union. I can’t imagine what she went through to try and make ends meet after
what you did to them.” Grandmother moved to stand next to Shane. “Did you know
that had his mother had the assurances from you that
you
promised her in
writing that she’d get if she divorced you, that she might have lived a long
and very happy life? And no matter what, you made it so that not only did you
not pay her one dime in compensation, but you even made it so every time there
was a little money to be had by them, you ate it up in lawyer fees and court
costs. As it was, you cut it short by denying her even the basic help she
deserved, like security and medical insurance. Also, when you took the house
and took her to court every time you heard about a windfall, it just added more
and more stress on her already depleting body. How could you, David? How could
you just abandon your own blood?”

“Why am I the bad guy in all of this? I mean,
like I said, I didn’t give her cancer. And even if I could have afforded to
give her every little thing she wanted, I didn’t want to take away from my new
wife and children.” He tried to look like a man who was beaten by this. But
Rylee snorted at him and the other woman, the one with Micah, just laughed. “You
should know your place, too, young woman. I’m a Cole, and we don’t like
underlings making us look bad.”

“Underlings? Really? Well, I hate to burst
your bubble, dickweed, but Micah and his family have had money since well
before you were a spark in your father’s eyes. And not to mention, my place, as
you called it, is right here, with my family. The one that you didn’t even care
enough about to see if he needed anything when his mom died.” She pointed to
Rylee, who was still staring at him, and the man who was standing beside her. “Do
you know what she said when she found out that this was going to happen
tonight? She said she didn’t want anything from you.”

“Smart woman, since she’s not getting
anything from me.” He looked at his grandmother. “Why am I here? The woman is
dead. Okay, we get it, boo hoo for them. But this has nothing to do with you
and me.” Grandmother just shook her head at him. “Do you think that, I don’t
know, we can somehow raise her from the dead and make things all better for him?
Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but it doesn’t work that way.”

“I’ve taken your inheritance from you.” He
started to stand up, but he wasn’t sure that his legs could hold him. “Not to
mention you’ve paid off a few of your ex-wife’s outstanding bills. Hospital, as
well as a few things that were never covered when Shelby died. You should be
ashamed of yourself, David.”

He looked at Rylee, his anger no longer
simmering but boiling over the pan and into the hot flame. “You did this. I
don’t care what you told them, but you are trying to ruin me with your lies and
stories. You came sniffing around to get a few bucks off me, and now you’ve got
yourself all set up nicely. Well, I got news for you, it won’t work. I’m not a
sap, and I won’t be paying any more shit for you.”

“I had nothing to do with this. You did this
to yourself when you fucked my sister, and I don’t mean just with your dick.” When
she stood up, he felt his balls tighten to his body. He’d heard of her, and
that was enough. She was one tough, angry bitch. “Believe it or not, I’m not
going to hurt you physically. I’m not…you don’t mean enough to me to want to
hurt you. What you did, what you did to your son and wife? Those are things
you’re going to have to live with, not me.”