Park Avenue (Book Six in the Fifth Avenue Series) (41 page)

“I’m counting on it.
 
I’ll talk to you soon.”

She severed the
connection, collected her thoughts, and made the call.
 
To her relief, he answered.

“Hello?”

“Marty Spellman?”

“Who’s calling?”

“I need your help.”

“How did you get this
number?”

“Your ex-wife, Gloria,
gave it to me.
 
We’re friends and
she said I should call you.
 
I know
it’s late, but I’m in trouble and I wasn’t sure where else to turn.
 
I know you’re the best.”

“Who is this?” he asked
again.

“Leana Redman.”

“George Redman’s
daughter?”

“You could put it that
way.”

“What’s the problem?”

She told him everything.

“I’ll be back in New York
in two days,” he said.
 

“Can we meet then?”

They agreed on a time and
a place, he told her to call him if anything changed and they hung up.
 
She went into the living room.
 
“Two days,” she said to Mario.
 
“He’s in Vegas with his wife, but we’ll
meet as soon as he gets back.”

“I feel as if I’ve let
you down, Leana.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“But I have.”

“How?”

“Because I should be able
to figure this out.”

“You went to your
father.
 
Together, we made the
decision to marry.
 
We knew the
risks of what might happen if we went forward without him.
 
If he chooses not to help, then we have
to consider different avenues.
 
Marty Spellman is one of them.
 
I think the more people we have working on this, the better.”

“I won’t argue with
that.
 
But I am going to talk to my
brothers again.
 
I’ve worked around
my father before.
 
I can do it again.”

“I wouldn’t recommend
that,” she said.

“Why?”

“It’s too dangerous.
 
Your father is too smart.
 
If you go around him, he’ll find
out.
 
He’ll know.”

“He didn’t know
before.
 
Miko and Tony are
discreet.
 
They’ll understand.”

“Look.
 
If we agree to the wedding, will he be
back on board?”

“Probably.”

“Then we agree to the
wedding.
 
I don’t want to screw
around with him.
 
He’s too
unpredictable.
 
Too dangerous.
 
Call him tomorrow.
 
Tell him we’d love a proper ceremony at
his estate and that we appreciate his generosity, but it needs to happen after
the hotel opens.
 
If we do that, I
think he’ll start to help us again.”

“He might.”

“We do the ceremony.
 
We apologize.
 
We bring him back in.”

“I’ll
think about it,” Mario said.
 
“In
the meantime, come over here.
 
I
want to hold my wife.”

CHAPTER
FIFTY-NINE

For two days, Leana
remained focused and busy on the tasks at hand.
 
She began her mornings at her father’s
high-rise and she ended her day, often deep into the evening, at her hotel with
Zack, who was as tireless as she, especially given their pending deadline.
 

Sean Scott was with her
at all times and she kept in touch throughout the day with Michael, who now had
a guard of his own.
 
Each morning,
she talked with her father about the project and what she planned to accomplish
that day, but not once did he bring up the shooting that could have claimed
Michael’s life.
 

Where he did engage her
was with Pepper.
 
“How are you two
getting along?”

“Actually, she’s taking
direction.
 
And with zero
attitude.
 
So, apparently miracles
do happen, because I wasn’t expecting this.
 
What did you say to her?”

“That I wouldn’t tolerate
anything less than a professional attitude from her.
 
That she needed to fall in line, look to
you for leadership and do her job.
 
I’m glad to hear she took me seriously.”

“She has—at least,
for now.
 
I have a question for
you.”

“Shoot.”

“We haven’t discussed
this directly.
 
I want to know if
you know what’s happening to me now?
 
Who’s behind it?
 
Any ideas?”

“I’ve given it some
thought.
 
I’m not sure.”

“I don’t understand why
I’d be targeted unless somehow it’s connected to you.”

“I agree.”

“Could this be tied to
what happened before?
 
Charles Stout
and Florence Holt sat on Ryan’s board and they were murdered.
 
The night they were murdered, the tarp
covering my hotel was defaced.
 
Then
there’s what happened to my eye.”
 
She decided to go there even if he wouldn’t.
 
“There’s also what just happened to
Michael, who Ryan also wanted dead.
 
There are too many coincidences for there not to be some sort of
connection.”

“But how?
 
Ryan is dead.”

“I don’t know how.
 
Sean Scott, my head of security, wonders
if this is a copycat crime.
 
If
someone else wanted revenge against you for any reason, they could throw people
off by killing Holt and Stout, and then carry out what Ryan first set into
motion.”

“Where’s the sense in
that?
 
I know I have my share of
enemies, Leana.
 
If someone wanted
me dead, they’d just hire it out and be done with it.
 
Why go to the trouble of killing Holt
and Stout—and targeting you—if all they wanted was me?”

“I have no answers,” she
said.

“You’re over-thinking
this.”

“Somebody’s got to.
 
Are you worried for yourself?”

“I’ve hired someone,” he
said.

That surprised her.
 
“An investigator?”

“A bodyguard.”

“I thought you had one.”

“Now, I have another.”

“Are you going to talk to
an investigator?”

“I’m not sitting idle on
this, Leana.
 
Let’s just say that
conversations are in process and that you’re being protected in ways that you
aren’t even aware of.”

Her surprise
deepened.
 
“You have someone tailing
me?”

“I do.”

“Why didn’t you tell me
that sooner?
 
What if Sean noticed
some guy lurking around and thought the person was a threat?
 
That’s what he’s trained to do.
 
He could have hurt him.
 
Or worse.”

“Sean hasn’t done any of
that because the person I hired is one of his own men.
 
Sean knows about it.
 
We didn’t want to tell you because you’d
look around for him, which might tip someone off.
 
Whoever is doing this sees Sean beside
you.
 
The other man is stealth.
 
Protecting you is more effective this
way.”

“Now, I’m going to wonder
who it is.”

“Do yourself a favor and
forget it.
 
Listen to me on
this.
 
I am fully aware that there
is a threat.
 
I’m your father.
 
We may have our ups and downs, but I’m
certainly not going to sit on my ass if your life is on the line.
 
Or mine for that matter.
 
I’m going to do something about it.”

“When did you start
having these conversations?”

“The day you were shot at
on the street.”

She was touched.
 
For a moment, she didn’t know what to
say to him.
 
Why did thing always
have to be so complicated between them?
 
She felt a rush of affection for him that was alien to her.
 
“So, why are you telling me this now?”

“Because you think I’m a
bastard.
 
Because you think I don’t
care, which isn’t true.
 
I do.
 
Because we need to get on track as
father and daughter.
 
Because I knew
you were wondering when and if I was going to do something.
 
Of course I’m doing something.
 
Of course I’m concerned.
 
But if I showed that concern to you, it
would only rattle you more than you already are, so I’ve played it cool.
 
Look, Leana.
 
You’re about to achieve one of the great
moments of your life with your hotel and with the opening of my high-rise.
 
Why ruin that?
 
Let me and the team around you handle
whatever is going on.
 
Let Mario use
his resources to help.
 
Same for
Anastassios, even if I don’t trust him the way you do.
 
But whatever.
 
The more eyes on this the better.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank
me.
 
As I said, you’re my
daughter.
 
And we
will
get to
the bottom of this.
 
It might be a
challenge, but I’m not about to lose Celina
and
you.
 
And frankly, I’m not ready to check out
just yet myself.”

“I’m speaking to a
private investigator tomorrow,” she said.
 
“Marty Spellman.”

“I know of him.”

“You know his ex-wife,
Gloria.”

“That’s right.
 
I hear he’s good.”

“I’ve been told he’s the
best.”

“You deserve the
best.
 
Even when you think I don’t,
I’ve got your back.
 
Others do,
too.
 
Soon, Marty Spellman will have
it.
 
And we’ll end this together so
you can have those moments you deserve.
 
OK?”

“Do you think we can end
this?”

“I’m putting in a hell of
a lot of money to make sure that we can.”

She was about to say that
she loved him, which she did despite their pasts, but something held her
back.
 
When was the last time she
told him that she loved him?
 
When she
was a child?
 
Likely.
 
It had been years since she’d said those
words to him—and he to her—but there still was too much baggage
between them for her to express her gratitude.
 
All her life, she wished that hadn’t
been the case, but it was.
 
Still,
she was grateful—she was surprised that he’d done any of this for her,
and so she came to a common ground.
 
“Maybe all isn’t lost for us,” she said.

“Maybe it isn’t.”

“I can’t thank you
enough.”

“I need you to keep
safe.
 
Do your work, enjoy your
work, and let Sean, one of his men, Marty and everyone else keep tabs on the
rest.
 
I’m proud of you, Leana.
 
I’ve seen what you’ve done with The
Park.
 
I’m sorry I didn’t bring you
into Redman International sooner.
 
I
just saw Celina, who took the reins so easily.
 
I didn’t mean to overlook you, but I
did.
 
I hope we can repair that.”

He’d never said anything
like that to her before.
 
She wasn’t
sure what to say.
 
“I won’t let you
down with this project.”

“I know you won’t.
 
And I’m happy to hear that Pepper is in
line.”

“For the moment, she
is.
 
We’ll see.
 
You know how she is.”

“She’s aggressive, but
she just wants what you want, Leana.
 
Success.
 
If you think of it
that way, I think you’ll understand her more.
 
What drives her is what drives you.
 
Do you see that?
 
Can you understand that?
 
I think you can.
 
She can say that she’s from Atlanta all
she wants, but we both know that she came from a troubled childhood in Arkansas
and that she worked hard to get into Wharton.
 
I respect her for that.
 
That girl had no opportunities, and yet
she worked hard in school to get that scholarship.
 
Sometimes, you begin as enemies with
someone, but you become friends with them later.
 
You and Pepper are too much alike.
 
You’re also competing for my attention.
 
That’s something I created, and I’ll fix
it.
 
Give it a year with her.
 
I think you’ll eventually be friends.”