Secrets (2 page)

"Ms. March? Ms. March, did you understand
the question?" The mediator stared at her, annoyance clearly
visible on her face and in her voice.

"No, I didn't hear the question." She turned
from Maude’s smug appearance and looked to the head of the
table.

The woman pursed her non-existent lips
together, eyed her a moment longer, and repeated the question. "Ms.
Green, the attorney for Ms. Stone, asked if you had a physical
relationship with Mr. David Baxter."

A frown marred her brow. "No. Despite the
kinky fantasies of his sister, Mr. Baxter was simply my
employer."

The other attorney looked at her papers.
"Why do you live in his home?"

"I work there."

"Doing what?"

"I am, or was, Mr. Baxter's administrative
assistant."

"Really? Were you ever trained?"

"Yes." She tapped her fingernails on the
table, her nostrils flared at the attorney’s condescending
tone.

The attorney looked up from the paper she
held and glanced at her, a look of distaste flashed in her eyes.
"By who?"

"I took an online course." She didn't bother
to mention her Bachelor’s degree in Business, the less they knew
about her, the better.

The witch nodded. "Of course. So, what were
your daily duties as Mr. Baxter's assistant?" Her tone was just
above a sneer.

Chastity swallowed her frustration at the
woman’s attitude and unclenched her fist in her lap.
Think of
Mr. Baxter and the others.
"I collected the mail, both snail
and electronic, sent responses to those he assigned to me. Mostly
vendors and family." For a moment, she enjoyed the red tinge
climbing up Ms. Stone's face. "I also set up his appointments with
his managers, accountant, and legal counsel. During the past three
years, I sat in on every meeting as Mr. Baxter downsized."

"Did he offer to give you the company?"

"No."

"No? Come now, Ms. March. Isn't it true you
now run the company, the one you stole from Mr. Baxter?"

Chastity’s smiled widened at the naiveté of
the two women across the table.
Stole something from Mr.
Baxter?
That was priceless
.

"I fail to see the humor, Ms. March. Did my
comments hit too close to the truth?" This time the opposing
attorney flat out sneered.

Pulling herself back from the brink of
delivering a brutal verbal smack-down, she gave herself a stern
reminder. Business, remember what Mr. Baxter said."Obviously you
haven't done your research." She folded her hands in front of her
on the table and stared at them.

The woman's chest puffed. "I assure you, I
have."

She glanced at Mr. Jamison. He winked at
her. "What business did I steal from Mr. Baxter?" Maude Stone had
no inkling of her brother’s true nature; therefore, she had no clue
who her opponent was in this charade. No one stole anything from
David Baxter. The man’s mind was solid to the end.

"His finance company, Baxter and Gains.
According to my records, as of two days ago, you signed off on
correspondence as his AA. Do you deny that?"

"No, I do not."

"Do you deny you are running that
company?"

"Yes, I do." The opposing attorney glared at
her.

The attorney spoke to the mediator. "I don't
see how we're going to make progress here when she finds this
serious matter, funny, and refuses to be truthful."

"Not true," Mr. Jamison objected. "Ms. March
spoke truthfully. Your information is incorrect; she does not run
B&G. Mr. Baxter sold his rights to that company two years ago.
That's old news, Maude."

Mr. Baxter's sister's jaws trembled. "That's
not true, we have the records here. She stole the company and is
running it under your nose."

He shook his head, a slight smile on his
face. "How did she steal it from Robert Gains? His son and daughter
run the firm from their offices in upstate New York. They've also
decided to keep the name for now. None of the company's intricate
dealings are available to you or anyone else without Ms. March's
approval. She holds guardianship rights over the remains of Mr.
Baxter's enterprises." He sounded so smug; it took all of
Chastity’s energy not to high-five him.

Instead, she stared at the two women as they
conferred and flipped through their files. She looked at her watch
and loudly whispered to Mr. Jamison. "One more hour, then I'm
leaving." He nodded.

Ms. Jackson looked at the two women. "Are
you finished? Has Ms. March's position satisfied your claim?"

"No, it has strengthened it." Maude Stone
pointed a finger at Chastity. "Why would my brother leave his
business affairs to you? Why not my son? Or someone he's related
to?"

"Like you?" She asked with a sly grin. She’d
waited for this opening since the woman called her a whore.

Maude's face flamed red as she nodded and
tilted up her chin. “Yes.”

“He never forgave you for forgetting to tell
him his wife called before she died. He hated you. Said you were a
whoring, heartless, greedy bitch, And he wouldn't leave you a roll
of toilet paper to clean your nasty ass,” she said in a monotone
voice as if she were reading a script.

Maude jumped to her feet, jowls jiggling,
and hands clenched. "You lying bitch. My brother never talked like
that until he met you."

Mr. Jamison stood as well, holding his
glasses in his fingers. "Yeah, he did, and you know what she's
saying is true. Hell, he said worse to your face in front of
others, on the phone whenever you called to beg for money, and even
in reply to the emails you sent him begging for money. Talk about
dishonesty. Why are you trying to portray your relationship with
David as sisterly? That's a lie and you know it."

Face reddened, she snarled at him. "Fuck
you, Richard."

"Never again, Maudie." He sat with a frown
stamped on his face.

Chastity glanced at her easygoing attorney
and then at Mr. Baxter's sister. "Ewww," she said, leaning toward
him.

Mr. Jamison's head whipped up. He caught her
horrified expression and chuckled. "It was a long time ago."

Mr. Abrams spoke for the first time into the
silence. "Since there was a sizable amount left to Kenton Stone,
Mr. Baxter's nephew, are you aware of any reason why Mr. Baxter
didn't leave the guardianship of his estate to him?"

Mr. Jamison looked at her.

Chastity looked at Maude Stone. "When was
the last time Kenton saw his uncle?"

The woman's jaw clenched tight. "I don't
know."

"It was the last time you saw him, Ms.
Stone.” The chill in her own voice sent waves of goose bumps over
her arms. This woman pushed her buttons and pissed her off. “Four
years ago before he left to go overseas. He'd contacted Mr. Baxter
from time to time, but due to the sensitivity of Kenton's work,
they discussed very little. Almost all of their brief chats were
vocal and not online. Whether Mr. Baxter considered his nephew to
run his affairs, I don't know. I do know he began training me three
years ago."

Mr. Abrams nodded as he wrote on a pad in
front of him.

"How much is the business worth?"

"There is no business." Chastity snapped,
tired of answering the same questions.

"How much are you guarding and who're you
guarding it for?" the mediator asked.

"Not important."

"Yes, it is important," the other attorney
said, sitting forward like a bloodhound on a fresh trail.

"How about, I'm
not
going to say."
She sat back in the chair, crossed her arms on her lap and sent a
smug grin to Maude.

No one spoke. A judge could make her provide
the books, but no one in this room could, and they knew it. The
mediator's long, bony fingers tapped the table, her nails making a
clicking sound. "Ms. March, we are trying to settle this matter as
quickly as possible, but we need your cooperation. Is there a
reason you won't disclose this information?"

She nodded. "Mr. Baxter instructed me not
to. He said if his greedy sister took his will to court, Mr.
Jamison had a DVD for the trial and another will takes the place of
the current one."

All eyes turned to Mr. Jamison. "Is that
true?" The mediator asked him.

He pursed his lips and nodded. "I have a DVD
in my possession that is to be played in court and admitted into
public records if anyone contests Mr. Baxter's will. He knew Maude
would be the only one to try for more money, and he absolutely
refused to leave her another dime. There
is
a new will that
makes sure she gets less than the first." He turned and looked at
the red-faced woman. Her body shook as she returned his glare. "He
had professionals; doctors, psychologists, even a judge to prove
his mental state, and the law says he can give his money and
property to whomever he chooses. Don't make this worse on
yourself."

"You knew all this, you bastard," Maude
uttered beneath her breath.

Chastity stood in preparation to leave.
They'd wasted too much of her time.

"One moment, young lady," the opposing
attorney said. "Who are these children?" She pushed three pictures
across the table.

A shaft of fear slammed through her. Slowly,
she returned to her chair and stared at the pictures lying on the
table. A fissure, a cracking of her resolve, shifted inside. Her
throat constricted at the smiling face of Jonah, the laughing gaze
of Micah, and the teasing lights in Mariah's eye. A tingling
sensation zipped down her spine as she glanced into the calculating
gleam of the witch's eyes.

"Why?" Chastity stalled, trying desperately
to rewrap the confident veneer around her shoulders.

"Why not? Are they anything to you?" The
attorney paused. "Are they yours?" The silkily asked question fell
like a thunderbolt into the silence.

Beads of sweat popped on her forehead.
You're doing this for Sven, Ms. Cook, the children, and Mr.
Baxter
. But never at the expense of the children. "Why?” she
asked again. “Why do you want to know who they are?" She tried to
remember what to say. Mr. Baxter's instructions slipped from her
mind like wisps of smoke.

"Is this another question Mr. Baxter
instructed you to remain silent on? These children live on his
ranch, the ranch he left to you. Once again, I ask you, who are
these children?"

"None of your business." Chastity stood,
vibrating with the heat of either fear or anger, her heart beat too
fast to decide which. She turned to Mr. Jamison. "I'm done. Let
them petition the courts to deal with Mr. Baxter's will." She
glanced at the women salivating at the table. “You don't get it, do
you?” Her eyes zeroed in on Maude. “You haven't seen mad until you
mess with Mr. Baxter. Even from the grave, he's running this show,
and he's gonna kick your ass. See you in court. Good luck.”

Mr. Jamison replaced his files into his
folder and stood to leave with her.

"Wait," Maude yelled, standing.

Chastity ignored her and walked toward the
door. Her head ached with all the back and forth. Her heart raced
with the knowledge that someone had breached the ranch’s security.
As she left the room, Maude’s voice echoed down the hall as she
made a final appeal to Mr. Jamison.

"Richard, please. I need to know what's at
stake here."

"For you, everything," he said. A moment
later, he met up with Chastity and walked her to Sven and their
waiting car.

Chapter
3

News of his uncle’s death had reached
Lieutenant Commander Kenton Stone five days ago. The funeral had
taken place sometime in the past two weeks. He hadn’t seen his
uncle in four years and guilt rode him hard knowing he’d never see
or talk to his favorite relative again.
Uncle David was
dead.

Death wasn’t unfamiliar to him. He’d
delivered it more times than he liked to remember. As a trained
operative, he knew ways to make a man take his last breath without
breaking skin. This last tour had been more brutal than most, he’d
done his duty, but that didn’t make it more palatable. But this
loss hit home.

Neither the old man nor anyone else had let
on how sick his uncle had been, or that there were any problems. If
anything, his uncle had made it seem as though things were going
extremely well. Anger swelled inside him and then deflated. It was
his fault. Deliberate evasive maneuvers. That's what he'd been
doing the past four years. No, check that. He'd been hiding his
feelings for his uncle's assistant for as long as he could
remember. Since they were teens he'd tried everything, including
following her around like a lovesick puppy, to get her to notice
him. Nothing had worked, she was polite but uninterested. The last
time he'd seen her, he'd made a mess of things. He hadn't been back
to the ranch since. In retrospect, his reasoning for not visiting
his uncle seemed selfish and immature. Guilt tasted ugly. Shame was
worse.

His cell rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he
smiled. His preference ran more to darker complexions with full
curves and curly hair. He hadn't given up on winning his dream
woman, but Renee, a sexy brunette he'd met fourteen months ago in
Washington D.C., made a nice interim distraction.

“Hi, Renee. I just got in and I'm on my way
to my uncle's.” He paused, listening to her husky voice. She
understood his need to go and check on the ranch, pay his respects.
They were both itching to see each other again. It’d been too long
since he'd laid between a woman’s soft thighs and she’d made it
clear she wanted him between hers tonight.

“Yeah, I'm coming to see you later. How long
you in town?” She traveled constantly with her job at the travel
agency and had specifically arranged to be here during his leave.
His cock hardened as she told him precisely what she intended to do
to him tonight. It sounded like his sexual hiatus would definitely
come to an end as she worked him over with her new tongue ring.