The House of Grey- Volume 4 (6 page)

Baroty took
out
a second nondescript envelope and tossed it to Monson. It landed on the table in front of him. Baroty nodded towards
it
.

“Open it
.
I think you
’ll
like what you see.”

Monson opened the envelope and pulled out the contents.

It was a check from
Baroty Bancshares of America made out to Monson Grey.
A check for 42,765,343,321
dollars
and 78 cents
.

“So actually it’s a
forty-two-
billion
-
dollar question. I rounded down
.
I hope you will forgive me
.
” Baroty laughed at his own joke
.
“Say something
,
Monson, I just handed you a great deal of money.”

Monson stared at the check in his hand
.
“
U
mm…thank you?”
Gibson sneered this time
,
making no attempt to hide it
.
  Monson rounded on him. “Don’t judge me
,
Gibson
.
W
hat the heck am I
supposed
to say in a situation like this?”

Gibson’s face soured even as Monson refocused on Baroty
.
“Now don’t get me wrong Chris
,
not that having
forty-two
billion dollars wouldn’t be cool or anything. I can go and buy that private island I
’ve
always wanted.
But you need to tell me why and you need to tell me now.”

“It
’
s for your grandfather
’s
share in the Baroty Conglomerate.”

A familiar motherly voice spoke quietly from directly behind Monson. He recognized the voice immediately
;
faster than immediately
.
I
t was as if he knew that
she
was going to show up. Molly walked out from the shadows
,
acknowledging Baroty and Gibson as she did.

“Mr. Baroty, Mr. Gibson
,
how do you do?
”

“We’
re
fine
,
Ms.
Penmentail
. Just fine.”

Monson glanced from
Molly
to Baroty and found both of them
wearing
very distasteful expressions. They glared at each
other
,
growing
increasingly
irate
the longer they looked. Monson attempted to lighten the mood.

“I see you two know each
other
. How
…
nice.”

Molly shot Monson a sharp glare
;
a glare so sharp that he recoiled from
its
effects. It was plain
to see
that she was pissed
—
very pissed.

“
Ye
s, we know each other.” Molly turned her irritation back
on
Baroty
.
“Did you make him an offer?”

“You mean this
?
” Monson
handed
the check to Molly. Her eyes flicker
ed
downward. A red-hot anger, the funny theatrical kind
in
cartoons when
characters
get really upset or eat something spicy
,
filled Molly
’s
face.
S
he was trying to hold her temper. “I told you, you were to have no contact with
him
until I was able to
talk to him about
his options. How dare you make an offer without consulting me! You know
full well that legally
he could
not
accept
.
W
hy would you do that?”

T
hat was certainly true.
Monson
was a minor after all.
Why would Baroty do that?
Monson wondered. 
Another one of those tests perhaps
?
 

Molly grabbed Monson by the collar
.
“We
’re
leaving
.
Monson
,
honey
,
let
’
s go.”

She dragged him to his feet and started pulling him away
.
H
e ripped himself from her grasp
and spun around
. “Chris!”

“Yes, Monson.”

“I still have questions.”

“Ahh…yes
,
but it seems our conversation has been cut short. I will allow you one
and
answer
it
if I can.”

Monson paused
,
wondering if this
was
really what he wanted to know. He made the decision in a flash
.
In
reality
,
he did not even need to ask the full question but merely
said,
“
T
he mask
,
Baroty.”

Baroty answered slowly and deliberately
,
lifting a hand
and
exaggerating
his
movement
s.
“Like I said before
,
Mr. Grey
.”

He
pulled at his gloved fingers one by one.

“We can’t all be as brave
…
as you.”

Baroty peeled the glove and stretched
out
his hand.

Monson stared at the hand of Christopher Baroty and the thin white scars that covered them.

***

Monson, Molly and
Artorius
trotted along the path leading from the
I
nner
G
ardens of
T
he GM back to the main pathway that connected
it
with
The
Barracks.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Baroty wanted to see you?”

Molly sounded incredibly
angry
. Monson’s own disposition mirror
ed
hers
.

“Because I didn’t know I should
.
Why didn’t you tell me who was coming? That he wanted to see me?  You obviously knew. What
’s
all this about? What about grandfather’s shares in the Conglomerate?”

Molly
sighed
as she glanced around
,
apparently looking for eavesdroppers. “
I suppose now is as good a time as any.
You
r
grandfather left you
…well,
everything
,
Monson. His houses in Washington, California,
Florida
, England, France and all
of
his property in Asia. He left you his car
s
, weapon
s
and coin collections.
But m
ost important
,
he left you his investment portfolio
,
which include
s forty-four percent
of the Baroty Conglomerate.”

Monson almost did something extremely corny, like digging in his ear before asking Molly to repeat herself.
But h
e did not, as humor did not
seem
appropriate
in
this
situation
.
He did, however,
stare at Molly in confusion as he spoke. “Molly
,
when we first discussed coming here, about the money and all that stuff, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m sorry
,
Monson
.
”
S
he sounded like she meant it
.
“But think about my position for a moment. How was I supposed to tell you about all this when you couldn’t even remember your grandfather? It’s a bit too much for any
kid
to handle. Sweet
ie,
I don’t think you get it. You
r grandfather was
one of the richest people in the world.
This of course means that now
you
are.
Why do you think I wanted to get you
in
to this school so badly?”

Monson started to interrupt but Molly preempted him. “I know you
’re
upset
,
Monson honey, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell
you.
I really am.  But you have to trust things like this to me. I am your guardian
,
after all
,
and I might not be able to do much
,
but at least I can take care of your inheritance.”

“It
’s
funny you should mention that
,
Molly,” said
Artorius,
finally speaking up
.
“I
’
ve been wondering about that for a while now
.
E
ver since I found out that
Monson’s
g
randfather was th
e
elusive silent partner of Christopher Baroty
,
I
’
ve been thinking about his estate and a little about
his
reasons for coming here. Molly
,
you knew Monson before the incident at the bridge
, right?
”

Molly nodded her head slowly.

“Do you know why Monson and his
g
randfather were so keen to get Monson in as the
Horum Vir
?”

Molly replied regretfully
.
“He
only
talked to me about it on occasion
,
Arthur
.
W
hy do you ask?”

“
Well,
it’s a bit on the weird side. With all that wealth
,
why go through the trouble of becoming the
Horum Vir
? The position is extremely flash
y
and let
’
s face it
,
Monson’s not really a flashy
guy
.”

“A lot of it had to do with running under the radar—”

Monson interjected
.
“
But
Molly
,
that doesn’t make any sense. What about the
Horum Vir
position is
‘
under the radar?’ It
’
s about as far
above
the radar as they come.”

Molly
smiled in a sad sort of way
.
“That depends on what kind of radar you
’re
trying to avoid
,
Monson dear.”

Monson and
Artorius
waited for
her
to continue that thought and felt disappointed when she did not.

She
quickened her pace
.
“
I’ve been meaning to mention this for a while. There is a lot of history that I haven’t told
you, Monson.
S
tuff that might help
you
remember and if not remember
,
then
cop
e
with current circumstances.  I just haven’t
yet
been able to get all of Marques’ affairs in order
,
so I wasn’t sure where to start.”

“You sound sort of stressed
,
Molly
.
D
id my grandfather have a lot going on?”