CHAPTER 18
“You have a visitor,” Sydney said before Jonathan had taken two steps into the reception area. “And Mr. Dewberry has been on the line every half hour requesting to speak with you.”
“Has he now?” Jonathan smiled brightly at her. “Do you know your hair is unseasonably red today? It must be the sunshine.” He walked by ignoring her confused look, into his office.
“Well, bloody hell, bloke, it took you long enough to figure it out.”
Jack O’Donnell charged towards Jonathan. “What did you do to my account?”
“Account?” Jonathan feigned innocence. “What account would that be?”
“Mr. Michael, Richard Dewberry is on line one,” Sydney said from the doorway.
“You better take that call,” Jack angrily declared.
“Advise Mr. Dewberry I will have to return his call at a later time. I seem to have one of his unsatisfied customers in my office.”
“Take that call, Michael, or I will beat your arse to bloody hell.”
“Now, is that any way to speak to a person you need assistance from?” Jonathan sat behind his desk. “So, Dewberry hasn’t been successful in getting your funds released? Hell, his pockets are deep. Have him front you a bill or two.”
“You blocked my accounts. All of them. My wife could not make the market. My daughter is away in school. All of her purchases were rejected. You fix this!” Jack hovered over Jonathan.
“Security is on their way, Mr. Michael,” Sydney called out.
“It is not necessary, Sydney. Mr. O’Donnell will be leaving soon. In fact, I think he should open an account here at Dunning once his financial situation is a bit more stable. These types of things do not happen here.”
Jack balled up his fist. “Michael, I am warning you. Clear my wife’s account or you won’t like what I do next.”
“While I am gutted…simply gutted about your situation.” Jonathan smirked. “I am at a loss as to how I can help you.” Jonathan stood to confront the man who was leaning over him. His sunny disposition changed in a millisecond. “I distinctly recall advising you what would happen if you fucked with me or mine.” He sneered at Jack, taking the man by surprise. “What happened yesterday is merely an example of what I can do.” He advanced on Jack. “I am not a physical fighter, Jack. I’m a nerd with a dangerous mind.” Jack took a step back. “If you do not want your wife and daughter to be in the poor house, I suggest you think twice when Dewberry dictates his orders where I am concerned.”
“Is there a problem here, sir?”
Jonathan glanced away from Jack to the two officers standing in the doorway.
“No. We are hunky-dory, are we not, Jack?” He smiled at the man as if they were old friends.
The officers nodded, then slowly stepped away. Sydney remained standing in the doorway.
“Close the door, Sydney. Jack and I are going to have a little chat.”
###
“Well, well, don’t you look like a ray of sunshine this morning.”
Grace smiled as she entered her office. “Good morning, Warren. Isn’t it a lovely day?” She took the messages he held out to her as she continued into her office.
“I would ask if you got laid last night, but I can see there’s more.” Warren smiled. “Could it be that your feelings for one Jonathan Michael are deeper than you anticipated?”
Grace stopped as she rounded her desk to take a seat, to stare at the man. She thought about his summation and nodded. “Yes. You can safely conclude that.”
“You are serious.” Warren smiled before sitting in his chair in front of her desk. “You are glowing.”
“I don’t know about that but damn if I don’t feel good.” Grace smiled as she put her purse away. “What do we have today?”
“We aren’t going to talk about this?”
Grace thought for a moment, then shook her head as she smiled. “No. I’m keeping this one all to myself.”
“Shit must be serious.”
“It is.”
Warren smiled. “Damn, Grace, I am happy for you. If this man is the real deal, you grab his ass and don’t let him go.”
“Thank you, Warren.” She took a deep breath. “So…what do we have today?”
“Two things. You asked me to scope out Elaine’s contact at BIT.” He turned her tablet so she could see. “One Savannah Whitfield.”
“Myles’ whacky ex-girlfriend?”
“The one and only,” Warren replied. “That report she presented at the meeting is a trap. The dates and numbers are fake. If it shows up in any of the presentations, the people at BIT will end the deal.”
Grace sat forward. “I would ask how you got that bit of information, but I’m afraid you will tell me you are sleeping with some woman from the BIT team.”
“Ask me no questions,” Warren replied with a grin.
Grace shook her head. “Is there no shame?”
“None whatsoever.”
“So.” Grace frowned. “Why would Elaine give us a document that would derail the deal? I mean this deal with BIT will make us, but if it doesn’t happen it will not impact our bottom line. So what is she up to?”
“I don’t think it has to do with the bottom line. I think it’s more about the competency of the leadership.”
“Why do you say that?”
“From the information I am currently monitoring, Elaine has been meeting with non-family members of the board. The details of the discussions have been hush-hush, however, two board members, Lynn Sterling and Preston Long have confided in their aides about the conversations.”
“Really?” Grace raised an eyebrow. “To what end? To replace Myles? I hardly think that is feasible.”
“What if it is not to replace him, but to stack the cards against his proposals?”
“There are five family members. I doubt if any of us would vote on much against Myles.” She shrugged. “And what proposal? We do not have anything major coming up to vote on except the BIT account.”
“You do have Jonathan, Cainan, Lynn and Preston, if they join with Elaine you have a tie vote.”
“Yes, but Jonathan would never vote against the family and I don’t think Cainan will either. So what is the end game?”
“That is the unknown.” Warren exhaled.
“All right. Keep your eyes and ears open on that situation. I don’t want anything sneaking up on us.”
“Will do,” Warren said as he stood. “Agent Roark called. He stated he would be at your mother’s house around noon. He wanted to know if you were free for lunch.”
“No.” Her voice came out more sharply than she intended.
“Are we miffed with the good agent?”
Grace sighed. If what Jonathan said was true, Roark had been lying to her for all these years. She didn’t want to believe Roark would stoop that low, but Jonathan would have no reason to lie at this point. Maybe he wanted to make himself look better in her eyes? She frowned at the thought. No. The man made sweet, tender love to her that made tears come to her eyes. He didn’t have anything to prove.
“Your mind is working, but no words are coming out of your mouth.”
Grace stared up at Warren. “Tell him I will meet him at my mom’s house.”
“O—kay,” Warren replied then walked out.
The least she could do was give Roark a chance to explain. Grace picked up the phone and called her mother’s house.
“Daisy, hi, it’s Grace. How is Mother doing this morning?”
“Other than pissed, she seems fine.”
“Pissed about last night?”
“No,” Daisy replied. “Someone from that facility your Uncle Walker is in called. Said he wanted to see her. It was important to his rehabilitation.”
“And she went?”
“Yes, she did,” Daisy sighed. “Said she owed it to Hep to look out for his brother.”
“Did Aunt Viv go with her?”
“I don’t think so. They asked just for her I guess.”
“Oh. I guess she will be okay. Daisy, if Mother isn’t at the house, why is Roark coming there?”
“Agent Roark?” Daisy asked trying to come up with an answer.
“Yes, Daisy, Roark? Is he coming to meet with Jerome about the investigation?”
“Probably.” She nodded knowing it was a lie.
“What time will he arrive?”
“Around noon, I believe.”
“All right, I’ll be there around one. Ask him to wait for me.”
“I certainly will.” Daisy smiled then hung up the phone. “Whew.” She hated lying to the children, but she was leaving it up to Agent Roark to determine who if anyone needed to know what was in that report.