LT watched as his granny, Phire and Cynthia set up the dining area for their expected visitors. As accomplished as Sapphire was in her young life, she was actually nervous about this meeting. All the details she was pointing out to Cynthia as they decorated the table were to make this gathering of his siblings perfect for him. She did not know any of them except Gia, yet she was here seeing to every detail of their visit. That was love to him.
He leaned against the staircase watching the two amazing women in his life. His granny who taught him he was worthy of love and Sapphire who chose to love him despite his resistance. He did not want to think about a world without them. And now, Sapphire wanted him to open up his heart to more people. LT exhaled. Did he have room in his life for more and what about when they had children? The thought almost knocked him backwards. “Whew, children,” he mouthed to himself. Laughter filled the air and the musical sound of her voice caused his heart to race. They would have at least five. Where in the hell did that thought come from?
“What’s wrong?”
He looked up to see Sapphire standing right in front of him.
“Are you worried about the people coming over?” she asked.
“No.” He shook the thoughts away. “I’m glad you organized this meeting. I don’t want to keep fighting with Trent’s children. To make our plan work, we have to know who is willing to help.”
“Gia says all of them are coming. They are all interested in putting this craziness with Lawrence and Lauren behind them too,” Phire advised as she took his hand. “Come on, you and I are going to have some fun tonight. We are going to spend some time with your siblings and see for ourselves how we can help each of them get what is rightfully theirs. Then we are going to take down those miserable Trent kids for poisoning my sister.”
LT held her hand causing her to stop and turn back to him. “When we start having children, let’s be sure to have more than one.”
She turned to him and smiled. “Will five work for you?”
LT pulled her into his arms. “That is the same number I came up with.”
“Then I suggest you contact your accountant. We are going to need a bigger house.”
“We can start on that now.” He kissed her.
“Oh no, buddy, we are meeting with your siblings.” She took his hand pulling him along with her. “And I have a wedding dress to fit into in two weeks.”
Meeting with his brothers and sisters was more enlightening than LT expected. Four girls and two boys. What a nice make up for a family. Gia Ferrell was barely eighteen years old when she contacted the Carlton London Law firm to send $100,000 to her little brother.
“I did not know you or your mother, Dorothy, but I knew you deserved at least what the rest of us received,” Gia stated as they sat around the dining room table. Their bellies were full from the meal Ms. Natalie had prepared and they were now having drinks and dessert.
“When Gia found me, she told me about all of you,” Madeline Carson, the nurse stated. “We agreed to keep an eye out for the younger ones.”
“It was not easy.” Gia smiled. “Peyton, you were trouble with those darn good looks.”
“The boys during high school were after her,” Madeline laughed.
“It’s the Italian blood in me,” Peyton Rizzolli laughed as her long black hair bounced over her shoulders. “The men could not believe I could handle a forklift as well as any one of them.”
“We did all we could to try to get her to go to college,” Madeline added. “We visited her a couple of times at the warehouse and she was happy.”
“So we did not press her,” Gia added. “Then there was Owen who resisted us the most.”
Owen Rogers, with his blond hair and piercing blue eyes, chuckled. “Two women showed up at my apartment one Sunday telling me they were my sisters. I’m an only child to a single mother. Yes, I had questions. But they wore me down. I eventually accepted them.”
“It was ice cream for me,” Selma Newton smiled with her hazel eyes.
“You were the sweetheart,” Gia nodded. “You and your mother welcomed us with open arms. Neither of you asked any questions, you just said welcome to the family.”
“Well, this one,” Ryder Tunstall’s hazel eyes sparkled. His brunette hair and cheerful personality made all of them smile as he pointed to Gia. “Came to my mother’s house with a lemon cake and introduced herself as my oldest sister. I liked her immediately and loved her cake more. It was almost as good as this one.”
“Granny always make the best cakes,” LT stated as he put his fork down and glanced at Sapphire. “I was not aware of any of you. It was Sapphire who reached out to Gia.”
“Ms. Natalie told me about LT’s mother then directed me to the Carlton London Law Firm. He gave me Gia,” Phire stated then looked at LT. “By the way, Ms. Natalie did not make the pound cake, I did.”
“You did not,” Gia chuckled. “My goodness you really hit the jackpot.”
“I’ll say,” Ryder laughed. “You’re smart, beautiful and can cook.”
“Hey, keep your eyes off my woman, brother,” LT joked.
Ryder threw his hands up in the air. “Hey, I’m staying on my side of the field, Mr. Mayor.”
“Thank you. I’m just getting to know you all. I would hate to have to take one of you out.” LT smiled. “Speaking of out, there are two siblings who are not present at this gathering.”
“Lawrence Trent and his sister,” Peyton exhaled. “I was wondering when we were going to get around to the reason you asked us here.”
“Same here.” Ryder sat forward. “This lawsuit with them has drained me.”
LT nodded. “They are playing the long game in hopes that you will all run out of money.”
“Well, mission accomplished,” Madeline responded. “I can’t take it any further.”
“Neither can I,” Owen admitted.
“Well, I’m going to fight them until I’m six feet under or one of them is,” Peyton declared.
LT smiled. “I like your way of thinking.”
“You can afford to think that way,” Ryder chuckled. “You’re a billionaire, with the ability to play the game with them. You can even the playing filed you know. Just give each of us a cool million and we can continue the fight.” He flashed a raise eyebrow and smile at LT.
Peyton and Selma hissed, then rolled their eyes.
“Why would you ask him to do such a thing?” Gia glared at Ryder. “He was the one who did not receive anything from our father. Each of you did.”
“LT is not responsible for you being here,” Madeline added. “He does not owe any of us anything.”
“Sounds like you may have a little of the Trent’s blood flowing through your veins then the rest of us,” Selma suggested.
“It’s his battle too,” Peyton chimed in.
“Hey, hey…I was just joking.” Ryder explained. “Seriously,” he looked at LT. “I was just joking.”
“Feed a man one meal and he will be hungry the next day. Teach a man to fish, his hunger is cured for a lifetime.”
Everyone turned to Ms. Natalie. She had been sitting in the kitchen at the island listening to the conversation.
LT smiled at his grandmother and her wisdom then his eyes met Sapphire’s. LT was sure she was concerned with what his response would be. He knew his status would come up sooner or later. He nodded. “Ryder is correct. I do have the financial resources to fight the Trents. I developed a game while in college that took off. I sold it for a lot of money. Then I created a few more and here I am.”
“Here we are,” Madeline repeated. “Exactly why are we here?”
“What if there was a way for you all to leave your current position, earn a larger salary and answer to yourselves?” Phire asked as she glanced around the table at each of them. “Would that interest any of you?”
They all looked at each other, then Owen spoke. “I would be very interested in hearing the proposition.”
Peyton sat up. “So would I.”
“I’m listening,” Ryder responded.
“I’m too old for a change in careers,” Madeline added. “I work hard enough at the hospital to want to add anything more to it.”
“This is an opportunity to set your own hours, work at your pace, and spend more time with your families,” Gia explained. “The best part is you have a say in your own profit margins. Would you be interested then?”
“Now you really have my attention.” Ryder glanced at LT. “What are you thinking, Lawrence Trent?”
“That if you ever call me that name without adding Palmer on the end I’m going to kick your ass.” LT cleared his throat and smiled. “I’ll pick you up off the ground and have a beer with you afterwards, but the ass whipping will not be fun.”
The people around the table laughed.
“Okay, Mr. Mayor,” Peyton chuckled. “I’ll help you kick his ass if he does it again. Now, what is on that mind of yours?”
“We are all heirs to Lawrence Trent’s estate. Not just Lawrence and Lauren. While Gruber Innovations is owned by Leanne’s family ESTY is not. ESTY was under the sole ownership of Trent when it went public. It was his company. Which makes it, our company…all of ours.”
“Did anyone bother to tell Lawrence that?” Owen asked. “From what my attorney indicated, ESTY is not on solid financial grounds. It’s the Gruber money that is allowing them to drain us.”
“He is correct,” LT responded. “ESTY lost a number of contracts when Trent and Leanne were arrested. However if we all agree, I think I have a way that each of you can become entrepreneurs if you are interested in working at ESTY.”
“Doing what?” Madeline asked. “I’m a nurse.”
“That would be for you to determine,” LT replied.
Phire stood then picked up a folder from the island. “I ran a study on each of your skillsets.” She began giving each of them a piece of paper with their names on it. “This lists each of them. Then it lists a number of positions you can hold at ESTY.”
Each of them took a look at their individual dossier.
“Wow,” Peyton exclaimed “I did not know I was so talented.”
“You are,” Phire agreed. “All of you have the skillset to help in running the company.”
“However, you would have dual roles,” LT added.
Peyton, Ryder and Owen sat forward. Madeline gave him a side eye. “What are you talking about, LT?” she asked.
“You would also be members of the new Board of Directors for ESTY.” LT smiled. “Sapphire, I think we are going to need more cake.”
Two hours later with plans laid out, LT’s siblings walked towards their vehicles waving bye. Gia, Ms. Natalie, LT and Phire stood on the front porch watching as everyone dispersed.
“You did good, LT,” Gia stated. “I think this is the lifeline they all needed to take down the Trents.”
“We are not really taking them down,” LT acknowledged. “We are just going to even the playing field.”
“All of them deserve a chance at having the life their father had,” Phire stated. “This way their fates will be in their own hands.”
“You and LT will be there to guide them,” Ms. Natalie said. “After all, Gia, it was your generosity that allow LT to be in this position.”
“No.” Gia smiled as she walked down the steps. “It came from that little boy with the big smile, that charmed all the women into voting for him.”
LT blushed. “Who told you my secret to winning?”
“Phire,” Gia replied then began walking away. She stopped then looked back. “Are you going to run again, Mr. Mayor?”
Phire smiled. “That is the question everyone is waiting to hear the answer to.”
“Well, LT?” Gia asked.
“Being Mayor takes a lot of my time. I miss my company, and once I get married I want to spend as much time as I can with these two.” He put his arms around Phire and Ms. Natalie’s waists. “So, I’m still debating.”
“Let me know what you decide and I will be there to support you,” Gia replied then walked off.
With all the excited energy from the meeting none of the people leaving the house noticed the black sedan parked on the corner. “So it’s a conspiracy now. They are all working together against me. I should have known it would eventually come to this. And of course it would be LT leading the charge. Okay, they want to play hardball, I can do the same. Time to move the game to the next level.”