AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, your Mom is. I’m going back up there in a couple hours and staying the night again.” She sighs. “Do you think he is going to come out of this?”
“I think so, but I don’t want him to be left alone. I’m going to stop up there when I get back. I’ll probably get there about the same time as you.”
“Okay, see you there,” she replies and the line goes dead.
Mandy
Trey comes back to the front of the plane and plops into the chair next to me. Judging by the look on his face, he has gone right back to dealing with his brother’s situation.
“How are things in New York?” I ask, hoping he will let some of it out.
“I honestly don’t know,” he replies with a vacant look in his eyes. “I keep going over things in my head, but I can’t figure out exactly what is bothering me. Tommy is acting really strange and so is Vanessa.”
“Okay, lets just write down everything we know.” I reach down into my bag to pull out a notepad and a pen. “Someone, other than you, hired a hit man to kill your father.” I jot that down on the top of the list. “Someone poisoned your brother and made it look like he confessed to killing him in a suicide note.” I jot that down as well. “Do you still have the voice mail message that Tyler left you?”
“Yeah, I kept it just in case it was the last time I heard his voice.” A sad look crosses his face as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. I know he still regrets not talking to his dad one last time.
He clicks to play the message. “I know you are pissed at me, but this is so fucked up. First Vanessa and now he’s taking over the company. I told Dad that Tommy was a fraud. He’s such a fucking fraud.” Then there is a noise that sounds like his phone hitting the floor and him grunting.
“Tommy got pissed when I told him to stop calling Vanessa,” Trey immediately goes to that aspect of the call. “I wonder what has been going on between them?”
“Why does Tyler call him a fraud?” I point out the obvious fact that not only did Tyler believe Tommy was a fraud, but he had also told Victor. “If Tommy is a fraud and Tyler found out about it…”
“Tommy needed to shut him up!” he says, completing my sentence.
“Exactly! And he also says that he told your dad about it.”
“You think that explains why dad was killed?” he asks, acting like it’s a real stretch. “Would Tommy really kill dad and Tyler over a stupid job?”
“It’s a CEO job, plus you said he gains control of the company because of the voting rights. That wouldn’t have happened if Victor was still alive,” I blurt out as thoughts pour into my head. “Besides, you said yourself that he has a gigantic ego. If he was exposed as a fraud it would be devastating both professionally and personally.” I sit back in my chair and stare at him, convinced that I am definitely onto something.
“Good point. With all the shit swirling around me I hadn’t really thought about the fact Tommy had gained so much control over the company. I was thinking maybe that was an oversight on Dad’s part,” he says, looking up at the ceiling. “But why would control over the company be so important to him? It’s not like he can do anything dramatic. Everything has to approved by the board members and voted on by shareholders.”
“I really don’t know, but if there is an answer to that question… there is your motive,” I tell him, giving him a self-satisfied smile.
“God, you are smart… and beautiful,” he adds as an afterthought.
“You’re obviously a smart man as well.” I pat him on the knee and smile back at him. “I think you and I would make a good team.”
“You and I make a great team. That’s why you need to go to California and have that conversation with Harris,” he says, lowering his head and glaring at me.
“Once things stabilize, I will make that decision,” I counter. “We need to get a few things resolved before I can take such a drastic step.”
Trey shakes his head at me before closing his eyes and leaning back into the seat. I know he is used to flying by the seat of his pants and that he has never experienced a lack of financial security, but I know what it’s like to have nothing. After four years of college and three years of law school, I am up to my eyeballs in student loans. After those payments, a ridiculously high apartment rent and my car insurance there isn’t much of anything left. Thinking about my life prior to this, I suddenly wince.
