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“Oh, he’s great to go shopping with,” Silvia gushes, placing her hand on his arm. “Much more accommodating than my boys ever were.” She scowls in in my direction.
“Yeah, you go with her to Paris and Milan, then we’ll talk,” I reply giving Crusher a sideways glance. “Besides, he’s about four times the size we were and we would end up carrying a dozen bags each.”
“You are so full of crap!” Mom bursts out laughing. “Come on Crusher, let’s go order you some lunch.”
We all look at one another, as Crusher strides into Dad’s condo with Mom in tow, giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush. “Is there actually something going on with those two?” Mandy whispers, asking what each of us is thinking.
“Well, if I were a few decades younger,” Nana giggles, reaching out to give Gator a pinch. Her dog, Misty, gives Nana a look of disapproval.
“On that note, Gator, you get the keys from Crusher and take Nolan, Aileen and her mother to the Gleason home,” Anthony instructs. “We are headed to the SEC office to see what they’ve put together regarding Tommy,” he says, nodding to Mandy and me.
“Why? What’s going on?” Nolan asks. His statement grabs the attention of both Becky and Vanessa as well, who draw closer to us.
“Tommy diluted you and the other shareholders just prior to selling you his stake and it was never properly disclosed,” Mandy explains to them in a nutshell. “One of my colleagues is pulling all the relevant documents and building a case file for me. We want to see if there is enough to pursue a criminal case or if it’s just a matter of an ethical violation. Either way, you guys should be entitled to a nice refund to compensate for the dilution,” she explains to Nolan.
“Oh my God, that would be great,” he says letting out a huge sigh. “Maybe we would all be able to sleep again.”
“Would he be able to stay on as CEO of Addison Media?” Vanessa asks. Becky leans in wanting to hear Mandy’s answer.
“If there is criminal wrong doing, he will definitely lose his job,” she tells them. “If it’s simply an ethical issue, it will be up to the board of directors to decide.”
“I don’t think he will be with us much longer,” I assure everyone. “Even if he hasn’t committed an actual crime, this whole Firefly Media thing stinks to high heaven.” I turn to Nolan. “Regardless of what happens, I’m going to help you guys get that mess all straightened out. Dad and Bill were good friends for years, so it’s something that he would have done for him.”
Nolan stands there speechless for a moment, chocking back his emotions. “Aileen and her mother will be very relieved. Thank you, Trey.” He reaches out to shake my hand, so I shake his and pull him in for a hug. If anyone ever looked like they needed a hug, it was he. “Now go home and get some rest.”
“Will the rest of you just hang tight for the time being?” Anthony asks the group. “Bolt and Crusher will be hanging out here, so if we can keep everyone together for another twenty-four or forty-eight hours, that will be great.”
Everyone begrudgingly agrees to stay put for now. Obviously everyone would like to get back to a sense of normalcy, but their safety is much more important. “We’ll stop back tomorrow morning and give everyone an update. Hopefully by then we will have located Carly and have a handle on things,” I tell them before going into Dad’s condo to rouse Tyler before leaving. I make my way back to his old bedroom and have an eerie flashback as I crack the door and enter the dimly lit room.
“Are you getting up today?” I ask, cracking the blind to let in some daylight. “It’s after noon, Tyler. It’s a gorgeous day.”
“Why can’t everyone just leave me the fuck alone?” he groans, sounding just like the dickhead who had blamed me for Dad’s death.
“I just came in to say hello and see how you are doing,” I reply, trying to go easy on him. Dr. Novacek had warned us that we would have to very understanding, because he his brain had been through a very traumatic experience.
“Oh, I’m doing fucking great,” he sneers, giving me a look of death. “My knee hurts like a mother fucker, I can’t have any pain pills and I don’t even remember the bitch who keeps telling me she’s my fiancée.”
“You are going to have surgery as soon as possible,” I tell him, grabbing an ice pack from the cooler and placing it on his knee. “You and Vanessa have been together since you were a senior in high school. She helped you get through the pain the first time.”
