Chapter 3
When a hard pounding came at her door, Crystal opened it up to find both John and Glenn standing there, glaring at her. She smiled and said, “Hey.”
“Yeah, hey. What’s going on over there?” Glenn asked animatedly.
“What do you mean?” she asked, turning to look at the main house.
“The doors are locked. We can’t get breakfast,” Glenn replied. John stood there impatiently, about to jump out of his skin. “And apparently our long-lost cousin has arrived to save the day or whatever the hell he thinks he’ll do this time.”
She winced at that. “I don’t know what he’s got planned, but let’s just say that he is home and that I don’t know anything.”
“Of course you don’t,” Glenn scoffed.
She stared at him and asked, “What does that mean?”
He rolled his eyes and said, “We all know you’re sweet on him.”
She frowned and tried to understand where that was coming from. “That’s what’s on your mind?”
“Sure,” he snapped, “we all know it. Everybody’s known it, especially when you turned down John.”
She just blanked and shook her head. “That had nothing to do with it.”
“Right. Of course it didn’t,” Glenn said, with a sneer.
“If you want to know what Ashton’s up to, go ask him yourself.”
Glenn yelled, “You better tell us what’s going on in there. Otherwise we’ll start breaking down doors.”
“You do whatever you want, but I’m not going anywhere near that house because Ashton already told me that we weren’t allowed in.”
“And what the hell does that mean?” John asked, his tone deep and dark as ever.
She shook her head. Everybody was taking a turn playing their parts in some crazy Godzilla movie. “As I already told you buffoons, I don’t know.” She raised both hands. “So, when you figure it out, you can tell me.”
The twins exchanged a glance between them.
“For real?” John asked sweetly, his tone completely changed.
“Yeah, for real. I don’t know anything about any of this,” she repeated. “so take your nasty comments and leave.” And, with that, she slammed the door in their faces.
It was the first time she’d ever done that, and she wasn’t sure whether they would take it to heart and leave or pound on her door again—in which case she would have a heck of a time getting them out of her hair.
But they did leave, much to her surprise and relief. She watched as they walked down her front steps, staring over at the main house the whole time. She could understand their confusion, but they were also takers, always expecting the rest of the world to provide for them.
While she didn’t quite know what was going on, a part of her felt like maybe it was a damn good thing that Ashton had come home.
It was also a good thing, as far as she was personally concerned, but way overdue.
But, if this much trouble was going on in the family, maybe her hope for his return visit was not the reason he had come home.
And that was a thought she had never once entertained.
It was also a little disconcerting that her two brothers, stepbrothers, or whatever they decided to call themselves at various points in their life, had decided that she was interested in Ashton, assuming that was why she had turned down the proposal from John.
It wasn’t the biggest part, but it was certainly a consideration.
She’d always had a bit of a crush on Ashton, but it was also obvious that he didn’t return it.
So, she had quietly killed it during one of her therapy sessions.
She’d struggled hard to get decent counseling help that understood the problems related to being adopted in a family.
The reactions to her alternated between ribbing her about it, then acting like she was part of the inner circle of the family, only to rebuff her later, yet again.
It was such a weird feeling to know what they thought of her right now or at any moment in time. She glanced around the Nelson property, realizing she really did need to pull up stakes and to find another way to make her way in life, even if her business wasn’t up and running yet.
It was past the point where she could justify staying here, particularly with the problems she saw now. Clearly she didn’t understand what was going on here, and obviously way too many more problems were yet to come.
It would not be easy for her to relocate, but, with that in mind, she walked to her tiny office and sat down with her laptop, wondering if she could board the horses anywhere else, until she got herself set up.
That whole physical infrastructure part of starting her business had stopped her up until now.
Grandma had given her six horses, and she worked and trained with them all the time, but, with Grandpa not here, she had no idea what that would look like for her and her business model, … if there even was one to begin with this time.
That caused her so much pain, but nobody else seemed really bothered about it. She contacted several of her neighbors, asking about boarding the horses until she could get set up somewhere.
She didn’t get any replies right away and continued to fire off a mass of emails, until she heard a knock on her door. Instinctively she knew it was Ashton. She got up, checked to make sure through the window, and opened the door to him.
He eyed her intently. “Is there a reason why you’re checking the window to see who it is?”
She flashed a smile and shrugged. “Well, the other two were here earlier, and they weren’t very happy that I didn’t have answers for them.”
He just nodded in understanding. “Of course they would come to you for that.”
“Well, I guess they tried to get into the house, and no one would let them in.”
He smiled and chuckled lightly. “No, I wouldn’t be at all surprised about that.”
She hesitated. “Is Jenny part of the inner circle?” she asked.
“Not really, but she has always been extremely loyal and very aware, I think, of Grandma’s problem,” he shared, with emphasis. He looked tired and worn out.
“Do you want a cup of tea or something?” she offered.
Surprised, he nodded. “Thanks, that would be nice. I’ll have to face my cousins soon enough, and that won’t be terribly fun.”
She nodded. “So earlier, … you said that you weren’t kicking me out.”
He looked at her. “Honestly, even if you were looking at moving, I would really appreciate it if you could stay for a bit,” he admitted. “I need some stability to get to the bottom of this.”
“You do know that I don’t understand any of this, right?”
He smiled. “I’m not sure anybody does right now, but I can tell you that my grandmother—” He sighed and shook his head. “She’s got a very ugly gambling habit,” he began, “and she’s cost my grandfather basically everything. In fact, she’s cost all of us basically everything.”
She stared at him, too stunned to even say anything.
“I know it’s a shock to you,” he stated, “because, for a long time, my grandfather wanted to keep it private, thinking that nobody would understand. It was not only her addiction problem but his humiliation, not being able to do anything about it that really got to him. It bothered him greatly because he’s a righteous man. ”
“And did you say something about other people’s money?”
He stared at her and nodded. “I’ll explain some of this,” he began, “but I don’t want any of it going anywhere, okay?”
She nodded. “I don’t really have anybody to talk to anyway,” she noted, “so that’s not hard to promise. However, your cousins will quite likely have something to say about it.”
He shrugged. “They will all find out soon enough, but Grandma’s gambling problem has spread to Grandpa’s investment firm, and she’s been taking money out of his clients’ accounts and using that to feed her addictions.”
Crystal’s jaw dropped, and she couldn’t quite comprehend what he was saying, though he had made it very clear. She tried to speak several times, and he just smiled grimly.
“Yeah, believe me, that’s partly how I feel.
Last time I was here, Grandpa swore he would make it right.
So, against my better judgment, I didn’t press charges, but I told him that they had to fix it, or I would have no choice.
We managed to sever her ties to all company assets, even the household funds, and they were putting money back in those affected client accounts, trying to repay it, but always held a little back.
“And then I guess on a whim, being generous or something, she put in a fair chunk, and who knows what happened. I had already stopped her ability to take money out. She could put money in because I was hoping she would do the right thing and give back all the stolen money, as she had sworn she would do.”
“So, you knew all along?”
“Yes, I had to know because I was the financial advisor this whole time. Plus, I do own the whole Nelson property, only because I bought Grandpa’s portion to keep him from selling the place to some stranger, after the mess that Grandma made.
So, back to the point, as soon as Grandma put money in, she immediately wanted it back out.
Yet she couldn’t get it back out again. I had set it up so I would be notified of all the deposits,” he added and then shook his head.
“And obviously I also made arrangements to be notified if someone tried to make any withdrawals. I wanted to make sure that Grandma didn’t continue her theft pattern.
I’m not sure what happened, but, when she couldn’t get money out and needed it for God-only-knows-what, that’s when she went to the bank to try and force Roger to give her the money, implying that she owned the business—”
“Which is not hers?”