Chapter 33 Buzz – Rhodes
BUZZ
RHODES
The board meeting had gone exactly as planned.
I stood in the hallway outside the boardroom and permitted myself approximately forty-five seconds of something that might, in another man, have been called relief.
Terry’s vote of confidence. The Singapore deal.
Cousin Andrew’s coffee cup salute. Rory’s hand in mine under the table, steady and warm, grounding me in exactly the way I had not planned for and could not now seem to do without.
Forty-five seconds. Then I put it away.
Although I was so close I could taste it, I hadn’t won yet.
Rory was beside me as we moved down the hall, close enough that I could feel the warmth of her.
She’d been perfect in there. Composed, warm—and when Abigail asked her how we met, she’d produced a party in Manhattan, and I never go to parties so I knew it had to be fate with such easy conviction that even I almost believed it.
I had known she would be useful. I had not anticipated that she would be remarkable. I glanced at her, my heart full.
Then I remembered that I needed to tell her about her mother.
And the fact that her mother had thrown a chair at the process server.
And that my private investigator had been there—and she’d threatened to throw a chair at him, too—but then he’d offered her money to settle out of court, and she’d accepted said money, but then she’d disappeared.
My forty-five-second high was just that: short-lived.
My phone buzzed with a notification:
GATE - NORTH ENTRANCE
That was unusual, and I picked up immediately.
“Mr. Barrington.” It was Davis, the north gate guard, his voice neutral in an alarming way. “I apologize for the interruption, but there’s a woman at the gate requesting access to the property.”
“Who is she?”
He paused. “She says she’s the mother of your fiancée, sir. A Ms.—” I heard someone yelling in the background.
“Tammy Harris,” he said quickly.
“Tammy Harris?” I repeated, and all the blood rushed from Rory’s face.
“That’s correct, Sir.”
“Let me talk to my daughter!” A female voice screamed in the background.
“She’s requesting entrance.” Davis paused again as more yelling ensued. “Requesting is actually a nice word for it, Sir. And she’s making some claims.”
“About…?”
Davis cleared his throat. “About Miss Harris.”
“She’s being held in there against her will, goddammit!” The mother yelled. “You let me see my daughter right now, or I’m calling the police!”
“Do not let her through the gate,” I said. My voice came out level, which was a feat of engineering. “Under no circumstances. I’ll be right there. Keep her where she is.”
“Understood, sir.”
I hung up.
Rory stood beside me, her face white. Her eyes were fixed on my face. She already knew. “That was the gate,” I said.
“I heard.” Her voice was very small.
“Your mother is here.”
“Oh, I heard her, too.” She pressed her lips together and looked at the floor. “Rhodes, I need to tell you something—”
“Later.” I was already moving. “Come with me.”
Philips intercepted us at the foot of the main staircase with his typical uncanny prescience. “I’ve been informed of the situation at the north gate.”
“Of course you have.”
“I’ve taken the liberty of redirecting the board members toward the east terrace, where coffee and refreshments have been arranged. Mrs. Furst expressed a wish to see the grounds. The north gate is entirely out of sightline from the east terrace.”
“This is why you’re my favorite, Philips.”
He arched an eyebrow. He’d navigated decades of Barrington family emergencies and considered this a Tuesday.
“I should have just said thank you, Philips.”
“My pleasure.”
I grabbed Rory’s hand and hustled her down the hallway that would bring us to the North entrance, where all hell was about to break loose.
I heard Tammy Harris before I saw her.
“I’m not gonna stand here while some fancy lawyer tries to take away my kids!” she hollered. “My own children! You tell him—you tell whoever’s up there in that big house—”
“Rhodes, would you wait here?” Rory looked miserable.
“I’m coming with you. Let me help. Please.” I wasn’t sending her to deal with this on her own.
We rounded the corner and came upon the scene.
Davis, the security guard, faced the mother.
He was stoic, and she was red-faced, still yelling.
Tammy Harris wore lived-in jeans and a plaid shirt open over a tight-fitting concert tank top.
She had Rory’s fair coloring, but the similarities ended there.
Instead of Rory’s curves, she was all sharp angles.
She had long, wild hair, kohl-rimmed eyes, and her face had the weathered look that came with years of hard living.
She stopped hollering when she saw us.
Her eyes went to Rory first, then me—curiously, shrewdly taking in our formal clothing and entwined hands.
“There she is,” she barked at the security guard. “There’s my daughter!”
“Mom.” Rory sounded remarkably steady. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Tammy screeched. “What am I doing here? I’m here because someone’s trying to take my kids. And you know all about it!”
“Mom—”
“I got served papers last night! Banging on my hotel door until I opened up! Everyone heard it!”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. Why don’t we just calm down, so we can talk it through?” Rory offered.
“Oh, I bet you’d like that, Little Miss Holier than Thou,” she snorted, then jerked her chin in my direction. “Who’s the suit?”
“Rhodes Barrington,” I said.
“Oh yeah, I read all about you on the plane.” She took a step toward the gate. Davis moved subtly to maintain his position. “You’ve got my daughter living in your fancy house, doing your bidding, and now you’re trying to take my other kids? My son and my daughter? Over my dead body!”
“Ms. Harris, I’m sure we could talk this through—”
“I AM GOING TO BURN YOUR LIFE DOWN!” she shrieked. “You think you can get away with tearing my family apart? You think you can get away with trafficking my daughter? I am going to fuck your shit up—”
“Mom! Stop it!” Rory yelled.
“Don’t you raise your voice at me. Shame on you.
” Tammy’s eyes narrowed on her daughter.
“You always were too big for your britches. How dare you try to take Josie and Bo from me. Just ‘cause you’re living in a big house wearing fancy clothes doesn’t make you better than me.
My kids are all I got, and you know it!”
“You’re the one who left them.” Rory’s eyes were wild, her chest heaving with emotion. “You’re the one who picked your stupid boyfriend over them and left them behind with nothing!”
“Don’t you dare judge me!” Tammy’s cheeks flushed red. “You think you’re better than me? Good luck. You left them for a man, too, and you haven’t even looked back. Grammy told me!”
They kept screaming at each other as Davis and I watched with wide eyes. It absolutely felt like an episode of a terrible daytime talk show, where the family members ended things by throwing chairs at each other. That would be in line with Tammy Harris’s brand, in fact.
How did I get here?
Ah, yes. The internet. Bad idea, Rhodes.
“Ms. Harris.” I stepped between them. “I understand that you’re upset, and you have every right.”
“See?” She didn’t tear her gaze from Rory. Her nostrils flared. “I’m right.”
“I also understand you’ve traveled a long way, and that you have concerns about the guardianship filing. Your concerns can be addressed through the appropriate legal channels.” I paused for a beat. “It’ll all be worked out in the children’s best interests, which I’m sure is your paramount concern.”
“My paramount concern,” she said in a singsong voice, mimicking me. “That’s very fancy, Mr. Suit. But what the fuck are you saying?”
“I’m talking about the correct legal process,” I said. “Which will proceed whether you’re standing at my gate or not. It’s time for you to go.”
I’m not leaving till you call it off. I’ll keep screaming—trust me.” She jutted her chin. “Then everybody will know about my daughter and who she really is.”
Rory said nothing. Her eyes were bright, but she seemed determined not to cry in front of her mother.
“Ms. Harris,” I said, pulling my attention back to the disheveled woman at the gate.
“I’m going to ask Davis to take care of you.
We’ll get you on the first flight out, and I’ll make sure it’s a first-class ticket.
” I regarded her steadily. “But you will not come onto this property. And I would ask you, for your daughter’s sake, to keep your voice down. ”
Tammy looked at me. Then at Rory.
“I’m not agreeing to anything until I talk to you,” she told her daughter. “Alone.”
Rory nodded. My insides twisted as I watched her go through the gate and walk down the driveway, her mother in tow.
My head pounded. This was all my fault. I’d put her in this position, and now the vultures were circling.
I never should’ve brought Rory to Barrington Manor.