Chapter 46
CHAPTER
FORTY-SIX
REBEL
April and I discuss damage control while Chance calls his lawyers.
The McLanely wealth isn’t something I think about much, but I’m extremely grateful for Chance’s connections now.
“Our lawyers will submit an injunction,” Chance says, walking back to us with a frown. “But we won’t know what we’re really fighting against until the investigation concludes and a report is submitted.”
“Let me guess. The ‘investigation’ can take as long as Stewart Kinsey wants?” I mumble.
“That jerk!” April scowls. “I thought he couldn’t get any lower, but I was wrong. He’s lower than scum.” April spins around to glare at Chance. “This is ridiculous! Do we really have to close our shop because Stewart said so?”
“Not because Stewart said so but… yeah. You do.”
April scoffs.
I loosen my ponytail because I’m getting a massive headache.
Chance taps his cell phone in his palm, his eyes on April. “It’s unfortunate, but legal.”
“Great,” April grouses.
“The lawyers said Plan B is to countersue. They’ll prepare the documents and get back to me in twenty-four hours, but there are no guarantees. So in the meantime…”
“We wait?” I supply, finishing his sentence.
Chance takes one look at April’s aggrieved expression and says, “We don’t have to. I can find a way to make Stewart’s life miserable right now.”
“How?” April leans forward eagerly.
Chance arches a brow. “It depends on how angry you are.”
April’s lips form somewhat of a smile. “Very.”
“I’ll give Theilan a call. I know he won’t ask questions if I ask him to bring a shovel and a large duffel bag.”
April considers it and then shakes her head. “It’s not worth it. Besides, I don’t want to get you and the team in trouble. Especially before the last game of the season.”
Chance puts his phone away.
“What are we going to do about the expansion?” April groans and sinks into my sofa. “We’ve already paid for the preliminaries and gotten the bank loan approvals. This will ruin everything.”
“You know I’m always here to help, Tink,” Chance says. “I’m not hurting financially.”
“No way,” April says.
“I’ll take that deal.” I lift a hand.
April frowns at me.
“We’re in emergency mode. This is no time to be coy. Let’s call on the power of #Chapril and find a way to solve this.”
My best friend springs to her feet again, her eyes dark and wary. “This is all Stewart Kinsey’s fault. I should have kicked him in the shins when I had the chance.”
I chuckle.
Then I feel guilty for laughing when I think of how Gunner would have felt hearing that.
This is exactly why I didn’t want him around. The feud between me and his family is reaching a boiling point and I don’t want him caught in the middle of it.
“Is it possible to rent another garage until we sort this all out?” Chance asks, rubbing his chin in thought.
“Where would we find another garage in Lucky Falls?” I wonder.
“Maybe you could convert a factory or some other building? Then you can take the bank’s money and build a new garage somewhere else, can’t you?”
“That’s a great idea.” I look to April.
She shakes her head. “The bank is issuing the money out in phases. We have to prove we did phase one to get phase two’s cash. We can’t reroute it or we’ll be in even bigger trouble.”
My shoulders droop as what I thought was a great idea goes swirling down the toilet.
April reclaims her seat beside Chance and buries her face in her hands. “It was difficult enough to get the approval for this loan. I can’t imagine going back to the loan officers. And what are we going to do about Delia? She uprooted her entire life and came to Lucky Falls because of us. Are we going to kick her out on her own after less than a month?”
“My money is still on the table.”
“Chance McLanely, put your wallet away. I’m venting.”
April’s boyfriend pins his lips together and reduces his role to that of a silent back-rubber.
I dig a toe into my fuzzy pink rug. “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“Yeah, it feels pretty dang awful,” April grumbles.
“I don’t understand why Stewart’s trying so hard to shut us down.”
“It’s because he hates us,” April says tersely. “He has ever since I turned down his proposal to merge our two garages.”
I scrunch my lips. “Why do I get the feeling it’s more than that?”
“What do you mean?”
“When I went to confront him, Stewart said that he’d help us out if we stopped Chance’s investigation.”
Chance narrows his eyes. “Was he messing with you or was he serious?”
“He was serious. Gunner and I both heard him.”
April flinches. “Is it a coincidence that all this started happening right after you officially started dating Gunner?”
I fold my arms over my chest, on the defensive.
“Tink, what are you saying?” Chance asks worriedly.
“I don’t know.” April throws her hands high. “That maybe Gunner’s been planning this all along? Rebel, you said it was strange when he called you his girlfriend in front of the Lady Luck Society.”
“Gunner has nothing to do with this.”
“Even if he doesn’t mean to, it’s more likely that he’ll side with his family than with us.”
April’s words echo what Stewart Kinsey said today and my hackles rise. “So what? What do you expect him to do? Cut off everyone in his family because his uncle’s a creep?”
April’s mouth falls open and I realize that I’m yelling.
“I trust Gunner,” I say with a little less ‘shrieking banshee’ in my tone.
“So do I,” Chance agrees. “If you knew how invested Gunner has been in this investigation, you wouldn’t even question him.”
I stop in my tracks, my eyes fastened on Chance. “Gunner’s been helping you investigate his uncle?”
“Yeah. I remember him asking them to investigate a connection between Stewart and some guy… what was his name…” Chance scratches the back of his neck. “Clarence Kinsey.”
“Clarence Kinsey?” I gasp.
April winces.
Chance frowns. “I’m guessing you know the guy?”
“Clarence Kinsey is Gunner’s granduncle,” I explain. “He’s the brother of Gunner’s grandfather.”
I don’t remember much of him from my days playing on the Kinsey farm, but I do remember seeing him at the funeral for Gunner’s grandaddy.
Clarence had tapped into town with a walking cane, a large black fedora on his head and a three-piece suit wrapped around his scrawny body. I remember thinking he looked a little too happy when all the other Kinseys were sad.
Clarence Kinsey did not live in Lucky Falls. When I asked about him after the funeral, mom said Clarence’s personality was too big for a town as small as ours.
He’d stayed in Lucky Falls for a few days after the funeral. I have a faint memory of being at the wake and seeing a whole lot of angry stares when he walked in the room. He was like a black cloud that spread gloom over everyone he touched.
Including Gunner.
Come to think of it, Gunner stopped talking to me shortly after his Uncle Clarence rolled into town.
To be fair, I hadn’t noticed the timing. Back then, I assumed Gunner pulled away because he was sad about his grandfather’s passing. To my five-year-old brain, everything would go back to normal eventually.
But of course, it never did.
Gunner avoided me staunchly for years, and I chalked it up to him flipping a switch and turning into the cold, arrogant Kinsey he was always meant to be.
But now, after hearing that he’s investigating Stewart and Clarence, I can’t help thinking that there’s something more to the story.
“He lives in the city and he’s extra, extra rich. Legend says the Kinseys have held on to power for so long because Clarence Kinsey funds all their businesses, investments, college education, everything.”
“I thought the Kinseys were rich on their own,” Chance says, his nose scrunching. “Don’t they own almost every store on Main Street?”
“I said it was a legend.” April shrugs. “I don’t know when it started, but we’ve all kind of known that Clarence Kinsey was the one who held the purse strings ever since his brother, Clay, died. I think only the Kinseys would know the details though.”
A sense of foreboding falls over me and I quietly ingest Chance’s revelation.
Suddenly, Chance’s phone rings loudly.
I jump.
April shrieks.
Chance gives us an apologetic look and goes to answer the call in the other room. When he returns, he looks somber.
“What?” April scrambles to her feet.
“The lawyers found bank transactions between Clarence and Stewart. Big transactions. Stewart’s been selling off a lot of Kinsey land lately.”
April’s brows knit in the center of her forehead. “Do they know why?”
Chance pulls out his fidget spinner and gives it a flick. “No, but maybe Gunner does.”
“What do you mean?”
“Now that I think about it, he seemed a little frantic during our last meeting with the lawyers.”
Those words drop in the center of the room and stare at us like a hissing mountain lion. Gunner is many things but ‘frantic’ isn’t one of them.
“Land and money,” April shudders. “People do a lot of terrible things for them.”
Chance braces himself. “Why do I feel like we’re stepping into a minefield here?”
I rub my necklace. “Because whatever Gunner knows about Stewart and Clarence has him going against his entire family. And his family just so happens to be the most powerful one in Lucky Falls.”
“I think you should call Gunner,” April squeaks.
“Yeah.” I pick up my phone that suddenly feels as heavy as a rock. “That’s probably a good idea.”