Chapter 14
Liberty twisted the doorknob to Miles’ home and pushed it open. She thought about knocking but decided to just walk in. Maybe she shouldn’t. This wasn’t her house and while Miles was someone she cared about more than anyone other than her brother, they hadn’t defined anything.
She stepped into the family room and paused, staring at her father. He’d aged. His hair was a little thinner and had grayed some. As she inched closer, she noticed the deep-set lines around his bright-blue eyes, which had dulled over the years.
The man she remembered had always looked somewhat tired, but the man sitting in Miles’ kitchen, holding an empty glass, looked exhausted. Spent. As if life had beaten him down.
She shouldn’t feel sorry for him for a single second.
“Liberty,” her father whispered. “You’re still the prettiest girl in any room.”
As a small child, he would always praise not only her looks, but she did remember him telling her that she could be anything she wanted, if she put her mind to it. However, as she got older, and things with Gabriel became more of a struggle, those compliments were few and far between.
Or were they?
Flashes of her teenage years bombarded her brain.
It had always been her dad who had been there. He’d shown up when she needed him most. Never her mother. She’d always been absent, even when she’d been a small child.
But not her dad.
Until the day he left.
She couldn’t erase that if she tried.
Her father stood and gripped her forearm. “Considering all that I’ve learned, you look good.”
“You look like shit,” she mumbled, pointing to the bourbon and glancing toward Miles.
“Always the honest one.” Her dad let out a short laugh and climbed back on the stool. “I was just expelling to Miles here that while I’m happy to explain the documents I brought, I couldn’t read them to him, though not exactly sure why he’d want them read out loud.” He reached for the bottle of scotch and poured himself a couple of fingers. He lifted the glass and stared into it as if it had all the answers to the world’s problems. “You know, when Liberty was a little girl, she used to come into my home office and I’d be listening to a program that read me contracts. She’d hit the keys on the computer to stop the mechanical voice and say, Daddy, I’ll read them to you. And we’d sit there and she’d read me my work, and then we’d talk about what I should do. She was always so smart. I used to ask her if she wanted to come work for me someday and you know what she used to say to her old man?”
“Over my dead body.” Liberty took the glass Miles handed her and arched a brow. “Dad, for a smart man, sometimes you’re not too bright if you can’t figure out why Miles would need you to read them.”
Miles cocked his head.
Her father sat up taller. “Oh. I guess we have something more in common than wanting to put Charlie behind bars.” He raised his drink. “Here’s to being the dumber part of dumb.”
Miles laughed. “I’ll drink to that.”
“Oh my God. Neither one of you is stupid. Misguided and you’ve both done some idiotic things. But dumb you are not.” She took a tiny sip. While she needed a shot of courage, she needed to keep her wits about her for this conversation. “Now that we got that cleared up, I need you to answer a few questions.”
“That’s why I’m here, but first, how’s Gabriel? I need to know,” her father said. “I might have been a shit for leaving you, but I’m still his father, and whether you want to believe it or not, I do love him.”
“He was shaken up pretty bad and I’m worried he’ll have those nightmares he used to get when Mom would lock him in his room.” She leaned against the sink, opposite her father. She wanted some distance, but she also wanted to make sure she could read his facial expressions. While her dad was a master of making certain business deals, he wasn’t always the best liar.
Unlike her mother.
Then again, he’d known he wasn’t her biological dad for years, so what did she know.
“Maybe we should have this conversation at your place so if he wakes up?—”
“No.” She interrupted her dad. “He’s not ready to see you and I don’t want him to. I left him a note with instructions to call me. He’s not a child anymore. And if he’s really that scared, he’ll come to Miles anyway.”
“All right.” Her dad nodded. “What I brought should be enough to put Charlie behind bars. I just wish I had put it all together sooner.”
“What is it?” She set her glass down and inched closer to Miles, leaning against his arm. She needed to feel his skin against hers. To absorb his strength.
“His grandfather wanted to cut him out altogether. He and his father were running the company to the ground. They were spending money like it was growing on trees. They bought properties without any real plan. The investments they were making didn’t make sense. The old man came to me and asked me to help. Before he left the business, we cut a deal. I bought out most of Livingston Development.”
“I have only learned that happened right around the time you left. Why?” Liberty asked.
“My first plan was taking you kids with me to South Carolina where I was opening new offices. Your mother got wind of that and destroyed those plans about the same time Charlie’s grandfather came to me. One doesn’t have to do with the other.” Her father held up his hand. “But my control of the company has everything to do with you, Gabriel, and Charlie.”
“I don’t understand. Why?” Liberty asked.
Her father tapped the papers. “The deal was that Charlie’s grandfather help you get and stay on your feet. Not Charlie or his idiot father. And Old Man Livingston held up his end of the bargain as best he could from what I understand.”
“He did. Sort of. I mean, he got me a job and he was nice to me, but if he knew about the money, he said nothing,” she said.
“That was between you and me and while he knew I was doing it, I assume he thought better of interfering. When we spoke, which wasn’t often, especially after his stroke and he was out of the business, I was left dealing with Charlie and Oswald. I don’t like them and was constantly having to deal with their poor decisions to the point that I took voting rights from them.”
“I don’t mean to butt my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but how exactly does this affect Liberty and Gabriel?” Miles asked.
“Because when I retire, or die, my seventy percent and all my voting rights go to them,” her father said.
Miles wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “You’re not married to him anymore so that’s null and void.”
“I’m shocked he let you go so easily.” Her father arched a brow.
“He didn’t.” She took her glass and tossed it back in one gulp. “Dad, what about this gifting inheritance. Charlie has to be married and have a kid to get his money.”
“Sweetheart, there is no money left. The Livingstons are essentially broke. They need you to gain control of my company and that’s all they’ve ever cared about, only I didn’t see it until it was too late.” Once again, he tapped the papers. “But there’s more. If they did anything criminal, anything at all, that thirty percent is mine. It’s in the bylaws of the company. It works both ways as in if I did anything illegal, which I haven’t. Only I did something just as bad by abandoning you and Gabriel.”
“Yeah, that was pretty shitty,” she mumbled. “I can’t prove Charlie shoved me down the stairs which caused the death of my child.”
“We can prove he locked Gabriel in his house against his will,” Miles said. “That’s kidnapping and criminal.”
“I’ve got the smoking gun.” Her father took out another stack of papers. “I had Sandra, my assistant?—”
“Sandra’s working for you again?” Liberty asked. Sandra had been in and out of their house since Liberty could remember. Sandra was a kind woman. Sweet. Gentle. Always good with Gabriel and Liberty’s mother hated Sandra for that. Never understood why Sandra would even bother.
But her father never once got upset when Sandra would stop to play a game or spend time with his son when she was supposed to be working on some deal.
“She’s the only person I trust and she and I have way more in common than we knew,” her dad said. “Anyway, when Charlie asked to open the office in Lighthouse Cove and I knew that you had moved here?—”
“I’m sorry, how did you know?” Miles asked.
Her father let out a short breath. “I’ve always known where and what my children were doing. I might not have had the correct information because I was too foolish and hurt to examine everything closely, but I kept tabs on them.”
“So, you knew I was pregnant and that I lost my baby?” Tears stung her eyes, but she wasn’t going to cry. Not now. Not in front of her father.
Miles held her closer.
Her dad nodded.
“The anonymous flowers? The basket of my favorite cookies?”
“Yes. That was me,” her dad said softly.
“I want to call you a coward.” Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. She should have known it wasn’t an old friend, or even maybe Charlie.
“I’m sure you want to call me all sorts of names.” Her father held her stare. “But let’s get to how to nail Charlie, and then you can let loose on me, okay?”
She nodded.
“Lighthouse Cove is a unique place. One that shouldn’t be overdeveloped, but there are a lot of older homes and lots that could use a light touch. Not to mention the old mall outside of town and the racetrack. All untapped real estate that, done right, would bring money without the headaches to this town. I’ve done similar things to small towns in South Carolina. It’s different than what I’ve done in other places and I certainly wasn’t opposed to an office here, but not like Charlie wanted to do. So, when he approached me with the idea, it was under specific guidelines. He’s already broken them.”
“I’m sorry, sir. That’s not criminal,” Miles said.
“First, cut the sir crap. My name is Harvey. You might be sleeping with my daughter, and I am a wealthy man, but that doesn’t mean my shit doesn’t stink like everyone else,” her dad said. “And you’re right. It’s not. But embezzling money is.” He lifted documents from the counter and strolled around the island, shoving them at his daughter. “Take a look. I sent this all to the emails that Miles gave me right when I landed. To be honest, because that last email stated that you and Charlie were working things out, I wasn’t going to do anything with this because it would have destroyed someone you cared about and I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“We have it now and that means it went to my father,” Miles said. “He used to be the district attorney, so he’ll know what to do with them and that means we got Charlie no matter what.”
“Only, he should be going away for murder for what he did to my grandchild.” Her father slammed his fist on the counter. “I also blame myself.”
“I blame you for a lot of things, Dad. But you didn’t push me into Charlie’s arms.”
“Maybe not,” her dad said. “But once he found out that you and Gabriel got everything, he went after you and I left you vulnerable. Even after I knew you married him, I did nothing, except try to catch them at something illegal and even then, I sat on it.”
“Because of Charlie’s manipulation,” Miles said. “He played everyone.”
“If it wasn’t for Sandra, not only would I not have found half this shit, but I would have never gotten through these last few years.”
“Weird random question, Dad. But how did Sandra end up back at Livingston Development? I remember her storming out of the house, screaming at someone and saying she hoped she’d never see you again. Which also begs the question, why did you change the name if you owned controlling interest?”
“Now that’s the real shitkicker and some of it I’m not sure you’re ready for.” He leaned across the counter and grabbed his drink but didn’t bring it to his lips. “But secrets are what got us into this mess. It’s what caused you to lose your baby and why Gabriel got kidnapped. No more lies.” He set the tumbler down and looked directly into her eyes with a tear rolling down his cheek. “I changed the name because I wanted your mother to believe I’d sold out. I wanted her to believe it was us who was in financial ruin. Sandra storming out was part of that game. She helped me hid true ownership of the company, and money from your mother, but because she was going through a divorce herself, she needed to leave my employment.”
“Is that why you and mom divorced?” Liberty asked.
“One of many reasons, but mostly I couldn’t stand to look at her anymore. However, in the end, she left me before I had the chance to throw her out. Good thing too, because she was sleeping with some guy she met on a ski trip, which kicked in the prenup and she left with nothing.” He sighed.
“And Sandra? Why couldn’t she work with you through her divorce?” Liberty asked. She had no idea why she was so fixated on her, but the hammering in her chest told her it was important.
“You might want to sit down for this one,” her dad said. “But understand her divorce isn’t about you.”
“No, I’ll stand.” She took Miles’ hand and gripped it, hard.
“Do you remember Sandra’s husband, Kirk?” her dad asked.
Liberty nodded.
“Your mom had an affair with him, as she did many other men. I’m sorry. I don’t say this to hurt you and I’m honestly no longer angry about it. But that affair nearly destroyed my working relationship with Sandra, whom I’m lost without. But it’s more than that because it was an affair that had happened a long time ago. It had been over for years when we learned of it and when your mom told Sandra, I knew she’d tell you if I tried to take you and Gabriel with me to South Carolina.”
“No way.” Liberty covered her mouth as her entire body went numb. There was no rage in her veins. Only sadness. “Where’s my mother now?”
“She lives in Denver,” her father said softly. “If you ask her, she’d deny it, if she even takes your call. She recently got remarried.” Her father closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Liberty. She told her new husband she didn’t have kids.”
“Fucking bitch,” Liberty muttered. “I hope she rots in hell.”
“I’ve thought worse.” Her dad blinked, leaning against the island.
“What about Kirk?” Miles asked. “Does he know?”
Her dad nodded. “We’ve talked. They were having problems long before all this came out. I reached out to her about five years ago, begging her to come back. She did. She told me that Kirk never once thought Liberty could be his and that once he learned the truth, he couldn’t destroy a family, even after I left. He wasn’t the man who raised Liberty. That was me and he would never get in the way of that. If Liberty ever wanted to know him, he wouldn’t be opposed, but he wouldn’t be the one to step in and break that news.”
“Well, everything I thought I knew about my life just went fucking sideways.” She jerked her hand away and paced in the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Dad. No, wait. I’m not. You people fucked with my life. You lied to me. You abandoned me and Gabriel. And then when you knew Charlie was a shit, you did nothing but a little digging. No amount of anonymous cookies or monthly checks or leaving me a fucking company could ever make up for that.”
“I know.” Her father took the documents and stacked them into a neat pile on the counter and then flung his backpack over his shoulder. “I didn’t come here expecting forgiveness. I’m sure I don’t deserve it. I’m just glad I was able to help.” Tentatively, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Please know that the note I left was my stupid way of telling you that I’d always be there for you, no matter what. That you could always reach out. It’s why, even though I know now it wasn’t you emailing me, that I always responded. Money doesn’t solve most problems, but please let me continue to give you and Gabriel some of mine. Lord knows I have more than I know what to do with.” He jerked his thumb toward Miles. “That one over there seems like a good man who cares a great deal for you and Gabriel. As you comb through those documents with him, you should remind him of what you used to tell me when I used to get frustrated.”
A slow smile spread across her face at the memory. “That understanding the information is always more important than being able to read it because words on the page are meaningless unless you know what to do with them after they’ve been said.”
“Best advice I’ve ever been given.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead, like he used to do when she’d been little. “Miles was kind enough to find me a room at a local B and B. I’ll be staying there until Charlie is arrested, and then I’ll fly back to South Carolina. The only place I’ll be is there and the Livingston Development offices, so you won’t have to worry about me running into Gabriel. I know that won’t be good for him.” He turned and stretched out his arm. “Take care of my little girl and keep me informed of what happens with Charlie.”
Miles took her father’s hand. “I’ll do that.”
“Thank you.”
Her dad turned and headed toward the door.
“Dad. Wait.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “If you ever need me or just want to talk, I won’t ever say no.” With that, her father walked out the door.
Miles came up behind her and put his arms around her middle. “You doing okay?”
“No. Yes. Fuck if I know.”
Miles twisted her body until she was facing him dead-on. “I’m not defending what your father did, because some of it is just plain wrong. But he was living his own hell. He was trapped in a loveless marriage?—”
She covered Miles’ mouth. “I know. I lived it. And a million and one memories, both good and bad, have filled my brain. But I can’t reconcile the fact he still left.”
“Look. Your father is a broken man. He has to live with what he’s done for the rest of his life.”
“You can’t seriously be asking me to forgive him just because he came forward with this information?” She cocked her head.
“No. But I am asking you to show him a little compassion,” Miles said. “Just like I asked Jameson to show our mother when she told us about her affair and who Jameson’s biological father was. What our parents did was wrong. Dead wrong. And it fucked with all of us. We can’t go back and change history. But we can learn from it. We can accept it and move forward. Your dad has never forgotten. In his own weird, messed-up way, he’s been there for you and Gabriel. Charlie—and frankly, your mother—got in the way of that and if they hadn’t, who knows. Maybe the three of you might have stood a chance at reconciling a long time ago.”
She cupped Miles’ cheek. “Information is always more important?—”
He pressed his fingers on her lips. “I really want to believe I’m good enough for you. For Gabriel. Those old tapes are hard to stop.” He kissed her softly. “I’m falling so hard for you, Liberty; it’s making my head spin.”
“You and me both,” she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m the one who should be worried about being good enough. All I’ve ever done is take from you.”
“Not true.” He held her so close, she could feel his heart beating next to hers. “You’ve given me something no one else ever has.”
“What’s that?”
“Something to love.” He tilted her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “I’ve never been in love before, but I think I’m in love with you.”
“Well, stop thinking and start feeling, because I know I’m in love with you.” Before she could press her lips against his, Emmerson came barreling through the front door.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Emmerson said. “But I have breaking news almost as important as my little brother losing his heart to the best damn thing that has ever happened to him.”
“Fuck off,” Miles muttered.
“Not on your life and it’s about damn time.” Emmerson laughed. “But I thought the two of you should know that the State Police, with the help of Mom and Nathan, just arrested Charlie. The charges are extensive and they bleed over to his father, who was picked up five minutes ago. Since it’s Friday, those two will be spending the weekend in a jail cell.”
“But they will get out on bail, right?” Liberty asked.
“It’s possible,” Emmerson said, waving his finger. “But our dad spoke to the DA and since they both booked a flight out of the country twenty minutes before they were picked up, they are considered a flight risk. Their bond will be quite high and I heard they were broke, so not likely.” Emmerson shook his head. “I only got a peek at what was in those documents, but whoever this Sandra person is, Rhett wants to hire her. She found hidden bank accounts that prove Charlie and his father were stealing money from Liberty’s dad for years. She only started flagging it when she went back to work for him a few years ago. Your dad’s been working on this for quite some time.”
“I wonder why he didn’t tell us all that,” Miles said.
“Because my dad’s a proud man.” She patted Miles’ chest. “Sandra understood his learning disability and helped him hide it from everyone else. My mom always made him feel like he was stupid, like my grandparents did, and he didn’t want anyone in the company to know. So the fact that Charlie and Oswald were able to exploit that, I’m sure burns my father’s ass and makes him feel foolish because he couldn’t see it in black and white. He’s like you that way. He relied on me and Sandra to help him. He lost me when he left us, and Sandra too, leaving him with my mother, who was trying to take him for every penny he earned the old-fashioned way.”
“He had to have someone helping him,” Miles said.
“My father was always resourceful and it sounds like Sandra was always helping. But, like you, he senses when things are amiss and that’s when he begged Sandra to come back full-time.” She raced to the island and shuffled through some of the paperwork, sorting through it by date until she found what she was looking for. “It all comes back to when I lost my baby.” She shoved the paperwork at Miles, who handed it to his brother. “The divorce attorney that landed in my lap. That wasn’t by accident. Sandra set that up, which means my father had a hand in that. Jesus, why wouldn’t he just come out and say that?”
“Pride. Shame,” Emmerson said. “And I could think of a million other reasons why he wouldn’t, including not wanting it to be seen as meddling, but let’s be glad that he did.”
“Not to mention he knows that you’d see all that anyway,” Miles said. “He doesn’t believe what he did is forgivable. All he wants is to do what he can to make up for it. And in a way, he did.”
“None of this is making it easy for me to continuing hating that man.” She tossed the papers back on the island. “Because I want to.”
“Forgiveness comes in stages. Ask our brother Jameson about that.” Emmerson squeezed her shoulder. “I need to go back to my wife. They are releasing her tomorrow and while she’s as cool as a cucumber about having twins and this whole needing extra fluids thing until the morning sickness goes away, I’m a fucking wreck.”
Liberty laughed. “Emmerson, you’re going to be a great dad and Miles is going to be the best godfather known to man.”
“If he doesn’t drop one of my kids on his head.” Emmerson slapped his brother on the back. “You two can sleep easy tonight.” He waggled his finger. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Well, that doesn’t leave us much. I was hoping to use some handcuffs,” Miles said.
“Go right ahead, little brother.” Emmerson laughed. “See ya later, lovebirds.” Emmerson turned on a dime and strolled out the door.
“Handcuffs?” Liberty asked.
“Inside joke, but damn, he finally did it again.”
“I don’t think I want to know.”
Miles took her by the hand. “Come on. You should be at home in case Gabriel wakes up. I can sleep on the sofa if you want me to. But even though Charlie has been arrested, I’m not leaving your house.”
“I think it’s safe to say that my bed would be an acceptable place for you to crash for the night,” she said. “But what am I supposed to do about my dad?”
“Nothing tonight.” He kissed her palm. “My brother’s right. Whatever happens with your dad will come in stages. There is a world of hurt and it’s not going away overnight.”
She paused at the front door and gazed into the one man’s eyes whom she knew without a shadow of a doubt would never intentionally hurt her or her brother. Miles was hers to love. “I’m never getting a real date out of you because we’re way beyond that now.”
“Oh, no, we are not. I’m still doing that right no matter how we feel about each other. You deserve the world and I plan on giving it to you.”