Chapter 28
PHOEBE
“Thanks for bailing me out, I guess,” I mumble.
“You’re welcome. It’s what sisters do, right?” Crystal replies, both hands tightly clutching the steering wheel as she drives us to Manhattan.
“Sisters. Right,” I mutter. “How’d you know where I was?”
“It’s all over the news,” she says with an ugly laugh. “Though it took me a while to find out what precinct you were in. That was a pretty big raid, apparently.”
“Yeah, I did not see it coming. Where are we going? Where’s Dominic?”
“Fuck if I know. Dominic is the least of your concerns, though.”
She won’t look at me, and it’s bothersome, to say the least. A bad feeling creeps up my spine, quick to replace the temporary relief I experienced when Crystal came to my jail cell, accompanied by a police officer.
I sift through my purse with trembling hands. “I don’t have my phone.”
“You’re not going to need it,” Crystal bluntly replies.
“Okay, what is going on here?”
“You made a huge mess, Phoebe, that’s what’s going on. I thought I could help you, I thought I could get Mom to back down from the whole inheritance thing.”
“You did?”
I sound surprised, and for good reason since Crystal has been working hand in hand with our mother to screw me over.
A moment passes in heavy silence as I gaze at her profile.
She looks tired underneath a hastily applied layer of concealer and light powder.
Crystal never leaves the house looking less than perfect.
I notice her hair isn’t brushed, either.
She doesn’t seem to care, her fingers nervously tapping the wheel as she takes a tight turn.
“Crystal, talk to me.”
“What do you want me to say, Phoebe? Your lifestyle choice might’ve been shaky at best for Mom to use against you in court, but this arrest? The illegal gambling? It’s a huge scandal. Baldwin Enterprises will never recover unless you do your part.”
“My part?”
“She’s waiting for us at the office. That’s where we’re going.”
“To do what, Crystal?”
“You need to avoid the legal shitstorm headed your way. I’m sorry it has come to this. I thought I could stop her, but you gave her just the right ammunition with this stupid stunt.”
My blood boils. The rage pulls a red veil over my eyes as I struggle to breathe and find the right words in my defense. This is beyond ludicrous.
“Crystal, she was there!”
“Where?”
“At the Jade Dragon!” I snap. “Dammit! Dominic and I were following her, okay? Mom was there, playing at one of the tables and losing a lot of money. We watched her sign a check for another buy-in using the company checkbook!”
Heavy silence fills the air between us. Crystal still won’t look at me.
The main boulevard opens up ahead. I see the morning rush of people heading into work. On their phones. Takeaway lattes in their hands. Crisp shirts and tailored suits. Worker bees all part of a corrupt and exhausting system.
“I don’t believe you,” my sister finally says.
“You don’t have to believe me, but it’s the truth. We have proof. Mom’s been gambling illegally on company money.”
“You can’t prove that.” She tries to laugh, but something tells me she’s not buying her own words.
Of course. Because she already knows the truth. She wouldn’t have followed our mother down this particular rabbit hole if she wasn’t at least partially complicit. It makes me angry. It makes me restless in my seat.
“Stop fidgeting, we’re almost there,” she says.
“Crystal, she’s been playing fast and loose with company money for years. Our inheritance, our father’s company. You’ve been helping her drive the whole thing into the ground. And now you want to take my shares and my money so you can what, waste that too?”
“No, Phoebe. It’s nothing like that. We’re trying to protect the company from you. Do you understand?”
“You’re crazy.”
“Phoebe. You ran off to Hawaii to screw three guys. You were arrested while illegally gambling. The press is dancing circles around us. Our company stocks dropped to an all-time low because of your latest stunt,” she says.
“Sure, we hit a rough patch along the way, but we’re working through it.
Mom’s cooperating with the SEC, gathering the documentation they require to clear us.
All is well on our end. But the family and the company’s reputation have taken a hard hit. Because of you.”
“Come on,” I scoff, shaking my head in disbelief.
“Don’t believe me? That’s fine. Check the news on my phone. See for yourself. Here,” she replies and slips her phone into my lap. “Go on!”
My hands tremble as I open Crystal’s phone to a news app and start scrolling through the headlines. Cold sweat blooms on my temples as dread seeps through my skin and pierces my bones, each word hitting me like a punch in the gut.
DISGRACED HEIRESS
BALDWIN PRINCESS CAUGHT GAMBLING IN ILLEGAL RING
ILLEGAL GAMBLING—THE NEW BALDWIN FUN
HEIRESS ARRESTED
BALDWIN EMPIRE IN TROUBLE
BALDWIN CORP STOCK PLUMMETS
IS THIS THE END FOR THE BALDWIN EMPIRE?
The articles describe how I was unceremoniously escorted in cuffs out of the Jade Dragon along with one of my lovers, now also-disgraced CFO Dominic Coates.
They try to slander the Coates business empire as well, but the focus seems to be almost exclusively on my family, not theirs.
For a moment, I think it’s unfair until I realize it’s deliberate.
“All you had to do was keep your head down and play by the rules,” Crystal mutters. “Renounce your stupid reverse harem or whatever that fuckery is called. Take Matthew back. Get married. And Mom would’ve left you alone.”
“What does that have to do with any of—”
“You gave the press more fuel, Phoebe. It’s plain and simple.
You should’ve let Matthew’s bullshit vanish in the annals of the internet.
It would’ve died out sooner rather than later, but no, you had to respond and ask his best men to come to Hawaii so you could screw all three of them.
You had to make a public spectacle out of it. ”
Tears prick my eyes, and I have a hard time blinking them back. “Even now, what Matthew did doesn’t strike you as a big deal, is that what you’re saying?”
“Oh, please, grow up already! It’s the internet. People can say anything they want on there. It doesn’t mean it’s true.”
“It’s how you excuse your own online behavior, right? I remember you were on Team Matthew not that long ago. In fact, you were so on Team Matthew that you were screwing him while he was engaged to me!”
My anger gets the better of me, but at least I’m telling my truth for once.
“None of that matters anymore, Phoebe. Only the survival of Baldwin Enterprises matters,” Crystal replies. “Sorry, but that’s the reality we’re dealing with. Or, at least, Mom and I are dealing with. You, apparently, are still hung up on how unfairly you think people treated you.”
“People? You mean my own family. My own fiancé.”
“Well, boo-hoo and cry me a fucking river. Get over it already. I’ll send you a fruit basket to apologize. But in the meantime, you need to do the right thing for once in your sad, pathetic life.”
We pull up outside the Baldwin Enterprises building.
This used to be my second home. I was supposed to work here for a long time.
I was going to protect my father’s business and take all of its operations to the next level.
I studied and trained for this job. I worked so hard for it.
Now, just looking at it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
This place has become my undoing.
“Crystal, you don’t have to play along,” I tell her.
“Yes, I do, Phoebe, and so do you. Or else we’re all screwed. Sign the legal documents our lawyers prepared for you and let us get to work so we can undo this mess you created.”
I stand before the large, oval mahogany table in the middle of the conference room—one of three on the top floor which my mother and the executive board use for legal and business matters too sensitive to be handled anywhere else.
It tracks. I’m a legal and business matter that’s too sensitive to be handled anywhere else, too.
My mother sits at the head of the table, quietly flipping through a copy of the legal documents prepared for this occasion. Crystal is next to her, sipping coffee from a white porcelain mug, silent and ashen, while the lawyer, Mr. Harding, talks me through a copy of my own.
“This virtually bypasses any court action,” he says. “All you have to do is sign at the bottom and add your initials to every page, three original signatures for each copy. Your mother will retain one, our firm will file the second one, and you’ll have the third for your personal records.”
“And that’s it,” I mutter, staring him down.
I’ve never met this guy before, but I don’t like him.
His tweed suit makes him particularly obnoxious, and that Hercule Poirot-style mustache doesn’t do him any favors, either, especially when paired with his beady eyes and excessively sweaty hands.
I’m still wiping mine on my dress from an earlier handshake.
“Yes,” Mr. Harding says. “This document also guarantees there will be no further legal action taken against you.”
“Further legal action?”
Mom looks up, raising an eyebrow at me. Still, she doesn’t say a word.
“Baldwin Enterprises would otherwise be entitled to sue you for any financial losses incurred by your online and public behavior. They would stand to gain millions of dollars in damages,” Mr. Harding explains.
“If I don’t renounce my inheritance and company shares, that is,” I conclude.
“That is correct.”
“So, one way or another, my mother has made sure to get her hands on my money. Right?”
Mom gives me a flat smile. “You left me no other choice, Phoebe.”
“How many company checks have you signed for your illegal gambling buy-ins over the years?” I ask her directly. “Or was last night the first time you were that desperate to keep playing?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mom replies nonchalantly.
“It’s okay. In due time, it will all come out,” I say.
She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. Only a futile attempt to mask her shaky nerves. “By the time we’re done with you, darling, it won’t even matter. Just do yourself a favor and let the grownups save your father’s company.”
“I’m embarrassed for you both,” I say, my gaze bouncing between my mother and sister before landing on Mr. Harding. “I cannot, in good conscience, sign this.”
“Well, like Mr. Harding just explained, if you don’t, the legal action we’ll undertake will be swift and decisive. You won’t stand a chance against us in court,” Mom replies.
“You’re willing to do this to your own daughter. Are you not ashamed of yourself, Mom?”
“You speak to me of shame? You? Who’s face is plastered all over the news as we speak? Political and financial pundits are discussing our fate on their talk shows right now, wondering what will become of us, wondering how we’ll recover after your arrest, and you speak to me of shame?”
“I feel like we’re going around in circles here,” I sigh deeply. “Nothing I say will ever get through to you because you don’t want to accept the truth. Only your curated version.”
“Only what’s in front of us,” she retorts.
Crystal rolls her eyes and sets her coffee down. “For God’s sake, Phoebe, just sign the damn papers. It’s not over until you do.”
“It will be a lot harder for you if you don’t,” Mr. Harding tells me. “Trust me, Miss Baldwin, this will allow you to live your life however you see fit, without any interference from the company or from your family going forward.”
“As long as I give up my rightful place at this table.”
“I’ll always do what’s in the company’s best interest,” Mom says.
I don’t believe a damn word. But I’m alone up here. They won’t let me call the guys. They’re putting pressure on me, and I’m too tired, too worn out to keep fighting them on my own. Lack of sleep, too much stress… it’s all doing a heavy number on me. Not to mention my newly discovered pregnancy.
How am I going to survive a legal war and carry a baby to term? In this moment, it feels like an impossible choice that I still have to make.
Mr. Harding speaks up. “With your knowledge and expertise, you could start your own company. Build it from the ground up, away from all of this. Let your mother and sister handle Baldwin Enterprises. This legal document gives you absolute freedom. Complete separation from the Baldwins, if you so choose. Surely, it sounds enticing.”
“But I’m a Baldwin, too. Dad wanted me to be a part of it. I love this company just as much as he did. That’s why I settled for a job in the marketing department, if only to be close, to be a part of it, like Dad wanted.” My voice breaks.
I notice a glimmer of emotion in Crystal’s eyes. I don’t know if it’s our father’s memory that touches her, or if she’s having second thoughts, but I dare not get my hopes up again. She’s done just as much damage to me and the company as our mother. She’s just as guilty.
“Just sign it,” Mr. Harding insists, growing impatient. “Sign it and then it will all be over. You will have your peace.”
Peace. It does sound nice. Peace and quiet.
Away from all this chaos and animosity. What if I do take over somehow, by some twist of fate, and find myself steering a ship determined to sail off the cliff anyway?
What if I can’t undo any of it? What if I just end up going down with the ship in the end?
Maybe I am better off signing this.
Getting it over with.
Getting on with my life.
My hand trembles as I pick up the pen. It doesn’t feel right at all.
“STOP!” Penny’s voice booms across the room as she storms in, accompanied by Dominic, August, and Theo. “Phoebe! Don’t do something you’ll regret!”
My hand lets go of the pen long before her words reach me.
And the mirage breaks.