Chapter 34 Consider Me Wooed
consider me wooed
Sariah
The week is mostly uneventful. There’s some teen angst at school and annual standardized tests that add school-sponsored stress, but our week is easy. It’s fun. It’s new.
Rosie recuperates and, aside from not having the same energy she had prior, she is sprightly and back to her old self, though being here with us has had its own challenges. It seems that Cian’s playful touches and causal kisses remind her of what she lost in losing Randy.
Renée has told me she can hear RoRo crying at night, but we’ve not had a chance to really dig into it. Our chats while we waited for dinner to finish while Née would be on her phone in her room aren’t available, but I’ve still tried.
I love that Rosie had that kind of love, but it breaks me she lost it so young. I understand that all too well and wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Well, almost anyone.
Connect2Coach is no longer viable in the iteration it was designed for.
The idea is still good, and I toy with buying it.
I could acquire it for pennies on the dollar, but that’s a lot of pennies.
A lot. And owning, operating, and cyber security are three jobs.
I’m ill-equipped for all but one. But still, it’s fun to dream about the feel-good, do-good work that provides such critical connections.
Ci slides in next to me at the island. “Ayla’s on her way. She completed the audit. She hates accounting. And not in the way I hate lima beans or taxes. As in she feels about it like the Grinch… hate-hate, double hate, loathes entirely.”
My laughter interrupts his ridiculous rant. “So you’re saying she hates accounting. Why would she do an audit for you?”
“Some of Murphy Enterprises’ money was legal. Some was not. I needed a person I could trust to follow those trails, parse out what was legit and what wasn’t. Keep and hold evidence in the event we need it—”
My eyes blow wide.
“Angel, I’m leaving M.E. The only reason I haven’t is because my finances are so entangled with it.
I have to make sure I’m clean, that the house is good.
” He looks around at his home. Our home.
“And that we have a paper trail to ensure my father cannot pin anything on me as a scapegoat. And to guarantee I could walk away without legal consequences. If it weren’t me—and our father too—she probably wouldn’t touch it.
I mentioned the loathes-entirely thing.”
“I’ll make myself scarce. I have jobs to search for anyway.” I slide my laptop closed, but his palm drops to the lid preventing me from taking it.
“Please don’t. I want you here. I just want to prepare you for one”—he lifts a finger to begin ticking things off. “The accounting rant. And two, the vitriol that will be shared about Seamus Murphy. It’s not good, Angel. I haven’t told you everything.”
I slide my chin back, as if he’s lied to me.
“I’m not withholding. We’ve had a handful of great days interspersed with insanity. Don’t knock me for not making every day a drama fest. I’m wooing you.” If the man had a dimple, it would pop with the boyish grin that spreads across his face.
“Consider me wooed.” I lean in and kiss him.
Rosie clearing her throat has us pulling back like kids being busted by a parent.
“Hey, Rosie.” Cian turns her way. “My sister is coming by. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
“I missed her last time,” she puts in. As if that first seizure had them as two ships passing in the night and not what was required—a mad scramble for coverage.
“You’ll like her,” I add. “She’s delightful.”
“Correction, she’s a terror, but a likeable one. She also has memory issues. She’s got a gap for the last couple of years. Just want you to know in case you hear anything like that.” He gestures to the island. “Want some tea or juice? I can make coffee.”
Eleanor whimpers at the glass storm door at the front of the house, fidgeting and fighting to hold her seat.
“I wouldn’t argue with coffee.”
“Neither would I,” the voice yells from the foyer. “Hello, my girl. I’ve missed you. Have you been a perfect baby? Did you miss Franklin?”
“I was wrong about the terror,” Ci says. “There are two.”
“I heard that. It’s only me today, but I’m glad you think my perfect puppy is—”
She skids to a stop and looks around the island as Eleanor drops her butt to the floor at her feet. She watches Ayla with rapt attention as if waiting for her next command. “Sariah, hey!” She comes straight for me and wraps me in a huge hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”
She turns, looks straight at Rosie. “I’m Cian’s terror-slash-sister, Ayla.”
Cian
“I’m Rosie.”
“It’s great meeting you.” My sister looks her over. “Renée thinks you hung the moon and then lassoed it just for her. I trust her judgment.”
Finally, she drops her huge tote on the island with a clunk and rounds it to drop her head into my chest. “Hey, big brother. How are you?”
Her warmth and love are so welcome. We’ve always been tight, but the last month even more so. “I’m good, sis. I was just making coffee. I figure after all that—” I tilt my head toward her satchel. “It was required.”
“That plus liquor, plus dog sitting ad infinitum. Our father is an ass. A cheating, lying, thieving, self-centered ass.”
I look over her head to Sariah and share a knowing look. Here we go.
“But”—Ayla pulls back and grins—“he’s an ass who is stupid enough to leave a paper trail and he busted his own damn self. So at least there’s that.”
“Rosie,” I glance at the older woman. “We have family drama.”
“That’s an understatement,” Ayla adds.
“You’ll be looped in eventually and you’re welcome to stay.” I release my sister and return to the cabinets, pulling down four coffee mugs. “My sister is a bit of a coffee snob and a coffee addict, and we feed her habit.”
Ooh. I don’t know if that was okay. Grimacing, I turn back to Rosie but still my movements. “Is it okay if I say that stuff in front of you?”
“Why?” Ayla asks.
“I work at a rehab facility, counseling addicts,” she says to Ayla before focusing her attention on me. “That’s thoughtful of you, Cian, but I’m good. It’s common lingo and it doesn’t bother me.”
I fill coffee mugs, loving that I know each of these women’s orders. It’s a little thing, but one that makes me happy. I set Sariah’s in front of her with a kiss and lean a hip against the counter opposite the island and lift my mug. “How bad is it?”
“Overall,” Ayla starts. “Bad. For Seamus, it’s terrible. For you, best case scenario when there was drug money and bribes.”
I take a sip, mostly to buy time. “Whew. And here I was thinking you would mince words.”
My sister looks around, pausing on Rosie’s face, then Sariah’s before settling on me. I hope my nod tells her she may speak freely. There are no secrets. Not here at least.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Rosie begins. “I’m going to take in some of the sunshine and fresh air.” She takes her mug and sees herself out to the stone terrace that dominates the back yard.
“Is everything okay?” Ayla asks.
“Yeah,” Sariah offers. “She’s trying to give you some privacy.”
“My father is an ass. I’ll shout that from the rooftops. I have no need to protect him from anything.”
“Here it comes.” I smile and sip my coffee.
“I looked at M.E. as an entity, Dad’s—God, I hate calling him that—and your books. Basically. He was cheating you and cheating the business.”
Why am I not surprised?
She goes on, “Or he tried. If he hadn’t already incriminated himself to the other stuff, this would be enough. Though I’d still say you should keep all this in your back pocket.” She rounds the island, slides four folders and a laptop from her bag, and slaps them on the counter.
I flip open all the manilla folders and lay them out on the huge island in a manner where I can see all at the same time. My eyes scan, but lock on one section before raising my gaze to my sister.
“Seriously?”
She nods, just as Sariah asks, “What?”
I gesture in a swoop from Ayla to Sariah while I scan and rescan the paperwork.
“Seamus created an additional account three years and one month ago. It’s tied to Ci but was never used. In the last year, substantial deposits were made into it. Substantial. I’m thinking it was the drug money, since there were no business or personal expenditures or revenues that match.”
“He set me up to take the fall.” My head lifts first to Sariah then to Ayla. My shoulders slump in defeat.
“And if that wasn’t enough, the IRS would come knocking for tax evasion after a couple of years,” my sister adds. “If we hadn’t discovered it.”
“But why?” Sariah asks.
My sister shrugs, and I just stare, piecing together a puzzle whose image I don’t want to see. “Because he loves himself above all else. And because he could. It’s one hundred percent pride, with the smug satisfaction that he’d get away with it.”
I grab a pen and begin scrawling notes on the folder closest to me.
“I’ve cut him out. Liam’s cut him out. You’re the only holdout, Ci.”
“I’m not holding anything out. I’m done. I thought it went without saying.”
“Then what do we do with this?” Ayla asks.
At the same time Sariah asks, “Does this implicate you? What does it mean for you and your new business?”
To my sister I say, “I don’t know. Yet.” To Sariah, I add, “My new business is free and clear. I need to get with my attorney and discuss what Ayla found.” I wave the back of my hand at the paperwork demonstrating the bullshit before us.
“But since Dad put himself on administrative leave and I have control, even if it’s temporary, I plan to take my personal revenue and move it elsewhere.
I’ll pay the bills for M.E. and payroll from Dad’s personal stash, leave the drug money for the feds or whomever to claim, and then use what’s left that should’ve been mine to fund Phoenix. ”
“Phoenix?” they ask in unison.
“My new venture. I’ll dissolve M.E. Dad will be lucky if the feds don’t bring a case with all of this.” I gesture again to the paperwork unnecessarily.
“They don’t know,” Ayla adds quietly. “I have his confession, but I was keeping it as leverage.”
“That’s a problem then, because I’m going to marry Sariah.”
Ayla’s gasp fills the room echoed by Sariah’s smaller one.
“And I’m claiming Renée as my own. I won’t have him anywhere near my family.”
“Oh, Ci.” My sister rushes me, rocking me where I stand with the force of her hug.
“I love this for you.” From my side, she peers to the woman I love.
“Finally, it’s been too long coming. I love this for both of you and I’m so glad you’re in the family, Sariah.
Does this mean the ban is lifted on me and Renée taking Denver?
” She throws her hands up in victory, not bothering to wait and answers her own question. “Yes!”
I hold Sariah’s gaze. When I wink, she dissolves and her smile lights up the room.
Looking back down at the paperwork, I shake my head. The fucker set me up. He set me up in that warehouse, but he set me up before that legally and financially.
“Thank you for this.” My voice is quiet and sincere when I speak to my sister. “Without you, I’d have fallen into his trap.”
“You’re the only person on the planet I’d do accounting for. Well, maybe Liam. But don’t tell him that. I never want to do an audit like this again.”
“I won’t.”
“Tuesday. I’m heading up to Beaver Brook. You owe me a hike on Tuesday. You, too, Sariah. Plan on it.”
I’m sure my face shows the gravity of what she’s insinuating.
“This Tuesday is Renée’s birthday, so come over for dinner?” Sariah counters. “I’ll do breakfast with her—it’s a tradition.” She looks at me, “But go. You owe her.”
This is the thing about joining a family already in progress, there are times, inside jokes, and customs that I’ll have to learn as I go. “Are you sure?” I mean about breakfast, not about going.
“I’m sure.”
I agree to a hike with entirely too many people and then wonder what to get a fourteen-year-old girl for her birthday.
A fourteen-year-old girl whom I’d go to the ends of the earth for.
A fourteen-year-old girl with a scythe firmly above her neck in the form of a madman who wants to make sure her life is never whole.