Chapter 35 #2
Myles pulled to a stop further up the street, but from where they were, they had a very clear view of his grandmother’s old house. So many terrible emotions bubbled to the surface: grief, sorrow… fear.
Why would Nolan have him come here and not be with him? Why didn’t he know how hard this would be?
“Hey,” Myles said softly, turning towards him. “Don’t freak out. You don’t have to go in there. Nolan just wanted you to see what happens next.”
“What?” Kai choked out.
“Justice,” Myles said with malevolent satisfaction.
Kai’s head swivelled forward, looking around, anxiously waiting for something to happen.
“Nolan reached out to Noah around the time that you left. Remember him from the gala?” Kai nodded, swallowing the questions that crowded onto his tongue.
“Noah works for a private investigator that we sometimes use for… different things. Nolan wanted to know everything about your uncle and the lawyer, Barney Allston, just to stack the deck in our favour.”
As Myles spoke, Noah and a man that Kai didn’t recognize approached the front door of the house, Noah holding a manila envelope.
The other man was taller than Noah, almost twice as broad across his muscled shoulders, dressed in black trousers and a button-down shirt.
He had a distinct not-to-be-fucked-with aura about him that Kai could see even from where they sat.
“That’s Drew Stanton. He’s taking what happened to you very personally.” Myles chuckled.
“Why? I don’t even know him.”
“He has several nieces and nephews, and he takes his role as their uncle extremely seriously. As far as he’s concerned, what happened to you is one of the worst kinds of betrayals. Nolan had to make it clear that he wasn’t allowed to use excessive force. Unfortunately.”
Kai’s nails bit into his palms as his uncle opened the front door.
His hair had greyed quite a bit and he’d definitely gained some weight, but he was so familiar to Kai that he was immediately thrown back to the last time he’d seen him, just like that, on his grandmother’s front porch.
The memory played alongside the present as he watched the three men chat briefly.
A cold sweat broke out across his skin, making him shiver despite the heat outside.
He hated this. He felt sick just seeing the man.
Anger and grief warred inside him as every terrible thing that had ever happened to him did battle with the life that should have been his.
Every time he’d been treated cruelly, had his belongings thrown out as garbage, been robbed and beaten and touched against his will, because his body had so often been the only commodity he had.
Every time he’d been scorned, told to move along, had coffee and food thrown at him.
All of that had happened because of that man.
He couldn’t hear what was being said from where they sat, but Kai saw his uncle’s momentary alarm before he got angry.
He tried to slam the door, but Noah put a hand to stop it from closing.
Whatever was said next made his uncle step back from the door, letting it swing freely so that the two men could enter.
They’d been silent while they watched the exchange, but as soon as the door closed, behind them Myles resumed his story.
“Anyway, we ended up getting a lot more than we expected. It turns out that they were friends in high school and eventually went to college together. When your grandmother needed a lawyer for her will, he got the referral.”
Myles reclined his seat, propping one arm behind his head, but looking over his sunglasses at Kai.
“Barney, by the way, is also a piece of shit and an absolute coward. As soon as he was confronted with what we had on him, he folded like wet tissue. Gave up your grandmother’s will and spilled so much shit on your uncle that if the cops get him, he’ll be spending his twilight years in a jail cell. ”
“I don’t understand,” Kai said, bewildered even as his brain latched on to the part where they had the will.
Shouldn’t that have been it? He felt like this story was taking a winding road and he really just needed Myles to get to the point.
Myles was staring out the windshield towards his grandmother’s house again. “I thought we just needed the will.”
“That’s true. Landon was willing to take the matter to court and was confident that we would be successful, but that takes time. Nolan wasn’t willing to give your uncle any more of that. He decided on a more nuclear option.”
“This is the nuclear option?”
“It turns out that stealing from you was just one thing in a long list of terrible shit your uncle has done. Do you know where your uncle works?”
“Yeah, some old age home. I don’t know where.”
“Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that your uncle has been siphoning money from patient accounts for the last fifteen years, to the tune of about two-and-a-half million dollars and his bestie, Barney, has been helping him hide it in an offshore account.
That’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
Your uncle apparently doesn’t know that Barney kept immaculate records of every misdeed just in case he needed to use it to save his skin. ”
“What’s going to happen to all of those people’s money?” Kai asked.
Myles glanced over at him affectionately. “You know, Nolan was right about you. Don’t worry about it. As of about,” he checked his watch, “an hour ago, those funds were seized by people Drew knows. He’ll make sure it gets where it needs to go.”
They sat in silence, but something was bothering Kai that he needed an answer to.
“Why didn’t Nolan come?”
“Because Nolan wanted to make sure you understand that this is yours without any strings attached. Completely separate and apart from your relationship with him. You don’t owe him anything for this, and he doesn’t want you to feel beholden to him at all.”
“But none of this would have happened without him.”
“Yeah, but this is because he’s a good person. That’s separate from him being a good partner.”
Kai understood, but he still wished he was here.
He wasn’t sure exactly what they were waiting for, but half an hour later, it became apparent when both his aunt and uncle came through the door, harried and panicked, each of them dragging a lone large garbage bag.
Myles chuckled, but Kai felt kind of sick.
It was karma coming full circle, but it still did horrible things to his insides knowing how they must feel right this moment, watching it, like his uncle had watched him all those years ago.
“Drew is so fucking literal. I’m surprised he’s letting them have the car.” Myles’ shoulders shook with laughter.
Kai watched as his uncle threw their belongings into the backseat. Noah and Drew stood in the doorway, watching them as they reversed out of the driveway. Kai’s heart slammed against his ribcage as he realized that they were going to drive right past him. They were going to see him there.
He locked eyes with his uncle first, and the shock and incredulity on his face would have been hilarious if Kai had been capable of finding anything funny.
Their car slowed to a crawl as they peered in at him, his aunt’s expression bewildered and fearful.
He saw Myles flip them off out of the corner of his eye before they sped away.
When he looked over at Myles, he was grinning. “That was incredibly satisfying. I think you might have healed something in me.”
Kai scoffed weakly. “So, what happens now?”
Myles nodded towards his window, and when Kai turned, Noah was leaning down in front of it.
He pressed the button to open it, and Noah lifted his hand to show a keyring pressed between his index and middle fingers.
Kai turned his hand upward, and Noah dropped it onto his palm, where it sat hot and heavy.
Noah tilted his head towards Myles. “I’ll send the paperwork when I get back to the office.”
Myles saluted him with a smile.
Noah looked at Kai again, a smirk curving his lips, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “I want an exclusive of the wedding. If you need anything, Nolan has my number.”
Kai smiled reluctantly and watched him walk over to his car, where Drew was already seated on the passenger side.
“What do I do?” Kai asked, turning back to Myles.
“I don’t know. What do you want to do?”