Chapter 32
Elliot
Confronting Father Dearest
“Is everything in place?” I ask Dilynne as she leans up against the conference table, watching me wear a path in the carpet.
“Yes. Trust me, I have it all under control.”
I walk over to her and pull her into my chest, cupping her face. “I trust you. I just…”
She presses up on her toes and kisses me. “I know. No matter how you look at this, it sucks.”
“It really fucking does.”
A throat clears from the doorway, breaking our moment. Dilynne and I turn at the same time to find my father standing there, his hands slid into the pockets of his slacks. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“No interruption,” Dilynne says, leaving my arms to go over and greet my father.
His eyes move up and down her body, and in that moment, I have to fight the urge to punch him. “Miss Clark, you certainly look different.”
Dilynne smiles at him. “Well, I decided to dress the part since I’m in the office today, sir.”
Dilynne is wearing a red satin blouse with the top half of her hair pulled back, and a black pencil skirt with nothing underneath it. I know that for a fact since I just fucked her in my office before we came into the conference room to meet with my father.
The poor schmuck. He probably has no idea what’s about to happen, and part of me almost feels sorry for him.
Key word being almost.
“You definitely delivered. Perhaps a career in law is in your future?”
Dilynne snorts, covering her laughter with her hand. “Uh, no, Mr. Thorne. Me and the law don’t really get along.”
Yeah, neither do the law and my father apparently, I think to myself.
“Shame. Such a noble career. You and Elliot could be a power couple since you’re insistent on not having children.”
“Well, we already are a power couple,” Dilynne says as she leads my dad over to one of the chairs toward the front of the room. “I won Best Restoration at my car show last week, and I took home a six-figure prize when my Porsche 356 was auctioned off.”
Dilynne is being modest. She took home almost $750,000 for the Porsche, making it one of the highest auction prices for a restoration in the history of Motorlux. The bidding war was insane and certainly entertaining to watch, especially because Vinnie was beet red with barely contained fury.
Vinnie Delatorre stayed on his side of the exhibition hall the day following our altercation, but I still watched his every move in case he was bold enough to try something.
Fortunately, the lack of interest in his Rolls-Royce was enough punishment for Dilynne because when she finally got a chance to look at his car, she pointed out several things he missed the mark on that someone with his experience should never have let slide.
I think it was the last sliver of validation she needed to know that Vinnie’s opinion of her and what he did to her all those years ago isn’t worth her energy anymore. And I made sure she forgot all about him the rest of the weekend while we celebrated her success.
My father’s brow lifts. “Six-figures, you say? I don’t suppose you’d be interested in loaning a few bucks to your future father-in-law, now would you?”
I nearly toss my head back with laughter, but luckily I’m able to keep my cool. “What do you need money for, Dad?”
He narrows his eyes at me with a smirk on his lips. “I’m joking, of course, Elliot. Come on, can’t you take a joke?”
“Yes I can since I’m looking at one right now.”
“What?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. But speaking of your future title of father-in-law, that’s part of the reason Dilynne and I wanted to meet with you today.”
He moves his eyes to Dilynne, watching her round the table and return to me on the side near the door, wrapping her arm around my waist as I pull her into me as well. “Is that so?”
“Yes, Henry,” Dilynne interjects. “We’ve finally landed on a wedding date like you asked.”
My dad perks up in his seat. “Well, that’s wonderful. Soon, I hope?”
“Oh, very soon,” I say just as I hear a knock on the conference room door. I release Dilynne and move toward it. “But before we tell you all of the details of our impending nuptials, there are a few more people we wanted to be in on the discussion.”
“I hope it’s your mother since you know she’s going to have opinions on the matter…” he says, trailing off when I open the door and the people standing there waiting to come in are anybody but my mother. “Greg?”
Greg Turner, my father’s friend and accomplice in this matter, walks into the room like a deer caught in the headlights. “Henry, what the hell is going on? Elliot said he needed to meet with me, but…”
“Don’t worry, Greg. All will be revealed in a moment,” I say. Greg steps further into the room so Kevin Watson, the new District Attorney of Mecklenburg County, can also enter. “Kevin! Great to see you.”
“Likewise, Elliot. Glad to help you out today.”
I reach out to shake his hand. “You have no idea how much I appreciate your help with this matter.”
My father clears his throat. “Kevin? You’re here to learn about Elliot’s wedding?”
Kevin turns to me, a smirk on his face. “Love this even more now.”
“Oh, just wait.” I turn back to the door as I watch the final person step through, Rhonan Hart, deputy sheriff himself. “Rhonan.”
He reaches out to shake my hand as well, and then shuts the door behind him. “Elliot. This ought to be fun, huh?”
Dilynne chuckles behind me. “The fun is just getting started.”
I focus my attention back on my father. “Now, Dad. I’m sure you’re wondering why I would invite Greg, the District Attorney, and a sheriff to the meeting about our wedding.”
He eyes me curiously. “That I am, son.”
“Well, before we get to the details, Dilynne and I wanted to share the cake design that we chose.”
Dilynne retrieves the box from Bites & Bliss bakery from the table behind me and carries it over to where my dad is sitting with Greg right next to him, setting the box in front of them. “Any time I can use Carolina’s baked goods to send a message, I’m going to do it.”
My father eyes her curiously. “What message?”
“Open the box, Dad.”
He glances over at Greg whose paranoia is seeping out of his pores. “Just open it, Henry.”
“Fine,” my dad mutters before lifting the lid and seeing the cake Dilynne had designed for just this moment. “What is this?”
“Those are handcuffs,” Dilynne answers.
He glares at her. “I’m fully aware of what they are.”
“Good. And what do they say?”
Greg leans over to read the writing along the metal cuff. “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
“I thought maybe, ‘Don’t drop the soap if you still want to poop’ would have been better, but I didn’t want the implication to get lost,” Dilynne chimes in.
My father clenches his jaw. “What the fuck is going on here, Elliot?” He pushes his chair back as he stands. “I demand to know what you’re up to!”
“Be careful, Dad. Your demands don’t mean much to me anymore since your ability to tell the truth and earn my respect is completely gone.”
Rhonan reaches for the gun on his hip. “I suggest you sit down, Henry.”
My father looks over at him. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
Kevin clears his throat. “Actually, he can. And in a moment, he’s going to arrest both you and Mr. Turner here.”
My father pounds his fist into the table, nearly knocking the cake over. I debate reaching out to save it from falling and having to be thrown away, but honestly, my pants have been fitting a bit better since Dilynne stopped sending me baked goods the past few weeks. “On what charges?”
“Conspiracy to commit fraud and forging a will.”
“Shit,” Greg mutters beside him, pinching the bridge of his nose.
My father narrows his eyes at Kevin. “You have no proof.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, Dad,” I say, reaching behind me to grab the real will and trust that my grandfather left behind.
“You really shouldn’t leave important documents lying around that you don’t want people to see.
” Holding up the paper to him so he can see that I’ve found the correct will for my grandfather’s estate, I watch the blood drain from his face.
“Yeah, I suppose you thought your dirty work was done and buried, but the next time you attempt to forge a will, you should probably make sure the font and ink matches on the two documents.”
“You son of a bitch!” He yells, attempting to catapult himself across the table at me. Luckily, Rhonan steps in, pulling my dad across the table and throwing him down on the ground.
Greg attempts to make a run for it, but Kevin stops him at the door. “Not so fast, Turner.”
“Please. This was all Henry’s idea. He forced me into it!”
“No, he bribed you with a cut of my inheritance,” I cut in with the truth about why he would help my dad. That part clicked for me later after we spoke a few weeks ago.
“I told him no, but…”
“You fucking liar, Greg! You told me this would be easy!”
I stare down at my dad on the floor as Rhonan pulls his arms behind his back and puts on the cuffs.
Dilynne comes up beside me. “Just breathe.”
I reach for her hand and give it a squeeze. “Thank you.”
“Of course. I’m here for you.”
I turn to look down at her. “I know you are. You always have been.”
Rhonan begins to read him his rights. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…” Once he’s done, he pulls my dad from the floor so I can look him in the eyes.
“Thank you for proving to me that you are so much less of a man than Grandpa ever was.”
“I am his son. His own flesh and blood, and he left his fortune to you! I did everything for that man, and this is what I get?” He shakes his head, his face red and hair in disarray. “I was just getting what I deserved.”
“What you deserve is to rot in a jail cell for a while and figure out how you became this greedy human being that your own father didn’t raise you to be,” Dilynne says while keeping her grip on my hand.
“You have no idea what it takes to be a man, Elliot. You have failed me in so many ways…”
“Right back at you, Dad.”