Chapter 37 Quinn
Quinn
“Where are you?” Asher asked as I answered the phone.
True to his word, Asher had gotten to my place in the late afternoon yesterday as the last of my stuff was cleared out.
He drove me to his apartment where Noah was already waiting with food.
Will, Oli and Jaxson weren’t far behind and we spent the night catching up and watching a movie.
They knew what they were doing, and I knew what they were doing. But damn it, it was working.
I hadn’t rebooked my flights yet and my mom wasn’t pushing it.
It was hard because as I spent time with them, I realized it wasn’t just Theo that I missed.
I was annoyed with myself for pushing them away.
They were being extra careful not to mention him around me and suddenly leaving didn’t feel as urgent.
“On your couch.”
Well, the couch was actually eating me.
I’d woken up and moved down here, comfortable in my sweatpants with my hair piled on my head as I tried to read a book. It wasn’t having the same escapist effect that it normally did.
I was grateful that Asher’s apartment was different from Theo’s despite it being the only other penthouse in this building.
It had two floors like Theo’s but that was where the similarities stopped.
It had warm wood floors and cabinets, cozy furniture that was rounded and soft.
It was a great place to hide from the world.
Although, it had no personal touches and felt more like a hotel than a home.
When I mentioned that to Asher he looked around, shrugged and said it didn’t bother him.
“Can you come down to the office?”
“Why?” I asked as I pulled myself out of the leather. One day without work to do or things to pack and I was already bored so I knew I was going to go see him, but I was still suspicious.
“I have a business proposition for you,” he said casually. I narrowed my eyes as I moved to the guest bedroom. It was really more of a suite, there was a bathroom, sitting area and a balcony.
Asher never did anything casually. “What kind of business proposition?” I pulled my hair out of my bun with a wince. Thankfully my curls were still intact and loose, it was a little dirty but nothing a little dry shampoo couldn’t fix. “Is he there?”
“I don’t have any meetings left today so I’ll see you when you get here.” He hung up without answering my question, something I’d come to learn was very common for Asher.
The man never said goodbye.
Thirty minutes later I walked into the Knight Enterprise offices to find Shelly standing near the front reception desk. Her face lit up as she saw me and pulled me into a big hug.
“Hey hun,” she said in her kind voice. I returned the hug and then pulled back.
“Do you know what I'm doing here?”
“Come, come.” She looped her arm through mine. “Asher is waiting for you.” I narrowed my eyes at her as we climbed the stairs. She ignored my question and wouldn’t meet my eyes. Something was definitely up. “Boardroom, honey.” She gave me a little shove toward the door.
I stepped inside and immediately regretted coming here.
Asher was going to die.
Because I was going to kill him.
Theo was sitting at a chair in the middle of the boardroom across from me, a file on the table in front of him.
“What the hell is this?” I didn’t bother waiting for a reply. I turned to leave but Asher was standing in the doorway, blocking my escape. “You’re a bastard. Why did you bring me here?” I narrowed my eyes accusatorily.
His voice was calm as he tilted his chin down. “Hear him out.”
“I can’t believe you ambushed me,” I huffed. “I trusted you.”
“I didn’t tell you that he wasn’t here, I just didn’t mention it.” I shook my head at his lame excuse and turned around to look at Theo. I would deal with Asher later.
“Why aren’t you in London? Don’t you live there now?” I didn't bother mentioning that Asher had told me he was back at the house. Didn't need him thinking that I cared. That I was asking questions about him.
“I have a business proposition for you.”
I frowned, not liking the gleam in his eyes. He was acting like the detached businessman I first met who offered me a job with my boss in the same room.
“Too bad for you. I don’t work for Elevate anymore.”
I didn’t bother telling him how I had my first call scheduled with Edward to talk about a position with the Maria Knight Memorial Fund. Theo’s eyes pinged to Asher and then back to me.
“Did you get fired? I made it very clear when we closed our account with Elevate that it didn’t have anything to do with you and we were thrilled with your work. I’ll call—”
I interrupted him. “I wasn’t fired.” I hated myself for liking that he cared so I tried to shove a wall in place between my feelings and me. “I quit.”
“Why?” he asked with a tilt of his head.
I let out a sigh. “That’s none of your concern. This isn’t why I’m here. Tell me what you want, so I can reject it. I need to get back to Ash’s and get myself together. I’m taking a flight tomorrow.”
Decision made, I needed to leave. Seeing him made it very clear I wasn’t anywhere close to moving on.
“Fine. Sit down.” His blue-grey eyes pierced me and then he quirked an eyebrow at the chair across from him as if daring me not to.
I looked back at Asher who was already pulling the door closed. Leaving the two of us here alone. I glared at the door for a moment before I sat, keeping my back straight. Not sure what the hell we could possibly be doing here.
“What is it, Knight?”
His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed slightly.
Literally everyone but me used his last name. Using it had been my way of keeping some distance. I needed the distance so I could hear his offer, turn him down, and then get the hell out of here and leave him behind like he did to me.
“My father got wind that I was considering opening an office in New York and decided to try and get leverage on me. When he heard I was dating someone, he had you investigated,” he said as he tapped his finger on the thick file in front of him.
My eyebrows rose in surprise. “I only found out about it a little over a month ago.”
“What could he possibly have found on me? Considering I haven’t even had a speeding ticket before I can’t imagine he found anything that would give them that big of a folder.”
“He didn’t find anything on you.” I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear as he watched me closely. I didn’t know if it was for my reaction or if it was because he took over tucking my hair for me when we were together.
I wondered if he missed it as much as I did.
“Okay…”
“When he couldn’t find anything on you, he turned to look at your family.”
“Why?”
“He needed something to force my hand and he realized that could be done through you,” Theo answered like it was so simple.
“So those are my family’s dark secrets?” I looked again at the folder.
“Well, he didn’t have to go much further than your father.” With that, he slid the folder across the table to me. I stopped it before it fell off the edge. “That isn’t going to be easy to read, Quinn.” I took a nervous breath and then opened the file.
As I flipped through the pages, my stomach dropped.
I was not an expert but there were enough key words standing out for me to understand the important parts.
The documentation started before I was even born, basic things about him.
But then it got so much worse than I would’ve ever thought possible.
I stopped at a copied page.
“What… how…” I looked up at Theo, feeling lost with all the new information.
“He had a job, Quinn, the one you thought he lost. He’s had it this whole time.”
I looked down at the pay stub dated a month ago. With his name listed. He worked at an investment firm, much smaller than the one that Theo’s dad owned but he had a fucking job.
“I don’t understand…”
“You need to keep reading,” he said gently, which had me bracing for what was next.
I read through the rest of the papers. I had to do it five times to make sure I was understanding the information correctly.
“He’s been embezzling money?” I pushed the file away and put my hand on my stomach, I worried I was going to be sick.
“For over ten years, yes. The amount was very high.”
I didn’t even see him, my eyes had blurred, I wasn’t able to focus.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“The account he’s hiding the money in, it’s in your name.”
I clenched my eyes closed as the words hit me. “But I’ve been sending him money, he doesn’t have any. I’ve been paying off his debts.”
“He had you transfer him once in a while to keep a line of money flowing between you, the ones you paid in person were likely real since all of his money seems to be sitting in those offshore accounts.” The betrayal was forming as a bitter acid in my stomach.
“How long have you known?”
“Warren told me the night before our fight.” So he knew my dad was a criminal who was stealing money and then broke it off with me.
“Did my dad even call you?” My voice was low and shaky.
“No.”
I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment, trying to settle myself. “Then the accident happened and you came back?”
“He threatened to turn this on you if I didn’t walk away from any talks of a New York office and break things off with you.
” I shook my head at him as he continued.
“But then the accident happened and I came back. My father was not happy when he got word and made sure I knew he was watching. I didn’t have a choice.
“He was prepared to take some drastic steps that I wouldn’t allow and he knew that. You’re my weakness and he exploited that. Your father had been stealing money from a powerful family, it wouldn’t only have been the cops coming after you.”
“But I didn’t know about any of this. What could they’ve done to me?” My anger was simmering, growing every time he spoke.
“The account is in your name, Quinn, there is a chance they wouldn’t believe you or would have come after you if they couldn’t get him.”
“So you threw our relationship out like it was nothing! Because of some potential threat from your father.” If he was surprised that I started yelling, he didn’t show it. “You made a decision to end this without even talking to me.”
“It’s a risk I wouldn’t let you take.”
“You don’t control me. You don’t get to decide this. Damn it, Theo, I can’t believe you.”
“My father was ruthless when he wanted something.”
“So why tell me now? Because your father’s dead?”
“I’ve been working on sorting it all out.
I got Jaxson and Will involved but it took some time.
It would have come to a head even if my father was still alive.
I couldn’t just pay off your father’s debts.
I needed to dismantle Warren’s power piece by piece and ensure your father stepped up and admitted what he’d been doing.
“Your father has turned himself in, he has forty-eight hours to present himself to the RCMP for processing.” His words deflated me, my mind was spinning with all the information I didn’t know how to process.
I slumped back in my chair, running a hand over my face. “Are you expecting me to be grateful to you?”
“No, I’m not expecting anything, I just wanted you to know.”
Shaking my head, I looked over at him. “I can’t believe you hid this from me.”
“I couldn’t risk you getting hurt in the crosshairs of my father’s sick need to control me. I’m so—”
“I don’t want to hear your apology.” I stood up and turned my back on him. My anger wasn’t directed only at him, but he was the one here for me to focus on at the moment.
“Quinn.” Smart man, he knew now was not the time to use a nickname because I would’ve lost it.
“This is the stupidest business proposition I’ve ever heard.” I didn’t turn around to look at him. “Do you just like seeing me hurt?” My voice broke as I tried to pull myself together so I didn’t cry.
“I wanted to—” I heard him moving and I turned around with my hand out.
“Do not come near me.”
“Okay.” He held his hands up. “I want you to know—”
“Please stop.” I finally made eye contact with him. “I’m barely holding myself together and I apparently need to go face my father. That is literally all I can handle right now.” I turned around with tears in my eyes and walked out of his office, not looking back.
Déjà vu from when he walked out on me not so long ago.
“Q.” I heard Asher call after me, but I just shook my head and left the office.
I’d pulled outside my dad’s place ten minutes ago, but I sat in my car staring at the house trying to figure out how to sort my head out.
Things weren’t adding up for me. His house was rundown and dirty.
But from the size of his accounts and the money I’d given him, he could have afforded something much nicer.
Everything I knew about the man was a lie and I didn’t even know how to start unraveling this mess.
I took a breath and walked up to the door.
“Quinn.” My father didn’t seem surprised as he opened the door. He looked disheveled which was nothing new for him honestly. He had bags under his eyes, and his clothes were wrinkled. He looked me over and let out a sign. “You know.”
It wasn’t a question.
“You need to explain to me what the hell is going on.”
He held the door open and gestured for me to go inside. It looked like he’d cleaned up recently, there were no dishes lying around and no dying fruit on the counter.
“I have to head out soon. Don’t want a warrant to be issued for my arrest.” He said it like it was an accusation as he sat down on the couch. I took an arm chair across from him, sitting on the edge of it.
“Stop the bullshit, don’t sit there acting like I did this to you.”
“From what I understand that boyfriend of yours got involved,” he grumbled as he took a sip of a brown alcohol.
I bit my lip. “Not my boyfriend. I need you to tell me everything, no more lies. Please.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face, letting out a sigh before he started talking.