19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
R owan pulled into a parking spot at Barrett Investment Group, having thought she’d never be here again. When she reached out to Emersyn on Friday night, Gerard’s sister had asked her to meet with the FBI today, Sunday, here at the office. This meant they could control the narrative, keep things under wraps until Barrett or whoever was ready to go public.
Nerves tugged at Rowan as she got out and straightened her gray suit. Her head was starting to pound. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Had they found her culpable in some way she didn’t recognize? Had her brother somehow implicated her in the sabotage? Rowan would not put that past him.
“Rowan!” Emersyn called from the doorway. The executive door. She’d only been through it once before, and that ride with Gerard had been as uncomfortable as this one was. Arriving on the quiet executive floor, Rowan followed Emersyn to the conference room. They passed Gerard’s empty office, and Rowan’s heart hiccupped. She missed him—even if he thought the worst of her. Damn it.
With a quick shake, she willed the tears away and joined Emersyn and the FBI agents in the conference room.
Not just them, though. Her mother got up from her chair and came around to hug Rowan.
“Mom?”
“Come sit down, dear.”
“Why are you here?”
Her mother nudged her toward a chair, then returned to hers on the other side of the table. “All will be explained shortly.”
“Miss McCarthy?” a gray-haired man in a suit held up an FBI badge too quickly for her to read the name.
“I’m Special Agent Landon Rowsh, from the FBI. We’d like to ask you a few questions.” A woman, presumably the note taker, in the same type of dark suit sat behind a laptop.
Rowan gulped. This was it. She was going to go down in flames, and her mother would witness it. She gulped again. “I want to help however I can, sir.”
An hour later, the questions diminished to nothing, and Rowan was as confused as ever. “What is going on?” She looked from the agent to Emersyn to her mother.
“We’ve got him, baby,” her mother said.
Only Rowan saw the hint of sadness in her mother’s face. It couldn’t be easy, ratting on your own son. Anger filled her at how callous Finn had been with the people who loved him. Her mother didn’t deserve to be in this position, and Finn sure as hell didn’t deserve love.
“Did—did you get proof from Emily?”
Her mother glanced at the agent, who nodded.
“We sure did.”
“H—how?”
“Emily left Finn. Last night.”
“Oh, thank God. Are she and the kids all right?”
“He never touched the kids, thank goodness. But he broke her jaw. Apparently, that was what it took for her to decide.”
“Is she safe?” Rowan clenched her hands. Finn had a long reach, and if anyone could find them, he could.
“They’re not hiding. They’re at my place and are welcome to stay as long as they need to.”
“Is that safe?”
“I’ve hired round the clock security both inside my condo and out.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m so glad to hear that.”
The FBI agent cleared his throat. “When Mrs. Emily Murdoch left, she apparently emptied out the safe, including a video of her husband and Richard Silverman discussing the sabotage at Barrett Investment Group.”
“Oh, thank God,” Rowan said for the third time. “Wait, Finn’s too smart to not have covered his tracks.”
“He tried,” her mother said. “The video itself doesn’t implicate him in anything more than knowledge of the incident. However, a second video that Emily turned over to the FBI is one she took herself while standing outside his home office, where this conversation took place. It has the entire conversation and clearly shows that Finn was the one calling the shots.”
A slow smile spread across Rowan’s face. “I knew Emily was a smart lady.”
“That she is,” her mother said.
“A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Finn Murdoch.”
“You haven’t found him yet?”
“No.”
“If he came home and saw the safe empty and Emily gone, would he have run?”
“Maybe,” Agent Rowsh said. “He might have slipped out last night, but we’re searching. And we’ve involved Interpol. We’ll find him.”
Emersyn, who’d been quiet for most of the meeting, got up and hugged her, pulling her to her feet as she did. “It’s over, Rowan. None of this is your fault.”
“It never was.”
“I know that. I’ve known that all along. Now you can come back to Barrett.”
“I don’t think—”
“My brother won’t be an issue. Not now that we can prove it to Gerard.”
Proving her innocence wasn’t the issue. That he hadn’t given her the benefit of the doubt was. Especially after they’d gotten close, or so Rowan thought. That was what hurt the most. Still, she hadn’t come here just to prove her innocence.
“Where is your brother?” It hurt that he didn’t care enough about her to be here when the facts all jelled and suspicion was lifted from her shoulders. Apparently, that something special she’d felt had only been on her side.
Tears stung her eyes, and she swiped them away. Damn it. She would not cry in front of her mother and Emersyn. Instead of answering Rowan, Emersyn showed the FBI agents out. Rowan’s mother came around the table to hug her daughter. “I’m so glad this is all settled.”
She didn’t feel the least bit settled. In fact, her guts were churning acid that arced all the way to her heart. Damn you, Gerard Barrett, for making me fall in love with you.
“Now, come on. We have somewhere to be,” her mother said, as she grabbed her satchel.
“Where’s that?”
“Uh uh. It’s a surprise.” She glanced at her watch. “But we’ll have to hurry.” She hustled Rowan toward the elevators, and in minutes, they were in the back of Rose’s car, being chauffeured. It felt strange, all this being ferried around, and she had no idea where they were headed.
“Seriously, Mom. I’m not up for surprises. Just tell me where we’re going.”
“Oh, I think you’ll like this one. And, while we’re en route, I have another surprise for you.”
Rowan put a palm to her forehead. Her headache notched up with every word out of her mother’s mouth. “Mom—”
“You haven’t asked what’s going to happen to Murdoch Financial,” her mother interrupted.
Rowan threw up her arms. “I haven’t had time to process, well, anything, much less think about the ramifications.” Now that she’d mentioned it, curiosity was digging into Rowan’s brain. With Finn on the run or under arrest, would her father, who’d given over much of the day-to-day to his son step back into that role?
“I suppose Dad will step back up,” Rowan said. “That’s not much of an improvement.”
“I agree, and no, your father has…decided to retire.”
Something in her mother’s attitude told Rowan that decision hadn’t been a gracious or easy one. “Why?”
“Because I told him to.”
“You—” Her brain couldn’t parse the data flooding it. “You don’t have anything to do with Murdoch Financial.”
“Honey, just because I don’t have anything to do with operations doesn’t mean I’m not a shareholder.”
“You—you still own shares?”
“As do you.”
“Me?” Rowan was about as confused as she could get.
“Rowan, listen to me. Murdoch Financial used to be McCarthy Financial. Didn’t you know that?”
“I—” She’d heard something long ago, but it just wouldn’t surface. “It’s not Dad’s company?”
“No,” her mother said with a laugh. “It’s mine.”
Shock shut Rowan’s brain down. She stared at her mother, mouth open, eyes wide, trying to fathom what she’d just said. “Yours?”
“Will you stop repeating me. Yes, it’s mine. When I divorced your father, we had an agreement. I would stay out of company dealings for as long as he was in charge, but I held onto the majority shares. I split those shares between you and myself. Between the two of us, we own sixty percent of Murdoch Financial. Your father and Finn own the other forty.”
“Holy shit.”
“Well, that’s better than a question. Oh, here we are.”
Rowan looked up as they pulled into the same small airport she’d been at with Gerard. Had that only been a month ago? In fact, they pulled up to the same plane. “Why are we here?”
“Because you’re getting on that plane, and you’re not to ask any questions.” Rose got out of the car before Rowan had a chance to say anything and came around and opened her door.
She preened with pride at whatever deception she was part of. “I packed you a bag.”
As Rowan’s brain slipped back into gear, she figured it out. “I don’t want to see Gerard. He didn’t believe me, thought me guilty without giving me a chance to explain. He’ll never trust me again, and honestly, I’m not sure I can ever trust him.” Though a part of her wanted to. And hadn’t she done all of this, talked to the FBI, with some small glimmer of a hope that she and Gerard could find their footing again?
“I did not raise my daughter to be a quitter. And right now, you’re as bad as he is with your judgmental attitude. You’ll go and listen to him. And he’ll listen to you. After that, whatever choice you two make is yours.”
At the steps of the plane, she watched the driver hand the attendant her bag. “I—”
“Shh, dear. Believe me that you need to clear the air if you’re ever going to be happy again.”
This would be the hardest thing Rowan had ever done, but her mother was right. She and Gerard needed to talk. “All right. I’ll go.” She hugged her mother and went up the steps into the plane.
“One more thing, dear,” her mother said.
Rowan turned around.
“I’m offering you the CEO position at Murdoch Financial. If, down the road, you’d like to merge with another financial organization, I’d be more than happy to discuss it. Now, close your mouth, and go get your man.” Her mother turned and walked back to the limousine, a very satisfied sway in her hips.
She closed her mouth and glanced inside the plane. No Gerard. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, she sat down and belted in. In moments, they were hurtling down the runway and into the air.
To what, she had no idea. But she knew where.