Chapter One
He had promised the doctors to lay off the caffeine so Henry was stuck drinking decaf. Setting aside the mug, he rubbed his forehead and tried to make sense of the paperwork in front of him.
“Henry, if you’re getting tired, we can stop,” offered one of the lawyers.
“No,” he shook his head. While he had survived his initial surgery, his health wasn’t getting any better. “Let’s finish this. I have another twenty minutes before a conference call.”
Just two months ago he had undergone surgery to put grafts on the vessels around his heart.
The grafts have taken, thus strengthening the vessels which allowed Henry to go on the heart transplant list. If a heart became available in time, the doctors had promised to fix that aneurysm below Henry’s heart during the transplant.
If he came through the surgery, there was a chance his body could reverse the damage that had been done all these years.
Recently he had been diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy which made his veins thin to the point of starting congestive heart failure.
The cause was normally hereditary, but in this case his doctor had come to the conclusion that Henry had been poisoned over a long period of time.
Ironically enough it was an herbal tea he had been taking long term for depression which had caused the harm.
So there really was no one to blame but Henry, poisoning himself every day by putting two tea bags in his coffee.
Funnily enough, his health was the least of his worries right now.
Two months ago, just after Christmas, several members of his family were arrested for laundering drug money through their companies.
The threat of arrest had been hanging over the Ramesly family for a while now.
It was true that Henry’s father Oliver, and his uncles Robert, James, and David had all been involved.
Henry had found through careful investigation that Gerrit had been aware and complicit.
However, Henry was certain his cousins Jake, Dillon, Michael, and Noah were innocent.
The only good news was that everyone had made bail and were simply on restrictions. All five men were essentially on house arrest until the trial dates.
Their fathers had put all of them in a horrible position. The only one who had done right was James. James had paid an exorbitant fine, confessed to his involvement, and pleaded guilty to his crimes. In return, he had ensured the FBI wouldn’t prosecute his sons Gabe, Parker, and Marshall.
“The board believes this is the best course of action,” stated one of the lawyers, drawing Henry’s attention. “As do we. It is imperative Ramesly Hotels be protected from the actions of Gerrit Ramesly.”
His brother had a lot to answer for, decided Henry tiredly. “We have already done a press release. With the court’s permission, Gerrit is at a rehab facility. We blamed his addiction and put that out for the entire world to criticize. What else can the board want?”
“Full removal of Gerrit from the company,” one of the lawyers said plainly.
Henry reminded himself to keep this lawyer on staff. It was far better than the other two who spoke in circles. “Gerrit has been at the head of the North American division of the company since Nate’s death. I can’t just push him out.”
“He is guilty of money laundering. The accounting proves it and the FBI investigation has built a strong case against him. He will be convicted. Gerrit needs to be removed from the company, you need to sign off on the reduction of staff to keep Ramesly Hotels functioning, and a predecessor for your position needs to be named,” the more aggressive lawyer insisted firmly.
What he didn’t say is that a predecessor needed to be named since Henry was likely not to survive the heart transplant should he be lucky enough to receive one. He was on the donor list, but that didn’t always mean one got the heart.
“Addison Ramesly-Waters is my predecessor,” stated Henry. “She has been a member of the hotel chain and continues to perform well in her position.”
“It’s a conflict of interest. She’s married to the competition,” said the aggressive lawyer in disapproval.
“If anything she should be forced to resign and sign a non-disclosure agreement to coincide with her non-competition agreement. Technically, Ramesly Hotels could sue on the basis of the agreements she signed when she was hired.”
“I wasn’t asking for your opinion. As for laying anyone off, we will not be reducing staff.
We have the cash flow through Ben Ramesly to keep all of our staff on hand.
Our employees depend on Ramesly Hotels and we will not let them down,” responded Henry.
He signed the paperwork they had put in front of him, knowing he was about to make an enemy of Gerrit for removing him from the company.
He gave the aggressive lawyer a particularly firm look.
“No one is suing Addison or Waters. She knows the business. She’s family.
Ads is capable of leading this company. Put together the paperwork today and bring it to me for signing. ”
“Excellent. We will do that,” inserted the plain spoken lawyer smoothly as the aggressive one was about to protest.
Henry checked his watch as the trio of lawyers left the hotel suite. One of the lawyers, the more concise one, hesitated at the door.
“Yes?” questioned Henry, wishing the man would just speak his mind.
He closed the door, keeping the other two lawyers out of the discussion. “I thought I should let you know that the sale of Mrs. Ramesly’s home has gone through. The closing date is tomorrow.”
“Excuse me?” frowned Henry. Cora hadn’t said anything about her home being sold.
While she had offered to house him during his recovery after his surgery, they had mutually agreed to stay at the hotel.
It was closer to the hospital and simply more convenient should anything go wrong.
Henry had put both suites on his account so Cora wouldn’t be inconvenienced by any bills.
“What do you mean the sale of Cora’s house has gone through? ”
The lawyer sighed. “I would have thought with Gerrit being the executor of the estate and considering he is in rehab, he would have told you that to fulfill the terms of Nathaniel Ramesly’s will.
The home, car, and all large furnishings were to be sold.
The money is to be put into trust for their son Nicholas.
Mrs. Ramesly cannot access the trust fund, nor can Nicholas until he is twenty-one. ”
An alarm chimed on Henry’s phone. He automatically clicked it off. “You have two minutes to expand on what you have just told me.”
“Nathaniel’s will specified all money, investment revenues, and incomes were to go directly to Nicholas’s trust. There is no trust for Oliver, or the coming child.
Mrs. Ramesly was left penniless upon her husband’s death.
Gerrit had a team of lawyers look into it.
It can’t be overturned. I thought you should know,” finished the lawyer with quiet dignity.
“What is your name again?” asked Henry, trying to absorb the information.
“Temple, sir,” responded the lawyer.
“Mr. Temple, you will receive a bonus for this. Keep me apprised of the situation,” said Henry.
Temple shook his head. “No sir. I don’t want the money. I just thought it was the right thing to do.”
He let himself out, shutting the door behind him.
Henry’s computer chimed at him and he leaned back, ignoring it for a moment.
Why hadn’t Cora told him?
Probably because she was embarrassed, or overwhelmed. Cora had been focused on his health, and his problems rather than her own.
Well, Henry still wasn’t fit, but he had managed to mostly recover from the first surgery. He was going to do what he could for Cora and the boys.
Opening the screen on his laptop, Henry joined the conference call with his cousins. Henry was the last one on the call.
“Henry,” Everett greeted him.
“Evening everyone,” responded Henry. It was already getting late.
“We were just discussing the lawyer’s latest assessment of the situation,” inserted Max.
From his thunderous look, Henry knew he wouldn’t like what Max was about to reveal.
“FBI Deputy Director Epps has a strong case on the money laundering angle. He is going to use all resources at his disposal, with the backing of the governor.”
“It’s an election year and part of the governor’s platform is being tough on white collar crime,” dryly said Everett. “This is politically motivated. That’s why any offers to settle out of court have been refused.”
“I did some digging into the background of the judges and all of them are heavily in the pocket of the governor. It’s not likely to be a fair trial for any of them,” inserted Gabe.
“That’s not all the lawyers said,” Henry surmised from their dark looks.
Max visibly swallowed his frustration, dragging a hand across his face as he struggled for words. “They said Epps might go for a deal.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” questioned Gabe.
Max had a bitter laugh. “For each company, if one of them takes the fall, the other can be let go. Sorry about Gerrit, he’s on his own since he’s the only one being charged for Ramesly Hotels.”
There was silence as the men digested the news.
“You mean either Michael or Noah would plead guilty and the other would have the charges dropped,” flatly stated Everett.
“It’s the same situation for Jake and Dillon,” confirmed Max.
“What are we talking about here? A minimum security facility for three years? House arrest? What would the sentence be?” wondered Gabe.
“Eight years prison,” revealed Max.
“That’s absurd!” complained Everett.
“If they are sentenced to the maximum it could be fifteen years each,” mentioned Henry. “It makes eight years for three out of five seem tempting.”
“Their oldest kids would be in college if one of them took the deal. They would barely know their own kids should they go to prison for that long,” stated Max. “It’s not remotely tempting.”