Chapter 59
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
The knock came just after eight in the morning. I glanced up from the legal pad on the table, knowing it was another meeting with my attorneys. After two weeks in the place, the routine had become predictable. Painfully predictable.
I woke up. I ate. I waited. I met with my attorneys. I waited some more. Then I went to sleep, woke up the next morning, and did it all over again.
All my days had just eventually started to blend together.
“Hawk,” the correctional officer said, opening the door. “Visitors.”
I nodded and stood, falling into routine, and five minutes later, I walked into the attorney conference room.
The moment I entered the room, I could tell something was different. No one looked exhausted or frustrated. None of them looked like they’d spent the past ten days fighting an uphill battle against the federal government with both arms tied behind their backs.
Hell, for the first time since my arrest, every attorney in the room looked relaxed and, dare I say, hopeful.
I sat, and my lead attorney, Jonathan Pierce, gave a genuine smile that immediately caught my attention.
“What happened?” I asked.
Evelyn Hart slid a thick folder across the table. “Your brother, Colton, made us aware that he’d met with an old friend of yours, Mark Aster.”
“Mark?” I said, not expecting to hear that name come up in relation to this.
“Yes, sir,” Jonathan said. “The papers in that file are thirty years’ worth of corporate records, ownership structures, and asset transfers.”
I glanced down at the file.
Evelyn folded her hands on the table. “What you’re looking at isn’t evidence that exonerates you.”
“The records don’t prove you’re innocent,” Jonathan added.
I leaned back. “Then why am I looking at them?”
Jonathan reached forward and opened the file. “Because they prove something far more important.” He turned several pages, then stopped on a series of corporate restructuring records. “These are all transactions authorized after you became CEO.”
I glanced down, recognizing my signature, the dates, the entities, and the audits I’d called for. Most of it looked vaguely familiar.
Jonathan tapped the pages. “These papers show that every time you discovered a structure tied to Herbert Hawk’s era,” his finger moved to another page, “you dismantled it and disclosed it.”
Evelyn slid another stack toward me. “The government’s argument has never been that Herbert created the entities but that you knew about them.”
“Correct,” I confirmed.
“And since the government’s detention argument rests on the assumption that a man in your position had to know those entities existed,” Jonathan added, “these documents will challenge that assumption.”
I glanced down. “How?”
Evelyn smiled. “Your behavior and history of dismantling those companies.” I frowned while she continued, “Prosecutors build cases using behavior patterns all the time.”
Jonathan nodded. “If a man discovers hidden entities and repeatedly destroys them,” he tapped the file, “his behavior indicates he isn’t protecting them.”
I stared at the paperwork as Evelyn leaned forward. “Mr. Hawk, the records show a fifteen-year pattern.”
“If you were intentionally concealing Herbert’s structures,” Jonathan added, “why would you spend fifteen years dismantling every other structure you found?”
“Well, that question answers itself in the documentation,” I answered.
“And that’s exactly what we argued.”
I looked between them. “You filed a motion based on this?”
Jonathan smiled. “Among other things.”
“Meaning?”
“The government told the judge that a CEO of your stature couldn’t possibly be unaware,” Jonathan said. “We showed the court fifteen years of evidence showing what happens every time you become aware of hidden structures.” He tapped the file. “You dismantle them. Every time, without exception.”
I sat back, finally beginning to understand.
Jonathan continued. “We told the court that your corporate history contradicts the government’s theory.”
Evelyn nodded. “The judge agreed.”
I looked up. “Not that you’re innocent or that the investigation is over…” Jonathan paused. “But the court agreed there is now substantial evidence suggesting you may not have known these structures existed, which brings us to the part I think you’ll enjoy most.”
I raised an eyebrow. For the first time all morning, the attorney smiled like a man who knew something I didn’t.
“The release order was signed forty-three minutes ago,” he said.
Evelyn leaned back in her chair. “Congratulations, Mr. Hawk.”
Jonathan continued smiling. “You’re going home.”
“Jesus Christ,” I responded, absolutely shocked at hearing those words.
Leave it to Mark to disappear for years and somehow reappear exactly when he was needed. Jesus Christ. Mark, of all the people I knew, was the one who somehow found this.
I leaned back, and I knew the look on my face wasn’t one of relief but of shock at hearing this news. I’d spent the last ten days preparing myself for something very different, spending years, not days, in prison.
Jonathan watched me closely. “Even though you’re being released, you understand this isn’t over.”
I looked at him. “Of course it isn’t.”
“The investigation remains active, and the government will continue to dig,” Evelyn said. “But the case is strong, and you won’t be sitting here while they do it.”
“Understood,” I answered, still quite shocked that I was about to get out of here.
“We’ve contacted your driver, and your security is with him here, waiting for the administration to process you.”
I stood. “Thank you.”
The property room felt surreal as the correctional officer slid a gray plastic tray across the counter. I never imagined the day when I would feel like I would miss my stupid phone, or even my watch and wallet.
Jesus, I felt like I was halfway to being a whole man again. When you spend enough time having every decision made for you, the smallest freedoms become surprisingly significant.
Finally, the last security door buzzed open, and I was cleared to leave. The warmth of the sun on my face and the simple fact that I was standing there in my own clothes felt better than I could describe.
“Mr. Hawk.”
I looked up and saw Marcus standing beside a black SUV parked behind my Rolls, where my driver waited.
He walked toward me. “Welcome back, sir.”
“It’s good to see you, Marcus. How is Catalina?” I asked.
Marcus’s mouth twitched. “I have Andrew and Warner watching her at her office on Melrose,” he confirmed.
“Very good,” I said, nodding toward my driver, who stood by the open door of my car. “I plan to visit her this morning, but I’m in desperate need of a shower.”
“Of course, sir.”
“The helicopter is waiting,” Xavier informed me.
“Let them know I’ll be returning to my penthouse at Horizon when you share our ETA with them.”
“Yes, sir. Very good to have you back, sir,” he finished with a smile as Marcus nodded and returned to the SUV.
I slid into the back seat and damn near moaned as I melted into the luxurious leather and inhaled the rich scent of my car.
Goddamn.
My shower lasted far longer than it should have. Twenty-five minutes, if I were being exact. Feeling the hot water rain down on me from the shower heads and the side jets massaging my entire body felt like heaven.
Finally, after two weeks in that place, no one controlled my schedule or my privacy. When I finally stepped out, I caught my reflection in the mirror. The man staring back looked tired and thinner than I remembered.
Two weeks in that place shouldn’t have done that to me. Yet here I was, looking at the results. After shaving, I went directly to my closet and smiled as the lights came on, revealing my wardrobe behind custom glass doors.
I pulled down my suit pants and button-down, preparing to look like the man I was before I was arrested.
I adjusted my cufflinks as I stepped into the penthouse living room, and for a moment, I simply stood there, gazing out the wall of windows overlooking all of downtown Los Angeles.
I watched traffic moving slowly along the freeways and helicopters crossing the skyline as the city stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
Everything looked exactly the same, yet somehow it all felt different.
Two and a half weeks ago, I’d stood in this very room, worrying about acquisitions, investors, occupancy rates, expansion plans, and a dozen other problems that suddenly seemed insignificant.
Funny how quickly a perspective can change.
Two weeks sitting in federal detention had a way of stripping life down to what truly mattered.
Even while I was detained, the company, the board, and all my hotels had survived.
Hawk Enterprise continued to operate whether I was in a conference room or a detention center.
My phone vibrated again. Another notification from an executive or someone else wanting something.
I ignored it. For years, I’d convinced myself my responsibilities came first. My company, my visions within it, my next acquisition and next opportunity. There was always another reason to keep moving and to avoid slowing down long enough to examine what I actually wanted.
My gaze drifted back out toward the skyline and the city I’d moved to so I could expand my vision for my company.
Then Catalina’s face appeared in my mind. She’d changed the way I thought about so many things without even trying, and I loved that she complemented my adjusted outlook on life. It was refreshing to be around her, knowing she saw me as a normal man rather than a balance sheet and a bank account.
A quiet laugh escaped me. Somewhere along the way, she had gone from being someone I simply wanted to someone I couldn’t imagine my life without.
My phone vibrated again, and I silenced it. The damn company and the ongoing investigation could wait for now.
There was only one place I wanted to be.
One person I wanted to see. For the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t driving toward a business deal, an acquisition, or a board meeting.
I was driving toward Catalina.