“Sophia made me step out of my box and look at my life from a different perspective. My father never thought about the power he had given me until I took away his precious company.”
“Is this legal?” I ask, still confused about the transaction and apparently now I own a fucking electronics company.
Pierce nods. “Yep, we did our homework. Mr. Parrish here confirmed to Martina that what we’re planning was allowed.”
“Look at this as a horse race,” he says. “Cyril bet his company if his horse didn’t come through, you’d have to rescind Merkel. Owen bet his company. If Ms. Edelstein didn’t reach the finish line…well, here we are. If you ask me, it was a stupid contract.”
“Thank you for this. Once I can access my trust fund, I’ll pay you, Mr. Parrish,” Martina offers.
“We’ll take care of his fees,” I amend. “Just… I feel like I shouldn’t be just keeping something that isn’t mine.”
“That’s in our contract,” she says, turning it to page four. “How much you’ll pay me, when, and why. I don’t want you to gift me anything. I want to earn it which is why I asked your brother to set it that way. An incentive, you know…”
“What about your brothers?” I ask her.
“One of them had already sold his part of the company to the other two. They bought it without realizing that he didn’t own shit until our dad dies. He’s the one who helped us get all the documents Sophia needed and gave us the inside information to shut down the system and freeze the accounts. The other two can figure out what to do without Daddy’s company.”
Vance arrives at the house a couple of hours later assuring us that Mr. Edelstein wouldn’t bother us. He then helped Martina with her bags. She’s leaving for New York where she’s staying with her mother until she starts school.
“Why did you leave me in the dark?” I ask Sophia once everyone leaves her house and it’s just the two of us.
“Payback,” she says. “You left me in the dark for three years. I think a few days was punishment enough.”
I shove my hands in my pockets and say, “You were incredible.”
“Well, I learned from the best,” she admits.
As I’m about to ask about us, her dad enters the house holding two tote bags. “Lunch is ready. Your mom is spending the afternoon at the library, and I was wondering if you wanted to eat.”
“I guess it’s time for me to leave,” I offer.
“There’s plenty,” Emilio announces, but it seems like he wants to spend some time with his daughter.
There’s a lot I want to discuss with her, but it can wait a few more hours. I salute him and glance at her, “I’ll talk to you soon,” before I make my way to The Lodge.
Sophia
Since I skipped going to Aldry’s in the morning, Julian drives me in the afternoon. I don’t have much to do, but I like to be consistent. As I’m about to enter, Jerome Parrish is standing by the main entrance.
“Listen, I appreciate your assistance with Ms. Edelstein, but—”
“This won’t take long,” he promises. “But I prefer to discuss it in your office if you don’t mind.”
I look at him suspiciously, but I accept. My hands tingle, and it’s not fear but anxiety, because this man is like the grim reaper.
Is he going to offer me money or a way to destroy the Aldridges? Not like I would accept the deal, but what is he up to?
“The way you handled this entire situation was surprising,” he states as I close the door. “I don’t understand your angle, Ms. Aragon.”
“There’s no angle. If you think I’m here for the money, the answer is, I don’t work for free,” I state. “You bill your hours, don’t you?”
He smiles. “I didn’t mean it that way. Not even Cassandra, William’s ex-wife, would’ve handled herself the way you did, and she loved William.”
“Never met the woman, but I’m familiar with her work.” She was horrible with Blaire when Carter was dying. I’m not a fan. “What do you need?”
He hands me an envelope and I gasp because this is it, one of the letters William left. My heart beats incredibly fast. I want to rip it open and see why he’d leave me a letter.
“Just a word of advice, the moment you read that letter, you’re taking your relationship with Henry Aldridge seriously enough to abide by the stipulations of the testament, like the Aldridge brothers and their significant others,” he warns me. “You can’t leave the towns.”
“I have to go to Portland, constantly. You are aware that Aldry’s future depends on my trips, since you keep watching me.”
He crosses his arms. “How do you know?”
“Julian, my driver caught your people. I’m onto you, Jerome Parrish.” I wave the envelope and shove it in my purse. “I’ll think about opening it, but not yet.”
“I need an answer now or you’ll have to give me back that letter.”
“I need in writing that I can travel to Portland,” I push. “And assurance that if something happens to my mom and she’s in New York, I’ll be able to go.”
“That’s a given. If there’s an emergency, you are exempt.” He sighs, and I stare at him not budging. Who does he think he’s dealing with?
“I need it in writing,” I repeat.
“Fine. I’ll send you the amendment.”
I show him my computer. “You have remote access. Why don’t we make it legal right now?”
“You are a pushy woman,” he complains and then amends, “but I like you.”
It’s not like I don’t trust him, but I watch the screen as he works. Even with a guest user account, I want to make sure he doesn’t try to access anything that belongs to Aldry’s. Once he’s done I receive a text from Pierce.
Pierce: Anyone know why I got an amendment from Parrish saying that Sophia is allowed to travel to Portland freely, but all the other stipulations apply to her as of today?
Henry: Because she loves me?
There’s a knock on the door and Henry enters. “Time to leave, Parrish. I’m in no mood to deal with you. Hopefully, we won’t see you any time soon.”
“You have more than a year to slip and now, there are nine of you who can make a mistake,” he says. “I’ll be watching.”
“What’s happening?” I ask once Parrish leaves. “How did you know?”
He pulls out an envelope from his jacket’s pocket. “Since I wasn’t invited to lunch, I left for The Lodge and found him waiting for me.”
“Dad said there was plenty,” I say, trying to apologize. “You could’ve stayed.”
“It’s okay. He wanted to spend time with you, and I had work to do. Now back to Parrish,” he says. “He said William would be proud of me.”
“Not the best words you’d like to hear?”
“Actually, I didn’t think about that part. I was more intrigued by the envelope he held. So I asked why me and not Hayes and he said, ‘It’s at my discretion, and I think this is the best moment to give this to you.’ He then asked how serious I was about you, and I told him the truth.”