Page 55 of Mine to Love
“I’m surprised you even care enough to ask,” she mumbled.
“I guess I deserve that,” he said. “Why are you calling?”
“The money.”
“After all these years you want to ask me about that now? I think my guilt money speaks for itself and you’ve been using it, so I’m grateful you accepted it.”
She squeezed her eyes, blinking out a tear. “That’s just it, Dad. Until an hour ago, I didn’t know that money existed.”
“What! That fucking son of a bitch. I told your mother that man was no better than his father and certainly not the man his grandfather was. I’ll deal with that little shit and make sure you and Gabriel get what you need. I know you left Charlie and he has no right to that money. It’s for you to take care of Gabriel.”
Miles rested his hand on her back and ran his fingers up and down her spine, giving her the strength she needed to continue.
“I don’t even know what to say about the money. And I have even more questions about why you didn’t tell me you were doing it,” she said.
“I left you a note… shit. I bet your damn mother destroyed it, making sure you didn’t get that too. I’m sorry,” her dad whispered. “You probably don’t know this, but your mom and Idivorced and that money is part of the reason it happened. When she found out I was giving it to you, she lost her shit. But we were done anyway. Too much had gone down and for the last three years I have been grappling with whether or not I should reach out, but I figured you’d never forgive me and I know Gabriel. It wouldn’t be good for him.”
“You don’t know shit about your son and you lost the right to know anything the day you walked out of our lives.”
Silence on the other end of the line.
And she had no idea where to go with the conversation anymore.
Miles cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir,” Miles said. “You don’t know me, but my name is Miles Kirby. I’m a friend of Liberty’s. I’m helping her with a situation that involves her ex-husband. We need to know where you’ve been sending that money since the divorce because she hasn’t been getting it.”
“That’s easy,” her dad said. “But I don’t understand. I got an email from Liberty with the new banking information.”
“What email? I never sent you an email, Dad. Ever. I haven’t communicated with you since three days before you left.”
“That’s not true. I have the emails from you informing me of your connection to Charlie and new routing numbers.” Her father let out a dry laugh. “When I got wind of the separation, I called Charlie’s parents and they told me that you two were working things out, but I heard through old friends that wasn’t the case. I started following it myself and I emailed you through the chain from when you first got together with that little prick. That’s when I got the new routing numbers.”
“Sir, can you tell us what email addy it came from and then forward me those emails? Because they didn’t come from Liberty,” Miles said.
“Sure, but I want to know what the fuck is going on because I get the impression this is more than that jerk stealing from my kids.”
Liberty sat up taller and tucked her hair behind her ears, holding Miles’ gaze.
He tapped the mute button. “Tell your dad whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“I don’t know if I believe him,” she whispered. “I want to. My memories of him aren’t as bad as my mother, but he still abandoned us.”
“Let’s at least find out why he controls that business.” Miles tapped the screen, not giving her a chance to respond.
But she trusted Miles, so she’d let him control this situation.
She nodded.
“Sir, before we get into some of the things going on, we have a few more questions,” Miles said. “Why did you merge with Livingston Development?”
“Jesus Christ.” Her father let out a long breath. “How do you know about that?”
“Does it matter, Daddy? Could you for once in your fucking life be honest and answer the damn question.” Fuck it. Liberty pushed from the counter and strolled to the liquor cabinet where she pulled out a bottle of bourbon and poured two fingers. She tossed back a big gulp.
“That’s the Liberty I remember.” Her father laughed. It was a hearty chuckle and one that reminded her of the good times.
That just pissed her off.
“There’s a little backstory to this tale, so you’re going to have to give me a minute,” her dad said. “When Oswald took over the company, it was booming. But he destroyed it. He took a little healthy competition that his grandfather and my old man thrived in and turned it into this cutthroat atmosphere until his company was on the brink of destruction. When I took over formy dad, Old Man Livingston and I had a great relationship. It didn’t matter that we were bidding against each other half the time; we made each other better and we loved every second of the battle. Win or lose, it was a thrilling game. But Oswald only cared about winning. At all costs. He didn’t care about the customer.”
