Page 64 of Mine to Love
“Over my dead body.” Liberty took the glass Miles handed her and arched a brow. “Dad, for a smart man, sometimes you’re not too bright if you can’t figure out why Miles would need you to read them.”
Miles cocked his head.
Her father sat up taller. “Oh. I guess we have something more in common than wanting to put Charlie behind bars.” He raised his drink. “Here’s to being the dumber part of dumb.”
Miles laughed. “I’ll drink to that.”
“Oh my God. Neither one of you is stupid. Misguided and you’ve both done some idiotic things. But dumb you are not.” She took a tiny sip. While she needed a shot of courage, she needed to keep her wits about her for this conversation. “Now that we got that cleared up, I need you to answer a few questions.”
“That’s why I’m here, but first, how’s Gabriel? I need to know,” her father said. “I might have been a shit for leaving you, but I’m still his father, and whether you want to believe it or not, I do love him.”
“He was shaken up pretty bad and I’m worried he’ll have those nightmares he used to get when Mom would lock him in his room.” She leaned against the sink, opposite her father. She wanted some distance, but she also wanted to make sure she could read his facial expressions. While her dad was a master of making certain business deals, he wasn’t always the best liar.
Unlike her mother.
Then again, he’d known he wasn’t her biological dad for years, so what did she know.
“Maybe we should have this conversation at your place so if he wakes up?—”
“No.” She interrupted her dad. “He’s not ready to see you and I don’t want him to. I left him a note with instructions to call me. He’s not a child anymore. And if he’s really that scared, he’ll come to Miles anyway.”
“All right.” Her dad nodded. “What I brought should be enough to put Charlie behind bars. I just wish I had put it all together sooner.”
“What is it?” She set her glass down and inched closer to Miles, leaning against his arm. She needed to feel his skin against hers. To absorb his strength.
“His grandfather wanted to cut him out altogether. He and his father were running the company to the ground. They were spending money like it was growing on trees. They bought properties without any real plan. The investments they were making didn’t make sense. The old man came to me and asked me to help. Before he left the business, we cut a deal. I bought out most of Livingston Development.”
“I have only learned that happened right around the time you left. Why?” Liberty asked.
“My first plan was taking you kids with me to South Carolina where I was opening new offices. Your mother got wind of that and destroyed those plans about the same time Charlie’s grandfather came to me. One doesn’t have to do with the other.” Her father held up his hand. “But my control of the company has everything to do with you, Gabriel, and Charlie.”
“I don’t understand. Why?” Liberty asked.
Her father tapped the papers. “The deal was that Charlie’s grandfather help you get and stay on your feet. Not Charlie or his idiot father. And Old Man Livingston held up his end of the bargain as best he could from what I understand.”
“He did. Sort of. I mean, he got me a job and he was nice to me, but if he knew about the money, he said nothing,” she said.
“That was between you and me and while he knew I was doing it, I assume he thought better of interfering. When we spoke, which wasn’t often, especially after his stroke and he was out of the business, I was left dealing with Charlie and Oswald. I don’t like them and was constantly having to deal with their poor decisions to the point that I took voting rights from them.”
“I don’t mean to butt my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but how exactly does this affect Liberty and Gabriel?” Miles asked.
“Because when I retire, or die, my seventy percent and all my voting rights go to them,” her father said.
Miles wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “You’re not married to him anymore so that’s null and void.”
“I’m shocked he let you go so easily.” Her father arched a brow.
“He didn’t.” She took her glass and tossed it back in one gulp. “Dad, what about this gifting inheritance. Charlie has to be married and have a kid to get his money.”
“Sweetheart, there is no money left. The Livingstons are essentially broke. They need you to gain control of my company and that’s all they’ve ever cared about, only I didn’t see it until it was too late.” Once again, he tapped the papers. “But there’s more. If they did anything criminal, anything at all, that thirty percent is mine. It’s in the bylaws of the company. It works both ways as in if I did anything illegal, which I haven’t. Only I did something just as bad by abandoning you and Gabriel.”
“Yeah, that was pretty shitty,” she mumbled. “I can’t prove Charlie shoved me down the stairs which caused the death of my child.”
“We can prove he locked Gabriel in his house against his will,” Miles said. “That’s kidnapping and criminal.”
“I’ve got the smoking gun.” Her father took out another stack of papers. “I had Sandra, my assistant?—”
“Sandra’s working for you again?” Liberty asked. Sandra had been in and out of their house since Liberty could remember. Sandra was a kind woman. Sweet. Gentle. Always good with Gabriel and Liberty’s mother hated Sandra for that. Never understood why Sandra would even bother.
