Page 41 of The Tempo of Truth
Clearly, Winnie knew I was struggling to keep myself together and fighting the urge to spiral into a pit of self-destruction.I found myself assigned a five-year-old bodyguard who refused to let go of my hand or be more than a few feet away from me during the days leading up to Lev’s funeral.It was a strange feeling to have such a tiny body doing its best to shield me from the world and the barely leashed torment that was clawing at me.When I started to think more logically, I saw how sneaky Winnie was, because she’d put the only barrier I couldn’t ignore or destroy directly in my path.I had to keep my shit together because my son was watching my every move, and I didn’t want him to watch me become a man he would never want to emulate.
Since the police were treating Lev’s case as an intentional homicide, there was ample time to plan a funeral for him.Once again, I was at a loss.I’d never had to say goodbye permanently to someone I cared about before.I thought I had lost everything that mattered to me the most when I was banished from football.That pain had nothing on the knowledge that the gym was gone and so was Lev’s annoying scheming and meddling.It felt like I was grieving the death of a parent, even though all of mine were alive and well.My mother even offered to fly over from France to help make the arrangements once I got the all clear from the detectives working on Lev’s case.
It was a gracious gesture; one she didn’t have to make for an old lover.There was no need for an extra pair of hands.Winnie gave me her assistant andcarte blancheto do whatever I thought would be the best send-off for the tricky old man who’d kept me sane in my worst moments.Despite my refusal of help, my mother and her husband planned to show up for the funeral service.Which meant I needed to pretend like everything was under control and that I wasn’t unraveling at the seams when I thought about how helpless and useless I was in the situation.
It felt terrible to sit on my hands and watch from the sidelines as Winnie went to war for me.
I didn’t understand how to conduct a battle in the boardroom.From the sidelines, it seemed like she was doing a bang-up job of making the Byrd family pay whatever she’d decided was the proper price for harming someone I cherished.
While I spent the days spinning my wheels and wondering what in the hell I was supposed to do next, Winnie was a whirlwind of action and reaction.It was a good thing she’d started to trust me with Lowe because she was hardly home during those dark days.It was just me and the little boy, doing the best that we could while slowly building an unbreakable bond.I learned so much about my son in a short period of time.If those hours weren’t tinged with loss and despair, they would have been some of the best moments of my life.
I figured out Lowe’s likes and dislikes and found out he wasn’t nearly as easygoing as he appeared to be.The little boy was fiercely loyal and staunchly protective.He didn’t like strangers coming and going from the brownstone, and he was shockingly fussy every time law enforcement showed up to probe at my open wounds.It was obvious the concepts of death and murder were too large and too complex to break down into digestible parts for someone so young.All Lowe understood was that I was sad because my friend was gone, and his mother was very angry that someone had caused me so much pain.The poor kid was walking a tightrope strung between two tense emotions and just trying to keep his balance.
While I fought the urge to storm into the Byrd Enterprises headquarters with a gas can and a lighter, Winnie’s revenge tactics were slower but far more effective.Step by step, she dragged the stock price into the gutter.The headlines shifted from speculation about our private lives to her business acumen, or lack thereof.For the first time in ages, Halliday Inc.was in the press for losing money and getting involved in a multimillion-dollar merger that was bound to fail.Financial publications called Winnie a hack and questioned what the future of the company would look like with her at the helm.
It wasn’t until the other side of the merger started to crumble that Winnie’s ruthlessness and recklessness became apparent.
First, she got the entire company audited and sent several of the top shareholders on their way to federal prison for tax fraud and evasion.White-collar crime was easy to ignore, but not once it started to affect the working class.The hospitality unions in the city banded together.They went on strike when the shady money handling and backroom deals involving inferior products were brought to light, leaving all of the Byrd properties understaffed and underutilized.The hotels that weren’t shut down from the safety inspections she had previously instigated were now just as much of a ghost town as the others.The company was hemorrhaging money at a pace that was too rapid to stop it from eventually bleeding out.
While the company was struggling to stay afloat, Winnie sent Oliver Byrd’s father and grandfather to prison.The top brass of the company may have skated on the federal charges, but the criminal ones weren’t as easy to distance themselves from.Oliver apparently inherited his high-handed way of dealing with women directly from his dad.It didn’t take Winnie too long to find a history of women from their company who were silenced with NDAs a mile long, covering up inappropriate office behavior.The senior Byrd was caught up in a #MeToo moment that rivaled those in Hollywood, and there was little that could be done to regain his public image.The stock price dropped even further when security footage from one of the top properties in the Byrds’ portfolio revealed the oldest member of the family going on a racist tirade against several members of the staff in their top-rated hotel.It was an ugly, demoralizing look at how their company treated its hourly employees.The video pulled back the curtain and showed how much ugliness happened when people still operated along the lines of a class divide.No one wanted to be associated with the Byrd name after that.
It wasn’t only the opposing company that faced major disruption.
As soon as any members of the board of Halliday Inc.started scrambling to dump any stock they bought in Byrd Enterprises before the hostile takeover, they were immediately ferreted out and sent to prosecution for insider trading.Ultimately, they would only end up with a slap on the wrist, but Winnie’s point was clear.You either stood with her or against her.If anyone decided they wanted to be Winnie’s enemy, she brought the full strength of the Halliday name down on their heads.
Several investors had to dump their Halliday stocks when things were really in the thick of it, which meant Win, Alistair, and Winnie had the chance to snap up an even bigger piece of the Halliday pie and further solidify her power at the top.
So, while it seemed like she failed by tanking the Byrd merger, she simply took a couple of steps backward, giving her a running start to trample on those who thought she was going to be weaker than any Halliday who came before her.It wasn’t long until people started comparing her to her grandmother in less-than-flattering ways.
While vengeance wasn’t exactly mine, it was satisfying to watch an entire empire fall because they dared to walk all over us mere mortals.As if we weren’t the ones holding them aloft in the first place.
I thought Winnie would be the cruelest to Oliver Byrd.
After all, he was the direct tie to the fire, and he was the one who kept dropping bodies at my feet.I was impatient watching Winnie’s moves twist the rest of the enterprise into knots, while the face of the destruction seemed to get off scot-free.Whenever I questioned her about her plans, she told me that there was nothing worse for a man like Oliver than standing in the ashes of everything he’d lost and realizing he was the one holding the match.The man scrambled to make amends and pull his company out of the flames, but nothing he did could stop the momentum of the freefall.
I accepted that his suffering wouldn’t look the same as mine because of the difference in our lifestyles and the huge disparity in what we considered to be important.But little did I know that at the same time I was laying Lev to rest, the Byrd headquarters, located in a landmark building in the city, mysteriously burned to the ground.
The incident was blamed on faulty wiring and a lack of proper maintenance.What was left of the company was lost in the blink of an eye, and Winnie swooped in to acquire the legacy chain for mere pennies on the dollar.The merger wasn’t necessary anymore because the purchase price was so low; she bought the other business outright and stopped the ship she put holes in from sinking.Winnie proved she wasn’t just the captain of the massive Halliday fleet; she had a bit of pirate in her and had no qualms about pillaging those who tried to overturn her vessel on the stormy seas of big business.
Lev’s funeral was flooded with burly men trying not to cry.They wore ill-fitting suits and talked about the hard-ass Russian who pushed them beyond their physical and mental limits.They filled the space with their big bodies and bigger attitudes, which contrasted strongly with the refined, sedate show of support from Winnie’s family.Win and Channing, Alistair and Bellamy, as well as Winnie’s assistant and most of her security staff, filled the rows of chairs at the funeral home.It was an unexpected blend of high and low class; all gathered for the same reason.
I held Lowe on one side and let my mother hold my hand on the other.Winnie stood next to me, unwavering in her strength and support.She’d already offered to rebuild the gym in Lev’s memory.I declined because it felt like rebuilding with no effort would make the fact that Lev was gone too pointless.It shouldn’t be so easy to replace something that meant so much to those who had nowhere else to go.I wasn’t sure what was next, but whatever it was, I had no plans to let Winnie pave the way.
She’d proven herself, and then some.She couldn’t be the only person in this unbalanced relationship trying to make progress.If she kept moving forward and I stayed stuck in the same spot because I feared an even greater failure, I could never catch up to her.And more than that, Lowe would be staring at me over his shoulder because there was no way I could hold my little boy back.
I handed Lowe to Winnie when I went up to give the eulogy.My mom squeezed my hand, and I could hear her trying to hold back a sob.
It was hard to speak with a lump in my throat.I could barely see the notes I’d jotted down, knowing I was going to have to get up and talk about someone so significant in my life.
“Lev was my last refuge when the world turned against me.He took me in without question, kicked my ass into shape, and forced me to stop feeling sorry for myself.He never promised me my life would get back to the point I dreamed it would, but he did his best to show me that a life with less was still worth something.As long as you’re living, there is always a chance to find a way to turn things around.I know that he offered most of us in this room the second chance we desperately needed.And while he never passed up an opportunity to make a quick buck, he was one of the most generous and giving people I’ve ever met.I know I’m a better man for having had him in my life.”I had to clear my throat several times before I kept going.I saw Lowe watching me with a sad expression as Winnie whispered something into his ear.I blew out a breath and stumbled through the rest of my words, trying to keep my emotions under control.“I don’t know what’s next for Lev’s legacy, but I’d like to think it’ll keep in line with helping other losers like me find a different path.I hope there’s a way to make sure that, through Lev, those of us who feel like we have no more hope can still see a way out of the darkness that surrounds us.I’ve got a little boy of my own now…”
I met Winnie’s eyes and watched as Lowe wiped a tear from her cheek.“And I know I wouldn’t have the first clue how to be a father if Lev hadn’t knocked me upside the head a time or two and reminded me how simple it’s been for him to take me in even though we don’t share an ounce of blood.”I got choked up and struggled to breathe.Tears burned hotly in my eyes, and the crowd blurred together.“Sometimes all it takes is a little effort to save someone from the worst of themselves.I know that none of us in this room knows much about what Lev’s life was like as a young man, but I think it’s clear he overcame great suffering in order to understand compassion the way he did.”I shook my head and tried to pull myself together.
I heard, “Daddy, don’t cry,” shouted throughout the room, and a moment later, I was hit at the knees with a soft body.I bent down to pick Lowe up and held him against me, tight enough that he started to squirm.
“Lev would hate having us all sitting around morose and racking our brains trying to list all the good things he’s done when we all know good and well he was a master manipulator.He would want us to open a cheap bottle of vodka and do a few shots in his name and then figure out the best way for us to scam a few dollars from the clergy who are giving him his final send-off.”
A round of soft chuckles filled the tense space.I left the podium for anyone else who wanted to say a few words and took my place next to Winnie.
