Page 127 of Nash Falls
“I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“You can come up with something, right? Your father didn’t think much of you, but I’ve always known how devious you can be.”
“If I do come up with something, it’ll cost you half,” replied Rhett.
“Half? But you said a quarter!”
“Just chalk it up to my naturaldeviousness. And I said a quarter before you dropped a baby in my lap, sweetheart. Half or you cankiss the billions bye-bye and live off the twenty mill on your prenup. Knowing you, you’ll burn through that in a year.”
“Okay, half.”
“In writing.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I trust you as much as you trust me,” he countered.
She rose. “Let me know as soon as you think of something. And just so you know, I already told them I’m not doing anything to jeopardize my pregnancy by having them take a DNA sample from my amniotic fluid. They have to wait the full nine months with everything in limbo. They said they’d get back to me on that, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“I promise I will do whatever I can to cut those billions loose. The old man owed me that.”
She bent down and kissed him on the lips. “I really appreciate this, Rhett. And I’ll show my gratitude lots of different ways.”
She left, and Rhett sat there thinking. Then he pulled out a business card from his wallet, picked up the phone, and made a call.
“Hey, Lindsey Cole, it’s Rhett Temple.”
“Hi, Mr. Temple,” said the young Stanford lawyer who had sat in on the will reading with Harvey Robins.
“Got a question for you. An important one.”
“Okay, I hope I have the answer.”
“I think you will. How about I ask and you answer over a drink?”
CHAPTER
61
RHETT PICKED A BAR NEARhis penthouse and met Cole there an hour later, right when the place was starting to hop. He knew the manager, the head bartender, and the comely twentysomething hostess, all of whom lavished attention and praise on him as the hostess led them to a private table in a back room.
“Wow, you’re a popular guy here,” noted Cole.
“All it takes is money.”
He ordered a dirty martini while she selected a glass of Riesling.
“I’m very interested in your question,” she said.
“Probably not as interested as I will be in your answer.”
“Okay, let it fly.”
“A little birdie told me that there were conditions attached to my stepmother’s inheritance of a quarter of my father’s estate.”
Cole grinned. “I thought that might be it. If you had hung around, you would have been fascinated.”
Their drinks came and they clinked glasses. He said, “I’m prepared to be fascinated now. Maybe for more than one reason.”
