“You need to frame Brent Stone,” he said quietly. “If you do this, I won’t plant evidence on your father and arrest him for distributing heroin and cocaine.”
“My father doesn’t touch that junk,” I said in a furious tone, my nostrils flaring.
“No, but by the time I’m done with him, no one is going to believe him or you.”
“Why are you going after Brent? Is it because you’re dirty?”
“Ah,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. “What do you know?”
“Nothing,” I lied. “You just told me what I need to know, though.”
“Clever girl.”
I stood up, not afraid of him.
“I’m a woman. A strong one.”
“You’re definitely a woman.”
His eyes lowered to my breasts.
“What’s to stop me from turning you in?” I asked.
He stared into my eyes without flinching.
“Because if you do, little girl, I’ll take your father down and have some of my friends take care of you as well.”
A nauseous rose up in the pit of my stomach.
“Do you understand?” he asked.
I nodded. Barely.
“Good. You have a week to take Brent down. If it doesn’t happen, you know what will happen.”
He ogled at my breasts again before turning to leave.
I sat down in my chair and took a deep breath.
The idea of framing Brent to save my father was not an option, but I also wasn’t ready to have my father face Ron Glass and his goons, especially since he’d just gotten rid of his skin cancer. I sighed. Just as my life was looking better, everything was quickly going to hell.
THIRTY-ONE
Brent
Hard Choices
As I sat in my study thinking about how to propose to Heidi, my phone rang. I picked it up off the desk and saw the all-too-familiar unknown number.
“Yeah?” I asked after answering the call.
“Mr. Stone. It’s Mr. Glass. Since you’re not willing to work with me and my business associates, you need to turn yourself in.”
“What?” I asked in astonishment. “Are you crazy? Why the hell would I do that? And for what? I’m not doing anything illegal.”
“You can make something up, I’m sure,” he said confidently. “I need the feds to look into your operations so that they leave us alone for phase three of our plans.”
“Phase three?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You didn’t want to join us, but I need this favor from you.”
“I’m not doing you any favors.”
“I didn’t think you would, so here’s the deal. If you do not turn yourself in and deflect the feds from looking into me and my ventures, I am going to make sure that Heidi and her father are both arrested and thrown into jail.”
“Leave them out of this.”
He laughed.
“Are you seriously threatening me? You don’t understand, Mr. Stone. I have you in a tight spot. Your love of love over money makes you weak. Do you want to change your mind and come work with me instead of against me?”
“Never,” I said with fire and conviction in my voice.
“Very well. It’s your call. You have a week to decide what you are going to do. If you help me with this, I will leave you, Heidi, and that crazy old man alone.”
“I don’t take kindly to threats.”
“That’s all very well and good, Mr. Stone, but you have no choice. I’m holding all the cards.”
Like hell you are, I thought but didn’t say anything out loud.
“Are you still there?” he asked.
“I’m here.”
“You have a week, Mr. Stone. Don’t fuck around with me.”
He ended the call. I set the phone down on the desk and took a deep breath, trying to control the rage and anger rushing through my body. I would do anything for Heidi or her father. They had both quickly become two of the most important people in my life.
I picked the phone back up and called Heidi. She answered right away.
“How did it go today?” I asked
“I didn’t resign. We should talk.”
“You want to come here?”
“Yeah, I’ll drive over. Give me a few.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye.”
I disconnected the call, wishing she had already arrived.
* * *
When she walked into my study, I remembered why she was worth any amount of trouble.
“Hey,” I said, standing up and walking over to her.
“Hey yourself.”
I kissed her on the lips.
“What happened?”
“Can we sit?”
“Sure.”
She sat down on my leather couch with bookshelves built into the wall around it. I took a seat, unable to take my eyes off her.
“You didn’t resign?”
“No, Ron came up to me and threatened Dad.”
I frowned.
“He called me too.”
“Why?”
“He wants me to turn myself in to deflect attention from him and whoever he’s working with.”
“That asshole,” she said, also frowning.
“We’ll get through this,” I said.
“I’m not sure how. Keller is probably dirty too.”
“Keller?”
“My boss.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot.”
“You do smoke a lot of pot.”
I smiled.
“I’m not even sure who is dirty anymore or what is going on.”
“Can’t you contact another office? Your boss’ boss?”
“I can try, but without proof or knowledge of who I can trust, it’s not smart.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“I want to quit so bad…”
Her voice trailed off.
I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She rested her head on my chest. The scent of strawberries rose from her curly red hair.
“We should go to my cabin,” I said.
“Your cabin?”
“Yeah. It’s in the mountains.”
“I’m not a skier,” she said.
“Who said we would be skiing?”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re not tired of the sex yet? We have so much else to think about.”
“I’m going to be eighty-years-old and hounding you.”
“Horndog.”
“Come on,” I said in my most charismatic voice. “It will be good for us to get away for a night and think this through. We don’t want to rush into anything.”
She stared at me. I almost saw the gears turning in her brain.
“Okay,” she said finally. “But we need to use the time away to come up with a plan.”
“We will,” I said confidently. “I promise.”
“Don’t promise if you’re not sure,” she said. “I hate that.”
“I don’t make a promise if I’m not ready to keep it.”
“Let’s do it. I’m worried about Dad.”
“I can have some of my security people watch him until we get this figured out.”
She lifted her head and looked at me.
“You don’t have to do that for us.”
“I know, but I want to help. If we’re a team, we need to support each other.”
“I love you, Brent.”
Instead of saying the words back, I leaned in and kissed her on the lips. We didn’t get much sleep later that night, but I enjoyed having her in bed next to me as I eventually drifted off to the land of dreams.
THIRTY-TWO
Brent
No Skies Required
Heidi sat next to me in the back as Keifer drove us to my cabin in the mountains west of the city.
“It’s all set up,” I said, hoping to comfort her. “He’ll have someone watching his house twenty-four hours a day.”
“That still doesn’t solve our main problem.”
“No, but not worrying about Dad will help both of us.”
“Did you just call him Dad?” she asked with a smile, the first I’d seen in a while.
“Yeah,” I said. “Does it bother you?”
“No, not at all.”
“I haven’t proposed to you yet…”
“Spoiler alert!” she squealed.
I smiled, loving her more with every minute that passed.
* * *
When we arrived at the two-story wood cabin I’d bought a year earlier to get away, Keifer parked. All three of us got out of the SUV.
“Oh shit, boss. You forgot the skis,” he said.
“It’s fine. We came here to relax.”
“Ohh,” he said, drawing out the word.
“Can you help us with the luggage?”
“Sure thing. I have a hotel room tonight, but if you need to get around, just give me a call.”
“We’ll be in all night,” I said. “But come back first thing in the morning. We have a lot of work to do when we get back.”
“And please call if something happens with my father,” Heidi added.
“Will do.”
He lifted our suitcases out of the back then carried them up to the front porch.
“I got them from here,” I said. “You get some rest tonight too, okay?”
“I’ll be getting about as much rest as you, boss.”
After he walked back to the SUV and got in, I turned and unlocked the front door.
“This place looks so nice,” she said as she walked inside.
“It’s out of the way. When I need to relax, I come here.”
“I bet you bring all the women here, don’t you?”
“Actually, you’re the first woman who I’ve brought here.”
“Get out of here,” she said. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true. This place is special to me. And so are you.”
I set our suitcases down next to the worn, brown couch in the living room.
“I’ll take these upstairs to the bedroom later. Do you want a drink or something?”
“I feel so weird drinking with so much going on.”
“I’ll roll us a joint too. We need to think this through.”
“I’m worried, Brent. For Dad, you, and me.”
I stepped over to her and put my arm around her waist.
“Hey now. It’s going to be okay. I promise. We’ll work it all out when we get back. It’s good to step away from a problem. Sometimes it leads to a surprising solution.”
“I just don’t know what to do. Ron is dirty, and I think Keller is too. Why can’t he just leave us alone?”
“Let me pour you a glass of wine.”
As she glanced around, familiarizing herself with my secret getaway spot in the mountains, I went into the kitchen to pour us each a glass of wine.
When I got back into the living room, I saw her sitting on the couch, leaning back all the way.
“Here you go,” I said, handing her a glass.
“Thank you.”
I set the other glass down on the old, wooden coffee table in front of the couch before walking over to a bookshelf on the far wall where I kept my Volcano vaporizer.
“You don’t see many of those these days,” she said as I picked it up and carried it over.
“Classics never go out of style. The weed I have isn’t as strong as what we’ve been smoking, but it’s not bad.”
“I don’t want to get too stoned. It makes me paranoid sometimes.”
“We don’t have to smoke if you don’t want to.”
“You go ahead. I’ll just drink my wine.”
“More for me,” I said, plugging the machine into the wall.
I sat down next to her and picked up my glass of wine.
“To coming up with solutions.”
“To finding the right answer.”
After we clinked the glasses together, I took a long drink from mine.
“You should just resign and let the chips fall where they may,” I said as the vaporizer warmed up.
“I don’t know. It feels like there’s something we should do. Bad DEA agents are not good for America.”
“We need to worry about each other.”
She nodded then took another drink of wine.
* * *
An hour later, we were in the hot tub on the back patio of the cabin. The cold crisp air contrasted nicely with the warm water. We were both naked, wearing nothing but smiles. Our laughter filled the night as we relaxed and forgot about our problems for the moment. Things would get better.
“This is so nice,” she said. “Thanks for bringing me.”
“Thanks for coming. I’m usually alone up here, but it’s nice to have you.”