Conviction (A Stand-alone Novel): A Bad Boy Romance (21 page)

"Mr. King, I'm sorry but you need to leave now. Ayden is right. You believed his conviction over him, and you never bothered to ask if he was innocent." Autumn's cheeks were bright red, and she moved along the counter as if to shoo my father out the door. "You have no idea who he was or what kind of man he has become."

My father slapped the marble counter tops with both hands. "I do. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I know exactly what kind of a man he is, and that is why I am here."

His tone and gestures rang out memories so sharp they cut. I lunged towards him and grabbed his arm. I hauled him towards the door.

"Please, Ayden. I left a manila envelope on the counter. It’s why I'm here. I know exactly what kind of person you are!"

"No more threats, no more talking, no more," I growled between gritted teeth. I hauled him to the front door and shoved him roughly onto the front steps.

I waited, clenched in rage, to hear the sound of his rental car driving away. When the gates had shut behind him, I tried to take a breath. It felt like breathing through mud, and I struggled in the foyer until my breath stopped coming in ragged bursts. Then I smoothed back my hair and walked very slowly back to the kitchen.

Autumn leaned against the far counter and held her glass of iced tea with both hands. "Ayden, I am so, so sorry. If I had known, I never would have handed you the phone. This is all my fault."

"What, all those years of resentment and the bitter disappointment, that was you? Bet you had a hand in my mother's illness too," I joked, but it sank in the heavy atmosphere. "I know you meant well and, no, none of that was your fault."

"He did leave a manila envelope," Autumn nodded towards the middle of the marble countertop.

"Throw it out. I don't want anything from him."

She ignored the manila envelope and put down her glass. I concentrated on my breathing as Autumn came around the kitchen island and took both my hands. There were tears in her eyes as she wrapped my hands around the back of her waist and pulled me into a tight hug.

I held my breath until I had swallowed the tears of rage and sorrow. After all those years and all the confrontations I had imagined with my father, the truth of what happened left me raw.

"I know what kind of man you are," Autumn whispered against my chest. "I know that you are Jace's choice to lead Knight Holdings. You are the Interim CEO, and you are not going to let anyone stand in your way."

"I'll be alright," I managed, but my voice shook.

"It’s over now. That's all in the past." Autumn leaned up and brushed a kiss over my lips. "You have a wonderful future ahead of you."

Her kiss closed the door on the hurricane of my emotions and the knot in my chest unraveled. One last shaky sigh, and I knew that she was my cure.

"The only reason my future has any hopeful glimmer in it is because you might be there," I whispered, before I returned her soft kiss.

"Might be? Oh, you're not getting rid of me that easily, Ayden King." Her lips curled into a smile against my light kisses. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Speaking of going places, how about once we clean up this mess with the official CEO announcement we get out of here. I'd like to see more than Texas and Vegas now that I'm a free man," I said.

"Agreed. We'll see the right man goes to prison, and then you can pick anywhere in the world and I will go with you."

I swept my hands up to cradle her face, "With you is the only place I want to be."

Chapter Fourteen

Autumn

It was not until breakfast was over, and we were heading to the town car, that I realized life had almost become routine. Ayden was exciting and energetic, but he also liked a schedule. I knew it was a hold over from his years in prison. I also appreciated it because I was busy as Knight Holdings Business Manager. It was just hard to reconcile our spontaneous bursts of passion with our everyday life of business meetings and work.

Ayden opened the town car door for me, and I slipped into my place. I watched him walk around the front of the car, so he could shake the driver's hand. He wore a dove gray suit and a crisp white shirt without a tie. I knew he kept it in his briefcase just in case, but the open shirt collar only added to his heady mixture of relaxation and control.

"What do you think about Rome?" I asked, when he slid into the seat next to me.

"I don't think about it. Why?" Ayden arched an eyebrow at me then turned to his phone.

"I've never been, and I was thinking it would be a great getaway plus an adventure all wrapped into one stunning city."

He hummed and nodded as he scrolled through his emails. Obviously, he had forgotten about our plan to get out of town once David's mess had been cleaned up. I slumped back in my seat as we headed off to meet the attorneys.

There was a flash of hope as we arrived at the law offices. "Let's hope this meeting goes well. I've always wanted to see Italy," Ayden said as he opened the door for me.

"There you are," Bryon Shelton, the general consul for Knight Holdings was pacing around the conference table. "I need to get you briefed on this before the other attorney arrives."

Italy seemed a very long way away as I sat down and prepared to take notes. Ayden stood a few chairs away with his arms crossed. He could never sit for long and waited for the last moment.

"There was pending business left at loose ends when Jace passed away," Shelton said. He handed us reports and then sat down in front of his overloaded briefcase.

"Actually, we need to talk to you about Jace's 'passing,'" Ayden said. He gripped the back of a chair.

"Of course, but the other party is understandably impatient," Shelton said.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Mr. Shelton. I hope this meeting can alleviate my clients' impatience and put their minds at ease." The corporate lawyer was slick in a charcoal suit. His brown hair was carefully parted and shining with oil. "Mr. King, I presume? I represent Adair and Sal Mertz."

I saw Ayden's fingers flex on the back of the leather chair. The mention of the Mertz brothers started a buzzing in my head.

Their lawyer sat down on the opposite end of the table and clicked open his black briefcase. What little it held was meticulously organized, and he laid out a very slim contract.

"I see from your reaction that you recognize the name. I understand it was one of the last deals Mr. Knight struck. I am sorry if that makes this painful, but my clients simply cannot be at loose ends any longer. This matter must be resolved, and we can easily accomplish that today," he said.

"I may recognize the name of your clients, but that does not mean I know anything about this so-called deal," Ayden said. He sat down and pinned the corporate attorney with his full attention.

"Just further proof that my clients have been treated very badly by Knight Holdings."

Ayden snorted. "Treated badly? This isn't a social club. We run a very large corporation. I admit that Jace was much better at hand-holding and sweet talk, but we're in transition, and Knight Holdings is going to be taking a more serious approach to our dealings."

"The Mertz brothers also run a very large corporation. Nearly three times the size of Knight Holdings. You should take that under serious consideration before we continue," their lawyer snapped.

"Gentlemen, I think the last thing we have time for is size comparisons," I said. "Though I believe that Mr. King hit on the most important factor: our corporation has been in transition. A modicum of understanding from your clients would have been most appreciated, but it seems they are too impatient to be polite."

"I believe it was Mr. King himself that said this is not a social club."

Thankfully, Bryon Shelton stepped in as the voice of reason. "Let's move on to the business at hand. Would you like me to brief my clients on the pending business deal, or would you like to give them the overview yourself?"

"Wait, first I would like a description of this corporation. I am not completely unaware of their business reputation," Ayden folded his hands firmly on the table.

"Reputation? I believe, Mr. King, if there is any concern about reputation that you are the sole subject of that conversation," the attorney replied. "Please consider it is your reputation that has caused my client’s impatience. They are not willing to sit back and see this deal pulled apart by an ex-convict and novice businessman."

My heart stopped as I wondered how far Ayden would let the slick lawyer push him. To my surprise, Ayden smirked and did not flex so much as a finger.

"What deal? Mr. Shelton and Ms. Bishop can attest that we have gone over every single piece of current business in all of Knight Holdings, and there is no pending business with your clients," Ayden said.

The Mertz brothers' attorney sighed. "Mr. Knight sold No Limits and the rest of his Las Vegas nightclubs to my clients. The contract was a witnessed verbal agreement. All we require is your signature, and the sale will be complete. Shall we?"

Ayden stood up and buttoned his suit coat. "No. I'm sorry our time here was wasted."

Bryon Shelton cleared his throat and nodded for Ayden to sit back down, but he was ignored. The Mertz brothers' attorney smirked and smoothed out the thin contract in front of him.

"I think we need more information," I said.

Ayden frowned at me and did not sit back down, but neither did he continue out the conference room doors. "I am willing to hear more details if there are any, but I can already tell you at this point that we will not be selling No Limits or any of the Las Vegas night clubs."

"We do need to consider the fact that verbal agreements are binding in business, and if the deal was witnessed, then the Mertz brothers have a case," Shelton said.

"And who exactly is this witness?" Ayden asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

The attorney considered the contract in front of him. "One, David Rooke, Business Manager for Knight Holdings."

Ayden's arms dropped and he chuckled. "Well, then it looks like we too have a case. Mr. Rooke is currently charged with embezzlement and is also under investigation for his involvement in Jace's untimely death."

"Alleged involvement," Shelton interjected.

"That is unfortunate," the slick attorney said, "but that has no bearing on the business arrangement that Mr. Knight himself put in place."

"We are calling your witness into question," Ayden said. "We will not sign and there will be no deal. It’s best that you tell your clients to drop it before we take further action."

Bryon Shelton and I glanced at each other, but there was nothing we could say. The conversation was over and the Mertz brothers' attorney packed up his briefcase and stood up.

At the doors, he turned once more to Ayden and said, "My clients will not take kindly to your threat. Are you sure you do not want to reconsider?"

"The deal is dead," Ayden declared.

I waited until the attorney had enough time to reach the elevators before I threw up my hands and caught Ayden's attention. "That is going to blow back on us for sure. There was no reason you couldn't have handled that better," I snapped.

"With our suspicions? I could hardly be in the same room as their attorney much less pretend we were going to do civil business with the Mertz brothers." Ayden yanked back his chair and dropped into it.

"A shred of diplomacy, and we could have bought enough time to come up with a plan for breaking the verbal agreement." I balled my hands into fists. As much as I wanted to applaud the rigid stance Ayden had taken against the dubious businessmen and their slimy lawyer, I was disgusted at having yet another mess to worry about.

"You forget that it’s my job to speak for Knight Holdings. There is no way I'm going to allow all those nightclubs and all of those employees to change hands. Can you imagine what the Mertz brothers would do to all our loyal employees?" Ayden asked. He slumped back in his chair and tapped his long fingers on the conference table.

"I bet it wasn't half as bad as what they'll do now when they win the rights to the nightclubs after dragging us through court," I snapped. "You forget that you speak for a large corporation and have people like a business manager and legal counsel to help you. You should appreciate that you are not alone and stop overlooking people that are trying to help you."

Ayden's eyes shied away from me and focused on the table, but I saw him bite the inside of his cheek. "Speaking of legal counsel, Shelton, we have a very interesting file we need you to look over."

I inhaled my frustration and forced it out in a long, quiet breath as I handed Bryon Shelton the file. He opened it up and immediately began reading the letter composed by Taylor Martin.

"Jace hired the forensic accountant I suggested," he muttered. "Is this what I think it is?"

"If what you think is that file holds the proof that David embezzled millions of dollars, then yes. But if you look a little deeper, you'll find that Jace tried to force David's resignation. The night Jace was supposed to sign the Mertz brothers' deal, he confronted David with the resignation letter," Ayden explained.

"The date on the letter matches up," Shelton agreed.

"So why would he agree to sell all the Las Vegas nightclubs, including his beloved No Limits, based on a deal David had made?" Ayden asked. "And why is the resignation letter unsigned."

"And Jace Knight dead?" Shelton sat forward and hit the buzzer on the conference room form. "Ella, get me the federal agents, please. I have information they need to see."

I thanked Bryon Shelton and marched to the elevators.

"Oh, you're here. You left so quickly I thought you had run to the ladies' room." Ayden joined me at the elevator.

I quietly concentrated on my breathing. All I could think about was how handing over the folder was supposed to make the David mess go away, but there seemed to be a never-ending fallout. While the law would be on our side in charging David, the Mertz brothers had every right to sue us for wrongful business practices. The only coliseum Ayden and I would be seeing for a long time was the inside of a courtroom.