Escaping Shadows, page 21
“But they saw me walking with everyone. There’s no way I was unable to communicate with them,” Georgie said, feeling the anger she felt after being taken.
“When Tristan talked to them, they all said it’s normal for their patients to fight going into treatment. They didn’t think anything of it. Plus, they’re not medical personnel, so they leave it up to the doctor who assists with each intervention.”
“Kidnapping,” Georgie corrected.
“Yes,” Olivia said, but then went on. “However, they also said it was Doctor Norman who gave them the rundown on what to expect from you and the enablers you were with. They were told you have a loving family, a devoted fiancé in Borden, and while on drugs and suffering a mental breakdown, ran off with Kord who was supplying you with drugs in return for access to your money. Each man was told the same story by Borden and your parents. They were interviewed separately. They also all testified it was Doctor Norman who put you under with what he said was a sedative.”
“Gavin is testing it. He thinks it was laced with heroin,” Georgie told her.
Olivia nodded. “It would make sense since you’d be tested for drugs upon arrival to Elysium.”
“What about the guys? What does this mean?” Georgie asked, getting back to the assholes who had kidnapped her.
“They agreed to testify about what they were told by Borden and your parents and that it was Doctor Norman who injected you. Tomorrow morning, I’ll meet with prosecutors along with Tristan, Peter, and Detective Chambers. If you’re okay with it, I’ll ask the prosecutor to reduce or drop their charges since they were conned by your parents. They played the video of the intervention and it clearly shows Doctor Norman sedating you. They keep bodycams on for liability reasons, thank goodness.”
“You can reduce the kidnapping charge, but they hurt Kord too. They need to know it’s not the Wild West just because they have a court order.”
“Done. I’ll work on it with the prosecutor. I have all of your signed documents giving all power to Kord and your grandfather, thus overruling the court in Martha’s Vineyard. Further, the doctors who evaluated you have also agreed to be at the meeting. I’ve also spoken to an associate I use when I need an attorney in Massachusetts and we’re working on the possibility of charges against your parents if you’d like us to do that.”
Georgie looked at her grandfather. He looked so broken and she hated it. “Let’s see if we can handle things quietly, but keep that in our back pocket.”
“Borden is still on the loose and claiming to be your fiancé. Apparently, you got engaged when you were on Martha’s Vineyard and they were going to announce it at the gala Kord rescued you from,” Olivia explained.
“As my husband, he would have access to my trust. Well, he would have before Grandpa changed it. Also, as my husband, he’ll be taken more seriously when trying to have me committed.” Georgie nibbled on her lower lip as she thought. “If I think of this as a hostile takeover of a company, which it is, essentially, but in this case, I’m the company . . .”
Georgie paused and Kord absently rubbed her back as she thought it over and the wheels started turning.
“Where are you going with this thought, Georgie?” her grandfather asked.
“A private shareholder meeting. I want a show of force. If I go public with their attempted kidnappings and why they happened, my parents will have a hard time kidnapping me or forcing me to sign anything in private again. People will be aware and want to know where I am. Further, it will give me some support when I become president of Greyson Holdings.” Her grandfather nodded. He got it.
“What does that mean?” Kord asked.
“Olivia, tell Borden you want to meet with him and my parents the day after tomorrow. We can meet at your law office or in Charleston. Doesn’t matter, but make sure it is here in South Carolina.” Georgie then turned to her grandfather. “How do you like doing business with Heloise Blanchet?”
“Greyson.”
“Not much longer,” Georgie said, correcting her grandfather. “But she’s indicated a willingness to work with me as the head of the Greyson Holdings, which is fully owned by Greyson Family Enterprises Trust, AKA, Grandpa. Who else either owns enough shares of the majority of public investments or a portion of our private companies would stand against my parents and in support of me as the new leader of Greyson Holdings?”
She saw when her idea hit her grandfather and he smiled. “We bring your parents in, show them they’re out and this path is not going to work, and then you publicly take control of Greyson Holdings with not only my support but that of all the biggest names in investing, too. Smart, very smart.”
“That way we can offer my parents a quiet way out. Resign, walk away, leave me alone, and stay out of jail. Or—” Georgie didn’t need to say it. The or they can go to jail hung heavily in the air.
“What can we do to help?” Kord asked.
“Grandpa, can you get a list and contact information for all major investors?” Georgie asked instead of answering Kord. When her grandfather pulled up his phone and stepped away to make a call, she turned back to Kord. “We’re going to hold an emergency meeting in Shadows Landing. Can you call Maggie and Gage and see if we can use their estate? Call Ryker and tell him the plan. He’ll have ideas and I want to hear them. Olivia, how do you feel about adding one more client to your roster?”
“Good thing I just hired a new attorney in the New York Office. I’ll take point down here and she can lead up there. Does that work?” Olivia asked.
Georgie held out her hand. “As soon as grandpa officially makes me president of Greyson Holdings in the documents he’s having drawn up, you have a new client.”
“How many people are you expecting?” Kord asked a moment later with his hand over his phone.
Georgie looked at her grandfather who was reading something on his phone. “Twenty-three,” he answered.
“Mrs. Bell will call and reserve the best floor of a luxury hotel in Charleston. Does that work? She can host five more people if anyone wants that as well,” Kord told the group after he hung up.
“Great. Now it’s time for Grandpa and me to get to work.” Georgie looked over her grandfather’s shoulder. “Who do you want to call?”
Kord brushed her hair from her face. “I’ll get you all some food for your takeover while I talk to Ryker.” He kissed her cheek and then he was gone.
“He’s a keeper,” her grandfather said quietly as they divvied up the list and wrote down who they were each going to call.
“Yes, he is.” Georgie glanced out the back door to see Kord jogging away. He’d been arrested for her. He’s rescued her. And how he was supporting her by getting her food while she was planning an event that would change the path of her life forever. It was the sexiest, most romantic thing he’d ever done for her.
Her grandfather and Georgie moved into the kitchen and sat opposite each other at the table. Olivia was at the dining room table with Imani and Mateo. Damon was talking to Stone in the corner of the living room. Okay then. She was doing this. She was going to make the play for not only being named president of Greyson Holdings, which managed all of Greyson Family Enterprises Trust’s assets, but with the support of all the investors for both the private and public companies that made up the bulk of their assets. Georgie would come into her presidency with complete and unquestionable legitimacy.
Georgie dialed the first number and took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “Heloise, it’s Georgina. How would you and your father like to join me in Shadows Landing for a business meeting tomorrow? There’s a great bed and breakfast my grandfather is staying at. I can reserve two rooms for you.”
28
Kord called in the order to The Pink Pig and drove to Ryker’s house. Even though he had the code to the gate as a law enforcement officer, he didn’t use it. He pressed the intercom and waited.
“Hi Kord,” Kenzie’s cheerful voice said. “Come on in.”
The gate opened and Kord drove up the driveway to Ryker’s massive state-of-the-art house. He parked and had a moment of self-doubt. He was lost in his thoughts when Kenzie knocked on his window.
“Is everything okay? You looked shell-shocked. Was jail that bad?”
Kord laughed and then realized the answer to his feelings of self-doubt was right in front of him. “Hey, Kenzie. Before I talk to Ryker, do you think I could ask you something just between us?”
“Usually when a guy says that, it means they have an STD and are about to show me their penis. Do I need to get my gloves?”
No wonder the uptight Ryker fell in love with Kenzie. Kord shook his head. “No, I’m good down there. It’s about people like us, marrying people like them.”
Kenzie looked confused for a moment. “You mean totally awesome people marrying slightly stuffy ones?”
“By totally awesome people you mean us regular Joes and stuffy ones meaning the super-rich, then yeah.”
“Ah! Hold on.” Kenzie jogged over the large wall covered with flowering vines and hefted herself up enough to look over. “Hey, Trent. Can you come over for a minute? Kord has a question for us.”
Kord got out of the car as Trent pulled himself up and over the giant fence as if it were nothing. “We need to put a gate here,” Trent muttered as he joined them. “What’s up?”
“Kord must be thinking of marriage because he asked about what it’s like marrying someone super rich,” Kenzie told him and Kord wanted to die from embarrassment.
“Ah, yeah. I get it,” Trent said, and Kord felt a little better then.
“The truth is, it doesn’t matter in the relationship as long as you learn to ignore the external voices,” Kenzie said, and Trent nodded in agreement.
“No one in Shadows Landing cares. That makes it so much easier and it’s the main reason Skye and I stay here as much as possible,” Trent told him.
“But outside of Shadows Landing?” Kord asked.
“I’m a gold-digging slut,” Kenzie said with what sounded like pride.
Trent turned to her. “Nice. I’m a gold-digging house husband.”
“Trophy wife,” Kenzie said.
At the same time, Trent said, “Trophy husband.”
They high-fived each other and Kord was starting to get a little worried.
“Look at the equality in the insults,” Kenzie said with a smile.
“We’re both equals in our money-hungry quest for more riches.” Trent turned to Kord and saw that he wasn’t laughing. “You have to laugh it off. There’s no other way to handle it or it will get to you. These people don’t know you. They don’t know your relationship. They don’t know how much you love each other.”
“Ryker used to get mad at those types of questions. Now he lets me answer them and I have a field day. The last journalist who asked about how it felt for me to sit at home and spend my husband’s money to look the part of the trophy wife got a ‘bless your heart, that’s so nice of you to say that I look like a trophy wife after a twenty-four-hour shift at the hospital. And you’re right, I have been frittering his money away on an advanced degree. However, last week he took a twenty from my purse.’ I turned to Ryker and told him I needed it back with compounding interest to total a million dollars. That stopped any more questions. It was kinda fun.”
“Skye and I just look at each other and laugh our asses off and walk away from anyone who asks. Then we put them on a no-interview list. That shuts people up pretty fast,” Trent told him. “Look, you two are great together. The whole town has been waiting for this since Georgie moved here. You got together when you thought she was a bartender and she fell in love with the sheriff’s deputy. You’ve gotten a good look at her world. Do you really think she wants a guy who is like them?”
“No way,” Kord said.
“Exactly. So screw ‘em,” Trent replied.
“Every single one of them,” Kenzie added. “It’ll be your and Georgie’s own inside joke.”
“I don’t want to embarrass her about not knowing things, though,” Kord admitted. “I’m going to have to go to fancy dinners and dances. I know how to dance for a club, not a ballroom. And why are there so many forks?”
“Ah,” Kenzie and Trent said together.
“Totally get that. I was so afraid I would step on Skye’s gown at the first red carpet we did that I was a mess.”
“I asked Miss Tibbie to help me,” Kenzie admitted. “It was the best thing I ever did. Like you, I only want to support Ryker. I would hate to embarrass him. I don’t think he’d care, but I would. I called Miss Tibbie, and once a week for a month I had lunch with her and she taught me all the place settings, all the silent cues to pick up on, all the right things to say, and best of all she taught me all the biting things to say if someone was being rude. No one can out-class Miss Tibbie.”
The tightness that had been in Kord’s chest eased up. “That’s brilliant. Knowledge is power. I’ll feel prepared to be able to support Georgie even more now. I’ll call Miss Tibbie as soon as I talk to Ryker.”
Kenzie looked back at the house and hollered, “Ryker!”
A minute later, Ryker walked out of the house. He looked at the three people standing in his driveway and raised an eyebrow. “I feel as if I have missed something.”
“Just chatting,” Trent said.
“Kord needs to talk to you,” Kenzie said as Ryker walked down the steps of the back deck to join them.
“Georgie has a plan.” Kord launched into the plan and saw Ryker nodding in agreement.
“Solid. I’ve looked into the publicly traded companies she holds large amounts of stocks. Between Sebastian and me, I know we hold a decent percentage in a couple of them too,” Ryker said.
“Your names weren’t on the list her grandfather was given,” Kord said. They would have seen that right away.
Ryker grinned. “We like to fly under the radar. I’ll call Sebastian and join Georgie tomorrow.”
“Do you think people will give her a hard time taking over?” Kord asked.
“The thing is, they don’t really have a say,” Ryker told him. “Greyson Family Enterprises Trust owns Greyson Holding and all the smaller LLCs under Greyson Holdings that go out and buy houses, stocks, companies, etc. I have the same thing set up. Anyway, Greyson holds all these shares in public companies. Some they’ve held for over a century. They don’t actually own these publicly traded companies. Well, not all of them. They do own a majority share for a couple of them. But major investors like to know who the other major investors are. We don’t like surprises, so it’s smart what Georgie’s doing. She’s essentially stabilizing the price of the stocks after her father and brother tried to sell off a big chunk of them, which made investors antsy and could devalue the stock price.
“Georgie is also going in with something none of them have—real-world working experience. As a bartender, she knows what it’s like to save money, work for tips, and working with Harper on running a small business. It’s different from office work done in a financial company or that’s been inherited, and one that will help her make well-rounded financial decisions. Also, she did do more than anyone else in her family education-wise. She has her degree in business and finance, graduated summa cum laude, had some of the best internships I’ve ever seen and is crazy fast at picking up financials. She’s not walking into this without knowledge. She’ll have a bumpy first year, but she’ll do a good job. They’ll support her.”
“I’d also set up an interview and get her story, your love story, and brand her the new face of Greyson Holdings by the end of the week. You’ll want to hit the media first with your side of the story,” Skye’s voice called out from behind the wall.
Trent shook his head at his wife’s eavesdropping.
“She’s right,” Ryker said. “I have a guy I really like at the top financial magazine in the world. Check with Georgie and I can set it up if you’d like.”
“Great. I will. Thank you all.”
“Georgie will need some new clothes. Power clothes,” Skye called out. “I’ll bring some over for her to choose from.”
“Thanks, Skye!” Kord called out in return.
* * *
The rest of the day went by in a blur. Kord grabbed the food, fed the group of people making constant phone calls, and called Miss Tibbie who was thrilled to start working with him later that afternoon.
After confirming the group would be working through dinner, Kord snuck out of the house and headed for Charleston, but it wasn’t to a restaurant. It was a men’s clothing store on King Street.
Kord parked and looked up at the store. His paycheck might cover a T-shirt from here. The door opened and a man stood waiting for him. Here went nothing.
“Kordell King?” the man asked.
“Yes.”
The man smiling warmly at Kord was twenty-five at the most. His umber skin didn’t have a single whisker daring to peek out. He was wearing a pink shirt and purple pants and made it look good. But if Miss Tibbie thought Kord was going to wear that, she was out of her mind.
“Excellent. I’m Izaak. Welcome to my shop.”
Kord walked in and found Miss Tibbie sitting on an ivory tufted chair with a glass of champagne in her hand. “Oh, Kord. I’m glad you found the place. Izaak just opened a month ago. He designs all these handsome clothes himself.”
“Congratulations.”
Izaak smiled and it was one of pure pride in his work. “Thank you. Now, my angel here—” Miss Tibbie giggled, “—said you need some basics. What do you wear to work?”
“I’m a sheriff’s deputy, so I wear jeans and an official shirt,” Kord told him.
“Then what kind of basics do you need?” Izaak asked.
“My girlfriend is in big business. I’m going to be at official functions, dinners, and such.”
“Let’s just call her your fiancée.” Miss Tibbie winked. “We all know it’s going to happen soon.” Kord just smiled. He liked the sound of that. “The jeweler is just down the street. We can stop there next. But first, Izaak, what do you need from Kord?”
