Page 87 of Winning Bid

It's been quite a while since I've been back. The air inside smells a little stale, so I opened up the windows. It's raining again. And cold. Winter in Boston. But at least the air is fresh.

I tidy up the place just to make sure that everything is in order. Not that I'm worried about impressing my father, but I still want the place to be neat when he shows up. I also pack another bag of clothes. I've been running out of things at our place.

I don't know when I stopped thinking of it as Anderson's place and started thinking of it as ours. But I'm glad for it.

Dad shows up, looking dapper as ever. He smiles as he moseys around. “Your granny would be happy with how you've kept the place.”

“Thanks. Want a drink?”

“I'll take a bottle of water if you've got one.”

“Coming right up.” I dash to the kitchen.

He says, “Given our last conversation, I wasn't exactly expecting an invitation.”

“Well, there are things that we need to talk about,” I tell him as I walk in with the waters. One for him and one for me. As much as I'd like alcohol for this conversation, I don't think it's a great idea.

“So what is it you'd like to talk about, Junebug?”

“How much of what Andre had me doing for him was your doing?”

That earns a frown. “I'm not sure what you mean.”

“He had me looking into the properties owned by Elliott West. He wanted to buy up those properties out from under him.” I look him in the eye. “He wanted to ruin the man.”

“And what about all of that makes you think I had anything to do with it?”

If he had given me a flat-out denial, I would have thought it was a lie. Asking questions? He didn't know about it. Good. “Just checking.”

“I don't imagine that's all that's on your mind.”

“Not hardly.” I shift in my seat, uncomfortable right now. I've never liked confronting my father. But if we're going to have any kind of a relationship, I have to be able to do that. “I need you to tell me why it is that you want Andre's account.”

“I already told you. I need to land a big account.”

“Why him? There are hundreds of other CEOs in Boston, and even more in Manhattan, that you could have easily gone for. But you pursued Andre. Viciously, I might add, considering you used me to do it.”

It's subtle, but I see his fingers twitch. Dad never twitches.

“So Andre used you against the father of your boyfriend?”

“He did.”

“And that makes him a bad guy … ” He strokes his chin.

“Where are you going with this?”

For a moment, he hems and haws. But then he admits, “I may not have been entirely forthcoming about my connections to Andre Moeller.”

“No shit. So tell me what you're up to.”

“Well, it's not completely on the up and up, and I don't want to get you tangled up in it. Let's just say if things go the way that I want them to, he'll be real angry. And since he's a bad guy, that's a good thing, right?”

I frown at him. “Dad, just tell me what's going on. For once in your life, be straight with me.”

He smirks a little. “Well, it is kind of a genius plan, and I haven't been able to talk to anybody about it, so that would be nice.”

“Go on.”

---