Page 84 of Brutal Kingdom

I think about the layout of the house. The space works size wise. “It would be a way to keep things small and intimate, but again, you’re asking people to drive out there just for dinner.”

He sits back, studying me. “Okay, son, I’m open to suggestions.”

“What if we made it a weekend event? Sort of like a retreat.”

Nodding, he scratches the shadow on his chin. “I like that idea. We can invite them down for that Friday, and have events on Saturday. The dinner on Sunday.” He stabs his index finger against his desk. “I love it son.”

Teasing him, I say, “I wish we’d have thought of something like this when I was interning. I would have loved to have a close encounter with people in the industry. A chance to really interact with them and pick their brains.”

“That’s another excellent idea, Logan. I’m sure I can get permission to use a few of the houses along the beach for lodging. We could invite some of our top interns and even open it up to journalism majors at the top ten schools we recruit from. You should be there as well.”

“How will you decide which students get an invitation?”

“It’s a little too late for an essay contest, so to keep it fair, I’ll use the ranks on Prospectus. Top 2 students at every school get to attend.”

I play it cool, but it means a lot to me that my app is used by so many people, including my dad, to make hiring decisions. “With the change we’ll need to update the invitation and lecture list.”

“We still have a few weeks, but we’ll get it done.”

“Sounds good, dad.”

“There’s one other thing.”

I smile brightly. Proud that he takes me seriously. “Whatever you need.”

“I think you should invite Bella.”

My smile slips. Way to kill the mood, dad. “She’s not a journalism major.”

“No, but this is an event where the two of you should be seen together. We have to start making the rounds and this dinner will be a good introduction for the two of you.”

It’s pointless to argue about it because he’s already made up his mind. Bella would just be one more body that weekend. I can smile and shake hands with her in the room like dad wants, and leave it to everyone else to infer what it means.

THIRTY-FOUR

JORDANNA

Mom and I are in court again. The press has been hounding her all week. She’s sitting with her head held high, letting them know she’s moved on from this and is cooperating with the authorities. Me, I’m squinting at the back of Penn’s head as if I can dig through his skull and really figure out what’s going on.

I don’t have any familial attachment to him. I was nice, cordial and respectful because of his role as mom’s husband, but he never filled the role of a father figure in my life. I was already too old by that point. His relationship with Summer was fine, because she was a little younger than I was, but even the time they spent together wasn’t much. Penn worked long hours, and when he was off, mom had to drag him to Summer’s basketball games. He wasn’t an overzealous fan like dad. So she got her fatherly fix from the other player’s dads and the coaches.

I still haven’t decided if whatever Penn has to say is worth hearing. Do I want to help the victims? Of course. I’m the reason he’s here facing the consequences of his actions, but the investigation already ate into a year of my life. I’m ready to move on from this. Why do the victims getting back what they lost, mean I have to sit across from a man who’s shown no remorse for what he’s done?

As if he can feel me mentally chiseling through bone to get to his brain, he turns to look at me, then leans over to whisper in his attorney’s ear before they’re both looking my way. This isn’t the lawyer mom was paying for. When our money dried up, so did his services.

I’m not sure who’s footing the bill for this guy. Maybe the firm of some of those missing investors. I still haven’t figured out how the upper echelon really works. But Penn’s not supposed to have any money and should be on his third or fourth public defender by now. That voice in my head nags, unless he’s got more money hidden away than you originally thought. I calculated what was on paper. He could easily have had transactions that weren’t documented. Geez, my head hurts just thinking about it.

I give myself a mental shake. It’s not your business, Jordanna. Let the government and SEC figure this out.

I slow my steps as I approach the room I’m using as my studio. Tabitha’s standing outside the door, looking nervous. “I’m sorry to drop by unannounced like this but I was hoping we could talk.”

I unlock the door and flip on the lights. She follows me inside. “About what?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

Of course she does. The BPs tell each other and share everything they need to when it comes to hurting people. I’m their favorite punching bag. “Let me guess. Logan told you.”

“Uh. No. It was Bella. She thinks you have some ties to a certain organization and they’ve put you up to filing this petition. She wants me to see if I can find out what.”

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