Page 110 of A Little Moore Action
Before Stan can open his mouth, a uniformed officer takes his turn. “Denise Hampson, you are under arrest for the theft of intellectual property from King Marketing.”
“What? How dare you!” Denise screeches, causing everyone to cringe before the officers begin reading both her and Stan their Miranda rights.
Stan looks from me to Thomas, obviously confused, as the FBI agent cuffs his hands behind his back. “Thomas, you can’t let them do this.”
Casually, at odds with the whole vibe in the room, my brother walks over to me and our mother. We all stand side by side, staring Stanley down. “This wasn’t Chase’s idea.” Thomas’s eyes drill into the old man. “It was mine.”
The color drains from Stan’s face. “What?”
“The staging was my idea, though,” I pipe up, unable to resist. “I thought being arrested with your side-piece in the very office you coveted for your firstborn was a bit of poetic justice.” I wink at him. “You always did tell me I was too sentimental.”
“This is ridiculous!” Denise shouts, trying to pull her arms away from the officer. “I’ve done nothing wrong.” Her eyes swing wildly around the room, landing and narrowing on Bell.
Bell just smiles.
Stan and Denise are pulled from the room, their crazed, panicked voices getting softer as they go farther and farther down the hall. Until finally, they’re gone.
“Well. That felt wonderful.” Mom turns to Bell. “Now don’t forget, lunch tomorrow.”
Bell nods, and they hug tight. “Thanks, Leslie,” she says over my mom’s shoulder.
“Eh, don’t worry. You’ll get the bill soon enough.” Leslie places a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “Come on, Em. Let’s go get our ducks in a row so we can really bleed Stan dry in the divorce. It’ll be fun.”
With a light laugh, my mother follows her out, making Thomas and me promise a family dinner soon.
“I wish we could call Liz,” Bell says after my mother leaves.
When Thomas and I planned this out, we knew we had to tell Liz what Stan had done and the truth about her parentage. It was a conversation Mom had with her, so Thomas and I don’t know what was said, but the end result was Liz dropping out of school and leaving town. She left a note for us saying she needed time, and that she’d call when she could.
At first, Thomas and I were determined to find her and bring her back. Even had a private detective all picked out. But then Bell and Mom talked us down. Said to trust Liz and give her the time she asked for.
Time for what, I’m not sure. But I said I’d give her a month, and if I didn’t hear from Liz by then, all bets were off.
Thomas walks back to the desk, opening the top drawer. He grabs yet another stack of papers and holds them out to me. “Here you go. I’ve signed control of the company back over to you. It’s all legal this time.”
Taking it, I smirk at my stodgy older brother. “Thanks, dude.” I smile wider when his eyes narrow. Then I toss the paperwork in the garbage. “But no thanks.”
“What the hell?”
“Tommy-kins, did you just curse?” Bell’s shocked voices rings with humor.
Thomas pinches the bridge of his nose. “Between Chase calling me dude and you making up the most ridiculous nicknames, you’re both going to spike my blood pressure.” He points to the garbage. “Why thehelldid you do that?”
“Because I don’t want that. I want something else.” I turn to the open office door. “George!”
My PA walks in holding a large file folder and hands it to Thomas. “Will that be all, Mr. Moore?”
“Chase, George. You’ll need to call me Chase now for sure. Especially since there’ll betwoMr. Moores in residence now.”
The uptight fellow just quirks an eyebrow and leaves.
Thomas’s eyes narrow further on George’s retreating back, then shift to me. “What are you talking about,twoof us?”
“Open it.” I nod at the file in his hands.
Bell leans into me, and I wrap an arm around her as we watch my brother open the file and read over the paperwork inside.
“You want”—he clears his throat, sounding emotional for the first time ever—“you wantbothof us to run Moore’s?” He looks up, confused and maybe a little hopeful. “Together?”
