Page 72 of Accidentally Mine
“SJM Holdings?”I shook my head.I couldn’t recall such a company from before.
She pointed it out to me on the screen.Sure enough, SJM Holdings was the recipient of at least twenty large withdrawals in the most recent months.“I think something strange might be going on here,” she said.“I need to look into it further.Will you let me?”
I nodded, feeling the pull of guilt.She’d already done so much for me, like the big sister I’d always wanted.And here I was, about to screw over her and the brother she loved.“Thank you,” I managed, right before my eyes pricked with tears.
“Hey,” she said, resting a hand on my forearm.“I understand.It’s hard when a family company’s books are all crazy like this.There’s so much uncertainty.But don’t worry, I’ll sort it out.”
I shook my head and wiped at my eyes.“It’s not that.”I pulled away and slumped into a chair next to her.“It’s just that you’ve been so nice.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
“And…I think I’m falling in love with your brother.”With the admission, I burst into tears.Big, heavy sobs wracked my body, and tears streamed down my face.
She reached a hand over to me, rubbing my shoulder.“Aw.Roselynn.That sounds like something you actually shouldn’t be crying about.Because you know, he’s batshit crazy about you too.”
Knowing that should’ve made me happy, but the knowledge just made me cry harder.I knew I looked like I must’ve been insane.But maybe I could explain to her.She and her brother were the only people in my life who could maybe understand.I shouldn’t have to constantly hold back around them.Maybe, even, they could help me out of this hole I’d dug myself into.Maybe they could help me find a way to make things right so I wouldn’t have to run anymore.
I opened my mouth, ready to spill it all, when a car’s brakes squealed outside.
Skin prickling, I stood and went out to the main floor of the trailer, tilted the blinds in the door open, and peered out the small window.A black Mercedes SUV had pulled up in front of my father’s trailer.I watched as the passenger-side door opened, and Steve stepped out.
Claudia came out of the office behind me.“Everything okay?”
“Um.Yes.My father’s business partner is here, and…” I squinted as another door opened and a familiar figure stepped out.The other man had abundant gray hair, a pudgy, wrinkled face, thin lips flattened into a frown.He was built like a square, strong and solid.It was a face I’d seen about a thousand times in the past two years, every time I googled his last name.
Malcolm Markin.
Anthony’s father.
My heart seized in my chest.
I thought I must surely be having a heart attack when yet another door opened.
“No,” I whispered and took a step back, raising my hands to my face.
He was thinner now, the lines of his face cut and severe, his dark hair clipped close.But everything else about Anthony Markin was exactly the same.
21
Brent
The sun shone in through the plantation shutters at the front of my house as I paced across the floor of my home office for the thousandth time, surprised I hadn’t worn a trail in the oriental rug.The house was empty, the only sound the gentle ticking of the grandfather clock in the foyer.
I checked my phone for the fifteenth time that minute.No messages, no calls, nothing from Roselynn.
I’d gone into work for a bit then cut out after lunch since it was Saturday, thinking that I could get in a run around the Common before meeting up with Roselynn for dinner.I did a full five miles, and even managed a little weight lifting in my basement gym, and still…no call from Roselynn.
I’d tried to nail her down for a time.But I hadn’t wanted to push.
Was she blowing me off now?Packing?Already gone?
I started out of my office to call for Ernest, before remembering I’d given him the afternoon off.He was…I knew he’d told me, but I couldn’t remember.
My mind whirled.I felt like I was forgetting something.Something big.But try as I could, nothing came to me.
Throwing up my hands in frustration, I took a shower, shaved, and tried to calm down.Checked my phone again.Nothing.
I called her number.No answer.Called Claudia.No answer.
