Chapter Twenty-Five

~ Scotty ~

I tried not to roll my eyes as I listened to Mr. Henderson go on and on about the improvements that had been made to the textile facility, but it wasn't easy. The man pretty much liked to listen to himself talk.

That being said, he was a good manager for the place. Promoting him to operations manager meant that I only needed to fly back to Texas every couple of months. Everything else could be done through video conference.

I refused to move back. I'd rather sell the company, which is something I really didn't want to do. Prescott Textiles had been in the Prescott family for generations. I didn't want it to go to someone else simply because I refused to move.

Hence, listening to the man drone on and one.

I wasn't thrilled that my father had made me the CEO. I'd rather the position go back to him, but he didn't want it, and frankly, his health didn't support it.

Yes, he had mostly recovered, but he'd never be the man he was before he'd had his stroke. He'd have to use his cane for the rest of his life and, while most days were better, some days weren't and he had to spend time resting in bed.

After a long talk with my father, Jake, and Miles, it had been decided that I would retain the CEO position with my father as my advisor. Mr. Henderson would take over as operations manager so that I could stay in New York City.

I still worked as a division manager for Jake simply because I loved that job and I wanted to make my own way in the world. I didn't want to rely on my family's money or prestige, even if becoming the CEO made me a millionaire.

With Jake's help, I had restructured the company. I hadn't had to lay anyone off, thank god, but instead, after the restructure we'd needed to hire fifty new employees.

Prescott Textiles was growing. We'd opened up new trade, expanded our facility in Texas, moved into producing silk fabrics, opened up an additional one in New York's fashion district, and added new employees.

My father was proud of all the hard work I had done in the last six months. I was proud of the fact that I was finally living the life I wanted.

I loved my life now.

Now that my father didn't need constant care, Beck had decided to go back to school and get a degree. He was still there waiting for me with open arms when I came home from work every day.

I glanced up when I heard a light knock at the door. "Hold on, Henderson." I got up and walked over to the door, pulling it open. "Jake."

"Hey, I know you're in a conference meeting, but I need to talk to you for a moment."

Worry stole my breath. "Is it my father?"

"No, no, everyone is fine. I just received a call from Detective Waterston and wanted to share with you what he said."

The relief that flooded me made me light headed and I grabbed the doorframe to keep from crashing to the floor. "Maybe lead with that next time?"

Jake winded. "Yeah, sorry."

"Give me just a moment." I walked back over to the table and grabbed the remote. "We're going to have to finish this conversation another day, Henderson. Something has come up."

"Sir, I could just send you a summary of what we have been discussing and if you have any questions, you can call me."

I smiled, knowing that promoting this guy had been a good decision. "Excellent idea, Henderson. Thank you."

I click the button on the remote and the screen on the wall went blank. I set the remote down, turned to look at Jake, and leaned back against the table. "Okay, give it to me."

"Sorry about that, Scotty. Didn't mean to freak you out."

Yeah, well.

"Anyway, Waterston called to tell me that after they completed their investigation, they presented all of their evidence to Cynthia and her lawyer, and they took a deal. Cynthia will do fifteen years behind bars with no chance of parole due to her history of stalking, kidnapping, and attempted murder. She'll be old and wrinkled by the time she gets out."

"I still want a restraining order placed against her."

"That's part of the deal. Once she gets out, she's to have no contact with you, Beck, or your father."

I nodded. I wasn't totally satisfied with a mere fifteen years after what she had done, but I'd take it in place of having to go to trial. My father didn't need the added stress.

"What about Beck's father?"

"He only got five years, but his reputation is in ruins and the bank is going after his money as compensation for all of his shady dealings."

Yeah, I had been a bit shocked one I learned that he'd amassed quite the fortune giving certain people loans with a hefty commission for himself.

"All of his assets have been frozen by the courts," Jake continued. "Between the bank wanting its money back and the courts wanting their share, there's a feeding frenzy."

"Is Julia getting any of it?"

"No." Jake snorted. "In fact, she had to sell most of her possessions to help pay back what her father stole."

"That won't affect Beck, will it?"

"No." Jake shook his head. "For one, it became clear during the investigation that Beck had nothing to do with all that shit. Two, he wasn't even living with his family when they were doing this, and three, he left Texas with nothing. What could they have him sell?"

"So, it's over then?"

Jake smiled as he patted my shoulder. "It's over, my brother."

I drew in a shaky breath and then reached up to brush away the tears that sprouted in my eyes. I'd lived in hell for over ten years and now it was finally over.

I wanted to say this was all anticlimactic, but it wasn't. Yes, things had kind of ended with a whimper and not a bang, but the important part here was that they had ended. The three people that had made my life so miserable were gone.

I drew in a long deep breath, filling my lungs. When I blew the air out, I released all of the tension that had been such a part of my life for so long. I almost didn't know what to do without that weight on my shoulders.

I let out a little laugh. "Hey, Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to take the rest of the day off. I think I need a drink."

Jake tossed an arm around my shoulders. "Why don't we both take the rest of the day off? I'll call up the others and we can celebrate at my place and get drunk off our asses. I'll even have dinner delivered from my favorite Italian place."

I pointed a finger at Jake. "Sold."

Jake pulled out his cell phone and started to dial. "I'll just call—"

We both jumped when the conference room door flew open, banging into the wall. Beck came running in, waving a small piece of paper in his hand.

"Scotty! Scotty!" Beck's skin was flushed as if he had been running for ages. His hair was in disarray, pieces of it sticking up all over the place.

"Babe, what is it?" I asked as I caught him by the arms. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Beck's grin stretched almost ear to ear.

My brow flickered as I frowned. "Then why are you in such a hurry?"

The grin did not fall off Beck's face as he stepped back. "You know I just went to Chelsea's doctor appointment, right?"

We'd decided to start our family a few months ago, and Chelsea had agreed to be a surrogate for our children, mine first. We'd been over the moon when we learned the insemination procedure had taken root and she was pregnant with my kid. She was now three months along, just enough to start showing.

My father had been beside himself to know he had a grandkid on the way. It had actually given him a little more life and a skip in his steps.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. A sinking feeling took root in my gut. "What did the doctor say?"

Beck held up the piece of paper in his hand, which looked like a sonogram. "This is baby A." He held up another piece of paper in the other hand. "And this is baby B."

My jaw dropped. "Twins? We're having twins?"

Beck held up the first picture. "One boy." And then the second picture. "And one girl."

Jake caught me when my legs gave out.

"Twins," I whispered again.

"We did it, Scotty," Beck shouted as he threw himself into my arms. "We're finally starting our family."

I found my legs again and then hugged Beck to me. A boy and a girl to join our growing family. Could anything be better?

"I guess we have a good reason to celebrate now," Jake said as he started dialing on his phone again. "I'll call everyone."

Yeah, we really had a reason to celebrate and this time we didn't have to keep things a secret. I wanted everyone to know.

~ The End ~