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Bass sat there, stunned. What in the world was happening? He glanced over at Ella who looked even whiter than before. She was seriously as confused as was he. He glanced at Rafe who appeared incredibly unhappy.What are you doing, Nana Bee?he silently questioned.
The room cleared out without any argument, then the door was shut, leaving him, Rafe, and Ella in there, spread out by the table, and clearly not happy to be singled out together.
“Can you come to the table, Ms. Jones?” the attorney asked.
Bass noted that she was slightly trembling as she did what she was asked without a single word. She sat at the far end of the table. Rafe sat up front on one side, and Bass sat opposite him. They all faced the attorney.
“Ms. Palazzo was very specific in the will. If any of you choose not to abide by what she’s requested, her entire share of the corporation will be left to a Mr. Brett Jones.”
It took several heartbeats for his words to sink in. Ella gasped in horror and Rafe looked as if he wanted to punch the nearest thing to him . . . which just so happened to be Bass at the moment.
“What the hell?” Rafe thundered. This wasn’t about money, it was about anything going to the monster who’d already stolen from their family business.
“Explain please,” Bass said, obviously the calm one right now. If Nana Bee was doing this, there had to be a perfectly good explanation for it. He couldn’t see what that was at the moment, but he was sure he’d find out.
“Ms. Palazzo was very specific that Rafe Palazzo, Ella Jones, and Bass Fisher are to share the family farm. You are to rip down the home, and create a business together. The three of you must work on this together instead of hiring out the management of this task. Not a single step can be taken forward unless you three work together. You have one year to finish this task. At the end of that year, the three of you can decide how you want to proceed, if you want to sell what you’ve created, or keep it in a trust. If any of you fault on this project, then the property and the shares of the company will go to Ms. Jones’s father, Mr. Brett Jones. This is ironclad and there’s no way around it. Ms. Palazzo made sure of that as she guessed none of you’d be happy with the arrangement.”
Bass looked over at Ella, who now looked angry. The sadness was still lingering in her eyes, but her expression was furious. She obviously didn’t know anything about this.
“Mr. Jones embezzled a lot of money from our company. He won’t get another dime from our family,” Rafe said, his voice barely controlled. He turned and gave Ella a suspicious stare. “It seems this is a win-win for you whether you do the project or not.”
Ella flinched and Bass wanted to jump in and protect her. He didn’t know why. He owed her nothing. He and Rafe had enough problems already and he didn’t need to start another fight with the man, but this clearly wasn’t Ella’s fault. Before he could say a word, she finally spoke.
“I don’t know why Nana Bee has done this. I’m incredibly ashamed of my father and the thief that he is and was. I have no relationship with him, and I haven’t since he went to prison. I haven’t spoken to him since he was released either. The only reason I’m here today is because Nana Bee required it, and there’s nothing I won’t do for her. I don’t want the property. I understand my family has taken enough from yours. I will do this and then I’ll sign my portion over to you.”
She finished the words quietly. Bass could hear the absolute truth of what she was saying. He glanced at Rafe, whose anger drained at her speech. Maybe Rafe was now remembering the little girl who’d played so often with them years before. She’d been too young then to be their friend, but she’d followed them with hero worship, and they’d both rather enjoyed it. That was until they’d left for college and had forgotten all about her. She would’ve been twelve or thirteen at that time and neither of them had any interest in a little girl when they were officially adults at eighteen.
If Bass remembered correctly, Ella had never known her mother as the woman had run out on her before she was a year old. Her father had raised her . . . doing a very poor job of it. Her father had been working for the Palazzo Corporation and had been embezzling from them for years. He was discovered as the thief when Ella was only ten years old. The man had then gone to prison.
Nana Bee had watched Ella crumble as her world had come crashing down around her. She was dragged through the mud along with her father. Nana Bee opened her heart and her door to Ella, who lived with her for two years before some long-lost family member stepped in and dragged her away. Bass had forgotten all about her after that.
Then he remembered Nana Bee having a conversation about Ella, saying the poor girl was with an aunt who was terribly abusive, and she was trying to make it right. Was this Nana Bee’s way of doing just that?
“I didn’t realize you and Nana Bee still talked,” Rafe said, breaking Bass from his thoughts.
“I came back to visit with her after I was out of my aunt’s place. I went to college nearby and stopped by any chance I could,” Ella said. She looked as if she wanted to slide beneath the table.
“Your father tried to frame my dad for the embezzlement. My family is way too close for that to ever be considered. He did put us through the wringer with the board, though. He won’t get another dime of Palazzo money.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Ella said again. “I’ll do what I have to do to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“This isn’t your fault, Ella,” Bass said. She finally looked at him with a bit of hope in her expression.
“I feel like it is. I promise I wasn’t visiting her to try to get anything. She was the light of hope in my life when I had none left.”
Her words were choked at the end of her sentence. Even Rafe had nothing to say about that. If this was an act, it was an Oscar-winning performance. Bass didn’t think it was possible for that to be an act.
The attorney then spoke of what he, Rafe, and Ella would get at the end of the year, which neither he nor Rafe cared about. They had their own money, they didn’t need more. This wasn’t about what they could get, it was about keeping the money from Ella’s father. If that meant they had to work together, that’s exactly what they were going to do. The money Ella would get would matter to her though. He wasn’t upset about that. It was a drop in the bucket to him, but it would change Ella’s life even if she was shaking her head saying she wouldn’t take it. He figured in a year she’d change her mind. Right now they were all too raw to think of petty matters like money.
Ella stood when the attorney was done speaking. “Nana Bee loved me, no matter what. She’s the only one to ever do that. I’ll be at the house tomorrow. You can choose to come or not.”
With that she walked out of the room. Dead silence greeted her departure for a solid minute.
Bass stood next. “I’ll be there too,” he said. Then he walked out.
He wasn’t sure if Rafe would show or not, but he had a feeling that’s exactly what was going to happen. There was no way they’d let Ella’s father win. Bass still wasn’t exactly sure what all they’d have to do though. He also wasn’t sure what Nana Bee wanted at the end of this. He’d find out soon enough, he supposed.
Chapter Four
