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Another laugh, and this one was a little brighter. “Not really. I’m not from here, but you probably can’t tell anymore.”
“I don’t know. There’s a hint of… uh, I want to say Welsh, but I’m not great with accents.”
“I was raised in Wrexham, so on the border, but I went to school in Wales so I’m bilingual,” Stephanie replied, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I was only eighteen when I met Declan, and I married him a year later.”
Oh.
I was right. She wasn’t that much older than me. One of the ladies at ceramics had said they’d been married for just over ten years, which made Stephanie in her very early thirties.
Given that Tierney was well into his fifties…
I just about resisted the urge to shudder.
Not that I was against age gaps. Age gaps were fine, even ones that were as big as theirs, but she wassoyoung when they met that I couldn’t help feeling as if it was somewhat predatory.
“I worked for him in his North Wales office,” she continued. “My parents warned me about marrying such an older man, but I was smitten.”
Ah.
A forty-something year old man seducing his eighteen-year-old office assistant? That’d be the reason it felt somewhat predatory.
“I should have listened to them, of course,” Stephanie continued. “And now… here I am. A place I barely know anyone because my husband was horrid to half the town, no family, and I’d say no friends if it weren’t for Shane.”
“It sounds horrible to say it, but you wanted to start your life without him. You can now,” I said, picking up my coffee.
“If only. As far as I know, Declan had no will. I get everything. I don’t want to run his business—I’d sign it all over to Alan, but he doesn’t want it either. That’s his business partner,” she added. “He’s been arguing with Declan for months over retiring and having Declan buy him out, but he was a tight-fisted bastard and never wanted to give anyone what it was worth.”
“Couldn’t Alan sell to anyone else?”
“No. Declan wouldn’t let him. It was him or nothing, which was where their problem lay. Alan had two offers from other people, both for what his share of the business was valued at. One of them even had a partial offer on the table that would give Declan full control.”
“An investor, essentially?”
“Pretty much. Declan refused. Something about a clause being put into the contract Alan signed stating he could only sell to him.”
I frowned. “Meaning Alan had no choice.”
“No. It was take Declan’s offer or stick it out. Honestly, his offer was insulting. Alan was just as much a part of building the business as Declan was, but he was a complete twat.”
“I guess that’s how the rich stay rich,” I mused.
“Something like that.”
“Would you buy Alan out?”
Stephanie nodded. “I will. I’d prefer to just sign it over, to be honest. I have no interest in construction, and I don’t even think I know how to run it. Not to mention all the bloody lawsuits from his shit work. That all falls on my shoulders now to deal with.”
I’d forgotten about that.
Wow.
She didn’t just get the money and the house and whatever other assets he had, she also got the crap that went alongside it.
For as much motive as Stephanie might have had, there was also a pretty solid deterrent.
Nobody wanted to inherit lawsuits. Especially if they didn’t care about the actual business. Although with her willing to just buy out Alan, I wondered if she’d simply settle the lawsuits so she could move on with her life.
I wouldn’t blame her if she did.
