Page 18 of Dallas

Hazel wasn’t hungry, but she knew that in order to go on today, she’d need to have something on her stomach. The first thing she was going to do was to call her grandma’s attorney. After placing her order, she dug out her phone and called Mr. Marshal.

It was Booth who spoke to the other man. Once she heard the elderly man’s condolences, it broke her down again. She knew that whatever he told Booth would get to her in the same way. Booth would take the best notes in college, almost like you’d be reading from the lecturer’s notes himself. Once her salad was brought to her, she pushed it away. Again, it was Booth who pushed it back at her. Mom, too, she noticed. Once he hung up, not only had she finished off the salad that she wanted after the first bite, but part of his, too.

“All right. The reading of the will is tomorrow morning. Your father was to have you call his office if you couldn’t make it. He’d told them that you were out of town on business and didn’t want to be bothered with details. That’s one of the reasons that it hasn’t been read until now. He said he knew your relationship better than that with her. And you’d not miss this important thing for her.” She told Booth that he was right. “You’re mentioned in the will, of course, as is your mom. There are others who will receive their notices today that the hearing of it will be at nine in the morning. Your father will be there too, as he is mentioned as well.”

“I didn’t figure that she’d leave her only child out of the will. They didn’t get along at all, but she, in her own way, loved him.” Booth didn’t so much as blink. “You do that better than anyone I know. Not say or make a move that anyone can read. I told you, you should have become an attorney. You would have been a good one, too. What is it you think is going to happen tomorrow? Is she finally going to tell him off? I do hope so.”

“I think that with all your granny’s money, she did what she wanted, and this reading of her will won’t be any different.” That was true. Grandma did have a way about her that made you realize very quickly from the start that she had a mind of her own and wasn’t afraid of spending money if she saw something that needed it. “I’m in town for a couple of days. If you need me to do anything for the two of you, just say so.”

“Come with us.” She and her mom laughed when they both said that he needed to be there with them. Hazel laughed harder when her mom told him that she was going to use him as her boytoy. “No, she won’t. But please come with us. I know that I’ll feel better with you there.”

She glanced at her watch that was connected to her cell and ignored the call from her father. This was the sixth time he called, and she was in no better mood to talk to him than she was when she’d left his office. He’d hurt her, and she didn’t want to speak to him anymore today. If ever.

“Mom, I want to go work with you.” She said that she couldn’t, according to what her father had put in his contract with her. “It was up for renewal three months ago, and I didn’t sign it. In fact, it’s still in my office in the envelope that he had it sent to me in. As of the thirtieth of last month, I was no longer considered under contract for him or his company. Besides, who does that to their own child.”

All it said was that she wasn’t to work for anyone for the next fifty years, or she’d be cut off from her father’s money when he died. Actually, it said if he died, like he thought he was going to live forever or something. And if she went to work for her mother especially, then she’d owe him forty million dollars for breach of contract.

That was what he deemed she’d need to live out the rest of her life if she left him. Because according to him, she couldn’t live without her father there to keep her balanced or in a job. Blackmail was all it was. Plain and simple. But once she didn’t sign the last contract, everything between them was null and void. She didn’t work for him, nor would she owe him any money if the contract between them lapsed in any way. Hazel often wondered if that meant he wasn’t her father anymore, and after what he’d done to her today, she thought that had merit, too. It was worth her looking into, she thought with a laugh.

~*~

Dallas didn’t want to step on any toes today, but after hearing from Booth, he knew that he’d do this for his friend. Since he had a law degree that was just sitting there, Booth’s words, not his, then he could go and ask the right questions for Hazel Cherokee and her mother. While he’d never met the two women, he’d heard a great deal about them over the years that he felt like he did. Besides, Booth was going to pay for him and Amy to have a nice dinner, and that was worth it, he thought.

The room that they’d been shown to was nice. It wasn’t too overdone, he didn’t think, not like some attorney offices he’d been to. There was a long table with chairs that was more suited to a dining room table than an office one, and credenzas around the room had the same feel to them. There were drinks where they’d been asked to sit. Water and a coffee urn. And donuts and bagels. He didn’t take any of it. He was too nervous and didn’t want to upset his belly too much.

The moment that Kipling Cherokee came into the room, he knew who he was immediately. He was just as Hazel had described him. Unbending and acting as if he had all the world’s money. When after a good research by Jamie, they found out that the man was teetering on bankruptcy of his personal finances as well as the company that actually belonged to his mother.

The man had four men with him, all attorneys, he thought, and a woman who would be taking notes, he assumed. When he looked at his ex-wife, Maria, he had the most sour look on his face, like he didn’t want to be in the same room as her. He ignored him and Hazel at first.

“Hazel, I’ve heard from the grapevine that you’ve decided to leave my company. That’s going to cost you, I hope you realize.” Kipling laughed, and Hazel asked him what was so funny. “You. You thinking that you could cut ties with the man who raised you to be what you are today. You’re just being childish because I forgot to tell you that your grandmother passed away. I’ll give you some time off for that, but I do expect you to be back to work on Monday morning, and we’ll hear nothing more about this. Understand me? It will cost you if you don’t. I’m not playing around with you.”

“I’m glad to hear that you’re not.” When she didn’t say anything more, he asked her what that was supposed to mean. “I don’t want to play with you either. As far as I’m concerned, I no longer want to work for you or with you. In fact, father dear, I plan on making it my life’s work to run you into the ground and never look back.”

“You’ll pay for that.” She said that she wouldn’t, actually. “You will. Did you forget about the contract that the two of us have? I’m thinking that I’m going to make sure you sign a copy of that for the rest of your life. Even if I were to die soon.”

“I didn’t sign anything. You might want to have one of your underlings check on that before you go accusing me of owing you anything at all.” Her dad looked shocked and turned to one of the men next to him. It was then that the attorney for the estate for Margaret Cherokee came into the room and started with the proceedings.

Dallas had read over the contract that Hazel had been required to sign every year until recently. After the first ten years of her yearly having to go over the same worded contract, Kipling suddenly decided to renew it every fifty. There was no way that he would have recommended anyone sign such a document and told her that. She had signed it, she told him simply because she needed a job and thought that he’d blackball her to work anywhere else. Which Dallas had no doubt that he would have. He was a mean, vindictive man with a huge chip on his shoulder.

The reading of the will was a video. He enjoyed these kinds of readings. Dallas thought that the reason that this woman, an elderly woman who was worth a great deal, wanted it done was so that she could face to face tell people off even after death. He had a feeling that she was going to do that too when she told her son to shut his trap and to pay attention to her inside of whatever mistress he had under the table. Dallas didn’t even bother to hide his hilarity of the situation.

“Now then. I do hope that you’re all here. I don’t want to have to be dragged out of the cabinet again to tell anyone this. I know what you’re thinking, Kipling. It would be just like me to drag things on like I hope my death was for you. But I’m in charge of this meeting, and you’ll pay attention, or you’re to be tossed out on your ass.” She looked to her right like someone was speaking to her. “Yes, I’m also here to address some things that I’ve been looking into. Those things concern my lovely granddaughter Hazel. Hello darling. I’m so sorry that I left you. I do hope you were by my side when I passed. But now that I think on it, I can imagine my dirty bastard of a son keeping me from you, even in my darkest hours.”

Hazel looked at her father and stuck her tongue out. It made him laugh again, and when Maria cleared her throat, he apologized to her. However, she told him that she, too, was getting a kick out of him being reprimanded by his mother too.

“I would like to start out by telling you some of the things that I’ve been able to uncover. Yes, I uncovered them, not found them. This information has been right there under my nose all along, and I didn’t see it. But I have now. Kipling, you’ve nearly ruined my father’s company.

“Since the day that you took over, you’ve been losing money. Nearly had it bled dry before I had someone step in and take over running it. I knew that once you got yourself in that big office, you’d stay there. Never going out on the floors to see what was giving you a fat paycheck. Well, you’re fired.” She paused as if she knew that he was going to say something, and he did. He told her that she couldn’t do that. “Oh, but I can, and I have. As of the day of the reading of this will, you’re no longer to step foot into any of the offices that I own, not any store that carries our brand, and you are no longer on the board of any of the other companies that I own either. And I do own them as of now. But when I died, sad to say that I can’t see your face when I say this, they now belong to my lovely granddaughter, Hazel Margaret Cherokee. Or if she’s married and happy, then her husband will own it with her. I know my Hazel well enough that she’d only marry for love and would trust this man with everything that she is. Congratulations, Hazel, my dear, you’re a very wealthy woman.”

Dallas took the file that had been handed to Hazel, who handed it off to him without looking at it. Opening it up, he shut it quickly when he saw the amount of money the first business was worth. Christ, she really was a very wealthy woman.

There was a great deal of money left for Maria and a couple of houses. Margaret said how she wished forever that she’d not been a part of the marriage between her and Kipling but was ever so happy that she got a granddaughter out of it. The only saving grace, she told Maria. After reading the stipulation that the staff would be able to stay on if they wished and how they were to be awarded things, it was time for her to speak about her son.

“I so wish I had had a daughter, Kipling. You were nothing but a pain in my ass from the day I brought you home from the hospital. Forever treating people poorly as you grew older, too. Well, of late, I’ve been looking into things, and I found out that you’ve been stealing from the very hand that fed you. Did you really think that I’d not notice that you were selling off shares of the company? Surely you didn’t think that you’d be able to get away with hiding money in accounts all over the world? I found them. All of them. And once I did, you’ll be…well, not happy to know, but you should know that I made sure that each time you made a deposit, it was moved to another account so that I could keep an eye on it. What did you plan on doing with it, Kipling? It wasn’t as if you’re going to live forever despite what you think.”

“I will, too.” Kipling stood up and slammed his hands down on the table. “Damn it, Mother, I should have had you committed years ago. Or killed like I did my father. He tried to run me into the ground, too. Well, I’ll show you. I’m going to find me someone to—get your hands off of me. You don’t touch me. I’m Kipling Cherokee. What are you saying?”

“You just admitted to killing your father, sir.” The attorney stood up and looked at him and the man who was there for the estate. “I’m finished here, sir. I didn’t want to be here in the first place. I have paperwork and pictures of him murdering his father, and I’m willing now to turn them over to the proper authorities.” When he started to leave, Kipling leapt at the man and took him to the floor. After that, it was a free-for-all, and he shoved the two women behind him so that they’d not be hurt.

The three of them, himself and the three women, were put into another office when the police arrived. Not only was Kipling arrested, but the four people with him were as well. The man who had said he had proof that Kipling killed his own father and might have had something to do with the death of his mother was taken to another room when it was apparent to everyone that Kipling was going to murder him as well. The woman had been a hire in, someone who had been hired from a temp service, and she was let go. Thankfully. He couldn’t stand her screaming about how she was so innocent that she hadn’t been made aware that there would be police involved. Dallas reached out to his bother.

“This is s shitshow here.” After telling Booth everything that had happened, they both were laughing. Then he told him about what Hazel and her mother had received. “I don’t know if there is more or not. There well could be. But for now, she’s doing well. And I don’t think there will be any trouble for her to step into her father’s role as the president of Cherokee. You know, Booth, the more I’m around humans, the more I dislike them.”

“You’d better watch out, buddy. I think your wife might take exception to that. She’s human.” He said she was special. She was his mate. “I’m sure that won’t cover your ass if you go spouting shit like that to her. While I love her to pieces, I’m slightly afraid of her.”

“I am as well.” Hazel asked if he was talking to Booth, and when he told her that he was, she asked him to invite him to dinner with them. He said he’d love that and would meet them anywhere they wanted. It turned out that she wanted to go to her grandma’s home and have dinner there. “Good. I’d love that as well.”

They weren’t released for a few hours. After having them write down what they’d seen happen, they were fingerprinted and then released. Kipling had had a gun on him that he convinced one of the attorneys at the law office they were at to sneak him in one. Needless to say, several people lost their jobs over that.

Dallas was glad that Hazel had extended the invitation to Amy. He was never so happy to see her as he was when she hugged him at the house. He’d had enough of people. Humans, he supposed. They weren’t all bad, not at all, but the ones that were seemed to be the worst of the bunch. He was so very happy that he had gotten one of the good ones. However, he’d not say that to Amy. She was touchy lately, and he didn’t want her upset any more than she might be now. He dearly loved his mate and his family. He was happy, too, that he was going to be a dad sometime in the spring. Life was pretty good if you asked him.

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