My Stepbrother's Regret novel · Chapter 15 of 32

Chapter 15: The Wire

Gibbons Hardware headquarters was a long brick building in Libertyville with a parking lot full of company trucks.

Roarke parked the green pickup in the space marked VP OPERATIONS.

"Is that still yours?" I asked.

"Nobody's painted over it yet."

It was 9:52 on Monday morning.

He had a manila envelope on his lap. In it were the photos from my mother's phone, printed at midnight.

There was the LLC with my name on it, the signature card with the sticky note, and the email from Cuz.

The guard at the front desk wore a blue blazer.

He looked up, saw Roarke, and looked down again at his crossword.

"Morning, Roarke."

"Morning. I don't have my badge."

"I see that." The guard turned a page. "I also don't see you. Boardroom's on two."

The boardroom had a long walnut table and seventy-five years of framed store openings on the walls.

Myles sat at the head.

The CFO sat at his right with a laptop open, a thin gray man in a cardigan. The company lawyer was a woman in navy.

Lonnie was at the far end, in a seersucker jacket, with his gold watch catching the light.

My mother sat beside him in pale pink.

When the door opened, she put her hand over her heart.

"Roarke," Myles said. "You don't work here."

"Five minutes," Roarke said. "Then call security. He likes me."

He walked the length of the table and laid the photos out in front of his father one at a time, squared.

"That's the Searcy fund's LLC," he said. "Filed with the state the week before your wedding. Manager and registered agent, Hollyn M. Dutton. That's not her signature."

Myles looked down.

He didn't touch the paper.

"Where did you get these?"

"Charlene's phone."

"You went through my wife's phone."

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