The Enemy's Son Read Free

caught her and pushed her down into one of the two leather chairs facing the desk, next to her father.
    “Cora?” Surprise and fear registered on Jerry’s face, pushing Cora’s heart rate up even faster.
    Keith jerked his head toward the hallway and then stepped out with Alexander, leaving Cora and Jerry sitting in the study under the watch of the third, younger, man.
    The idea of calling 911 right now hit Cora just as she realized she had left her cell phone in her purse, back in her car. She didn’t think she could get to the phone on Keith’s desk across the room before the big blonde tackled her from behind.
    “Dad, what’s going on?” She slipped her words through her clenched teeth. With his peppered hair raked in different directions, Jerry looked hung over he was so roughed up. Desperate. She’d seen him this way before when they lost her mother.
    “Oh, Sweetie, why did you have to come here?”
    She reached over to grab his hand. It was shaking.
    “I was worried about you.” Her voice cracked and she stopped, trying to hang onto her control. “What is going on?”
    “I can’t explain everything, I’m sorry, but you’re not safe. We have to get you out of here. Let me do the talking when they come back.” Jerry looked like he wanted to comfort her, but he glanced back toward the man watching them. It looked like a warning not to say anything. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry. I’m in a lot of trouble.”
    She’d figured that part out already. They were both in trouble.
    “What did you do?”
    “I didn’t do anything wrong, but they think I did. Things look bad, I’ll admit, but I didn’t. I still have to fix it, though.” Jerry’s rambling perplexed her.
    She needed some facts here. “Dad, what did they accuse you of doing?”
    Hushed, he replied, “I didn’t steal their money. I’m an honest man, I work hard. I thought I had proved myself to them.”
    “Maybe this is a misunderstanding,” she offered. While she couldn’t imagine talking their way out of this one, she wasn’t sure what else they could do.
    Jerry lowered his head into his hands, mumbling.
    “How much are we talking about here?”
    He shook his head, not bothering to sit up. “Someone’s been skimming money for the last five years, right under my nose. Right under my nose! How did I miss it?”
    This sounded serious, and her dad had a very good question. How did he manage their finances and miss that? Someone had to be pretty clever to embezzle money for five years without the accountant noticing.
    “Why, why did you have to come here?”
    “I had to, Dad. You scared me.” Maybe she should have kept that to herself. Cora sat back in her chair and tried to pull in a few deep breaths before returning to her original question: why did Keith think Jerry stole from him? She knew her father would never steal.
    She didn’t have much to go on here. Jerry made sure to keep her away from the men he worked for, and he never shared any details about his work. And though she’d always had the urge, she’d been afraid to dig into the Holloway’s affairs. Alexander visited her when Channel Eleven News hired her and told her to never, under any circumstances, to share any information about Keith Holloway, his hotel chain, his restaurants, or her father’s job in her reporting. Remembering the strange conversation chilled her and she shivered.
    “Dad,” she whispered. He pulled his head up to look at her. “What are talking about out there? What’s happening?”
    She hoped they were calling the police, even if it was to report her.
    The door opened and Keith stepped in. “Young lady, get up.”
    Jerry held his hand out to her, keeping her in her seat. He stood and turned around. “Please let her leave, I don’t want her involved in this. I’ll do whatever I need to if she can leave.”
    “Dad!”
    He held his hand out to silence her.
    Cora saw Alexander standing in the doorway behind Keith, with that ever present,