Alpha Billionaire Series
Coming Home Chapter 24

HOLDEN

I was used to my injuries throbbing when there was a change in the weather or if I overdid it. Typically, the pain was dull and pervasive. It wouldn't go away no matter what. It took time and some level of pain medication. When I stepped out of the shower at my mother's place and was hit with an unusual stabbing sensation, I mentally took note so I could follow up with my orthopaedist if it happened again. Mom looked a little less bad for wear than the last time I had seen her when she joined me for breakfast. If you could call a mimosa breakfast.

"You should eat something," I said as I dug into my food. I had become used to eating a hasty yet filling breakfast in the Army. I now thoroughly enjoyed taking my time over my meals and eating a large breakfast. I focused on a protein-heavy breakfast to help my bones. I eyed her drink with judgement as I stirred a powdered calcium supplement into my own orange juice, no Champagne for me.

"I've been having this for breakfast much longer than you realize," Mom said, lifting her glass.

"I don't doubt it, but you also used to have yoghurt or a piece of toast."

"Fine," she huffed and reached out to my plate wiggling her fingers in a hand it over gesture.

I offered a piece of toast already slathered in apple butter. "Your liver will thank you."

"You're going to wish you had one of these after getting to the lawyers' office." She tipped her glass to me before taking a sip.

"I'll probably want something stronger," I chuckled.

"Bet, you're buying lunch if you so much as think you need a drink after what we're headed into."

"Do you really think it will be that bad?"

"Holden, your father died. Everything is that bad."

I was out of my chair and wrapping my arms around Mom for a hug. At some point, I grew taller than her and hugging her no longer felt like Mom was holding me, but I was holding her. She had always been a force of nature, when had she gotten so small? She patted me and sniffed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring the mood down. Some days are better than others."

I didn't want to let go. I knew how rare my relationship with my parents was based on what my school friends had said about their parents. Whatever this thing was with the lawyers, I was there to take care of my mother.

"I'll be ready as soon as I finish breakfast. What time is the car?"

"We have time, the appointment is at ten."

Dark glasses hid most of her face, and she did not take them off once we reached the offices where we were to have our meeting. Lawyers from Dad's company-my company-and the lawyer who handled my parents' personal assets were all there. I leaned over to Mom. "Looks like I'm buying lunch."

She laughed, the meeting hadn't even started, and I admitted defeat. It was good to see her smile, even if it was for a brief moment.

There was no obvious arrangement as to how people sat at the long conference table. No clarity on our team versus their team type of deal. It turned out there was only one team, all of them working for us against an impending tax audit. In the boxes of paperwork, I had cleared out of Dad's Nantucket home office, the lawyers found inconsistencies.

Apparently, there were a lot of very expensive inconsistencies.

"The books that were sent over from Powell's home office did not match the ledgers that we had," McHenry from the company's legal team started. "We reached out to Clay and Silverstein to see if they had information that we did not. Maybe Powell did not realize that certain assets needed to be included."

"We are still in the discovery process, gathering and locating all of Powell's assets," Clay said.

"Wouldn't Dad have had everything listed?"

"Only if your father had taken the time to have everything in one place. Your father died unexpectedly. He hadn't gathered everything into a nice clean list for his estate planning, something we do see with older or sickly clients. I expect that had your father been aware, that is something he would have done."

"So, what are you saying?" Mom asked.

"Possible tax fraud, or embezzlement, both, or a simple mistake. We don't have all of Powell's assets accounted for," Clay said as factually as he could. From the look on his face, I thought he was as shocked as the rest of us were.

"As you can see here," He was pointing at a spreadsheet.

"No, I don't see." Mom had taken her glasses off and stared at the same column of numbers that I was looking at.

"May I?" Penny, who had been so helpful weeks earlier, pulled up a chair next to my mother and began pointing to the exact figures McHenry wanted us to focus on.

"Right here, Mrs. Wells. This figure should actually match the figure at the bottom of this column, but it doesn't."

She looked at Mom until Mom nodded. "Go on."

"This number is what was reported on all of those tax documents."

"And the other one is substantially higher. Oh." Mom sat back in her chair and looked at everyone in the room. "So, you need to know where that money went."

She looked at me as panic dawned across her face.

"We haven't discovered any additional bank accounts. Are you aware if your husband had anything offshore?"

Mom started to laugh. It was the manic laughter of someone trying not to cry. "Powell didn't do anything farther offshore than go to Nantucket every summer. And yes, I'm very well aware that's not the same thing. I couldn't get him to go to the Caymans with me. I always had to go with a friend."

"What's the damage?" I asked. "Can they come after him if he's dead?"

"They can and will go after his assets."

"What if we take it to them? We offer a repayment plan and comply with any investigations they want to do. We can afford that."

"It's going to cost millions."

"It's going to cost a lot more if we don't comply," I countered.

We had lunch brought in and continued to work while we ate. So, in a way, I did pay for lunch.

"May I?" Penny reached to take my finished container. She was walking around collecting everyone's finished dishes and loose napkins left over from our meal.

I handed her the container. "Will you meet me in the hall when you're done?"

I stood with a wince. The stabbing in my leg was back.

"I'll be right back," I whispered to Mom before I left the conference room.

I propped myself against the wall out of sight of the conference room.

Penny followed a few moments later. "What can I help you with?"

"Can I trust you to be discreet?"

She twisted and pointed back toward the conference room. "If it's related, you really should be speaking with Clay or McHenry. I have the least amount of influence or seniority of anyone in that room."

I shook my head. "This has nothing to do with my father's questionable financial practices. This is extremely personal, and I'm impressed with how helpful you are proving yourself to be."

"As long as it's not criminal and has nothing to do with the situation in there, I'll do my best. Yes, I can be discreet."

"I recently found out that I have a child. I need to replace out what I need to do to make sure she is taken care of, even if the mother and I aren't together. What are my legal rights? That kind of stuff."

"Oh, okay. I can definitely make inquiries for you. Do you have confirmation with a paternity test?"

"I don't need one." Ainsley was clearly mine, why would I bother?

"I'm going to recommend you get one since it sounds like this child is already a few years old."

I shrugged. "Fine. Why don't you head back? I'll be there in a minute."

With a slight nod, Penny turned and walked back toward the conference room.

I waited until she turned the corner before I pushed off the wall. The pain in my leg grew more intense with each step. Even with my cane, I was struggling. Chills overwhelmed my body, and I had to fight shivering with cold along with burning stabbing pain in my leg. The hall grew longer, and my vision tunneled, growing gray around the edges.

I don't know how long it took, but my mom rushed out of the conference room before I made it to the door.

"Holden?"

I collapsed against her.

"Oh God, you're burning up. Someone call an ambulance."