another job locally in financial services.
To her credit, Arianna fought back. She threatened to tell Sheila, and then she threatened to sue the company. In the end, Jonah’s father did what he always did. He solved the crisis with money—buying the woman a house and paying her off for over twenty years.
After discovering his father’s scheme eight years ago, Jonah ordered his father to move the personal business—and Arianna’s consulting “service”—off the corporate books and repay the company for the prior expense.
Then, he went on as if the episode hadn’t happened—except for occasionally using the information as leverage when his father’s predatory impulses got out of hand.
Jonah thought the matter settled until last year. His father decided he’d had enough of paying an old mistress to keep quiet. Trevor told him the loss of income and other personal troubles had proved too much for his mother. She swallowed some pills and ended up in the hospital.
Angry, he devised an ill-conceived plot to blackmail Vivienne. The pictures of Vivienne embracing another woman threw his sister into a panic, but Jonah had handled it.
He picked up where his father left off, writing the son a check for a quarter of a million dollars with the understanding that it was the last dollar the Moran family would send their way.
“What’s happened with your mother?”
“I had to move her back into a facility. She’s not doing well, but I…I don’t have the money to pay for it.”
“I thought she started back to work. Doesn’t she have insurance?”
“Not that covers the full cost.”
“That’s what the money I already gave you was for.”
“I know. I paid the emergency room bill, her old hospital bill, and others, but you’d be surprised how quick you can run through money when doctors and hospitals are involved.”
Jonah hesitated and then lied. He couldn’t let Trevor think he was a limitless ATM—no matter how real his trouble. “I have nothing else to give you.”
“Really? Nothing?” Trevor huffed. “Not even your father?”
Jonah laughed. “Then call him. You’ll get even less, and he won’t be nice about it. When my father is done, he’s done. When he sent your mother a check with the note that it would be his last, he meant it.”
“She’s owed way more than that, and you know it.”
“I did know it, Trevor. That’s why I rearranged my finances to give you what I could last year.”
“You did that because I threatened you.”
“Maybe, but that’s not an issue anymore. My sister came out, so what do you have to threaten me with now?”
“I could tell the world what your father did. I can let them know what your family is really like.”
“Anyone who’d care about that already knows. You need to give up the blackmail business, Trevor. You’re terrible at it.” Jonah blasted the younger man in a tone he knew would squelch Trevor’s weak threat.
Trevor sighed, desperate. “I had to try. I make seventeen dollars an hour doing tech support, and even with the insurance, Mom’s care is over eleven grand a month, not including her medication. You tell me where I can get that kind of money.”
“I don’t know.” Jonah replied, reminding himself this wasn’t his problem.
“She’s my mother.”
The crack in the younger man’s voice made Jonah press his fingertips to the bridge of his nose. “Where is she?”
“Ridgeway Treatment Center at the Methodist hospital.”
“Look, I can’t keep giving you money. Regardless of what you might think, I don’t have a bottomless purse filled with disposable cash. But…I can see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Jonah. I knew you’d help.”
“Because I’m such a sucker.”
“Because you’re a good guy, and you know what she’s dealt with.”
Jonah listened to more details from Trevor and hung up the phone. Basically, he was a sucker.
Chapter Ten
S hannon wore her summer dress and a pair of strappy, red flats to her
To her credit, Arianna fought back. She threatened to tell Sheila, and then she threatened to sue the company. In the end, Jonah’s father did what he always did. He solved the crisis with money—buying the woman a house and paying her off for over twenty years.
After discovering his father’s scheme eight years ago, Jonah ordered his father to move the personal business—and Arianna’s consulting “service”—off the corporate books and repay the company for the prior expense.
Then, he went on as if the episode hadn’t happened—except for occasionally using the information as leverage when his father’s predatory impulses got out of hand.
Jonah thought the matter settled until last year. His father decided he’d had enough of paying an old mistress to keep quiet. Trevor told him the loss of income and other personal troubles had proved too much for his mother. She swallowed some pills and ended up in the hospital.
Angry, he devised an ill-conceived plot to blackmail Vivienne. The pictures of Vivienne embracing another woman threw his sister into a panic, but Jonah had handled it.
He picked up where his father left off, writing the son a check for a quarter of a million dollars with the understanding that it was the last dollar the Moran family would send their way.
“What’s happened with your mother?”
“I had to move her back into a facility. She’s not doing well, but I…I don’t have the money to pay for it.”
“I thought she started back to work. Doesn’t she have insurance?”
“Not that covers the full cost.”
“That’s what the money I already gave you was for.”
“I know. I paid the emergency room bill, her old hospital bill, and others, but you’d be surprised how quick you can run through money when doctors and hospitals are involved.”
Jonah hesitated and then lied. He couldn’t let Trevor think he was a limitless ATM—no matter how real his trouble. “I have nothing else to give you.”
“Really? Nothing?” Trevor huffed. “Not even your father?”
Jonah laughed. “Then call him. You’ll get even less, and he won’t be nice about it. When my father is done, he’s done. When he sent your mother a check with the note that it would be his last, he meant it.”
“She’s owed way more than that, and you know it.”
“I did know it, Trevor. That’s why I rearranged my finances to give you what I could last year.”
“You did that because I threatened you.”
“Maybe, but that’s not an issue anymore. My sister came out, so what do you have to threaten me with now?”
“I could tell the world what your father did. I can let them know what your family is really like.”
“Anyone who’d care about that already knows. You need to give up the blackmail business, Trevor. You’re terrible at it.” Jonah blasted the younger man in a tone he knew would squelch Trevor’s weak threat.
Trevor sighed, desperate. “I had to try. I make seventeen dollars an hour doing tech support, and even with the insurance, Mom’s care is over eleven grand a month, not including her medication. You tell me where I can get that kind of money.”
“I don’t know.” Jonah replied, reminding himself this wasn’t his problem.
“She’s my mother.”
The crack in the younger man’s voice made Jonah press his fingertips to the bridge of his nose. “Where is she?”
“Ridgeway Treatment Center at the Methodist hospital.”
“Look, I can’t keep giving you money. Regardless of what you might think, I don’t have a bottomless purse filled with disposable cash. But…I can see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Jonah. I knew you’d help.”
“Because I’m such a sucker.”
“Because you’re a good guy, and you know what she’s dealt with.”
Jonah listened to more details from Trevor and hung up the phone. Basically, he was a sucker.
Chapter Ten
S hannon wore her summer dress and a pair of strappy, red flats to her
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