“This too could be yours, if only you’d let yourself fall in love,” I said.
“I fall in love all the time,” he replied. “None of them have been the one, I guess. Maybe one day.”
“One day, you’ll fall hard. I’ll enjoy watching.”
Ella and Steph arrived, and both were in their bathing suits, large beach towels wrapped around themselves. Steph was very tall, and attractive, with lean curves and an attractive physique. I saw Christian eyeing her while she and Ella removed their towels and climbed down into the warm infinity pool. All my brothers enjoyed the show, and I wondered if anyone would hit on Steph while she was in L.A.
Mr. and Mrs. Carlson came down and joined us, and the nine of us sat around the pool and talked about the wedding and Ella and my honeymoon in Bora Bora.
Finally, when it was getting close to midnight, David stood up and cleared his throat.
“I’m hitting the hay, but if you want to stay up later, by all means, please feel free. Just make sure to lock the patio doors when you come in. We have a fun day tomorrow, and the only thing any of us have to do is memorize where we’ll stand during the ceremony and what, if any words we have to say during the ceremony or after at the dinner. See you in the morning. I have Estelle coming to make us a nice brunch so you can expect the full deal at around nine. For those of you who get up early, you’ll have to wait. The early bird will not get the worm, in this case.”
We all said goodnight and made our way upstairs to our respective rooms. Before we went up, Mr. Carlson stopped me at the bottom of the staircase.
“Come join me in the kitchen for a minute,” he said quietly. He turned to Mrs. Carlson. “We’ll be up in a minute. Go on ahead.”
I walked with him to the kitchen, figuring he wanted to ask me about the FBI case. We didn’t get a chance to talk privately about it since I got the news.
“What’s up, Governor?” I a
sked, still not feeling able to call him ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’.
“Please, call me Emmet.” He took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with ice and water from the refrigerator dispenser. Then he turned to me.
“I wanted to ask you about the case. I heard that MBS was hacked and that some fake evidence was planted to make one of your execs guilty of tax evasion.”
“And money laundering,” I added, nodding.
He nodded. “I wanted you to know that when I heard, I suggested that the FBI check out Derek.”
“It was you who tipped them off?” I asked, shocked that it had been Ella’s father. “What made you think of it?”
“He threatened me,” Emmet said quietly, glancing around like he was concerned who would overhear him. “I didn’t tell Ella or her mother. I didn’t want to worry them, but he wanted to hurt me, and he wanted to hurt Ella because of losing his position and the hit he took to his reputation. When I heard that MBS had been hacked, I called a contact I have in the FBI and suggested they check out Derek. I had a hunch. It was right.”
“Wow,” I said, shaking my head in surprise. “I had no idea it was you who tipped them off. Thank you. I trusted my CFO to not have done what the FBI alleged, and I expected he would be cleared, but still. It was pretty touch and go for a while.”
“I’m sure it was,” he said and cleared his throat like talking about it was difficult for him. “You have to understand that at one time, I thought Derek would be my son-in-law. I truly loved him as a son for a while, but he was more ambitious than he was ethical. Unfortunately, power attracts the worst as well as the best.”
“That it does,” I said. Then I decided to be totally honest with him. “I want you to know that I had nothing to do with MBS’s investigation into your partner’s activities back in the day. I was still in college--.”
He held up his hand and stopped me. “Don’t mention it. We’ll put all that behind us and have a détente, okay?”
“Sounds good to me,” I said and then I frowned, remembering how suspicious I was about Emmet getting off without any charges, considering it was his business partner who was found guilty of so much.
“So, you had no idea that Garner was involved in anything shady back in the day?” I asked, pouring myself a glass of ice water.
“Actually,” he said and leaned against the countertop. “It was me who turned him in.”
He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. I mulled that over for a moment.
“You suspected him of cheating and tipped off the Feds?”
“I was working for them,” he said softly, taking a sip of water, considering me through narrowed eyes. “And that has to stay completely between you and me. Neither Ella or her mother know.”
“You were working for the Feds?” My mouth dropped open in total shock.
“I did a stint in Military Intelligence when I was with the Army before I went to law school. When I got out, I helped out with some fraud and money laundering cases as an informant.”