The Object of His Protection (13 page)

The room got silent. Drey narrowed his gaze. “Yes, I know him.”

Drey followed the judge’s eyes. He was staring at Charlene, probably remembering her from the store at the mall earlier and was probably wondering why she was there. Drey decided to make introductions. “And this is a friend of mine, Charlene Anderson.”

Forever the gracious hostess, Evelyn smiled and said, “Welcome to our home, Charlene.”

“Thank you.”

With all the niceties out of the way, Drey turned his attention back to the judge. “This is a coincidence, Judge Hanlon. You’re just the person I want to see. I believe you have something that belongs to the coroner’s office.”

The man’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes when he said, “You must be mistaken.”

Drey’s smile was likewise. “I don’t think so. Charlene works for the coroner’s office and it just so happens that a key she saw on your key ring today is one that turned up missing from the coroner’s office.”

The judge chuckled. “That’s not possible.”

“It is,” Drey said, getting tired of this cat-and-mouse game the judge was playing. “It’s the same key that was taken out of Joe Dennis’s stomach during an autopsy.”

Judge Hanlon looked around to find all eyes on him. “Come on, Drey, do you expect Evelyn and the others to believe that? They’ve known me for years. Why would a key taken out of someone’s stomach interest me?” He turned to Evelyn. “He has insulted me. Either he leaves or I will.”

Evelyn looked confused. She glanced from the judge to Drey, then over to Charlene. “Drey, I don’t understand, what’s going on? How can you accuse the judge of something like that?”

Drey took a deep breath and then said, “Easily, Evelyn, because that’s not the least of his deeds. He is also responsible for Harmon’s death.”

Evelyn let out a startled gasp and clutched her stomach. Then an angry look appeared on her face. “Drey, that is absurd. How dare you accuse Bruce of something like that? I’m going to have to ask you to leave right now.”

“No, let him stay,” Malcolm said, taking a step forward and keeping his eyes on the judge the entire time.

“Ty, Shondra and I hired Drey to uncover the truth about Dad’s death,” Malcolm told his mother. Then he turned to the judge. “I don’t like the fact that he’s accused you any more than you do. But I think we need to hear him out.”

Judge Hanlon stiffened and anger exploded in his face. “What! You would take the word of your father’s bastard over me?”

Startled gasps went through the room, and seeing that everyone was now staring at Drey, a smirk appeared on the judge’s face. “Yes, that’s right, Drey. You thought I didn’t know, didn’t you? Well, I found out the truth. When were you going to tell these good people that you are Harmon Braddock’s bastard child and that your mother is Daiyu Longwei, a woman he had an affair with thirty-three years ago?”

Evelyn held her hand over her heart as she continued to look at Drey. She then asked in a low and shocked voice, “It is true, Drey? Are you Daiyu’s son? Was Harmon your biological father?”

Drey looked around the room at all the shocked faces. He then glanced back at Evelyn, seeing the hurt in her eyes. “Yes, Daiyu Longwei is my mother and Harmon Braddock was my biological father.”

Charlene’s heart went out to Drey at the same time red-hot anger exploded inside her. She knew this was not the way he had wanted his siblings to find out about him, and now this murderer, of all people, was trying to make him look like the bad guy.

Charlene crossed the room and said to the judge, “You ass!” She was angry beyond reason. “It all makes sense now.”

The judge looked at her as if she were demented. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well, let me enlighten you. I just figured out the reason Congressman Braddock was trying so hard to reach Drey’s mother before he was killed. It was to warn her about you. You were going to blackmail him, weren’t you? You were going to expose the truth about Drey if the congressman didn’t cooperate. You knew the congressman was going to turn you in and you wanted to blackmail him, the same way you blackmailed my boss into cooperating with you by falsifying documents. Joe Dennis did not die of a heart attack. He was murdered. I saw the original autopsy report myself.”

“Lady, you are crazy.”

“And, Judge, you are a murderer, two times over. If you’re so innocent, then let us see your key ring.”

“Yes, Judge, why don’t you let us see your key ring?” Connor Stewart said. He moved closer to Shondra’s side.

“Fine!” the judge said, fumbling into his pocket. “I’ll show everyone my key ring just to prove you’re crazy.”

He pulled out his key ring and held it up. Charlene recognized the key immediately and pointed to it. “That’s it! It’s
that
one.”

The judge rolled his eyes. “That’s the key to my locker at the gym.”

Something about the key caught Evelyn’s attention. “May I see it for a minute, Bruce?”

He blinked at her request, and trying to keep his cool, he said, “Certainly, Evelyn. But like I said it’s the key to my locker at the gym.” He removed the key from the ring and handed it to her.

She gazed down at it. Turned it over in her hand. Studied the numbers engraved on the back. When she lifted her head and gazed at Judge Hanlon, she wore a shocked look on her face. “Where did you get this key from, Bruce?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, it’s my locker key that—”

“No,” she interrupted him. “It’s not a locker key. It’s a key that’s been in the Braddock family for years and it goes to a safe hidden on the mansion grounds where Harmon kept his important papers. What are you doing with this key?”

Before anyone could blink, in a calculated move, Hanlon reached out and grabbed Charlene and held her in front of him as a shield. “Stay back or I’ll kill her!”

It was then that everyone noticed the small revolver he had pulled from his jacket. He was holding it close to Charlene’s head. “You think you’re so smart,” he said, his angry words directed at Drey. “I knew Harmon would want to protect you at all costs. The last thing he wanted was for you to know that he was your father. It would have been real simple for him to be a part of everything. But no, he wanted to play Mr. Good Guy and threaten to turn me in unless I got out of it. Hell, I didn’t want to get out of it. The money was good. I liked the power. The corruption suited me just fine.”

“Bruce, surely you didn’t—”

“Shut up, Evelyn,” Hanlon said angrily. “Yes, I had him killed. He was going to the Feds with evidence. I tried blackmailing him and it didn’t work. He was going to get to Daiyu before I did. So I had to have him eliminated. Joe Dennis helped. And then he got greedy so I had to eliminate him as well.”

“You killed our father?” Shondra asked, coming out of her shock. “How could you?”

He sneered. “The same way I plan to kill all of you, without batting an eye, starting with this crazy one first,” he said of Charlene. “She messed things up by snooping around. There’s going to be a fire and all of you will perish. The Braddock mansion will burn to the ground and no one will ask any questions because I have several firemen on the take too. Their report will reflect whatever I want it to say.”

“You’re the one crazy if you think we’re going to stand here and let you kill us too,” Malcolm said.

Hanlon smiled. “You won’t have a choice. I’ve already called for backup. A few of Houston’s finest who happen to be on my payroll,” he bragged.

Sirens could be heard in the distance. “I think I hear them coming now,” Hanlon said, grinning from ear to ear.

Knowing the cops that were arriving were the good cops Lavender had dispatched and not the bad ones the judge was referring to, Drey figured that he had to get Charlene out of Hanlon’s clutches. He gave Malcolm a nod and as if his brother understood what he wanted him to do, Malcolm kept the man talking. Confident the ball was in his court, the judge bragged about all his illegal activities and how Harmon wanted to ruin things for him.

Too late, Hanlon noticed how close Drey had gotten him, and when he made a move to aim the gun straight at Drey, Charlene elbowed him in the side. It was just the opportunity Drey needed, and within seconds, with one jab to the judge’s midsection and several quick karate kicks, the man fell flat on his face. The men in the room rushed forward and used a cord from a nearby curtain to quickly tie his hands and feet.

Lavender stormed in with several police officers on his heels, as well as a couple of FBI agents. Drey stood back to let them do their job while he pulled Charlene into his arms, wanting just to hold her and make sure she was all right. He had never felt such fear as he had when Hanlon had placed the gun to her head.

He felt several pats to his back and glanced over his shoulder to see a smiling Malcolm and Tyson. “You’re going to have to teach us some of those quick moves, brother,” Malcolm said, grinning.

Brother
. Drey inhaled sharply and then returned their smiles. In their own way they were letting him know he was accepted as one of them. “Yes, I will have to do that.”

Although later than they had planned, the Braddocks finally settled down to dinner. Drey and Charlene had been asked to stay and join them. After the last platter had been placed on the table and before it was time to say grace, Evelyn stood at the head of the table with a smile on her face to speak to everyone.

“I think all of us can say that today has been full of surprises. More than anything I am glad that the man responsible for taking Harmon from us will be dealt with. There is no doubt in my mind that justice will be served.”

She then centered her gaze on Drey. “And I want to welcome a new addition to our family. At this point in my life, I don’t want to let secrets from the past be allowed to shadow the present. Drey, Harmon was your father and as such, you are a Braddock. I want you to know you are welcome here any time you want. You are one of us.”

Cheers went up around the table and Charlene had to fight back the tears that threaten to fall. Only a gracious woman such as Evelyn could accept what had happened thirty-three years ago, not hold it against Drey and move on. And she knew in her heart that although Drey had tried convincing her otherwise, he had wanted to belong.

Shondra stood up and said, “And while the family is all gathered together, I have a surprise of my own.” She smiled brightly and then reached her hand out to Connor. He took it, kissed it and then stood beside her.

“I want all of you to be the first to know that Connor and I eloped last weekend to Vegas and got married.”

Everyone was out of their seats to rush over to the happy couple and give them words of congratulations and best wishes.

When it seemed as though everyone had finally settled down, it was Tyson who got up next. He looked over at his wife, Felicia, before saying to everyone, “And Felicia and I have some wonderful news to share. We found out today that we’re having a son and we plan to name him Harmon Braddock.”

Charlene saw the tears glistening in Evelyn’s eyes. She was getting more and more good news about her family.

Malcolm stood and chuckled. “Gloria and I don’t have anything to add since all of you know about our Christmas wedding. But as we head into the final week of the campaign, we’re counting on all of you, our family, to help get me into office.”

More claps and cheers erupted around the table and then a few minutes later everyone finally settled down for dinner. And by the time it was over, Charlene couldn’t help but think it had been one glorious affair.

It was almost eleven o’clock that night when Drey and Charlene entered his home. As soon as the door closed behind them, Drey pulled Charlene close to him and reached out and took her face in his hands. “Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw Hanlon put that gun to your head?” he asked softly.

“No, tell me,” she whispered softly. She had stared into his eyes the entire time the incident had been going on and had seen the stark fear evident there. But what had touched her most was something else she could have sworn she’d seen. But she refused to jump to conclusions. She wanted him to tell her if her assumptions were correct.

“I felt like I was about to lose you,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “I was going to lose you without telling you how I feel.”

She swallowed deeply. “And how do you feel, Drey?”

For a moment he didn’t say anything, he just stood there and tenderly stroked her cheek while gazing into her eyes. Then he spoke. “I love you, Charlene. I didn’t realize how much until today. I’ve been fighting it and denying it. But I can’t do so any longer. I know we moved quickly in our relationship, and I’m willing to slow down for us to have a long engagement if that’s what you want. But I want to marry you, Charlene. I want you to be a part of my life forever. I want to sleep every night with my body connected to yours. And more importantly, I want for you to one day love me as much as I love you.”

Charlene smiled through her tears. “That day is now because I do love you, Drey. I’ve loved you for some time, but I was afraid to let you know it. You told me in the beginning you didn’t want a wife, you wanted a bed partner.”

He chuckled. “Now I want both. Will you marry me, Charlene?”