THE TAINTED TRUST: A DOUGLASS CRIME AND ROMANCE THRILLER SERIES (THE KING TRILOGY Book 2) (33 page)

Phillip curled his lower lip outward and shook his head. “I really don’t give a shit. The only thing I care about is getting my money.”

“What money?”

“My real father left me a lot of money when he died.” He pointed to the photograph. “And that prick won’t let me have it.”

“How much did your father leave you?”

“Three hundred million,” Phillip answered, exuding pride.

“I don’t understand. If he left the money to you, why can’t you have it?”

“Oh I’ll get it, now that Mr. Visconti’s going to help me.”

Kerri’s curiosity exploded. “What’s Louis going to do for you?”

Phillip put his hands in his pockets and looked away. “Hey, I better not say. I don’t know you. Maybe you’re not supposed to know.”

“I’m Louis’s girlfriend,” Kerri protested, attempting to allay Phillip’s concerns. “We don’t have any secrets.”

“If you’re his girlfriend, I’m sure he’ll tell you everything he wants you to know.” Phillip turned to look at the door. “I’m going back to the kitchen. I’m starved.”

Disappointed, Kerri followed him back to the kitchen.

The door to the kitchen burst open and Visconti pranced in, smiling and continuing to run on the spot. “Good morning,” he sang. “Both of you should have been out there with me. It’s an unbelievably beautiful day.” He continued jogging to the refrigerator, poured himself a glass of orange juice, then turned to face Kerri and Phillip. “I’m going upstairs for a quick shower. Then I’ll join you guys for breakfast.” He chugged his juice, then jogged from the kitchen.

Kerri followed Visconti to the bedroom and found him facing the bathroom mirror. “I missed you this morning,” she said, sliding her arms around his waist and hugging him from behind.

“I missed you too,” Visconti said. “I want us to go back to bed as soon as I get rid of that kid in the kitchen. Do we have a date?”

“What’s he doing here?”

“His parents own a large trust. You and Miles would recognize it as the one with the big short position in crude oil.”

Kerri remembered the financial report Visconti had given to Miles to prove the trust’s financial capability. It seemed odd to her that the report confirmed the trust had a value of over six hundred million dollars, and Phillip assumed it was worth only three hundred million dollars. “Wow! I can’t even comprehend someone having that much money. How did they do it?”

“The woman is Phillip’s natural mother. Her first husband died a number of years ago, but acquired the money in the oil business before he did. Her second husband adopted Phillip.”

“So Mike King is the woman’s second husband?”

Visconti nodded. “How did you know his name?”

“I made an assumption. Just before you introduced me to Phillip last night, I heard him say he hates Mike King. Why does he hate him?”

Visconti smiled. “They’re having a big fight over who gets the money, standard procedure for rich families these days.”

“Is Phillip here to try to get you to see things his way?”

“Yup.”

“Can you do anything for him?”

“Not much. The trustees call all the shots. I’m just a hired gun.”

There was so much more that Kerri wanted to ask. Now that Louis had injected an inconsistency into the equation, she had become wary, even suspicious. She wondered why Phillip seemed so confident of getting his money with Louis’s help, and why Louis had denied it to her. She smiled to hide her suspicion, then kissed his cheek. “I’m going to make breakfast. I’ll see you when you get there.”

Visconti showered and dressed, then headed for the kitchen. On his way, he was diverted to the den by the loud ring of the telephone. Simultaneously, Kerri lifted the receiver on the kitchen telephone.

“Louis, baby,” Nick Benedetti said. “Sorry I didn’t get back to you last night. I was up to my ass in alligators. Your message said you had a big job for me.”

“I want you to set up a hit, Nick.”

“Who’s the target?”

“A twenty year old kid. His name’s Phillip Servito. He lives in Toronto. I want him to disappear, without a trace.”

“How soon?”

“I want him to do a job for me in Toronto before you move on him. I’ll let you know when. I want it clean, Nick. Not a trace.”

“You know I do clean work, but it’s gonna be expensive.”

“How expensive?”

“A hundred smackers. Fifty up front, and fifty on delivery of the photograph.”

“Not a problem. I’ll have fifty delivered and call you when it’s time.” Visconti chuckled as he hung up, then headed for the kitchen. Phillip’s elimination would solve an enormous problem for both himself and Mike King. It amused him that the funeral would be paid out of funds in the trust.

Sickened and horrified, Kerri carefully replaced the receiver. Fear and uncertainty besieged her in undulating waves as she turned to face Phillip. He had been condemned to death by the man she had chosen to love. Suddenly, the unmitigated joy of discovering her father had been shattered by doubt. Questions swirled in her head. Feeling betrayed and cheated, she fought with possible answers. Whatever they were, the ugly truth was that Louis was a dangerous man, substantially more dangerous than Miles had warned.

Struggling to maintain her composure at breakfast, Kerri stared at Phillip, the adopted son of her father, aching to tell him to run away from Louis as fast as he could. She felt a loathing nausea in the pit of her stomach when she looked at Visconti, laughing and joking with Phillip, smugly pretending to be the friend of his naive unsuspecting house guest, within hours of sentencing him to death.

CHAPTER 81

Monday, August 27.

Kerri entered then closed the door to Dennis’s office. She stared at her boss, tears streaming from her reddened eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Dennis asked.

“Everything,” Kerri whimpered, now sobbing into her hands.

Dennis rushed to hold her. “Sit and talk,” he ordered, then led her to his own chair. He sat on the desk and faced her. “Talk to me,” he demanded.

After more than an hour of emotionally charged, intense discussion, Kerri had managed to tell Dennis the entire story of her incredible weekend.

Dennis frowned and exhaled. “Damn! I’m absolutely delighted that you’ve found your father, but the news about Louis is awful.”

Kerri rubbed her eyes. “What do you think?”

Dennis exhaled again. “Obviously, there’s a hell of a lot more to this story.”

“Yup, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

“Not a good idea. Don’t get involved, Kerri. You could find yourself in a world of trouble.”

“I’m already involved. It’s impossible for me to become uninvolved. The man I’m living with is planning to kill Phillip, and I’m in a position to stop him.”

“I think you should talk to your father. May be he can give you some guidance.” Dennis grinned. “You might even have a few other things to talk about.”

Kerri shook her head. “I don’t think I can do it.”

“You mean you don’t think you can talk to your father, or you don’t think you can tell him who you are?”

“I’m definitely going to talk to him, but I’m just not ready to tell him I’m his daughter.”

“That’s ridiculous! If it were me, I’d run to him, shout the truth to him and hug him as hard as I could. He’s your father, Kerri. Aside from anything else you need to tell him, I think your first priority is your relationship. Both of you have a lot of catching up to do.”

Privately, Kerri agreed, but fear of rejection troubled her. Her father had stopped seeing her and writing to her. With passing years she had concluded that he had wanted to forget her, have nothing more to do with her, and get on with his life. Her natural mother admitted that her primary motivation for marrying Mike King had been to replace the daughter she had given up for adoption. That, and psychological problems arising from it, ultimately led to the divorce. “I’ll think about it,” she said.

“You handle it any way you want. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.”

The act of sharing her mental burden with Dennis was enormously therapeutic to Kerri. She stood and hugged him. “Thank you, Miles. Thank you for listening. You’re always there to catch me when I fall.”

“No thanks necessary. You’re worth it.”

Kerri called Information and was given the telephone number of Reserve Oil in Toronto. Nervous yet excited, she dialed the number and waited, struggling to decide what to say to her father. She asked to speak to Mike King.

“May I ask who’s calling?” the receptionist asked.

“My name is Janet Pyper. I’m with Iacardi & Sons, Commodity Brokers in New York.”

“One moment, please.”

Kerri’s heart pounded. The next person she talked to would be her father.

“Hello,” Mike barked.

“Mister King, my name is…”

“I know who you are. Is this some kind of sales solicitation?”

“I’m not calling to sell you anything. What I have to tell you is far more important than that,” Kerri said, shaken by her father’s tone.

“Then please hurry. I’m in the middle of a meeting.”

“I’m calling to tell you your stepson’s life is in great danger.”

“What the hell is this? What did you say your name is?”

“Janet Pyper. I’m Louis Visconti’s girlfriend. I’m sure you know him.”

“Give me your telephone number. I’ll call you right back.”

Kerri gave Mike her number, confused as to why he needed to call back.

Minutes later, Mike called Kerri from his car phone. “Sorry for the delay. Now tell me what Louis Visconti’s got to do with my stepson, and why his life is in danger.”

“Phillip was at our apartment in New York this weekend, to talk to Louis about the money his natural father left him. I assume you know exactly what he was talking about.”

“Yes. Please go on,” Mike prodded, his tone now softened, his heart pounding.

“Phillip told me he hates you and everything you stand for. When I asked him why, he said it was because you refused to give him his money. He also told me that Louis has agreed to help him get it.”

“Did he say how?”

“No. I tried to convince him to tell me, but he refused.”

“Did he tell you anything else?”

Kerri ached to tell him Phillip had identified him as her father, but again fear of rejection inhibited her. “I asked Louis why Phillip hates you. He said it was related to a family dispute over who gets the money.”

“He was right about that. Please tell me why Phillip’s life is in danger.”

“I overheard a telephone conversation between Louis and a man called Nick. Louis agreed to pay him a hundred thousand dollars to murder Phillip.”

“That’s incredible! Why?”

“He didn’t say, but he did say he wanted it done as soon as Phillip completes a job for him in Toronto.”

“Did he say what the job was?”

“No. I thought you might know.”

“I don’t, but I’m sure as hell going to find out… I’m curious. If you’re Visconti’s girlfriend, why are you telling me this?”

“Because I’m… Because I was shocked when I found out what Louis was planning to do.

Whatever my feelings are toward him, I just couldn’t let him murder someone.”

“How did you find me?” Mike asked.

“Phillip told me the name of your company. I want you to know that I’ll be in a lot of trouble if Louis ever finds out where you got this information.”

“I’ll be extremely careful with it.”

“Thank you. If I learn anything more, I’ll call you… Would you do the same for me?”

“I will… I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your call. It took a lot of courage.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Shaken, yet still skeptical, Mike called Dan Turner and repeated the entire text of his conversation with Janet Pyper.

“Incredible,” Turner said. “You’re incredible. In fact I think you’re addicted to trouble. I think you should find out more about this, Mike. If Visconti’s girlfriend is telling the truth, Phillip’s in a lot of trouble… By the way, William Dare paid me a visit this morning. He was with a lawyer by the name of Fetterman. They were both breathing fire.”

“What did they want?” Mike asked, sickened by the mere mention of Dare’s name.

“The money. I asked them how much they wanted, but they refused to tell me. All they said was that Phillip might know where the money is.”

“Might?”

“Yes. I questioned them on that. They said he also told them you might know where the money is.”

“Ah shit, Dan! Here we go again,” Mike said, blood now gushing to his head and creating a throbbing headache.

“Maybe not. All they’ve got is a smoking gun. As long as nobody tells them anything more, that’s all they’ll have.”

“This thing’s out of control. It’s ripping me apart. I can’t take it any more. Let’s just bite the bullet and give them the money. I’m tired of worrying about it.”