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“Frank, it isn’t about the money. I just want it tied up. I don’t care if you have to increase the offer to twenty times the amount.”
Frank whistled and just raised an eyebrow at him. His best friend refrained from once again cautioning him about being so hyper-focused on revenge. Besides, he had already promised both Frank and Ivy that he would think about the consequences of his action before acting.
Darsh arrived when the food did. The men waited for the house manager to set out the platters before going over the newest information. Frank had caught the difference between the last names of their mother and Leonardo. Emmanuel thought maybe his brother carried their father’s name.
“Based on all the information I found. I think we have solved the last name mystery,” Darsh revealed.This is it; he’s found my father.“It seems Concetta gave Leonardo her mother’s maiden name. I can’t find anyone else in her life that carries that surname.”
Fuck.If Emmanuel was being honest, not knowing who his biological father was, was messing with his head. He needed someone to answer the many questions he had. Unfortunately, his biological mother wouldn’t be able to answer them. She was deceased. At nineteen, he had lost a parent and had had no idea.
Emmanuel was uncertain how he was supposed to feel when he heard the news. Again, if he was being honest, he was still processing. He would never get a chance to confront her. Ask her why she’d given him up. It made him wonder if on some level he sensed she was gone. Why wasn’t his initial reaction to find and meet his mother?
The information he found out about his birth mother explained a lot about his life. Even without knowing her, Emmanuel had made decisions as if he knew about her. Like the way his stomach would twist in knots every time Ivy got on a plane. It turns out his mother died in a plane crash. The woman was also an addict. One that struggled a good deal of her adult life. It explained why Emmanuel had always avoided liquor and drugs. It seems he was right to have concerns surrounding dependency.
Grabbing a few pieces of sushi, Frank excused himself. Darsh continued providing Emmanuel with updates.
“You wanted to know what Concetta did with the quarter mill?” The way Darsh posed the question was as if he didn’t want to relay the information.
“Yeah. I need to know.” Emmanuel had spent a lot of time thinking about what she did with the money.
“She blew through most of it in seven years. Lots of huge cash withdrawals. I can’t trace what she might have done with it. I will say until she died, she would receive huge infusions of cash. Money would just appear. I can’t trace where it came from. I think she must have received it in cash. So, there is probably more we don’t know about.”
“How much were you able to trace?”
“Another hundred thousand.”
More hush money?That seemed unusual.
Although Emmanuel didn’t have any idea what was involved in purchasing a baby. One would expect the primary requirement to be a one-time payment. This whole situation was frustrating. For every answer they found, two more questions would pop up. This strategy wasn’t conducive to solving the mystery surrounding his birth or adoption. Of course, there was a glaring step he had omitted. He could go to his dad and hope the man would be truthful.Ha. That shit was unlikely.
One question Darsh could resolve was whether the Journee woman was in on the conspiracy with Leonardo. “I was able to get into Jasmine Journee’s social media messages. She had no idea what your brother was up to. Based on the information, she thought it was you.”
“Considering she thought she was sleeping with a married man, what was she expecting?”
“Be for real. Do you think he told her ‘Hey I am married wanna sleep with me?’ He omitted that fact. Jasmine only found out you were married later. She was livid. FYI, she still is in the dark.”
“A Voogle search could have saved us all this trouble.”
“Probably. When she finds out what your brother did, I would hate to be him. The only reason she hasn’t come after ‘you’ is because of Ivy and your children.” Darsh supplied.
For the first time since this ordeal began, he felt bad for Jasmine Journee. She took a chance on some guy and got knocked up. Now she was stuck with a loser for her baby’s father. No, legally he was the baby’s father. He had an appointment with his attorney next week. It would be an interesting discussion. There was no doubt Anna Harkness thought he was full of shit. It would be hard for him not to look smug.
Darsh left shortly before Frank finally returned. “Where did you disappear to?”
“I was off doing your bidding. Hey, where is all the food?” Frank asked, looking at the space where the platters had been.
“The food was refrigerated over an hour ago. What did you want to get food poisoning or something?”
“I’ll go finish it soon. You’re welcome. You now own controlling shares in Leonardo’s company. Everyone also signed the NDA and accepted the bonuses.”
“Good. Thank you. I’ve been thinking you are right.”
“Be more specific man, I am right about many things.”
“It’s time Leonardo, and I had a face-to-face.”
Frank looked surprised by Emmanuel’s declaration. “So, how do you plan to get him here?”
“I’ll save him the trip. Actually, my plan includes going to him.”
