Royce(35)

Royce looked at his brother and said what he’d realized last night. “She’ll do a better job without me. Don’t say anything,” Royce told him when Curtis started to speak. “I’ve been a complete and total ass with her. No, that’s not true either. I’ve always been an ass.”

“You’re not going to hear me disagree with you,” Curtis said, laughing. “I love you, but damn, man, you’re not nice sometimes.”

“Thanks,” Royce said without heat. “The thing is, she makes me crazy, not because she’s going to have my baby, but because she’s not the least bit impressed by me.”

Royce flushed when Curtis laughed again. “You mean she doesn’t worship the ground you walk on? Well, no wonder she makes you cranky.”

Royce started pacing. “Yesterday I went by to see her and she wouldn’t even let me in her apartment. She made me stand in the hall like…like an unwelcome guest. I suppose I was. And she told me if I came around again, she was going to get a restraining order against me. Nor does she want my money.”

“She probably doesn’t need it. Not now in any case. I gave her the money she had coming to her from her paychecks last night.”

Royce turned to look at him. “What money? I thought I’d already given her that money.” And he’d found out she’d used it to pay off her mother’s hospital bills and her funeral services. Bobbie had told him that yesterday. Apparently Leah had had no insurance before she’d been diagnosed and no one would insure her afterwards.

“She’s on medical leave, injured on the job. I figured you wouldn’t mind if she got her full checks at an average of the hours she’d been working for the past year. Minus the insurance policy, of course.” Curtis handed him a sheet of paper. “I don’t know much about babies, but that should cover most of the costs.”

Royce looked at her weekly hours. She’d averaged seventy-nine hours per week. “She must have been happy about this.” Then he frowned. “No, she was probably pissed off and gave you a hard time for even suggesting that she take it.”

“Pretty much. She said she couldn’t say no about all the overtime, not with White holding the full-time position in front of her like a carrot. She said that every time someone would get hired in, he’d tell her they had more experience or some such bullshit.”

Royce nodded. “I suppose you’ve looked into any others he might have done this to. Was he abusing anyone else?”

“Yes,” he answered softly. “Four others. All women. I’ve contacted two of them, the other two I’m still trying to find. I was going to talk to you today about it. How do you want it handled?”

“The same as with Kasey. Also…give them some sort of bonus. You decide on the amount.” Royce sat back down. “Is she all right?”

Curtis smiled. “She’s wonderful, funny, brilliant. I don’t know when I’ve had so much fun. But she’s also very…no, she’s brutally honest, headstrong, and mouthy. Much like you, in fact. We were talking about it on the way home, how the two of you are the perfect match for each other and think it would be a mistake if you two were to marry. You’d kill each other within a month.”

Royce went to his office a little while later. He had plenty of work to do and several projects he needed to get started. Curtis got him updated on the Benton fire and what was happening there.

The Benton estate, seized because the fire was arson, was going to pay for the building to be replaced once the funds were able to be used by the shareholders. Plus, they were going to add an additional one million dollars in contributions. Neither knew where the funds were coming from, but were pleased with the outcome.

The case against White wasn’t finished because of the additional information from Kasey and the other women. Curtis said they were opening themselves up for a little backlash, but he thought it would be all right. The firm contacting the women instead of the other way around would make them look better. Royce said he was worried less about image at this point and more about making things right. Curtis agreed.

Curtis also gave him some advice. “If you want to be a part of your child’s life, then I suggest you man up and shut up. She doesn’t need you, or any of us for that matter. But she does need a friend. When we had dinner last night, she let it slip that she’s lonely, that she doesn’t have anyone she can just call. The three of us, Daniel, Jesse, and I, all volunteered. You could be on that list too.”

Royce wanted that, he thought, but before he could say so Curtis continued. “But if you hurt her, drive her away, or even make her shed one more tear, we’ve decided we will hunt you down and hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine.”