"So why all the secrecy, hmm?" inquired Matthew as he steered Casey towards the exit, where a driver employed by MBI would be waiting to pick him up. "It's pretty obvious you don't want your mother to know you're here, so what gives?"
Casey gave a furtive glance around, as if to make sure no one else could hear what he was about to say. "I, uh, sort of overheard some stuff that Mom and Hayley were discussing. They didn't know I was home, and after hearing what they were talking about I knew I had to tell you as soon as possible."
"Why didn't you call me then? You didn't need to come all the way out here to meet me," rebuked Matthew gently.
Casey shrugged. "You'll understand when I tell you. It's - well, you're going to be really ticked off, Dad. And I thought it was better to tell you in person. Besides, I didn't want one of them overhearing me."
Matthew frowned. "Okay, now you're starting to worry me a little. What exactly did you overhear, Casey?"
Casey grimaced. "Maybe we should wait until we're inside the car before I tell you. Because you're gonna be really, really mad."
Matthew sighed. "Just tell me. I promise I won't lose it."
"Hayley isn't really pregnant. She's been faking the whole time. And not only does Mom know but I think she was the one who thought up the idea in the first place."
Matthew froze in place, even as his driver pulled up to the curb. "You must have heard them wrong, buddy," he said faintly. "Your mother is capable of a lot of things, but something like this seems way beyond even her warped mind. And I can't believe that Hayley - my little girl - would willingly go along with something so cruel."
"Nope. It's all true, Dad. Look, the car is here. Let's get inside and I can tell you all of it. From the beginning."
Numbly, Matthew obeyed his son's urging and slid inside the backseat of the Town Car. Once he and Casey were both inside, he pressed the button to raise the privacy panel so that they could speak freely without the driver overhearing them.
Matthew turned to his son, trying desperately to keep his simmering anger from reaching the boiling point. "Now, tell me all of it, Casey. From the beginning. And don't leave anything out."
He listened in growing disbelief and fury as Casey patiently and thoroughly relayed the conversation between Lindsey and Hayley. And even then Matthew still couldn't believe it was really true, questioning Casey over and over on specific points. But after nearly twenty minutes of this, he leaned back in his seat wearily, closing his eyes as he scrubbed a hand over his face.
"Jesus." He shook his head in disbelief. "And you know what the worst thing about all of this is, Casey? Not the fact that your mother and sister cooked up this elaborate charade, but that I was stupid and naïve enough to fall for it. How the hell could I have been so dumb?"
"It's okay, Dad." Casey squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "It sure sounds like the two of them spent a lot of time dreaming all of this up. And I guess Mom had help from Nikki."
Matthew grimaced. "Yeah, that might explain some things. Nikki is the queen of lies. That's how she swindled so much money out of her ex-husbands. But I should have been smarter than that, Casey. Jeez, I've got a Mensa-level IQ. You'd think I would have known better."
Casey grinned. "You were the one who told me that brain smarts don't always equal street smarts."
Matthew chuckled, despite the burning anger he felt at having been so thoroughly deceived. "Yeah, I seem to remember that. And you are probably the smartest person I've ever known, buddy, despite the fact that you're only fourteen. More like fourteen going on fifty, in my opinion. And I owe you big time, Casey. I can't tell you how much it means to me to finally realize the truth."
"So what are we going to do now, Dad?"
Matthew grinned. "So it's "we", is it? Glad to have you on board, buddy. And as far as our next steps, I think we should grab a bite to eat somewhere and discuss our strategy. Are you hungry?"
Casey gave him a look of disbelief. "Dad, do you really have to ask that question? This is me, after all. I'm always hungry."
He rumpled Casey's hair. "That's what I figured." He lowered the privacy panel, then directed the driver to take them to one of Casey's favorite restaurants, a place where the burgers were greasy, the beers ice cold, and the air conditioning would be on full blast. It sounded like the perfect place to plot strategy with his son on what their next moves should be. And, for the first time in months, Matthew was actually hungry. Starving, actually, enough that ordering two giant burgers was starting to sound like the best idea he'd had all day.