Love & Business: Part II

Betrayal

When I walked to where Nathan was sitting, he immediately stood up and shook my hand.

"Just get to the chase. I don't have all day." I said as I sat down. I wasn't exactly happy to be here so I didn't plan on staying for long.

He nodded and slid some papers in front of me. "Mr. Lodge is suing you for money laundering."

I looked through the files then started laughing. "Money laundering? Really? How does he come up with these?"

I don't recall ever laundering money however when I looked up, Nathan wasn't laughing with me.

"Sophia, this isn't made up. There are documents to prove it."

I studied the documents closely. "Nathan, it says I did this four years ago. I wasn't even high ranking in the company four years ago."

"There's evidence that you did it so this is not something we can just sweep under the rug unless..."

"Unless what?"

He sighed. "Mr. Lodge called me and said that there is a way for him to drop the charges."

"How?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. He wants you to meet him in half an hour at the restaurant down the road."

I ran my hand through my hair.

"Don't worry Sophia. You have the best lawyer there is to ever exist," he said looking all confident.

"Really?" I asked looking around. "Did you get me a new lawyer? Where is he?"

He gave me a death glare. Although I pretended like I didn't, I trusted him. I hate to admit it but he's one of the best lawyers in the city.

I closed the folder that contained all the documents before getting up. "Don't tell Hunter okay? I want to tell him myself."

He nodded. "Okay, I won't."

...

I sat in my car as I watched Mr. Lodge sit in the restaurant devouring his meal. I had gotten here five minutes ago but couldn't bring myself to come out of the car. I tried calling Hunter but he wouldn't pick up. He was probably still in the meeting.

I didn't trust Mr. Lodge one bit. He always had ulterior motives. Who knows what would be the outcome of this meeting. I took a deep breath before walking out of the car then into the restaurant.

When he saw me, his eyes widened and a wide smile came across his face. "Sophia! It's so good to see you."

"Can't say the same about you," I grumbled under my breath.

"How are my son and grandson doing? That little boy must be getting big."

I rolled my eyes at his small talk. "What do you want John?"

He placed his hand on his chest and gave me a surprised expression. "That is no way to talk to your father-in-law."

I folded my arms.

He returned to his meal. "Did you eat lunch child? Can I get you anything?"

"Why are you doing all of this? Are you seriously mad that Hunter actually likes me and doesn't want to hurt me?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm glad that my son has matured. You see, I was going to forgive him since he's family and all but I remembered how much I like holding grudges. Therefore, I'm not going to forgive my son for favoring you over me."

My fingers rolled into a fist. I wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face for saying he's trying to ruin our career over a stupid grudge. Coming here was a mistake. I quickly got up and started to walk off before he stopped me.

"Wait!"

A smirk came on my face as I turned around on sat back down.

"What if I told you the evidence was true?"

I gave him a flat expression. "I didn't launder any money so how can it be true? You're pathetic Mr. Lodge."

"You didn't but your father did."

I stiffened. "What?"

He smiled even more and stopped the waitress that was passing. "Give this lady a soft drink, she has to drive after this."

"What are you talking about Mr. Lodge?"

He leaned back into his chair as he wiped his mouth with the napkin. "Four years ago, your father got an opportunity he couldn't pass up on and so I helped him hide it. The only thing is that he couldn't put the money into his name since he was CEO so, he used his little princess's name. He said if he got caught, you will do little jail time since you had a clean record."

I shook my head. "No, my dad wouldn't do that. He's an honest businessman."

"Honest businessman my ass. The man made his daughter marry to increase profits. Ask him yourself," he said as he gestured his head to my dad's approaching figure.

My dad quickly walked to us and took a seat. "What's all this about Lodge? You know we aren't on talking terms."

I picked up the papers and handed them to my dad. "Tell me this is just some twisted lie Mr. Lodge made up to get back at Hunter. Tell me you didn't do such a greedy thing."

I watched as dad stared at the papers before looking up at me with a guilty look. "Pumpkin I-"

"Oh, my gosh dad!" I said as I started panicking. "I could go to jail for this. I have a son to care for!"

"Pumpkin, dad is going to fix this. That's why I came here."

I shook my head. "How the heck are you going to fix this when my name is on it?"

I heard Mr. Lodge laugh as he took a sip of his drink.

Dad opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Tears filled my eyes as I realized that my dad would do something like this to me. I stood up and immediately walked out. I wasn't going to let Mr. Lodge get the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I could hear my dad shouting my name from the table but I just ignored him.

...

I sat in the home office as I looked over the papers over and over. Everything was true.

The door opened and Hunter walked in with Blaze strapped to his chest. "There you are. We've been looking all over for you."

I gave him a weak smile as I got up.

"What are you looking at?" he asked but I stayed quiet. I couldn't bring myself to say it.

When he realized what was happening, his expression quickly changed from a happy one to a worried one. He walked over to the desk and picked up the file. When he finished reading them, he turned to me. "Did you do this?"

I shook my head as tears started to run from my eyes. Now I know why Hunter used to hate me so much. When someone close to you betrays you it hurts.

He looked confused.

"Why are you crying if it's not true? We can simply fix this," he said in a soft tone.

"My-my dad, he..." I trailed off since I couldn't finish the sentence. I completely broke down. Within seconds, I could feel two arms wrap around me. My face was buried in one side of his chest while Blaze occupied the other half.

"Don't cry, we're going to fix this," he said as he tried to comfort me but that only made me cry harder. I could care less if this got fixed or not. I was only crying because I still can't believe my dad would do such a thing to me.

"How about I make you some food?"

I instantly stopped crying at the mention of food and I could sense him laughing due to the vibration on his chest.

"Okay, food it is."