The Scarlet Stinger (LRDA Book 1)

Chapter 20

Her mother wouldn't let her go to school the next day and her father called that morning to tell her the same. She didn't bother to argue. She didn't have the energy to anyway. If they hadn't told her to stay home, she would have asked for the day off.

She gave Bryce a quick call asking if he would want to go out with her next week and he said yes so, while she was tired, she was also in a very good mood. Dates were fun. She just had to figure out what the agenda would be.

She also called Miranda and gave her a detailed report of the date, excluding the parts with Nicolai. Halfway through she realized that Miranda had her on speaker and Carter heard her gushing about Bryce. They were both surprised that the date went so smoothly and Carter was disappointed that he hadn't come up with the idea of a puppet show followed by lobster fighting as a date idea. At least one good thing came out of that. Between the three of them, they were able to give Talia a decent sized list of ideas for their next date and she was looking forward to it.

She also learned that she and Bryce was not a couple because of one date and that they would have to talk about it first to confirm they were dating... or something like that. She was still confused about the whole thing and downloaded lots of teen dramas for research purposes.

Around three in the afternoon, Phillip stopped by. Talia had been kicked out of the house again and no amount of claiming she was sick would get Mrs Wilson to have mercy on her, so she was back under the gazebo with her laptop.

"Talia, I heard you weren't feeling well," Phillip said.

Talia shrugged. "It was just one of those nights and you know how my parents can be." He sat next to her. "Any good news?" she asked.

"Well, good and bad. So the good thing is that since it was basically a board meeting with lawyers, your mother was able to use some information she got to convince them that Craig Rogers was the one behind my mother's accident and that his son-in-law was using company money in ways that could be very bad for the company image. There were a few other ways he broke the partnership contract before Grandpa died that she was able to uncover. The main part was the papers with the misuse of the drugs. Apparently they were running experiments on homeless people. Mom wouldn't tell me details."

"Any evidence he was behind Mr Taylor's death?" she asked.

"Not yet, but your mother said that she has some police detective looking into it." Phillip laughed. "She had them arrest him in the meeting. I've never felt so satisfied in my life. The whole issue with the shares hasn't been sorted out yet but according to the contract there's a chance we can get the entire company back, just like what Grandpa said. Mrs Hudson even said that at the next board meeting it should be sorted out. She did say not to get our hopes too high though but things are looking good."

"I'm happy for you Phillip," Talia said.

Phillip leaned his elbows on the table. "So, this kid came to me last night and handed me this note." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Want to explain to me why it has your handwriting on it?"

Talia looked at the note then went back to her laptop. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It's also strange that the day I tell you the whole story of what was going on, Ted Lawson contacts me asking about it."

"Hm. A coincidence, obviously."

"And the fact that the same kid from last night is pacing at the gate outside is coincidence as well?"

"Nicolai is here?" Talia asked. Was he pacing because he was embarrassed about what he'd said the night before and how he'd kissed her hand? She wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Nicolai was very cute.