The Platinum Reunion (The Platinum Series Book 3) Read online

  “Interesting,” Jake said, his tone dripping with skepticism.

  “What? Do you think Rick was lying?”

  “Yes, I do,” Jake said flatly, not mincing words.

  Mike stared at Jake for a moment with a startled expression on his face. “Look, I don’t know where you’re going with this, but if you intend on challenging Rick and Camilla on the validity of their statements about their own daughter’s health and making some sort of hay out of all of this, then we have a problem on our hands that will need to be addressed. We do a lot of business with Climent Partners. They’re too big and important a client to have a junior associate at our firm engaging in this level of personal acrimony with its chairman and principal shareholder. In fact, it wouldn’t even be tolerated under normal circumstances. If you weren’t Jake Doyle, you’d be out the door. By calling Rick and his wife, you’re being nothing more than a nuisance, Jake. Now you’re making accusations about their credibility? This is getting to be a bit much. You are no longer Amanda’s fiancé. Therefore, you really shouldn’t be contacting Rick and Camilla anymore. In fact, you should only be communicating with them through me, frankly. They hired me to communicate with you on their behalf. Remember?”

  “Then maybe I need to get my own lawyer involved.”

  Mike turned red. He held out the palms of his hands to show his dismay as he spoke. “Jake, what are you doing?”

  “Did you know that Amanda was pregnant?”

  “No. Where’d you hear that?”

  Jake smirked. “Oh…just a rumor that was flying around, I guess.”

  Mike glared at Jake, his anger obvious. “I’m late and need to run to this meeting, but we need to talk further. This is getting out of hand, and I don’t appreciate your attitude right now.”

  “Well, you’ll see me tonight, so I look forward to continuing the conversation then.”

  Mike didn’t answer back as he turned away from Jake and stormed out of his office.

  ***

  Later that afternoon, Jake headed out of the office for a late lunch, feeling anxious and stressed. He was more concerned and fretful about the call he was expecting to receive from Tom with the paternity results than he was about the terse conversation he’d had with Mike that morning.

  Jake walked a couple of long blocks from his office building and arrived at his favorite downtown LA sandwich shop. He decided to order the same thing he always did, the turkey ciabatta. In between bites, he busied himself with his smartphone, checking emails and then perusing Internet sites like CNN and ESPN to get the latest news, anything to help take his mind off the impending news that Rick Climent might be his biological father. Jake was still very doubtful, but his mind raced with thoughts about what might happen next if it were true. How would such news be broken to Amanda and by whom? Distracted, Jake closed the ESPN page and pulled up Amanda’s Facebook page to see her latest posts. He and Amanda had never unfriended one another, so her posts routinely appeared in his news feed and he usually read them. Amanda had become quite active on social media now that she was a budding designer building a brand and taking advantage of her growing celebrity as the It girl of the moment. Almost every day, she posted photos, links to articles with features or cover stories about her or about her and Lucy together, and tidbits about the upcoming launch of Novel. Jake was amazed at how quickly her page had evolved from an ordinary personal page with photos of family and friends at random social get-togethers, birthday parties, and weekend getaways to a page that was now much more professional and sophisticated in tone and appearance. Plus, she now had a lot more followers, and the number seemed to be growing by the day.

  “Two hundred fifty thousand followers? Damn!” Jake said aloud to himself in astonishment.

  Jake clicked to read one of the articles Amanda or her PR people, he surmised, had recently posted. It was about Novel with a particular focus on the fine handcrafted Italian leather that was being used for the product. As he read the article, Jake recalled the time he’d traveled to Italy with Amanda and Lucy more than a year and a half before on their first fact-finding trip in search of an atelier to make their bags. The trip had been a mix of business, fun, and lots of romance as it had taken place shortly after he’d proposed to Amanda.

  After reading the article, Jake clicked on Amanda’s photo album. He had looked through it many times before, but this time there was something that struck him and drew his attention. Before Amanda’s page had blown up and developed a following, many of the photos she’d posted were of her and Jake, spanning several years from the time they were in college together at Stanford. Jake scrolled and scrolled, looking for those photos. He kept scrolling as far back as he could until it became abundantly evident that every single photo of him had been removed. “She deleted every single one?” Jake asked himself quietly. It made him sad, and his eyes watered. The fact that Amanda had left the pictures up for so long after their breakup was heartwarming. And when he had begun to contemplate getting back together with her, the photos offered a small glimmer of hope that the door might still be open for him. Oh well, if you’re my sister, things are definitely over between us. You might even have to share some of your money with me. “That’ll be a doozy,” Jake said aloud to himself as he got up from his table to leave.

  When he’d made it back to the office, Jake wondered why he hadn’t yet heard from Tom with the paternity results. The day was growing late, so he decided to text him.

  What’s the status? Jake simply wrote.

  Less than a minute later Tom replied back. Still waiting to hear. They said before the end of the business day.

  Jake took a deep breath and patiently waited. For the remainder of the afternoon, he sat at his desk and buried himself in his work, drafting responses on behalf of his client to a set of questions sent from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Jake had become so engrossed in what he was doing that when he looked and noticed the time in the bottom right corner of his computer screen, two hours had passed and it was now five o’clock on the dot. It had been a productive couple of hours, and the work was stress-relieving. However, upon the seeing clock, Jake’s angst immediately returned. He still hadn’t heard from Tom, and they were set to meet in an hour with Mike in what he anticipated would be a most cantankerous confrontation. Jake wanted some time to digest the paternity news and to get in the right state of mind before the meeting took place, but the clock was ticking and time was running out.

  Jake sighed hard as he rose from his desk and walked out of his office to the bathroom to take a leak. As he stood at the urinal, his heart began to pump faster and his mind raced with worst-case scenarios. If Rick’s my father I still won’t demand anything. I don’t want his money. But then, why not take my fair share of the family fortune if I turn out to be a Climent? Amanda will hate my guts for sure. Watch, I’ll get blamed somehow for this whole mess if I don’t keep quiet about it. Mom and Dad will probably divorce. Harry is going to shit on himself when he hears about all of this. My relationship with Mike won’t survive this. I’m going to get fired. I should just leave anyway. I’m sick of this place already, and Mike’s a crooked piece of shit—little did I know.

  When Jake got back to his desk and sat down, he looked at the clock again and saw that it was now a quarter past five. The meeting with Mike was at six. Growing impatient, Jake picked up his cell phone to call Tom. However, just as he did so, a call was coming through. The caller ID read Dad. “Thank God,” Jake said, relieved. The moment of truth had finally arrived.

  Jake was trembling. His heart was beating so hard and fast it felt as though it would pop right out of his chest. He paused, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for two seconds. Then he answered the call.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jake sighed hard and slumped back in his chair after speaking with Tom. He rubbed his face with his hands and sat there quietly for a moment. He needed to decompress and gather his thoughts before he headed
across the street to The California Club, where he and Tom were about to meet with Mike.

  They had agreed during their call that Tom would take the lead in the discussion. Jake felt too worked up and angry and needed to gain control of his emotions. Besides, Tom wanted to take charge of the situation and confront his longtime friend and peer, man-to-man. Jake had told Tom about the testy exchange he’d had with Mike earlier that morning and said that he feared he was about to lose his job. Tom pledged to help Jake find a new job if things came to that and assured him that it wouldn’t be a problem. After all, Tom was the executive vice president and general counsel of one of the largest global construction companies in the world. Any number of law firms would gladly hire anyone he recommended to them, especially someone who shared his last name.

  Jake stepped out of his office and discreetly made his way down the hall opposite Mike’s corner suite. He didn’t want to run into him, let alone walk over to the meeting together with him. When he saw that the coast was clear, Jake hopped on the elevator and headed down to the lobby of the building. Then he made his way outside for the short walk across the street to The California Club. Just as Jake started to ascend the short set of stairs leading to the entrance of the stately members’ only establishment, he saw Tom walking toward him. Tom’s office was only a couple of blocks away.

  Tom sported a broad smile as he approached Jake. Jake smiled back at him.

  “See…I told you. How could you possibly be anybody else’s son?” Tom said, clearly happy.

  “I never really believed it. But I’m relieved to know officially that I’m your son and not Rick’s.”

  “Come on. You’re the spitting image of me,” Tom said, wrapping his left arm around Jake’s shoulder as they walked inside the building.

  “You think? People always say Harry looks more like you.”

  “Nah…what do they know?”

  “Well, needless to say, I don’t look anything like Rick Climent or like anyone in that family. They all have dark features. Dark hair, dark eyes—”

  “That’s what I kept telling your mother, but she thought you, at least in appearance, had taken more after her in your DNA makeup. Anyway, regardless, it’s resolved. You’re not a Climent. You’re a Doyle.”

  Jake followed Tom as they walked over to a corner table in the bar and took a seat.

  “So I assume Mom knows the results?”

  “Yeah, I spoke to her first.”

  “She must be feeling a little stupid right now.”

  Tom grimaced and looked away, his irritation with his wife still apparent.

  Jake shook his head in disgust. “All of this—the lies, the cover-up, the multimillion dollar payoff offers—all for nothing. All Mom had to do, from the moment I first introduced Amanda to the two of you, was fess up about everything. We could’ve taken a DNA test way back then and gotten this over and done with. Amanda and her parents wouldn’t have needed to know. We’d be married right now and possibly with a baby on the way. This whole fucking fiasco and the stress of it all is probably what caused her to miscarry. I can’t fucking believe this, Dad. I’m so angry. And Amanda’s with this other guy now and apparently they’re already talking about getting married. It’s not fair.” Jake spoke sharply as his eyes watered and glistened with rage and disbelief.

  “Jake, I don’t know what to say other than I’m sorry. Sorry this happened to you. Had I known, I would’ve done exactly what you just said—taken the test to confirm paternity right away. And you’re absolutely right, especially given that it turned out to be a false alarm—the Climents would’ve never known anything, and Mike wouldn’t have been involved. However, that being said, the fact that he knowingly participated in this effort to deceive you does not sit well with me at all. I’m having a hard time getting my head around that—the lack of integrity and common decency, the lack of loyalty. Mike’s one of my best friends. At least, that’s what I thought. I can’t believe he didn’t come to me and tell me like a real friend’s supposed to do.”

  “I guess he was lured by Rick’s big fat pocketbook. I wonder how much he got paid to peddle this story about Amanda’s phony sickness. Oh, did I tell you? When I spoke to him this morning, he admitted that he hadn’t seen any medical records, nor had he spoken to any doctor who might’ve been treating Amanda. He said he just took Rick at his word.”

  Tom scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head in disbelief, and then suddenly he noticed Mike walking across the room toward them. “Here he comes,” Tom said through a forced smile as he rose to his feet to greet him.

  “Hey, Tom,” Mike said, extending his hand with a ready smile. “Sorry I’m a little late. Got held up on a call by this wannabe politician.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Tom said as he shook Mike’s hand.

  Jake remained in his seat, barely making eye contact with Mike.

  “Hey, Jake,” Mike said in obligatory acknowledgment before pulling out a chair to take a seat at the antique dark wood card table.

  “Hey, Mike,” Jake said unenthusiastically.

  Jake was now in the middle with Tom to his left and Mike to his right. He sat and watched with a degree of chagrin as Tom and Mike began to engage in polite conversation as if everything was okeydokey.

  “So who’s the wannabe politician?” Tom asked.

  “This guy I went to law school with. We weren’t close but we’ve kept in touch over the years. He practiced in Fresno for quite a while before he became the top lobbyist for the California Agricultural Association. Now he runs this huge pomegranate farm in the Central Valley north of Bakersfield, making millions selling juice. He’s in exclusive partnerships with two of the biggest juice-making companies in the country because his pomegranates are supposedly the best. And there’s such a high demand in the industry around using pomegranates for all kinds of juice cocktails and concoctions because of the health benefits. They help to reduce heart disease and different types of cancers and such.”

  “How’d he get into farming?”

  “The old-fashioned way—he married the wife of his former client. Of course, that was after he’d left his first wife.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Tom said, seeming amused and intrigued by the story.

  “Apparently they were all friends, and the owner of the farm, who was my friend’s client at some point, died of throat cancer a few years back. He hooked up with the widow not too long afterward and the rest is history. They didn’t have children so she was left with everything. Now the farm and the business are all his and hers. Not a bad way to come into a lot of money, huh?”

  “Now he wants to run for office?”

  “Yeah, so anyway, he wants to run against Dianne Feinstein for her senate seat next year.”

  Tom raised his brow and snickered. “Good luck with that.”

  “I know, exactly. She’s held that seat for almost twenty years and I don’t think she’s going anywhere anytime soon.”

  Right at that moment, a waiter appeared at the table and interrupted. “How about a drink, gentlemen?”

  “I’ll have a Scotch,” Tom said immediately.

  “Me too,” Mike said.

  “On the rocks?”

  “Yes, please,” Tom said.

  “For me as well,” Mike said. “Thanks.”

  The waiter then looked at Jake.

  “I’ll just have water,” he said, feeling hot and nearly sweating. Jake wanted to get down to business. Enough with the pleasantries. However, to his annoyance, Tom and Mike continued to banter on about the wannabe politician like the old friends they’d long been. Jake looked over at his dad with a cutting glare, growing increasingly irritated and anxious, but he knew that was Tom’s way—ever the courtly gentleman. Even when Jake got into trouble as a teenage boy, Tom would always ease his way into reprimanding or disciplining him with small talk about something completely unrelated. But Jake always knew that the other shoe would eventually drop. So he sat and waited for his dad to do that here.

&nb
sp; The waiter returned to the table in short order and placed a drink in front of each man. Mike lifted his glass. “Well, gentlemen, here’s to wishing my law school classmate comes to his senses and saves himself the money and embarrassment of trying to unseat an unbeatable incumbent for US Senate next year.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Tom said, clinking his glass with Mike’s.

  Jake raised his glass to tap with theirs half-heartedly but kept quiet.

  Mike finally took notice of Jake’s stillness and attempted to bring him into the conversation. “Glad you’re working on Jake about joining our fundraising committee. We need to increase our ranks. I’m afraid our numbers are beginning to thin. We need fresh blood,” Mike said, reaching over to grab Jake by the shoulder good-naturedly.

  Jake looked down without attempting to feign amusement or interest.

  Tom looked over at him with an expression that indicated he knew how awkward and uncomfortable his son must feel.

  Mike continued to talk. “Jake and I had a little disagreement this morning, and I can tell he’s a little upset with me, but I’m sure we’ll work everything out. Won’t we, Jake?” Mike said, still holding Jake by the shoulder.

  “I don’t know about that,” Jake said as he flipped his shoulder just enough to prompt Mike to remove his hand. Jake had had enough. No more dancing around the issue. “I’m actually here to continue our conversation from this morning, Mike, not to talk about fundraising or the golf tournament.”

  Mike pulled away from Jake, stunned. He looked over at Tom to register his reaction to what he considered to be intemperate behavior on Jake’s part, but Tom stared back at him, stone-faced.

  Taken aback, Mike looked at Jake again and then back at Tom. Mike acted as if he was expecting Tom to tell Jake to cool it, but Tom continued to stare at him coldly. “What? Am I being tag-teamed? What’s this about?”

  “It’s about the role you played in telling this falsehood about Amanda being sick in order to get me to break up with her.”