Alexander placed his right hand over his heart. “My apologies. Good morning, ladies.”
“Better!” Victoria said, her mouth set firm.
“Good morning, nephew. You do realize that you have a striking home, right? Try staying in it more often,” his aunt advised before pulling Alexander into her arms for a hug.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Alexander promised, stepping out of her arms. “Don’t you both look lovely this morning.”
“I look lovely.” Victoria pointed to herself. “In that long, flower-print dress, with its giant matching hat that’s in the car, Liz looks like a painting.”
“A Rembrandt,” Elizabeth snapped back before taking a seat at the conference table.
“More like a Warhol,” Victoria countered.
Alexander laughed. “What brings you two here on a Saturday morning?”
“If you’d checked your messages you’d have seen I’ve been trying to reach you,” Victoria explained.
Alexander retrieved his phone from his desk. “What’s so important that it couldn’t wait until I got back to you?”
“Or at least until after our board meeting this morning,” Elizabeth added, checking her watch.
“Board meeting?” Alexander’s eyes danced between his mother and aunt.
“At the Children’s Museum,” Victoria clarified.
“Yes, of course. You did mention that,” he said, nodding.
“Son, you seem to forget anything I say that’s even remotely related to children. You automatically assume it would lead me to requesting grandchildren.”
“That’s because it usually does,” Elizabeth said as she examined the nails on her outstretched hand. “Do you think this lime-green polish is too much?”
“For you, no,” Victoria replied.
Alexander stifled his laugh. “Where was I?” Victoria asked to no one in particular. “Oh, yes, grandchildren.”
Alexander ran both hands down his face. “Not you, too.” Alexander was in no mood to deal with another one of his mother’s lectures on the importance of him having heirs, especially with China in the next room thinking basically the same thing, only about herself.
“Not me, too...what?” Victoria frowned at Alexander.
“Never mind. I assume all this is for me,” he said, gesturing with his head toward the box and envelope as he leaned against his desk.
“Yes, but Alexander, why did you stay here last night?” Victoria glanced around the room. “I know this is like a second home, but really, son, how can you get any rest on that thing?” Victoria questioned, pointing at his sectional sofa.
China’s face, her body and the smell of her skin flooded his mind. Alexander felt his body start to stir and he quickly moved away from his mother and took a seat behind his desk. “It’s fine, Mother. What’s in the box?”
“My source came through early,” she said, smiling and handing him the envelope. “You might want to call China. She’ll need to help us on this one.”
“I already did. We’re just waiting for this.” He tapped the envelope.
Elizabeth rose and ran her hand down the front of her dress. “Now that that’s done...”
“I could stay and go over all of this with you and China,” Victoria offered.
“No, you can’t,” Elizabeth chastised. “We have other pressing business to attend to.”
Victoria turned and faced Elizabeth. “Sister dear, this is our company we’re talking about.”
“And we have four of our six extremely intelligent and very capable children helping us run it, too.” Elizabeth went and stood next to her sister. “Children that you trained, I might add, all being led by your handsome husband’s clone. Our company is in excellent hands.”
Victoria released a quick breath. “You’re right.” She turned and faced Alexander. “I’ve done my part...now you do your job, son. Find out what the hell is going on and put a stop to it. Quickly!”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I don’t expect anything less.” Victoria picked up her purse and followed her sister to the door.
Alexander heard his aunt ask his mother, “Did you see it?”
“Of course I did.” Both sisters laughed, closing the door behind them.
Alexander dropped his head and sighed. “You can come out now,” he called, breaking the seal on the envelope with a letter opener from his desk.
“Victoria’s something else,” China said, taking a seat on the edge of the high-backed chair in front of Alexander’s desk.
“Yes, she is.” Alexander marveled at China. He always thought she was a ravishing woman, but never more than when she was in such a relaxed state, free of makeup and with her hair down, still wet from the shower.
China was wearing last night’s clothes and had a pair of Alexander’s socks on her feet. “So, what do we have here?”
“I was just about to find out.” Alexander slid the contents of the envelope onto his desk to find several smaller ones, a set of legal documents and three flash drives. He opened the box to find several binders and a number of different-colored folders.
China reached for the legal documents and began flipping through the pages, reading each word with blinding speed. “We’re going to need to bring everybody in on this,” she said, frowning. “And I mean everyone.”
“Why? What is it?” Alexander got up, walked around his desk and came to stand next to China, reading over her shoulder. He had to fight hard to focus. His shampoo, which China had used, mixed with her own sweet scent, was assaulting his senses, sending his hormones into overdrive.
“In a nutshell, the government alleges that we systematically and purposely misled the EPA with our ongoing practice to dispose of gas cylinders. They state that we did so in order to save money.”
“That’s ridiculous. We submitted our disposal plans for approval, which we received, and we’ve been following them ever since.” Alexander’s jaw tightened.
China shrugged and shook her head. “They claim to have proof that we submitted false plans in order to get the approval, then changed the procedures to save money. They claim to have a witness and documentation to this change, a whistle-blower, so to speak.”
“A whistle-blower? There’s nothing to blow,” he said, slamming his palm against his desk.
“Stay calm, Alexander,” she said, as she continued to examine the papers on his desk.
“We pay you to stay calm.” Alexander returned to his desk and powered up his computer. “Let’s see what’s on these flash drives.”
China looked around the room. “Where’s my phone?”
“It’s on the conference table. By the way, they know you were here.”
“Who?” she asked, rising to go collect her phone.
“Mom and Aunt Liz.”
China’s face was marred by confusion. “How?”
Alexander laughed at the shocked look on China’s face. “They saw your phone. Not many people have a pink diamond-encrusted phone case exactly like the one that they had specifically designed for you and gave to you.”
“Oh, no...”