out!” her father roared.
“Willa—” Alex called, but the woman was already in motion. She ran down the hallway and through the door leading to the reception area.
She was probably in tears, packing her purse and getting ready to quit. Seven receptionists had quit the job since the previous March.
“Daddy, one day your outbursts are going to get you in big trouble. Everyone doesn’t have to become accustomed to them like we have.”
Alex picked up her BlackBerry and made a notation.
“What are you doing?” Mervyn demanded.
“Trying to keep the best receptionist we’ve ever had. I’m going to send Willa a fruit basket and a gift certificate for a mani-pedi. That will make her feel better.”
“How dare you talk about me spending money, when you’re ordering baskets and having independent auditors snoop into our family business. How dare you?”
Mervyn Jr.’s false indignation was almost funny in light of the trouble he was facing. “I dare because, before she died, Grandma Letty ordered this audit to be performed.”
Jerry got up and walked slowly out the room and down the hall to check on Willa. They seemed to have formed an unlikely bond in the weeks since Jerry’s return to Wright Enterprises. Willa taught him the phone system and he built up her broken self-esteem.
Alexandria showed her father and brothers the letter in her grandmother’s handwriting. Their father sat down, unwilling to say a cross word against his mother.
“The first findings show that you’ve been embezzling for over five years at about sixty thousand dollars a year. You might have to go to jail.”
Alex felt too vulnerable sitting down as her brother paced, but she didn’t want to seem out of control either. She perched on the end of her chair.
Their father’s chair bumped the table and he stood, looking alarmed. “That’s a bunch of nonsense. I’ll get my attorneys on these accountants and when they’re finished, they’ll wish they’d never set foot in this building.”
Alexandria let her head fall back and she clasped her hands.
“Why are you praying?” Mervyn asked, his voice full of disdain.
“Because I was afraid the meeting was going to go this way. Daddy, do you want to see Mervyn behind bars? How will you explain to Mama that you let Mervyn steal from the company and then let him be thrown in jail?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere,” Mervyn said, his gaze shifting to their father to confirm.
Alex placed her hands on her folder. “If Daddy calls his attorney, we’ll have to call the police. We will then file a report and explain the missing money for the past five years.
“The accountant said over three hundred thousand dollars has been illegally paid to you and not returned. Since you never made any attempt to pay it back, it’s embezzlement. You will be arrested and jailed.”
Her father glared at her brother. “Mervyn borrowed the money with the intention of paying it back.”
Alex knew she had them where she needed them, but she made sure she looked as if she didn’t believe her father’s borrowing story. “Well, they said there might be a way.”
“What way?” Mervyn Jr. asked.
“You can pay back the money today, and we can avoid calling the cops. Do you have cash, Mervyn?”
He stared at her in disbelief. “I don’t have that kind of money.”
Alex shook her head. “That’s not good. Well, Daddy, there are two other ways. But you and Mervyn have to make a commitment. Why don’t you sit down.”
Her father practically growled. “What is it, Alexandria?”
“Well, we haven’t been paid on twelve jobs, for a grand total of six million, five hundred fifteen thousand dollars and sixty-five cents. But if you could get those accounts paid up today, the accountants might be able to put Mervyn on a repayment plan and work something out.”
Alex held her position, hoping they took her seriously, because she didn’t know what else to do.
Her father nearly choked. “What?” He sifted through the papers again. “These people are my friends. I can’t go asking them for money.”
“That’s what the report says. The accountant said that’s the only way to go.”
Mervyn Jr. avoided looking at the papers their father set in front of him.
Willa came back to the door. “I’m sorry, but there’s an urgent call for Alex on one. And, Alex, there’s a man in the lobby for you named Hunter Smith. He said it’s important.”
A chill skated down Alex’s back and she stood, noting that Willa had her Louis Vuitton doggie bag on her shoulder. Where was she taking her Chihuahua, Little Sweetie?
“You’re fired.” Mervyn Sr. yelled at Willa, rising from his chair. “Get your things and get out of here. I haven’t ever met a receptionist that can’t follow simple instructions.”
Willa nodded, tears rolling like a waterfall down her cheeks. “Alex. Please come here.”
Outside the glass-enclosed conference room, Willa handed her a wireless handset for her to take the call in private.
“Is she deaf?” her father asked Mervyn so loud Alex could hear everything.
“Mervyn—” Alexandria opened the door and stuck her head in “—if you say anything ugly, I promise you’re not going to like it. You don’t have to be like Daddy.”
Mervyn Jr. stood between Alex and their father. “Alex, you don’t own me. She’s not deaf. She’s probably just as dumb as you are.”
Alex took the doggie bag from Willa’s arm. The poor girl was sobbing and Little Sweetie was trying to get out of the bag and lick at her tears.
“I hope you’re happy,” Alex told her brother, “because you’re fired. And you’re going to be under arrest.”
“Oh, no, Alex,” Willa objected, backing into the wall behind her. “I’ll leave.”
“No, you won’t. It’s time I stopped being intimidated by them.”
“Fired?” Mervyn Jr. shouted. He stepped into a chair, trying to come across the conference-room table. “You need a man to show you your place.”
Alex got the impression that her brother, who was five years older than her, wasn’t planning to have a reasonable discussion.
She grabbed her keys off the table and locked her father and brother inside the conference room. They could easily unlock the door, but that would slow him down.
“Go up front and call security,” she said, eyeing Mervyn. She had never seen
