Page 4 of Second Chance At Love

“If they are sentenced to the maximum it could be fifteen years each,” mentioned Henry. “It makes eight years for three out of five seem tempting.”

“Their oldest kids would be in college if one of them took the deal. They would barely know their own kids should they go to prison for that long,” stated Max. “It’s not remotely tempting.”

“The likelihood of beating the charges isn’t good. If no one takes the deal there is a real chance each of them could go away for the maximum and be in prison even longer,” stated Henry grimly.

“Do Michael and Naoh know about the deal?” quietly asked Gabe.

Max nodded. “I’m sure the lawyers are probably talking to Jake and Dillon right now as well.”

“They can’t take this deal. There has to be another way,” decided Everett. “There is no way to choose who sacrifices their home life over this. It’s impossible.”

“It’s worse than we initially thought,” revealed Henry with a sigh. He reached for his coffee cup then realized it was empty. “The accountants, lawyers, and financial investigators have been going through Ramesly Hotel’s records. Gerrit and Nate financially profiteered from the drug money. My father at least kept the money within the company so Mom should be okay. However, Nick’s trust fund is now in question.”

Henry paused then decided he might as well tell them everything that had happened. “I have removed Gerrit from the company. As he is no longer a member of the board, his shares were liquidated at current market value and redirected between Ben, Addison, and myself. This was done to protect the company from having further assets frozen and as a step to rectify our public appearance. As it is, we are facing some rough times.”

“Gerrit is going to believe you betrayed him,” softly whistled Max.

“Maybe I did. He will need the money for his defense anyways,” said Henry as he rubbed his eyes a moment. He was so tired and yet he didn’t have time to rest. “It hardly matters when he used the company for criminal activities. Gerrit needs to focus on getting himself well. He’s currently at a rehab center. His only defense could be that he was influenced by Nate who was acting as head of the company in my father’s stead for some time.”

“Do you believe that?” asked Gabe, a troubled look on his face.

“I don’t know. He should have stopped it as soon as he could. I like to think the addiction was influencing him but I just don’t know,” stated Henry. His heart felt tight and for a moment Henry wondered if it was physical or emotional pain.

It felt like a large part of the world was resting on him. His doctors told him not to do anything stressful, but there was little choice. He was the oldest of the family and was doing what he could to keep the family business afloat with the help of his sister Addison. His brother Ben was helping all of the Rameslybusinesses with an influx of cash.

Henry pulled himself away from his thoughts to listen to Gabe.

“I wasn’t going to say anything but perhaps I should,” began Gabe. “We caught Gerrit at Mercy Hospital with a drug a few months ago. He said he had been mistaken for me by a doctor. There was a mass casualty accident that day so it was chaotic. Gerrit was asked to get a particular drug from the dispensary, given the code, and went to get it. It was the wrong drug. He says he gave it to the nurse and didn’t worry about it again. The problem is that the drug was never returned to the dispensary.”

“Was he stealing for his addiction?” questioned Henry softly. He briefly closed his eyes. Never had he imagined Gerrit might turn to thievery to feed his habit.

Gerrit had been struggling with pain ever since a surfing accident that had left him perilously close to being paralyzed. He had been overprescribed addictive painkillers. It had been a problem much of his adult life even as everyone tried to keep the matter quiet.

“No. It wasn’t that type of drug. It was a cardioplegic concoction that is designed to stop the heart,” revealed Gabe. He leaned towards the screen of his computer, pausing beforegravely continuing. “Uncle David’s heart stopped. Nate’s heart stopped.”

“Nate had a heart attack,” whispered Henry even as he knew the FBI had exhumed Nate’s body and were conducting an autopsy.

“You aren’t saying Gerrit killed my father,” flatly stated Max, a hardness in his voice.

“I don’t know what happened. Maybe he did. Maybe he gave the drug to someone else who did. Maybe it was exactly as Gerrit said, one huge coincidence that happened during the chaos of the emergency at the hospital. I don’t know. However, I’m not inclined to believe Gerrit,” retorted Gabe in frustration. “Not anymore. Too much has happened and it’s too likely he was involved somehow.”

“I’ll speak to him,” decided Henry. He saw Max about to protest so he repeated his words, adding some steel behind them. “I will speak to Gerrit.”

Henry had access to Gerrit at the rehab center. He would go and get to the bottom of these allegations.

“Anything else?” questioned Max tightly.

“Ilsa Tremblay. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but she has only gotten worse,” Gabe updated them. “Her prognosis isn’t good. I’m expecting to hear that she has passed away at any moment.”

Ilsa was the daughter of drug king Tremblay who had kidnapped Molson Colborne’s girlfriend Holly. Molson was a half-cousin to Henry, a half-brother of Max, and one of David’s many illegitimate children.

It was a mess.

Since Michael, Noah, and Max were in the pharmaceutical industry and Molson was a doctor, Tremblay had pushed them into a corner to try an experimental treatment on his daughterfor the rare disease that she had. His directive had been simple. Saving Isla meant saving Holly.

“They followed Noah’s protocol, right? Is there anything that can be done?” questioned a concerned Max.

“Everything was done that was remotely possible. It just didn’t work,” shrugged Gabe, running a hand over his face. “Isla isn’t going to live. We need to prepare ourselves and Molson for that fact.”