Within a week, Sasha's face had healed and life was beginning to return to the new normal. Mia and Nick had insisted that Sasha have a bodyguard for the time being, and she'd had to answer a million questions from her friends due to the fact that he followed her everywhere except to the ladies' room. Over time, though, it became second nature to have the bodyguard around, and it only irritated her when she went on a date with her new boyfriend.
Over the next few months, before Sasha visited him on spring break, J.T. kept in touch with her via facebook, twitter, and phone calls, trying to catch up for lost time. He was thankful that she wanted to have a relationship with him and was looking forward to seeing her when she came down to visit. He was determined not to let her slip away the same way he had let her mother exit his life. He had learned many things since going to prison and beginning recovery. He had learned that although relationships could be messy, it was worth it to work through your problems and continue to reach out and invest in relationships with those you loved.
James had been in contact with a youth center in the United States for several months before the kidnapping episode. Once they were back home, he continued working out the final details to arrange for a yearly retreat in the Cayman Islands for at-risk teens. The youths would fly down and spend a week biking around the island, camping out, and fishing. He wanted to help other kids avoid taking the wrong path like he had. In addition to working on starting the youth camp, he finally convinced Laura to marry him. They had a quiet marriage ceremony in the garden at J.T.'s house. Laura continued to work at the women's shelter, occasionally providing some extra unlisted services to certain women whose abusive former husbands or boyfriends just couldn't take the hint.
Nick and Mia continued to search for Silas. Mia recognized that one of the receipts she'd found in the RV was from a sub-shop in a part of town that she recognized. It was located near where they had obtained the identification documents for J.T., James, and Laura. A visit to the document forger, along with a memory-enhancing bribe, soon revealed the name of Silas' new alias - Bob Conner. They put Silas' new name and picture out through their usual channels in hopes of tracking him down, but it had been two months and they still hadn't heard anything. It appeared that Silas McGruder had fallen off the face of the earth.
Chapter Forty-Six
Nick and Sasha were sitting on a bench in Central Park. It was a beautiful day. Everything was beginning to bloom as spring made its reappearance, and all seemed right with the world. Walking in the park was something Sasha had done regularly with her mother when she was alive. It calmed her and helped her remember the good times she'd had with her mother. Nick had walked with her through this section of the park many times when Sasha's mother was sick, and they had continued the practice in the years since.
"Nick," Sasha began, "I want to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth."
Nick raised an eyebrow and looked over at Sasha with interest. Whenever she asked him a question like that, he knew what came next was going to be serious. He remembered the first time she had used that phrase with him, "I want you to tell me the truth." It was after her mother had died. She had asked him then if he believed in Heaven. Nick had never been one to prevaricate. He had always told the truth boldly and without reservation. He was always direct in asking for what he wanted. He admired that same quality in Sasha. And so, when she had asked him that question, he'd told her what he really thought. He simply said, "I don't know if Heaven exists or not. I can't say I believe in something that I'm not certain exists." That seemed to satisfy her and she had never asked him that question again.
"Go on," Nick prodded.
"When that man kidnapped me, he told me that you were a crook and that the money you were paying him for my ransom was stolen from someone else. Is that true?"
Nick smiled in spite of himself. He regretted what Silas had said to her, but he admired the fact that she was bold enough to confront him about it directly. He looked her in the eyes as he answered.
"Many years ago, I made a lot of money by conducting illegal business deals. I was convinced that nothing mattered but making money. A lot has changed since then. Now, I'm not going to tell you that everything I do to make money today is completely legal, but I don't do things the same way anymore. I'm more selective about my business dealings today."
"Were my mom and J.T. involved in what you did before?"
"Yes," Nick responded flatly, wishing she hadn't gone in that direction.
"What did my mom do?"
"She was an accountant. She helped us launder the money and disguise the transactions so that we didn't get caught."
"But J.T. did get caught. He went to prison for what you all did, right?"
"Yes, he did." Nick looked at Sasha, watching the wheels turn in her mind, both regretting the end of her innocence and feeling proud that she was ready to tackle the muddy truth of it all on her own.
Sasha didn't ask any more questions. She just turned and watched a man playing frisbee with his dog in the field across from where they were sitting.
About a week later, Sasha knocked on the door to Nick's office.
"Come in," he said.
She came in and sat down in one of the big wing-back chairs facing Nick's desk.
"What can I do for you today, m'lady?" Nick asked playfully.
"Be careful what you ask for," she said in reply.
"Ah, methinks the lady doth have something weighty on her mind. What is it, my dear?"
"I've been thinking about that conversation we had in the park the other day."
"And?"
"And I want to ask you a few things."
"The usual part about telling the truth applies, I suppose," Nick responded.
"Yep."
Nick prepared himself. "O.k., fire when ready."
"Are you and J.T. still working together?"
"No, my dear. We stopped working together a long time ago. Now we are simply friends who share a relationship with you."
"O.k. Next question, sort of. I've been thinking a lot about what you all did to make money back then, and I've been having a hard time reconciling the fact that I love all three of you, and Mia, too, whom I assume was involved in it with you, as well. I need to be able to process it all somehow, to make sense of it." Sasha fidgeted with the corner of her shirt with her fingers as she paused before blurting out, "Well, I'm having a hard time with the fact that you were all doing illegal things to make all of this money. There, I said it. I want to undo it but I can't. So instead, I want you to help me set up a foundation to do good things with that money. I want to do something good with the money you made doing something bad. I want to know that our family is doing something to make the world a better place, not a worse one."
Sasha slumped back into the chair, obviously relieved at having spit it out, but unsure about what Nick was going to do with the request she had just made. Nick sat behind his desk with the inscrutable poker face which she could never read. It was the same way he'd looked at her the first time she had asked if she could go out on a date with Teddy Fromeyer. That look betrayed nothing. It was stone. She waited.
Nick looked off to a painting that hung on the wall behind Sasha. It was a painting of ancient Rome being re-built after the fire that had burned it down in 64 A.D. He'd always liked that painting. It symbolized something good coming out of a tragedy. Like his marriage to Mia coming out of his battle with cancer, like Sasha coming into their lives out of the tragedy of Katrina's death. And now he was being given another opportunity to bring something good out of a past that had produced wealth, but no happiness. A past that had produced riches with emptiness that was devoid of more than temporary fulfillment. It provided power and influence, which was nice, but ultimately, it lacked the power to fill one's soul with real contentment.
He was not the same man as he once was. True, he was no saint and probably never
would be. He still ran an illegal gambling business along with many legitimate gaming enterprises. But as he grew older, he began to see the point that J.T. had made to him years ago on the yacht while they'd been moored outside of Grand Cayman. He wasn't sure exactly where it came from or if he even believed in God, but he did feel a sense of guilt about some of the things he had done to gain the wealth he had acquired - especially in the early days with J.T.
His greed to get that money back from J.T. had ultimately paved the way for Sasha's abduction. Silas wouldn't have even known she existed if Nick hadn't hired him to track down the money in the first place. Now, Sasha of all people was beckoning him to come over from the dark side, to turn over a new leaf, to rectify some of the past wrongs. It was as if some cosmic force in the universe, call it God if you like, was luring him to change his ways and become a force for good.
He stared at the picture for a good few minutes. Sasha could tell he was deep in thought, so she didn't interrupt him or demand an answer. That's one thing she had learned from Mia. When dealing with Nick, it was best to wait it out and not push him. He would answer when he was ready.
Ever since he'd had that bout with cancer, Nick had been pondering what his legacy would be after he was gone. He knew that Mia loved him. Since Sasha had entered his life, he had come to know that Sasha loved him. But beyond those two relationships, what would there be in the world when he was gone that was a result of his having lived his life? Money? Many people had money. In and of itself, it meant little. A business? His businesses consisted largely of gambling, both legal and illegal, as well as a healthy real-estate portfolio - hardly what he considered a worthy legacy.
He supposed that Sasha's challenge was fortuitous. He realized in that moment that she had just helped provide the answer he had been looking for. He decided it was time to take the plunge and take action instead of simply pondering the possibilities. He looked back at Sasha.
"What, exactly, did you have in mind?"
"Well, I have a few ideas. One was a scholarship fund for medical students, a possible grant program for research on renal disease and cancer treatments. There are a lot of things we could do. Are you interested?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I am," Nick replied, almost as astonished as Sasha to hear the words coming out of his own mouth. "But we should discuss it with Mia first. If we are going to do this, we need to make the decision as a team."
Sasha was beaming. She ran around behind the desk and gave Nick a big hug.
"Thanks, Nick, you've just made my day!"
"And you've just made mine," he said as he returned the hug.
Nick and Sasha talked it over with Mia when she returned to the house for the day. She liked the idea of doing something to help eradicate the diseases that had taken Sasha's mother and almost taken the love of her life away from her. It was a way to fight back, and Mia had always been a fighter. She had never been one to just sit around and do nothing when faced with a challenge.
She and Nick had a private and more serious discussion later that day. They decided to begin phasing out their illegal enterprises in favor of legitimate businesses in gambling and real-estate. Nick came up with a plan that would accomplish the task in a little over a year. They decided that there was no reason to continue to run the risk of getting sent to jail for mere money's sake. They would remain millionaires by virtue of the income from their legitimate businesses alone.
They established the Katrina Beyer's Foundation for Public Good with an initial endowment of seventy-five million dollars. The money was invested, and the grants and scholarships would come out of the earnings, not the principle, so that the foundation could continue to operate indefinitely. Sasha decided that she was going to major in business with an emphasis on non-profit management when she went to college in the fall, so that she could take an active role in managing the foundation.
On spring break, as promised, Sasha traveled to the Grand Cayman Islands to spend the week with J.T. Nick insisted that her bodyguard accompany her. J.T. and Sasha had a great time and Sasha discovered that she shared a passion for sailing with her dad. They worked out a plan where Sasha would come and visit a few times a year. J.T. hated to see her leave at the end of the week, but he was pleased to know that she would be pursuing her plans for the foundation. He was as proud as a father could be.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Silas McGruder, alias Bob Conner, came in the door of his Nassau, Bahamas home whistling one of his favorite songs. He was riding high after a good night at the blackjack tables at the Crystal Palace Casino. He'd gone in with ten thousand dollars and was coming home with fifty thousand. It didn't matter right now that, over the last few months, he had racked up a net loss of one hundred thousand dollars. Right now, he was on top of the world.
He went into his office and opened up the closet door, revealing a large safe. He placed the briefcase containing his winnings on the ground and kept whistling while he worked the dial of the combination lock. He turned the handle and opened the safe to reveal stacks of one hundred dollar bills. He smiled even more as he removed the money from his briefcase and began putting it in the safe.
Suddenly, he heard a door creak somewhere in the house. He quickly reached into the safe and grabbed a .45 caliber revolver before spinning around and bringing the gun up to firing position. He slowly got up and began working his way over to the office door. Besides the light in the office, there was a single lamp on in the living room, as well as the light in the kitchen range hood. It was too dark for comfort, but he couldn't exactly run around flipping light switches now.
He cleared the doorway as quietly as he could, looking first one way, then the other. The back part of the house was completely dark. He was taking a chance either way, but he guessed whoever or whatever had made the sound was probably in the front part of the house. He went left out of the office, moving as quietly as he could, his gun at the ready.
He heard a sound in the kitchen, just ahead and to his right. He quickly stepped forward and brought the revolver around, using the door frame for cover. When he did, he saw the neighbor's cat jump down from the counter. He let out a sigh of relief and lowered the gun.
"You almost scared the crap out of me, Melvin," he said as he tucked the gun behind his back and into his waistband.
He picked up the cat and walked over to the door, opening it and tossing the cat outside. He locked the door and began walking back towards the office to finish what he had begun a few minutes before. He had taken one step into the office when something hit him hard in the side of the thigh, causing his knee to buckle. He cried out in pain as he dropped to one knee.
He reached behind him to grab the gun in his waistband, only to have someone grab his wrist and twist it behind his back. He felt the gun being removed as he was shoved forward onto the floor.
"The money is in the safe; you can take it all, just let me live," he said to his yet unseen attacker.
"Turn around," a voice behind him said.
He pushed himself up into a sitting position and turned around slowly. As he saw Mia Bartonovich standing before him with his own revolver trained on him, his eyes widened in fear.
"How did you find me?" he said, shocked that he had been tracked down. He had been so careful.
"It's very hard to completely disappear. First, I found out the name of your alias, and then I waited for you to contact your ex-wife. I traced one of the calls you made to her and found it came from Nassau; then, all I had to do was show your picture around the casinos to find out where you were. You should have stopped gambling."
"Son of a gun," Silas said in disbelief.
"You should not have kidnapped my daughter! You should not have hit her!" Mia said, her voice growing louder with increasing emotion.
"I?I'm sorry about that, o.k., I wasn't planning to hit her. I'm very sorry about that. Please, just take the money and go."
r /> Silas began bringing his knee up slowly as he talked, trying to get the backup pistol he had strapped to his ankle within reach without being noticed.
"You are just like my father. He used to hit me when I did not do what he wanted."
"Look, I regret what I did, really. I lost my head and I'm very sorry. Will you please forgive me?"
He was close now, very close. If only he could get her distracted for a moment. Then, as if on cue, Mia tossed the gun into the far corner of the room. As soon as she let go of the gun, Silas went for his backup. He almost had it out of the holster when the telescopic baton that Mia carried slammed into the back of his hand, causing him to involuntarily release his grip on the handle of the gun.
He brought his other hand around and attempted to punch Mia in the stomach as she was standing in front of him. His punch never found its mark. Mia stepped inside of his swing and brought up her knee, catching him in his face and breaking his nose. Silas' head snapped back as blood spurted out of his nose.
He quickly regained his balance and lunged forward with everything he had. It was a last-ditch effort to grab Mia and wrestle her to the ground, where he could use his size and physical strength to his advantage, but he was too slow. Mia stepped to the side and connected a side-kick to Silas' head, sending him off of his trajectory and causing his head to slam into the door jamb. He crumpled to the floor and didn't move.
Mia had already re-positioned herself for another offensive, but Silas remained motionless.
A few days later, Sasha came running into the kitchen, where Nick and Mia were just finishing up their morning coffee. She was ecstatic.
"You'll never believe what just happened!" she exclaimed.
"Tell us, my dear," Nick replied.
"An anonymous donor has just given 9.5 million dollars to our foundation!" she replied, barely able to contain herself.
"That's wonderful, Sasha!" Mia responded.
"The weird thing is, we haven't even been running a donation drive. I can't figure it out," Sasha continued.