Martha Kennerson - Always My Baby

“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...” China dropped her face into both hands, and her hair fell forward.

Alexander had to force himself to concentrate on the problem at hand, when all he really wanted to do was lower her hands, brush China’s hair to the side and kiss her senseless. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure they figured it was a business-related visit,” he said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

“Yeah, right, and how do I explain not coming out and greeting them like always?” China flopped back down in the chair and started dialing her phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“Joyce. We need her here and I want her to stop by my house and bring me a change of clothes.”

Joyce was China’s legal assistant and good friend.

“Clothes?”

“Yes, clothes, pants, a shirt and underwear—”

“Underwear.” Alexander smirked.

China rolled her eyes. “Stop it. I’m not going commando the rest of the day.”

Alexander felt his sex spring to life and was relieved that he was sitting. He reached for his desk phone. “I guess I’ll call in the rest of the cavalry. They won’t be happy about us interrupting their Saturday.”

“Too bad. It’s either us or your mother.”

“Good point,” he agreed just as his computer beeped and several documents popped up on both of Alexander’s screens. He stared in disbelief.

China leaned over the desk to get a better view of what had captured his attention. “Call Morgan...” she ordered.

Alexander shook his head. “I don’t know anything about this—”

“Call your brother...right now,” China said, her voice icy and emotionless.

Chapter 3

China sat at the conference table mulling over all the papers that lay in front of her, her face contorted. “I don’t understand any of this.” She picked up a spiral booklet with the word Approved stamped in red across its cover. “This is the procedure manual that was submitted.”

“It’s also the exact procedure we put in place,” Morgan confirmed, standing with his feet apart and arms folded across his chest.

Morgan Kingsley, the ruggedly handsome and athletically built second eldest of the Kingsley boys, was vice president of field operations for their company and was quickly running out of patience with the mess they found themselves in. “There is no way in hell these procedures could have been changed without our approval or my direct knowledge and supervision,” he explained, his mouth set in a hard line.

“Dammit.” Alexander slammed his fist against the conference room table. “I didn’t sign off on any changes, and I certainly didn’t authorize any money transfers. Why would I jeopardize everything to save a few bucks?” Alexander asked the flabbergasted room.

“We know,” everyone said in unison.

“Well, according to the whistle-blower’s statement and these financial records—” Brice Kingsley, Alexander and Morgan’s younger brother and the company’s CFO, held up a ledger and a spreadsheet “—we’ve saved more than just a few bucks.”

“If that’s the case, where the hell is all the money?” Alexander asked.

“Good question. My financial records are on point and all of our audits have been clean,” Brice informed them confidently.

“Everyone just calm down,” China murmured, keeping her eyes on the pages of the procedures manual.

Alexander frowned at China. “Calm down? This is our reputation at risk...my reputation. We’re talking about claims that could turn into charges if we can’t provide evidence that not only proves whoever this whistle-blower is lied, but that everything we’ve done is legal and above reproach.”

China rose and moved over to where Alexander stood. She looked up at him, placed her right hand over his heart and said, “You pay me to worry...remember, I got this.”

Alexander’s shoulders dropped. “What do you have in mind?”

“Yeah, what do you have in mind, China?” Morgan echoed.

China turned and faced all three brothers. “We’re going to let the whistle-blower tell us where, why and how.” The corner of her mouth rose slowly.

“Wait, you know who this person is?” Brice asked, frowning.