Chapter 7

Amanda's phone rang and I picked it up without thinking.

"Hello," I said cheerfully.

"Preston, look I know you hate me, but I need your help badly. Please remember there was nothing personal in what I did. Well maybe there was. Maybe I was jealous of you, but what the fuck do you expect. That bastard gave you for free, after just a few years, something I worked all my life trying to earn," said the voice.

"Who is this?" I asked. I was on guard now. But I was confused.

"Alan Ellington," he said.

"Who's a bastard?" I asked. "Who gave me what?"

"Sam," he snapped. "Preston, Sam Stevenson is not the heroic figure that you think he is, and neither is his wife. I can't blame her for cutting me off at the knees, because she hates me. But I never gave her a reason to hate me, Preston. I can't help who I am. But Amanda, as you've seen with me, can be quite a bitch if you get on her bad side."

"Ellington, what did you expect? You tried to take over our company. And you tried to do it through a sick woman. Hell, you were probably fucking her too. You even stayed in contact with her after we banned you from visiting her. You tried to buy her stock out from under us. You had to be stopped."

"Preston, I deserved that stock. It should have been mine anyway. I'm not out to destroy the company or wrestle control away from the family. I just wanted to be included. I have that right or I should have that right. The only reason I don't is because Amanda won't allow it," he snapped.

"You wonder why Charlotte turned out the way she did? It's fucking genetic. She got a double dose of it. Sam was ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted. He followed all of the rules most of the time, but he occasionally swerved. Amanda, she's class personified, but don't get on her bad side, or she can be worse than Sam. Charlotte is just fucking ruthless all of the God Damned time. I thought that our connection would have protected me from her, but it didn't," he was ranting now. I still didn't understand any of his words.

"Charlotte is somehow not dead, Preston. She's in that other girl's body and she's after me. The police are after her and those thugs she hired to kill Amanda. They're trying to force everyone connected with this, to help her get Amanda. She's desperate now Preston. The police are getting closer to her. She's striking out at everyone. I don't know where you are, but have you heard? She killed Hiram Berkowitcz, because he couldn't sign over all of her mother's stock to her. She wants to sell off the company, kill Amanda and marry you again. At first I was all for it, especially after Amanda kicked me off the board. I thought that I'd be safe from her. But Preston, she came to my house and threatened my wife and my kids. She's crazy," he said. He was nearly hysterical.

"That's what you get," I snapped. "I guess you thought that because you fucked her, you were safe from her."

"Preston, I told you I never fucked Charlotte. That would be gross. She's my sister, for God's sake. That's why Amanda hates me. I'm 32 years old, I was born 11 months after Sam and Amanda got married. Apparently Sam liked a little more spice in the bedroom than Amanda could provide. That's why she hates me. I'm a constant reminder that Sam cheated on her. But Preston, that was between her, my father and my mother. It wasn't my fault. I've worked my entire life to win my father's approval. It didn't matter. I always thought that someday he'd need me to help run the business, so I wanted to be ready. I don't have a head for the technical end of things but I figured he'd do that, and I'd run the business side. When Charlotte was born, I figured that dream was over," he said sadly.

"Then Charlotte turned out to be, well, Charlotte. So I knew he'd need me. I started buying some of the company's stock, and through a few connections got on the board. Imagine my surprise when you came along. You and he talked about all of the same stuff. You both speak that weird machine talk. You were a slap in my face; especially, the times when he'd bring you before the board. It was as if he didn't have a son, so he decided to make one. Then he married you off to Charlotte, and I suddenly realized that I didn't matter to him at all." Ellington started breaking down, and his words alternated between anger and pain.

"Anyway Preston, Charlotte or Anna, has gone crazy, besides Hiram, they think she or her thugs have also shot that police detective who was working the case. She wants you to call her. And please tell her that I asked you to call her, if you don't she may kill my family. Preston, if you do this, I'll GIVE you my stock. I swear it. Can your phone record conversations?"