Well, at least he knew why he was here. “You know about Vanessa.”
The server strode away, and his mother pulled a folder out of her bag. “We’re worried about you and yes, we know that you have some sort of connection with Vanessa Hale.”
“Her name is Vanessa Jones.” He felt the necessity to correct them. “She doesn’t go by her stage name.”
If his mother heard him, she didn’t acknowledge it. “I was given this report a few days ago. I don’t know much about George Jr., but I did know his father. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
“What happened to him, Momma?” JT frowned their mother’s way. “He got to spend the last years of his life with a gorgeous woman who by all accounts was good to him.”
“She wasn’t his wife. I knew his wife. Martha Benedict was a lovely woman,” his mother said. “Vanessa was fifty years younger than him. She could have been his granddaughter.”
“His wife died. He’d been a widower for twenty years when he married Vanessa,” JT argued.
What the hell was going on? Was his brother defending him? It wasn’t like JT wouldn’t protect him physically. If someone attacked him, JT would be right there throwing punches. They were brothers. But when it came to their parents, JT tended to side with them. When Michael had chosen to go into the Navy, JT had fought him on it. It had been a year before his brother had talked to him again. JT had helped his mom take down his entire CIA team when they were just forming. It hadn’t endeared him to the others.
Though Boomer had been won over with his mom’s brisket.
“Twenty years alone, and he lost his daughter, too,” JT was saying. “He had every right to spend time with whoever he wanted.”
“Well, she was obviously after his money, and I’ve got the proof,” his mother returned.
It was pretty much everything he’d feared.
“What’s in the folder?” He wasn’t ready to ask JT how he knew so much about this. It seemed like this was well-worn territory for his mother and brother.
His mom’s hand was still on that unmarked manila folder. “This is a report from a private investigator.”
Michael felt his eyes narrow and his blood pressure tick up. “You hired an investigator?”
JT’s hands came up in that way that let Michael know he was likely overreacting. Except he was pretty sure he wasn’t. “No. We did no such thing. We didn’t even realize you were dating her until that asshole showed up at Momma’s club two days ago.”
His mother was active at a Fort Worth country club. It was exactly the sort of place where George Benedict Jr. would feel comfortable. He wouldn’t hesitate to walk right in and spread his lies. “Are we talking about Junior? The man who’s trying to cheat Vanessa out of her inheritance?”
His mother’s fists tightened. She looked far younger than her years in her designer shirt and tailored slacks. “The way he explained it, it’s the other way around.”
“She’s not trying to screw anyone. Certainly not out of the entire estate. Her husband left her five percent and the house in Houston so she wouldn’t be homeless.” That fact always got lost when the press wrote about the case. “Everything else was left to Junior.”
JT sat up straighter. “Are you serious?”
“I’m sure that’s what she’s told you,” his mother began.
His mom was a deeply kind woman, but she’d been raised wealthy. She’d been born into a family with ties to British royalty. She’d married an American who’d also been born into generational wealth, and they’d both been taught to watch out for that money and keep themselves safe from people who would use them for it. He needed to chill the fuck out and deal with the situation. She wasn’t some crazy woman who thought everyone without a second home was money hungry. “I know all of these things for a fact. I don’t care what Junior’s investigators found. I assure you he paid them to push his narrative.”
“Why would he do that?” his mother asked.
“Because he obviously hates her,” JT replied.
Yes, that was obvious to him, too. “I need you to understand that my relationship with Vanessa started out as an investigation. I assure you I’ve got a copy of the actual will, and MT’s legal department has gone over it. It was five percent and the house. She wasn’t ever going to touch the company, and according to all of the court documents, she’s never asked for more than what the will provided.”
“But there’s an article in here about how she was threatening to take it all down,” his mother said with a frown.
“What do you mean you were investigating her?” JT asked, and the expression was so similar. They both might look like their dad, but that frown was pure Momma.