“See that’s what is strange. Not us. But our grandfather.”
That made no sense. He’d died about ten years ago. “Are you sure about that?”
“I’m telling you, his name had been searched. Did you know dad had a sister?” Gareth asked.
“No, he never mentioned it. What happened?”
“Guess she went missing when she was a young girl. They never found her. Dad was really young then, so maybe he didn’t remember her.”
But their grandfather would’ve. How come no stories, no pictures of her? Losing a daughter might explain why their grandfather was so abusive to their father. He must’ve been filled with anger and didn’t know how to deal with it. Of course taking it out on your only living child was stupid.
“Was it Maxwell or his people doing the digging?”
“No. Some woman from a small town in Rhode Island. No connections to anyone. Not even to New York. That’s why it makes no sense at all. But she does work for a very well-known family, the Hendersons, in Boston.”
Charles had heard of them. Although he’d never actually done any business with them, they had been one of his first solo assignments. God, that was years ago. Charles had been working under his father at that time, and like Dylan, he was out to prove himself. Lawson Steel even bid on the development of one of their new buildings. He couldn’t remember all the details, but it was in some foreign country. The place had been unstable but Charles wanted that contract. Just like he had done to Dylan, their grandfather had done to him. No explanation. He just told them Lawson Steel was not to do any business with the Hendersons. At that time, he was pissed. He’d been so close to signing his first contract with one hell of a powerful family.
Even if the Hendersons found out that his grandfather had blocked the contract, they wouldn’t care. From what he heard, Brice Henderson and Asher Barrington went ahead and built their facility anyway. All this was old news. There had to be something else. And if it involved their grandfather, it could be just about anything.
“Let’s not say anything to anyone,” Charles stated.
“I was thinking about asking Dad,” Gareth replied.
“No. Just see if you can find out anything. Even if you need to reach out to the woman directly. It’s probably nothing.”
“If you think that, you don’t know the Hendersons’ reputation. You don’t get that powerful without some skeletons in your closet.”
Charles said, “That would go for the Lawson family as well.”
“Do you know something I don’t?”
Of course. “Just that our grandfather wasn’t a saint. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d gone head to head with them years ago.” He hoped that’s all it was. Charles had enough with Grayson to deal with. He didn’t need to start a list of Lawson enemies.
“I might have a few myself,” Gareth laughed. “You’re probably the only one who lives such a boring ass life, working all the time.”
“I’m taking the weekend off. That’s why I’m calling. I’ll check back in on Monday.”
“Should I assume it has something to do with R. Clark?”
“Don’t assume anything and don’t waste your breath asking either. I’ll talk to you Monday.” He ended the call just as Rosslyn was leaving the building. He wasn’t sure what to expect regarding her mother’s health. He’d never realized until now that he’d never visited anyone who was sick. Seems like there’s going to be a lot of firsts with Miss Rosslyn Clark.