Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (35 page)

It took Allie a second to catch up. When she did, she put down the breadstick she had automatically picked up and turned wide eyes to Beth. “She—was his partner? Really?”

“Yes, at first,” Beth said, ignoring the food in front of her. “Look, what I’m going to tell you happened a long time ago. The courts decided that Jane didn’t have any rights to Allen’s business or the pictures he took of her, and no doubt that was the right decision, legally. But in a way Jane did get screwed, and I think it’s important for you to know that. I don’t think she’s going to just walk away quietly, especially after being embarrassed in front of everyone when her power play last night didn’t work. You need to understand her viewpoint so you can deal with her more effectively.”

Allie stared at her. “Go on,” she said finally, beginning to feel a hollow pit opening up in her stomach.

“Jane and your father were together for a long time. Before he started to get popular, in fact. I think she started out as his assistant. She lived here with him, and she claims it was a common-law marriage, but she couldn’t prove it. He maintained that it was a purely business relationship and had paperwork to prove she was just an ‘employee.’ She claimed that she had invested a lot of money she’d inherited buying photography equipment for him before he became successful, but she was young and stupid and in love and didn’t bother to document any of the transactions. Of course I don’t know everything about their relationship, but they definitely seemed like partners at the time. Then they had a fight and she left for a while. She claims he only paid her back a small portion of the money she’d invested in the business, but again, she had no proof. She went off to become a model, and he established an M/s household here. He brought in Karl to be his apprentice and a few slaves to run the house for him. Eventually Jane came back, thinking that she could reestablish herself in her old position as Allen’s partner. Allen and Karl had other ideas, and there was a power struggle, which is never good in M/s. Your father, although he was a great photographer and a leader in a lot of ways, refused to step in and take charge. Jane eventually managed to bring the whole household crashing down, and the rest is history. She sabotaged the finances, probably embezzled a sizable amount of cash, and left Allen in shambles. Like you said, he just gave up at that point. I’m not sure how much Karl actually knows about the early history. He might be assuming that Jane made everything up. And, of course, the fact that Allen possibly treated her badly doesn’t justify her in ruining his business and his life. But I wanted you to know the whole story—or as much of it as I can provide, anyway.”

Beth sat back and pushed her plate away. The waitress was putting down their sandwiches now and gave them a quizzical look, deciding to leave the untouched salads.

When she had left, Allie finally spoke. “How do you know all this?”

A small, reminiscent smile appeared on Beth’s face, and she stared at her plate for a moment. “I was around for most of it,” she told Allie. “I was one of Allen’s slaves in the early days. He taught me almost everything I know.”

Allie stared at her. “Wow, really? I had no idea.”

Beth let out a short laugh. “There’s no reason you would. It isn’t important right now, anyway. You need to focus on the Jane issue.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Allie said. “I’m really sorry for Jane, if it’s true that she invested her inheritance in my father and he didn’t pay her back. But like you said, that’s no reason to ruin him. Can I ask why you’re telling me this? I can’t afford to make good on his debt.”

Beth shook her head. “I know you can’t, and I’m not suggesting that you try. There’s no way of knowing how much he owed her, if anything. What I’m concerned about is that Jane is out for revenge, on Karl as much as anybody else, and she’s only going to keep creating trouble for you. There are a million ways to hassle a business, especially one dealing with BDSM. If she planted someone in the household, she could easily spin a story of abuse and generate a media nightmare. You’ve got to do something proactive rather than sit back and wait for her next move.”

“Hmm.” Allie considered it, finally picking up her sandwich. “What do you suggest?”

“You might not like this,” Beth said. “But I think if it was me, I’d offer her the rights to her pictures. And draw up a carefully worded legal contract to keep her from interfering with you in the future.”

Allie gaped at her. “But the rights to the pictures is what my father and Karl fought for. Wouldn’t that just be giving in to her?”

“Not necessarily. Your father’s work is getting more and more popular, and you have lots of pictures of his that don’t have anything to do with Jane. Now you have Karl, who learned his techniques, doing similar work. There are lots of people in the community that are willing to model. You have other ways of making money, and some good prospects. If you give her what she was after before, she’ll feel like she’s won something, and maybe she’ll leave you alone. If you don’t, you’ll feel uncomfortable using the pictures and she’ll feel like you’re ripping her off, just like your father did. Won’t it be better to have an uneasy truce than open hostilities?”

Chapter 30

Allie recounted her conversation with Beth over dinner that night to Karl, Brad, and Charlie. It felt odd to her to have Charlie sit in on the conversation, but he wasn’t showing any inclination to leave them alone. It was almost as if he was as involved in the situation as they were, Allie thought, resigning herself to having everyone know about her problems.

“I don’t like it,” Karl grumbled. “She thinks we should just roll over and give the rights to Jane? That doesn’t sit right with me.”

Allie looked at Charlie. “You knew my father for a long time,” she said, suddenly realizing what an asset he might be. “And Jane, too. Do you have any insights into the situation?”

Charlie looked a little sheepish. “Not really,” he admitted. “I knew that Allen gave Jane some money when she left the first time, but I don’t know if he actually owed it to her or was just giving it to her. He never told you, either?” He turned to Karl, who shook his head.

“His finances were a mess,” Karl said. “There were no good records on either side. She definitely went through a lot of money, from what I could tell, but whether she blew it on herself or bought Allen his original photography equipment I don’t know. All I know for sure is she deliberately set out to ruin him, and she succeeded.”

“Well,” Brad said suddenly, “if neither one could prove to the courts what happened, then we really don’t have any hope of finding out either. I think I’d rather not worry that we’d been part of cheating Jane out of her inheritance. Of course”—he looked at Allie—“she effectively stole yours by embezzling from the business later, from Karl’s account. So I think it’s up to you. Do you want to keep fighting her or essentially pay her back for what she may or may not have invested in your father?”

Allie looked at Karl, but he only gave her a forced smile. “This is your business, pet. I will try and leave my personal bias out of it, because I would like nothing better than to take Jane for a long walk on a short pier. I know from past experience that she will keep after us like a rabid badger if she thinks she can get something. So it might be good to find a way to let her think she’s won so she’ll leave us alone. It’s your father’s work, which could bring in some substantial money, but it’s up to you to decide what to do with it. I’ll support you either way.”

“I don’t like the feeling that we’re giving her something that she tried to take by force,” Allie said thoughtfully. “But on the other hand, if we don’t, I’ll always wonder if she got screwed by my father and how badly. If it turns out that the movie people do want to use the house, and we get the travel magazine deal, and we rerelease the pictures—”

“And do a new photo shoot,” Charlie reminded her with a smile.

“And do a new photo shoot,” Allie agreed hesitantly, “then maybe we don’t need those pictures. So it won’t hurt us to be a little generous.”

Karl shrugged. “Worst case scenario, we all three get full-time jobs. We can get by if we all work together.”

Brad gave him a surprised look. “You’d stay even if we didn’t run the house as a resort?”

“Of course,” Karl said. “It’s not the business that’s important to me. I feel like we’re forming a family here. It may not be a traditional family, granted, but that doesn’t make it less of one. Even if the three of us just live here, we’ll have an extended family with the local leather community. We can have weekend parties and do our photography and painting and have a good life. We may not get rich, but we’ve got a great start just by having the house and each other.”

Brad nodded thoughtfully. “I’m glad you feel that way.”

They were all silent for a minute. Then Allie took a breath. “Okay, then, it sounds like we have a decision,” she said. “We call Jane, have her come over, offer her the rights to the pictures that she is in, and ask her never to come back. Right?”

Brad and Karl nodded.

“Good. What do we need to do to transfer the rights?”

“I can have all of the paperwork drawn up for you,” Charlie said. “Believe me, I have every form you could ever need for any legal aspect of photography.”

“And you have Jane’s cell phone number?” Allie asked Brad. He colored a little but nodded.

“You believe me when I say I never did anything with her, right?” he asked, looking between Allie and Karl. “And that I didn’t encourage her flirting?”

Allie looked at him in surprise. “Of course. It really doesn’t matter. There will always be attractive people in the world. She made a play for you, but you made your decision to stay with us, and that’s what counts. Right, Karl?”

“Of course,” Karl agreed. “Our household wouldn’t be as strong without you. Not everyone can deal with polyamory. I’m glad you decided to stay and work it out with us.”

Brad smiled at him. “You know, Allie has always believed that when the universe says it’s time for a change, you roll with it or you get run over. Once I stopped fighting the decision to embrace polyamory and BDSM, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off me. This lifestyle actually makes a lot of sense. Having to try to be ‘the man’ and handle everything was killing me. But I was afraid you were just going to take over our lives. The way it’s working out is more like a structured team, which I’m much more comfortable with. I think we can all work together, with you as the leader. I’m more of a right-hand man than a CEO.”

In two days Charlie had assembled all of the forms they needed. He was also a notary public, so when Jane’s red convertible pulled into the driveway on Tuesday night, Allie felt like everything was in place.

Jane walked in the door, dressed in a dark burgundy suit that managed to be both sexy and businesslike. Allie glanced down at her own casual outfit and wished she’d at least worn high heels. But then she squared her shoulders and reminded herself that she needed to take charge of this situation. She couldn’t do the “I’m just plain, insignificant Allie” routine anymore. Karl and Brad both had her back, but they’d made it clear that it was her business to run. And she needed to be able to handle the legal responsibilities that came with being her father’s heir.

“I want you to know that I’m talking to a lawyer,” Jane announced as she took a chair at the head of the dining room table.

Allie wanted to turn and hide behind Karl at that, but she forced herself to sit down next to Jane with her stack of papers and only respond with raised eyebrows and a careless, “Oh?”

“Yes.” Jane’s eyes narrowed at her. “He thinks I have a very good case.”

Allie wanted to ask why she hadn’t brought her lawyer with her then, but decided to try to keep the conversation fairly civil, at least initially. The other men were sitting around the table, and Allie had a warm feeling, knowing that they were there to support her, even if she had to handle it herself. Instead she asked, “What is it you want, Jane?”

“I am going to prove that Allen and I were married, and consequently this house belongs to me,” Jane said simply, with the air of pulling out a trick no one else would have suspected.

“Didn’t you try that before, when you claimed you’d been partners?” Allie asked. “What makes you think this would be any different?”

“I have more evidence now.” Jane’s voice went lower. “I have a letter from him stating that he considered me his wife. So even if his will left the house to you, if the courts find that we were married, I’ll have a prior claim.”

Allie glanced around, but there was no response from any of the men. She tried to think how to present her offer in such a way that it would seem more valuable than getting the whole house and the business.

“Jane,” she said finally, trying to sound as reasonable as possible. “You’ve lost that case once. If you didn’t have the letter then, it won’t seem very believable to produce it now. And if you did have it, obviously the judge didn’t feel it was strong enough evidence. Why don’t you listen to our proposal for a compromise before you start some legal battle that none of us can afford?”

Jane tilted her head to one side, regarding Allie with a shrewd expression. “Go ahead,” she said after a pause.

Feeling like her suggestion was probably going to be met with an outraged dismissal, Allie pushed the papers in front of the other woman. She forced herself to smile as she said, “We believe that you invested a lot of work and money into my father’s career when he was just starting out. There don’t seem to be any records of the things you paid for, but we agree that you deserve some compensation—and gratitude—for that. I want to formally thank you for believing in him and contributing to his success.”