Heart Of Stone (19 page)

The reporters began to clamor trying to get to her, asking questions she could not understand as the mic gave feedback.

“I’m not finished!” She called out silencing them herself. “They are true. All of the allegations of my sexual deeds. I am a woman who enjoys
sex
. I will not apologize for that. Have I had men in my life whose careers I furthered in exchange for having my needs met?
Yes
. I am a woman of means and I have never had any illusions of what people want from me, and I know what I want from them. My arrangements have always been fair, and beneficial to both parties involved. As for the phots that surfaced. I was young, I was in college. Take that as you will. Again I will not apologize for the sins of my youth. As I have already paid for them in spades. I did have a sexual encounter at the Surry Hotel in the Penthouse Suit with two men on New Year’s Eve. I did not however give my consent to have that encounter videotaped. Nor did I consent to its distribution for monetary gain.  Therefore I have here in my hand an order to cease and desist its distribution, and an order for the immediate arrest of one Willard Holtz, to be carried out today by New York’s finest. Along with the arrest of the two men involved in the original video for Criminal Battery.” As the crowd swelled Donnella was led from the podium and back into the Tower. She collapsed into Matthew and her father’s arms. Xavier and Harold with Raj’s help held the doors closed. “Get her upstairs you fools.” Harold called out. “We can only hold out so long.”

“Did I do good?” She asked as they helped her into the elevator.

“You did great honey.” Harmon kissed her forehead. Taking out his inhaler, shaking it and taking a puff. “Just perfect.”

Anxiety filled her eyes as she watched him. “You’re really sick this time aren’t you? That’s why you’re still here? That’s why you’ve done all of this for me.”

Harmon looked at her with sad eyes. “Come upstairs. We have some things to discuss.”

“Just tell me. Daddy.”

He reached out to her. “Just come upstairs. And
you
join us later for dinner Okay. I’ll have Anthony make a nice crown roast. You’ll like that.”

Donnella straightened out. As the elevator doors opened to Mathew’s floor. “So yes or no?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll come up.” Matthew answered. She looked up at him and conceded with a nod, letting him off the elevator with a short but needing kiss.

***

“I’m worried about him.” She whispered as the doors closed. “He’s… I don’t know. There’s just something…”

“He loves you, more than anything. Look what he’s done to protect you.” Harmon was thankful for the sudden subject change.

“I’m afraid I’ve destroyed him from the outside in.”

The exited the elevator, “He loves you, that much is for certain. No man goes through all the trouble this one has if he isn’t completely and totally in love. That much I am sure of. Baby. I think you and he-” Harmon began to cough violently. He put his hand out trying to steady himself. Donnella tried to catch him, but he was too much weight for her. Anthony and Cordell who had been standing silent sentry in the elevator came to life suddenly. They took Harmon by the arms, helping him to a chair. He continued to gasp. Anthony went for his inhaler, he puffed. It didn’t help. They rushed him on to the elevator as Cordell ordered Donnella to call nine one, one.

Her hands shaking she pulled out her cellphone calling the EMS. “Yes this is Donnella Stone, I’m at the Stone Tower, It’s my-my father. He c- can’t breathe.”

***

Calling nine one, one and all of the medical response units that it summoned was enough to disperse the reporters from the front doors. By the time they arrived Harmon was sitting upright, but still could not completely regulate his breathing. Matthew held Donnella who was no longer hysterical, but simply staring, numbly crying.

The EMS cleared everyone away and went to work getting him into the stretcher. Donnella climbed into the back of the ambulance.

“I’ll follow with security.” Matthew assured her as they pulled away the sirens blaring. They hooked Harmon up to an oxygen tank, cranking it up to six liters, and he started to breathe at a more normal level. But his heart was racing, his blood pressure through the ceiling. As Donnella watched helplessly he grabbed her by the arm.

“Baby. You... Need… To… Get… She… Has…”

“Daddy don’t talk, it’s not good.”

“Sir we need you to lay back. You’re having a heart attack.” The EMS worker tried to assist Harmon but he refused to budge.

“Let me be, woman!” He shouted, waving at her as she tried to get an I.V. in his arm. “Ella, she has A-.”

“What are you talking about daddy?” Donnella watched as he fell back on the stretcher. The EMS worker knocking her out of the way, trying to use the defibrillator.

“Daddy...?” Donnella cried. “Daddy?”

***

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.” Donnella stared into the foam of her cappuccino. “I’m all alone now. I’m the last Stone.”

Matthew sat beside her his hands between his knees. He’d never lost anyone. Not that he could remember. He was seven when his aunt died, and at that age it was just something he had to get dressed up to do. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. How to console her. If the roles were reversed and it was his mother, he knew that he would be inconsolable. So he just sat there, if she needed a shoulder to cry on her would give her that, if she needed an ear to listen he was going to be there. But what if she needed to be left alone? He wondered at that. But pushed it back. She had not asked him to leave, if it came to that, then he would do what she wanted, but he wouldn’t like it.

“Miss Stone?” An orderly asked coming from one of the hallways.

“Yes.” She sniffed. Running her hand under her nose. “What is it? Some more paperwork?”

“No, nothing like that. He had these on him. We though you would want them, before we transfer him.”

Donnella nodded her head toward Matthew and the orderly handed the wallet and money with the clip to him before walking away.

Matthew couldn’t help but open the wallet. He lifted the photo section. And a long line of them folded out from its confines. Pictures of Donnella from infant to high school. The early ones showed her with a beaming smile and those cinnamon freckles he loved so much. Then she started with the makeup and they began to fade until the last image showed them completely and expertly covered. “Why do you hide them?”

“What?” She turned around startled, his question breaking the quiet.

“Your freckles. Why do you hide them?” He turned the photos to her.

She walked over surprised to see that her father still carried them around. “I got a lot of teasing over them. It was easier to hide them then put up with hearing them call me names.” She took the wallet, turning it over in her hand. “I don’t know how to plan a funeral. I’ve never had to. When my mother died. He…”

“With all due respect. Miss Stone, but those arrangements have been taken care of.” Anthony spoke up pulling away from his place at the wall. “Mister Stone saw to it quite some time ago. That upon his passing he would have a small private service, and be interred with your mother.”

Donnella nodded. “That’s how he would want it.” She sniffed. “It’s how I would want it, if it were me.”

19

“I need you.
Now
.” Donnella’s voice was heavy in his ear. The funeral had not been as small as planned. When one of New York’s elite passes, nothing can be small. The old partners, the Mayor, even the Governor sent flowers and his condolences. Donnella took it in stride, putting on the face for the reporters who slithered around. Anthony and Jacob along with the rest of her father’s detail carried the casket from the church. Not once since the hospital had Matthew seen or heard her cry.

She’d grabbed him as he’d walked by, dragging him into the nearby bathroom. “Ella, everyone is waiting on you.” He smiled gently. “They expect you out there.”

“I’m numb.” She shifted against the marble countertop wiggling out of her panties. “I need you to make me feel
something
before I can’t feel anything anymore.” She hopped up on the counter, grabbing him by the shoulders. “
Please
…” She begged kissing him urgently, her need causing a swell in him. She reached for the buckle on his pants and he pulled back letting her slide down the counter to take him into her quivering mouth.

“Ugh, Ella, easy…” He moaned as she worked him swiftly, getting him solid. She stood up wiping at her mouth, wrapping her arms around him, he lifted her up, he didn’t need any more direction. He knew what she wanted, and she was more than ready for it as she wrapped her legs over his hips and he entered her. She let out a ravenous moan, and he covered her mouth. She bit his hand as he moved, her back against the mirror, her face buried in his shoulder, his face buried in her falling hair. She came quickly, and he was glad for it. She settled against him, her heart racing, her breath erratic as she stood on wobbly legs.

“Are you
okay
?” He asked as he helped her to clean up.

“I wish everyone would stop asking that. Do I look okay?” She barked, as she walked out the door letting it slam shut behind her.

“That’s it! Party’s over!” Donnella announced as she straightened her dress. The chatter of the guests began to die down. “See I just fucked my
boyfriend
in the other room and it didn’t go on so good. That means we’re having an issue. Which means
I’m
having issues. And I’m looking at over a dozen of them right now!”

People began to slowly make way for the exits.

“Yeah that’s right, run along!” She shouted. “You come make your excuses. Make your sad eyes at the lost little girl! The depraved skank, right cuz that’s what you all think of me.”

Matthew came rushing out of the bathroom, not sure if he should stop her or let her have her rant. He decided she deserved to have her say. Stopping her security, who had planned to intervene.

“She needs to do this.”

“You come here, eat the food, drink the booze all so you can get a look at the, the famous Stone Penthouse. Well you’ve had your lookie look. Now my question is who’s going to still have my back on Monday morning?”

Faces turned downward. The room went silent.

“Yeah, see. Like I said. Get the
fuck
out
of my house!”

More murmurs as the people tried to leave. Matthew now came to her side, she flinched as he touched her shoulders.

“How did that
feel
?” He half laughed.

“
That
? Sorta incredible…”

***

Donnella had cried herself to sleep in Matthew’s arms. When they returned to his quiet apartment, even Pepper seemed to feel that there was something changing in the air. He loved Donnella, God did he love her, but he knew that she still worried about her work. Her outburst made that loud and clear, and this was partly his fault. There had to be something he could do to fix it. He slipped from the bed, got dressed and went downstairs. Taking his phone he went out on to the terrace to make a few calls.

***

Gerald Mcloughlin was not an unreasonable man. Nor was he unkind. He simply did not have time in his world to waste with riff raff and deviants. Donnella Stone was obviously a little of both. She may have had a strong head for business but if her personal life could spill so openly out into the public eye so easily, then she had no business in Big Business. It was why he preferred to work with men. Men like Donovan Kelly who did not mince words and who kept their promises. Men who were brought up right and did not fall so low. Donavan wanted control of Mcloughlin Financial, but Gerald held out hope that his eldest son, would eventually come around. He was after all only twenty six years old. There was still time. At least that was what he had thought until his health had begun to decline. Now the doctors had begun to tell him that he needed more rest. That he should pull back. He was beginning to suffer the early effects of the Alzheimer’s disease. Things like daily planning, and even buttoning his own shirts were becoming a problem. In the boardroom he was still sharp. Yet it was only a matter of time. Donavan knew something was wrong, but not quite what, Gerald planned to keep it that way. Then out of the blue, or perhaps out of some form of desperation the phone rang and Matthew, was on the other side of the line. Demanding to see him. To speak with him. Who was he to deny his flesh and blood son?

“Yes, come. Come!” He had said. “No Constance is at a bridge game until who knows when. The maid will know to let you in.” That had been the extent of it. Now he waited for his boy, who any moment now would come through the door.

***

Using the service entrance Matthew managed to catch a cab a few blocks away from the Tower. His destination was about a half hours ride away and he tried to keep calm. It had been thirteen years since he’d talked to his father for more than a few minutes, and here he was going to see the man and ask him for a favor, knowing it was probably going to cost him his soul. The cab pulled up to the large manor on the hill, just outside of the city limits. It rose up with iron gates and flower gardens. Marble patios and waterscapes. It made Matthew want to vomit. So much wasted on such an undeserving man. A liar, a cheater, a
banker.
He walked up to the front doors, the cab didn’t wait. “Trapped.” He mused as the second cab arrived. Harold stepping out.

“You better be right about this. Because if it doesn’t’ work she’s going to fire me.” Harold whined.

Before Matthew could answer, the door opened and a small Russian woman in a blue uniform appeared.

“Yes, you are Matthew?” She asked in broken English. “Come to see the master?” She nodded opening the door further.

“Yes.” Matthew managed as they entered.

The Foyer had a large crystal chandelier which hung ominously above his head, with open wide steps leading up to the second floor. The room seemed to be gilded in gold cast with high shine oak finishing. A large table stood before him with an oversized vase full of tiger lilies. His mother’s favorite flower. He almost smiled at the irony.
Almost
.

“You come, he’s this way.” She led them into the study, where Gerald Mcloughlin stood by the fire smoking a cigar. The smell was familiar to Matthew, who remembered it from when Gerald would smoke them in the yard when he visited him and his mother in Connecticut.

“Those will kill you, you know.”

“So they keep telling me…” He turned around. He was a large man, much like Matthew, he stood well over six feet four inches tall with a firm build even at the age of fifty seven, with a full head of dark brown hair and a thick dark mustache. But Matthew could see something was wrong. The man looked tired, drawn in around the mouth.

“Are you ill?” He asked, not really caring, but curious, nonetheless.

“I am, but not so ill as to not be able to see a desperate man before me. To what do I owe this visit? Is it the little whore you’ve been seen running around with? This Donnella Stone?”

“She’s far from a whore. She’s your only chance at your company surviving the mess it’s in. I’ve seen her proposal. Why haven’t’ you taken it?”

“And be the laughing stock of the corporate world for being the next guy to get into bed with her?” Gerald laugh. “Her little stunts have made her stock worth very little in most circles. I doubt she’ll have very much left to stand on when the smoke clears from this fiasco.”

“She’d have plenty if you merged.” Matthew motioned to a chair and Gerald nodded.

“What would a merger get me, besides a dissolved company?”

“She’s willing to give you fifteen point five, keep key staff, give severance, and provide training and upgrading to those who qualify.” Harold spoke up.

“And you are here in her stead why?”

“Because she doesn’t know what else we are offering.” Matthew leaned forward with his hands between his knees. “If you take this, and align with The Stone Company. I will come on as a consultant. I’ll take the bar. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, right down to taking your name back, if that is what you want.”

Harold looked at Matthew, Donnella had not told him who Matthew was to Gerald. He was stunned into silence.

Gerald sat down. The statement seemed to knock the wind out of his sails. “You would do this for such a bruised and burdened woman?
Why
?”

“Love.” Harold interrupted, tears in his eyes.

Matthew nodded. “I will give up everything I’ve ever wanted for her. To make sure she has what she wants, and what she wants is to save this city.
That
she can’t do
without
the bids she has in place. Bids she will lose without the backing of a name like ours.”

“Like ours. As much as I rejoice in hearing you say that it’s not what you want, is it?”

“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that I love her and want her to have everything she wants. Too many men have taken and taken from her. Men like Donavan Kelly. Who are finally going to get what they deserve. Well it’s time she does too. And she
deserves
this, this shot! God does she deserve it.”

Gerald stood up walking over to his desk, he opened the drawer and pulled out a stack of papers. “If I do this I want only one thing in return.”

Matthew wiped the tears from his frustrated face. “What? Name it.”

“I want your birth certificate to have my name put back on it, so that I can claim you as mine. As my first born son. These other children that I have, they don’t know what it is to love. They have no concept of the world we came from. Everything was handed to them. I need to be able to trust that when the time comes what I have goes to someone who will know what to really do with it. I’ll do this but you must in return accept your inheritance.”

Matthew stared at his father dumbfounded. He had not expected
this
. He had expected gloating, groveling. To have to beg, and be forced into the family business. Now he was being offered the keys to the kingdom. But did he want them? To have them meant that he could give them to Donnella. Hell he could give them to his half siblings in pieces. He swallowed his heart in his throat.
Fuck it.

“Draw up the papers.”