Trapped (15 page)

Chapter

Dalilah

My heart was in my throat when I got that phone call from my dad. “Dalilah,” my father said on the phone. “We need to talk.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s talk.”

“Not here,” he said. “Let me meet you at a restaurant of your choice there in your neighborhood.”

I didn’t know if I liked his tone of voice. I prayed that the security firm found something. Something juicy. Something illegal. Something that would give me ammunition and would force Nottingham to back the hell off.

“I’ll be there in an hour,” I said, after my dad told me that he was in town, so he could be in my neighborhood as soon as possible.

I looked at Luke. “That was my dad. He said that he got the report back from his security firm.”

“Let’s go,” Luke said.

At that, we went down to the restaurant, ordered a whiskey sour for him and soda water for me, and waited for my dad.

He appeared within the hour. He looked happy, and I felt my heart soar. Perhaps things were going to go our way after all.

Luke and I stood up when he arrived in the place, and we all sat down.

“Okay,” dad said, “let’s get down to business.”

I nodded, feeling optimistic yet terrified all at the same time.

“Your hunch was correct,” dad said. “Nottingham made several extremely suspicious transactions that coincided with important FDA announcements. Not just one, but around ten. Three of transactions involved him buying thousands of shares of stocks in pharmaceutical companies just before these companies announced the approval of a new drug. The other seven involved him completely dumping stocks just before the FDA announced negative news about these same companies. In four of these incidents, he dumped stocks for pharmaceutical companies that were involved in class-action lawsuits right after he dumped the stocks. In the other three of these incidents, Nottingham dumped stocks right before product recalls.”

I rubbed my hands together. “Oh, this is great. This is awesome! Sounds like we have the smoking gun!”

My dad nodded his head. “It would be pretty difficult for him to explain that all away. Too many incidents for him to say that it was all a coincidence. At any rate, there’s enough there to get the SEC sniffing around him pretty hard, and I predict that Nottingham isn’t going to want that.”

“Okay, then,” I said. “Let me set up a meeting with him. Now that I have him dead to right, I predict that he’s going to back off of everything.”

I called Nottingham right after I had my meeting with my dad.

“Hello, Blake,” I said.

“Dalilah,” he said, coolly. “Pleasure to talk to you.”

“Oh, no, it’s my pleasure,” I said. “Shall we meet? I have a few things that I need to talk to you about.”

“Seven o’clock,” he said. “At Nobu in Tribeca.” At that, he hung up.

I rolled my eyes. My father was still sitting there at the lunch table. “Can you get your limo to take me to Nobu tonight at seven?” I asked him.

“I’ll get right on it,” he said, and then called his driver. “Okay, it’s set. Now, how are you going to approach this?”

“I will just tell him that we have evidence that he’s been engaging in many acts of insider trading, and that I would put in an anonymous tip to the SEC if he doesn’t back off. God knows that the information that we have just might be the tip of the iceberg. Nottingham could be facing some serious prison time for just these transactions. Just think about the possibility of there being even more.”

My father sighed. “Yes. Well, I guess we have to live with the morality of this. After all, if he’s engaging in high-level fraud, we really should report him. Yet, we’re not going to, because we know that if we do, Nottingham is going to turn around and contact the prosecutors about Paul Lucas, and we’re all going to be in hot water.”

“By the way,” I said to my father. I had long since gotten a new phone, but I had given my old phone to the security team to try to debug. “Did they find the bug in my phone – your security team?”

“Yes,” my dad said. “It was microscopic, but they found it. Your phone is safe to use if you want, but I know that you’re probably still leery about it. If you want, they can destroy it.”

“Sure,” I said. “I already have all the information off of that phone that I need. Have them destroy it completely. I don’t want to take the chance that there might be something else on the phone that they might have missed.”

“Will do,” dad said.

We talked for a few more hours, and, at some point, I brought up the possibility that he might invest in the co-op by giving me the $20,000 buy-in. “You’ll get the money back, dad, and thensome,” I said. “With Henry Jacobs supporting Luke and me, we should really be able to make a go of it.”

My dad warmed to the idea. “Sounds ideal for you, Dalilah,” he said. “It’s always been my dream that you would find your way. It sounds like you finally are. You’re going to have a baby, and it sounds like you might have found a really good group who will help you with your career. And a solid relationship with a great guy like Luke, here,” he said, putting his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Now, if we can just get this pesky Nottingham situation under control, you might just be on your way, Dalilah.”

“Yeah,” I said. “A pesky, tiny problem like Nottingham has to be vanquished before I can feel that I’m able to breathe.”

That would come later, of course. At that moment, I was savoring my time with my father and Luke.

I arrived at Nobu right at 7.
I took several deep breaths as I walked into the restaurant. Nottingham was already there, of course, drinking some hot Saki. “Hello, Dalilah,” he said as I arrived at the table. “It’s good to see you. I hope that you’ve been going to your prenatal appointments and doing everything right. Our baby has to have every chance.”

“
My
baby is fine, according to my latest prenatal visit,” I said. “It’s a girl, in fact,” I said, and this was true. That was confirmed with a sonogram.

“A little girl,” he said. “That’s going to be great.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m not beating around the bush. I want you to go to your lawyer and sign papers that would terminate any rights that you have to this child. I want you to do this tomorrow.”

Nottingham chuckled, but I saw fear in his eyes. I read his eyes well – he knew that I knew. But he was still going to try to bluff.

“I’ll do no such thing,” he said. “I was going to ask you to drop your contesting of my rightful paternity of this child.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do that, but, before I do, I think that I might make a phone call to the SEC. An anonymous phone call that will indicate that you, Blake Nottingham, have been engaging in a pattern of insider trading. And, while they’re at it, I’m quite sure that they will be looking for every other evidence of the fraud that I’m quite sure that you’re engaging in.”

“Insider trading?” Nottingham said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about ten different incidents where you either bought stock right before the FDA announced the approval of a new drug or dumped stock right before bad news hit. Now, don’t try to bullshit me, Blake. I have evidence that you did this, and, as you know, an anonymous tip is all that is necessary to get the SEC sniffing around you like Duke the bloodhound on the
Beverly Hillbillies.
And don’t think that you’re too rich to go to prison – if Bernie Madoff and Martha Stewart weren’t too wealthy to go to prison, then you won’t be either.”

Nottingham narrowed his eyes. I could see hatred in those eyes, and, as he took a sip of his Saki, I thought that he would come across the table and strangle me with his bare hands.

Finally he said, “okay. I’ll have my attorney draw up papers tomorrow that will terminate my rights to your little brat. But know this. If I ever find out that you went ahead and called the SEC, I’ll be down at the prosecutors office immediately, and your father and Nick will be in prison in no time. What they did was even worse than what you’re accusing me of. Fair warning.”

I nodded my head, my heart soaring. “Goes without saying, Blake. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

At that, I got up. “I’m not hungry. Besides, I’m not supposed to eat sushi. I’ll call my attorney tomorrow. If there are not papers filed by your attorney by the end of the day tomorrow, I’ll be calling the SEC.”

He snorted. “It would be just like you to throw your dad and Nick under the bus like that, wouldn’t it? To call the SEC, even though you know what will happen if you do?”

“Do you want to take that chance?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “It’s not worth it. Have a nice life, Dalilah.”

I walked out of the restaurant, relieved.

He blinked first.

Hopefully.

The next day, I waited,
with bated breath, for the news that Nottingham’s attorney filed the necessary papers
.
Truth be told, I was scared. I didn’t know if Nottingham would take the chance that I wouldn’t go through with calling the SEC, even if he continued to force the paternity issue, just because there was no way that I would take the chance that Nottingham would go the prosecutor’s office.

He probably knew that. Would he go back on his word?

I paced around Luke’s studio all that day.

“Sit down, Dalilah,” Luke said. “You’re making me nervous. It’s going to be okay. Nottingham won’t take the chance that he’s going to go to prison. He has to know that, between you and him, you have more reason to bring him down then he does you. You have more at stake, therefore, he’s going to calculate that you’re going to be more willing than him to do all you can to fight.”

“I know that,” I said. “I’m looking at it the same way. But if he calls my bluff, and still fights me, what do I do? I have this information on him, but what good does it do if it ends up with my dad and Nick being prosecuted?”

“Dalilah,” Luke said. “If Nottingham thinks that there is even a slight chance that you could bring him down, he’ll do what you want. So, relax.”

At that, he brought me down on his lap, and raised my hair up so that he could kiss my neck. “Mmmmm,” he said, rubbing my belly. “It won’t be long until I can feel Olivia start kicking.”

I turned around, and kissed him. He breathed in deep, his cock getting hard. He rubbed my back, under my shirt, and kissed me passionately.

As I started to lift up his shirt, though, the phone rang.

It was my attorney.

“Hello,” I said, eagerly.

“Dalilah?” Marissa said. “I’m glad that I caught you.”

“Yes,” I said. “Do you have news for me?”

“I do,” she said. “Good news. Nottingham’s attorney has filed a motion with the court to ask the court to terminate his rights to the unborn child. Congratulations!”

I screamed when she told me that. “Luke, Luke, Luke!” I said. “He did it! He filed the papers!”

Luke started laughing, and he picked me up.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Marissa, I just told my boyfriend about this. He and I are over the moon now!”

She laughed. “Well, this certainly has made this case easier. Now it’s just a matter of property division.”

“No,” I said. “I don’t want any property from him. I just want this done. Please put this on the uncontested docket, and we’ll get this over with.”

“You got it,” she said. “I’ll call you back with the date.”

I hung up, and Luke and I started dancing around the room. “Oh, my god, Luke, our long nightmare is almost over. I just can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.”

He kissed me. “Believe it,” he said. “Our long nightmare might be coming to an end, but our dream is just beginning.”

It was. Our dream was just beginning.

Chapter

One Week Later

“Okay, Luke,” I said. “It’s show time.”

He smiled. “Show time part
deux
, huh? Let’s hope that this show has a longer lasting impact than the last one did.”

“It will,” I said, walking around the little gallery that was owned by the co-op. The Thiessen Gallery, according to Henry Jacobs in his latest column, was one to watch. He wrote a glowing profile of all the artists in the co-op prior to the show, and the tickets to the fund-raiser were sold out.

JJ said that was the first time that they had ever sold all the tickets. “It’s going to be an excellent show,” she said.

Of course it was going to be. There were going to be hundreds of people there, from hipsters to businessmen who were interested in commissioning some hot new artists. Because the tickets were all sold, the co-op was able to invest in a better menu, better alcohol and better live entertainment.

It was going to be fun night.

And it was a fun night. 
A very fun night. It was more relaxed then the
Matthew Jane
affair, and a little more boisterous. The co-op hired a small jazz band to play music, and the alcohol and hors d’oeuvres were consumed freely. I even saw Henry Jacobs smile and laugh as he made his way around the crowd.

“Looks like it’s a hit,” I said to Luke, taking his arm. I was happy, very happy, because Nottingham and I had just finalized our divorce several days prior. I was a single woman, again, and I hoped that Luke and I would soon be engaged once more.

“I hope that it is,” he said. “I have to provide for that little baby there, so it would certainly be helpful if my art career can finally achieve lift-off.”

“Not to mention my career,” I said. My father gave me the money to buy into the co-op, and I was going to be moving into my own studio within a matter of days.

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” he said. “You’re awesome. You’re going to be on top in no time at all.”

I laughed. “We’ll see, Luke. We’ll see.”

And, at that, I felt, for the very first time, Olivia kick. I put my hand on my stomach, and tears came to my eyes.

“What is it, Dalilah?” Luke asked, looking concerned.

I shook my head. “Olivia. She just kicked.” I started laughing. “Here, feel.”

He did, putting his hand on my stomach. He felt it, and he started laughing, too. “Wow,” he said. “That’s amazing.” He continued to feel, as Olivia kicked several more times. “Are we sure that’s a girl? It feels like some kind of NFL kicker in there.”

“Hey,” I said. “Maybe when Olivia is older, she’ll be able to play in the NFL. You never know.”

Luke laughed. “True that,” he said. “True that.”

all in all, the show was an overwhelming hit.
Every artist sold at least three paintings, and the revenue from the party was enough that the co-op, as a whole, made a nice profit off of the evening. Luke actually sold five of his paintings at $5,000 apiece, so he was more than happy to have at least made back his initial investment in the co-op.

But what really was the icing on the cake was the review that Henry Jacobs wrote about the evening. He focused on Luke’s work, and he wrote about it in glowing terms. Henry concluded that Luke was
the
artist to watch, and he predicted a bright future.

And, in the coming weeks, that prophecy finally started to come true. After the show, and Henry Jacobs’ review, Luke was finally in demand. People were lining up to give him commissioned work, and, suddenly, Luke’s income was more than either of us could have ever dreamed.

“We can finally get a place of our own,” Luke had said. We were still staying at Serena’s, because she was okay with us being there until we could actually find a better place. Which meant that I chose not to go back to my old apartment, and the sub-lessor was able to stay. My old place was way too small for the three of us, so Luke was hoping that he could afford a larger place, perhaps a brownstone of his own in the same neighborhood as Serena.

I would have thought that was a pipe dream, but Luke’s commissions were truly astounding. The first client who hired him offered him $50,000 for a commissioned painting, and everyone else who lined up behind this client offered Luke the same or even more. Luke had the aura of an up and coming artist, thanks to Henry Jacobs, and he was very much in demand.

I had to laugh at the irony of it all. Henry Jacobs, the same guy who destroyed me, ended up being our savior. And I knew that, once I started heavily producing, he would be on my side as well. And Nottingham, my ultimate nemesis, was still responsible for Luke’s great career. Because, without that
Matthew Jane
showing, Henry Jacobs never would have known about Luke.

It was crazy how things work out sometimes.

Turns out that my machinations were fruitful after all.

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