I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!
The Grand Estate - Chapter Four
"Thank-you for having us" Nick says to Jeffrey Cook and his wife Lady. Jeffrey quickly became the Mayor of Bridgeport. His success is being questioned by many and is rumored to be corrupt.
"Yes, it was a delightful evening" Vita adds.
"It was nothing" Lady responds to the family.
Holly Alto sits at the last chair of the table. Jeffrey walks over to her. Her parents start to converse with Lady.
"You didn't want to come tonight?" Jeffrey asks the teenager.
"Oh, no. It's not like that."
"You know I have a daughter around your age. She is actually upstairs in her room right now."
"Oh…"
"You're very pretty you know that?" he asks making her uncomfortable.
"Thank-you" she says shifting her body.
"Oh, Jeffrey, come here for a second will you" Lady calls.
He sighs throwing his hands down. His hand falls against Holly's leg.
"See you around" he says rubbing his hand up her leg as he walks away.
Later That Evening:
"See you around" Vita says wrapping herself up in her shawl as they leave the Cook household.
They enter their car. A chauffeur drives them.
"Dad, I need to talk to you about something" Holly says.
"What is it?" he says in a annoyed manner.
"… It's about Jeffrey" she responds hesitantly.
"You better watch yourself around him" Vita interrupts.
"Excuse me?" Holly asks shocked.
"You're a young adult as of tomorrow. Jeffrey and Lady are having some… personal issues. Your father and I are looking for an heir. You might actually come in handy to us" Vita says arrogantly.
"Are you serious?" Holly says raising her voice.
"Excuse me? Who do you think you are? We are your parents and we will tell you what you need to do and where and who! Understand young lady!"
Holly looks down not making a sound.
The Next Morning:
Thornton has been watching Bert Alto for days. Bert doesn't go out much, or for that matter doesn't do anything at all except go back and fourth to the bank and always to the same employee. Thornton makes his move.
"Can I help you?" the employee asks.
"Yea, actually, do you know Bert Alto?" Thornton asks.
The woman pauses. "No" she says cautiously.
"I'm not a cop" he says.
"That's what they all say."
"I need to know about…"
"I told you I don't know him!"
"Maybe a little persuasion" he says.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"Money…"
"How much?" she asks.
Thornton and the woman make a deal. At the end of the deal Thornton received a stack of files regarding Bert and his illegal activities.
Later That Day:
Jamie walks out of the bathroom drying her hands and almost immediately clashes with Geoffrey.
"I'm sorry" she says almost bumping into him.
"It's alright" he says grabbing her gently by the shoulders.
"How's everything going?" he asks.
"Pretty good. The tests were all completed and I just started too…"
"I didn't mean with work…"
"Oh… Geoffrey look…"
"I'm sorry. I know we already went through this…" he starts to say.
"Yea, we did" she butts in.
"Are you good?" he says.
"I think we should keep work at work and personal lives out of our… situation, if that's okay?" she suggests.
"Yea, sure, sure" he says feeling shot down.
"I'm on my way back to Sunset Valley" Thornton says.
"Did you find anything out?" Nancy asks.
"Of course I did. I think you'll be shocked by this" he replies.
"When you get in come see me, immediately" she informs him.
"Yes, ma'am."
That Evening:
"You've been showing a good face" Jeffrey says to Lady.
Lady pays almost no attention holding hangers of new clothing up to her body trying to find the perfect dress.
"Our deal is almost up" he tells her.
She still pays no mind to him.
"I'm signing to divorce papers" he says.
"Honey, no!" she says turning around. Divorce means she'll be out and with practically no money.
"We had a deal that you would give me an heir and…"
"When we first met you weren't anything" she argues.
"You sure have a way of sweet talking" he says.
"What about Elspeth?" she asks.
"I wouldn't leave her anything!" he shouts. "You were suppose to give me a son! You couldn't even do that right!"
"It's not my fault that…"
"Its not your fault? How much time has gone by? You've been wasting my time and money and I don't enough of either to waste anymore" he says walking out of the room.
"Honey…" she whines as he leaves. She figures he'll cool off and return the next morning.
Early Morning:
"Mrs. Landgraab asked me to come by" Thornton says to the housekeeper.
"It's okay. I need to talk to him" she says coming down the stairs in her robe. "Lets go into my office" she tells him.
They sit at Nancy's desk going over the paperwork he was given.
"How'd you get this?" she asks.
"Money."
"That was your maser plan?"
"It worked didn't it? … You might owe her some money though" he jokes. Nancy looks back down at the paperwork.
"What is this account?" she asks pointing at some numbers.
"That's the main thing I wanted to show you" he says. "Bert never puts anything into that account. He withdraws quite a lot though."
"Where does the money come from?"
"It all traces back to us" he reveals.
"Don't tell me…"
"Him and his brother have still been in contact and transferring funds."
"Nick is laundering money to his criminal brother. Ha" Nancy laughs. "This is unbelievable" she continues. "You can go now and don't think I will forget about this. You did good" she says.
That Morning:
Lady Cook walks out of her house to dozens of reporters and paparazzi.
"What is going on? Get off my property!" she shouts covering her eyes from the flashing lights. She looks down and notices the newspaper with the headline "Cook Family Heading For Divorce."
I really hope everyone enjoyed. I just looked through almost all of Bridgeport and are taking a lot of people from the town and incorporating them into my story. This is still about the Alto and Landgraab families but the families of Bridgeport will play a major role regarding them.
