Chapter Thirty-Three
Kyle had been lucky enough to avoid seeing Julia since Aimee had legally become his mother. He would see her today. The encounter, if it could be called that—because he didn't speak to her, would shock him. Twice a month the staff at the shelter ordered from a Chinese restaurant. He was picking up the group order today. While he was waiting Julia and a couple walked in. Clients of hers to discuss buying a property, he overheard as they took their seat. Julia glared at him. Her clients noticed with raised eyebrows.
"Everything all right?" The woman asked.
Julia was curt, saying she was "fine." She saw "thought she saw someone but she didn't."
His order had arrived but Julia and company's hadn't when two very official-looking men walked in. This attracted the attention of everyone, who were likely wondering if it was the FBI.
It was.
In front of her biological son and the entire restaurant Julia was arrested for selling real estate without a lisense in two states and three counts of embezzlement. As she was escorted away, she turned to Kyle and said "I guess you're happy now. Enjoy being a nanny to your father's children."
Kyle didn't bother to dignify that was a reply. He hadn't had anything to do with Julia's arrest. No doubt in her head his father did though. That showed how much Julia knew. Yes, Kyle was happy. Prison was what Julia deserved for what she had done to him and his father, even if obviously that wasn't what she was arrested for. Her wealthy friends wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot pole now. Good luck getting a good attorney with her assets seized, accounts frozen as evidence and no rich friends to help you out, Kyle thought.
The department did give Horatio warning that Julia was going to be arrested, even though it wasn't by them. The FBI was curious as to if he or Kyle would bail her out.
"Why would I do that?" Horatio asked. "If my son did it would surprise me. A lot."
When the same agents came by for an interview Kyle at work, that was the only question they asked that puzzled him. He told them a brief recount of Julia abandoning him at six and not seeing her again till he was fifteen by court order.
"I honestly don't mean to be rude. I really don't. But you're the FBI. I am sure you know all about me. Including how I finally met my father and how technically Julia Elbery is no longer my mother. Any contact I've had with her was by text until I changed my number about a year ago and blocked her on all my social media."
When they asked why Kyle explained that she had made fun of how he attached he was to his young sisters and excited he was that his father and his stepmother were expecting again. "She and I didn't exactly bond when we met again. Anything I could tell you about Julia Elbery isn't endearing but it has nothing to do with her work or finances. Sorry."
The agents did know that Julia's parental claim, if she had one to Kyle as an adult had been terminated. They were curious to know if Kyle had the slightest bit of information about Julia's lavish lifestyle. Perhaps if Kyle had cared to know about it, Julia would have told more. That wasn't the case.
The young man turned the tables then. "The last time I had any affection for that woman, I was six-yearrs-old, bawling my eyes out and wondering what I did wrong because she was leaving me. Why did you think I would even consider bailing her out of jail?"
The two men said it was a fair question. They understood why Kyle felt the way he did about Julia but had to cover all the bases. Kyle said he understood. When the agents were leaving they asked if the new sibling Kyle talked about was a boy or girl. He wasn't part of the investigation so they had looked every detail on him up.
"A boy, he's seven months old now," Kyle replied. "The house is always quite full of activity, without having to jet off on 5-star vacations. Julia didn't understand why I've preferred that over her way of life. Another reason our relationship didn't exist."
The agents nodded and said they would let him get back to work.
Father and son weren't the only ones who hoped Julia would actually go to jail. Aimee was too. Yes, it would be for other offenses deserving of punishment. But the prison system had loss lips and prisoners who lost access to their children would likely make her stay hell when it got around that she intentionally deprived him of his father and then abandoned him to languish in foster care.
Revenge even served late, was sweet.
