Angel - Chapter 10 (Last chapter!)

“I think you might be right.” He said. “I think that might work.” He kissed me hard and headed towards the stairs. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” He was gone in a second and for once I thought everything seemed to be going the right way.

The next day Josh made his way into the tall office building at 1 South Bend. He was nervously tapping his finger against the briefcase he held in his left hand. He was on the way to see his father in law at the top floor.

When he got off the elevator the secretary Polly greeted him with a large smile.

“Hi Josh!” she said. And then more sullenly asked, “How is everything?”

“As well as can be expected.” Josh said forcing a smile. He wanted to get this over with. “Is he in?”

“Sure is. Said he was expecting you. Go right in.” Polly said standing. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“No thanks, Polly.” Josh said. “We shouldn’t be too long.” He gave her a wink and stepped inside the frosted glass doors.

“Josh!” Richard said from the big mahogany desk. “I hope this won’t take too long, The McLean’s are waiting in office 2, and it would mean a lot to the firm to get them as clients.”

“I understand Richard.” Josh said, sitting across from the desk. “So, let me get to the point.”

“Uh-oh.” Richard said half jokingly. “You sound serious.”

“Well, it sorta is serious.” Josh drummed his fingers on the briefcase. He didn’t know where to start.

“Does this have something to do with Emily?” Richard asked, suddenly concerned.

“Well, yes and no.” Josh cleared his throat. “I want a divorce from Emily and I want to retain my position here with the option to be promoted as we had previously discussed when I was hired. Meaning when you retire in 8 years I get your job.” Richard turned bright red in face and slammed his fist onto the desk.

“Who the hell are you to tell me what you are going to do to my daughter and to my company? No such thing will happen! No way, no how!” Richard began beating the desk again. “This will not happen.”

Josh winced with each slam of the older mans hand. “Careful Richard, you don’t want to have a stroke.”

“You better explain yourself!” Richard demanded. “And it better be good, because by god, you will not get a divorce from Emily and you certainly will not have control of this company if you do so!”

“Richard, its really quite simple.” Josh paused. “I’m going to blackmail you.” Richard’s face reddened a deeper shade and his eyes budged from his head.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He shouted.

“Richard, I know some things that I am sure you would like to keep quite around this town.” Josh paused. “And in order for me to keep quite about it, you will allow me to divorce Emily and as I said before, when you retire I take over around here.”

“This is preposterous! I have nothing to hide!”

“I disagree.” Josh said. “Does Baltimore hookers ring any bells for you?” Just as Richard sat hard into his chair, Polly came on over the intercom.

“Mr. Sherman? Is everything all right?” she asked. Richard stared dumbly at Josh for a second. Polly asked again, “Are you alright sir?”

“Yes - yes, I’m fine Polly. Please see to the McLean’s in office 2. See if they need some coffee and tell them I will be with them shortly. 

“Yes sir.” Polly responded and the intercom clicked off. Richard sat still, the red color now draining from his face. He looked perplexed and at this moment looked very old too.

“Richard, I hate to do this, but it needs to be done.” Josh started. “Emily got pregnant on purpose to trick me into marriage. I know the sob story she gave you, but trust me, it’s wasn’t an accident.” Richard blinked. Josh continued. “So, in exchange for keeping my mouth shut I want a divorce from Emily without a fuss.”

Josh opened his briefcase and withdrew a document and placed it on the desk. Josh slid it across the glass to Richard.

“This is a contract that I had my lawyer, excuse me, our lawyer, drew up. It states that when you retire, or die, I get Sherman Enterprise. I’ll never have to bring it out if you just do what I am asking. And I will never tell of this little secret.” Josh winked at the statue of a man and clicked his pen open and handed it to Richard who took it after it was pressed into his palm.

“How did you know?” Richard asked, now blinking. “How did you find out?”

“That doesn’t really matter now does it Richard?” Josh smirked. “All that matters is that I know and so do a few other people.” Richard seemed to pale even further at this. “But I assure you, they won’t tattle.” Josh smiled and nodded to the pen. Richard flipped through the few pages and signed the last page with a flourish. 

“This is total bullshit, Josh.” Richard said almost throwing the pen back at Josh. “I can’t believe you would stoop this low.” Josh laughed.

“I can’t believe that you paid for sex on the streets of Baltimore.” He said gathering the papers and walking to the door. “See you around, Dick.” 

Josh walked through the glass doors and headed for the elevator. Everything seemed to work out. Emily will be out of his life, his job will be protected and his tyrant of a father in law will soon be gone for good and Angel is now his.

He practically skipped to the car and whistled as he started it up. On the way home he stopped for flowers and made dinner reservations. The last stop was the best in his opinion. 

Castle Jeweler. 

**************************************

So, thats it...the last chapter...I hope you all liked it. Please shoot me an e-mail and let me know what you think...!! Thanks for hanging in there with me and I hope you all enjoyed it!!