A freebee

Chapter 25

"Betty, could you give us a minute?" I asked Betty who took a seat next to me even when there was an entire couch free. She looked at me strangely, curious about what this was about but in the end, she decided to respect my request and left the room, leaving me and her grandfather alone.

"Sounds serious," The old man said once we were both alone.

"It is, uh…" I said.

"Steve. You may call me Steve," The old man, no, Steve said.

I nodded and said, "Well, then, Steve, I'm here to talk about some stuff that happened here before you came to handle the situation."

"Ah… yes. Betty made me aware of how you dealt with the police, keeping the real matter a secret. You have my gratitude for that." Steve said.

I nodded, ignoring the matter, and asked, "Are you also aware that some of your daughter's business shares are taken by some paper companies?

"I am aware," He simply replied.

But that was it. He was just aware. He hadn't been able to find out who it was behind that so I smiled and said, "What if I told you I knew who was behind them?"

"…" Steve looked at me, a strange glean in his eyes. He must have not expected me to pick up such details from such a simple reply. "And who is it?"

"My aunt's husband. I'm sure you're aware of him." I said.

He nodded, "Tom. He's a nice fella. I don't imagine him doing that."

"Well, there's no harm in checking it out, right?" I asked.

He nodded and replied, "Indeed." He then looked at me, once again his eyes strangely staring at me as he said, "But, who said anything about me wanting to take action about it?"

Haha. Would you look at this old man? Now that I had given him the information, he was telling me he didn't need it. Well, if I was a stupid person, I would have given him the information before asking for my compensation but I wasn't. I simply told him beforehand because I was never seeking anything in return. Had it been anyone else, I would have sucked them dry until the last penny myself but I couldn't do that to Betty.

Believe it or not, even I had bottom lines.

Still, I couldn't help but sneer at him trying to take advantage of me like that. I knew what he exactly meant since I wasn't born yesterday. But for Betty's sake, I decided to end the matter here.

"I've said what I came to say. We're done here," I said as I stood up to leave but Steve chuckled, "Young indeed. So impatient."

If only he knew, he wouldn't be saying that.

"Sit back down. Now I'm curious." Steve said. I looked at him, still standing. He looked at me and smiled, "Not so stupid after all. Very well, I'll consider this a deal."

My meaning was clear. I'm not sitting unless you have something for me. As I said, I wasn't born yesterday.

I sat back down and Steve looked at me. Curiously, he asked, "Why blow the whistle on your own uncle?"

"Well, let's just say he's an ambitious man and now he's set his eyes on me. If I were to prick him a little, it'd not be very nice. If you were to do so, it'd be entirely different since he couldn't tell his family what you were doing, keeping the relations the same on the surface."

"…" Steve looked at me for a while silently.

He could tell that wasn't all there was to my story but believe it or not, that was all of it. If I were to mess with my uncle from LA, it'd make things difficult for me and it would also be very difficult to maintain anonymity from such a distance. I stood to potentially destroy my relationship with my aunt's family. I didn't want that.

As for Steve, well, he wouldn't be targeting my uncle, now would he? He'd be targeting the paper company he created to absorb those shares. If Tom were to reveal it, he'd also have to reveal his involvement, which now that an almost murder case was involved, was the last thing he wanted.

"Let's say I believe you. What would you gain from me destroying your uncle?" He asked.

"Haha," I couldn't help but chuckle at his words and he picked that up as well. Curiously, he gazed at me, waiting for me to speak, which I did, "He's not so small that you can just destroy him. Even taking back those shares would require some effort. If the gain didn't outweigh the loss, you would even have considered giving them up given how influential he is."

"…" Steve looked at me, a little surprised that his bluff had been called. No matter from which direction it was looked at, I was the one doing them a favor, not the other way around.

The Millar name may not compare to the Haller name, but it wasn't something to just dismiss here in Pittsburgh. Steve knew that as well so he tried to make it look like it wasn't a big favor but it was. I was doing him a solid and he wouldn't be able to say otherwise. Still, he didn't want to share the spoils with me so he was downplaying it which I was perfectly fine with.

"It seems my impression of you was wrong," He said. I didn't know if I was supposed to take that as a compliment or not. I didn't care. I stood to gain nothing from this exchange and all that I was doing was from the goodness of my heart.

"Well then," I said as I stood up, for real this time, "I'll take my leave."

He nodded, having no intention to stop me in the least. Once I came out of the living room, I saw Betty heading in my direction with a tray on top which lay two glasses of orange juice.

"Hey," She called me out once she noticed me and asked, "Where're you going?"

"Back." I simply replied.

"Not right now you're not, mister." She said as she handed me one glass, took the other in her hand, placed the tray on a table nearby, grabbed me with the same hand, and said, "Come on, we have a lot to talk about."

I didn't offer any resistance and let her guide me to her room. As we entered, I looked around, noticing her room hadn't changed much. It was still full of pink with a touch of white in it. Definitely not something you'd expect from Betty with how wild she dressed.

"You haven't changed much, huh?" I asked.

"Yep," She said as she plopped on her bed, "Same old me."

"Well, I wouldn't say the same. You've definitely grown." I replied which made her chuckle as she said, "You perv. Quite checking me out."

"No can do," I replied.

"Haha," She chuckled before she looked at me, suddenly her eyes turned warm as she said, "Seriously, Tyler, thanks."

"For what?" I asked.

"Well, you showed up and all my problems went away. Poof, just like that." She replied.

I smiled. She wasn't wrong. I definitely was the reason her problems were gone but I couldn't just tell her that, now could I?

"Hmmm…" I hummed, a little dissatisfaction on my face.

"What?" She asked, perhaps a little worried.

I said, a slightly dissatisfied expression on my face, "Thanking with just words feels a little empty, don't you think?"

She corked her eyebrow at my antics and asked, "Oh really?"

"Yep," I replied. She knew I was messing around so there was no need to take me seriously. In all honesty, I was just trying to lighten the mood. It didn't suit her, thanking and stuff. Besides, if she had any trauma, then it was all the more better for her.

I much preferred a smiling Betty who messed with me as I messed with her than a serious Betty who thanked me like a stranger. Perhaps it was because of my feelings. I was the last person to talk about my feelings considering I liked so many women, but I wasn't playing around.

I cared for her seriously.

"Hmmm…" I hummed once again, for quite a long time this time before I said, "Well if only there was something you could do for these sore eyes. Hmmm…. But what could…?"

Betty looked at me, an unbelievable expression on her face as she shook her head at my antics and decided to play along.

She stood up from her bed and headed for her wardrobe. She took something out of it without letting me see and said, turning her head to look at me, "Turn around and don't you dare peek."

'Wha…' I was a little surprised at what she was suddenly doing.

I was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't just playing along.