No one said a word for what felt like forever. Pearl finally spoke, "I don't want it. Any of it. Give it to David, he should have... ""Pearl, I advise you to refrain from saying anything right now." Her attorney interrupted. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I have to honor my client's wishes. I'm not opposed to considering other ideas but I'm not giving David the company right now", the executor said. "We will talk it over and I will be in touch. Please keep me in the loop so that I can be present for any court proceedings and paperwork that needs to be finalized." He gave the executor his card. "David I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I don't want anything to do with this. Please figure something out so I can give it to you." Pearl said, as her attorney led her out of the room. "I'll be in touch.", David said. "What am I going to do? What happens now? I just signed a three album record deal. I don't have the ability to run a Fortune 500 c

She was pretty buzzed by the time Rhys was done making phone calls. "I talked to my attorney. He filled me in on what was going on. We have our hands full with David and the company and we are going have to ride it out until we get some clarification. I have some people looking into Ian, also. Is there anything you can remember about him that seemed off?" He asked. She was still sitting on the counter when he returned. "Yep. Everything seemed off. He's a smug bastard that did nothing but give me shit the entire time. He even said I was a gold digger." She said slammed her drink. "Wait. That's important. He told me you were going to inherit a lot of money. He said I was a gold digger. I thought he was fucking with me until you told me everything the other night. I think this is important intel", she slurred. "He said that? He kne

Pearl woke up to Rhys sitting on the bed, watching her sleep. "I need to tell you a few things and then I'm going to let you decide what happens after." Rhys began, "I'm not perfect. I told you that in the beginning. I'm not proud of my past. But if you can learn to love me in spite of it, I swear to you, I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt that it is exactly that, the past. Since the moment I met you, no other women existed. I don't even see women anymore. It's only you. I am giving myself to you, all of myself, if you'll have me after all this." She reached out and put her hand on his. "I have one condition." She said"Ok. Anything." "You keep loving me like you have." She smiled. "And keep being you, the charitable, caring man I love." "That's it? Consider it done." He said and kissed her cheek. She asked him what time it was and how things went after she fell asleep. Rhys told her that

Pearl cleaned up the studio and sat alone for awhile, having a drink. She needed to be calm before she went in.Pearl went inside to find Rhys, Jim, Ian and Rhys' attorney in the living room. "What's going on?", Pearl asked."What took you so long? I wanted you here for the call. We took care of the Carys situation. She's not going to bother us anymore." Rhys said. "How do you know?" Pearl wasn't so sure. "Ian just called her. They talked on the phone last night and he set up a call today. He recorded their conversation. We have her recorded, admitting to the set up." Rhys said, smiling. "Really?" Pearl said. "Yes. And I just called her back to let her know what we had and threatened legal ramifications if she continued." The lawyer said. "I will be back in a couple of weeks to meet with the attorney for your situation, Pearl. If anything changes, I will let you know." He said and excused himself. Ian seem

The rest of the week went well. Iris started at the book shop three days a week, learning the accounting and ordering as well as helping Frank train the two new employees. When she wasn't doing that, she was working with John on the recording schedule for Pearl. They were forming a great friendship and Pearl was thankful to have someone she trusted there to help. The album was going better than planned and the band was scheduled to begin editing at Epic the first week of February. They were ecstatic and ready to get it finished. Things were calm for Pearl. Everyone was getting along well and she had a lot of free time for herself to relax and unwind. It was wonderful having the home studio.She FaceTimed Rhys often and they sent pics back and forth several times a day. His latest pic was him in full knight costume and she asked if he could bring it home to wear in the bedroom. His parents were coming in the weekend after Valentine's Day to work on some