The Porch Wolf

Vicki wasn’t calming down, and people were backing up in line as they waited to say goodbye to Liv. “Let me talk to her,” I said as I opened my arm to her.

“Can you go with Uncle Leo?”

Vicki nodded, and Liv set her down in my lap. I drove the scooter through the people milling around, all of whom were trying to politely ignore the meltdown that just happened. The pastor waved me towards his office; he opened the door for me. “You can have some privacy here until you’re ready to come back out. This has been a rough day for us all.”

“Thank you, Pastor.”

He knelt down by Vicki and held her hand. “Your great-grandmother was a wonderful person, and it is all right to be sad. Let the sad out, and then your heart will have room for all the good memories of her again.” She just nodded her head as the tears fell, and he left us alone.

“They don’t love me,” Vicki said as she cried into my chest.

I rubbed her back as I thought about what to say. How can you explain your own family turning their back on you? “That isn’t true,” I told her. “There is nothing wrong with you, and nothing is your fault. You just have some very stubborn people in your family.”

“Momma too?”

“Especially Momma. She is very protective of her little wolf, and sometimes, that means keeping people away who might say mean things about you.”

“I’m not stubborn,” she said.

“Really? Who was the one stomping her feet and grabbing on to the rails at SeaLife because she wanted to watch the sharks instead of leaving to go eat dinner?” She hid her face in my chest. “Stubborn is as stubborn does.”

She thought about this for a minute. “What about Daddy? He doesn’t love me.”

I scratched her back, making her relax, and her wolf let a low rumble go in her chest. “Your Daddy does love you. He made some mistakes and hasn’t been part of your life, but he does love you from afar. He is doing anything he can to keep you safe, just like I am.”

“And Grandma and Grampa?”

I let out a breath. “When your Mommy got pregnant with you, Mommy wasn’t his wife. Your father was worried about what it would do to his marriage, and he was mean to your Mommy. She didn’t yell and carry on about it, she just left him. If he couldn’t openly be your father, she wanted him nowhere near you. She went home instead.”

“To Grandma and Grandpa?”

“Yes. Grandma and Grandpa were very upset that your mother was pregnant by a married man. She was too young, just starting college, and they thought it would ruin her life. They were embarrassed and wanted to send her away, so no one would know she had a child outside of marriage. Then, they wanted Mommy to give you to someone else to raise, so everyone could pretend she was never pregnant.” Her eyes got wide. “Mommy is stubborn, and she loved you from the first time she knew you were growing inside of her. She refused to give you up, so your Grandfather sent her away and told her not to come back. That was the last time she saw them until today. They are all too stubborn to get over it and just love each other and you.”

“It’s my fault,” she said.

“No. You are the one good and right thing in this whole mess. Your great-grandmother took Mommy and you in, so Mommy wouldn’t go back and do what they wanted. Both sides are dug in now, and there’s only one thing that can bring them together again. It won’t be easy, though.”

“What?”

“Love. It’s easy to ignore something when you don’t see or hear about it, but today, you stood there and made them look at you. Their granddaughter, who they’ve ignored all this time. There is no more secret; the news and the photographs have gotten back to their home in Madison. All of their friends and neighbors know that Mommy had a baby at nineteen and is a single mother. Mommy and your grandparents have to make a choice; do they keep ignoring the only family they have left, or do they find a way to be together again?”

“Could they?” Her eyes got wide.

“If they love enough to forgive each other, it can happen. It’s not your fault, Vicki. It’s not something you can make them do, just like I can’t make you like cauliflower.” She giggled at that. “All you can do is be cute and cuddly, and let that smile of yours melt the ice around their hearts.”

Anita asked over the bond if we were done because they were ready to take Sharkbait home. I would stay with Liv as they packed up the mementos. We ate after everyone else left and packed the extra food up to take home. It was well past one in the afternoon when we transported her grandparent’s ashes back to my home.

“Susan will be here in a little more than an hour,” Mike said as I joined my senior people at the table. We were a lot lighter now; almost everyone from Winona had returned home with my thanks. Larry and Donna stayed behind to make sure I didn’t backslide into ‘drinking and general laziness,’ as she called it.

“Jacob Burnley will be here soon, so no shifting and watch what you talk about,” I said to everyone. Jacob was my lawyer, and he was coming with an accountant. I didn’t know her, but she had been digging through the Volkov Construction books with Susan since yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday Afternoon

When I’d called Jacob after getting off the phone with Susan, he was shocked when I told him I was thinking of purchasing a controlling share of Volkov Construction from Todd Miller.

“Why would you do that,” he said. “From what I hear, it’s circling the drain, and that was BEFORE Todd got arrested. Let it go bankrupt and buy the scraps at auction. You can always build it up again later.”

“I can’t do that,” I said. “Todd isn’t the only one who gets hurt if the company goes under. There are good people, friends of mine, who are going to lose their life’s savings if it hits bankruptcy. Susan also needs cash now.”

“That’s an understatement. The Millers have an expensive legal bill coming from the criminal case against him. Whatever Todd has left, I’ll get for you in a civil case.”

“I don’t want to wait months, and I want to keep the business afloat.”

“You’ll pay a lot more,” he said.

“What I need to know is what a fair offer is,” I said. “Most of it will be taking over the debt load. As long as Susan gets the lien off her house, she will be happy.”

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll call in some favors and start my due diligence today.”

“Good. Susan will be at my house tomorrow at three. I’d like to have an agreement by Monday.”

I could hear him coughing in the background. “Monday? Are you nuts?”

“Just do it, Jacob. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Present Day

I smiled at Jacob as he came into my office. “I can’t believe you’re working a weekend,” I teased him.

“It’s not my fault, the client insists on meeting today,” he said. “May I introduce Patricia Cornwell, our forensic accountant.” He moved aside, and I saw a woman in her thirties, with rust-colored hair and a face full of freckles, approach me.

“Leo Volkov,” I said.

“Please call me Patricia,” she said with a smile as she shook my hand, then pushed her reading glasses back up on her thin nose. “You have a beautiful home.” My wolf had been nervous all afternoon, and I didn’t know why. I took a deep sniff. She was fully human, wearing light floral perfume, a hair conditioner with an ocean scent, and budding arousal at seeing me. She was a beautiful woman hiding behind a professional image, and I didn’t see a ring on her finger. The business suit she wore couldn’t hide the figure underneath, with flaring hips and a generous bosom. I saw her looking at the wedding band I still wore, and I could sense her disappointment. I finished my assessment before my look was impolite and gestured for them to sit at the chairs on the other side of my desk.

“Thank you. My late wife helped design it when I first started Volkov Construction.” Anita brought in coffee and water, then closed the door behind her. I opened the link to the Pack adults so they could follow along. “Let’s start with my side, Jacob. What do I have in terms of liquid assets?”

“The money you received from the sale of your company has done quite well, and it continued to grow during your early retirement,” he said. “You have liquid assets of just over two million dollars, and you could borrow against your paid-off home for another six hundred thousand, though I wouldn’t advise it. You have more than enough for a cash offer.”

“Patricia, what is your assessment of the company?”

“Mr. Burnley is correct in that the company is circling the drain. Mrs. Miller was cooperative, and I did not see evidence of hidden assets or liabilities. The problem has been a consistent loss of revenue over the past four years, resulting in operating losses that grew from one hundred thousand in 2016 to over six hundred thousand last year. The shortfalls have been covered by lines of credit, and most recently a home equity loan against the Miller’s house. In my opinion, the company will become insolvent before April, as their ability to borrow outstrips expenses.”

“How much debt are they carrying?”

“Todd borrowed $1.2 million to purchase your 70% of the company five years ago. Now, total liabilities are $2.087 million against assets of $1.46 million,” Patricia said. “Cash flow is just as bad. Revenues last year were $817k against expenses of $1.422 million. The company settled five lawsuits for breach of contract in the past two years, with two more pending. The debt service is killing them; when you combine poor management with this kind of debt load, you have a death spiral.”

“What would you two recommend for a purchase price,” I said.

“Whatever the auction calls for,” Jacob said. I glared at him. “Volkov Construction needs a cash infusion of at least a million dollars to remain liquid and reduce the debt load to a manageable amount, and they need to flip the revenue numbers. That is your job; you built the company, you’ll need to rebuild it in the eyes of the customers.”

“I can do that,” I said.

“How much are you buying? Majority share? Your seventy percent back? Or do you want the eighty-five percent the Millers now own?”

“Eighty percent would be ideal, but a minimum of fifty-one percent, so I have full control of the company. Susan can keep five percent; if the company turns around, she and her children deserve to share in the earnings. If it goes bankrupt anyway, they aren’t out any more than they are right now. Her home equity loan gets paid back first; I don’t want any loans left that are not secured by Company assets.” I couldn’t believe Todd mortgaged his home to keep it afloat; all he did was risk losing everything he had.

“Let me run some numbers, and I’ll let you know the parameters that would make for a fair offer,” Jacob said. “You’re putting a lot of money at risk for other people here. I hope you know what you are doing.”

“I do,” I said. “I need to do a few more things before we meet with Susan. I’ll leave you to your work for a few minutes.”

The two went back to their computers while I drove out into the hallway. “What’s going on, Larry,” I said.

“I got a call from my friend in the Council. They have been meeting with Susan Miller all morning, and they are very interested in this meeting you are having with her. They will be accompanying her here.”

“Do they realize I have humans here?”

“I don’t think they care, Leo. They are also bringing in the big gun. Luna Adrienne McInnis is here to mediate between the Miesville and Welch Packs. He said that the Council will not leave until this mess is sorted out, one way or another.” Luna Adrienne was making her name with the Council six years ago before Catherine got sick and I stopped paying attention to Pack politics. “If the State Department had Adrienne, we’d have peace in the middle east within a week.”

“Or they’d all be dead,” I said. “Wonderful.”