Fatal Scandal

Brant had agreed to keep the detail in the restaurant to one agent for him and one for Scotty. The others would remain outside.

Nick knew it was far too much to hope that Tony wouldn’t recognize him or figure out who he was doing business with. At Nick’s instruction, Andy had withheld that information up until now, but his cover was about to be blown, and the possibility of his position somehow messing this up made Nick incredibly nervous.

The closer they got to their destination, the quieter Scotty became. He’d worn new jeans with a Red Sox sweatshirt under the new ski jacket they’d given him for Christmas. He stared out the window, watching the beachfront neighborhoods go by with a spark of interest and curiosity mixed into the nerves Nick could feel coming from him.

“Hey, bud,” Nick said.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

“We’ll be right there with you, okay?”

Scotty nodded.

They’d asked him if he wanted them there for the meeting with his biological father, and he’d looked at them as if they were crazy when he said, “Well, yeah, I want you there. Where else would you be? You’re my parents.”

“Just making sure,” Nick had said then. Every time he referred to them as his parents, the wallop of emotion hit Nick in the gut all over again.

They walked into the restaurant, saw Andy sitting with two other men and knew immediately which one was Scotty’s father. He had the same dark mop of hair, the same set to his jaw, and when he looked their way, Nick saw that his dark brown eyes were almost an exact replica of Scotty’s.

Tony stood and Nick knew the exact moment when he realized that Scotty was with the vice president of the United States and his wife.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Tony whispered loud enough to be heard.

“Damn is a swear,” Scotty told him. He, too, had already figured out which of the men they’d come to see.

“Is it?” Tony asked, seeming amused. “I always thought it was one of those words that could go either way.”

“Definitely a swear,” Scotty said.

Nick placed a hand on Scotty’s shoulder and reached around him. “Nick Cappuano.”

“Yes.” Tony shook Nick’s hand, still seeming somewhat speechless. “I know.”

“This is my wife, Samantha.”

Sam shook hands with him. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“How about we all have a seat,” Andy said.

Nick sent his friend a grateful smile for his efforts to smooth the way. They sat at a round table, they met Tony’s lawyer, they ordered drinks and then food and they attempted to make conversation that was awkward and stilted and painful in so many ways. More than once, Nick caught Scotty taking surreptitious looks at the man who’d fathered him.

“I know you have questions,” Tony said after another long silence. “I don’t have all the answers you need, but I assure you I had no idea you existed until a few days ago. I’m sorry if you’ve felt let down by me all this time.”

“I wondered where you were,” Scotty said haltingly. “My mother, she died when I was six, but she never told me anything about you.”

“We were together a very short time and didn’t keep in touch. I’m sorry you were left alone when your mother and grandfather died.”

Scotty shrugged. “I was okay. Mrs. Littlefield, she was my guardian, she took good care of me for a long time until I met Nick and then Sam.”

“How did you meet your...um, your parents?”

“Nick, my dad, he came to the home for a visit when he was a senator representing Virginia. We...” He glanced at Nick.

Smiling warmly at the boy he loved, Nick came to his rescue. “We hit it off immediately and became really great friends by bonding over our love of the Boston Red Sox.”

“I won’t hold that against you,” Tony said with a teasing grin.

“Tell me you’re not a New York fan,” Scotty said with a scowl.

“Guilty.”

“Ugh,” Scotty groaned. “That’s awful.”

Tony laughed, seeming charmed by the boy, which was no surprise to Nick.

“We spent a lot of time together,” Nick continued, “and over a period of months, the three of us became somewhat of a family. Scotty came to live with us permanently last summer, and now we’re trying to make it official.”

“Is he... Is he safe living with you?” Tony glanced at Sam. “What happened to you. It made the national news.”

“He has his own detail that watches over him around the clock,” Nick said.

“The kids at school think it’s really cool that I have agents following me around,” Scotty interjected, making the adults laugh.

“What grade are you in?” Tony asked.

“Seventh.”

“What’s your favorite subject?”

“Lunch and recess, which we only have on special occasions now that we’re in middle school.”

“He likes history too,” Sam said.

“Next year I get to take Spanish,” Scotty said, “but I also have to take harder algebra.” The face he made indicated what he thought of that.

“Math was never my thing either.” Tony looked at Scotty with a hint of longing that struck a pang of fear in the vicinity of Nick’s heart.

Lunch was served, and Scotty dove in to his favorite meal of spaghetti and meatballs with the usual enthusiasm. He glanced up at Nick. “Hey, Dad, would you hand me the cheese?”

Nick felt like he’d been struck by lightning.

Sam’s hand landed on his leg, giving him a squeeze that snapped him out of the state of shock.

Nick reached for the Parmesan cheese and handed it to Scotty, who smiled at him.

“Thank you.”

Nick covered Sam’s hand with his own, feeling battered by the variety of emotions swirling through him—fear, anxiety, determination and love. So much love for his son.

“My mom is a cop,” Scotty told Tony. “She catches killers.”

“That’s very cool,” Tony said.

While Sam and Nick pushed the food around on their plates without really eating much of anything, they listened to Scotty and Tony make small talk. After the waiter and busboy had cleared the plates, Tony asked if he might have a few minutes to speak to Scotty alone.

Nick wanted to say no, and judging from the way Sam tensed next to him, she did too.

“Is it okay with you?” Scotty asked them.

“Whatever you want,” Nick forced himself to say.

“I guess it’d be okay.”

On wooden legs, Nick got up, helped Sam up and walked away from the table with the two lawyers following them. They settled in another booth, Nick choosing a seat that kept Scotty in his direct line of vision. Tony’s attorney excused himself to use the restroom.

“I feel like I’m going to lose it,” Sam whispered as she clung to his hand.

“Stay calm,” Andy said. “Just let it play out.”

“What about the paper?” Sam asked.

“Tony has it, and he knows what we need him to do.”

Since they had no choice, Nick let it play out. But he was playing to win, and he wasn’t leaving here without his son.

* * *

Scotty wasn’t sure what to say to the man who sat across from him. Why had he asked to talk to him alone? Was this when he was going to say he wanted him to come live here, in New Jersey, with him?

“Are you happy?” Tony asked him. “Living with your mom and dad?”

“Yeah. They’re great.”

“They seem really busy. Do they have time for you?”

“Oh, yeah, we do lots of fun stuff together. We go to baseball games, and I play in a hockey league. My dad is an incredible hockey player. He taught me how to skate, and he’s helping me catch up with the other kids. And my grandpa Skip, that’s my mom’s dad, he lives right down the street from us, and I go see him every day after school. Shelby, she’s like a na