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One Way or Another I’m Gonna Get Ya (get ya, get ya)
a/k/a Patrice’s Revenge
PREVIOUSLY IN WWLT - The Women Who Love Tim
“Angela told me quite a bit about your history and how special you are to her. I saw it in your dedication to making her day truly magical.
Tim – you show up for the people you care about. You are fiercely protective of them. Do you know how rare that is nowadays?
You can’t teach someone to do that. Like Wesley, you care so very deeply and love so very completely. I am so grateful for you, and how you love my grandson. Every time I see you, later that night, I tell your mom about the man you’ve become, about the life you are leading, about how much I love and am grateful for you.
We’ve been having WWLT happy hours for over 2 years and we will continue to have them. Hopefully, you can come to the next one, so we can shower you with love and affection in person.
Now, when you are up to it, you need to go talk to Angela and plan on talking to that woman – who by the way, is never, ever welcome in my home. The way she handled herself – that person – I do not ever want to know, and her energy, her ugliness is not part of and will never be part of my world.
Angela’s making breakfast for you now and I will see you later. Okay? My sweet boy – I promise this will work out.
Patrice comes down the back stairs and greets Nyla with a hug and tells Angela that Tim is up and not looking great. Please be nice to my boy – and please let me know if you need my help squashing that bug. She then fluffed her hair, put in her massive diamond earrings, and said, “I am off to find an exterminator.”
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Fifteen minutes later after making the exterminator comment in Angela’s kitchen, Patrice was zipping down the 101 HWY calling in a very old, but very important chit. “Gregory? Yes, hello dear. I’ve finally figured out how you can pay me back for running off with Louisa Abernathy on our wedding day.”
Nyla was right, you did not want to be on Patrice’s bad side. Gregory Xavior Brannan had found this out the hard way.
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Everyone knew that the Evers were wealthy, but most people assumed they were because of Wesley’s dad - Wendell Evers- who was one of the most successful divorce lawyers in Southern California - his father had started one of the largest law practices in California. Patrice was happy to let everyone - including her stupid and dead ex-husband - think that their wealth, clout and status were due to him and his family.
What most people tend to forget is that Patrice was the bank behind the lawyer. Her grandmother’s great-grandfather was the owner of a general store that sold supplies to miners during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. That alone set her family up for great success, but what threw them up to the top of the California financial and burgeoning societal food chain was the partnership between her multi-great-grandfather and one of the men who sold textiles in the family store. Patrice was a direct descendant of the 25% share owners of Levi-Strauss & Co. The other 75% of the company was owned by Levi Strauss himself and the tailor who designed the denim overalls that would become the unofficial outfit of the gold rush. Additionally, her grandparents had diversified their fortune and quietly grew it further during the Great Depression.
Patrice Sanderson Evers was born in Modesto, CA. She was the eldest daughter of the Modesto branch of the Sacramento Sandersons who were considered “old money” in the circles that used that distasteful term. Unfortunately, as the eldest daughter of a founding family, she was expected to marry and produce heirs to keep the family “alive.”
Her father had chosen Gregory Xavier Brannan as Patrice’s future husband as a way to honor the original Sanderson (who partnered with Mr. Strauss). The Brannan’s were also a Gold Rush founding family - although nowhere near as financially savvy as Patrice’s fore-fathers. They were liars and gamblers and cheats.
Gregory was the eldest Brannan - who cared more about what people could do for him, than having any real connections or making any real contributions. He had gone to Yale and tried valiantly to “work” at his daddy’s law firm. Patrice found that hilarious since he had flunked out of four different law schools never getting his degree. He was boring, smug, lazy, blamed everyone for his failures and expected everything to be handed to him because of his wealth.
Gregory had run off with Louisa Abernathy 15 minutes before he was to walk out onto the dais and watch Patrice walk down the aisle to marry him in the societal wedding of the season. However, while Patrice came from a very wealthy, well-connected California family, Louisa’s mother was a Vanderbilt and Gregory wanted to be President one day.
Unfortunately for Gregory, Louisa’s mother was having none of it - her Vanderbilt blood would never be mixed with Brannan blood. East Coast society was far more brutal and cut throat than California’s. Louisa disappeared from her Vegas love-nest, leaving behind a certificate of annulment, a pile of cash and a very hungover bride-groom.
Gregory had slunk back to Los Angeles with his tail between his legs. Patrice’s younger sister had stepped up to marry Gregory so she wouldn't have to. Jane was stunningly beautiful, wickedly smart like her sister and incredibly socially savvy. Jane quickly became an “information broker” by quietly learning all the hidden scandals her peers were hiding (from staff, from service providers and from her peers directly). Jane had insight into any and every household that mattered in Los Angeles.
Jane and Patrice became an unrivaled pair who could elevate someone to great heights or destroy them with a single, well sourced “rumor”.
Jane had the idea to “bail out” Gregory upon his initial return to Los Angeles, by appointing him to his first “Mayoral Advisory Committee'' which gave him and his family some status and authority in Los Angeles. In exchange, Gregory had to owe Patrice a favor - one she could call in at any time for any reason.
Gregory would have to do as she asked or face the prospect of public humiliation about the mistresses, the gambling debts, the failed investments etc. With Jane by his side, Gregory mastered the local Los Angeles political game and became a surprisingly resilient committee member - but he dreaded the day that Patrice would come along asking for her favor.
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Most recently, Patrice and Jane had finagled a spot for Gregory on the Los Angeles Emergency Services Oversight Task Force. The group reviewed every major funding decision made by the police and fire departments- including approving significant promotions. As Chair, once he received the list of names, Gregory would have Patrice and Jane do societal background checks looking for potential scandals. Gregory would then present any findings during the final committee review process and promotions would be accepted and/or denied on his recommendations..
As luck would have it, about the time of that fateful happy hour, a round of merit based promotions was working its way through the approval channels. Patrice was reviewing that list while sitting in Angela’s kitchen the previous evening. Promotions for both kinds of lifeguard were on one of the pages buried within the report. Lifeguards fell into two different categories: The ones that were also EMTs - meaning part of the Fire Department chain of command, and the ones that were also police officers - think Baywatch lifeguards - meaning part of the Police Department chain of command.
One name had jumped out at Patrice on the list of Fire Department promotions - Ashley McGrady.
Upon seeing that, Patrice knew she would finally use her favor from Gregory. But she’d also make him sweat a bit in the process as well.
Her younger sister's husband was infatuated with his latest mistress - buying her an apartment, giving her a clothing allowance and most awful, but most useful - taking her on frequent, first-class trips to a exotic resort on a private island near the Philippines called the “Fiery Orchid.” Why not kill two birds with one stone? “Fix” her sister’s marriage and get some revenge for her “second son, Tim” at the same time. Win- win.
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“Gregory? Yes, hello dear. I’ve finally figured out how you can pay me back for running off with Louisa Abernathy on our wedding day. Let’s meet Wednesday for lunch at your club. We have much to discuss.”
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Wednesday
While Lucy was “reconnecting” with Tim, Patrice was walking into the Peninsula Hotel to meet with Gregory.
Angela had sent a copy of the police report and video footage from Trader Joe’s to Patrice and she was grateful but livid. Today she wore a red power suit to match her temper.
Gregory was already lounging by the pool in ill-fitting plaid shorts and a beige Polo when Patrice arrived. He looked like a faded gangster from the Godfather 2 Miami scenes. Overweight, flabby, with broken blood vessels on his nose from way too much whiskey and not enough sunlight - Patrice once again thanked her lucky stars for Louisa Abernathy - current wife of the US Attorney General in Washington, DC - for luring this sad sack away from her.
She sat in the shade and looked out over the pool area to organize her thoughts.
“Hello Patrice, have you finally decided how I can pay you back?”
Instead of answering, Patrice pulled up her bag and pulled out three file folders: one red, one green and one gold.
“Hello Gregory - yes, I have.
First, I need you to find out everything you can about a resort called the Fiery Orchid located somewhere in the islands of the Philippines. Who are the clientele? How does one go about getting a job there? What happens in the VIP lounge after dark- is it a club within a club? That kind of thing. I believe the owner is a gentleman named Naveen Siraj. But I might have that wrong.” The information you find will be built into a 5 year employment contract with the resort that you will make sure they honor.
As Patrice spoke, she pulled out from the GOLD folder multiple glossy 8x10” color zoomed in photos of him and his tramp-stamped mistress at the resort in question. Patrice particularly loved the detailed one showing the girl with her head in his lap and his swim trunks around his ankles. He was smoking a cigar and talking with a US Senator.
Second, you are to permanently deny any promotions and/or transfer requests made by or for Ashley McGrady for conduct unbecoming of an officer. I want her blackballed from moving out of her current position.
When she reaches out to you for more information, which she will after exhausting every other avenue of inquiry - you will ignore her requests until I give you the ok. At that time, you will grant her request for a meeting and a) use the documents in the red folder as reason why she will never be promoted (police reports, video footage, and sound recordings of her harassing and attacking a LAPD police officer).
Third, when I give you the ok, you will meet with her face-to-face and first have her sign an NDA to ensure confidentiality protection for both of you. Do not tell her anything if she does not sign.
Then explain about the conduct unbecoming and how she was barely allowed to keep her job. Play the video for her and tell her she will never be promoted or transferred. She can either stay in this position and watch everyone around her be promoted and given raises (Option A) or she can choose Option B.
Option B is a new gig in an exotic location, where she could be a lifeguard for life at the Fiery Orchid and present her with the employment contract you will amend to include a mandatory assignment of a minimum of one night a week as a hostess/waitress at the VIPClub. She used to date the owner Naveen, so be sure to mention that he asked for her to join him there.
She has to decide in that meeting to stay or go. Tell her you have a signing bonus for her if she takes the job. If she leaves without signing the employment contract, she stays in that sucky job until she quits and everywhere she goes to be a lifeguard after that, the hiring office will receive the police report and details.
When she does sign, then you will give her a signing bonus from your mistresses accounts so Ashley can shop for some travel clothes- no less than $100,000. No employment contract. No check.
Please make sure to include in the envelope with the check, a first class ticket from LAX to the resort. That too will come out of your mistresses accounts. Make sense?”
Gregory nodded and swallowed. When he had his act together, he could be stern and imposing. He was grateful for the time to get himself in order before the meeting with Miss McGrady.
Patrice gathered the folders and handed the green and the red to Gregory. Before he could say anything else out loud, she turned her focus to the man before her. Jane deserved so much better than this idiot.
“Now, the last thing is what are we going to do about you and this mistress of yours? Do you love her? (Gregory nods) Patrice nods back at him and says, well then you have two options as well.
Option 1- you sign off on a quickie divorce from Jane and hand me your house keys. You keep everything in your name, she keeps everything in her name including the bank accounts. Jane won’t trigger the morals clause in your prenup which would mean you’d have to resign your position with the city. You’ll keep all the Bannan money up through today, and she’ll keep the Sanderson money. Here are copies of the three bank accounts - you get the shared funds and your own account while Jane gets her account and trust funds. You’ll keep your job, there will be no formal announcement of the divorce, Jane only asks that you wait until Jan 1 next year to remarry to keep the taxes simple. Jane gets the house because it’s in her name. You can take whatever you want out of it - she asks for 48 hours notice so she can be out while your movers are in the house. Easy peasy.”
Gregory looks at the three bank account statements and notices that Jane’s account is more than 30x the size of the other two accounts. He is not happy about that, so he asks, “and if I don’t sign the quickie divorce papers?”
Patrice smiles her first genuine smile of this conversation and says, “then I call my brother-in-law at the Evers law firm and he sues you for everything you’ve got on behalf of Jane. You’ll lose your job, be publicly humiliated during trial, and be left with nothing. Your choice.”
Gregory grumbles but reaches out and signs the divorce decree and hands Patrice his house keys. You’ll get a fully signed version in the next day or so. Thank you Gregory. Now we are even.
——-
Six weeks later….
While perusing the LA Times obituaries, Patrice sees a notice about decorated police officer Jerry McGrady passing away after a massive heart attack. There was a request for donations to the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles in lieu of flowers.
Patrice sent two follow up emails- one to her accountant asking him to send an anonymous donation of $100k from her charity account; and the other to Gregory telling him to reach out to Miss McGrady in three (3) weeks if she was asking for a meeting.
One month after Jerry dies ….
Patrice receives a signed NDA and notification of a first class passenger being onboard during take off to Manila.
Later that night she pulls Angela aside and tells her that no one needs to worry about Ashley. She has left LA for parts unknown.
———
Tim hears a rumor that Ashley got a job at a swanky resort in South East Asia. In his head he thanks her and wishes her well on her grand adventure.
He never has reason to think of her again.