Chapter 12.
Piled up inside the front door was the usual junk mail, but the envelope that caught Jeff's eye was the one he had long been waiting for, and even before putting the kettle on for a cup of tea he ripped it open. At last some good news, it was the Decree Absolute, and even better news, it was issued one day before the lottery win. So now his two timing, selfish, bitch of an ex wife had zero claim on his winnings. If in fact there are going to be any.
Jeff had called the lottery people the previous night and left a message for them to call him back urgently. But he needn't have bothered. It was 06.30 am when his phone started to wring off the hook. The lottery people were sending a car round for him. It was in all the newspapers, all about the "Lottery Fix."
Thinking how the newspapers could have found out about this, Jeff came to only one conclusion. It must have been Chalky. He dug out the card he had been given last night and called him. He confirmed his suspicions, and told Jeff it was worth thousands to him, it was an opportunity too good to miss. After thanking him in the most sarcastic way he could, he went on to tell him he was going to offer him a job, world travel, first class of course, and more money than he was on now. But never mind, he'd made thousands out of him already. In any case there probably wasn't going to be any money anyway. Thanking Chalky, and wishing him a good life, he hung up and threw his business card in the bin. "That's all I need another money grabbing prick like that hanging round."
Being assembled at the London headquarters of the lottery offices, an emergency team had been set up. They were going to deal with this problem the one and only way they knew how.
Jeff arrived with Sharmini; she looked resplendent in her highly coloured, Indian cotton dress, and her long flowing hair. But not as before, Sharmini now wore makeup which accentuated her perfect looks. No longer a plain Jane working behind the counter of her father's newsagent shop. She was now a beautiful swan standing side by side with the man she loved.
They were shown straight up to the conference room, coffee and tea offered, they took their seats. Andy, the guy who had been looking after Jeff was there. Asked Jeff to fill them in on the details about this so called fix.
Jeff got the feeling this was going his way. It seemed to him that the lottery people couldn't afford be seen to be vulnerable or susceptible to any kind of scandal or allegations of fixing. Sharmini's father being at the centre of the allegations was placed firmly and justifiably so, on their most wanted list. Mermorings, and suggestions that taking legal action against him was going to be their main priority.
Sharmini saw the financial ramifications this would have on her father. Even though she knew he had done wrong, even if the whole thing was a lie, he was still her father, and she would have to protect him. Offering to give her father a call and have him retract his allegations of the fix.
Agreeing to Sharmini's offer, they told her they were looking for a public retraction, a news conference, something had to be done that very day, or the consequences would be catastrophic. Sharmini agreed, to make the call.
Andy offered them both a tour of the centre, and showed them the many security measures that would prevent such a crime from ever taking place. No matter how much money someone was willing to throw at them, there was just no way this type of thing could happen. After their tour, they were convinced that Sharmini's father had been lying, and all he was trying to do was extort £10 million from Jeff.
Now the big question on Jeff's mind was, was he still going to get the £145 million.
The answer came when they re-entered the conference room. The emergency team had re-assembled and were standing either side of a giant cheque. It was made out to Mr. Jeff Hurst to the sum of £145 million. He was told that in honour of his historic win, it would be officially presented to him later that day. Of course this all depended on Sharmini's father making his live retraction on TV to-day.
Sharmini was on the telephone in full Indian screaming mode. For a full five minutes she was screaming at someone at the other end. When she had finished her one way conversation, Sharmini gently put down the phone, slowly turned to her eagerly waiting ordinance, and said "That's OK, he'll be here by 12.30. Relief and a lot of exhaled breath could be heard around the room.
True to his word, at 12.30 Max pulled up in his chauffeur driven Bentley. Dressed immaculately in a very expensive dark blue suit collar and tie, accompanied by his lawyer, they both strode into the building as if they owned the place.
Andy met them, and with the greetings over, they were quickly briefed on what was going to happen. After a short confab with his lawyer, Max agreed to the terms, they were then ushered into a large room full of TV cameras, reporters and sound tech engineers. A statement had been prepared, and a document lay on the table ready for Max's signature.
The retraction and signing of the document went without a hitch. Max did however have a statement of his own he wanted to read out. He went on to explain how much he loved his daughter, and he only wanted her to be happy with a man good of good character, a man of integrity, a man who would willingly give away £145 million for the love of his daughter. He had no intention of taking £10 million from Jeff, He just wanted to see what Jeff would do faced with dishonesty and being coerced into lying to his daughter. He found Jeff to be more than he could ever have wish for in a future son in law, and offered them both his sincere apologies, and wished them both all the luck in the world.
That over with, Sharmini and Jeff were faced with an ordeal they weren't too happy about.
For the sake of Sharmini, Jeff would have to make peace with Max, and god knows what Sharmini was going to do. For Sharmini this wasn't about the money, she had never been interested in the money. She made that clear from the beginning. This was more important to her, this was about family. Jeff suggested they let it go for now and see her father at a later date when things have calmed down. Not too happy with that, but seeing the wisdom behind Jeff's idea, she reluctantly agreed, and had a message passed to her father, telling him that she didn't want to see him right now, but she would be in touch with him in a few days.