by Claire Adams
Rose and I had been separated for several years by this point; it didn’t seem likely that she would suddenly start trying to chase after me or cause trouble in my life. My gut was saying the person causing issues was highly skilled in computers, and that wasn’t Rose – she could barely log into her cell phone without help.
“No way. We get along fine. I don’t see a reason for it.”
“How about that you sold your company for over a billion dollars and didn’t give her any of it? If I was an ex-wife, I’d be pretty pissed off that my husband sold his company only a few years after our divorce and didn’t give me any of that money. She supported you when you were poor and then you waited until the divorce to run off with all the money,” Josh said dramatically as he waved his hands around and pretended to be an upset ex-wife.
“No, that’s not what happened. I was still running my company when we divorced. I hadn’t even imagined I would sell the company. She’s not angry about that. Anyways, she’s getting remarried soon, so there’s nothing to worry about with her.”
“I don’t know, man. That new guy of hers seems shady to me. I definitely don’t think he works for the government. He reminds me a lot more of that thick-necked thug who showed up here than of a professional who has a government job.”
“She said he does undercover work. Who am I to argue about what he does? I don’t really care, as long as he treats her right. I don’t like the guy, but he doesn’t seem interested in revenge.”
“And, you don’t think an ass wipe like him couldn’t cook all of this up to get back at you? I’ve seen guys do some pretty crazy things for the women they love.”
“Josh, there’s no point in it. There has to be a strong motivation, and as much as I don’t like Carlos, there’s nothing between the two of us. He is moving on with my ex-wife and I’m happy for them. What purpose would any of this have for him? I just don’t see it.
“I think we need to look up that girl Kimberly I picked up last month. She tried calling me at least a dozen times after my night with her. You should have heard the nasty voicemail messages she left.”
“A one-night stand isn’t going to go to this sort of trouble for you, though, dude. I mean, you might be a good catch, but would she really freak out this much?”
“There could be others. I’ve pissed off a lot of girls, I’m sure. They hide it well and not many go to the trouble of leaving nasty voicemails, but I know there are some angry women out there.”
The truth was, I knew there were some hurt feelings in my relationships recently. I didn’t want to think about how I’d hurt these girls, but if I was being honest with myself, I knew I had. Some of the women I’d brought home would talk about going on dates with me in the future, they’d laugh about how their family would freak out if they met me; I ignored all that talk. When our night of fun was over, I moved on and expected that eventually they would, as well. I stayed oblivious to the knowledge of how any of the women actually moved on. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to feel bad.
“Okay, I’m going to get my buddy working on it some more. Did you end up going to the police or your lawyer?”
“Nope, I think we need to handle this. It’s sounding like scare tactics and no actual threats. I’m not too worried about it.”
It was a lie.
I was worried about all that was going on, not because I cared if someone hated me, but I cared that they had contacted Delilah. She was the only good thing that had happened in my life in a very long time, and I wasn’t going to let whoever was behind all of this get between what she and I were building. When they contacted Del, that was the last straw. I wasn’t going to hold anything back; I was coming after them.
“Let me call him and see if he can just come over and talk to us. I think you and he can work together and figure out what the best next step is. He’s been around some crazy shit as a private investigator; he knows a lot and nothing really surprises him.”
“Sounds good.”
He called in a favor with his friend and the guy arrived at my house less than two hours later. His hipster suit made Josh’s friend look more like a marketing agent than any sort of investigator – but I didn’t know any investigators, so I had no idea what they were supposed to look like.
Being a billionaire had its advantages. When you called someone and wanted to hire them for a job, those people dropped everything else to come make you happy. It was a perk of my fortune and I knew it, but I still really liked it. I probably hadn’t had to wait longer than a couple hours for anything since the sale of my company; I was getting spoiled by my wealth and I felt it.
Yet, I wasn’t going to be the person to tell people to treat me like everyone else. Who wanted to be treated like everyone else? If that happened, I’d be ignored and pushed off for weeks or months and nothing would ever get done.
“Hey, I’m Billy Stalling. I hear you’ve got an issue on your hands.”
“You can say that. I’m not sure how much of my current issues are connected or not. It could all be connected, or maybe none of it at all.”
I went on to describe all the strange things that had come up in the recent weeks. Each issue on its own seemed to be no big deal, except maybe the large man in the suit who had shown up at my house. But when I said them all aloud, they started to sound like I had a rather large problem building up that could explode at any moment.
I told him about the women in my life, the business partners, friends I’d talked to recently, and everything else I could think of. Josh chimed in and filled in details where I skimped and the investigator took notes the whole time. When we had finished telling him about everything, Billy looked through his notes and underlined areas before turning toward me to ask some more questions.
“Tell me about the girl who works at Dating the Rich,” Billy said while he wrote down some more notes.
“She’s a great girl. Funny, easy to talk to, she’s a lot like me. I don’t know, what do you want to know?”
“All these issues seemed to start popping up when you met her. What part could she be playing in all of this?” His question hit me in the gut like a sucker punch. I hadn’t expected him to question Del or her motives. She was such a kind person, so loving and devoted to her family. I absolutely didn’t think she had anything to do with the mess that was going on.
“What? No. Why would she have anything to do with this?” I said defensively. “Delilah is a widow, she takes care of her son all by herself, and she’s by far one of the best women I’ve ever dated.”
“Please know I don’t mean any offence here. I’m hired to dig into everyone and figure out what’s going on. From what I know about Dating the Rich, there is a large following of women who are scam artists. I’m not saying this girl is; she could very well be exactly who you say she is. I’m just letting you know I’ll need to include her in my investigation.”
My eyes darted over to Josh, and I knew he was in agreement with his friend. Josh had been warning me about the website and Del since I first started talking to him about it. I understood their concerns. Sure, there were women on the site that were trying to land themselves a rich man and would do anything necessary to make it happen.
I knew Del, though. I knew her better than either of these guys and she wasn’t like that. She hadn’t joined the website to hook up with guys; she was simply doing her job when I’d messaged her.
“I messaged her. She didn’t reach out and contact me. She didn’t chase after me or try to get me to ask her out. It was my initiation that started our contact. She was even here with me when one of the messages was sent to her. She showed it to me in her email. This is not Del causing all of this. I know it.”
“Did she have an overly provocative profile picture up?” Billy asked.
Josh raised his eyebrows at me and mouthed the words, “I told you.” He had told me, and I didn’t think he was right then – and I still didn’t. Delilah wasn’t that kind of woman. She was honest and kind, no
t a manipulator like they were making her out to be.
My blood pressure was rising the more we talked about everything that was going on. We were wasting time by turning the questioning to Del; instead, Billy needed to be getting information on the other women I had recently dated.
Love life decisions weren’t always my best decisions. I was much better at making business decisions.
In business, there was an ability to keep everything neutral. Numbers guided my decisions in the business world. With numbers, you had a right and wrong answer. Sure, there were different ways of analyzing the numbers, but I still felt very confident in making these decisions.
I was not as confident in my love life. My gut was a soggy mess when it came to falling in love. I knew it and had protected myself from that mess for years. But as Billy mentioned the possibility that Delilah wasn’t who she said she was, I couldn’t imagine what that heartbreak would do to me.
Normally, my confidence in my own opinion was high enough to squash anyone who got in my way. I wouldn’t have thought a moment longer about the ideas that Billy and Josh had brought up regarding Del.
But since losing my son, I had a distinct lack of confidence in my own ability to see things when they were going wrong. I hadn’t seen his illness in time to make an effective fight against it and that devastated me and my trust in my decision-making skills.
“Yes, she had a bikini photo,” I reluctantly answered Billy’s question. “But that doesn’t mean anything. I know her. I know she’s not involved.”
“I’ll research her, if that’s all right with you? Nothing more than doing a little background work. It’s highly possible that everything about her checks out just fine and we will move on to looking at the other people we’ve mentioned.”
“Fine, research her,” I said as the anger built up inside of me. “Research whoever you want. I don’t care. I just want to go back to my normal life. I just want to not have to worry about this stuff anymore.”
“It will only take me about twenty-four hours to get the preliminary data, but it could be as long as a week to get it all. I’ve got a lot of contacts within the FBI; I’ll be able to find out if there is any real investigation. But so far, I think this is probably something more personal.”
“I need details. Don’t come back to me with half-assed answers; I only want to hear about the details if you have strong proof. Do you understand? If this is someone close to me, I’m not going to confront them or make a big scene if I don’t have hard evidence.”
“Do you mean strong proof toward the woman that works for the dating site, or everyone I’m looking into?”
“Everyone!” I screamed at him. “I’m not going to confront someone about their lies and tricks if I don’t have all the facts. Come to me with facts or don’t come to me at all. Now, I think you should go. I appreciate your help – let me know when you have proof.”
I was steaming with anger by the time Josh walked the investigator out of my house. Never had I even thought about the idea the some of the people closest to me could be part of what was going on. It really pissed me off and I was going to destroy whomever was after me as soon as I knew who it was.
Chapter Seventeen
Delilah
“Come here, take a SnapChat photo with me,” Mattie said as we waited for the staff meeting that morning.
“God, Mattie, you need to get over all this social media stuff. Does anyone even follow you?”
“Hey, I’ve got several hundred followers.”
“Fine, take the photo.”
I leaned over our cubicle so she could snap her picture. As usual, instead of taking one photo, Mattie continued trying to take the photo with random filters. What should have taken three seconds stretched into three minutes in her search for the perfect photo for her social media account.
“Delilah, this man is here to see you,” my boss Robert said from behind me.
As I turned around, my face was hip level to Robert and another man in a suit. Both men took a step back as I stood up to make the interaction a little less awkward. I wasn’t expecting a visitor and really had no idea why this guy would be at my office to talk with me.
“Hi, I’m Carlos Rodriguez; I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Is this related to the hacker we have had? I think we finally fixed those errors, and I don’t see any other issues.”
“No, ma’am, this is a personal issue.”
Suddenly, I was worried. My heart jumped in my chest as I looked frantically between my supervisor and this man. I didn’t do illegal things or anything that required someone to question me. My life was extremely boring – more than boring, it was lame. I held my hands close to my body as I tried to calm myself down before going with the man to answer his questions.
“You can use my office,” Robert said.
Worry filled every pore of my body as I followed them. I hated being in trouble. I’d purposely been a really good child just to avoid any sort of need to talk to me or punish me. As an adult, I lived by pretty much the same theory. I didn’t break the law, I didn’t hang around others who broke the law, and I did my best to avoid situations like the one I was currently walking into.
“We will just need fifteen minutes or so,” the man said to Robert.
“Take your time,” he replied in a nicer voice than I had heard from him in years.
“So, Miss Hunter, I’ve just got a few questions for you and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Okay. Sure. I’ll answer what I can.”
My nervousness had taken over and I felt small beads of sweat at my temples that I tried to ignore. My fingers shook and I held them together in an effort to calm them, but it didn’t work.
“Do you know a Brandon Baker?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know him?”
“He’s a friend.”
“Can you elaborate on this?”
“A good friend.”
I wasn’t purposely being short with my answers, but I didn’t want to say or do something that I would regret. I had no idea who this guy was or why he was there to ask me questions. I certainly didn’t feel comfortable sharing details about my life if I didn’t know who I was talking to.
“Miss, I need you to be honest with me. How do you know this man?”
“Where did you get that picture?” I said as I reached for the snapshot in his hands. It was a close-up picture of Brandon and me at the bagel shop. “Who are you? Why should I answer your questions if you haven’t even identified yourself?”
“I told you, my name is Carlos Rodriguez. I’m an investigator with the federal government.”
“With whom in the federal government?” I asked suspiciously.
“I work with the Securities Exchange Commission,” Carlos said as he pulled out his identification and handed it to me.
I took some time looking over the identification and handed it back when I was satisfied he was who he said he was. But I still didn’t know how I had anything to do with an investigation of Brandon.
“I’m dating Brandon. What else do you want to know?”
“Has he been moving money around lately? Were you privy to any conversations where he discussed hiding assets, or have you participated in helping him hide his fortune in any way?”
“No, I hardly know him.”
“He’s involved in some serious stuff. I’d advise you to stay away from him if you value your life and the lives of your loved ones.”
“What? Aren’t you involved in investment issues? What’s going on?”
“Listen, you seem like a nice lady, and I can’t go into all the details of this investigation. I can tell you that this man has some pretty dangerous people involved in his scam life and it’s not the place for a young mother like yourself.”
“How do you know I have a child?”
This guy was really starting to freak me out. Brandon didn’t strike me as the type of guy who was involved in dangerous things
, but that message I received through the online system was still in my head. Whatever was going on in Brandon’s life was getting out of control, and I didn’t want to be part of it any longer. I couldn’t risk something happening to me or my son and I didn’t want to be part of the drama.
“I’m an investigator, ma’am. Here’s my card. If you think of any other important information, please give me a call. And like I said, I’d try staying away from the trouble that Mr. Baker has himself in.”
“Okay, thank you,” I replied as the man left the office and I continued sitting there.
The whole encounter had seemed rather odd. How did this guy even know who I was? I had only been on a couple of dates with Brandon, and I couldn’t have been the closest person in his life that they were able to contact.
But none of it mattered. As much as I was starting to like Brandon, I certainly couldn’t be in dangerous situations. He was going to have to figure things out before I was going to spend any more time with him.
“What’s going on? What happened? Are you going to be arrested? Am I going to be arrested?” Robert said as he rushed up to me.
“No, Robert, neither of us is going to be arrested. I can’t really talk about anything more than that.”
“You’d tell me, right? I mean, if they were after me, you wouldn’t keep that to yourself?”
I had to laugh at the paranoia that Robert had and couldn’t help but wonder what sort of trouble he was getting himself into that he actually thought someone was coming after him.
“I’d tell you, Robert. Now I’m going to get back to my desk and my work, if that’s all right with you?”
“Sure, yeah, of course. You do what you need. Let me know if you need any help. I think you’re doing a great job.”
I quickly made my way back toward my desk and grabbed Mattie as I continued walking down the hall. She pulled away from me and we looked at each other with an understanding that there was a lot we had to talk about.
“What was it? What’s happening?” she whispered.
