Thatcher took the pad back and fiddled with it for a moment. When he took it back from him, the sound was on and he could see his procurement boss talking. He was not only spilling the beans about what went on at the place, but that he himself, Jake Simons, was completely in charge of the entire operation.
“I don’t know that man either. I’m guessing this is a scheme of my sister’s to get out of paying me what she owes me. Well, you can tell her for me that I’m not going to put up with this anymore. I’m going to take this to a higher court.” Rogen and Anna laughed. “What the fuck do you find so funny?”
“We were able to follow the money to your offshore accounts. It was another thing that I must thank you for—leaving all your notes and passwords right there beside your computer was brilliant. Well, not on your part, but it was very helpful to me.” Jake asked Anna what she’d been doing in his home. “Looking for shit that would take you down. It was easy, as I said, because you left all the information right there for us to find. Thanks.”
“That money is mine for my retirement years. You can’t touch that.” Anna told him that she’d not only touched it, but she’d taken all of it. “You fucking cunt. I’m going to kill you.”
He moved, but the men in the room did too. Just as he was reaching for Anna’s throat, he stopped. The guns, all of them, were pointed right at his head. The little red lights coming from them looked like he was a pincushion that was letting out enough light to power a town.
“This is going to be what happens to you. And if you interrupt me, I’m going to stand up and leave here with my family, and you’ll be left to these men to do whatever they would like.” Rogen leaned in and whispered to him, and he flinched. “Anna is still going home with something of yours. What will it be? You must decide now, because I have a feeling that you’re not going to last long after today.”
“Don’t kill me. Please, I beg of you. I’ll do whatever it is you want. Anything within reason, I mean. I do have to live after this.” Anna laughed and told him that everything was going to be provided for him if he were to tell the truth. “I will. I promise you I will. I want my money back too.”
He had to give her a list of names of his investors. Jake didn’t have a problem with that. He knew if they were in the same seat as he was right now they’d turn him over without any problems. Pulling out his phone, he gave her not only their names, but phone numbers as well. It was the least he could do since he was going to be taken care of and get his money all back.
There were other questions too. About how long had he been doing this? What was his profit margin? Things like that. Then Anna asked him what his plans had been for his sister. So far, he’d told them nothing but the truth. Jake didn’t have any trouble continuing on that roll since he knew that he was going to get Meggie sooner or later. Once he set up his business again, she’d be the first person that he sold off.
“She’s been nothing but a pain in my ass since she was born. Christ, the way she used to follow me around like I was something special to her.” Anna asked if he wondered if he was special to her. “Sure I was. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be friends with me and shit like that? But she’d tell on me, how much I was drinking or smoking. Then she convinced our mother to keep track of all the money that she’d lent me. Who does that shit to their own big brother? Anyway, I was going to auction her off to the highest bidder. She owed me, anyway.”
“What did you think she owed you?” He told her. “So, to you simply being born made her owe you something. I don’t know how that was supposed to be her fault, but that’s not a question, now is it? This money that you got off your mother, why didn’t you pay her back? I mean, you did say you would, yet you didn’t even bother.”
“Why should I have to pay back my own mom for money that she had in excess? She had me—there wasn’t any reason that she should stop taking care of my needs just because I’m a grown man. No, I told her that because that’s what she wanted to hear. We both knew that I had no intentions of paying her back.” Anna asked him if he knew how much that money had come to. “I don’t know. I don’t think it was as much as Meggie was put out about. What? A couple of grand or so? I don’t even care anymore. Now that we’re going to get things taken care of, I’ll not bother her again about it. But I will need cash.”
Anna punched him in the face. While he was down and bleeding, she kicked him in the ribs, over and over until he was sure that she’d managed to break every one of them. There was no fighting her back either. Christ, she was quick and mean. When she seemed to be stopping, she reached into his pants and took out his wallet.
“What the hell are you doing? That has nothing to do with anything we’ve talked about here. When I get up from here, Anna, you had better be prepared for the beating of your life. I’m not kidding you.” She took out two one hundred dollar bills he had and tossed the rest, with his wallet, onto the table. “I want that back. If you even think about taking that to Meggie, I’m going to sue you.”
Standing up was a good deal harder than he thought it should have been. Before he could get on his feet from his knees, Anna read him his rights. Rogen then asked him if he understood them as they’d been read to him.
“What’s this about? You said that I’d be taken care of.” The men with them jerked him from the floor, then handcuffed him. Both his wrists as well as his legs. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Arresting you, moron. What did you think was going to happen after we brought you in here?” He asked about his needs being taken care of. “They will be. In prison. Where you will be spending the rest of your life.”
As soon as the family left him there, the men gathered around him. No matter how many times he tried to tell them that this was not right, that it was unfair of them, they continued as if he’d not said a word. Shoved into the back of an awaiting van, he saw a man sitting there.
“This is going to get someone killed.” The man mumbled something, but Jake didn’t understand what he said. “I’m not going to go to prison. I’m not even going to jail.”
“You’re right about that.” As soon as the door closed to the van, the man stood up. It was someone that looked like a person he knew. Then it hit him. Shane Picket. “You’ve fucked with my family for far too long. Taken what didn’t belong to you in the way of my pack. Sold them to people who used them then killed them. Goodbye, Jake.”
He felt Shane wrap his arms around his throat. They were powerful, and much bigger than he thought the man would have been. The air wasn’t cut off as he thought it might be, but then he felt the quick movement of his head.
Chapter 9
Morgan didn’t feel the least bit bad for what he’d done to Jake Simons. He’d meant to sell off their mother. Profit off her being raped and killed. It was what he’d done to other cats that he’d taken. Shifters too. Jake would know exactly what was done to them, because the person that purchased the shifter would send him videos of it. They had come across them when they’d come out here last night while going through his house.
“How are you doing now?” Morgan looked at Anna, who was nursing a busted knuckle, when she spoke. “I’m doing wonderfully. You should be as well.”
“I am. Honestly. I don’t know who killed the man, but I have to say that I’m glad for it. He would have continued to prosper in prison. Rogen told me that after she found out that one of his people was running part of his ring from the prison walls out there. He would have done the same thing.” Anna nodded and sat down on his lap. “Rogen said all she was going to tell Mom was that he died on the way to jail. That’s all she needs to know. I figure after she finds out what sorts of things he was doing out there, Mom would have washed her hands of him anyway.”
“Did I tell you that I took the money to her yesterday? She, of course, didn’t want it. I suggested that she use the money to buy some beautiful flowers to put on her parents’ graves
. Meggie said that she’d do that.” Morgan held Anna to him. “I’ve hired a nanny. Two of them, as a matter of fact. Rogen wants me to come and work for her. I told her that I’d think about it.”
“What is holding you back from telling her that you will?” Anna said she didn’t know if she could work with Rogen. Morgan laughed. “I don’t know how anyone would be able to work for Rogen, but she does do a great job.”
“She does. How she can remember how to do that on all those different computers is well beyond me. But she loves it. She wants me to work with her because I’m good at hand to hand combat. I don’t have any formal training, but I have a great deal of street smarts that she said she doesn’t. Rogen is all black and white. I’m more of a gray area kind of thinker.” Morgan asked her what else they needed for Williams and the prison. “Nothing. We won’t have to be there, of course. The more we stay out of something like that, the less likely someone will figure out what she does here. I’m all for keeping out of it anyway. That’s some scary shit going down.”
It was too. They were going to arrest Parker Williams and every person that worked at the prison. Even the custodial staff was in on getting the convicts out of the place. Just yesterday Rogen had figured out that they were slipping people into the place too. It was a safe haven for them to hide in. No one would suspect a criminal to be hidden inside the prison to keep from being arrested.
“I’d like to propose something to you. You can say no if you’d like, but I was thinking that we need to start getting ready for the holidays.” She turned on his lap and looked at him. “Hear me out. In order to do this holiday up nice, I think that we’ll have to spend a week or two in New York, then a couple more weeks in Paris. With the kids.”
“The nannies will have to travel with us as well.” He nodded and said that he thought they’d have to. “Why so early? Do you know something that I don’t?”
“I’m certain that I don’t, but I need to get away before classes begin again. My entire office is being renovated right now. Not to mention, there are all kinds of things that I have to deal with there before we leave. I need to make sure that no one knew what Long was up to before he hurt you.” She asked if he was sure of it yet. “Yes. I am. I hate that. We’ve had so much going on here that it’s hard to believe that anything else could go wrong, but I’d—”
“Nothing has really gone wrong, Morgan. I mean, we have three beautiful children. Jake is no longer a threat to your mom. By the way, did you know that he’d been threatening her for a long time?” Morgan told her that he’d not known any of that. “I didn’t think you did or you would have done something sooner. Back to my list. You’ve been promoted. I found you. You found me. We have a nice home, and we’re in love.”
“All good things, I assure you. But once this gets out about Long, if they find evidence that Bart and the others knew about it, it’s going to be a shit storm. They’re going to start looking at grades, the other professors, as well as every student that has left the university. They’ll also want to know the reasons why they left.” Anna said she’d not thought of that. “I hadn’t either, but Dad came by to run it by me. He’s even the one that suggested we get away for a few weeks so we can’t be caught up in it.”
“So when does this take place? I’m assuming that you have that planned out already, and were just waiting on this thing with the prison to be taken care of.” He told her when his meeting was. “At six this evening. I guess that getting it over with sooner rather than later is better. Are you taking anyone with you?”
“No. I need to get this taken care of on my own. I have a feeling that I might not be dean when I return either. I’m sort of hoping so.” Anna asked him why. “I don’t know, really. I wanted the job, dreamed of having it. But with you and the kids, I think that I’d rather have something a little more settled. This job won’t be when this is all taken care of. It’s doubtful if it will be again.”
“I want you to know that I will be behind you every single step of the way. Also, I’ll be beside you if they decide to can your pansy ass.” Morgan kissed her on the nose. “You do know that I love you, Morgan. Don’t you?”
“I do. That, right now, is the only thing that I’m sure of. That, and that I love our kids too.” He stood up, setting her on her feet when he did. “I’m going to head over there now and see what I can find out about other things. I might need you something terrible when I return.”
“You will always have me. Forever and a day.” He didn’t know how much he’d needed to hear that until she said it. Getting in his car, he was nearly to the university when he realized this might be his last time coming here.
Morgan had been a teacher since he’d graduated from college. First he’d started out as an elementary teacher, then moved his way up the ladder to where he was now. Taking the job was what he thought he wanted. Now he only wanted to be at home, work when he had to, and be a good father and husband to his family.
There was only his and one other car in the parking lot when he pulled in. The meeting was in another thirty minutes, so he wondered where they were. Almost as soon as he had the thought, several cars pulled in at once and they got out of their cars. He could smell the alcohol on each one of them, as well as the fact that a couple of them had smoked some weed. Two things that were against the rules that had been outlined to him by them.
As they entered the big building, he wished now that he’d taken up his brother’s offer of coming with him. At the very least he wished that Rogen had come. She’d found all the paperwork that was necessary for this to get finished up. The president of the college, David Kildare, was in the room when they entered. So was Rogen.
Since he’d been the one that wanted the meeting, he wasn’t sure where to go. When Rogen asked everyone to sit down, he did as well. Her winking at him had him thinking that he was just going to be one of the guys when President Kildare stood up and cleared his throat.
“I wasn’t aware of all the facts on the Long case until I was contacted by not just the board of directors, but also the FBI. I was confused about that until they sat me down and explained to me just what had been going. Right under my nose.” The doors opened again and two FBI agents walked in, one of whom he knew. Agent Patrick Donaldson sat down in the chair next to him. “First of all, I’d like to thank Professor Morgan Robinson for saving the life of one of our students. Without his help and quick actions, there is no telling how much longer this might have gone on.”
Patrick stood up. “As of the day that Mr. Long was killed, we began an investigation into how this could have happened. We started looking at his roster, as well as some notes that we found in his desk. There were also things that I’m not going to name just yet, but suffice it to say, this college is going to be thoroughly investigated from the top to the bottom.”
“Why wasn’t I made aware of this?” Dean Sheppard stood up when Patrick sat down. “As head of deans in this building, I should have been made aware of their every move. I don’t like being in the dark about this sort of thing.”
“Sit your ass down.” He watched as Sheppard sat down when Rogen told him to. “What do you mean you don’t like being in the dark, Mr. Sheppard?”
“I’m Dean Sheppard to you. I don’t know who you are, but you will have respect for me. I’ve worked very hard to get to where I am, and I won’t have you disrespecting me by acting like this toward me and my fellow deans.” If he expected the others to agree with him, Sheppard was sorely disappointed. “We’ve all worked very hard to get where we are.”
“Sure you have. On the backs of others in your little man club.” Rogen was on a roll, and Morgan had to fight hard not to laugh. “You were Paul Long’s best friend, correct? You hung out at titty bars together. He even accompanied you to a few of your kind of bars, did he not? I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but no one gives a fuck that you’re gay, Rick. I’m reasonably sure that they all kne
w it anyway.”
Nodding heads confirmed what Rogen was saying. It had never matter to Morgan what a person sexual preference was. He’d not known about Rick because he simply didn’t care.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rogen slid a file to Sheppard, and he opened it and closed it just as quickly. “This means nothing.”
“No, that’s what I was just saying. However, the few times that you were made aware of what sort of person Paul was, that is what everyone is going to be pissed off at you about.” Rick stood up. “Sit the fuck down right now, or so help me, I’m going to have the agents here shoot you where you stand. Sit down.”
He did. Hard too. Morgan was no longer trying not to grin, but he did hold in his laughter. When Rick looked directly at him, Morgan couldn’t help it, he laughed a little. Whatever Rogen was going to do, he’d be happy as hell for it to be on her shoulders and not his. He might even be able to keep his job after this.
“What I’d like to talk to you about is the complaints that were sent to you by two hundred and forty-seven female students. This was about the behavior of Paul Long and how he’d raped them.” Again, he denied knowing anything about it. “That is not what we found when we got into your computer this morning. There are over three hundred complaints about not just Long, but also Professor Jack Damion, now deceased. The written complaints about him aren’t nearly the same as the ones about Long, but they were never addressed.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Those complaints were filed with the bursar’s office, and were to be sent to President Kildare. It’s not my fault that they were lost on the way to him.” Rogen pointed out that they were never sent to the bursar’s office because they were still in a file on his computer. “Who the hell are you that you think you have the right to go through my things like you have? I demand that she tossed out of here and we get to the real meat of this meeting—raises.”
Morgan: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 11
