by Lexi Cross
I needed to get money to her, and I needed to spring her from jail. Those tasks seemed easy enough. I wanted to be the one to go down there and handle it myself, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. I knew who would be able to do it for me, though. I tapped the screen of my phone and pulled up my lawyer’s name.
“Jake! Nice to hear from you,” Connor said, answering the phone on the second ring. Connor Hayes was an old college buddy of mine. He worked with the guys in the network, keeping us out of trouble and making sure that nothing we did was traceable back to any of us.
“Connor, hey, I need some help,” I said.
“Of course you do. That’s why you called me, isn’t it?” he said, laughing.
“Every time.”
“Alright, what’s going on?” he asked, settling into his business tone. He knew I wouldn’t call him unless it was something serious.
“Let’s meet up,” I told him.
“Sounds good. Your place?”
I laughed. “No way, man. I’m in the hospital. I’ve been here for a few days now.”
“What the hell? Yeah, let’s meet up. We have a lot of catching up to do apparently,” he said. I could imagine Connor shaking his head and chuckling, like he always did when one of us had some interesting turn of events we needed his help with.
I told him where I was, which room, and he agreed to come on up. He told me he was on his way and hung up the phone.
There was still another call to make. A lawyer wasn’t enough. He wouldn’t be able to handle everything I needed to do, just part of it. I needed to set up bail money for Brooke, and I wanted to make sure there was money to help her purchase the shares she needed from the company so she could finally oust her father.
I called my accountant, Leo Robertson. He’d helped us many times with money through the network, making sure none of the extra money we earned showed up anywhere. I told him the same thing I had told Connor—that I needed help and wanted to meet up with him in my hospital room.
With both of them on the way to the hospital, I knew I would soon be able to help Brooke. Not only would she be able to get out of jail, she would be able to make her next move against her father. I might not have been able to get out of the hospital, but I could still help her from my bed.
Taking care of her bail money and spotting her the cash to help with her little coup would certainly get me back in her good graces and repair the relationship that had been growing between us. It wasn’t just about business anymore. This was about us. I could no longer pretend I didn’t care about her. I could no longer pretend she hadn’t won me over, again.
“What kind of mess have you got yourself into this time?” Connor asked when he came in the room, laughing and shaking his head.
“You haven’t read the news lately, have you?” I asked.
“No, you know I don’t pay attention to all of that garbage, man. What’s going on?” He sat down in the chair across from me and adjusted his slacks.
I knew I had to shoot straight with Connor if I expected him to be able to work with me. “I got in a fight with someone, so I went out to have a few drinks and blow off some steam. And things got really out of hand. I flipped my Ferrari and wound up in here,” I explained, trying to keep a positive tone like it was nothing.
“Who is she?” Connor asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to play it off.
“Stuff like that only happens when a girl is involved, man. Everybody knows that,” he prodded me.
“Well, actually, that’s exactly why I called you here.” I explained to him that I needed him to represent her. I told him about what her father was doing and that it was because she was trying to take the business from him.
As I was telling Connor about what all was going on, Leo entered the room, wearing his nicely pressed suit and his winning smile.
“Sorry I’m late. Traffic was a beast,” he said. “So, what did I miss?”
“I need you to transfer some money for me,” I told him. “Well, not for me exactly.”
“Who is it for, Jake?” he asked me, settling in on his serious, professional tone. It was time to shoot straight with him as well. I needed both of these guys on the same page with me if I wanted to get everything accomplished.
So I explained to Leo exactly what was going on. I told him what I needed the money for and that Connor was going to use some of it to bail her out. Brooke needed access to the rest of it to help her fight off her father’s attempts to outbid her and punish her.
I told Connor that we were probably looking at an uphill legal battle with her father and possibly even some board members. I explained to both of them how everything with her father and the deal to transfer the company over to her had gone so far. I explained to Leo that I wanted to be able to essentially funnel money to Brooke as she needed it without any problems or delays. Her situation wasn’t going to resolve itself quickly, but I wanted her to have whatever resources she needed at her disposal so it could be resolved.
“You’re pretty serious about this girl, aren’t you?” Connor asked.
“She’s the one who got away, man. Of course I’m serious,” I told him.
“Well, I’ll see what I can do to make sure she gets the representation she needs,” he assured me.
“What’s the endgame here?” Leo asked. He was very goal oriented. He was always trying to ask how a goal or desired outcome looked. His over favorite question was what does that look like?
“I want to convince her to marry me, legitimately. I want to ditch the whole arrangement we were working on before and actually get back together with her,” I admitted.
“Holy shit, Jake. She must be pretty special to have you trying to give up the dream, man,” Connor said, astonished.
“Look at me, guys. I’m not getting back on the field. The physical therapy is going to get me back to a functional level, but it’s not going to restore me to what I was before the injury and the accident. Those days are gone. So, the life is over, guys. Not only am I unable to return to it, but I don’t want to,” I explained.
“Damn, man. Never thought I’d hear it,” Leo said. “What do the guys think about this?”
“I haven’t talked to them much about it. I mentioned it early on, you know, when Coach told us we needed to clean our image up. I told them I was trying to do that, and I’ve been sort of ostracized since then,” I confessed. I hadn’t even really admitted to myself what was going on with that situation yet. I had been trying to play it off, but the fact of the matter was I had been pushed away.
The room grew awkwardly quiet. It was the kind of silence that told me they knew more about my situation than they were letting on. I figured they had probably already talked to the other guys. It was no big deal. There were ways for us to handle the situation without addressing it directly, so I wasn’t worried about it.
“Well, we can set the money up for Brooke,” Leo said after a moment of silence. “I can have everything set up for you within just a few minutes.” He pulled out his phone and started tapping his screen. I knew he was moving money around, accessing different accounts, and working to establish an account to help Brooke.
While Leo worked on his phone, I looked over at Connor. “So, have you talked to the guys?”
“Yeah, we’ve talked. They told me about the deal with the new owner trying to clean up the team’s image. They aren’t taking it nearly as seriously as you have been, man, but they also don’t want to be shown up either,” he answered me.
“Don’t worry. I turned my relationship with Brooke into such a spectacle that Mr. Clark came to visit me in here to tell me that I had taken what he wanted me to do and flipped it on its head basically. Somehow, our engagement became yet another scandal for the team.”
“Can’t win for losing, brother,” Connor said.
“That is the truth, man. That is the damn truth,” I agreed.
“Alright, everything is done,” Leo said. “There’s enou
gh money for bail, and there’s a direct line to your other accounts, so if the money gets low, there’s an automatic transfer to this new account. There will always be money in it.”
“You, sir, are a genius,” I said, thanking my friend.
“It’s easy, man. This is what I do for you all the time, right?” Leo asked, dismissing my praise.
“Guys, really, thank you. Now that the money is available and ready to go, Connor, I need you to go ahead and get her out of jail. Explain to her what we’re doing and let her know she’s got all the money she needs in this new account.”
“I’ve got it,” Connor said. “I’ll go on down and pick her up. Where am I taking her?”
“Wherever she wants to go, but she’ll probably want to go home to get ready for her next move,” I explained.
“Alright, well, are we done here?” Leo asked.
“Yeah, man. Thanks for coming out and helping out with everything,” I told him. We shook hands before he walked out of the room.
“Don’t worry. It’s all going to work out,” Connor said. “She’s got the best lawyer money can buy, and she’ll appreciate that you’re taking care of her. She’ll be running back to you the first chance she gets, man.”
“Yeah, I hope so,” I said, laughing nervously. The problem was that we’d both been so damn stubborn when it came to our growing relationship that I wouldn’t have been surprised if we just kept it up, missing the opportunity in front of us to try to make it all work out again.
“I’ll put in a good word for you,” Connor said as he got up from his chair and headed towards the door.
“Yeah, do that.”
He walked out of the room, and I heard him talking to the nurse in the hallway. I couldn’t hear what he was saying clearly, but I imagined he was already trying to work his charm on Lisa, my favorite brown-eyed nurse. I laughed to myself. Here I was trying to get out of the game, and Connor couldn’t stop playing long enough to walk out of the damn hospital. I wondered if that was how I looked to everyone before hooking back up with Brooke.
Oh, Brooke. I leaned my head back on the pillow in my hospital bed and sighed. I had to figure out a way to get to her once everything was settled. I didn’t expect her to come to me, not after I had sent her away like I did. Connor and Leo were going to help me get my foot in the door. I just had to figure out how to get the rest of me back in.
Chapter Thirty-One
Brooke
“Miss Scott, you’ve got a visitor,” the detective said as he came back into the room with a man in a suit and tie behind him.
“Miss Scott, I am here to serve as your attorney. I hope you haven’t said anything to any of the officers involved in your case. If you have, that’s fine, but you don’t have to say anything else to them,” the man in the suit said as he walked in.
I knew automatically that Jake was behind it. My lawyer didn’t look like a public defender. He wore a nice, pressed suit, and everything about his look and his figure screamed success. He wasn’t cheap. He owned the room when he walked in. Even the detective treated him with respect.
“I’ve bailed you out, so we’re not even going to talk in here. The walls have ears, and the only ears you need are yours and mine, so don’t say anything until we’re out of here.”
I nodded.
“Detective, I believe Brooke here is a free woman,” he said to the detective standing in the doorway watching him.
The detective came over and took off the cuffs that were around my wrists. I stood up and followed my attorney out of the interrogation room. I walked quietly beside him as we made our way down the hallway to the front door of the station. We didn’t say anything to each other on the way out of the building.
Outside, we walked quietly to his car and got in before saying anything to each other. He drove a shiny black four-door Mercedes.
“Alright, now that I’ve got you out of there, I can tell you what’s going on. My name is Connor Hayes. Jake hired me to represent you,” he explained.
“Okay. Where are we going?” I asked. I knew he had been sent to me by Jake. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be using Hollie to fight back against my father, but having Jake’s lawyer on my side really made me feel confident that I didn’t have anything to worry about on that end.
“Wherever you want to go,” he said. “I figured you would probably want to go home.”
“That sounds good. I’m sure Jake told you where I live,” I said.
“He sent me your address after I left the hospital, so I know where to take you. Before we get there, I need to let you know what’s going on. Jake set up an account for you to use while trying to take the company from your father. The account is in your name, and there is a folder with all the account info in the briefcase,” he explained.
When I had called to ask Jake for help, I hadn’t expected that much help from him. I had expected him to bail me out, at most, but he was taking me under his wing. Honestly, it felt like I was being taken into the mob or something.
“Hey, since you’re my attorney right now, does that mean I get client privileges, like confidentiality and all that?” I asked. I actually expected him to tell me he was just posing as my attorney long enough to get me out of jail.
“That’s right,” he said in a reserved tone, realizing that I probably had questions he wouldn’t have answered outside of our relationship’s confidentiality.
“So, can I ask you questions about Jake?” I asked him.
“You can, but I don’t have to answer. I don’t have to talk to you about anything that’s not related to your case,” he clarified.
“So, if I ask you where all this money is coming from, you don’t have to tell me, right? Is that what you’re saying?” I asked.
“Right. If you want to know why it seems like he has more money than he should, you’ll have to talk to him or his attorney. I don’t know, don’t need to know, and don’t have to answer that question in the first place,” he said, but I felt like he was lying about not knowing because he certainly seemed to know I was about to ask the question.
“Damn. It was worth a shot,” I said.
“You’re right. It’s always worth asking.”
His responses just made me that much more certain that there was more going on than met the eye with Jake. I had no idea what it was, but I was even more intrigued by him, thinking that there was something more going on with him.
“What I can tell you is that he doesn’t want you to worry about money. He has you covered, so if you need more, it will be there,” Connor added as we pulled up to my house.
“Okay, before I go, how do I get ahold of you, Connor?” I asked.
“All of my information is in the briefcase as well. If you need me, just give me a call. But look, I don’t think this is going to make it to court. I don’t think you’re really going to need representation. This case is going to get dropped because it’s bogus. It’s pretty obvious your father is just upset, so he’s going to do stuff like this to make your life harder,” he explained, comforting me. I didn’t know if he really felt that way or if he was just trying to keep me from worrying as much.
“I don’t think it will either,” I said as I got out of the car and grabbed the briefcase.
“In the meantime, if anything comes up, you let me know,” he told me.
“Will do. Thanks, Connor.” I closed the door and walked up to my house. I almost expected to see large men watching my house as security, but if Jake had me under surveillance, I didn’t see anyone watching me.
I took the briefcase inside and opened it to review the banking information. With the account number, I was going to be able to purchase the shares I needed to put my father on the sideline. With the money Jake had already transferred into the account for me, I didn’t need to try to get the board to transfer anything. I had the ability to purchase it all outright.
I called up to the office and spoke with my secretary, telling her to patch me through to our boar
d members on a conference call. There was no need to call another meeting. I wasn’t in the mood to negotiate.
She brought each member into the call, one at a time. I greeted each one as they were brought into the call, not revealing the reason for the call right away.
“Thank you all for your patience,” I said once we had everyone on the line.
“What is this about, Brooke?” one of them asked.
Just as they all pretty much looked alike in person, they all sounded alike on the phone.
“I want to purchase my father’s shares,” I said.
