by Claire Adams
“No.”
“Let’s look at what we have going on here. Your problems started after you met her. The bank has evidence that the attack on your accounts originated from the credit card you have on file with her company. And, she’s suddenly disappeared from your life?”
When he said it like that, it didn’t look good. Delilah wasn’t some sort of identity thief, though; she wasn’t causing all this trouble in my life. It just wasn’t possible.
“It’s not her,” I quietly mumbled as I continued to think through everything that had happened. “Josh told me there were scam artists on that site. I don’t think she is one. We connected. I really like her.”
“Brandon, I hate to break it to you, but scam artists are really good at what they do. If they were bad at it, they wouldn’t make any money. Using a good-looking young lady like that is just one of the tricks to their trade. You said there was a man who visited you. Was it possible he was just casing the joint as part of a larger team?”
“No. Well, maybe. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore. I guess he could have been there to case the joint. He seemed to know a lot about me and my former business partner, though.”
“These sophisticated networks of thieves work closely together. They sometimes even infiltrate your friends and marry people close to the target in an effort to swindle people. I’ve seen a lot of really wild things. It doesn’t surprise me that you liked this girl. They probably hired her because she was someone they thought would appeal to you,” Billy explained.
“Man, I’ve heard of these scams, Brandon,” Dick added. “We can find them and sue them if there isn’t enough evidence for criminal charges. Don’t you worry; we will get revenge.”
I was dumbfounded by everything the guys were saying. It just wasn’t possible that Delilah was part of this scam. I couldn’t believe it and I wouldn’t until I talked to her. She and I had a real connection that couldn’t have been faked. Plus, we’d slept together. We talked about our losses and that wasn’t a lie: I saw it in her eyes when she talked about her late husband.
“Are they going to take all of my money?”
“No, no, no. The bank won’t let them pull that money out. Most likely they are freezing it and then will get in contact with you and request a sort of ransom in exchange for giving you access to your accounts again,” Billy continued to explain. “They know it takes banks months to straighten this stuff out and if you authorize a transfer to one of their bank accounts, they will unfreeze everything. Or so they say. I’ve heard of people getting stuck in that loop for a while with the criminals, as well.”
“Hey, hey, what’s going on,” Josh exclaimed as he bounced into the office.
“I need a drink is what is going on. But I don’t have any money, so you’re paying this time,” I said as I grabbed him and made our way out of the office. “You two call me when you figure this out. Don’t let them steal all my money, please.”
“Dude, what’s happening?” Josh asked.
“It’s a long story, and I need to be drunk to go over it again. Let’s get some food and then head out.”
“Absolutely, man, I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to pay the check,” Josh laughed.
We both knew he didn’t have billions of dollars, but considering I had absolutely zero dollars to my name, Josh was officially richer than I was that night.
I expected to feel better when we got to the club. The lights, alcohol, and music were going to drown out my sorrows – but I didn’t feel better at all. All I could think about was Delilah and how nothing seemed to be matching up. I still held out hope that she had nothing to do with what was going on, but the longer she avoided my calls and refused to talk to me, the more it was looking like she was guilty.
We drank bottle after bottle of beer as Josh tried to keep up with me. I didn’t give a crap anymore. Nothing mattered, and I was going to get so drunk that I’d have to be put in a cab and delivered to my front door.
The funny thing about my mindset was I didn’t want to find another woman to bring home. That was the strangest thing to me by far. Normally, I’d have chalked Del’s behavior up to her being a horrible person and the best way for me to get over that was to find another woman.
I just couldn’t do it, though. I couldn’t see Del as a bad person, no matter how much evidence was piling up against her. There had to be an explanation. I was waiting for a damn explanation.
By midnight, I was calling Del and trying to get her to answer. I called once and it went straight to voicemail, as if she had seen my call and purposely sent me away. I sent her a text and asked for just one minute of her time. That was it: I needed to hear it in her voice and that was going to be the only way I’d know if she had been involved or not.
Brandon: I’m going to call you in five minutes. Please answer; just give me one minute and you can be rid of me forever.
Delilah: I’m out with Mattie. I need to go outside or I won’t be able to hear you. Call in 10 minutes.
She’d responded! At least she responded to my message. I raced outside and to the alley so I could talk to her in private. I wanted to clearly hear her voice when I confronted her about what was going on. It had to be quiet so I could assess the situation properly.
“Hello,” she said after answering the call on the first ring.
“Hi,” I said as I lost the words for what I wanted to say to her.
There was so much going on. So much unsaid between the two of us, but with her on the phone, I didn’t want to let her go. My body longed to just have her close, and I didn’t even know if she was involved in everything that was happening. My body obviously had its own needs and didn’t care about anything else.
“I’m sorry I’ve been taking some space lately. It doesn’t mean that I never want to talk to you, though. What was up with that message?”
“Are you at Club Night?” I asked as I looked toward the front of the club and thought I saw her standing there.
“Yes, I’m standing out front.”
“Turn around,” I laughed as I walked toward her.
The smile that crossed her face wasn’t something that could have been faked. I knew people. I’d been reading them in the business world for years: that smile of Delilah’s wasn’t fake. She was genuinely happy to see me.
“Fancy seeing you here,” she laughed and gave me a hug. “I really am sorry for keeping you in the dark. That message the other day freaked me out and then there was a guy that visited my office.”
“What guy?”
“Um, well, I don’t know if I should tell you. He said he was an investigator with the SEC.”
“I’m not under investigation; there’s someone out to get me.”
Even as the words left my mouth, I could tell how fake they sounded. I sounded exactly like a guy who was under investigation and didn’t want to admit it. One thing I was certain of: Delilah wasn’t behind what was going on with me. I needed to see her to know for sure, but as I looked her in the eyes, I knew it for a fact.
“Well, that’s why I think I need some space. You should take care of whatever is going on and then we can look at getting together when it’s all figured out.”
“It won’t take long.”
“Okay,” she said and turned toward the building. “I better get back to Mattie.
I gently grabbed her arm so she wouldn’t go back inside. I had to say something, but the right words just weren’t coming to me. This was the moment I needed to say something profound to keep her there with me. The old me would have had plenty of lines I could have pulled out in that very moment, but I couldn’t think of a single thing.
“Josh thought you had something to do with my accounts being frozen,” I blurted out.
“What? Me? Why would I have anything to do with that?”
“I don’t think you did. I mean, I did for a minute when they pointed out that my card used for the Dating the Rich site is where everything started, but I don’t thin
k it was you.”
She raised her eyebrow at me and didn’t say a thing. Her silence made me uncomfortable, and I found myself filling the space with words. More and more words that got me deeper and deeper into a mess of ridiculousness.
“There was this guy who came to my house with a thick neck and a suit; he threatened me. Then, every account got frozen. They said it was someone I know and tried to point to you,” I babbled on.
“Okay, well, this just goes back to my original point. Why don’t you call me when you figure everything out? I hope you don’t get arrested for whatever it is they think you did, but you really didn’t do. Goodbye, Brandon.”
She turned and made her way back into the club before I could protest. That wasn’t at all how I thought it would go when I got to talk to her. I was even more confused than before.
PART 4
Chapter Nineteen
Delilah
I had no idea what on earth Brandon was talking about. Of course, I didn’t have anything to do with his bank accounts being frozen. It was ridiculous that he and his friend would even think something like that. I almost started laughing right in his face when he said it, it was so preposterous.
“What was that all about?”
“Brandon is here. He fed me some story about his accounts being frozen and his friend thinking I had something to do with it… so bizarre.”
“Wait, were his accounts frozen? Is he really under investigation?”
“He says he’s not, but I don’t know what I believe. It’s too much of a disaster; I just don’t want anything to do with it right now.”
“Then, you better not turn around because he’s walking this way,” Mattie said as she smiled from ear-to-ear.
“Why are you smiling? This is bad. I don’t want to talk to him right now,” I said.
“Dance with me,” Brandon said as he pulled my hand and me toward the dance floor.
“No, Mattie doesn’t want to be left here alone. I need to stay with her,” I protested.
“I’m fine. You two go have fun,” she laughed.
“You’re the worst friend ever!”
“I really like Mattie,” Brandon softly said as he held onto me and we moved slowly with the music. “I need to feel you next to me. Whatever else is going on is just noise. This, right here between us, is real and I feel it. I know you feel it, too.”
“I’m sure that mass murderers have women that loved them, as well,” I snarked at him. “I can’t get mixed up in whatever is going on with you. It’s just not my style. I live a drama-free life.”
“Hey, me, too!” he said.
“No, you live a life where people are threatening you and hacking into your…” I trailed off as I started to think about the trouble I had been having at work. The hacker that was getting into accounts. The consultant who had helped me. The strange man with the exchange commission who had come in to interview me. I didn’t know how it was all connected, but it was starting to fit together.
“What?”
“Remember I told you I was having problems at work? There were coding issues and errors.”
“Yeah, that’s why Josh and the private investigator thought you probably had something to do with it all. Because you had access to my credit card and bank information through your system.”
“Do you believe me when I say I had nothing to do with it?”
“Yes.”
“You said a guy with a thick neck came and threatened you, right?”
“Yes, he was a really big dude. Looked like he’d been lifting weights with his neck and had arms bigger than my thighs.”
“A computer consultant came in to help me with my coding errors. The guy you’re describing sounds just like him. I remember Mattie and I talking about how we judged him and thought he couldn’t know anything about computers.
“But he fixed the errors. He came in and fixed them,” I said almost to myself as I started to trail off. “Unless, he had really planted the bug and then came in to use my access to get the information he needed. One day, he copied items to a flash drive. Shit, I think I did have something to do with this. I let him copy files from my computer.”
Brandon didn’t seem as upset as I thought he would be after learning that I had pretty much given some dude direct access to his financial information. I certainly hadn’t done it on purpose, but still I was very reckless with private customer information and financial data.
“So, who is this guy, and why is he after me?”
“Oh, I don’t know all of that.”
“We have made a lot of progress on this together. Much more than I was able to make with my lawyer and the investigator this afternoon. I think we should take a break and dance,” Brandon said with a sly smile.
“Your bank accounts are frozen. How can you be so calm at a time like this?”
“It’s nearly one in the morning on a Saturday. No matter what I find out, there isn’t anything that can be fixed until at least Monday morning. I’d much rather enjoy the evening with you,” he said.
“I can’t believe I actually fell for that guy who said he was with the exchange commission and was going to stop talking to you all together,” I muttered. “How does he play a role in all of this?”
“Maybe that was his purpose? Maybe he wanted you to stay away from me so I’d be hurt? I have no idea; I’m just glad we are straightening this part of things out. I hated that for a moment I thought you might have been involved. I couldn’t believe it, though. I just knew it wasn’t true.”
“You didn’t know,” I teased. “You were angry with me – I saw it in your eyes when I turned around outside.”
“Not exactly angry. I was confused. But that’s just normal life for me when I’m around you,” he laughed and I laughed and our connection eased the tension between us. “Now let’s forget about that for just tonight. There will always be tomorrow to worry about this mess. Can we just have tonight?”
“Yes, we can have tonight.” I leaned in and put my head on his chest.
The chaos of the last few days wasn’t lost on me. I knew there was still so much we had to figure out, but in Brandon’s arms, I also knew I felt safe and I trusted that feeling more than the chaos and noise going on all around us.
His hands were like home as he wrapped them around my back and pressed me up against him. The warmth of our bodies offered comfort, and I felt that warmth exploding across my body.
Whatever else was going on in both of our worlds didn’t seem to matter in that moment. We swayed in perfect time with the music and the club belonged to us. I relished his touch as his hands moved up and down my back.
“I hate to interrupt, but am I on my own for the rest of the night?” Mattie said as she tapped me on the shoulder.
“Crap, I should probably check in with Josh,” Brandon added. “How about you two come sit with us. I can get a VIP… Oh wait, I can’t,” he started to laugh. “I don’t have any money! Well, we could just join Josh and all hang out.”
“But he thinks I’m a horrible person, remember?” I was joking a little bit, but I was a little serious, as well.
I didn’t feel comfortable hanging out with the guy who had convinced Brandon I was after him. Even if there had been a little circumstantial evidence, it would be really uncomfortable for me.
“Oh, he’ll get over it. Let me go talk to him for a minute and then you guys can come over.”
As much as I didn’t want to be around his friend, I really did want to be around Brandon, so I agreed. He went off to find his friend and straighten things out. I was left to straighten things out with Mattie because I could tell by the look in her eye that she did not agree with the way Brandon and I had been dancing.
“So apparently, his friend convinced him that I had something to do with his financial information being stolen. And, I guess the computer consultant who was at my desk probably was the same guy who threatened Brandon. Basically, I don’t think he’s under investigation for real, but I
do think he’s still got someone after him. I know I really should stay away from him, but he was outside when I went out there and I couldn’t resist.”
“I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Of course, that was what Mattie thought. This was the same woman who continually took her no-good boyfriend back after he cheated on her. But in this circumstance, I was glad she was a forgiving soul and could go with me and let me give Brandon a second chance.
“Thanks, Mattie. I’m sorry I always give you a hard time about Markus. I won’t do that this time if you decide you want to give him another chance.”
“Oh, heck no! I’m done with him,” she said. “I gave him plenty of chances, and he proved they weren’t enough for him. I’m moving on. But, I do think giving Brandon the benefit of the doubt is a reasonable thing to do. You like him, and I can tell by the way he looks at you that he likes you. Things will either work out, or they will get worse, right?”
“Yes, exactly. Thanks, Mattie! I was so worried after that investigator came in and told me about Brandon. Now, it seems even he was a fake. It’s all a ridiculous mess.”
“I’ve got a picture of the investigator if it helps?”
“You do?”
“Yep, when we were taking our selfies, he had come up behind you. Here, look at this one; you can see his face perfectly.”
“Oh, that’s awesome. Let’s find Brandon and show him.”
It took us nearly twenty minutes of walking around the club before we finally found Brandon and his friend Josh. As nervous as I was, I was also excited to be able to show Brandon the picture of the guy who said he was with the SEC. Hopefully, he would be able to use the picture to figure out who was after him and why.
“Hi, ladies, glad you found us. I was all the way over here when I realized it was going to be messy finding each other in this busy place. Delilah, this is Josh; Josh, this is Delilah and her friend Mattie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Delilah. Brandon says an apology is in order,” Josh said as he held his hand out for me to shake. “I was just going with my gut. I hope you can appreciate that I just wanted to protect my friend.”
