Trent (12 page)

Good. I’d like very much for you to take me
hard, Trent. Just as soon as you get in the house.
He said they’d never
make it that far
. Fine with me, so long as I can scream out my releases when
you do.

Joe spoke to the police once more, telling
them that all she’d been doing was adding someone to her account when the men
came in. No, she didn’t know who they were. And she had no idea how they’d been
killed. She also told them that she’d not seen anything like a large animal at
any time. The officers let her go but told her that they might need to speak to
her again. That was fine by her. Joe still wouldn’t say a word as to what had
really happened.

Chapter 8

Max was sitting at his desk when Jefferson
came into his office and sat down in the chair across from him. He wanted to
tell him that he was too busy to listen to him whine, but didn’t. He needed the
man more than he might have thought possible only a few days ago. Someone had
gotten into his things, and he knew they had his password information on his
accounts. All of his accounts. He was still trying to figure out a way to ask
him about it when Jefferson finally spoke.

“I spoke to Trent and his brother Elijah this
morning.” Max glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after eight in the
morning. Jefferson must have gotten up early to have done that. Max nodded,
then wondered aloud how that had gone. “Fine. Trent really is leaving the
company. I have heard different reasons for it, but I think it’s the romantic
one that I believe. He and his new wife are going to be working on another
project that has just fallen into their laps.”

When he didn’t say more, Max wanted to reach
into his top drawer and pull out his gun. There were times, and right now was
one of them, that he wished to Christ that he’d never taken this man on as a
partner. He was driving him over the edge.

“And what sort of romantic entanglements has
he gotten himself into? And what new wife? I had no idea he was even dating
anyone seriously. No doubt he thinks that this woman will be the one and only
true love of his life and that she’ll never cheat or lie to him.” Max didn’t
like the smile that Jefferson wore and wanted to hit him. “Who on earth would want
to marry into that family? I mean, they aren’t nothing more than a bunch of
wolves, if I remember correctly. There is not a woman alive that would want to
fuck something like them.”

“You’d be surprised.” Before Max could ask
Jefferson what he meant, the man continued. “He’s found his mate. I’m sure you know
what that means. Anyway, he’s also going to be the leader of their group. Pack,
I think they call it. But I’m sure you knew what he was, what his family was,
when you went to them about the loan we needed.”

“So? You investigate people, too, before you
want to work with them. I want to know how this affects our business with him.”
He’d still not mentioned to Jefferson that Trent had backed out of the deal,
and wondered if Trent had told him already. Could be the reason that Jefferson
was here now…he was pissed off. Max had a few things to work out, and one of
them was getting Noah to give him everything that he wanted. He had a plan in
the works right now that might get him more money than the deal that had fallen
through with Trent.

“His brother is taking over the business.
Elijah Calhoun is the man that I’ve been dealing with on things, in the event
that you wondered. He and I had a long talk, and I think we’ve reached a deal
that will benefit the company.” Max started to think things might be turning
around for him when he realized what Jefferson said. “You, however, will not be
working with me on this or any other project from now on.”

“What do you mean? This is just as much my
business as it is yours. And besides, I thought we agreed that I’d take care of
the banking and you were going to be the one that gathered up the deals for us.
I mean, it’s been working for us for a while now.” Jefferson just stared at
him. “You’re beginning to piss me off, Jefferson. What the hell has gotten into
you? And what is this crap about me not being in on any of the projects?”

“For you it has been working out, hasn’t it,
Max?” Max glanced at the drawer that held his gun. “I just thought it would be
a nice change for me to get to know both sides of the business. And Elijah made
it very easy to learn what I needed. You should probably talk to him. After you
leave here, that is. He might be able to help you out too.”

“Oh, I plan on it. You just stick to what you
know best and I’ll work with Elijah.” He realized how harsh that sounded and
cleared his throat before continuing. “Just please let me deal with this part
of the business. I feel so useless with the rest, and this is what I do best.”

Jefferson said nothing but stared at him. Max
had never felt as uncomfortable around this man as he did right now. Something
about him was decidedly scary, and Max didn’t like it one bit. Jefferson got up
to make his way toward the door, and Max was about to call out to him to say he
wasn’t going anywhere. But Jefferson stopped and turned toward him.

“I’m going to look over some things on the
books today. I’m telling you this so in the event that you come looking for me,
I won’t be in my office. I’m doing it at home. It’ll be much easier and with
fewer distractions.” Max wanted to tell him he wasn’t fucking going to touch
the books, but Jefferson smiled at him. “I got them from your office last
night. I had a whim to see them and knew that you’d not mind. I mean, we are equal
partners, right?”

“Yes. We are.” His mind was in a whirl from trying
to figure out what else Jefferson had taken from his office. “I don’t like that
you’ve been in my things, Jefferson. I’d never do that sort of thing to you,
like rummage around in your personal things.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Again a cryptic message that
Max didn’t understand. “Anyway, I’ve got them now, so if you go to look for
them or me, you know where they are.”

As soon as the door closed behind Jefferson,
Max reached into his lower drawer and saw that it was empty. Not just of the
things that he’d been keeping there, but he just knew that if he pulled the
drawer all the way out, he’d find that his notes were gone as well. All of
them. Taking out the drawer, as he’d done a million times, he nearly sobbed when
he saw that not only were his notes gone, but there was now a sticky note
there. Pulling it off the wooden under-drawer, he read the little note with
shaky fingers.

“Safe inspected on today’s date.” The date of
yesterday along with the time was printed in Jefferson’s neat handwriting. “An
inventory of what was taken is now inside, along with a notarized sheet of what
was found.”

Max wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do
now. Not only had Jefferson taken all of the cash that was in the safe, but it
looked like he’d taken out Max’s passports—all of them—as well as some jewelry
that he’d had since he’d taken it from a woman long ago. Max was trying to
think of a way to fix this when his phone rang, nearly causing him to cry out. Max
had it on the tip of his tongue to tell the person on the other end of the line
he was too busy to speak now, but the person started talking first.

“Hello, Benson.” His blood seemed to stop
moving through his veins at the sound of his name being spoken. “I was
wondering if you are able to sleep at nights knowing that the death of a child is
on your list of horrible acts. Do you sleep well at night?”

“Who is this? And what are you talking
about?” He knew in the back of his mind that engaging with someone on the phone
was about as helpful as talking to his walls, but he was upset. “What child?”

“Sydney’s baby, of course.” Max was glad that
he was sitting down, because even sitting he was having a hard time remaining
upright. “She was just under three months when you raped her, causing her to
not just lose her child but her life as well. Did you know that you are going
to regret your actions that night for the rest of your life? Short as it’s
going to be?”

The line had been dead for some time before
he put the handle back in the cradle. Max wasn’t sure whether the person on the
other end of the line was telling him the truth or not, but he had a feeling
that he was. Sydney had been sick a great deal when he’d been trying to pursue
her, but she’d never mentioned a child. Leaning back in his chair, the note in
his hand forgotten, he wondered if he’d left anything behind when he’d left her
chilling body on the floor.

There had been blood, of course. But even now
he thought it was from the way he’d taken her. And he had, hard and without any
thought to what it did to her. Max had thought a few times over the years that
someone would come for him, that the DNA he’d left behind would have been
enough. But nothing had occurred over the years, not even a call to ask him
where he’d been that night.

Or even what he had done to the brat next
door. That had been something Max had thought would come back on him, but it too
had supposedly been ignored, as if it had never happened. He’d been pissed…impulsive
and pissed off. Something he rarely was nowadays.

He had no idea how long he sat there thinking
over what he’d done, how it was coming back for him. For some time after the
call, all he could remember thinking about was…well, everything. The money, the
safe, the books, Sydney, and the child. The kid next door. Max had to get out
of town. Right now. Picking up his phone again, he decided to have some of his
other money wired directly to his bank, then he’d leave. Nothing here was worth
him going to prison over.

Within minutes the lady at the other end was
telling him to hold on, that she needed to contact his bank to make sure that
the accounts were ready to receive the funds. When she came back on, he was
almost afraid to hear what she had to say.

“Sir, your bank is closed. Until further
notice. If you have another account that I can send it to, in another bank, I
can certainly send it out today.” He asked her why the bank was closed. “I’m
not sure, sir. All the person at the other end said was that there were some
problems at the bank and that until they got them fixed, the bank was closed
for business. I can send the money to that account, but I don’t think you’ll be
able to take it out. Even the local level ATMs are closed, he told me.”

“That’s not possible. I have money in that
bank. You have to tell them that I need my money.” She didn’t answer him, and
he wasn’t even sure what she might have said to him anyway. “I need the funds
that you’re sending to me. Can’t you just send them to one of those money
places? Or have someone just bring it to me from one of your branches?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we can only put the
money in a bank account. We don’t trust those sort of institutions. As for
branches, we don’t have those in the States either. It’s why we are able to
collect and keep your money safe without being affected by the laws governing
your country.” He’d collected his money by simply stealing it, and she was
afraid to put his ill-gotten gains in another place for fear of it being stolen?
If that wasn’t irony, he had no idea what was. “If you have another account at
a different bank, we can wire it there.”

He hung up on her. Max was in deep shit. He
knew that and was pretty sure that if he didn’t get out of town soon—like today—he
was going to pay dearly for his mistakes. All of them would come back to bite
him in the ass now that Jefferson had taken his books. But he had no money, no
jewels to cash in, and all his passports were now in the hands of the man he’d
been cheating for a very long time. Max didn’t like this one bit.

As he headed for his bedroom to start the
process of closing down his house, he thought of all the shit that had happened
since Noah had made his presence known. What the hell had Max been thinking,
keeping things like that in his safe? He wasn’t. And now the one person that he
had taken on as a partner to make him look good was going to destroy him.

His butler was coming out of his bedroom when
he came up the stairs. “Sir.” Max nodded at him but said nothing as he just
stood there. “There has been a small issue, sir. I’m not sure that you’ve been
made aware of it as yet, but all of your accounts have been closed. The checks
that you wrote to us for our weekly wages have been denied. And the grocer and
the other services are demanding money that the accounts cannot cover.”

“I’m not sure what’s going on. I was just
informed that the banks are closed. I don’t suppose you know what’s going on,
do you?” Bennington told him about the robbery. “Well, that explains it then.”

“No, sir, it does not. The missus and I went
to the bank before the robbery and we were told that your accounts, all of them,
have been closed by the government. That there are some problems that will not
be resolved in the near future. She told us that we were to go and speak to you
to have this resolved. Mr. Marshall informed us that you are penniless and that
we should leave with whatever goods we can lay our hands on.”

“I don’t think you have that right. And since
when do you steal from me at the word of someone like Jefferson?” Max was
pretty sure he had it correct, but he was trying to buy time. Then he realized
that Bennington had a small case in his hands. “Are you actually stealing from
me?”

“I am taking compensation for wages. As I was
told we should do. Unless, of course, you have cash. It is the only form of
payment that I’ll trust from you from now on.” As Bennington started by him,
Max reached out to grab him and found himself on the floor. The man had moved
so quickly and had him tossed over his shoulder and down that he’d not even had
time to react. “Do not presume to touch me again. I do not work for thugs or men
that steal from me. Good day, sir.”

Max was still laying there when he heard the
front door open and close. He did wonder briefly what else they might have
taken, but was too upset to care at the moment. If he was in trouble with the
government, then it mattered little what was stolen from him now.