And then he showed me by making sweet, slow love to me before we fell asleep in each other’s arms in the home of our teenage dreams.
8
After discussing the situation with Pop, Phoenix’s grandfather and retired attorney, I called the club’s tech guy, Byte, and asked him to do some digging on Macy’s ex-husband.
The whole situation wasn’t sitting right with me. For one thing, Macy said he married his mistress the same day their divorce was finalized. How did she fit into this whole mess?
I assumed it would take at least a few days for Byte to find something, so I was completely surprised when he called later that evening and asked me to come to the clubhouse.
I found Byte in Phoenix’s office, with my unhappy best friend sitting behind his desk. “What’s wrong, Prez?”
“Fucking Shaker got his ass arrested last night. I’ve spent all day getting that shit straightened out,” he grumbled.
“Anything I can do to help?” I offered.
“Nah, it’s all good. Sounds like you’re about to have your own problems anyway. Go ahead, Byte, tell us what you got.”
“Couple of things. First, Robert and Macy Beddingfield are still legally married. There was a court hearing, and the divorce was granted, but the papers never made it to the official records department,” Byte said as he pointed to something on his laptop screen.
“Pop said Macy needs to contact her lawyer as soon as possible. Her representation can contact the judge and have another order signed,” Phoenix added.
“Anything else?” I asked.
Byte nodded with a sly grin. “There’s always something else. Looks like Robert isn’t the strait-laced honest businessman he portrays himself to be. He has two distinct sets of clients—ones he makes money for and ones he takes advantage of.”
“I’m not interested in the dramatics, Byte. Just spit it out,” I demanded.
“Okay. He targets clients with terminal cancer. He convinces them to let him invest their life savings with the promise of large returns to leave behind for their families. Before anyone figures out what he’s up to, the client is dead, and Robert claims the money was lost on a bad investment or was donated to charity per the client’s wishes,” Byte explained.
I sat back in my chair, stunned by Byte’s discovery. “That’s so…” I trailed off, at a loss for the right words to express my thoughts.
“Fucked up,” Phoenix finished for me.
“Yeah, that’s a whole new level of dirty, underhanded bastard,” I added.
“Not finished yet, brothers. To help cover his tracks, he ran the money through various charities, all of which Macy either started or was involved with.”
“Fuck me. We can’t go after him without taking Macy down in the process,” I said, more to myself than to them.
“Right. But that made me wonder why he would want to implicate his wife in his crimes if he were caught. After more digging, I discovered that Robert was getting his client base from a well-known oncologist, Dr. McManis.”
I sucked in a sharp breath while Phoenix let out a string of curses.
“What about the other wife?” I asked. “Macy said Robert married his mistress the same day of their divorce.”
“Since Macy’s and Robert’s marriage is still legal, his new marriage technically doesn’t exist. But, I’m guessing she wasn’t interested in playing charity host like Macy did, and Robert likely needs the charities to launder the money, which I assume is the real reason he’s back for Macy.”
“Badger, how do you want to handle this?” Phoenix asked.
“I don’t have the first fucking clue. I don’t think I could live with myself and let him keep taking advantage of people, but I don’t want Macy to go down for something I know she had nothing to do with,” I confessed.
Phoenix nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. “Give it some thought. Talk to Macy and see what she has to say about all of this. Then, we’ll get a plan together, yeah?”
“Yeah, man. Sounds good,” I said distractedly.
“Hey, fucker, I’ve always had your back, and I always will,” Phoenix said fiercely.
“Thanks, brother.”