Chapter Twenty-Three
“You’re gonna get me strung up by my balls.”
“You actually have any hanging down there?”
I stifled a laugh at Cassie’s sardonic response to Shady.
We were loading into the car, against Warren and my dad’s orders but I didn’t care.
We’d been here for two days, and I was worried about what was going on back at the compound.
Hudson was telling me dribs and drabs but there was more to what was going on and I wasn’t hanging around here on the side lines anymore.
Rosa was concerned enough that she wanted to head back too.
Plus, Cassie needed to go back to work and would have been leaving us anyway.
It had taken some time to get Widow and Shady on board, but Rosa was nothing if not a tiny steamroller.
Although, I wouldn’t call what this was, was them on board.
Shady called Hudson regardless and my phone had been buzzing incessantly, which I happily refused to answer.
“Get in, or be left behind,” Rosa warned, as she got behind the wheel.
“Dammit,” Shady hung his head as he motioned for Widow to grab his bike as he got into the back of the car beside Cassie.
I remembered him from when we were younger, he’d prospected at the same time as Connor.
They’d been friends from what I could recall, and he’d spent some time in the room with Connor while we were there.
“Oh relax, what is the worst that could happen?” Cassie asked him.
“Dirt,” he groused. “Or worse, Ballistic.”
Rosa cackled. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you, poor baby.”
He muttered something that had us all laughing at him, and scowled at his own reflection in the window as Rosa pulled away from the hotel.
We passed the hospital and my smile faded. I was still worried about Connor. As much as I hadn’t been around him for the last five years, I could see him fading before my eyes. This was about more than his injuries and prognosis for his ongoing health issues. Warren was playing on his mind too.
Whether he wanted to admit it or not, it was hurting Connor pushing him away but no matter how I tried to broach it, he refused to talk to me about my brother.
He had at the very least told me he didn’t want to see him for now.
Said he needed the space. It felt cruel to point out how much he was hurting Warren, because Connor was hurting too.
A slew of texts came as we were driving.
Hudson
I swear to Christ Waverley, if you are coming back here I’m gonna spank your ass
Hudson
Do you want to get two men killed?
Hudson
Answer the phone
Hudson
You’re going to spend the rest of my life pulling shit like this aren’t you?
Hudson:
Fine, you’re on your way back but answer your phone
Hudson
Wait until you get home
I laughed and told them what he was saying. Rosa’s phone had been buzzing too but she hadn’t bothered looking to see what Ballistic was saying.
“I feel left out,” Cassie said, though she didn’t sound in the least bit as if that statement was true.
I hadn’t managed to get her to give me any information on her tryst with Handlebar, but she knew I knew about him.
I made out like it had been obvious something was going on from the way they were around each other, plus what Rosa said at the party that night.
Her only response to my quizzing her was a cryptic, ‘it would be more hassle than it was worth.’ She was a vault otherwise, just like he had been. Damn them both.
The drive back was a lot more pleasant than it had been when we were heading down there. Shady swore profusely, startling me out of my thoughts. He looked up at us with panicked eyes and held up his phone. The screen said, ‘King calling.’
“Rather you than me,” Cassie told him, with a perfectly straight face.
“Fuck me,” he whispered and answered the call. “Prez.” After a few moments of listening, his face stricken, he gulped and held the phone out to me. I rolled my eyes and took it.
“Yes?”
“If you don’t want Hudson getting a reputation for being a pussy whipped asshole, you need to start listening to him.”
That…wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.
“I’m not saying you should bow down to him, I know you’ll never do that, in private. An Old Lady has her place in the club. And you’re one of those now. He’ll lose respect if you treat him like shit.”
I swallowed. “To be fair, I’m doing the same thing to you and Warren.”
He sighed heavily. “Don’t make me force him to get you in line, Waverley.”
I wanted to protest but I clammed up because, as difficult a pill it was to swallow, I didn’t want anyone ridiculing Hudson.
He had a certain reputation in the club and me undermining him would tear that all down.
I didn’t have the right to do that. I should have answered his call and explained why I wanted to come back and given him the opportunity to allow it, letting the others know it was his agreement that had us returning, even if he really didn’t have a say in it.
I could still give him an earful, in private.
“Fine. I’ll apologize when I get back.”
King hung up.
“Old Lady politics,” Rosa guessed. “You’ll get used to it,” she patted my lap. “Hudson’s new at it too, he’ll learn.”
Shady almost choked in the back of the car. I passed him back his phone and gave him a big smile.
We had almost reached the outskirts of Wantage, chatting away about Lana and Felix’s upcoming wedding. She had been bitching about the baby which had yet to make an appearance, despite being five days overdue.
“Wait, what was that. Hush,” Rosa shouted, wafting her hand at us and then turned up the sound on the radio, there was a news report which was about halfway through but when we all quietened down and listened the guy was talking about the Mayor’s son-in-law being arrested.
“Is that Andrew?” I asked.
“Ssh,” Rosa narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, as if that could make her hear better.
“This arrest came as a complete shock for the mayor’s son-in-law, who is currently under investigation by the Sussex County Sheriff’s Department over alleged historical sexual assaults.
A number of victims have come forward since the original claim was made.
Mr. Reinhart has adamantly denied any involvement and the Mayor threatened the Sheriff’s Department with legal action for false accusations besmirching his character.
However, the arrest warrant issued today by the FBI is a different matter, and Mr Reinhart was seen being physically removed from his place of business in downtown Wantage. ”
“FBI?” Cassie leaned forward. “What?”
“We don’t have the full details as yet, but it has been alleged Mr. Reinhart has been under investigation by the FBI’s Corporate Fraud team who have today executed a search warrant on the beleaguered property developer.
As soon as we have more information on this unfolding story, we will report further. ”
“Corporate fraud?” I turned to Cassie. “What does that mean?”
“Falsifying financial information,” Cassie said, tapping a finger against her chin.
“It’s likely false accounting or fraudulent trades that make it look like he has more money than he does, or he’s been hiding the losses he’s made.
Given the fuck up we made of his contract on the MC properties, it may have alerted the feds to look closer. ”
“Didn’t you say his accountant said he was broke?” I ask Rosa.
“Yeah. That was what drew my attention, I heard the name of the accountancy firm. We missed the full report, but I think it might have mentioned them being involved. Shit, I hope Sarah isn’t in trouble,” Rosa worriedly bit her lip.
“I’m… speechless,” I sat back and looked through the window as we passed through the middle of town, heading for the road that led out to the compound.
“We always knew it was going to be hard to make the sexual assault cases stick, but this,” Cassie squeezed my shoulder. “If the FBI has actually come at him with a search warrant, then that’s a big deal, Wave. Depending on what they find, he could go to prison for this.”
“For how long?”
“Usually around two to five years,” she said.
“It depends on the severity of what he’s been doing, if there have been losses for the government that usually adds a couple of years.
If it’s really bad, he could get about twenty, but that’s rare.
This is fucking nuts though. What a total dick this guy is. ”
“You don’t know the half of it,” I muttered, crossing my arms and leaning back in the seat.
Rosa was looking at me, but she didn’t say anything. Cassie had no idea what Andrew did to me, she’d never asked any questions about why the MC has gone after him. I guess that’s why she was a good lawyer for the club. She only asked questions she needed the answers to.
“Even if he does go down for this particular crime, there is still the civil suit against him and if there are more recent sexual assaults that they find, he’ll get that added on too. He’s screwed,” Cassie went on.
I sunk a little more into the seat. I hated thinking about him in any capacity.
Even hearing this good news, it couldn’t stop my mind from going back to that night.
Again. I’d worked so hard not to let those memories resurface.
I’d tried to focus a lot on everything going on with the MC to keep me from thinking about him.
Now that I was close to getting what I wanted, seeing him punished for everything he’d done, I couldn’t stop the memories rising.
I suddenly felt hot and a little dizzy, everything I’d been through was coming back to me in one powerful onslaught.
When Rosa pulled to a stop I got out of the car fast, feeling claustrophobic, clawing at the t-shirt by my throat, like it was choking me.
“Hey, come on honey, let’s take a seat over here,” Rosa took my hand and led me to the picnic table. The same one I’d been sat at after Tanya threw that rock at my head. “I think you’re having an anxiety attack, just breathe, okay. You’re all good.”