Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
W ilder drove nearly the entire length of New Jersey and crossed the Delaware River at Wilmington, skirted around Baltimore, and took the beltway around Washington, D.C. while Bex slept. He’d just crossed into Virginia when his phone rang. Bex grumbled as her eyes blinked open.
Wilder answered it via speaker as he navigated his way toward Richmond, Virginia. “What’s up, Bryce?” Wilder asked as soon as he answered his manager’s call.
“The cops are at the door demanding to come in and view our security footage. I already gave it to Max last night.”
“You haven’t let them in yet?” Wilder asked as Bex sat up straight. She was looking a lot better after sleeping for four hours.
“Not yet,” Bryce confirmed. “But they’re getting very pissed about it.”
“Hold on.” Wilder placed Bryce on hold and called his sister. “Liv, the police are at my club. They want the security footage Bryce already gave Max and they’ll probably want to poke around.”
“Granger and I are just now leaving the hospital. They did have to stitch up his lip and we had police and DA here too. Everything is covered. Don’t worry. Tell Bryce we’ll be there in ten minutes. Ask if they have a warrant. If they don’t, tell him not to let them in until I get there.”
Wilder flipped back to Bryce. “My sister will be there in ten minutes. Ask them if they have a warrant. If not, tell them to hold on. You’ll let them in in a minute. Oh, and keep me on speakerphone. If they ask where I am, tell them I’m doing my monthly visits to my other clubs around the world.”
Wilder and Bex listened as Bryce used the security camera to talk to the police. There was no warrant but many threats of getting one. Wilder logged on to view the security feeds as they waited for Liv to arrive. Bex took the phone and held it so they could both see it while Wilder continued to drive.
“Those aren’t cops from my department. That’s the DA’s investigation team,” Bex told them. “The man in the suit on the far left behind the investigators is Seabrook’s right hand. He’s an assistant district attorney. Here comes your sister.”
“Your sister is here. I’ll meet her outside,” Bryce said as Wilder pulled off the interstate and parked. He turned to the phone Bex was holding and watched as Olivia rolled up in his car. Granger must be driving as he pulled to the curb and Liv got out the passenger side of the vehicle. “Good morning, gentlemen. Fancy seeing you again in such a short time.”
“Your sister scares the crap out of me and that’s not an easy feat,” Bex told him as they watched her give a lethal smile to the ADA. “This must be the same group that showed up at the hospital looking for me.”
“Jude, is that you hiding back there? It is so good to see you again and just a few short hours after I last saw you.”
Jude seemed to shrink before their eyes. “We need to see the security footage from yesterday.”
“My client already turned that evidence over to Detective Max Caldwell. The evidence has been uploaded in multiple locations, all time stamped, and available for your viewing.” Olivia leaned forward and the smile fell from her face. “So don’t think for one moment that your corrupting of that tape will matter one bit other than to show something is seriously wrong in your office. And don’t think for one moment I’m letting you and your team step foot in this club without a warrant.”
“Are you saying we’d fabricate evidence?” one of the investigators asked incredulously.
Olivia turned her head slowly to him and glared. “I’m saying I’m not trusting a department who refused to assist my client the many times he called and asked for help with these crimes only to have said crimes negated and dismissed by your boss—a boss we all know is running for mayor on the platform that he’s cleaned up crime when he’s clearly done no such thing as evidenced by the security tape and the denial of investigation my client requested.”
The man quieted down as the ADA was seen whispering into the phone. He nodded and then hung up. “We’re going to pursue RICO charges against your client on top of interfering with an investigation and obstructing justice. We are going to procure a warrant for your client immediately.”
“Aww,” Olivia said with a little pout. “It’s so cute when ADAs try to use big words like racketeering. Too bad you don’t understand the definition. I suggest you read New York Penal Code Article 460 to become better acquainted with the law you just threatened my client with. Now, you told me what your plan is. Let me tell you what mine is.”
“Watch this,” Wilder told Bex as Olivia went on to enumerate a very lengthy list of charges she would press against the ADA and the DA and all the investigators if they tried to step foot into his club without a warrant.
“Wow, she’s even quoting case law, criminal, and civil codes,” Bex said in awe. “Is the ADA crying?”
Wilder chuckled. “That’s my sister.”
The group from the DA’s office shuffled off and Bryce opened the door to the club where Olivia and now Granger walked inside. “Is he on the phone?” Wilder heard Liv ask as he pulled back onto the interstate.
“I’m here,” Wilder answered as he unmuted his phone.
“That was fun,” Olivia said into the phone. “I haven’t made anyone cry in a while.”
“Didn’t you make opposing council cry last week?” Granger asked.
Olivia huffed. “That was six whole days ago.”
“Thanks, Liv. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Look, I’ll stay in town another couple of days. I’ll fill in my New York Office and they’ll be on call for Bryce 24/7. There is definitely something corrupt going on here and we need to focus not only on protecting you and Bex but gathering our own evidence for when they come after you. And Wilder, they will come after you. A RICO warrant will be very hard for them to get and will take time, even if they pay off a judge. But if Seabrook is determined, he’ll eventually get some kind of charge against you to stick.”
“I know. I’m glad we downloaded the security footage. What else can I do?”
“Your first stop in Charleston needs to be with Peter. Granger and I can call him now and update him. What time do you think you can get there?”
“Around four or five,” Wilder told her.
“I’ve called Kord and Tristan and filled them in,” Granger told him.
“Thanks. I appreciate everything you two are doing.”
“Get there safe. Damon is already flapping his mother hen wings. Be ready,” Liv joked about their oldest brother.
Wilder groaned. “Who told him?”
“Had to get you back for punching me so hard.”
“Great,” Wilder said sarcastically. “Now he’s not only going to hover, he’s also going to be pissed he wasn’t the one who punched you.”
Granger chuckled. “Love ya, bro.”
“Yeah, yeah. Love you both,” and Wilder did. Granger loved Olivia with his entire being. That’s all they ever wanted for Liv. That didn’t mean they didn’t give Granger crap.
“I genuinely can’t tell. Do you like your brother-in-law or not?” Bex asked him.
“Love the hell out of him. He treats my sister with respect, support, and unconditional love that somehow has extended to us even when we threaten him—out of brotherly love, of course. Giving people crap in our family is kind of our love language,” Wilder told her as he launched into some of the family stories.
Bex was laughing hard by the time they reached Richmond. They stopped for food and gas and were back on the road again. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Bex asked him.
“I’m good. What’s your family like?” Wilder asked since he felt as if he’d been talking about his family for hours.
“They’re loud and I understand the part about giving each other crap. That’s a family hobby for us too. We all live within a couple of miles of each other. I followed them into the force. They were such an inspiration to me I can’t image doing anything else,” Bex told him and then smiled.
“What was that smile for?”
She blushed a little. “It’s nothing. I was just remembering in elementary school and I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said a police officer and they all laughed at me. The adults said I was too cute to be a police officer. But keeping people safe is what I’ve always wanted to do. My aunt is a hairdresser and she was there for her sons’ career day. She overheard people teasing me, and in her loud Italian New York voice declared that pretty women and cute women could be police officers too. Then she offered the parent who had laughed at me a makeover to fix their sexist appearance. That’s the kind of family I’m from.”
“You’re going to be best friends with my sisters when you have a chance to get to know them. I never asked, but is there a boyfriend that we need to get word to?” Wilder held his breath. He’d been having the most vivid fantasies about the woman next to him while he was driving. He’d feel like an ass if she were in a relationship.
“No. Being a cop and then having a very large, very nosy family makes dating hard. Add to it, I live in the garage apartment behind where my brother and cousin live, and there’s no way I’m getting a guy back there without them embarrassing me.” Bex paused and he saw her lips turn down.
“What?”
“I didn’t see anyone specific when I was researching you, but I never asked if there’s going to be an upset girlfriend over this.”
Wilder smiled. For once he was happy to be single. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
“I bet you’re not used to spending so much time with a working girl.” Bex paused then laughed. “Not that kind of working girl. Although, I was an undercover prostitute for six months. I mean, I bet I’m not the normal type of woman you hang out with. That’s all.”
“First, you’re exactly the kind of woman I want to hang out with. But you can’t just gloss over the prostitute comment.”
Bex laughed again and it did very strange things to Wilder’s heart . . . and other places. She wasn’t pretentious. She was just herself.
She told him about being an undercover prostitute arresting pimps and johns and trying to keep the girls safe. “What about you, Mr. I Own a Plane? Ever do anything outside your comfort zone?”
“Yeah, I became a club owner.” Wilder told her about growing up, not being able to dance, working hard, the trouble he had dating in college, and then working up the ranks of the nightclub until he could buy out his former boss and open WET.
Wilder talked freely for the first time in years. Bex didn’t seem to judge as he told her things he’d never told other women before. He felt honored when she did the same. He learned about her childhood and what she faced as a woman in the police department. They told each other about their first dates and the relationships that changed them. In fact, they talked all the way through Virginia. An hour outside Charleston, Bex fell asleep.
Wilder reached over and brushed a piece of her hair back from where it had fallen over her eyes. How had it only been one night since he’d first met her? It seemed as if they were connected in a way that was timeless. The only problem? Could he trust her not to turn him in when she discovered the darker side of the nightclub business? He might run a technically clean business, but in this world, clean sometimes leaked into gray areas. He did business with criminals when he had to. It was all legal and declared on his taxes, but it didn’t mean the person he dealt with wasn’t a criminal. Sometimes that was the only way to get certain liquors or certain licenses. Hell, the most criminal of those he worked with were part of the local governments trying to flex their power by denying permits and licensing until they forced Wilder to donate to a campaign or to fund a project to make them look good, or some other bullshit.
Wilder hoped Bex would hear him out because what was building between them right now wasn’t something he was prepared to let go of. He hoped she felt it too.