Chapter 11
Eleven
Ava
I stare at the message on my phone for long seconds and then look down at the boxes now sitting in my entryway.
Men move through the house, opening the boxes and installing the new security equipment throughout.
Security lines, alarms, window locks, even new deadbolts and door locks.
He literally sent the whole nine yards. All the boxes are emblazoned with the Fox Industries logo, each piece hand selected.
I hadn’t even told him my address. If he found it so easily, Ric could, too.
I assume that’s why he sent all this stuff.
“What did you do?” Tonya asks, staring around at all the equipment and the professional men installing it.
“I made a friend,” I rasp, watching them work.
“An important one, I’d say,” she replies, looking around with wide eyes.
I nod. “This is a little ridiculous,” I grunt and look down at the message again.
Meeting tomorrow at noon. Already approved with your boss. Address to follow.
Tonya leans over and looks at the message. “Bossy, too, apparently.”
“You have no idea,” I muse, sighing.
What’s crazy is that I’m not even surprised by the security equipment.
This is just Dagen protecting his investment again.
What completely shatters that concept though is the small boxes that arrived addressed to Elsie and me.
For Elsie, it had been a really cool science kit.
How had he known Elsie likes science? It’s insane the amount of information Dagen seems to be able to get so quickly.
When I open the package labeled for me, it’s to find some of the fanciest hot chocolate packets I’ve ever seen.
They’re from Belgium, clearly luxurious and expensive and I have to wonder again how he could have known I prefer hot chocolate to coffee.
Perhaps I’ve unknowingly teamed up with someone far more dangerous than Ric.
Which is good. I need someone like that in my corner.
I just need to be careful he doesn’t ever turn on me.
If Ric is going to be burned, I have to make sure I don’t go down in fire, too.
The next morning, I get a text from my team explaining that they’d been given the go ahead and were already working while I have meetings with the Fox Industries people.
We arrange everything beforehand so that when I get dressed for the meeting with Dagen, I don’t even have to go into Goliath.
Instead, I’m able to take my time and get ready.
What does one wear to meet with people who plan to help you take down your abusive ex-husband?
I decide it’s still best to look professional, if only because it makes it feel like business more than breaking numerous laws, but I’d already worn my red power suit to meet with Dagen.
I look through my closet and pull out the leopard print business dress I rarely wear and stare at it.
It’s a snug fit, but I can cover it with a blazer to up the professionalism.
Ultimately, I decide to wear the dress and pull on a white blazer before sliding on some red pumps.
After Elsie goes to school, I have a few hours to sit down and actually make plans for taking Ric down.
Financial. Cutting Aria Tech’s ties with Fox Industries will already have a detrimental effect on his finances.
Fox Industries is their largest contract and if Dagen is to be believed, he’s already pulled out of Aria Tech completely.
Ric is the COO. The CEO won’t be pleased when Dagen sites Ric as a reason for pulling and there’s a strong chance, he’ll lose his place in the company, or at the very least, his respect.
We’ll have to somehow make sure he can’t get a job with another company and that he can’t continue to shop around the program to other prospects.
We’ll have to cut him off at the knees. I’m not sure what else we can do short of stealing the money he hoards.
I don’t actually know how many accounts he has.
I do know he has more money than he ever let me know about.
I was only given a meager amount to cover groceries for me and Elsie.
Social. Ric moves in large circles and in too many to count.
We’ll have to ruin his reputation to cut his ties to all the distinct groups.
The police contact is the first one we need to tackle, so that I’ll actually be able to use the law if needed.
He has friends in high places, and we need to take him down a peg when it comes to them.
I suspect Dagen will have some ideas about this as he’s more prominent than anyone Ric likely knows.
I can’t say I’ve met many of the people Ric socializes with.
I was kept out of the limelight because he said I embarrassed him.
That only came about when I’d given birth to Elsie.
Apparently, having stretch marks and a little more cushion made me “embarrassing”.
I know now that it’s not true, but at the time, it had destroyed my confidence and I developed an unhealthy relationship with exercising.
I’ve clawed that confidence back since I’ve left and managed to stop pushing myself so hard on cardio.
My body is just shaped like this and that’s okay.
And finally, physical. I have absolutely no idea how to take Ric down physically.
My best running idea is switching out his shampoo with Nair.
He loves his hair, spends so much time on it in the morning.
Nair would be pretty funny, but that feels a little elementary.
That can’t be the best idea I come up with.
Hopefully, this team Dagen assembles will have some ideas.
A car arrives at my house to pick me up and takes me across town to an expensive restaurant I’ve never been to before.
I certainly wouldn’t have ever come to this place myself.
It seems like the kind of place with ten courses, small portions, and where you’ll probably leave still hungry and significantly poorer.
When I step inside, the hostess is dressed in expensive clothing, her perfectly painted lips tipping up in a smile when she takes me in, but there’s a tightness near her eyes that tells me I still haven’t dressed appropriately.
My confidence takes a bit of a hit, but I don’t let it show. I’m not here for a fashion show.
“Can I help you?” she asks tersely.
“Yes. I’m meeting Dagen Fox—”
“Oh! Absolutely,” she gushes, immediately switching her facial expression to one of eager happiness. “Right this way, Ms. Hutcherson. Please forgive me for not recognizing you sooner.”
I blink. “It’s. . . okay,” I answer, not sure what I’m expected to say.
I follow her into the larger section of the restaurant filled with moody lighting and rich people.
Plenty of eyes glance toward me in curiosity, but as I’m led through the room and into the back, they dismiss me.
The hostess brings me to a private room that’s set up with a large round table.
When I step inside, two men turn toward me, but only one of them is someone I recognize.
“Oh, good,” Dagen says. “Always on time. I like that about you.” He stands and comes over to pull out the third chair for me.
“Ava, I’d like you meet some associates of mine.
” As he gestures over to the other man, my eyes catch on the standing robotic screen near him.
The screen is filled with static, but within the static, a face moves, and I blink in surprise.
The robot screen tilts, clearly controlled by an outside source.
As I take a seat and he helps push my chair in, my eyes glance between the other ridiculously beautiful man sitting at the table before me and the strange robotic face.