Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Rain
My phone pings with a text as I pack up my desk to leave for the day. Once my drawers are locked, I look at my phone.
My heart skips for a second when I see a text from Mr. Cohen.
Dad’s Lawyer
Good evening, Rain and Ridge. I’m sorry to bother you two, but if you could stop by before the end of the day, we have something we need to urgently discuss.
Discuss? What do we have to discuss? I thought everything was handled.
Then my mind flashes back to what that detective said. It has to be him making trouble for us, like he promised. Not that I regret keeping my mouth shut. I’d never rat Ridge or the club out, no matter what the consequences are.
Before I can even formulate a response, Ridge’s text comes through.
Ridge
Rain should just be getting off work. We will head your way. Be there in twenty minutes.
With shaky fingers, I type.
Me
See you soon.
I grab my purse and head for the door. Some people try to get my attention, but I ignore them. I don’t have time to get sidetracked. As soon as I get into my truck, my phone rings.
“Hey.”
“You on your way?” Ridge asks, an edge to his voice.
“Just pulling out of the parking lot. Do you know why he wants to see us?”
“No, not a clue. You?” he asks, a door slamming shut in the background.
“None. I won’t lie, I’m worried, Ridge. I have a feeling it has to do with Detective Hampton.”
“Don’t be. Everything is fine. We’ve done everything that’s asked of us. We are in this together, remember? No matter what that asshat tries to prove, it will always fall through because we love each other, right?”
“Yeah.” I swallow hard. “It’s us against the world. He can’t do anything to hurt us,” I lie.
I don’t know what he can or can’t do. He’s a detective, one who seems very powerful. Even if he can’t take it all away, he can mess with our lives until we comply with him. Something neither of us will ever do.
“Look, drive safe, and I’ll see you in a few minutes. I love you,” he says after a beat.
“I love you too. Drive safe.”
Before he can say anything else, I hit the disconnect button on my steering wheel. With both hands on the wheel, my mind spirals. Of course something pops up right when things start to go smoothly, right when Ridge and I find our stride with each other and our relationship.
It feels like I can never really catch a break. Every time I think I am happy, something comes along and tries to take it from me.
This time, I’m not giving in without a fight, though. Ridge is mine, and I am his. Even if we lose it all, as long as we are together, nothing can touch us.
By the time I pull into the parking lot of the law office, my nerves have me on edge. Ridge walks up and opens the door of the truck before I can even shut it off.
“You got here fast,” I tell him as I slide out, shutting the door behind me.
“I was close by.” He leans in and kisses me softly as he weaves his fingers through mine. “Everything’s okay. No matter what happens, I am here with you.”
“I know. Now come on. Let’s get this over with.”
Crossing the parking lot hand in hand, we head toward the building. After entering the front door, we stop at the reception desk.
“He’s waiting for you,” a lady I’ve never seen before says.
I frown, wondering where the other woman went.
“Thank you,” Ridge and I say in unison.
When we reach the door, Ridge doesn’t hesitate and knocks.
“Come in,” Mr. Cohen says from the other side.
Ridge opens the door, and we step inside. Mr. Cohen gives us a smile.
“Sit, please. Thank you for coming so soon.”
“It sounded urgent,” I tell him as I drop into a chair across from him.
Ridge sits down next to me, my hand still in his.
“I’ll cut to the chase. I had a detective stop by today. He was asking questions about you two specifically.” He gives us a knowing look.
Ridge and I tense at the same time.
Son of a bitch. I knew it had to do with him.
“What did he say?” I ask.
Mr. Cohen steeples his hands in front of his face before he says, “He told me that he was looking into you two for fraud. Said he had reason to believe you two were only together to get your father’s estate.
That you two weren’t actually romantically involved, and if it came out that you two were actually faking it to get an estate, then he would arrest you both.
To be honest, he sounded very eager. So much so, it was concerning. ”
“Fuck,” Ridge mutters, wiping his free hand over his mouth.
Mr. Cohen raises his hand. “Rest assured, I didn’t tell him anything. While you two are not my direct clients, Mustang was, and so what was in his will falls under attorney-client privilege. Still, my front desk employee was a little too chatty. I had to let her go.”
“What does this mean for us?” Ridge asks before I can.
“Look, I don’t know what he knows or what you two did to get on his bad side, but as far as I’m concerned, you’ve done nothing wrong.
There is nothing that says you cannot marry for reasons other than love.
Even so, he can’t prove you aren’t in love.
You two spent time around each other before Mustang’s death.
For all he knows, you two fell for each other well before his passing and decided to go for it once he was gone.
Looking death in the face can do that for some people. ”
“But if he somehow makes a case?” I press.
Mr. Cohen drums his fingers on his desk. “If this goes to court, and he somehow wins, then everything in the estate will go to charity, just like if you had decided not to get together.”
“This is insane. We aren’t faking it, Mr. Cohen. We are in love. Those are my father’s things. Some asshole with a vendetta against us can’t swoop in and take that away. It’s a gross misuse of power,” I snap, my anger getting the better of me.
Ridge squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I tell him, meaning it.
He had no way of knowing there was a cop out there who had a hard-on for him.
Ridge looks over at Mr. Cohen. “Is there anything we can do? Like she said, we really are in love.”
Mr. Cohen shakes his head. “Nothing legally, but keep being seen together. Do what couples do. You are in love, and that’s great. Make sure no one says otherwise. We all know the last conversation we had in here. If anyone else knows about it, I hope you trust them to keep that to themselves.”
I think back to who I’ve told. The only ones who know are the girls, and they would never turn on the club.
“Can we make a formal complaint about him for harassment?” I ask.
“You’ll need to contact his supervisor or internal investigations and see what the process is for that. I wish I could help more, but I handle estate law. I don’t know much about the criminal justice system.” He gives us an apologetic look.
“You’ve done plenty. Please keep us updated and keep a record of every time he comes to see you. If he brings warrants, keep copies so we can confirm who the judge is. Understood?” Ridge tells him.
“You’ve got my word.”
Ridge stands, pulling me with him.
“Thank you for the heads-up,” he tells him.
Mr. Cohen stands and shakes both of our hands. “Of course. What he is doing isn’t right. I hope you are able to sort it out.”
“We’d appreciate it,” I tell him.
Ridge and I leave his office and step outside.
“What now?” I ask as we approach my truck.
“Now we head to the clubhouse and tell the guys. Hopefully, they can help us come up with a plan,” Ridge says.
“Sounds good.” Before I can get inside, he pulls me toward him and kisses me softly.
All too soon, he pulls away, resting his forehead on mine.
“We got this, Rain. We have nothing to worry about.”
And for some strange reason, I believe him.
Ridge
When we get to the clubhouse, the guys are waiting for me. Not that I’m surprised. I sent out the SOS via text while we were in the lawyer’s office.
“I’ll be with the girls,” Rain says quietly.
She kisses me once before heading toward the women, and I can’t help but watch her walk away. Part of me hates the idea of her being out of my sight, even for a minute right now, but at the same time, I know she’s safe within the compound. No one can touch her here, not without a heads-up at least.
“Ridge,” Panther says.
Turning, I force myself to walk toward him and head into the chapel where all the brothers are waiting.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” I tell them all as I drop into my seat.
“When you call, we come, brother,” Talon says, making the others nod.
Panther sits down and leans forward. “Now tell us what’s going on.”
I quickly give them the rundown on what Mr. Cohen said, and by the time I’m done, everyone is angry on our behalf.
“That’s bullshit,” Yak says heatedly.
I’ve never seen the guy lose his cool like this before. He is always happy and fun, yet right now, he looks like he could punch through a brick wall.
“Can he do that?” Eagle asks.
Eyes dart to Wolf, who shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
“Technically and legally, yes, but it’s almost a gray area. We typically don’t stick our noses into these types of things, especially when you aren’t doing things like scamming for life insurance. It was his money and his wish,” Wolf tells us.
“Was it the same cop who you and Rain have had run-ins with recently?” Prairie asks.
I nod. Before I can say anything, though, Meek cuts in.
“I’ve done some digging. Detective Hampton has been with the gang unit for the last five years. Before that, he was an undercover perpetrator. He had a high arrest record for prostitutes.”
“And before that?” Panther asks.
Meek shakes his head. “It’s sealed, incredibly so.
I can’t tell you if he has any hits against him.
I have my systems trying to crack it as we speak.
All I know for sure is that he was a beat cop and that he for sure had one disciplinary action against him.
I’m hoping I’ll uncover what happened when my systems break in. ”
I run a hand over my face. God dammit.
Why didn’t I think of it before? He looked somewhat familiar, but we deal with cops a lot with the club. I assumed it was some jerk from my time here.
“Do you have a picture of this guy from when he was a beat cop?” I ask suddenly.
Meek nods as he starts to type away on his tablet. Immediately, two images come up, both from the past.
“Well, son of a bitch.” I laugh under my breath.
“What is it?” Panther asks.
“That disciplinary action that was done against him…was it about fifteen years ago?” I ask Meek.
“Thirteen,” he corrects.
“Yeah, I can tell you all about it, considering I was the one who submitted the complaint.” I chuckle, running my hand down my face.
This fucking bastard.
“What happened?” Panther asks.
I take a deep breath. “When I was young, before I joined the club, I was a wild child. If there was havoc happening, I was probably involved. One day, I was fucking around outside this one place…Actually, I was casing it. Anyway, someone called it in, and this beat cop came up. He was fucking rough. Like way rougher than normal, and he was a fucking dumbass who was wearing a camera, which caught all of it. I never actually entered the place. My only crime was that I was walking in front of a nice house in the middle of the night. It wasn’t even a gated neighborhood.
He tried to press charges, but since I never broke into anywhere or stole anything, there was nothing he could do.
I was released as soon as my court-appointed lawyer pointed it out.
She was a nice lady. Didn’t like how beat up I looked, so she pressed the issue.
Since I showed up to the station with a split lip and an eye that was already starting to swell shut, she demanded the body cam footage and for charges to be pressed against the officer.
They did an investigation and told me it was handled, and I wouldn’t see the officer again.
They had me sign a sworn affidavit of what happened and said it would go on his file.
He got reprimanded and moved out of my precinct. I never thought of him again.”
“He thought of you,” Meek mutters.
He’s not wrong.
“Did you get a payout?” Yak asks once I’ve finished.
I shoot him a look. “Trust me, you would have known if I was rolling in cash when we met. That was right before I joined the club. I’ll give him credit. The entire ordeal switched my trajectory. I stopped hanging out with street kids with no sense and joined the club. Got quieter, smarter.”
“Did you, though? Get smarter, I mean,” Talon teases.
I shoot him the middle finger while the brothers laugh.
“So that’s why he has a hard-on for you. From his perspective, you fucked everything up for him,” Meek says.
“Did he really, though? I mean, he did undercover work,” Eagle points out.
“Yeah, but taking down street workers isn’t exactly glamorous or something to brag about,” Wolf chimes in.
“What’s the worst unit you could be a part of?” Yak asks.
“Tax evasion,” Wolf says with no hesitation. “Swear to god, those guys cry themselves to sleep every night. It’s like career suicide.”
“Can we stay on track, please?” Panther sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“So it’s personal. He has a hard-on for Ridge specifically,” Prairie says.
“I’m sorry, I honestly forgot about that happening. If I’d known it would have brought attention to the club…”
Panther raises his hand, cutting me off. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s not your fault this dude holds a grudge. Besides, this could have happened to any one of us. We have all pissed off someone in the past.”
The brothers murmur in agreement.
“So what do we do? Rain’s not saying it, but she’s frazzled,” I tell them.
“Do you think she would tell him anything?” Falcon asks, speaking up for the first time.
“No,” several of us say in unison.
Falcon raises his hands in surrender. “It was a simple question.”
“Rain knows the score. She’s been a part of this club since the day she was born. She would never betray us, not like that,” Prairie says with authority.
“She insinuated that she would bite him if he came back to her work and harassed her,” I muse, making the brothers chuckle.
“I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.” Eagle smirks.
“But seriously, what do we do?” I ask again.
We all look to Panther, who’s staring at the wall, his mind clearly running a million miles a minute.
“We keep our heads down and keep quiet. We stick close to home and give them no reason to bother us. In the meantime, Meek, keep digging. Let’s figure out how deep this grudge goes and see what we can use to our advantage. End goal, he disappears,” Panther says. “Everyone on board?”
“Aye,” we all say in unison.
It’s not much, and even though I know the storm isn’t over, at least now I know that Rain and I aren’t doing this alone. The club has our backs, no matter what happens.