Chapter 26 #2
“That, Phillip, is what they call a checkmate in chess.” A mocking grin formed on my face.
“From the moment you came into my dad’s office throwing your weight around and forcing contracts on people, I promised myself I’d do whatever I needed to take you down.
Businessmen like you always have skeletons in their closet and my skills gave me the perfect opportunity to find them. ”
“Xylina, what does it say at the top of the form given to you?” I asked my wife.
“The share transfer agreement…” She continued to read, sounding more and more confused as she continued.
“Yosiah. What does this all mean?”
“Well, my darling wife, it means that before your father’s company was seized by the FBI, it was bought out by X-Group, which if you look at the second set of papers, you will see is a shell company owned by…”
“Xylina Bedford,” she answered in disbelief.
“What!” Phillip bellowed, shooting up from the table.
“I don’t get it. I never started a company to take over my dad’s company. Plus I thought the company was out of commission.”
“It would have been if I hadn’t stepped in.
You see, your dad thinks he’s smart because he conned thousands of people out of money over the years, but what he doesn’t know is that I’m smarter.
What Daddy Dearest over there didn’t know is once he realized he was going down and first sold his shares, eighty percent of the company, they were bought by yours truly under another shell company.
From there, I connected with the other shareholders who were just as confused about what was going on.
Once they realized they were at risk of losing everything, they happily sold the rest of their shares to me, which gave me complete control of the business.
I’ll save you all the boring behind the scenes stuff, but just know, after learning that your dad was trying to extort you and leave you high and dry, I knew something had to be done.
At first I thought about liquidating the company to earn my money back, but then I had a better idea.
Since he stole money from you, you should be the one to own everything. ”
Phillip released an obnoxious laugh. “Handing her a failed company? Is that all you think your wife is worth?”
“No actually I believe she’s priceless, but I do believe she’s owed something. Gloria.”
Turning her body, she faced David. “Mr. Johnson, as we discussed, here are the forms your clients need to sign.”
Mr. Johnson grabbed the forms, which were pretty straightforward, and took some time to read them over. Once he accepted that they were legit, he gave David the okay to sign.
“Now Mrs. Bedford, if you would sign where the Xs are.” She reached across the table handing the signed forms over.
Xylina looked over at me and I nodded for her to go ahead. A hesitant look displayed on her face, but she did it anyway. Once finished, she handed the documents back to Gloria.
“Yosiah, can you please explain what the hell is happening? I’m starting to feel anxious and I don’t like it,” Xylina pleaded.
“You just sold the shares X-Group owned to David for one point two million dollars.”
Her eyes bucked. “What?” Both she and Phillip gasped.
“Not only that, but Phillip signed the five hundred thousand dollars I offered him over to you as well.”
“I did no such thing!” he shouted.
“But you did.” My eyes narrowed as I picked up the contract he’d signed.
“That’s why I said you shouldn’t be so eager to sign anything without reading it.
” I paused and glanced at my wife. “You shouldn’t either, but we’ll work on that.
As for you, Phillip,”—I eyed him again—“Not only did you sign a contract agreeing to not contact my wife again, but you also signed the money I was going to give you to her too.” I tossed the bank card his way.
“Here’s the card you wanted so badly by the way. ”
He stared at the plastic on the table with steam practically coming out of his ears. “There’s no way! You can’t do this!”
“But I can and I did. When I located David and realized he held a grudge toward you for everything you did, I knew he was the perfect ally for me. You know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. David, although he didn’t know everything, knew where a few bodies were buried and what direction I needed to look.
You weren’t very good or smart at hiding paper trails.
Once I learned where to start, I was able to uncover a lot that not only your shareholders were interested in knowing, but the FBI too. ”
The more I spoke, the paler Phillip became. “In the end, it turns out you were already being investigated and the information I passed along was the nail in the coffin they needed to finally take action.”
“You asshole!” Rage overtook his face. “You’re the reason my life is in ruin!”
I wouldn’t be surprised if he shot across the table, but what he didn’t know was that I wasn’t finished.
Grabbing my phone, I tapped the screen a couple times then placed it to my ear. “Send them in.” I hung up and stood.
A couple seconds later, the door busted open and agents came storming in.
“Phillip Fox, you are under arrest,” one of them said.
Phillip’s eyes were the size of golf balls. They ping ponged around as if he was trying to find an escape route.
“You have the right to remain silent,” he started as the other agents closed in on Philip. He fought against the hold.
“Get the hell off of me!” he shouted. “You asshole! You did this!” The agent reading him his rights ignored him and continued. “Xylina! Xylina, you’re just going to let this happen! Look at what your husband did to me. I’m your father!”
Xylina sat still as a statue, watching the scene in front of her. I knew she would have more questions, which I would answer later, but for now I was satisfied watching her watch karma slap her dad in the face.
Phillip continued spouting threats and fighting against the agents as they detained him and dragged him out the room.
The lead agent came over to me. “Mr. Bedford. It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
We shook hands and spoke a little more before he turned and left.
“I should take my leave too,” David said, standing. “I’m glad we were able to work things out. Xylina, I’m sorry you were forced to have that piece of shit as a father.”
Soon, both he and his lawyer left. Once it was just us two and Gloria, she went over what would happen next and when the forms would be available for Xylina to access before departing as well.
Xylina was still stuck, silently staring at the forms in front of her. I was sure a million things were running through her head.
“It’s not all the money you lost, but it’s a nice cushion for you. Unfortunately, once all your dad’s dealings came to light, the value of the company plummeted tremendously. Still, I think one point two million for a failing business is a nice deal.”
Xylina kept silently staring at me as if I was speaking a foreign language. I didn’t rush her to respond though. A lot had just happened, so if she needed time to process it all, then so be it.
Xylina didn’t say much after her dad’s arrest and the news about her money.
She didn’t seem upset about me taking her dad down nor did she seem happy.
Normally she was easy to read, but this time I couldn’t get a read on her.
I had a few more things to tie up at the office before I was able to leave, so Xylina ended up leaving before me.
Instead of going straight home, I took my bike out to the mountains to decompress after today’s events.
Taking down Phillip wasn’t easy. In the beginning it seemed like I kept hitting dead ends.
It wasn’t until I hacked his private server and personal accounts that I started noticing things weren’t adding up.
Releasing a heavy sigh, I placed my hands on the shower wall, dropped my head, and enjoyed the hot water beating down on me.
Trying to take down your crooked father-in-law and launch a million dollar expansion to your company was a lot of work.
It felt good now that everything had worked out.
I could feel my tension releasing and my muscles loosening as the hot water poured down on me.
It was faint, but the sound of my shower door grabbed my attention. I didn’t remove my head from under the water. Soon, a soft body was pressed against mine, arms wrapped around me, and small hands stroked my abdomen.
Xylina pressed her forehead against my back and soon her warm breaths brushed across my skin.
Silently, I waited for her to speak. This was the first time we had been together since I came home. I was giving her space, but planned on checking on her after getting out of the shower.
Feeling the vibration on my back but unable to hear the words caused me to lift my head from under the water and glance over my shoulder.
“What was that?”
When she looked up at me, I was surprised to see her eyes red and swollen.
“I said thank you for today.” Her voice came out raspy and rough.
She cleared her throat and brushed her thumb across my skin.
“I don’t know how you did what you did and I don’t care to know truthfully, but knowing that you were looking out for me like you did, it—” Before she could finish, she grew choked up, cutting her sentence short.
Spinning so I was now facing her, I grabbed her face in my hands and used my thumbs to release the few tears that fell from her eyes.
“Damn this baby. Making me a crybaby.” She attempted to laugh it off but more tears fell, this time faster.
Lifting her head, I bent my neck and connected my lips with hers.
For a second I held the kiss while she clung to my sides before moving to the corner of her mouth to her cheek, her nose, then her eyes before returning to her mouth.
The saltiness of her tears coated my tongue.
My tongue raged with passion, heat, and desperation.
Moving one hand from her face to her waist, I pulled her body into mine.
Pulling away, I studied her face. “Is what happened today okay?”
It couldn’t be undone and I didn’t feel bad about what I did, but I didn’t want to bring anymore unwanted sadness to her either.
After a couple seconds, a small shaky smile split her face and her head slowly moved up and down.
“I always knew my dad was a shitty person but I didn’t care because I had everything I wanted at my fingertips.
Even knowing he was facing charges didn’t really register to me.
It wasn’t until he was dragged out in cuffs that it became real.
When I got home, I went down the rabbit hole and learned about all of his shady dealings, how many lives he’d ruined, how much money he was estimated to have stolen.
Learning all that and knowing I benefited from it made me feel shitty about having money for the first time in my life.
He deserves to be in prison, but do you think I deserve that money? ”
Her words surprised me.
Xylina snickered. “I never thought I’d regret getting money.
It’s silly, really, the tears. It’s not like this is the first time I was given money or anything, so I don’t know why I’m so emotional over it.
Fuck these damn hormones.” She tried to laugh through the tears again, but her crying grew harder.
Wrapping my arms around her, I hugged her tightly and this time she didn’t hold back. Her body shook as she cried into my chest.
“You don’t have to explain anything. You were also a victim of your dad’s greed, so you do deserve that money. If I had been able to get you more at your dad’s expense, I would have.” I pressed a kiss into her now wet hair and stayed in place. I rubbed my hand up and down her back soothingly.
Water cascaded over our naked bodies, but neither of us cared. In some ways, it was as if it cleansed things for us and the baggage we both carried because of her dad was washed down the drain.