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It was obvious he was doing everything he could to try to get back into her good graces. Or at least find a way to burrow himself back into her life so he could continue to take advantage of her. From what she told me, he didn’t have a tremendous amount going for him outside of his relationship with her. So far, he had a group of friends he’d been clinging to for his entire adult life. And he had a whole lot of big dreams and aspirations he was determined were going to work out for him and give him the elaborate lifestyle he wanted and believed he entirely deserved.
But other than that, there wasn’t much. His career was nonexistent. He didn’t have his own home, and she had been paying his car payments for him. Fortunately, she had been smart enough to make sure the car was in his name. She didn’t sign any of the paperwork, so she wasn’t obligated to keep paying. As soon as she kicked him out of the house, he didn’t have her support anymore. He was suddenly completely on his own, and it seemed to me he didn’t know how to function.
All that aside, Bryn was pretty incredible. After a couple of months without her, he was likely starting to realize just how empty his life was. And just how much he’d lost when he lost her. I was under no delusions there was a big romantic push behind him wanting her back. Maybe he did have some feelings toward her, but there was no love there. What he did to her wasn’t something a man who loved a woman could possibly do. But I didn’t put it past him to want to have her back because she was a good catch.
I just needed to figure out what he was going to do next. He had to be planning something. Coming into my office wasn’t a coincidence. He didn’t just spontaneously come up with the idea of coming in and asking me to help him with his investments. This was part of something bigger. If I figured out what that was, I could make sure he didn’t get too close to her again. With any luck, I would find a way to prove what he had done and force him to face the consequences.
That was all churning around in the back of my mind while I was working the next day when my phone alerted me to a new text message. I saw it was from Bryn, and I immediately smiled, but when I read the message, that smile disappeared.
She was going to meet up with Justin.
I stared at the message, reading it over and over. She couldn’t seriously be considering going to see him. I knew she’d said he had never been violent toward her before, but I had seen enough in my life to know that didn’t really mean anything.
All it would take was for her to say the wrong thing, or for him to get particularly fed up and angry. Not only was she at risk, but our baby was, too.
I texted her back, demanding to know more about the meeting. I wanted to be there. She shouldn’t be with him alone. While I waited for her to message me back, I called Gabe’s police officer friend, Clint. I explained the situation to him, telling him I was wary about her being alone with the guy and that I worried he might lash out at her.
Clint’s agreement validated my feelings, but even if he hadn’t agreed with me, I would still be on edge. As it was, he confirmed women were often in the most danger when they were in the first few weeks and months following the end of a relationship, and men who had never before shown any sign of violence could snap, leading to horrific results.
She needed to make sure they met in a public space with plenty of people around. That would help to keep her safer, ensuring there were eyes on them and people to notice if he tried anything. Being in public and reducing the risk to her safety also gave her a new opportunity. She could record the conversation they had and try to get him to confess to stealing the money from her.
Even if the recordings ended up being thrown out of a court case, they were still leverage. I thanked him for the advice and called Bryn.
“Nick, I’m not telling you where I’m meeting him,” she said as soon as she answered the phone.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because this is a conversation I need to have with him. I need to do it on my own.”
It made my stomach turn not knowing where she was going to be and not being able to be there. “I talked to Clint, the same police officer who I talked to about the situation originally. He said to make sure you meet in a public place. You want plenty of people around to see you and know what’s going on. He also said you should record the conversation. You want to have a record of everything he says, especially if you can get him to admit to taking the money illegally.”
