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I also didn’t want to come off too strong so I thought about my words carefully, but there was no easy way to say anything about this. What I found would be horrible if it were true, and I knew it was already. So it was all left to Maverick, and for me to grow some courage and ask him. I was suddenly glad I hadn’t called Jude instead.
“Henley? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” I inhaled sharply as I closed my laptop and thought deeply to myself. I had to help them, if they didn’t know. I just had to be the bigger person here and hope they didn’t think I was being spiteful. “I think you’ve been involved in a Ponzi scheme.”
18
Maverick
I settled in for the first relaxing night in a while, before I realized I had no reason to be relaxed, because my mind was racing with so much shit. Work, yeah. But for the fi
rst time, a woman.
Henley.
I wasn’t as pissed as Jude was and I still wasn’t sure if it was just the alcohol that made him all aggressive. He still hadn’t even talked about it and it had been a few days. We went to work as usual, going over everything we usually did, and hadn’t said a word about her. We weren’t sure where our agreement stood, and it wasn’t like a specific time clock was written into it or anything. I just knew we should have been more forthcoming with her, but it wasn’t like I could turn back time or anything.
And if I could, I would turn back to that night at the club, where we had her so roughly I was still feeling it in my nerves. I never had sex that was that good, that connection so undeniable that it couldn’t be ignored. Henley and her luscious body were too much for my mind to handle.
And I spent the night trying to get her out of it. I ate dinner alone in my wing of the estate and took my scotch to my room for more stewing when my cell rang, not many people had that direct number. I saw the caller ID come up as Henley, and I was pleased to say the least. I could only imagine what she would have to say, I knew she would speak her mind at some point about how she had been treated.
We tended to her, and she enjoyed it. There couldn’t have been much else to it. I gave the phone three good rings before I sat at the desk in my bedroom and answered.
“Hello Henley, I’m surprised to see you calling. How are you?” I smiled to myself, charming her with the ease in my voice.
“Right, I’m fine. Look, I have a question for you.” She snapped. I frowned slightly, noticing the shortness in her voice. I had never heard Henley sound like that, and I immediately wanted to know what was wrong, but she seemed to have a different urgency in her voice.
“Yes?” I smiled, intrigued by what she could have to ask me.
“What do you know about Hatchett Enterprises? I know you’re in business with them on this latest investment.” She cut right to the chase and didn’t waste time. But I immediately wondered how she knew that. It wasn’t a matter of public record yet, and I thought only Jude and I knew about it.
“Um. Okay. I don’t know, we’ve had some small deals with the owner before. Why?” I gave her a simple answer, not disclosing much. I realized again that Henley was a smart and educated young woman, a licensed lawyer who could probably find out anything with just a little digging.
“Henley? Are you there?” I pried, as she had suddenly disappeared. I heard her breathing on the other line, but didn’t get much out of her.
“Yeah, I’m here.” She inhaled sharply as if afraid. “I think you’ve been involved in a Ponzi scheme.”
My fingers went dead around the phone as I took in her words. So many questions rant through my head, and I didn’t know where to start. Was she working for someone, getting inside secrets on us? Had we been set up?
Henley was smart, but she wasn’t manipulative, so I hoped that wouldn’t be the case. But I took in her words and tried to find a way around it. I knew she wasn’t going anywhere though, so I knew I had to tackle this head on.
“What makes you think that?” I asked her, as generic as possible.
“I don’t think, Maverick. I know.” She snapped again. I was taken aback but chuckled nervously.
“Okay. And how do you know?” I revised my question.
“I did some digging, a lot of it. And I found some background information on this Derek Hatchett person, behind Hatchett Enterprises. Anyway, he has been buying and selling parts of his own company for years and then branched out into creating false trusts so other companies would do the same thing. And you did—your initial stake from three million to thirty million has been sitting in their fake company thing just accumulating these false trusts for weeks now.”
I took in her explanation word for word and tried to calm my mind from screaming about it. I knew something was off, I just knew something didn’t seem right and now I was sure of it. Henley wouldn’t lie and that was a hell of a lot to make up, so I knew she was right. We had been played and now we were fucked. Unfortunately, not by Henley.
“Wow. Okay.” I sighed.
Henley did the same and I heard some noise on her end, “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. It’s how they’ve gone unnoticed. When they are done driving the cost up, they liquidate, cut their losses and strip for fake assets. The companies that invested lose, and they keep all profits. The whole thing is a scam.” She spoke quickly, and I heard the passion in her voice. I knew she was good as a corporate lawyer, but she was investigative too. Better than I expected.
“Yeah, I can see that. Thank you for bringing this to me.” I told her. There was silence on both ends. I realized I hadn’t spoken to Henley since I stuffed her in our town car and then dropped her off at her apartment, and that was after we had that wild sex in a coat closet, for crying out loud. And now she was talking some serious shit and I was seeing her in an even better light.
“Yeah. You’re welcome… so, what will you do?” Her voice softened.
