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“No one is recording this dipshit. We go over this every month,” Jack grumbled.
Luke ignored him. “Trey, please share with us which target has been selected this month.”
Trey nodded. “It was unanimous, except for Jareth’s vote. His selection, Perennial Prose Publishing Inc., has been chosen.”
Archer’s typical grin was replaced by the hard line of his lips. He gave a curt nod to me in acknowledgment. Their selection didn’t surprise me. Sexual harassment typically jumped the queue in our voting system.
Isabelle, Archer’s sister, had been the victim of it years ago before he or any of the group had made it big. From what I gathered she’d been a big sister to all of them. She let it go and didn’t report it for as long as she had because the family counted on the money from her job to survive.
The day she died was when it all came tumbling out. Fifteen-year-old Archer had found her diary documenting everything her boss had done. They didn’t have the money to hire a lawyer that was willing to take on such a well-respected person and business, so it was all swept under the rug. It almost destroyed Archer when there was nothing he could do about it.
The company his sister had worked for was the first they destroyed once they had the money and expertise to do so.
“Do you have everything you need?” Jack’s fingers drummed against the tabletop. Typically, if our pick was chosen, we took care of the implosion of said business or person.
“I do. In addition to getting money for the victims, I’d like to put something aside for his wife and children. They are not complicit, and in fact, are victims of his abuse,” I informed them. “In addition, to the harassment, they have been involved in racketeering. I’m going to reach out to my contact in the FBI to give him the evidence I’ve pulled together to process the RICO case I know they’ve been working on.”
“Is everyone in agreement?” Trey asked.
Everyone nodded, their faces stonelike. What we did was illegal. We knew that. If we were found out it would be the end of all our careers. Which is why we were discrete and had created systems to make what we did look legitimate and couldn’t be traced back to any one individual.
“I’ve found numerous off-shore accounts. I’ll drain and reallocate the funds to our foundations and set it up so we distribute the money to all the victims before I release the evidence collected to the FBI.” When no one spoke up I continued laying out each step I’d take until each detail had been ironed out to the satisfaction of the group. I was used to working and making decisions alone and the hardest part of this was giving up control and allowing the group to have opinions and feedback about the methods I’d chosen. But I’d learned that we all needed to be on the same page for this to work.
Once the business portion of our meeting concluded, and drinks were refilled, we started our first poker game. Tonight was my designated night as the dealer. Since we didn’t allow outsiders into this gathering we rotated who played and who dealt the cards.
As we finished the last hand my phone buzzed in my suit pocket. I almost let it go to voicemail until I saw it was Jess. Knowing she was hanging out with Hazel at my penthouse for their book club, I picked up only to hear muffled voices.
Fuck. Was Hazel all right?
A few of the guys groaned when I pushed away from the table..
“Come on dude. Only emergencies. And work doesn’t count,” Luke chided me.
I flipped him off.
“Oh, come on, Hazel just say yes.” Jess’s voice finally came through clearly. Had she butt dialed me? I tapped the mute button so they couldn’t hear me or the idiots behind me.
“I don’t know, Jess. Christmas Eve is in three days.” I pictured her worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. What the hell was Jess trying to get her wrapped up in now.
“He’s incredibly handsome.”
“Well, yeah,” Hazel practically whispered.
“And now that I’ve met him, I can tell he’s got that bad boy vibe you seem to love,” another voice added to the conversation. I grinned, finally placing the voice, Niki, from the bar.
A smirk hovered at my mouth. Were they talking about me? Is this why Jess called? I was starting to think it was less of an accident.
“They say to get over one man you should get under another.” What the fuck?
“I don’t know. Jareth—” The hesitation in Hazel’s voice soothed the beast within me ready to tear whoever this fucker was apart.
“Sweetie, you’ve had a thing for him for years. Don’t you think if he felt the same way, something would’ve happened by now?” another voice said softly, almost as though comforting her.
A sniff and a request for a tissue had me fisting my hand so tight around my phone I was lucky it didn’t crack.
“But the kiss at the party… ” A jagged breath followed.
“Was just that. Has anything else happened since then?” I already hated this person who spoke a twisted version of the truth to her.
