The thugs looked back to see police rushing up to the food court. They bolted. Ben watched them trying to navigate through the tables as they ran. Two large mall security officers were waiting on the other side and didn’t look intimidated at all. Ben walked over to sit next to Tina.
“Did you call the police?” he asked.
Tina smiled and nodded.
“Nicely done! Thank you,” Ben said and gave her a kiss.
He opened the wrapping on his sub and took a bite as the ladies went back to their meals. The police had the two men in custody when they walked by. Ben smiled at them with a nod.
He was finishing his lunch when one of the officers came back to get his statement. Ben made sure to mention Terrance Holland’s role in the meeting. The officer took Tina’s statement next and she confirmed Holland’s presence at the start of the confrontation. When he was done the officer thanked them and turned to leave. Then he stopped and turned back to Tina.
“You couldn’t have known we had a cruiser close by,” he said.
Tina smiled. “I did not but I was prepared to call for an ambulance for the two men.”
The officer blinked at her then looked at Ben who was doing his best to hide his grin.
With a final smile and nod the officer headed back to his cruiser.
Ben pulled his cell out and called Walter. He filled him in on the latest development.
“Geezus, this man is a menace! I’ll get in touch with the police to get their report. Thanks for calling, Ben!”
Ben tucked his cell away and looked at the ladies. “Ready to go?”
Gretchen smiled and nodded so Ben dumped their trash. Gretchen and Tina put their boots back on then Gretchen got behind Tina’s chair to push while Ben carried the bags. They stopped to drop off the chair then made their way outside to the truck.
“Mr. Shepherd!”
Ben sighed and looked across the aisle to see Terrance Holland standing between two cars.
“The police would very much like to speak with you Mr. Holland,” Ben said.
“Yes, I’m sure. If you had simply listened this mess could have been avoided,” the lawyer growled.
“If you had a shred of integrity you wouldn’t be here,” Ben said opening his door.
“She’s going to do the televised interview! We found a network not afraid of your lawyer’s tricks,” Holland called out before Ben stepped inside the truck. He looked back at the man.
“Your wife is desperate and she has nothing to lose. You could save yourself a lot of embarrassment and her a lot of pain if you’d stop being so stubborn.”
Ben scowled at the man then got into his truck and closed the door. When he looked back Holland was gone.
“Ben?”
He looked at Tina and saw the concern in her eyes.
“Let’s go home.”
Tina sat in Catherine’s living room with Lucy at her side. She’d got Ben to take some strong pain killers and go to bed for the tension migraine he’d developed over the afternoon after they’d returned from the mall. She’d asked Gretchen to stay with Ben and he’d only put up a token amount of resistance.
Catherine and Chanel were sitting together with worried looks on their faces. Trish was pacing and grumbling under her breath. Hannah was sitting in a chair facing Tina and Lucy.
“Has Ben’s lawyer been updated to know they’re going ahead with the TV interview?” Hannah asked.
Tina nodded. “Yes. I called him after Ben went to bed. He said he would do what he could to find the network and serve them with a notice of our intent to sue if they proceed.”
“Did you get the impression that he thinks this will be successful?” Hannah asked.
“He sounded angry with the other lawyer. Mr. Holland is not serving Wendy’s best interests.” She sighed then looked around at the others. “I am more worried about Ben’s state of mind. What that bad man said to Ben has really affected him. He said Wendy had nothing to lose and Ben was causing her pain by being stubborn. I could see the doubt and pain in Ben’s eyes. It tortured him all afternoon until I finally managed to get him to rest.”
“God damn it!” Trish growled and her pacing sped up.
“Trish, please! Sit down before you wear a hole in Catherine’s carpet!” Hannah gasped.
The redhead threw her a frustrated look and dropped down on the ottoman next to Hannah’s chair. “We need to find this crook and make him cough up the name of the network willing to air their crap about Ben. Or cough up blood. Either one works for me.”
Chanel smiled at Trish’s passion. “As fun as that sounds it would just lead to more bad publicity Ben is trying to avoid. Has he thought of giving an interview before Wendy can spill her lies about him? I think most networks would leap at the chance to interview him now.”
“Ben does not want to speak to the press. We must avoid that option if possible,” Tina offered.
Catherine’s cell rang and she glanced at the screen. “It’s Gabriella!” she said in surprise. She answered it as everyone waited.
“Gabriella! You’re up late!”
“Hi Catherine! I was trying to reach Ben but his number just goes to voice mail. I heard some news about his ex and I was trying to reach him or Tina to see if they were aware of it,” Gabriella said in a worried tone.
“Tina’s here with us. We’re having another strategy meeting. Can I put you on speaker?” Cat asked.
“Sure!”
Catherine pressed the button and put the cell on the coffee table. “Can you hear me Gabriella?”
“Yes, can you hear me?” the woman replied.
“Yes, we hear you fine. I have Chanel with me, Hannah, Trish, Tina, and Lucy,” Cat said.
“Hello everybody!”
A chorus of hellos were returned then Catherine leaned towards the phone. “We were just talking about Wendy’s lawyer telling Ben today that they found a network to broadcast their lies. He told Ben that Wendy had nothing to lose and Ben was hurting her by being stubborn.”
Gabriella gasped. “That fucking bastard!”
Catherine leaned back in surprise, hearing the language coming out of Gabriella’s mouth but Trish was all grins.
“We don’t know what network it’s being broadcast on so Walter has to hunt-”
“It’s Mediastar here in Italy!” Gabriella exclaimed excitedly.
“What?” Catherine blinked in surprise.
“That’s what I was calling Ben about. I got a call tonight from a friend of mine in the press, Monique Lemoine. She’s a reporter and was at a press dinner tonight which included a bunch of television executives. One from Mediastar knew Monique had written a nice piece on Ben and rubbed it in that they’d landed an exclusive with Ben’s ex-wife. They’re going to run it prime time. Monique told me we can expect them to license the rights to other networks shortly afterwards. They have connections to other major networks in Europe. Once the first network broadcasts it the threat of legal action is probably no longer a consideration for the others so you can expect the American networks to pay anything to get it.”
Tina was already dialing Walter’s number. She spoke with him quietly as Catherine let Gabriella know they were passing the information to Ben’s lawyer.
Once Tina hung up she spoke to the group.
“Walter was surprised that it would be aired in Italy first. His ability to prevent the broadcast is severely limited there. He is advising us to get Ben to speak to the press first to minimize the damage.”
There was a disappointed groan from the others.
“How- how is Ben?” Gabriella’s voice wobbled a little.
Looks were traded back and forth before anyone spoke.
“That bad,” Gabriella said, pre-empting their response. “Tina, what happened with Margaux?”
“He won’t talk about it but Gretchen told me Margaux became very jealous when Ben went with her to the hospital,” Tina said sadly then saw the confused faces. “Oh! I am sorry. I should explain who Gretchen is!” She proceeded to fill the group in starting with her conversation with Ben at the hospital and with what Gretchen had told her at the breakfast table this morning. While not a complete picture of what had happened with Margaux it painted a clear picture that the visit had gone very bad for Ben.
“Thank you Tina,” Gabriella said softly.
“I do not believe Ben is very happy with taking on another Sub,” she sighed.
“Who told him to bring her home?” Gabriella asked.
Hannah cleared her throat. “Ben was in a catch 22 situation. He didn’t want the responsibility but he also couldn’t abandon her. Dr. Granger suggested he bring her with him until he could find a solution for her. The doctor said she will work with her to rebuild her sense of self.”
“Couldn’t she have gone to a hospital in Australia or Germany to seek help with that?” Gabriella asked.
“She does not have the capacity yet to be on her own without a Dom… or another Sub to calm her. Her husband was a very bad man who was very abusive,” Tina explained. “In Ben she saw a man stronger than her Dom and she knew from TV that he was a protector so she fled her husband for Ben. She risked being beaten to death to do it. She was that desperate.”