LAKE
“This is intimidation! I will sue your asses. I know who you are!”
I shook my head in annoyance as I watched Leah through the one-way mirror in the room before I turned to Maverick. “Are you sure you want to talk to this woman? She’s out of control.”
“I think I’ve had enough threats in my life that an angry woman could put me down easily,” she said, making me proud of her and feeling guilty at the same time.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No, babe. I want to do this alone. If I say banana, that’s my signal that I need help.”
I couldn’t help but smile even if I were worried about her. “Okay, banana.”
Kye assisted her out of the room to the interrogation room. I watched her walk inside calmly.
“I know it. It was you because you’re banging a billionaire, and now you can do this to me. I still have rights. You can’t hurt or intimidate me.”
“I’m maybe banging a billionaire, but it doesn’t give me the right to slap people because you’re angry or because my husband is rich. Do I look like that person who uses my husband’s connection to harm people?”
When Leah listened, she gestured to sit down.
Leah sat back, and Maverick took a seat across that woman. “Why am I here?”
“Why did you try to slap me?”
“You put my boyfriend in jail. He said you hated him, and you framed him up. You planted evidence to put him in jail.”
“Is that what he said? Did you know about his debts? He asked me for ten grand, and I refused. He wanted to take my engagement ring from me to sell it.”
“That’s not true. He’s not in debt.” Leah rolled her eyes at her.
“Not according to the record Osmium has gathered. He took money from a mobster. Do you know he forced me out to pay him two thousand two hundred dollars that I owed him to take you on a date? He’s broke, Leah. Whether you admit it or not, you know it’s true. He doesn’t want to work an eight-hour job. He wants luxury that he can’t afford. If you won’t be very careful, the people he owed money to will come to collect, and they don’t care about hurting people to get the payment.”
“What the fuck?” I stared at Linden standing beside me.
“Where did she get that info?” He stared back.
“Fuck.” My jaw locked hard as I breathed out through my nose. “Terzo told her.”
“Take her out, Wilder.”
Linden gestured his hand. “No. We need to hear this. Maverick knows we’re listening. She’s not lying. She’s establishing trust.”
“I don’t like this,” I still disagreed.
“Trust your wife, Winston.”
“I do, but I don’t trust the woman sitting across her.”
“Stop manipulating me to turn my back against Heath.” She stood up. “I don’t want to listen to your lies anymore. Once I get out of here, I will sue you all.”
“So it’s okay with you to be manipulated instead? I already moved on, but the trust he broke, how he threw me out of the apartment, leaving me homeless, he can do that to you, too.” She shook her head. “Listen to your gut, Leah. You are young and beautiful. You’ve established quite a platform. You have a bright future ahead of you. Do you really want to be entangled with a man with a criminal record? Did he really love you? Did he tell you about his plan of kidnapping my grandmother for three hundred thousand dollars?”
I sighed as Leah stopped and went back to sit down.
“That’s not true.” Leah wiped her tears.
“I’d never been terrified in my entire life for my grandmother and me. I just tried to be strong before Lake, Nana, and my friends, but deep inside, I was so terrified to fall asleep that maybe I would be visited by that incident that has forever inked in my memory. Just for a second, try to put yourself in my shoes.”
“I know he’s kinda short of money.” Leah shrugged. “He borrowed five thousand dollars from me. He said he would pay me back the next week and that he was working on a project. He’s been cast as a guest in a new series. Then, he did not come home that night. He didn’t pick up my calls. Then I just heard he was arrested. I did not believe it until the cops knocked on my door, asking me ridiculous questions.”
“He has three accomplices. One of them pointed a gun at me. The other one took off my engagement ring. The third guy was about to shoot me in the head and probably would kill my grandmother afterward. I’m not making this up, Leah. I once cared for him, but Heath went too far. I could never forgive him for what he did to my grandmother. And all that for money.”
She gasped and began sobbing. “I have doubts. Maybe because I love him, but I think he’s involved in a scam, but I swear I’m never involved.”
I really admired Maverick’s handling of the situation. Instead of giving up, she stayed calm and helped this woman who almost smacked her in the face.
“Look. I don’t want to press charges, but maybe you can help the cops stop this before they victimize more people.”
“I’m scared those guys he owed money will come after me.”
Linden and I walked out to knock on the door. He went in first, and then I followed. There was a shocked look on Leah’s face, and she knew she was going to be in trouble.
Yes, I was still pissed. Pissed was an understatement for what Heath had put my wife through, but I had to respect Maverick’s decision, and her mental health mattered more to me than pressing charges against another woman who happened to be another victim of that asshole.
“Miss Fox. I’m Gabe Linden.”
“I know who you are.” She wiped her tears, smearing on her face. “I’ve seen your faces everywhere.”
“Very well. If you are willing to help, I will do my best to give you protection.”
“I thought you guys only protect rich people, oil rigs, and celebrities.”
“That’s mostly the job we hired to do, but we have experts in criminal justice, defense lawyers, and private investigators, to name a few. If you are up helping those victims, we can help you with that.”
Her eyes shifted at me when I hadn’t said a word. “He once told me there’s no way you will fall for Maverick. He said she’s a loser.”
“Well, that proves his lies. Maverick and I may have met under a difficult circumstance, but we’re still together.”
“Did you get her ring back?”
“It’s still in the evidence, but I can buy her another one,” I lied.
“I’m so sorry.” She started to cry again as she looked at Maverick. I feel so terrible, but if my testimony can help other victims, I’m willing to help you guys however I can-on one condition.”
“Name it,” Maverick said.
“I don’t want you to sue me.”
“Done,” I told her. I wanted to believe her words, but she had to convince me. After what her boyfriend had put Maverick through, she couldn’t convince easily by crying a river because she was caught red-handed.
Linden let her go after giving her many instructions about what she should and shouldn’t do. After that, Maverick and I left Osmium.
“You’re silent, and it’s freaking me out,” she said as we sat in the backseat.
“You didn’t tell me what Terzo told you.”
She leaned in and whispered, “Sorry because all I could think was trying to bone you.”
I looked at her. There was still a little fear in her eyes, no matter how she tried to hide it. “Boning me, really? Is that all I could think about?”
Her cheeks flushed. “You’re trying to embarrass me in front of your men.”
“Technically, they are in front of us. Maybe. What exactly did Terzo tell you? I’m going to have a word with your brother.”
Owen and Homer shared a look. I thought they knew.
“Leave him alone. He told me to stay away from my ex. Heath owes thirty grand to a mobster but didn’t mention a name. Maybe Terzo is afraid that those people would link Heath to me.”
“Are you sure he did not mention a name?”
“Nope. I guess you can ask him that.”
“So much for digging up your father’s identity.”