“Wow, you’ll have to tell them. Springing that surprise on them wouldn’t be good.”
“He’s agreed to go next week. I figured if he was with me then they wouldn’t be a problem.”
“You’re surprising me more and more.”
“He gave me a credit card,” she said. She wanted her sister’s opinion on the next stage up.
“Is he treating you disrespectfully?”
“No, not at all. He wants me to use it.”
“Then don’t think it’s a big deal. He clearly wants you to have it. I’ll be at the parentals’ house next week. I want to meet the man who my sister is in love with.”
“Caroline, don’t embarrass me.”
“Would I do that to you?”
“Yes.”
“Then enjoy. I’ve got to go. My own man is moaning about being alone. Take care, and have fun with your rich guy.”
She put the phone down still hating the card in her hand. Shaking her head, she walked up the stairs to put the card in her purse.
Afterwards she took a quick shower.
The house was large. She’d been in every room. Her favourite room was his library. The scent of the books always soothed her chaotic mind. She needed to write a paper for her psychology class. Opening the curtains, she let in plenty of light then went investigating the books in his collection. He owned plenty of classics, along with textbooks.
Ursula gathered the books she needed and took a seat. The moment she opened the first textbook, she was absorbed into her studies.
****
Stephen met James outside his club. The other man wore a pair of leather pants, white shirt, and leather jacket. Stephen couldn’t help but chuckle at his attire.
“Stephen Knox is laughing early in the morning. This is news to report. Should I get a hold of the media? Your woman must be good for you,” James said as he got in the car.
“Ursula is none of your concern. I’m happy. Cadeon is meeting us at Rebecca’s. He has a key.”
“I hope your thoughts are not true. I would hate to have to deal with the Dominic shit again.” James closed the door, securing his seatbelt.
“Everything adds up. I don’t like this either.”
“Have you done any digging?” James asked.
“Nothing new. I haven’t gotten ‘round to it this morning. I don’t want to alert Ursula. She still doesn’t know about Possession, and at the moment I want to keep it that way.”
“You’ll have to tell her eventually.”
“Not today. At the moment this is too dangerous for her. I want to keep her as safe as possible.”
“Black is dangerous, I’ll give you that, but prostituting women? Or buying them? I don’t get it.” James stared at him.
Stephen knew it sounded far-fetched. “There is a lot of shit going on in this world that I don’t agree with. Money is money no matter how it is earned. If you’ve lost a large sum of money and you need to get it back and quick, wouldn’t you do everything you could to get it back?”
“I’d earn it the good old-fashioned way. I’m not wired to earn off the backs of women, Stephen. I never have been.”
He knew James spoke the truth. Stephen would do the same. No woman would earn his crust.
“Well, I wouldn’t turn a woman black and blue,” Stephen said.
“I would turn a woman’s ass red, but I’d never abuse her. Hitting a woman in violence is wrong. I don’t agree with it. If Lloyd is looking to get out of jail then I don’t know how we can stop him.”
“I don’t think him getting out of jail is the problem, James. I think the means he is going to use is the problem.” The more he thought about Lloyd the more he began to worry. He could use the clubs as leeway to try to get out of prison. Possession and Ravage could easily be shown in the wrong light.
“Fuck, he better not have a death wish. If he tries to take my club down, I’ll f**king kill him,” James said.
They sat in silence for the rest of the journey.
Cadeon sat in his car waiting for them when they pulled up outside her house. They all got out, the cold biting Stephen through his jacket.
“I told Tate and Kevin to not bother today. They’re meeting us with the others at the club.”
“Okay,” Stephen said.
Cadeon knocked on the door. It had been a few years since Stephen had last seen Rebecca. The door opened, and her head popped round. He noticed she didn’t greet anyone but Cadeon.
“I’ve got some friends with me who want to ask you a few questions.” The door was left open, and Cadeon escorted them all in. They found Rebecca in the sitting room. She’d wrapped a blanket around her. She sat on the farthest end of the couch.
“I’m sorry. I’m cold,” she said.
“You don’t need to be afraid, Rebecca. I care about you. How is everything with Tate and Kevin?” Cadeon asked.
“They try to help me. I find it so hard. I want to go outside. My doctor doesn’t think I have that symptom she mentioned. She thinks I’m repressing memories, and it makes me think I don’t want to go outside.” Rebecca chuckled.
“Do you remember me?” Stephen asked taking the seat in front of her.
“Yes.”
“And me?” James asked.
“Yes.”
“We need to ask you a few questions.”
“Ask away. I don’t have a lot of guests. I’m not slow. I’ll answer anything you need me to.” She gave a nod at all of them.
“Are you comfortable talking about your time with Lloyd Black?” Stephen asked.
He noticed the fear in her. She fidgeted on the couch and stared between him and Cadeon. “Yes,” she whispered. “I’ll talk about him.”
“What about your own life?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Stephen glared at James. “We’ve recently come into some information that may be crucial to something that is happening. Do you recall much of your life before marrying Lloyd?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Ask me anything about Lloyd, but I can’t tell you about my past.”
“Why?” Stephen asked.
“Because I’ll be in trouble. I’m only allowed to say that I met Lloyd and fell in love. I’m not allowed to say anything else.”
Stephen nodded his head. He would need to wait until Monday to get the answers he needed.
“I want you to tell me about Lloyd. Were you his only woman?” Stephen asked.