Page 37 of The Facilitator, Part 2

He told me Addison had been advised of a great opportunity, but she didn’t have the required funds.

She had sold it to him so well; he had decided to do a joint investment with her.

An offshore company was to buy the shares, which would negate a huge tax bill later on.

He repeatedly told me he trusted her, they had plans to marry, and he was to move to the U.S.

She even met his mum and appeared to charm her.

As he spoke, as his voice cracked with emotion, my heart broke for him.

“I can’t believe how fucking stupid I’ve been,” he said.

“She’s very convincing, Jerry, trust me. Will you please stay quiet, don’t alert her to anything just for a couple of days?”

“I don’t know. I need to try to get my money back,” he said.

I took a deep breath in. “Jerry, think about it. You gave her the money to put into an offshore company that bought the shares. I’m not sure how easy it’s going to be to get anything back.

There is no new contract; Mackenzie was telling you the truth.

In fact, he’s about to lose the government contract he has. Those shares are worthless.”

Jerry didn’t answer, the only sound was a sharp intake of breath.

“Mackenzie is doing what he can to solve this, your part in this isn’t all that has happened. I just need you to give us a day or so before you say anything to her. Do this for me, please, Jerry?” I was up for begging if I had to.

My fear was if he alerted Addison, she’d obviously tell Daniel, and any hope of retrieving any money from the Grand Cayman would be gone.

“Okay. I…I’ve been such a fucking fool and I’m not na?ve, I can’t believe I fell for her,” he said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you remember when we first met her? I thought she was wonderful.”

“I don’t know what to do. If I can’t get any money back, I’m skint, Lauren.”

“How much money did you give her?”

“Nearly two mill.”

“Oh, Jerry,” I said.

“Not all for this deal. She showed me a house she wanted us to live in. We were going to get married in a couple of months, we registered and everything. Mum was over the moon for me. She was even pushing for me to move to the States as soon as possible; she planned to come and visit for a holiday.”

Jerry rambled on some more about all the plans he and Addison had. As much as I wanted to tell him he’d only just met her, that would have been hypocritical of me. I’d moved in with Mackenzie within a couple of months of knowing him.

“Maybe we can get some of it back. Do you have any details of the house she wanted to buy?”

“She sent me some pictures but no agent’s details. She said it was going to be a private sale. Some old woman wanted to sell up and not give it all to her kids. I have photographs.”

My heart actually fractured, and I knew what I was going to see before I did.

“Send them to me, Jerry. You never know, we might be able to find out where it is. Now, let me get hold of Mackenzie. He’s in a meeting about this right now. I’ll call you tomorrow—your tomorrow. Okay?”

“I fucked up big time, didn’t I?”

“No, you didn’t, she did. She’ll fucking pay, trust me.”

We said goodbye and for a moment I just sat with tears in my eyes. The laptop pinged to let me know I had an email. I only opened the images for confirmation of what I knew. Up popped pictures of Mrs. Collingsworth’s house. Daniel wasn’t just after his half of the trust; he was after more.

I immediately dialled Mackenzie. The ringtone was odd. I guessed the call was diverting to the UK then back out to the U.S.

“Hey, baby, are you okay?” There was a panic to his voice.

“I’ve just got off the phone from Jerry. I really need to speak to you. It’s worse than we thought. He knows it’s Addison, and he has agreed to give us a day or so before he confronts her. Daniel is trying to sell the house, Mackenzie, Jerry has given her nearly two million pounds…”

“Slow down, Lauren. I’m sending a car to fetch you. Don’t just get in any car that turns up; the driver is…” I heard him ask someone about a car. “Trent, the driver is named Trent, okay? He’ll be there in less than a half hour.”

“Okay. I’m sorry to call, but I thought this was important,” I said.

“You bet it’s important. I’ll see you soon.”

I decided to change clothes; the dress I had on was a little revealing and more suited to the beach.

My heart was in my mouth as I ran up the stairs and changed.

I then sat back at the table and wrote down the conversation as best I could remember.

I didn’t want to miss out anything important and I didn’t want to get confused.

I placed the pages of my notepad on top of the laptop; I’d need to take it so I could show the photographs of the house Addison intended to buy .

I tapped my fingertips on the tabletop while I waited. Eventually there was a knock to the front door. I grabbed the items I needed and headed out.

“Ma’am, I’ve been asked to collect you,” a guy said.

“Can you tell me your name?” I asked.

“Trent, ma’am,” he replied.

I nodded and followed him to the car. It wasn’t until I had gotten into the car that I thought back on what Mackenzie had said, ‘Don’t get into just any car that turns up…

’ and I wondered what he’d meant. We drove in silence until we came to stop beside a row of single-storey buildings.

Mackenzie stood outside one. He opened the rear door for me to climb out and thanked the driver.

“Why did you tell me not to just get into any old car?” I asked.

“So you know to get into the car I sent for you,” he said, as he placed his hand on my back to guide me.

“I’m not likely to just get in any old car, and any old car isn’t going to turn up at your house, a house off the beaten track to collect me, is it?” I said, standing still and facing him.

“Okay, I think Daniel might know we are onto him and it’s not beyond him to do anything stupid,” he replied.

“Like what? Oh, you think he’d…”

“No, I don’t think anything, but I’d rather not take chances. Now, can we get in?”

He reached around me to open a door and I stepped inside.

There was a reception he led me past and into an office.

I faltered when I saw Vivienne. Gabriella had her arm wrapped around her shoulders and Vivienne was weeping.

Alex stood behind them both. A gentleman rose from behind a large wooden desk. He extended his arm to shake my hand.

“Lauren, this is Christopher. He’s the family lawyer,” Mackenzie said.

I shook his hand and took the seat that was offered to me. I placed the laptop and notes on the edge of the desk.

“Do you want to tell us what you know?” Christopher asked.

I looked at Vivienne. She dabbed her eyes with a lace handkerchief and she nodded her head.

She was ready. I picked up the notes and relayed what Jerry had said.

I then opened the laptop and brought up the images.

I slowly turned the laptop so those in the room could see the photographs of the house.

I noticed an unopened email from Jerry, so I clicked on that and it brought up details of the offshore company and a post office address in Grand Cayman.

For a moment there was silence other than a gentle sob from Gabriella.

“We’re debating on calling the police, but right now we’re in a sticky situation,” Christopher said to me.

“It appears Mrs. Collingsworth’s signature is on the document Daniel had, a release of funds document.

We also know a transfer of ownership of the property document has been drawn up by an out-of-town lawyer.

It transfers the house to Daniel and his wife. ”

“His wife?”

“Addison Miller. It seems the two married a few years ago.”

“They’re cousins, is that legal?”

“Yes, in this state, it is.”

The thought repulsed me. I couldn’t imagine wanting to marry a relative. “And no one knew this?”

“No, we didn’t,” Gabriella said. I detected forcefulness in her voice, and I hoped she hadn’t thought I believed they should have known. I was simply shocked.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…”

“It’s okay, we’re all a little shocked here,” she replied, giving me a sad smile.

“What can you do?” I asked the lawyer.

“Vivienne doesn’t recall ever signing the document, and I’m not sure she would have willingly done so if presented by Daniel. We have already blocked the transfer by selling the house to Gabriella and Alex,” he said.

“I’m not silly, I’d never sign anything he was involved in. I honestly don’t remember signing anything, but we’ve seen a copy and it certainly looks like my signature, but they have to be forgeries,” Vivienne said.

“Can that be proven?” I asked.

“Yes, eventually. In the meantime, we need to make a decision on how involved we want the police,” Mackenzie said.

I frowned at him. “If Vivienne’s signature is on any documents relating to the offshore account, and we don’t know this, of course, she, technically, could also have access to any bank accounts,” he added.

“I’m not doing anything illegal, Mackenzie,” Vivienne said, stiffening her back.

“It wouldn’t be, though. If your signature is on those documents, and it’s your money in those bank accounts, and Jerry’s, of course, then it’s not illegal for you to request that money back,” Gabriella said.

“That sounds all too easy. Surely Daniel has some intelligence, Addison certainly does. They wouldn’t leave it as open, would they?” I asked.

Mackenzie shrugged his shoulders.

“Momma, Daniel has stolen from you and me. He’s tried to take our home; your granddaddy built that house. We can’t sit back and allow that to happen,” Gabriella said. I admired her for her mild blackmail and pulling on the heartstrings tactic, it was certainly necessary.