Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
Still kneeling in front of me, Rhys let out a slow breath, eyes flicking away before returning. “Jesse’s been arrested by the FBI.”
“He’s what?” I exclaimed loudly, my eyes bugging out of their sockets.
Rhys nodded. “It turns out he’s been skimming money from his law firm and also helping certain clients of his launder their ill-gotten gains.”
I blinked at him, my mouth opening and shutting like a fish. My head hurt. This was too much to take in all at once. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. The prick could go to prison for a long time. Couldn’t have happened to a better man if you ask me.”
“Oh my goodness,” I whispered, my mind racing. Then, as a certain realisation dawned, I started to panic. “Oh my goodness,” I repeated but with much more trepidation, several memories surfacing. “What if they think I helped him? I’m an accountant, Rhys. What if they think I taught him how to launder? Fuck … this is so bad.”
My memories became clearer, Jesse asking me lots of questions about how people open offshore accounts and the type of accounting software used in money laundering. I was so stupid. I’d thought it was because he’d been watching Ozark at the time and wanted to know how realistic the show was. I had no idea he was using my knowledge to figure out how to commit a crime himself.
Tears sprang to my eyes as my panic overtook me. I thought I’d gotten away from Jesse, but maybe he was going to destroy me in the end just in a different way.
“Hey, hey, they don’t think you helped him. You’re already in the clear,” Rhys said, squeezing my hands in reassurance. I stared at him in disbelief.
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Because the whole reason I found out about this was through another ex-legion friend of mine who works for Europol. I had him use his connections to look into Jesse, and—”
“You had him investigate Jesse? Rhys. I told you I didn’t want that. I said I was happy just to have my divorce and get away from him. I can’t believe you’d go behind my back like this.”
I pulled my hands from his and shifted away, needing some distance.
“Yes, I’m aware of that.” His voice was laden with guilt. “And I fully accept if you feel you can’t trust me anymore for going against your wishes, but I couldn’t rest knowing he was out there living his life, Charli, free to do to some other poor, unsuspecting person what he’d done to you.”
My heart clenched because, even though I was very, very pissed with him, I felt the same way. The thought of Jesse hurting someone else often kept me awake at night, too. But that didn’t change the fact Rhys had been actively plotting against Jesse these last weeks and told me nothing. Nothing. I knew his reasons for breaking my trust were ultimately to protect others from falling victim to my ex-husband, but his secrecy hurt. A small fraction of my heart cracked inside my chest. Then my mind tracked back.
“Wait, you said I’m in the clear. How do you know that?” I breathed.
Rhys’ chest deflated a little. “Piotr told me the FBI already investigated you when you and Jesse were still married. They deemed you not to be involved in his crimes shortly after.”
Just like that, relief flooded in as stress tears rolled down my cheeks. This was all just way too much, especially after the drama of discovering Stephanie had been spreading lies about Rhys and me. We sat in quiet for several minutes, Rhys giving me time to absorb all the information about Jesse. The more I thought about it, the more it all made sense. Jesse had always been resentful that he’d come from a poor, single parent background. At first, I’d admired that he’d worked hard to win a scholarship and go to college. But there had been a dark side to his ambition. He’d wanted the perfect life, to accumulate wealth and outrank his peers. To never be poor or needy ever again. So, he turned to breaking the law, unable to simply be happy as a successful lawyer who already made very good money.
A part of me was joyfully jumping up and down to know he might go to prison. He might never face punishment for what he’d done to me, but at least he would be punished.
“I’m going to report Steph to HR,” Rhys said after a time, and though I was relieved not to be talking about Jesse anymore, I wasn’t thrilled to be reminded of the reason Rhys had to practically carry me into his office.
“After how she behaved today, not to mention the false rumour, she needs to understand she can’t do things like that,” he went on.