Page 24 of All In

He chuckled. “OK. I won’t deny that. Are you OK?”

She huffed. “Not really. I’m still a little mad at you. I let Carla talk me into drinking too much. And I fucking miss you and I don’t like it.”

He chuckled. “I miss you too, Ace.”

He heard a car door slam and the ambient noise around Rylee changed. He let his shoulders relax as he heard a second door slam and Carla said something he couldn’t quite make out.

“There, I’m in the damn car,” Rylee said petulantly.

“Good girl. I love you, baby. We’ll be together again soon. I need to get back to work. Please listen to your detail, Ace. It gives me peace of mind.”

“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry for being a pain,” she said, sounding slightly more sober. “I love you too.”

He smiled. It had never occurred to him before Rylee that he might crave hearing those words from a woman. Rylee had changed a lot of things though.

“Jeremy, I know you’re lurking outside the door. You can come back in now,” he said into the speaker on his desk.

The door opened half a second later and Jeremy stepped in.

“I think we should talk about a plan of action in case the worst happens, and charges are filed.”

Memphis sat behind his desk and crossed his arms. “I had a plan when charges were filed. Andrew was going to run things. We see how well that turned out.”

Jeremy leaned forward, unbuttoning his suit as he did.

“I know, but you still need a plan. You trusted Andrew. You’re feeling burned. Bring in an outside trustee to handle things in your absence. You can also have your legal council find someone for you.”

Memphis scratched at his beard and scowled. “Why is this so important right now?”

Jeremy shrugged. “I’m just looking out for you the best I know how. You’re my best client.”

Memphis eyed him skeptically. Jeremy had been his attorney for a long time, but he was still distrustful of the legal profession as a whole.

“I’ll think about it. For now, let’s talk about Rylee. How do I make sure she’s protected and taken care of if something happens?”

Jeremy’s demeanor shifted and Memphis glared. “Is there something you want to say? It’s clear you have an issue with her.”

“I don’t know her, and that’s my problem. Neither do you.”

“I know her plenty, and we have the rest of our lives to get to know each other. So, what are my options?”

Jeremy laid out a number of financial options for Memphis while he took notes and made lists for Rylee to look over. He had no idea how Rylee was going to react to him wanting to take care of her this way, but he would make sure she accepted it in the end.

“I’ll talk to her and see what appeals to her most. If she refuses to discuss it, I’ll just pick something. I aim to be married to her within a month.”

Jeremy just shook his head and gave him a sad look. “I want to be happy for you, man. But you’re being reckless, and I can’t support it. But you’re paying for my services, so I’ll give them to you.”

Memphis stood and walked to the window. Phoenix wasn’t the most beautiful city in the world, but it had been good to him. He was ready to start his life with Rylee though, and he had a lot of work to do to move his headquarters.

“Where are we on the paperwork to relocate me to Vegas?” he asked as he propped an arm up on the window and rested his head against it. “I would like to have the house on the market and be out of Phoenix in the next six weeks max.”

“House on the market won’t be a problem. Business stuff may require a few more trips back, but you already have offices in Vegas, so most of it will just be about transferring day-to-day operations. Of course, you could always leave those here and let someone else be in charge.”

Memphis turned and stared at Jeremy. “Seriously? It was not paying close enough attention to the day-to-day operations of the company that landed me in this mess to begin with. No, I’ve already told you I’m tightening my circle not expanding it.”

Jeremy held up both hands. “Hey. I’m just laying out the options. You want to tighten your circle and micromanage your team be my guest, but you’re going to put yourself in an early grave if you don’t prioritize a little differently.”

Memphis knew the lawyer was right, and he wanted to make a life with Rylee that was more than just his company. The best way to do that was to make sure his business circle was tight until this blew over and he could rebuild his reputation.

“I appreciate your concern and all your hard work. I’m not just thinking with my dick here. I swear it. Please work with me on this, Jeremy. Let’s get a plan together that doesn’t involve leaving the day-to-day operations in Phoenix. That doesn’t work for me. I’ll take a number of executive staff with me who are willing to relocate, and others can work remotely from the Phoenix office. Get HR and other appropriate departments involved as soon as polygraphs are finished.”

Jeremy nodded. “It will take a lot of time to get through all the polygraphs. You have to let your people schedule them.”

Memphis dropped into his chair and picked up his phone. He needed to deal with Rylee. She was angry with him and she had a right to be. But he’d hoped their little session on the phone at lunch time would have calmed her anger a little more. Something had happened to flair it back up but having that conversation with her while she was drunk didn’t seem fair. Instead of calling her, he messaged her security detail to make sure she was safe. She was, so he turned his attention back to his work. He would talk to Rylee tonight before she went to sleep.

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