With my hunger assuaged, I combed out the knots in my hair and while it air-dried, I sat at the dining table with all the bits and pieces of paper and checks I’d collected throughout the day. I began to add up all the checks and made a list of all the promissory notes we’d received. A quick calculation showed that with our cut of the vendors sales we would achieve about seventy-five percent of our target.
That still left twenty-five percent to be funded. Though it sounded like a small percentage, I had to remember that getting to the seventy-fifth percent in the first place was as a result of hundreds of donations, countless emails and phone calls, and much begging and pleading. And quite frankly, we were all begged out. I felt as if we could go no further and were all tapped out with raising funds. I did not believe I could ask anything else of the committee of me either.
I went back through the figures again, and realized that if I removed the promises made, our gap widened closer to a forty percent shortfall. That was alarming. What if these promises were not fulfilled? We were hoping to start renovation works in the summer.
My thoughts turned to Max. Could I trust him to honor his pledge of picking up the shortfall? Where could he have gotten so much money in the short space of time he had been free? Was there any truth in what Robert had said about being sure of where Max’s money was coming from before taking it?
I fished his card out of my purse and stared at the simple bold lettering.
I turned the card over in my hand. BB Tech. Wondering what BB stood for, I walked over to my laptop on the kitchen counter and booted it up. A quick internet search showed a company which was barely four years old, but was already making waves in the technology industry.
From all indications, they were doing good business, but my jaw dropped when I dived deeper and found out that the company had netted no less than eight figures in the last two years alone. Max had become a wealthy man even behind bars. Come to think of it, he had not been lacking in funds when he had been arrested either.
Not for the first time, I wondered why he would need to embezzle. But then I remembered the blackmail bit. Which made me remember the photos. And the memory made me cringe. I was the clueless idiot in that scenario, but as I looked at the company’s site now, my gut instinct told me that any money from Max would be above-board. Perhaps he had turned over a new leaf, at least financially.
It would seem I could trust his money, but I would never dare trust his heart again.
I would get the final figures from contractors and suppliers for the total cost of the renovation and find out exactly how much the shortfall was. Then I would approach Max armed with figures and keep my fingers crossed as he wrote the check. Once it cleared, I would be finally done with the likes of Max Blackstone.
7
MAX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCdLKXNF3w
-there’s a room where the light won’t find you-
Isat in my car for a few minutes after leaving the fairground.
It took every ounce of willpower not to go back and rip Robert’s arms off for daring to touch Savannah. The very thought of what I wanted to do made me angry as I felt conflicted between remembering that Savannah and I were no longer together. She had abandoned me. And slam her against a wall and fuck the living hell out of her.
“That’s what happens when you start thinking with your dick, you fucking dick.”
My jaw clenched as I saw Robert walking through the parking lot. Again, I found myself having to restrain myself from getting out of the car and taking my anger out with my fists. Violence was not my nature, but four years behind bars messes up even the most peaceful of people. I had to use my fists a couple of times until I found my feet and fixed a very complex software issue for the penitentiary.
It was all special perks and privileges thereafter.
I took a deep breath and watched Robert head in the opposite direction. He disappeared behind some cars and I was relieved I had not allowed my anger to get the better of me. I much preferred the current revenge route I was on anyway. Punches and a black eye would fade, but running his business into the ground would be forever.
I started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. I felt too on edge to end the day and head home. I turned in the direction of downtown and before I knew it, I was pulling into a parking garage and heading down the sidewalk towardsChewsdays. As expected, the bar and grill was still scantily populated. A few hours later and I would have been lucky to find a wall to lean on while I sipped a drink.
I slid onto a stool near the end of the bar with a good view of the room.
The bartender made his way to me. “What will it be?”
I put my credit card on the bar counter and pushed it towards him. “Two double whiskeys, no ice.”
He gave me a look before moving off to make my drink. I guess not many people ordered two stiff drinks in one go at this time of the evening. The way I felt right now, two of those were going to do nothing to get me out of my current mood. I’d have to crawl out of here on my hands and knees before I could get the sight of his filthy hands on her out of my system. The drinks arrived and I downed both and ordered another two. This time the barman’s eyebrows shot upwards.
I stared into the depths of the amber liquid, my head was alive with the past.
I remember feeling as if a horse had kicked me in the stomach when I first saw her. Robert and I were at a bar to celebrate our newest account and the night was going well. Then I went to the toilet and by the time I came back Robert had managed to buy a girl in a red dress a drink. He was leaning close to her and whispering something in her ear. All I could see as I made my way to them was that she had long thick hair that fell in waves all the way down to her great ass. When Robert caught my eye, I winked at him, and mouthed, “great catch.” But then I drew alongside her and she turned those incredible hazel eyes on me and I froze. I actually froze. I couldn’t move. My heart felt as if it had stopped beating. My jaw went slack.
Robert was staring at me strangely, and I knew I was making a fool of myself, but I couldn’t stop staring. I think it was lust at first sight because I wanted her like I’d never wanted anybody else ever. I could feel the desire for her vibrating in my guts. I was like a caveman who was claiming his mate. I swear, the way I felt, I would have killed any man that stood in my way that night.
“Have I got spinach on my teeth or something?” she asked self-consciously.
I shook my head and felt Robert give a hearty thump on my back. “This here is Maximus, but everybody calls him Max. He works for me. Does all the complicated software stuff only real nerds understand.”