Chapter 109

Jess looked at her friends and felt some of her motivation return. She had soldiers in her army now. People she could rely on to her help fight Before she was a lone general, deserted on an open battlefield, a prime target for her enemy. Now she led a battalion. The best team she could think of.
“I can talk to Alex,” Sabrina offered. “He had some law enforcement connections and could also help to find an attorney for this case. I haven’t asked, mostly because I’m afraid to, but I’m almost certain he’s got some more… nefarious connections as well.”
“Girl, what in the hell did you get yourself messed up in?” Jess teased.
“He’s hot as hell, I couldn’t help it!” she laughed.
“He’s also both madly in love with and terrified of you,” Emma pointed out.
“Damn straight. He knows I can do more damage to him than whatever underworld muscle he knows.”
“Atta girl,” Jess smiled.
Their moment of levity was short lived as Emma brought them back to reality.
“I’ll ask Will about it. It’s his company, right?”
“That’s the problem,” she huffed. “After everything that happened, I went through all the paperwork and saw that it didn’t say ‘Stewart Industries’ on it anywhere.”
“How is that possible?” Emma asked.
“I asked Dad about it. He told me that the project manager explained that Stewart Industries had handed the building over to one its subsidiaries. Dad had the good sense to question it at first, but after he saw those dollar signs, all good sense flew out the window.”
“That’s suspicious,” Emma said.
“It gets worse. I contacted Stewart Industries to confirm all of this. The subsidiary is a company called Rupert Steward Holdings. It was under the Stewart Industries umbrella but had been operating alone for years.”
“Like they broke away?”
“More like Stewart Industries pushed them away. The woman I spoke to wouldn’t say much. But she told me that Rupert Steward Holdings was a stand-alone company now.”
“This is getting shadier and shadier by the second,” Sabrina said.
“It’s crazy,” Emma agreed.
“And it just gets worse,” Jess added. “I dug up as much info on them as I could. And it wasn’t much. I found an address and it took me to an abandoned building.”
“It’s a paper company,” Sabrina gasped.
“I think so,” Jess hung her head. “My dad got swindled. We’ve got lawsuits, medical bills, a dead man’s family all looming over us, and the burden has fallen to me. Up until then, I thought I’d be able to handle this. But now I know I can’t. I had just about given up hope. But I snapped out of it. I knew it was a good time to reach out again because the dangerous side of things had died down. I need you guys. If anything, to just help keep me sane while I fight this.”
“Girl, no,” Sabrina stood. “This is a war and we’re here to fight.”
“That’s right!” Emma stood as well. “This is some crazy nonsense, and we need to make sure that everyone involved is brought to justice. We’ve got you.”
“You two are the best. But don’t kick all the ass on your own.” She punched her fist to emphasize her anger. “Someone is going to pay for this. And it’s personal.”
While Emma, Sabrina, and Jess were meeting, Alex finally managed to post bail for Will.
“Thanks, man,” Will said as he slid into Alex’s car. “How did you manage it?”
“It wasn’t easy. Whoever was blocking it worked hard to make sure you stayed in there. The evidence they had was fabricated as fuck, though. I used the messages from Grace to cast the doubt on why you were there.”
“They really thought I was there to sell drugs?”
“Sure did. But after I showed proof that you had a previous arrangement to meet there, they had to allow a bond to be set.”
“What about Grace?”
“That’s the bad news my friend. Threatening and stalking technically aren’t illegal, so…”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Will roared. “So, she can do this again?”
“Afraid so. But next time, just don’t go. Don’t be that guy.” Alex patted Will’s shoulder.
“I won’t be, I promise. Did you find out anything about my uncle?”
Alex sighed, and his knuckled tightened the steering wheel. Will didn’t like it.
“He’s got more security around him right now than the damn Queen of England. I’m taking there are fucking armed guards outside his home and the office. He doesn’t go anywhere, and I mean anywhere, without at least two escorts.”
“He’s scared,” Will mused. “But of what?”
“I’ll tell you why. He did something that’s gonna come back and bite him in the ass. Hard.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s nothing concrete. Word on the street is that your Uncle Robert has his fingers in some pies he shouldn’t have been looking at.”
“Like father, like son.”
“I fear this may just be the beginning of whatever this is.”
“You think Grace is involved in this?”
“Maybe. I can’t tell for sure. But whatever strings he’s pulling… I’m sure there are more than a few puppets on the ends.”
“I’m sure you’re right.”
“Where do you wanna go? Your house? My house? Emma’s?”
“I’d go straight to Emma’s, but I don’t have any clothes or anything at her place.”
“Why would you need clothes at Emma’s place?” Alex wiggled his eyebrows.
“Shut up!” Will laughed. “It’s not like that. She… She doesn’t want that.”
“Do you?”
“Of course, I do! It’s all I can think about most days! I’ve been going crazy. I’ve thought about her in every which way possible. But I can’t be that guy anymore. She’s got to know I’ve changed.”
“Have you changed?”
“I hope so.”
While Will’s desire for Emma hasn’t diminished in any way, he had to keep control himself. Whenever he saw her, it was all he could do to keep from tearing her clothes off and pinning her to a wall. They weren’t good at communicating, but they fucked like champions, and he wanted… no needed to have again. But he had to show restraint. More than anything, more than his own yearning for Emma, he had to know that she wanted him to. It had to come from her. He would not touch her unless she wanted it.
“Well then, I suggest the first thing you do is shower and shave,” Alex teased. “Because no one is going to want you with that caveman beard.”
“Shut up. You think this is sexy, just admit it.” Will joked.
“We’ve talked about this. I love Sabrina. You’ll just have to love me from afar.”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Will laughed.
“Takes one to know one.”
“Ouch.”
They arrived at Will’s home. Alex offered to stay for a while, but Will declined. He wanted to clean up and needed time to plot out his next moves. Security was tighter at Will’s home, ensuring that Grace, or anyone else for that matter,” couldn’t get inside. He considered asking Emma to come back to live with him, for safety, or possibly temporarily relocating to Lyncrest. She was on maternity leave for a few months so work should not be an obstacle for her.
“I’ll message her first thing in the morning. Right now, shower.”
Will went into his bathroom and turned the water on as hot as he could stand it. He’d been arrested in his younger days for dumb things here and there. But he was always released. This time was in actual prison. Somehow, he was lucky, and none of the other inmates touched him. But he saw and heard things he’d rather forget. He winced as the steaming water cascaded over his body, but soon adjusted. After the initial sting, it was soothing. The ragged edges of his psyche started to smooth out and he felt more at ease about everything.
After he felt clean enough, he dried himself off and wrapped a towel around his waist. He laughed at his reflection.
“Yeah. This beard is as bad as everyone said it was. Time to go.” When the offending facial hair was gone, he admired himself in the mirror. There you are. His fingers ran through his damp hair. It had grown longer than he was used it, but he found he quite liked it. It fell below the nape of his neck, brushing the top of his shoulders. The front fell around his face, like a thick dark frame. He pushed his back with his hands and tied it a small bun at the back of his head. He’d cut it eventually, he thought. But for now, it could stay.
He emerged from his bathroom and was startled by a knock on his door. Feeling content and relaxed from his shower, he opened it without thinking.
Emma drank in the sight before her. His golden skin, sparkling with droplets of water, the scent of his expensive body wash, his wet, tousled hair tied back…God, it’s longer. Is that a man bun? Why do I like that? Holy shit, he’s hot.
“Emma!” Will was surprised.
“I… um… thought you’d ask who was there before opening the door,” Emma offered as a dazed explanation.
“Yeah, right. Um… let me go put something on…” He closed the door but couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his face. It was nice to know that he still had that effect on her. “Meet me in Pop’s study, okay?” he called from his side of the door.
“R-right!” she stammered and scurried away.
Will threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and walked over to where Emma was waiting. Again, Emma was treated to a sexy sight has she’d never seen Will in such casual clothes. It was either a suit, or nothing. And those sweatpants did not leave much to the imagination.
“I was going to call you in the morning to let you know I got out.”
“I know. But Alex told Sabrina and she told me, so here I am.”
“Right. So, what’s up? I know you didn’t just to welcome me home.”
“I need your help.”