by S. K. Lessly
“Lionel...focus,” Ethan interrupted, tapping his knuckles on the table. “So, now the story is you two have been sleeping together longer than you previously mentioned.”
Lionel nodded then realized what he was admitting to. Ethan was lighting fast as he took Lionel by the back of the head and smashed the side of his face onto the table.
“What did I tell you? I don’t like to be lied to. You think this is a game?” Ethan placed his gun against Lionel’s temple, trapping him. “Lie to me again and you’ll pay for it severely. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes…” Lionel screamed through gritted teeth.
Ethan held him down for a few seconds more before he let the man go. Lionel was incredulous when he righted himself, sending daggers at Ethan. I, on the other hand, was beginning to see the real Ethan. The rage and violence that lived in him. It flowed through his blood as if he was born with it; as if it was a part of him. There was no warmth in his jeweled colored eyes. Just coldness, bitterness, rage, and blackness.
“Now, Lionel,” Ethan began calmly, which I might add freaked me out. I mean, how could he just turn his anger on and off like a running faucet? “Tell me about this woman, Catia. When did you know she was a spy?”
Lionel laughed. “Catia isn’t a spy.”
“No? So, whose idea was it to drug Alexis last night?”
Lionel’s back stiffened. “Whoa, what are you talking about?”
I also stiffened. Drugged?
“Jessica.” Ethan nodded to the woman and she leaned to her left and lifted one of those evidence bags you see on cop shows. The plastic bag held a wine bottle and cup, the one they carried from my house. She placed it on the table. Ethan looked over at Lionel, waiting for an answer.
“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Did you meet Alexis at her parents’ house last night with this bottle of wine?”
Lionel looked at the bottle then at Ethan. “Yes,” he answered hesitantly.
“And did you drink some of the wine that night?”
He straightened in his seat and looked from Ethan to the woman, Jessica, but didn’t reply.
“Did you have some of the wine that night?” Ethan asked again.
“Lionel, tell him you did. I saw you,” I butted in, my body now trembling from the implications Ethan put on the table
Lionel remained quiet for a few seconds longer before he sighed. “Alright, look. I didn’t expect anything to happen. She just said Alexis would fall into a deep sleep and wouldn’t remember anything in the morning. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.”
“Why did you do that?” I asked, my voice soft, my brows furrowed in confusion.
“Alexis,” Ethan admonished softly. I didn’t say anything else but I kept my eyes on my ex, turning my body to face him and watched him. He squirmed in his seat as all three of us focused on him.
“Okay look,” he started again and glanced over at me, “I found out you were keeping money from me. I figured you hacked into some illegal site and stole some money and I wanted it. I told Catia about how you were holding out on me and she said she could get it for me without you knowing.” Blood started rushing in my ears as my heart started picking up its pace.
“So, you let her have access to Lexie’s computer?” Ethan asked him.
Lionel stayed looking at me but nodded to Ethan.
“It was the only way, she said.” He pointed at me. “You owed me.”
“For what!” I exclaimed.
“For false hope. You claimed you understood the dynamics of our relationship. You accepted it and then you started backing out. Not having sex when I wanted, how I wanted. Then you left to be with your mother all the time. To make matters worse, you can’t do the one thing that every woman in America is capable of doing.” My heart sank and I looked down at my balled-up fists. He continued, “I was lonely. And then I find out you had a few million dollars in some bank overseas that you were keeping from me. So, I took what was owed to me.”
My eyes shot back up at him. What?!
“Is that what you two were doing? She was helping you steal Alexis’s money?”
Lionel finally turned back to Ethan. “Yes. She needed her laptop for research purposes. She needed to see the history, you know, every place she visited to make sure could actually steal it. That was like two months ago, I think, somewhere around then. Then since Alexis here broke it off with me, I figured I’d take the rest. It was her idea to drug her so she could use her laptop again.”
“You son of a bitch!” I snapped, my fists balled, ready and poised to punch the crap out of him.
“Look, this was your fault,” he retorted.
I scoffed. “My fault? Are you serious right now?”
“Yes, your fault.” Lionel pointed a finger in my face. “If you weren’t trying to hold out on me.”
“That money didn’t belong to me, you idiot. I didn’t steal anything. I didn’t hack into anything.”
“Where’s the money now, Lionel?” Ethan asked, cutting into our squabble.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I gave Catia the bank account numbers to my account. The money was there last night, when I left Alexis. However, when I got home, the money was gone.”
I ran my hands through my hair. “Oh my God!” I exclaimed, my eyes starting to water.
“What?” Lionel shrugged. “This isn’t my fault.”
I just stared at Lionel as he sat next to me, a stupid smirk plastered on his face, then I lost it. I brought my right fist up and slammed it into Lionel’s face. I mean, I put so much in that hit I found myself falling forward on top of Lionel. I sat up quickly and raised my fist for another punch but was grabbed by a huge forearm. That left my feet free and I kicked him right in his stomach as I was pulled away.
“You stupid son of a bitch!” I screamed. “That money didn’t belong to you. You had no right.”
“I had every right,” he said through gritted teeth, trying to catch his breath. He clutched his stomach and sat up. “Under the common law marriage act in the state of Philadelphia.”
“Oh, that’s bullshit and you know it. There’s no freaking such thing!”
I was kicking toward him, trying to get at Lionel, but someone had me gripped up tight. I assumed it was Lester. I struggled against the hold, begging to be released so I could fucking kill him but stopped when Ethan appeared in front of me.
Chapter Eighteen
Alexis
“Alexis, calm down.”
I stopped struggling and looked up at him, tears streaming down my face. Ethan was so close I could feel his breath on my face. I wanted to revel in his closeness; however, I was so pissed I could barely breathe.
“That was my mother’s money, Ethan. It belonged to my dad,” I admitted. “He stole that from her and now it’s gone.” Ethan put a hand up and sent a nod to the man behind me and Lester released me. Ethan waited a spell, I guess until we had a bit of privacy, before he spoke again.
“Just let me handle this.” Ethan placed his fingers around my forearm, and the heat from his touch instantly soothed me. “I need you to calm down. I got this, okay?” I stared at him a moment, trying to get my body to relax but it was hard. Being this close to this man had always did things to me and despite him trying to kill me, yelling at me, lying to me and arresting me, I still wanted him. Well, my body did, I mean. Not me.
“How much did he take in, all?” he asked me.
I ran my hands through my hair. “About three million.”
His eyebrows rose. “Where did your mom get that kind of money?”
I sighed, seeing the judgment creep in his eyes. “Some years back, she was cleaning out the attic and found some antique items that her mom had given her years ago. I looked up the items for her on the internet wondering if the old stuff was worth anything. Apparently, it was. Some old stuff from slavery days or something. There were statues, slave trade paperwork on some old paper. We sold it to the Black Museum of Natura
l History. I invested the money for her and my father for their retirement. I was aggressive with the investments. It’s the reason why the amount is so high. My father needs that money, Ethan. I can’t believe that son of a—”
“I know, I know.” He rubbed my arms soothingly. “Listen, there’s a lot more we need to get through. I promise you, once I’m done talking to that asshole, we can figure out what to do about the money, okay? But first, I need to ask him more questions and I can’t do that if you’re beating him up.”
I snorted and looked away from him, but I didn’t miss the half smile he sent my way.
“Hey.” He shook me lightly. I glanced back at him. “Promise me you’ll let me handle things from here? No going Rocky on him?”
I reluctantly nodded and he gave my arm one more squeeze before he was gone, taking his heat with him. God, I missed him already, but those dreams of spending the rest of my life with him were dead. And there was nothing I could do about it.
I followed Ethan back to the table. This time, Ethan guided me to the seat next to him. Jessica sat next to Lionel.
“You alright there, Lionel?” Ethan asked him then smiled.
Lionel didn’t reply. He touched the side of his face that was starting to swell a little.
“You crazy b—” Lionel started but was quickly shut down.
“Don’t you even think about finishing that sentence!” Jessica exclaimed, which shocked the hell out of me. She met my eyes and sent a nod my way. I practically fell out of the chair.
“How long have you and Catia been seeing each other?” Ethan stepped right in, resuming his questioning.
Lionel ran his hand along his head before he spoke. “I’ve known her for three and a half years.”
“That’s not what I asked you. Here, let me rephrase my question. How long have you two been fucking?” Ethan asked. I watched Lionel squirm in his chair and I knew the answer wasn’t going to be good for me.
“About three years.”
I fell back in my chair, stunned. I knew the color in my face had to have drained because I felt light-headed, as if I was going to faint. Three years? We were together for three years. We’d been intimate on many occasions, without protection, during those three years. We were trying to conceive for a year and a half.
I stared at him but he didn’t make eye contact. I wanted to stretch across the table and punch him in the face again. How could he do that to me?
“And during those three years, did Catia have access to Alexis’s computer? Other than recently, of course.”
“Well, yeah. There were times she would come over to the apartment and help me with a case I was working on. She would use Alexis’s laptop.”
“Would that be all the time or just a few times?”
Lionel stared at him for a minute, thinking. He then said, “I think all the time. I told her it didn’t make sense to bring hers if we had Alexis’s. All she did was research things I needed.”
Ethan nodded. “So how did you find out about the money?”
“Actually, she and I stumbled on it together. She was working on something for me, researching details about a case I had been working and found a search that Alexis looked up. Some pictures of artifacts or something. She dug deeper, with my permission of course, and she found Alexis had visited this off shore bank on multiple occasions. As a matter of fact, she had two different accounts, both were overseas.”
“And that’s when you two started plotting to steal from her?”
“Yes,” Lionel said simply.
“When was that?”
“Uh about two and a half months ago.”
I started to get angry all over again. I couldn’t believe he’d done that. I couldn’t believe he’d stolen money that didn’t belong to him. Not to mention he thought I had stolen the money in the first place. I was many things, but a thief wasn’t one of them. Seriously, who did that nowadays? Where would I get that kind of money in the first place? Some Russian oligarch or something? I was sure if I looked hard, I could find a way, but I didn’t need to. I had made very smart investments and had made a killing over the years. I also knew how to hide my money from even the government. But, of course, Lionel didn’t know any of that, thank goodness. If he did, he would’ve taken everything.
“And now the money is gone, right? Catia stole from you as well?” Lionel nodded and looked down at the table. “Do you know where she is now?”
“No.”
“Do you know where she lives?”
“Yeah. She…” he paused, then looked strangely at Ethan. “Well, come to think of it, no. I mean, she put down an address in her file but someone recently told me that the address didn’t exist. When I asked her about it, she just told me she was running away from some bad man and didn’t want to put her real address in the file. I didn’t think anything of it, really.”
“I bet you didn’t,” Jessica exclaimed and rolled her eyes. “Did she tell you this before or after she took her clothes off?”
Lionel didn’t reply which said it all.
“Lionel, Lionel, Lionel. It seems you got screwed all the way around,” Ethan chided mockingly.
“How do you figure?” Lionel folded his arms in front of him, defiantly.
“Well for one, the woman you think is named Catia is actually named Yllana Stoyanovich. She’s an arms dealer and a member of the Russian mob. Her brother, Lenin and father, Stravenco Stoyanovich are the leaders of said mob.” He pointed to the two men in the other two photos on the table.
“That’s bullshit. She’s not an arms dealer.” Lionel waved his hand dismissively at Ethan.
“Yes, Lionel. She is. Actually, she’s wanted in seven countries around the world for war crimes and murder.”
Lionel continued to shake his head as Ethan opened the same folder Jessica had and presented four different pictures of Yllana and her family. He also showed him the arrest sheets from NATO listing all the crimes she was suspected of committing.
“Here’s how I think everything happened. You told her, probably during pillow talk, all about Alexis, where she worked, what she did for a living etc., correct? Probably Yllana asked you about her as innocently as she could. She then seduced you into allowing her to help you work all of your cases. She needed a reason to gain access to your apartment and Alexis’s laptop. When the time was right, and she stroked you enough, she went in for the kill. Told you how she found all this money that Alexis was hiding from you. She said she could get it for you and you two could run away together and be happy, right?”
As Ethan spoke, I watched Lionel. When Lionel was working in a court room, he had the best poker face in the world, but when he was flustered and off his game you can read him like a book. Right now, as Ethan told him about his beloved Catia, he got seemingly uncomfortable in his seat. I could tell whatever Ethan was saying was true.
“What you don’t know, Lionel.” I tuned back into what Ethan was saying. “Is that Yllana stole more than just money from Alexis, she stole her identity. She used Alexis’s name and computer to hack into the DOD and steal the specifications of a very classified and top-secret weapon. She framed Alexis to take the fall for it by setting her up last night with the wine and you helped.”
Lionel sat back in his chair. “Whoa. I was with you up until the weapon thing. I know for a fact she didn’t steal any weapon, and she never showed up last night. I was alone with Alexis.” He looked over at me. “Did you check her? She’s the hacker.”
“We did, actually. She’s clean, and unfortunately, Yllana is not.”
“I don’t believe it!”
“Come on, Lionel. Think. What paralegal do you know that can hack into someone’s overseas back account and steal money from a reputable off shore bank undetected? Use the head resting on your neck, not the one in your pants. In fact, I suspect Yllana knew who Lexie was before she even met you. She also knew about the DOD case you helped Lexie on.”
Lionel blanched but I could see he was beginning
to understand the implications Ethan was placing in front of him. I wanted to vomit.
Ethan continued. “The first day she stole a portion of the specs for this weapon, Alexis wasn’t home. She was taking her mother to the doctor, in Dover, and left her personal laptop at home. Her mother called her one day while she was at work and asked if she would take her. So, Alexis left work that day and drove home to help her mom. She stayed for the remainder of the day, not leaving until the next morning. There was no way she could have logged into her computer and stolen anything. But that was one of the nights you and your new paralegal decided to get naked.”
I watched Ethan talk about me as if I wasn’t sitting right next to him. It was like an outer body experience that was turning into a nightmare. Plus, how in the heck did he know all of that? I didn’t tell him about my mom’s appointments and my trips to Dover.
Ethan continued. “The rest of the specs for the weapon was stolen the night you drugged Alexis and set her up.”
Lionel stiffened, shaking his head. “I had nothing to do with stealing a weapon.”
“You have committed treason, Lionel,” Ethan told him, ignoring his declaration of innocence.
“No.” Lionel shook his head vehemently. “I didn’t know anything about a weapon. I told you, she was stealing money for me. Besides, I wasn’t even there when this happened. I gave her the wine, had a few sips before I left her on her porch. I don’t know what she did after I left. I didn’t think she would drink the whole thing.”
Ethan pulled his gun again. “Lionel, I told you I don’t like liars, right?”
He nodded to Jessica. She shifted the laptop closer to her and fumbled with the keys. When she had what she needed, she turned the laptop so we all could see. There was a video starting and what I saw next had bile rising up my throat.
It was a video feed of Lionel carrying me to a blow-up bed in the back room of my mother’s house. It was time stamped for last night
Ethan looked over at a pale faced Lionel. “She didn’t tell you about the cameras, huh? She knew about them. She took care of the feed to block her out of the frames, except for one. She sat on the porch and did her thing while the other cameras caught you carrying Alexis to the back room. She set you up to take the fall with Alexis and you’re going down with accessory.” Ethan tilted his head and said as an afterthought, “Did she tell you she loved you?”