The Billionaire From Philly

Brad came into the office, looking a bit concerned, carrying his usual slim portfolio case. He looked to Victor like the epitome of the lawyer-dandy: always in suits, but with unconventional colors, hair done—and he suspected that Brad even got regular manicures. Of course, like most lawyers who felt comfortable dressing to the nines, Brad was extremely good at his job; it wasn’t just that he didn’t feel the need to look overly serious and plain to make the point of his dedication, but that he paid attention to his work just as thoroughly as his wardrobe.

In a way, the fact that Brad dressed so extravagantly had been part of the reason Victor had hired the man to work for him: someone who could afford to maintain that level of high-send style was making good money, and generally that indicated that they were good at their job.

“Good to see you again, Brad,” Victor said, rising to his feet to shake the other man’s hand as the lawyer approached the desk.

“Always good to see you, Vic,” Brad agreed, accepting the handshake. “I’m afraid this is not going to be the best meeting though—there are some irregularities we need to discuss.” Victor frowned.

“Irregularities? What’s up?” He sat down and so did Brad, opening his portfolio case and beginning to take out the tools of his trade.

“I’ve been going over Danielle’s contributions and expenditures, and most of them are absolutely fine,” Brad began. “But there have been a few in the past couple of weeks that are highly, highly suspect.” Victor raised an eyebrow at that. He couldn’t think of anything that Danielle had brought to him in her summaries that had seemed out of the ordinary: every one of the projects, funding campaigns, organizations, and more that she’d reported to him, to spend the daily half-million on, had seemed much in the same character as everything else.

“What do you mean, suspect?” Victor wracked his mind to try and remember something—anything—that might seem suspicious, even to a sharp-minded lawyer like Brad.

“On the surface, they seem like the same run-of-the-mill items,” Brad admitted. “So, it isn’t your fault that you didn’t notice them. But of course, I’ve been doing digging on all the projects you’re funding, all the charities, et cetera, and I’ve seen a few that are not—or at least which don’t seem—like they’re in good faith, below the surface.” Victor stared at his attorney.

“Okay, maybe you should just go ahead and get to the main point on this, because you’re losing me,” Victor said.

“There are about five different things that Danielle has put your money towards which turn out to be—through go-betweens and cover companies and such—programs by the Bey family,” Brad said.

“What?” Brad nodded slowly, turning the tablet-to-laptop device he carried with him around so that Victor could see the screen.

“I don’t know for sure if they’re money laundering schemes but considering the connection…” Brad shrugged. “While I can’t say definitely that this could come back to bite you in the ass legally, I do have to advise you that you need to find out if Danielle did this knowingly.”

Victor looked at the screen, where Brad had pulled up the details of the five items that he had funded for—apparently—members of the Bey family, in some way: one was a youth center project that he had donated to, half the daily budget. Another was a GoFundMe campaign that proclaimed to be for a project to turn an empty lot into a neighborhood playground space.

A third was a charity that—according to Brad’s notes—was, through cover companies and organizations, a front for Bey family operations. There’s no way in hell she did this knowingly, was Victor’s first thought.

“It’s not intentional,” Victor said quickly.

“How can you be sure?” Brad held his gaze steadily. The lawyer had always spoken plainly to him. “She does have a connection to the Bey family.”

“And I have just as much a connection to the Sokolovs, and you’ve never told me that the stuff that I do with Nikolai is suspect,” Victor countered.

“You’re not related to any of the Sokolovs, first of all,” Brad pointed out. “Secondly, all I’m saying is that these might be money laundering schemes. I haven’t been able to get a definitive answer on that yet—if they are, then participating in them makes you look guilty. Especially since you have previous ties to organized crime, no matter how loose those ties are and how—legally, anyway—innocent they are.”

“I want you to find out for sure whether they even are money laundering operations,” Victor told his lawyer. “I will talk to Danielle about this, but I’m not going to just assume that she is purposely putting me in a position to end up being caught in a Fed sting or something.” He sat back in his chair.

“You’re getting really defensive about this, Vic,” Brad observed, looking a little suspicious of the reason. “I know she’s beautiful and all—but if this was a guy on your payroll, would you be this worried about me jumping to a conclusion or would you be calling them in here right now to answer questions?” Victor scowled at the man.

“I know her background,” Victor said. “I hired her because like me, she’s been trying to get legit. You need to stick with your work and I’ll stick with my part of the job. Figure out if the things I donated to through her are even criminal in the first place.” Victor crossed his arms over his chest. “Because personally I can’t believe she’d do that intentionally.”

“But what if she is?” Brad looked at him frankly, unafraid. “You?

??ve known her a few months. She might have thought it would slip through, but I can guarantee you that in a court of law they wouldn’t believe that someone of your wealth would be stupid enough not to investigate thoroughly.”

“We’ve worked together for a while now, Brad,” Victor said, keeping his irritation as much under control as possible. “I appreciate the fact that you’re direct, and you don’t bullshit me. But you need to stay in your own job right now.”

He uncrossed his arms and sat fully upright in his desk chair. “I have told you what I want from you, and how we’re going to resolve this. Unless you’ve got some other problem with Danielle’s work for me, I think we’re done with this particular meeting.” For a few moments, Brad met Victor’s gaze and Victor was fairly certain his attorney was going to continue pressing the point.

“Since you’re my client, and I’m fairly certain you’re not stupid, that’s all I’ve got,” Brad said finally. “But if you find yourself having any doubts, you move fast and don’t worry about the fallout; there’s a much higher risk of much worse fallout if you’re wrong and this goes pear-shaped.”

Victor watched the man rise to his feet, and wondered if he was going to say more, but Brad just gathered up his materials, slipped them into his case, and turned to leave. Victor knew that his attorney was mad at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much about it—not when there was the issue of the accusations against Danielle.

He waited for Brad to leave and took a deep breath. He had been telling the truth to his lawyer: he genuinely couldn’t believe that Danielle would purposely involve his fortune in anything to do with her brother. But of course, now that the question had come up, he had to ask her.

But he had to do it in such a way that she would know, immediately, that he didn’t have any actual doubts about her. Just tell her what Brad said, and that you’re making him chase down whether it even is a money laundering scheme or anything like that, he thought. That way she can’t think that you think she’s guilty of something.

Victor took another quick breath and rose to his feet, locking his computer up as a matter of course and slipping his phone into his pocket. There was a door that connected his office to Danielle’s, conveniently enough, with a bathroom between the two offices that only the two of them could access. He stepped through the little hallway connecting the two rooms and knocked lightly on Danielle’s door.