Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 2

Ch. 21: Partial Disclosure

My grandfather and I stare at each other. I'm wondering if the person he called is some kind of high-level investigator, and if now I'm going to have not only the FBI but my grandfather's hired guy following me. Maybe to spy on me, maybe to protect me.

Probably both.

"Why did you go to New York with Max Bennett?" he asks me.

"Who did you just call and agree to meet with?"

"You can't avoid my question by asking one of your own," he says, and I'm reminded suddenly of two kids on a playground arguing I asked you first.

"It's complicated," I finally say.

"I have time to listen." We stare at each other, neither of us wanting to back down, for what feels like several minutes but is probably much shorter.

I do owe him an explanation, considering the fact that I not only lied to him but he found out about the lie when we were confronted by the FBI. I suppose there's no harm in telling him the truth. Or at least part of the truth.

"Ok, look, I accidentally walked in on something when I was in Las Vegas with Max. At that time I didn't know that he was anything but a legitimate businessman trying to live down his father's infamous reputation."

Andrew nods. "But you know better now."

"I know better now."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what you walked in on."

"Nothing violent or criminal, if that's what you're thinking. Just a meeting."

I can see by his eyes that he gets it now.

"A meeting no one was supposed to know was going on, I presume."

"That's right."

"And?"

"And Max had to introduce me as his lawyer so that the . . . other parties . .. would be confident that I wouldn't say anything. About seeing them together, or about their business."

He waits. Andrew is good at just letting the silence stretch out, waiting for you to fill it. Meanwhile, I'm debating how much I should actually tell him.

"I took a look at some documents, made some suggestions," I admit.

"Documents that have to do with a crime?"

"No, not really. Not on the face of it. But I suspected that there was more to it than the business deal it looks like on the surface. And based on that assumption, I made some suggestions on additional language that . . . " I'm not sure how to finish that sentence.

"That makes the deal look even more legitimate," my grandfather says.

"Yes."

He leans back in his chair and shakes his head. "Money laundering."

I stare at him across the desk. "How did you know?"

"How did I know? Because I'm not stupid, Hadley. And I can guess what kind of people were involved in the meeting."

Yeah, he probably can. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. And my grandfather may be many things, but stupid isn't one of them.

"Was this meeting the reason you told Max Bennet you were putting an end to the personal relationship?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, I promised to tell you the truth, so I'll admit it. That wasn't enough to make me want to stop seeing him. It was just something he was following through on that had to do with a deal his father agreed to before he went to prison. And the deal itself isn't anything illegal. It just . . . has the potential to be used for another purpose."