LOGINShare
Chapter 48
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 49
One week later . . . Bruce was lounging on Alec’s sofa at his house. Bruce was sipping on a beer, and Alec was nursing a rum and Coke. Lana was upstairs lying down. She was further along in her pregnancy, so she got tired easily. They had learned last month that she was having a boy. Ever since then, Alec had been bragging about how he was going to teach the kid how to play football and basketball. Alec had already bought him a football, and the kid hadn’t even been born yet. “Bruce, I know you said you are fine, but you’re not,” Alec said flatly. “It’s like working and hanging out with a completely different person.” “Ah, shit. I don’t want to talk about this,” Bruce groaned and sipped his beer. “I know you felt like the lowest specimen on the food chain after you . . . saw Margo at the safe house that last time. You know she’s mad at you . . . probably thinks you’re the biggest asshole in the world. The only wa
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 50
It was Saturday. William Blanchette and Neil Rolls were at Margo’s condo instead of spending time with their families. They really wanted her to work for the bureau. During the week, she had filled out several job applications. She wasn’t sure if anything would come of it or not. Margo had to admit that the job at the FBI sounded intriguing and challenging, but she really didn’t want to be put in a position to interact with Bruce on a regular basis. Plus, she wasn’t sure how she would be received by any co-workers she would have to interact with. After all, she was a former bank robber, and Bruce’s co-workers could see her as a manipulative skank. She expressed that to the gentlemen as they enjoyed sweet tea and pepperoni and cheese snacks. “Perhaps we can make it where you can work from home,” Neil Rolls said. “We can set up a secure server here and communicate through email.” “It could work,” Blanchette mused and sipped his tea.
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 1
Bruce was helping his best friend, Alec, move the rest of his things into his fiancée’s house. Until he was married, Alec and his German Shepard, Lucky, were going to stay at Bruce’s apartment. Alec and Bruce had just finished carrying in the last four boxes, an elliptical trainer, and free weights. They were resting on the couch. Alec’s four-year-old daughter, Keisha, walked in. Lucky followed behind her. She was carrying a stuffed bear. “Are you finished?” She had dark brown hair that was up in a ponytail. “For now, honey,” Alec answered. “Good. So you’ll live with us now?” Keisha asked. “Just a few more days, sweetie. It won’t be long,” Alec answered. “It’ll go by before you know it.” “Okay, Daddy. Mommy said lunch will be ready in a few minutes,” Keisha said. “Uncle Bruce, are you staying for lunch?” “I wouldn’t miss it,” Bruce replied. “Good. I like it when you’re here, too
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 2
Three weeks after the wedding . . . Margo and Bobbi walked up the plank to the forty-foot yacht docked at the Tampa Bay Marina. A meeting with all four partners had been called by Aaron, their scout and master planner. The sun was shining, and it was about ninety degrees. The scent of the ocean filled the air. They walked to the patio area on the back deck. Anthony was already there. “Hey, girls,” Aaron greeted. At thirty-six years of age, he had dark blond, slightly curly hair that was a little long in the back like a beach bum. He lived and operated from the yacht, Christina. “I got mimosas already poured. I figured we could have a light brunch. The casserole will be ready in twenty minutes, and we’re having croissants too.” “Marvelous,” Bobbi said as she sat down next to Anthony on the green upholstered, cushioned booth. “I haven’t eaten all day.” She picked up a mimosa-filled champagne glass off the table. Mar
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 3
Two days later . . . Aaron had given the members of BAAM a week to give him a decision on the FRB heist. Margo had a few friends in Tampa, but no family. It wouldn’t be that big of a hardship for her to leave the state. But never seeing or talking to Bobbi again pained her. They had shared a lot of good times. She had also shared some good times with Anthony and Aaron, but not like she did with Bobbi. They had girl talked about men and the latest fashions. Being friends with Bobbi had made Margo’s life less lonely. If they did the job and pulled it off, she would have all the money she would ever need, but she’d be alone. Her father had left her and her mother when she was six, never to be seen nor heard from again. Her mother was a drug addict who had contracted HIV from sharing needles and died from complications of the disease. Plus, Margo was an only child. She had been married twice, but neither one of those relationships had worked out.
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 4
The decision had been made. BAAM was going to hit the Federal Reserve. They had ironed out the first few steps they needed to take. They were going to meet again in a week to give Aaron cashier checks for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was in charge of allocating the funds where it was needed. Margo had just arrived at Tampa’s premier nightclub, Club Prana, with Anthony and his cousin, Morris, who was the same age as Anthony. They went to the sky bar, which was located on the roof of the club. They had just dropped Bobbi off at the airport. She had gotten a job interview under an alias Anthony created for her. She had worn a red-haired wig and contacts that made her eyes look blue. Bobbi was the master of disguise with makeup and was able to angle her cheekbones to looks slimmer than they really were. The interview was at the reserve location in Dallas. Atlanta didn’t have any openings that she had experience doing. They sat
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 5
Margo had made a list of things to do and get in order before and after BAAM hit the Federal Reserve Bank. She also had to work on creating the virus. Then she would have to put the virus through several trials to make sure it worked.BAAM sat inside an office in an old factory located in the industrial district of Tampa. It used to be a sewing factory until the crash in 2008. The recession after the crash doomed the factory for good. No one had been in it since. According to Aaron, the owner of the building was a motivated seller, and he got the place dirt cheap. He had used a dummy corporation to get a loan from the bank and put down fifty grand as a deposit. “Well, this is it. What do y’all think?” Aaron asked. “It’s big and dusty,” Bobbi answered with her noise turned up. “I’ll be sure to hire a cleaning service,” he said sarcastically. “We haven’t had a chance to really look around,” Anthony stated. “As long as it has po
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 6
Bruce and Margo met in the parking lot of Jimbo’s Steakhouse. The place looked like a huge log cabin on the outside. The parking lot was full of cars, trucks, and SUVs. As Bruce bragged about the food at Jimbo’s, Margo was thinking that she would have to wash her car tomorrow because the parking lot was more dirt than gravel. She was thankful that she took Bruce’s advice and dressed down for the occasion. This place wouldn’t appreciate Blahniks, diamond earrings, and a designer dress. She wore blue jeans and tennis shoes. Her white blouse was open and tied in a knot at the bottom. Her light blue tank top hugged her double- D breasts. They walked through the door. She refrained from frowning at the loud country music that blasted from the ceiling speakers. Not only was there sawdust on the floor but nut shells as well. Well, I’ll be damned, she thought with wide eyes. Barmaids with tight, white T-shirts walked around with tray
Latest chapter
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 50
It was Saturday. William Blanchette and Neil Rolls were at Margo’s condo instead of spending time with their families. They really wanted her to work for the bureau. During the week, she had filled out several job applications. She wasn’t sure if anything would come of it or not. Margo had to admit that the job at the FBI sounded intriguing and challenging, but she really didn’t want to be put in a position to interact with Bruce on a regular basis. Plus, she wasn’t sure how she would be received by any co-workers she would have to interact with. After all, she was a former bank robber, and Bruce’s co-workers could see her as a manipulative skank. She expressed that to the gentlemen as they enjoyed sweet tea and pepperoni and cheese snacks. “Perhaps we can make it where you can work from home,” Neil Rolls said. “We can set up a secure server here and communicate through email.” “It could work,” Blanchette mused and sipped his tea.
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 49
One week later . . . Bruce was lounging on Alec’s sofa at his house. Bruce was sipping on a beer, and Alec was nursing a rum and Coke. Lana was upstairs lying down. She was further along in her pregnancy, so she got tired easily. They had learned last month that she was having a boy. Ever since then, Alec had been bragging about how he was going to teach the kid how to play football and basketball. Alec had already bought him a football, and the kid hadn’t even been born yet. “Bruce, I know you said you are fine, but you’re not,” Alec said flatly. “It’s like working and hanging out with a completely different person.” “Ah, shit. I don’t want to talk about this,” Bruce groaned and sipped his beer. “I know you felt like the lowest specimen on the food chain after you . . . saw Margo at the safe house that last time. You know she’s mad at you . . . probably thinks you’re the biggest asshole in the world. The only wa
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 48
Three months later . . . Two weeks after Margo’s plea deal, the feds tracked Earl Churchill in the Bahamas. From what Bruce heard, US Marshalls barged into his little bungalow as he was screwing a twenty-three-year old. He was arrested for accessory to a federal crime. His trial was scheduled for early fall.Bobbi Bennett had been caught a month ago. She used one of her aliases to request a cashier’s check for seven million dollars for a yacht. She had abandoned Aaron’s because she knew the authorities were looking for it. Her plan had been to live on the new yacht in the Caribbean for at least a year, then she was going overseas. She had told the US attorney that the last time she saw Anthony was in South America in exchange for the Justice Department lowering her sentence to fifteen years with a chance of parole in ten.Anthony Mandel was discovered in Belize when the authorities there busted a brothel a month after Bobbi had given them the lead. Trent Michaels was able
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 47
During Alec and Bruce’s stay, Bruce sat in the car. He couldn’t even stay in the same house as Margo. Even Alec barely talked to her. There was no reason to linger downstairs, so Margo went back to her bedroom. In hindsight, she should have gotten out of the crew at the very least. Perhaps Bruce was right. She had gotten greedy – and full of herself. Bruce wasn’t perfect, but it had appeared he had changed – for her, to be with her. Margo should have taken a chance and told him everything about her past and BAAM. In the end, it wasn’t worth keeping the secret because BAAM had broken up in the worse way possible, she was broke, and worst of all, she had hurt Bruce, a man she loved more than anything.Margo fell back on the bed as tears started streaming down her face. “Oh, God,” she whimpered. She would take it all back if she could. If she had made different choices, she and Bruce would be together and happy right now. Turning her face, she sobbed into the pillow, crying herself to sl
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 46
A feeling washed over Margo when she was done. It was relief. Not just because she had avoided prosecution, but it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. Margo hadn’t realized how keeping her criminal life under wraps had weighed her down until now.She had laid out her secrets for the federal government to examine and mull over. But she was no fool. She had left out the Largo Jewelry store heist BAAM had pulled during the early days. Of course, she told Deidre about it, but she had advised Margo to leave it out and not to tell her any details about it. Robbing a jewelry store was not a federal offense. The store was in California, and the owner could still press charges against her for the theft.With the exception of that one thing, Margo had revealed all, including Bobbi’s two alternate aliases. Margo had learned them when she transferred Aaron’s cut of the money out of his account and Aaron’s aliases that they were under. As soon as Bobbi
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 45
Two days later, Margo had been allowed to shower and change into the clothes Deidre had brought for her. She had also brought Margo some makeup. They were meeting with Trent Michaels at the FBI offices to work out a deal. US Marshalls handcuffed her wrists for transport. When they had arrived, Deidre’s paralegal, Owen Jessup, was already there waiting on them. Deidre had wanted a witness that was on their side present during the meeting. They walked the hall to a room that had a large table and seven chairs. There was a large glass window in the room. Margo knew that people were on the other side of it, watching her. Deidre, Margo, and Owen waited for five minutes in silence before Trent Michaels walked in with FBI agents she was familiar with — Vic, Tommy, Troy, friends of Bruce and Alec’s. Vic was carrying a large recording device. “Good afternoon,” Trent greeted as he placed his black briefcase on the table. He sat down in a chair acr
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 44
US attorney for Middle District of Florida Trent Michaels and US attorney for Northern District of Texas Lawrence Osborne had gone back and forth about who had rights to the case. Margo’s attorney, Deidre Underwood, had gotten into the fray and argued that Margo should be taken back to Tampa. In the end, Deidre had petitioned the court to let a federal judge decide. Since the Federal Reserve was a federal institution with locations all over the country, the judge stated that the crime was committed against the bank as a whole. Plus, the judge had noted that Margo had been in Tampa when she hacked the Federal Reserve, so it was Tampa’s case to deal with.On day four, US Marshalls had escorted Margo back to Florida. A bail hearing had been held the same day. Bail was denied because the judge saw her as a flight risk. That was just as well for Margo because she had nowhere to go if she had been let out on bail. Plus, the FBI had confiscated her bag of money, so she couldn’t pay it withou
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 43
The last thing she remembered was coughing and Bruce’s wet face before everything went black. Now she was staring at white walls and lying in a hospital bed with one of her wrists handcuffed to the rails. She looked over to see a nurse who was looking at a machine that beeped every now and again. Then the nurse looked at her. “Oh good, you’re awake. You were out for a while. How do you feel?” she asked with a Mexican accent. She had dark hair that was in a ponytail, and she wore blue scrubs. “Like crap,” Margo answered bluntly and hoarsely. The side of the nurse’s mouth kicked up. “I’m not surprised. You still have a little water in your lungs. You won’t be able to leave until we get that cleared up. I’ll let them know that you’re awake.” “When you say them, I take it you mean the authorities?” “Si,” she said solemnly. “But I overheard a few of them talking. Maybe it will make you feel better to know that you did
Love, Money, and Lies (A Series of Secrets 2) Chapter 42
The doorman at the Sunset Marina Resort & Yacht Club remembered Margo. He had told the agents that she took a cab yesterday and he hadn’t seen her since. He had also told them the cab company she used to leave. After questioning and showing eight cab drivers her picture, they had finally found the one that had driven her to Playa del Carmen. The break got better when he told them the name of the motel he had dropped her off at. They were only half a day behind her. Chances were that she was still there. The Mexican National Guard had let the US Marshalls and the FBI borrow a couple of their vehicles to drive to Playa del Carmen. Four Dallas field agents and two US Marshalls had stayed behind to talk to passing tourists and show them pictures of the other suspects. FBI agents and US Marshalls spread out at the small, humble-looking motel like ants. They showed her picture to people in the area. The desk clerk was so scared when he saw the
