Page 73 of Deception and New Direction

Wade appeared at the doorway then to apologize to the others in the room. “I’msorry.Mywife gets like this sometimes.Shegets testy ifIdon’t let her, soIjust let her do her thing.Heardyou said it was a very important transaction.Areyou getting a loan,Ruthie?Youknow the investment companyIwork for would have your back and give you anything you need right now.”

Wife?Investmentcompany?Whatin the world….Oh.Theyknew!TheyknewIwasn’t here of my own free will.Howdid they find out so quickly?Iwondered ifIcould get him a message aboutGranddadbefore they hurt him.

“Thanks.It’snot a loan,”Itold him, hoping this worked. “Iinherited some money and am transferring it to my brother’s account.”

A quick glance around the room showed annoyance onRonald’sandJason’sfaces.EvenWade’sface showed a quick moment of shock before it slipped back into the friendly persona.

“If you don’t mind, we need to do this quickly becauseIhave a flight to catch,” my brother interrupted.

“Oh, no, problem.Whereya headed?”Wadeasked as if my brother’s request meant nothing to him.

“How’s your grandfather,Ruthie?Ishe doing okay?”Ellieasked next to me.

Boom.Thiswas my in. “Um, he’s not feeling great, but he has help with him at his house, so hopefully he will be okay untilI’mdone here.”

“Oh,I’mso sorry to hear that,”Elliesaid way overdoing it on the emotions.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but canIask you to leave so we can finish our transaction please?Weare on a time crunch,”Ronaldspoke up and also stood so that he could move towardEllieand usher her out.

“Yes,I’msorry,”Waderesponded, reaching forward to grabEllieand pull her back. “Thoughyoureally shouldn’trush things like this.Goodseeing you,Ruthie, and you are...”

Wade looked at my brother, waiting for a response, butJasonsaid nothing, soIspoke up. “Thisis my brotherJason.”

Wade nodded, and they left and walked back out to the main part of the bank, butIhadn’t missedWade’scomment about not rushing things like this.Assuminghe meant that for me,Itook it as a sign to delay as much asIcould.

Talking.Iwas good at talking to people.

“Umm, how long does it take for the money to transfer?”Iasked the bank associate who was finalizing our paperwork.

He looked up, pausing his work, and spoke to me. “Themoney will transfer over immediately, but it may take up to an hour for it to show up in your account on our website.”

Great.Iwouldn’t be able to stop them from taking the money, but maybeIcould stall them in other ways.Itoccurred to me then that this was going to a joint account.

“Question,”Iasked the bank associate again. “WillIbe able to get a paper copy of all this paperwork today?”

“Often times we just email your copy, butIcan get you a paper copy if you’d prefer,” he responded.

Just asIanswered yes to him, my brother spoke up with the opposite sentiment.

“Sis.”Hewarned. “Ihave my flight to catch, remember?Let’snot take too long.”

His hand reached out to rest on my thigh and squeezed.Itwas a threatening squeeze, meant to tell me to shut up.

I sat in silence while they finished the transfer, hopingWadeandEllieunderstood my message about my granddad.Ifhe was safe,Iwouldn’t mind making a scene here, butIcouldn’t take the chance that they would kill him.AndIknew my father would.

“Okay, well, this printer does not appear to be working,” the bank associate said. “Letme print these final documents on the main printer, andIwill be right back.”

He got up to leave and made his way into the main area.

“When this is done, we’ll go back toHank’shouse and make sureMalis able to access the money on his end,”Jasonsaid. “Ifyou pull any funny stuff before then,I’lltextDadandHankis gone.”

I heard him, butIworried they would do it anyway, especially once they got what they wanted.Iglanced out at the lobby to seeWadestanding over by the front desk behindEllie.Helooked straight at me and winked.Icontinued to stare at him, hoping he would give me a hint as to whatIwas supposed to do but he did nothing else.

“The fuck is taking him so long?” my brother mumbled toRonald.

“Not sure, but this is the last step so once she signs these, it’s done,”Ronaldresponded and then paused as though he was looking at something.

I looked up and saw the same thingRonaldlikely had.Jack.Hehad just walked into the bank and was taking a seat in the chair in the office next to us.Crap.

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