Page 116 of Til Death
“Xylina, what does it say at the top of the form given to you?” I asked my wife.
“The share transfer agreement…”She continued to read, sounding more and more confused as she continued.
“Yosiah. What does this all mean?”
“Well, my darling wife, it means that before your father’s company was seized by the FBI, it was bought out by X-Group, which if you look at the second set of papers, you will see is a shell company owned by…”
“Xylina Bedford,” she answered in disbelief.
“What!” Phillip bellowed, shooting up from the table.
“I don’t get it. I never started a company to take over my dad’s company. Plus I thought the company was out of commission.”
“It would have been if I hadn’t stepped in. You see, your dad thinks he’s smart because he conned thousands of people out of money over the years, but what he doesn’t know is thatI’m smarter.What Daddy Dearest over there didn’t know is once he realized he was going down and first sold his shares, eighty percent of the company, they were bought by yours truly under another shell company. From there, I connected with the other shareholders who were just as confused about what was going on. Once they realized they were at risk of losing everything, they happily sold the rest of their shares to me, which gave me complete control of the business. I’ll save you all the boring behind the scenes stuff, but just know, after learning that yourdad was trying to extort you and leave you high and dry, I knew something had to be done. At first I thought about liquidating the company to earn my money back, but then I had a better idea. Since he stole money from you, you should be the one to own everything.”
Phillip released an obnoxious laugh. “Handing her a failed company? Is that all you think your wife is worth?”
“No actually I believe she’s priceless, but Idobelieveshe’s owedsomething. Gloria.”
Turning her body, she faced David. “Mr. Johnson, as we discussed, here are the forms your clients need to sign.”
Mr. Johnson grabbed the forms, which were pretty straightforward, and took some time to read them over. Once he accepted that they were legit, he gave David the okay to sign.
“Now Mrs. Bedford, if you would sign where the Xs are.” She reached across the table handing the signed forms over.
Xylina looked over at me and I nodded for her to go ahead. A hesitant look displayed on her face, but she did it anyway. Once finished, she handed the documents back to Gloria.
“Yosiah, can you please explain what the hell is happening? I’m starting to feel anxious and I don’t like it,” Xylina pleaded.
“You just sold the shares X-Group owned to David for one point two million dollars.”
Her eyes bucked. “What?” Both she and Phillip gasped.
“Not only that, but Phillip signed the five hundred thousand dollars I offered him over to you as well.”
“I did no such thing!” he shouted.
“But you did.” My eyes narrowed as I picked up the contract he’d signed. “That’s why I said you shouldn’t be so eager to sign anything without reading it.” I paused and glanced at my wife. “You shouldn’t either, but we’ll work on that. As for you, Phillip,”—I eyed him again—“Not only did you sign a contract agreeing to not contact my wife again, but you also signed themoney I was going to give you to her too.” I tossed the bank card his way. “Here’s the card you wanted so badly by the way.”
He stared at the plastic on the table with steam practically coming out of his ears. “There’s no way! You can’t do this!”
“But I can and I did. When I located David and realized he held a grudge toward you for everything you did, I knew he was the perfect ally for me. You know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. David, although he didn’t know everything, knew where a few bodies were buried and what direction I needed to look. You weren’t very good or smart at hiding paper trails. Once I learned where to start, I was able to uncover a lot that not only your shareholders were interested in knowing, but the FBI too.”
The more I spoke, the paler Phillip became. “In the end, it turns out you were already being investigated and the information I passed along was the nail in the coffin they needed to finally take action.”
“You asshole!” Rage overtook his face. “You’re the reason my life is in ruin!”
I wouldn’t be surprised if he shot across the table, but what he didn’t know was that I wasn’t finished.
Grabbing my phone, I tapped the screen a couple times then placed it to my ear. “Send them in.” I hung up and stood.
A couple seconds later, the door busted open and agents came storming in.
“Phillip Fox, you are under arrest,” one of them said.
Phillip’s eyes were the size of golf balls. They ping ponged around as if he was trying to find an escape route.
“You have the right to remain silent,” he started as the other agents closed in on Philip. He fought against the hold.
