Breaking Out Bk. 02 Ch. 06

The last six months had been crazy but strangely satisfying. It had been full of business and personal challenges, but Helen, Greg and Ellie had faced them together and, with the almost reluctant help of Byron they had improvised, adapted and overcome every one of those challenges.

The first challenge had been to assimilate Byron and Ellie into Helen and Greg's life and family ... a family that also included Amy and Serge. It started out really well with an unforgettable weekend for Byron's birthday but when they actually moved in together it started to go downhill very quickly.

Sadly, three people tried their hardest to make it work while one did nothing. Despite being in his 50's, Byron was more of a child than an adult thanks to his sheltered upbringing.

He still believed that problems and mundane chores were for others to solve or do and every challenge was surmountable if you threw enough money at it. Fortunately, Byron and Ellie had enough money of their own to solve the problems that just about any person the planet might have ... but living under the one roof with a couple who were prepared to work to solve their challenges was not one of them.

But living separately but just next door to one another was a solution that money could buy ... even though the house next door to the Helen and Greg was not for sale. But throw enough money at the problem and add a little sweet talking by Helen and the house next door became Byron and Ellie's and peace and pleasure returned to the relationship just before Ellie reached the point where divorce seemed like the only option.

Byron and Ellie had definitely not wanted to return to their mansion. Ellie had confided in Greg that she really did not like living in a house where generations of her ancestors had lived before, and their portraits hung on many of the walls. She felt that they were watching her and were condemning her just because of her morals.

Of course, most of the men in that family had their dalliances and more than one of the women had lovers but those were never spoken of while Ellie was more open and honest. She wasn't trying to hide the fact that she was beginning to love Helen and Greg with a passion that only got stronger the longer they were together.

Byron was happy to leave the mansion if it meant being closer to Helen. While he had become a little more circumspect with Helen his love for this worldly-wise woman was growing and he admitted ... at least to Greg ... that he was happy to have found Helen and been welcomed into her life.

Byron was very happy with their new house too and he secretly didn't want to return to the mansion either. Their new house was larger than Greg and Helen's and had more than enough room for his office and his PA and, when they removed the side fence Helen could slip across to see Byron whenever she wanted to, and Ellie could go the other way to see Greg.

They could even cross over as couples although it was usually Byron and Ellie heading for Greg and Helen's place because they all seemed to like the Weston's big bed better ... and the extra fun that came with having other horny people living in the house was another excellent reason to visit too.

Not so quickly overcome was the issue of finding more staff for Helen's burgeoning business. The analysis that the business was providing to The Syndicate was allowing the group of wealthy men to make investments that were almost guaranteed to make them more money and there were others in the investment community who were wondering how The Syndicate could be doing so well.

Helen had started with the intention of flying under the radar and not growing the business beyond a small client base. Although she hadn't said anything at the time she had been hurt when the small businesses they had been helping when she and Greg had been doing consulting at the same time as they ran the lumber yard all turned on her and Greg when she started doing porn.

She didn't want that to happen again and so she had focused on the work for The Syndicate because they knew what her other occupation was all about and they valued her work regardless of what other things she did.

However, the reality was that her business needed to grow ... she knew that she needed to go hard or go home ... and after a lot of discussion with Greg she decided to go a little harder and so HGEB Partners was born.

The business was a complete mystery to the investment community and, thanks to one of Byron's corporate lawyers, finding out who was behind this new company was proving to be impossible. Even finding their offices was difficult and the closest anyone got to it was a shopfront in Guntersville Alabama.

And to hire Helen and her team was all but impossible too because they didn't advertise their phone number anywhere. Who needs to advertise when all your work comes through referrals or a group of trusted individuals who have enough work that might keep you going for years?

But Helen was no dumb bunny ... she knew that the very thing that allowed her to develop the business unhindered by gossip and hypocrisy was the very thing that would destroy the business if her only source of work ever decided to move away from her.

Plus, she wanted to expand back into consulting and three of the four guys in The Syndicate were already using her business for that purpose. She and Greg talked for hours as they considered becoming a little more public. She also spent some time in pillow talk with the guys from The Syndicate to see what they suggested.

Byron had spoken so highly of his time with her that one night of the party that the other three quietly approached her to buy some of her personal time. They never spoke to each other about it and Helen never revealed that she was seeing them ... and being paid handsomely for her time ... but even Byron was doing a little cheating on his wife with Helen.

Helen understood that some guys get an even bigger thrill out of sex if they have to pay for it and Byron had almost pleaded with her to be allowed to pay for some of her time and he had begged her not to tell Ellie about it.

Helen was happy to accept Byron's money, but she did let Ellie know what was happening. At first, Ellie was a little angry but then she decided that if Byron could play without telling her then so could she and one of her pilots suddenly found that he was getting to spend a lot more layover time with her than he had in the past.

She used the excuse that she needed to keep her hours up on the 737 in her fleet so, at least once every two weeks she appeared in the cockpit on the LA to Montreal run and it was just coincidence that those appearances always coincided with flights that her lover was working.

When Helen told each of the guys from The Syndicate what she was thinking of doing each of them wanted to recommend her to a select group of their friends and finally she agreed and work started to trickle in.

A "trickle" was good because they hardly had enough staff to cope with the analysis work that they already had and they weren't ready to start advertising for more staff ... but then things were taken out of their hands.

One newspaper headline changed their business forever. It wasn't a particularly eye-catching headline, and most people paid no attention to it ... but, for anyone interested in making money from the stock exchange, it was earth shattering.

Authorities were investigating claims that three named companies, two big and one small, were being investigated for falsifying analysis and consulting reports in exchange for large sums of money. The same three companies were also named for taking kickbacks from businesses that they had recommended to some of their consulting clients.

Within hours Helen's phone was ringing non-stop as businesses rushed to have their analysis reports verified by a company that was apparently a cleanskin in the industry. Other calls were coming from companies who wanted a recommended third-party to review the consultants' reports that they had received to ensure that the recommendations they had received in those reports were reliable and not tainted by the rancid odour of kickbacks.

Helen's little network of The Syndicate companies that recommended her was working at full capacity and things looked good for HGEB Partners ... until you realised that they were still very short of qualified staff.

Each consultancy job would require a personal visit to the company and the calls were coming in from all over the country. There were so many calls that Helen considered throwing her phone in the pool just so she could have a few minutes of peace and quiet without ringtones and voices ... but she managed to control that urge.

And then the CVs of analysts and consultants that had worked for the named companies started to come in via an email address that appeared on the HGEB Partners' website. These were from people who were trying to jump ship before their reputation was flushed down the toilet along with their employer's reputation and Greg surprised her when Helen asked him what she should do with them.

"Shred every one of them ... don't even look at them. These are people who, at the very least, worked for companies that tried to make money by rorting the system and at the very worst, these are people who were willing participants in that kickback scheme.

"Employ any of these people and you will be ruining your business' reputation for ever. Right now no one knows how deep this investigation may go so let's be very cautious about who you employ.

"I think that we should also make it clear to every one of your clients that they should never take verbal recommendations from any of your employees. Every recommendation that your business will make will be made in writing and it will be reviewed by a senior member of your staff so your clients will know that they are getting an honest appraisal or recommendation.

Helen thought about what Greg had said for a few moments and then nodded, "You are definitely right but how are we going to find people that we do want to employ?"

"I think that you just have to be patient ... your reputation is slowly getting out there and this bit of news might encourage a few of the right people to contact us too ... but there's a problem. We don't know which other businesses are going to be caught up in this ... you need to find someone who can give us some background."

Helen laughed, "For once I can say that this is already taken care of. I asked Byron yesterday if he knew of any other companies that could be dragged into this and he emailed me a list of names this morning."

And in the middle of all that drama baby Kalya came into the world weighing 7lb 10oz. Serge reported that Mom and daughter were doing fine but Amy would like to see her mom soon if that was possible.

Thanks to a cute next-door neighbour who could fly a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron like a fighter ace it was definitely possible and three hours after the birth Helen and Ellie were on their way north.

Helen had left her phone with Greg so he could field all the calls that were still coming in ... and that was when he discovered that Helen had a problem that she hadn't told him about.

A call came in that was terminated as soon as Greg answered it. Greg thought little of it until he had received three identical calls in the last 60 minutes and they had all come from the same number. He didn't recognise the number so he did a reverse look-up and found that the call had come from Kalya ... the company, not the baby.

Helen stayed overnight and Greg got seven more identical calls that night and again next morning from around 9am. Helen hadn't mentioned anything about Kalya for several weeks ... that Greg could remember ... so he rang Serge.

After the usual congratulations and other verbal backslapping that goes on between new fathers and new grandfathers, he asked Serge about the calls.

Serge was quiet for a moment and then spoke, "She asked me not to tell you about any of this, but it's been bugging me and if you hadn't called I would have ended up calling you.

"I have no idea why, but Alex has got it in his head that he wants Helen back and he is putting on a full-court press to make it happen."

"What do you think I should do about it Serge?"

Serge grunted, "If it was me, he would have disappeared by now."

That answer, delivered in Serge's usual dry and emotionless tone really set Greg back ... Alex and Serge were supposed to be best friends.

Serge knew that he had totally caught Greg by surprise, "There are some things you don't do to a couple who are trying to make their marriage work. Before, when you took off it was OK for him to come on to her but now ... now it is 'podonok' ... a scum act."

"I'm sure that she is telling the bab.la 'no' but he is just not taking 'no' for an answer and he will keep on chasing her till he gets what he wants."

Greg thanked Serge for being so honest and Serge chuckled, "Hey Grandpa ... I owe you plenty ... your daughter just gave me the most beautiful present I could ever hope to receive so I'm here to help you anytime you want."

Greg was sure that he heard a hidden message in there but it was offering him a solution that he was very reluctant to take ... and he put that thought aside. Helen was due back later that afternoon and he would talk to her then ... but right now he had some analysis to review before it was sent off to a client.

Helen walked back into the main office right on the dot of midday and she immediately went into doting grandmother mode.

"Oh Lover we have such a beautiful granddaughter ... she is so gorgeous and such a good baby."

"Did you get to cuddle her?"

"Of course I did," she laughed and then pouted, "I wanted to bring her home with me but no one would let me ... but I got Ellie to take heaps of photos and she sent them all to my phone last night."

Greg had left Helen's phone on his desk the night before so he hadn't heard them come in but he handed her phone to Helen and she began zipping through her messages, looking for the ones Ellie had sent.

Greg noticed that she stopped and frowned after just one flick ... and then she went back to the start and opened a message.

"Oh my god ... oh my god ..."

"What's wrong Helen ... tell me ... what's wrong ... is it the baby?"

"Tell me," her voice as cold and quivering with anger, "did you do this ... did you have anything to do with this?"

She thrust her phone in Greg's face ... there was a face on the screen ... a horribly distorted and bloated face. Greg could see obvious signs of stitches ... there was a lip, split in several places ... eyes almost swollen shut, a bloody scratch down one cheek ... and the person was holding up their hands ... the fingers were bandaged and splinted.

"DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" she was screaming at him, "DID YOU DO THIS TO ALEX?"

Everyone in the office had been waiting to see the baby photos but now they were crowding behind Helen and glaring at him. He was struggling for an answer, but he was saved by his phone. He could see from the screen that the call was from Serge so he snatched it up and answered the call as he switched it to speaker.

"Serge! What the fuck?"

"You've seen the photo then?"

"Helen left her phone with me yesterday and she was about to download a heap of baby photos when she found that photo and now she seems to think that I did it to him."

Serge grunted, "Lucky you ... I can confirm that the person in the photo is Alex. I got the name of the investigating officer from the hospital and I'm just waiting for him to call me back," there was a buzzing sound in the background, "that could be him now ... I'll call you back when I know more."

When the call ended Greg looked at Helen ... she was still waiting for an answer and the others were crowded behind her.

"OK people, drama and baby photos are over for the moment ... perhaps you should go back to what you're being paid to do." There was some murmuring but they all headed back to their desks leaving Helen and Greg to deal the fallout from the photo.

"Perhaps you and I should go and sit up in the cabana ... and talk." Helen spun on her heel and marched out of the office while Greg followed almost reluctantly.

"So, when were you going to tell me that you were having a problem with Alex?" On the short walk to the cabana Greg had decided that attack was the best form of defence so he went on the attack before Helen had a chance to renew her verbal assault ... and that seemed to catch her off-guard.

"Probably never ... I thought that if I kept saying 'no' to him he would eventually give up and go away and I wouldn't have to tell you about him. I didn't want to tell you because I knew that it would cause trouble between us."

"Well, it certainly seems to have done that doesn't it?"

"Yes," she said in a sullen voice, "I really got angry didn't I?"

"You did and, at first, I didn't have the faintest idea what you were talking about. I discovered yesterday that Alex was pestering you and I was going to politely ask you about it when you got home."

"He wants us to get back together," she said softly, "he says that he made a huge mistake, and he can't live without me."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him that we were over ... that I was not interested in getting back together with him ... but then he begged."

"And?"

"And I told him that I would have lunch with him next week."

Greg was beyond anger and he was somewhere beyond rage ... she had just lied to him again. Having lunch with him was a long way from "I kept saying no..."

He clenched and unclenched his fists ... he stood up and then he sat down again ... he wanted to smash something ... he wanted to say something but he knew that he would regret it ... he wanted to leave but he had promised that he would never do that again.

"Why do you always shoot yourself in the foot Helen ... just when things are starting to really move along for us you go and do something dumb and we end up back on our ass again." Instantly he regretted his words ... stupid words born out of frustration ... but now they were said he was going have to live with them ... and he could see the anger welling up in her

Before she could reply she noticed two men in suits walking up past the cars parked in the driveway. They didn't turn to go up the stairs to the office but kept coming straight towards them.

"Excuse me ma'am ... are you Helen Weston?"

"Yes, that's me ... who are you?" Greg knew what they were before they even identified themselves and his mind was already working on how to contact his lawyer.

"I'm Detective Sergeant Cubler and this is Detective Morrisey, I would like you to come down to the Precinct with me to answer some questions about the serious assault on Alex Bruschef who I believe is your employer."

Helen went as white as a sheet and Greg had to grab her and help her to sit down, "I ... I ... didn't ..."

"Say no more sweetie," Greg interjected, "say nothing more till we can get our lawyer here ... and that may not even be necessary."

He turned to the Detectives, "Gentlemen, I'm Greg Weston ... Helen's husband. What time is this assault said to have taken place?"

Cubler snorted, "Between 7pm and 7.15pm in the carpark next to the building occupied by Kalya ... but time isn't an issue ... the victim says that he saw the face of his attacker and it was your wife."

"Sergeant, to set the record straight, my wife does work in a senior executive role for Kalya and she does occasional glamour work for them as well as running her own consultancy business.

"And as for the times you just mentioned, my wife was up in the Napa Valley yesterday visiting our daughter, and our brand-new granddaughter. We can provide a witness right now, who was quite possibly with her almost the entire time ... would you like to speak to that person?"