Meant To Be - Heaven Hill Series #1

Chapter Twenty-Four

"So I talked to Mom last night. To see what she had to say about Richard."

Liam groaned. He really didn't want to talk about club business, especially not after the amazing night he'd had with his lady. However, he knew this was important. There had to be a reason that Richard was looking into framing the club, and he needed to know why.

"Do tell."

"According to her, there was a power struggle at one point between him and Dad. During that power struggle, Mom says that she and Richard got close. What she meant by that, I don't know. She wouldn't go any deeper into it than that. She did tell me that Richard wanted to break off into his own charter, and Dad wouldn't approve it. They had a protection run for Jeffrey Norris. Apparently he was skimming off the top of the books for the city and buying black market electronics. He would in turn sell them on the street for a straight profit. That money then came back into the drug trade. Mom thinks that Jeffrey and Richard had a back-end deal with said drug trade. Jeffrey supplied the money, Richard supplied the drugs. When I asked Mom what she thought about why he wanted to pin this on us right now, she thought it might have something to do with bonds on a life insurance policy."

She stopped, letting this all sink in. It was obvious that Liam was having a hard time processing.

"A life insurance policy? This is an awful lot of bullshit to hand out to a lot of people for a motherfucking insurance policy." He couldn't believe it was as simple as that.

"With Jeffrey's body never found, they couldn't have him declared dead. He's been a missing person. Since Richard's been buying up all this property and buildings, she figured his cash reserves are being depleted, especially since he's not earning with the club anymore. Apparently, Richard is the beneficiary on one of Jeffrey's policies because of their back-end deal. Mom thinks, too, that at one time they may have been trying to go legit together – that's neither here nor there. His name is on a life insurance policy, she knows that for sure. If he can get the money and hurt the club at the same time – why not? There's also all that land the club owns out on Highway 185. You know people have been trying to get it for years, they think it'll make a great housing community. If the club gets taken down, then he could have a legal right to it. He was here when the club started. I'm sure his name is on the deed to most of that land. Mom offered to check on it for us, since she works at the courthouse."

The information took a while to sink in, and when it did Liam cursed. "So this isn't some spur of the moment bad decision on his part. He's thought this through."

"Exactly. We need to be on our toes."

"What about the reporter? Where does she fit in all of this?"

Roni shrugged. "Collateral damage? I think she was just a pawn, and she's talked to a few too many people. I'm a little scared for her. My thought on it is he used her to figure out who we were using, to gain himself an ally. When that didn't work, he just started playing with her. Now he's fed her bad information, and he knows for sure she's shared it. In his eyes she's a narc."

"We can't worry about her. She's made her bed, she'll have to lie in it," Liam dismissed Meredith's role in this.

"You wanna tell your BFF that? Tyler is so far into that girl I don't think he knows where she ends and he begins. We have to warn her. She really could be in trouble and being cute is not going to get her out of it. These people could really hurt her."

"Fuck," he hissed. "I'll call him and let him know. Tell him to give her a heads up. I have a feeling that 'special report' was nothing but a set up on their part."