Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 2

Ch. 19: Accusations

She nods. "What exactly is your relationship with the younger Maxwell Bennett?"

I hesitate, and glance toward my grandfather.

"Mr. Bennett," Andrew says, "is a client of the firm."

Thank God for the poker face I developed while working for the public defender's office in Philadelphia. Otherwise I'm afraid my jaw would have dropped open.

"Obviously any communications my granddaughter had with Mr. Bennett are privileged and confidential."

Now it makes sense. My grandfather is protecting me by putting the shield of attorney-client confidentiality over my relationship with Max. And he's not wrong. He just doesn't know the full extent of my representation of Max

"We were under the impression," Collins says, looking at me now, "that your relationship was of a personal nature."

"Were you under that impression because you've been following me, lurking outside my condo building, spying on me at the park, and waiting in the courthouse?"

Collins just stares back at me, so I continue.

"Because I think what you've been trying to do is intimidate me. Either that or you're really bad at following people."

"How exactly did you meet Mr. Bennett?" It's Davis asking the questions now, and I'm wondering if she's playing bad cop to his good cop.

I don't think there's any harm in telling them this information, so I do.

"I was sitting next to him on a flight and we struck up a conversation. I mentioned that I'm a lawyer and I handle criminal defense, and he said he might have a case for me to handle. I honestly didn't expect to really hear from him, but I ran into him again when I was at a nightclub here in Miami with a friend, and he did end up retaining me on the case."

They exchange a look.

"There is a criminal case you are representing Mr. Bennett in right now?"

I imagine they figure that if there was a criminal case filed against Max, they'd be aware of it. Unless, of course, it's not federal.

"Mr. Bennett retained me to represent one of his employees on a domestic violence charge. You can look it up. The employee's name is Ramon Suarez." I give them the name of the assistant state attorney who is handling the case.

"Do you want to tell us why exactly you would travel to Las Vegas with Mr. Bennett in order to represent his employee in a domestic violence case pending here in Miami?"

I can feel my grandfather staring at me. He was upset when he saw me get into a car with Max to go to dinner. He had no idea - until now - that I traveled to Las Vegas with him. He did know I was dating Max. And I told him I broke up with him, which was true at the time I said it, and technically is true now. As long as you don't count what happened Saturday night.

At this point I can only hope the agents don't say anything about me being with Max in New York this weekend.

"My trip to Las Vegas was personal," I tell them. "And it's none of your business."

Davis raises an eyebrow. "You traveled to Las Vegas with Mr. Bennet after you had known him, how long? Was that your first date?"

"I didn't travel to Las Vegas with him. I agreed to meet him there."

"What was the purpose of his trip?"

"I didn't ask him the purpose of his trip. But apparently it had to do with a high stakes poker game."

"Who was he playing with?"

"I wasn't at the poker game. I don't know who the players were."

"So what did you do while Mr. Bennett was playing poker?"

"I shopped. And I spent some time in the casino playing the slot machines, and blackjack."

"Did you win?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"How much?"

"$20,000." I tell them the truth, because it gets reported to the IRS so I assume they could check, if they don't already know. Although I actually ended up with $25,000, I subtract the $5,000 I started with.

"That's a lot of money."

"I'm good at blackjack. And I know when to stop."

"You spend a lot of time Atlantic City when you worked in Philadelphia?" Collins is looking at me speculatively now, and I'm thinking, oh great, now he probably thinks I'm some kind of compulsive gambler which is sending his mind in the direction of loan sharks and criminal elements in Atlantic City."

"No. I spent a lot of time going to charitable functions. That's where I learned to play blackjack, starting with a casino night fundraiser when I was in college. I don't gamble for myself or with real money, typically, because I couldn't afford an expensive pastime like that on my public defender's salary."

"But you can now?"

"Probably. But I wasn't gambling my own money in Las Vegas. Max - Mr. Bennett - gave me some chips to entertain myself while he was playing poker. When I realized I was up to $25,000 I cashed out."

"I thought you said you won $20,000. Now it was 25?"

"I started with $5,000 in chips. If I'd lost those, then that would have been the end of it. Since I increased it by $20,000, I figured it was time to quit before my luck ran out."

"Are you planning any more trips to Vegas?"

"No. I'm not."

My grandfather, who has been listening silently for awhile, breaks in. "Is this somehow relevant? I've been giving you a lot of latitude here, but I'm starting not to like your attitude. Or what you seem to be insinuating."

"We're just trying to get a complete picture."

"Maybe you should get a warrant if you want to continue prying into Hadley's private life."

"I'm just concerned that Bennett may have used your granddaughter to unwittingly help him launder money in Las Vegas," Collins says.

"What?"

"It's one of the methods we've seen in organized crime, since there's really no record of how much money a person gambles. Only how much they win."

"I can assure you, I was not laundering money in Las Vegas."

"Didn't you find it odd that Mr. Bennett would invite you to Las Vegas when you'd only recently met him?"

"No. Not at all. I met him on a plane and we hit it off. I later ran into him at a nightclub I subsequently learned that he owns. He's obviously a very wealthy man, and he sits on a number of charitable boards here in Miami. I don't find it odd at all that he would invite me to spend a weekend in Las Vegas. We had been trying to coordinate our schedules so that we could spend a little time together, explore that personal relationship you were asking about earlier."

"So you do have a personal relationship with Maxwell Bennett."

"I want on a few dates with Mr. Bennett. Then we made the mutual decision not to pursue a personal relationship any further. We do, however, still maintain a professional relationship since, as my grandfather already told you, Mr. Bennett is now a client of the firm."

"If you no longer have a personal relationship with Mr. Bennett, why did you spent this past weekend with him in New York?"

"What?" My grandfather erupts. "That's preposterous."

And I'm thinking, oh crap.