Thomas pulled out his phone and showed me a photo. A beautiful house in what looked like a desert landscape. Mountains in the background.
“This house is in Arizona. It belongs to a friend of the club. He runs a legitimate construction company out there. Big operation. Always needs workers.”
“Here’s what we do, Sarah. We approach men like Kevin with an offer. A job opportunity. Great pay. Free housing. A chance to start over somewhere new. Somewhere exciting. We make it sound like the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“Why would Kevin take that? He has a good job here.”
“Because we do our research first. We find leverage. Everyone has secrets. Everyone has weaknesses. Your husband has been embezzling from his company for years. Nothing huge. But enough that if it came out, he’d lose everything. His job. His reputation. His freedom.”
My jaw dropped. “How do you know that?”
“We have brothers everywhere, Sarah. Accountants. IT specialists. Investigators. When Marcus asked for help, they went to work. Took them two weeks to find what they needed.”
Thomas put his phone away.
“So we approach Kevin with a simple proposition. Take this amazing job opportunity in Arizona and start fresh. Or we send his employer an anonymous tip about where the missing money went. His choice.”
“And that works?”
I sat there trying to process everything. “But what stops him from just coming back once he’s there? What stops him from finding me again?”
Thomas smiled again. “That’s the beauty of the system. The job he takes? It’s real. The pay is real. The housing is real. But the company is owned by club associates. His boss answers to us. And we have brothers in Arizona who watch him.”
“Watch him?”
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