The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 41

After Alissa felt a little better, she loosened her grip over Lucianne, and the queen got the cue to let the woman go. After Alissa met Lucianne's comforting orbs and offered her a firm nod and a smile as a sign of gratitude, Lucianne returned her gesture before turning towards Desmond. Desmond approached her with a wide grin and extended his hand before he said, "Sup, queen? The name's Desmond Derulos."

Xandar's eyebrows raised for two reasons. One, for the informal way Desmond was speaking to Lucianne, who was, in Xandar's eyes, the most powerful creature in the kingdom. Two, for the very reason that Desmond Derulos was the infamous con artist who posed as a CEO of a ghos company that sucked money out of investors.

The king's sights moved to his wife, who showed no adversity towards Desmond, so Xandar continued to watch in silence. Desmond continued introducing himself, "Professional pickpocket and former con. Arrested and convicted for the con work." Lucianne smiled and her eyes shone with interest as she acknowledged in realization, "The Money Retriever."

Desmond chuckled and said, "Yea. Ain't good at covering my tracks at that time. Only got better when the boss hired me." His head motioned towards Greg, and Lucianne glanced at the Duke who was pressing his fingers against his lips to hide his smile which was very hard to hold back. Desmond was known as 'the Money Retriever' by the general public, but pinned as one of the most wanted criminals by law enforcement. What was fascinating about this crime was that Desmond only conned the rich CEOs who were exploiting their employees by paying them less while taking most of the profits and dividends.

Desmond's heist was that he'd research the people he'd go after first, before attending events that those CEOS would attend. At the event, he would single out his targets, make an impression with sophisticated mannerism and language while displaying just the right amount of confidence and charm when talking about the likely success of his fictitious business to lure his victims in. Those who met him without knowing that he was fake later testified that Desmond appeared well-mannered, poised, posh, and was the epitome of a successful businessman. If someone who wasn't his target expressed an interest in investing, Desmond would act pompous and wave them off like they weren't worthy to be his investor. But the truth was that Desmond didn't want to con the non-targets' money because those were good people who treated their staff right. After bagging the targets, Desmond would disappear.

And on every Nouvelan, Desmond took all the money he collected from the abusive CEOS and dispensed the sums in equal amounts to their employees with the message 'Happy Nouvelan. M.R.. The thing that had always warmed Desmond's heart was when these employees posted pictures or videos of themselves expressing their thanks on the Internet, that the money helped in paying rent, buying daily necessities, getting insurance or even getting new clothes and toys for their children.

Sadly, the heist only lasted four years before he was caught around two decades ago, before Xandar ascended the throne. The investors were elated, of course, and demanded the justice system make Desmond repay every last dime they were cheated off, even asking for compensation for the 'traumatizing experience'.

But Desmond didn't have the amount of money he stole since he had already given away everything that he had stolen. The victimized investors knew about their employees' sudden windfall, which came merely months after they were conned of their money, and sought a court order to make their employees return the amounts.

The only problem? There was no hard evidence showing that the investment money given to Desmond was the 'same money' that was later channeled to the employees. Desmond conned a few companies at once, and pooled everything into one account. Essentially, the money was 'mixed' before being used to make legitimate investments in legal, reputable businesses, and Desmond took the sum back out along with the small amounts of dividends made a few months later.

Now, this 'new' money was considered to be Desmond's legitimate earnings from smart investing. Since the money was his in legal terms, it was HIS money who went to the exploited employees. It was no longer the abusive employers' money. Thus, the prosecution could not establish that what Desmond gave away was the 'same money' as what he took. Therefore, the court couldn't grant a court order, and the recipients of Desmond's heist were legally allowed to keep the money.

Desmond was convicted for money laundering and theft, which carried a measly fine compared to the hefty amounts he took and gave away over the years. The biggest blow for the CEOs was that their stolen funds couldn't be recovered when Desmond filed for bankruptcy when he couldn't pay the fine. And since he had almost no assets that could be seized and sold, none of the CEOS were ever 'paid back'.

To say that the CEOs were furious would be putting it too lightly. Most of them were so infuriated that they resorted to taking matters into their own hands. Assassins were sought out and hired, which was where Greg came in.

Lucianne asked Desmond, "So, you weren't abducted and taken hostage like what the media presumed after your disappearance from police custody. You disappeared because the duke offered shelter and protection."

Desmond added like an excited friend, "AND tutorials to up my skill set. Ain't like those college classes but like real practice in the field, ya know? And that ain't even the best part. 'Cause the boss is this big guy in the rogue world, I became 110% bulletproof. The boss told those killers that if they touched me, he'd burn their family and friends. Ain't that great?!"

Xandar's brows raised at what Desmond termed 'great'. He looked at his cousin leaning against the wall, and had to ask, "You weren't really going to do that, were you?"

Greg's eyes reluctantly met Xandar's disapproving sight as he declared in a low voice, "I don't make empty threats, cousin. It's not good for my reputation. And the plan was never to burn them to death, just enough to incapacitate them so those who crossed me remember the lesson."

Sensing the rising tension, Lucianne quickly asked Desmond, "I've been itching to know something for years, Desmond: did you have everyone in your net before you were caught?"

Desmond's smile froze for a second before he glanced at the Duke with an excited grin and pointed at Lucianne as he said, "I like her, boss. She's cool."

Greg rolled his eyes but was also finding it hard to suppress his smile when he spoke flatly, "Get on with it, Desmond. The queen asked you a question."

Desmond continued speaking, "Damn, ya're a cool queen. And if ya askin' 'bout that game I pulled off 22 years ago, then no. There were three more on the loose. Din get to bag them on time, ya know?"

Greg wasn't sure how to feel about his people over-talking anymore. He found it amusing when they spoke about their pasts because Lucianne's follow-up questions were more hilarious than awkward, and the fact that Lucianne displayed no disapproval was not only surprising, it was also encouraging.

Even so, Greg felt that Lucianne shouldn't have to carry the emotional baggage of people she hardly knew. She was a queen, not a therapist. Then again, wouldn't the best queen be one who at least took the trouble to get to know her people, no matter what their pasts were and what society labeled them as? As Greg's mind trapped itself in this conflicted loop, he eagerly awaited Lucianne's brilliant follow-up question that was nowhere near predictable. The suspense had his animal wagging its tail in excitement and his heart pounding in anticipation.