36. Chapter 36
Chapter 36
L una
I didn’t throw up this time. My mother came to Las Vegas again, and we’d agreed to meet her at Ezra’s office the next morning. The night before, I suffered another nightmare. Roman woke me up as I gasped and struggled against him. Then he sat with me on his lap, trailing his fingers along my skin until I calmed.
“I’ve got you, love. Neither of those fuckers are going to hurt you,” he murmured into my hair. I turned my face into his neck and breathed him in. Only my father appeared this time, and thankfully my dinner stayed down.
When we arrived a few minutes late that morning, coffee and a plate of scones were on the desk. Ezra was always the consummate gentleman, and he believed in manners, even when his guests didn’t deserve them.
“Luna, are you going to help me or not?” my mother asked impatiently seconds after we arrived.
I ignored her and walked over to hug Ezra. “You and Sylvie should come to dinner tonight.”
He smiled. “She’s working this morning, but I’m sure she’d love that. The apartment is lonely without you and Alexa there.”
“Thanks for allowing us to use your office.”
Ezra squeezed my arm. “No problem. I’d step out and give you some privacy, but I don’t trust a woman who leaves her child for dead and doesn’t contact her until she wants something. Pretend I’m not here.”
Evelyn sniffed but didn’t respond. I turned to her and crossed my arms. “Why are you here?” Seeing my own green eyes in her cold, annoyed face was so odd. A wave of gratitude swept through me toward Ezra and the Spade family for taking me in and loving and nurturing me. If they hadn’t, I probably would have turned out as frigid and unhappy as this woman.
“I need that information. He’s getting worse, and I’m afraid of him.”
“Has he hurt you?” I asked.
Evelyn looked away, and I saw her swallow heavily. “He’s hit me, and he threatens me almost every day.”
The silence in the room felt heavy and thick. Ezra stood, poured coffee, and handed the cups to Roman and me. He had a slight tremor in his hands, and as I reached out to take the cup, a few drops splashed over Evelyn’s white linen sheath.
She jerked back and glared at Ezra. “Damn it! You’re too old to play the gracious host anymore.”
Ezra grimaced at the small brown stains. “My apologies, I have a stain removal stick in the bathroom that may work.”
As he ushered her to his restroom, he looked back over his shoulder and gave me a slight nod.
While they worked on removing coffee stains, I quickly rummaged through her five-thousand-dollar designer handbag, pulled out her phone, and handed it to Roman. He then stepped out of the room. When Ezra and Evelyn came back, I listened to the woman lie through her teeth.
“If you give me a copy of those account records, I can use it as leverage to get a better settlement. He won’t know where I got them, so you should be perfectly safe.”
I told her what I expected in return. While we talked, I knew Ivan and Roman were in Sylvie’s office a couple of doors down, adding a program to Evelyn’s phone so we could eavesdrop on her conversations. They also planned to pull data from it if they could.
Roman returned a few minutes later with his own phone in hand, as if he’d just gotten off a call. But Evelyn had picked up her handbag and set it on her lap. As Evelyn got ready to leave, she put her bag on her shoulder.
I folded my arms and addressed her. “I’ll let you know when I decide. Have you given him divorce papers yet?”
She turned to me. “No, but as soon as I have some insurance, my attorney plans to have him served.”
While she faced me, Roman stepped up behind her and deftly slipped the phone back into her bag. Seconds later, she said goodbye and walked out.
We sat in Ivan’s office an hour later, listening to Evelyn make several phone calls from her hotel room. It’d been scary getting her phone back in her bag, and I was still coming down from the adrenaline high.
As we listened to her make the first call, I heard a man’s voice on the line. At first, I thought it was my father.
“Hello, darling. How did your fishing expedition go?” he asked.
“I think they bought it. I’m in my hotel room now. She wants his records on that horrid boys' ranch Montgomery was involved in, and whatever else I can scrounge up about his business dealings in return for the account numbers.”
“Are you going to provide those?” the man asked.
Evelyn hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t have much to give them. Since Luna stole that information, Montgomery has been much more careful with his records. I’ve looked around, but his account passwords are the only thing I’ve found that might be useful.”
“Offer her a small share of your settlement. She doesn’t have to know you plan to take all the money,” the man suggested.
My mother agreed. “It would be better not to implicate Montgomery anyway, since we don’t want the police looking too closely into his finances.”
“Give her the secret email account I set up for you, and tell her to send those account numbers in exchange for… say, a million dollars. Start there. If my niece is as smart as I remember, she’ll ask for more.”
Evelyn giggled, sounding so carefree and young it was creepy. “Just think, Alistair, in a month, maybe two, we should be on some tropical island, or maybe Europe somewhere, living rich and carefree without him, the police, or some government regulator breathing down your neck.” They continued planning and scheming as I sat down hard in a chair.
When they hung up, Alexa raised a brow and turned to me. “Isn’t Alistair your uncle’s name?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered faintly, my mind struggling to compute this strange twist.
She grimaced. “Holy shit. Your family might be even more dysfunctional than mine.”
Roman shook his head. “Jesus, what a mess. She’s having an affair with Montgomery’s brother, which puts you in even more danger. Your father isn’t going to give up that money easily, especially if he finds out it’s his own brother who’s fucking his wife.”
Evelyn made two more phone calls, one to her divorce attorney, and the last to a day spa to schedule an appointment.
I stood and paced. “Their divorce will make that Housewives show look like child’s play.”
Ivan picked up an expensive-looking pen and started twirling it through his fingers as he stared at Alexa. I turned to them. “If my mother kept those passwords on her phone somewhere, can you guys find them?”
Ivan quit twirling the pen. “Yeah. I downloaded her data while I had her phone. When she gets home, I can probably access her laptop too.”
I resumed pacing. “If we find his account passwords, can we drain his balances?”
Ivan watched me carefully. “If he finds out she’s been coming to see you, he’s going to suspect you’re involved.”
Roman straightened off the desk. “This could make him come after you again.”
I didn’t bother to deny it. “I hope so, then I can watch them burn each other to the ground.”
On my first day back to school, Roman and I argued. He insisted on sending Milo with me, but I didn’t want a bodyguard anymore.
“Lionel is dead, and I don’t want to live with someone tailing me for the rest of my natural-born life. When we make a move on my father, then he can be my shadow again.”
“And I want your natural-born life to be more than just a few more days, wife . You’re the one who wanted to stir the hornet’s nest with your father, and do you think Silas and Jerome Strack don’t believe we’re the reason Lionel is missing?”
I filled my coffee thermos and grabbed an apple from the fridge. “They know who my adopted family and husband are. Come on, they can’t be that stupid. I also have your collar and tracker on, and you’ve bugged my phone, my car, and probably my backpack.”
Roman stared at me. “How’d you know about the other trackers?”
The man didn’t even bother to deny it. I rolled my eyes. “Because I’m not stupid, and you’re a tad overprotective.”
Milo snorted and then tried to cover it up with a cough.
Roman studied me. “You have two options, mouthy girl. I can send two bodyguards with you who will walk beside you to every class and sit there with you–in class–or we can compromise and Milo will shadow you and be reasonably discreet. But he’ll drive you in the SUV, and you won’t go anywhere alone for the foreseeable future.”
I glanced over at Milo, who leaned against the kitchen counter drinking coffee and watching us with an amused smirk. He’d recovered well, and he looked much better–except for his smirk.
My molars ground together, but I knew Roman wasn’t bluffing. “Fine. I see your point but don’t expect me to be happy about it. And you’re still a bossy asshole.”
Roman grinned and stalked toward me. “I would never presume, and I’m fine with being a bossy asshole if it keeps you alive. Milo, make yourself scarce for an hour. Arguing with my wife makes my dick hard, and since she doesn’t have to be there for a while, I want to–”
“Oh, my God! Don’t finish that sentence,” I cried, blushing furiously. Roman didn’t stop coming, so I turned and ran into the living room then sprinted down the hall.
Roman
Later that morning, I walked into Euphoria to meet with Fennick and Kilian Spade. The Spades were a powerful, violent, strangely close-knit family, and if I needed someone in my corner besides my partners, they weren’t a bad choice. That didn’t mean they didn’t get under my skin.
Samuel stood next to me, and Fenn pounded him on the back as they walked in. “How’s Misty?” he asked.
“She’s recovering. Luna and Sylvie come by regularly to help keep her from going crazy while she heals.”
Fenn grinned. “They probably bring the crazy with them.”
Samuel’s lip quirked. “It’s a good crazy. Misty and Sasha are going to give them pole dancing lessons when Misty heals.” Fenn laughed, and I grunted in surprise. Luna hadn’t mentioned it.
Kilian shook his head. “That’ll be interesting, and not something I ever want to see.”
Samuel showed us to Fiona’s empty office, and Fenn turned to me as soon as the door closed. “What’s this about?” Our business interests often competed, so I understood his question.
I gestured to the chairs, and we all sat. “Don’t worry. Today isn’t the day I inquire about the Spade family trying to buy out the strip club a block away to compete with Euphoria. Or the Spades starting a marijuana grow facility in the same block as Ivan and Drakos’s lofts.”
Fenn leaned back and laced his hands behind his head. “That’s a relief. If Drakos doesn’t want industrial neighbors, maybe he shouldn’t live in the middle of an industrial neighborhood. And I won’t bring up Ivan putting surveillance cameras at the mortuary and cheating his ass off at cards to get his hands on Alexa.” Fenn lost his grin and leaned forward. “Or you drugging Luna and coercing her into marrying your sorry ass. Sylvie talking me down is the only reason you’re not buried out in the fucking desert somewhere.”
Kilian sighed. “Fennick, will you wait until we hear what this is about before you start a war?”
I mentally counted to ten, trying to bring my temper under control. Fennick could drive Mother Theresa herself to take a swing at him. “Luna is mine, I don’t care about the rest. This meeting is about Luna’s parents and the shit storm that’s about to erupt. Luna’s mother is fucking her uncle, and she’s going to bring Montgomery Cross here sooner or later. We need to be prepared.”
Fenn grimaced. “The thought of that cold bitch fucking anyone makes my skin crawl, and I have no idea how her two demon-spawn parents created someone like Luna. Whatever your plan is, I want in.”
I nodded and laid it out. As we sat and talked, I couldn’t help wondering how I’d ended up aligned with the Spade family. Necessity certainly made strange bedfellows.
Kilian shook his head as we finished up our meeting. “Luna just can’t catch a break.”
Leaning forward, I gazed at him. “She doesn’t need to catch a fucking break anymore, she’s got me now.” He studied me for a few seconds, then smiled.