Chapter 3
“What?” she frowned. Stepping closer to him, her hip now pressed against his shoulder as she leaned closer to see what was on his screen.
His nostrils flared at her floral, feminine scent. He knew she loved scents from Holt perfume, and her favorite brand was the Fleur du Lune; he smelled the perfume on others but never got the same notes as he picked up when Diamond wore it. She made the scent uniquely her own, as she did with everything else she wore.
She stiffened now as the information registered, then turned to face him. “Ben, I don’t understand what is happening here. How did the money get into my account?”
He stood up and walked over to his liquor cabinet, pouring her a stiff drink, knowing she was going to need it for what was to come and knew she liked vodka and cranberry but thought a stiffer drink was needed and brought over scotch neat.
Diamond glanced down at the drink and then took it from his hand, downing it quickly before handing it back to him.
“Someone that wants to put you in a tight spot. The money wasn’t just simply transferred; it left a trail straight to you. The account shows you transferred out the money during your luncheon. I was able to pull up the security logs on the account and who had access to it. You, the account manager, the IT department, and the bank. The only activity recently was from you.”
“I didn’t move the money into my account, Ben. I might be spoiled and self-absorbed, but a thief I am not, and I don’t need the money.” She said haughtily.
“Well, from the number of times you checked on the account and the money now being in your account, it looks like you do.”
“Yes, I checked on the money, but that was it.” She moved to his bar and poured herself another drink.
“I will be fired over this.”
“Worse than fired Diamond.” He pointed out, making sure she knew how dire this was.
“Can you move it out and back into Hope’s account?” She sounded hopeful.
“Yes, but it will take some time. I tried, but whoever orchestrated this also attached a nice virus with it that if I try to move the money back, it will unravel, making it look like you were spending the money; you just bought an expensive purse. I suspect this is to make you look a lot more guilty than you already are.”
“Shit, what am I going to do now? I am sure the other account manager will check sometime today and see that there is nothing there.”
Diamond was good at concealing how she was feeling, her outer appearance giving nothing away about her distress except for the fact that she swallowed down some more of the liquid. From what he knew of her, Diamond was not a heavy drinker, but if she kept going, she would be drunk soon, and that was not what he wanted. He needed her sober for this next part.
“I will transfer money from my account into Hope’s account as a temporary fix. As long as no one looks too closely at the transaction date, we should be fine until I can figure out how it was done and by who.”
“Just like that?”
“No, I will have to try and discretely access a large amount of money from my bank account, putting me and my family name in jeopardy if it gets out what is happening here.”
She nodded, putting down her drink.
She moved toward him, her brown eyes searching his face. “I am sorry, I got you mixed up in this. I don’t understand how this is happening; you are the only one that can help me now. Please.”
She stepped closer; he felt like a giant now standing next to her. Even in her high heels, Diamond was a 5'6 pocket Venus. Her body proportions were perfect.
He nodded.
She smiled. “I will owe you for this.”
“Glad you agree; we will be married by tomorrow night in front of the justice of the peace.”
For the first time he had known Diamond, he caught her by surprise. Her mouth flew open and closed like a fish until she collected herself.
Diamond’s gaze narrowed. “You can’t be serious. Wait. Who am I talking to... Of course you are serious. First Carter, then Michael, and now you.”
“I will—”
“Do you want to go to jail because that will happen with the evidence they have so far, and what about your parents and their hard-earned name and reputation, your sister Ambra, who just started a business with me?”
She stood there now gaping at him. He felt a little flushed with guilt but also excitement; he knew he was about to get what he wanted, what he always wanted. HER.
Diamond just stood there staring, and he began to feel a bit uncomfortable. “What?”
“That is the most I have heard you say in a long time. I finally get you to talk, and what comes out is a threat and an attempt to guilt me into marrying you.”
She waved her ring suddenly under his nose. “I am already engaged to be married to someone else.”
He went to her cell phone and picked it up, handing it to her.
She glanced down at it, not understanding.
“Break it off now.”
“You can’t be serious? I have known this man since we were teenagers, and he is soon going to be my husband. You can’t just think that I will follow through and dump him over the phone. Are you crazy?!” Diamond’s voice rose to a near shout, her eyes showing disbelief and shock now.
He would have smiled if the matter wasn’t a serious one. Seeing her unflappable persona shakable made her more real to him in that moment.
“Crazy maybe, but I am not a Brooks for nothing. When we see a great opportunity, we take it. Us getting married is perfect timing, the Diamond Princess and the dark prince of the Brooks family tying the knot; it will be the social news of the year and will keep the focus off the charity money and on us instead.”
He could see the wheels turning in her head. What he really wanted to tell her was that he’d always wanted her for so long, that she was the very air he needed to breathe, every dream or thought surrounded her, she was his obsession, and she was made for him, belonged with him, and no one else. He had gotten to the point that he didn’t care what he needed to do in order to get her and never let her go. Once they tied the knot, she was truly his.
Ben continued. “Think about it: suddenly getting married will buy us more time to figure this out.” She frowned, thinking about what he was saying, but he could tell he knew she had no way out of this.
“This will also catapult your career; you just married the Brooks heir, opening more doors and money for your charity. Influences that only my family can provide, even though your family is well off, we are more of a powerhouse. My family comes from old money and with the perk of the upper echelon.
Her eyebrows rose, and she blew air out past her lips in a scoffing sound. “A win-win situation, huh? But the causality in all this will be our families, us, and my fiancé.” Diamond said bitterly.
Ben shrugged and was going to say something else when a ping from his computer sounded, letting him know something was happening to Diamond’s bank account.
“What?”
She followed him to his desk and almost elbowed him out of the way to see what was on the screen.
Diamond reared back, allowing him to see what he knew already was happening. More money had been spent from her account.
“Shit, can’t you stop it?”
“Yes, I can put up some type of wall so that the money will stop being spent from your account, but whoever set this Trojan horse up is just as good as me and probably planned for this.
“Okay, well. What are you waiting for?”
“I will need my office back to concentrate on what I need to do.”
“Yes, right, okay.” She began to walk toward her purse she’d left on her chair.
“Diamond?”
“Yes, I will wait outside.”
“No. Well yes, you can do that, but you are forgetting one thing.”
“What?” She opened her brown eyes wide.
“The phone call you need to make is right now.” He straightened and took a step away from his laptop.
“I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it.” They heard another chime.
She strode stiffly back to his desk.
“This marriage will be in name only, and until we can figure this—”
“No, you will be my wife in every sense of the word, and no divorce either. You will belong to me completely or no deal.”
Ben watched as she opened her mouth to argue, and then they heard another chime. At this rate, in a day or two the money would be spent, and word would get out from the retailers that the money was being spent by Diamond Jackson, who was considered the Diamond Princess of New York. Diamond’s flair for being on top of the latest trend of style, her fiancé being a famous and rich football player, along with her social media presence, earned her the nickname of the Princess of New York.
He would need to reach out to those retailers and silence them until he could get ahead of this, but right now, he needed his fiancée to realize her fate was now sealed to him whether she liked it or not.
Her gaze searched his, realization dawning on her face that he was serious. He saw a look cross her features for a second, not sure what to make of it because it had looked for a second that she was enjoying this, and maybe on some level she was. Diamond was an enigma to him, but he was looking forward to unraveling who she really was inside.
“Fine.” She took her phone out and, without looking through her directory, punched in a number.