15. Reed #3
Faith froze in place at that revelation.
In any other situation, this would be the perfect time to ask her to step out of the room.
If she were just my woman, I would have sent her out to do something for herself while the heads were rolling.
Due to the nature of her visit, I knew asking her to leave was out of the question.
“I’m going to need you to elaborate.”
“According to the system, that is Carlos Springer. A quick search of his credential shows that Carlos Springer died two years ago.”
The room was spinning as I made my way over and plopped down behind my desk. What the fuck was going on around here? Someone had seriously dropped the ball. Let Sawyer’s security supervisor tell it, there was a dead man working in our casino.
“Where is he now?” I asked.
“Sawyer had him pulled for an employee meeting. He’s in one of the basement offices waiting on the verdict.”
“Tell Saw to hit me up as soon as he finds out how he slipped through the cracks.”
This was an egregious mistake. Some unknown person had been working in the casino for months.
By now, he’d handled hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Whoever he was had been flying under the radar all along, moving counterfeit chips.
I was lightheaded just thinking about it.
Was he working alone? How much had he stolen?
This wasn’t an employee stealing money and swapping out chips.
This was organized. He’d gotten a job and convinced someone to hire him despite using the credentials of someone who was deceased.
This took planning and calculating. This shit took help from the inside.
Someone was comfortable enough operating our system that they thought they could outsmart us all.
For a period of time, they’d done just that.
I felt Faith’s eyes on me before I looked up and gave her mine.
Her expression no longer looked like one of an eager journalist chasing the next big story.
She looked concerned. I wasn’t sure if her concern was for me or the man that would be dead soon.
If she was worried about me, there was no need.
“Find out who hired him and who conducted the background check.”
He nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Pull the files on every employee that was hired in the past six months and have security recheck their credentials.”
“Already on it.”
“I’m sure Sawyer already covered this, but make sure none of the employees leave until we know exactly what the hell is happening around here.”
Faith plopped down in the chair on the other side of my desk as I buried my face in my hands.
I was almost convinced that I was stuck in the twilight zone.
This could not be happening again. As much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, it was definitely happening again.
It felt too familiar to be a coincidence.
The fake identity, the audacity, knowing what it took to get past background checks. It all reminded me of someone’s moves. Darius might have been in prison, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have access to the streets. As hard as it was to believe that this was going on, in my gut, I already knew.
“Everybody out,” I said, running my hands down my face.
I needed to calm myself down before I dealt with this shit.
If I didn’t control myself, I was going to kill everybody in that surveillance room with my bare hands.
What the hell was Sawyer paying them for if it weren’t to survey?
That included knowing who the fuck was in this building.
I took a deep breath and raised my head to see Faith’s hand on the doorknob.
“Where are you going?”
“You said everybody out. I figured you needed time to sort through your thoughts and make a few calls.”
“Everybody doesn’t include you, Faith. You’re my wife. We are one.”
“I’m not your wife, Reed.” She giggled, and somehow, that lightened my mood. That didn’t mean that no one was going to die.
“That rock on your hand says otherwise. I didn’t get a chance to ask how you liked it.”
“You didn’t give me a chance to say yes or no either,” she observed.
“I didn’t ask you a question. I gave you time to accept what was happening.”
“Is that so?” she quizzed.
“It is. What’s wrong? You really don’t love daddy no more? I think otherwise. I think you’re just scared to let me love you. You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t make you sign a prenup or anything, Faith. I just want you. I want my family at home with me.”
“Can I still sleep in a separate room?” she asked with a smirk.
“You can try.”
“Can I finish my investigation first?”
I shrugged. “If you insist.”
“Then I’ll think about moving in.”
“There’s nothing to think about. You love me. I love you. I love Jada, and she’s happy to have a daddy who will do anything for her. You can finish your investigation or launch that fucking tablet off the top of this building and tell Cassidy Lee I said suck my dick for all I care.”
“Oh, so you want another woman to suck your dick? This relationship is already starting off rocky.”
“It’s a figure of speech. I’m a one-woman man. I would never betray you, Faith. I can’t wait to prove it to you every day.”
“Does your little assistant friend know that?” Faith asked, hiking her brows.
“She does, but I don’t want to talk about her right now. You’re the only thing that can make me feel better.”