Chapter Twenty-Three
REX SAT IN the office, staring at the wall. He’d been in there for hours and gotten next to nothing done. He was meeting with Liesel and Tommy soon to go over all the findings in the accounts that were missing money. They still had three that were missing sizable amounts of money, and no idea where it had gone. He was hoping Liesel had more leads, but that seemed unlikely, given how much they had all been distracted by Stella’s disappearance. Fuck knew he hadn’t actually done any work in the last three days. He’d brought Ari home from the hospital yesterday. They’d signed her and her mother’s discharge paperwork at the same time.
This morning she was in the library with Stella while Damien, and her siblings played video games in the family room. Ari and Stella had spent several hours alone together. Rex had tried to protest Ari and Stella talking, but Ari had put her foot down.
“She needs professional help, Ari,” Rex had explained.
“I’m aware of that, but she also needs someone whose been there. I have.”
“You haven’t even talked to a professional yet.”
“No, but I will,” she promised.
He’d given her a long skeptical look.
“What? I will. You won’t let me get a job. I don’t have school until the fall and the twins have a tutor. I’ll have plenty of time.”
Rex had desperately wanted to argue, but Tommy had sided with her, so he’d been overruled.
As though his thoughts had summoned him, Tommy came into the office. He glanced over at the messy top of Rex’s desk and snorted. “Did you mess that up just to try to look like you’ve been productive?”
Rex glared, then shifted things into more orderly piles. “Fuck off.”
Tommy started to make a comeback when the door opened and Liesel came in, followed by Jordan, to Rex’s surprise. He wasn’t family. What was he doing here?
“Jordan is helping me make some arrangements to fix the mess we’re in,” Liesel said by way of explanation.
“What mess?” Tommy asked.
“I still have no idea how the last three accounts got hacked. Jordan is familiar with our accounts, so he helped me research more secure ones,” she said, and her eyes flickered to the man who’d come in with her. His face was a calm mask and, for once, Liesel’s was not. Was that a flicker of annoyance?
“What are we doing with the ones we have?” Rex asked her.
“We have to close them.”
Rex and Tommy both stared at her. Some of these accounts had come from their grandfathers and simply been handed down. Closing them would mean new tax identification numbers because the ones on there wouldn’t hold up to the scrutiny they would undergo in today’s world. They would have to change all the records and books. That was hard in a legitimate business. In theirs, it was asking for an audit from the government.
“Liesel, you can’t be serious. How will we run the business?” Tommy asked.
Liesel took a deep breath. “For about six weeks, we won’t. At least not financially. It’s going to take us some time, but we’ll get it all up and running as quick as we can. In the meantime, we’ll each have a small personal bank account with limited funds.”
“And the rest of the money?” Rex asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I’m freezing it,” Liesel said, meeting his gaze.
Rex raked a hand over his face, and Tommy just gaped at her. Finally he said, “Liesel, this is—”
Rex could think of a lot of words: crazy, destructive, stupid, but her answer was true as well. “The only way I know how to make sure we don’t lose anymore.”
They were all silent for several long minutes. Rex didn’t care about the money for himself, but there were several important things going on right now that demanded money to make sure they got done.
“What about school for the kids this year and next year? And Ari? What about a house for them? Are you sure this will be done in six weeks?”
Liesel glanced sideways at Jordan, and this time Rex was sure he hadn’t missed a flicker of something between them, but what he wasn’t sure. “Pretty sure.”
“That’s not good enough, Liesel,” Tommy snapped.
She rolled her eyes. “Do you have a better plan? Want to call your dad and see what he can come up with?”
Rex whistled. That was a low blow, and she knew it.
Tommy just glared, though. When the stare off finally ended, Liesel turned back to Rex.
“I hacked the college system and made sure that Ari has a full scholarship for the next two years. We’ll donate it back once we get things figured out. I enrolled the kids in public online school. I got Dr. Treyman to come here as a tutor. He still owes us for finding his granddaughter before she was sold out of the country. I doubt he’d let you pay him if you tried. As for the house… well for right now she stays here. None of us have real credit for something like a mortgage. If you don’t want to be around her, then I suggest you go to your own house. The safest place for her and those children now is right here.”
He opened his mouth. Shut it. Opened it again. He didn’t have anything to say, really. She had it all planned out. Finally he asked, “When do the new accounts for us go live?”
“Two hours ago,” she said, tossing a pair of debit cards on the desks in front of them.
“Jordan took care of setting up dummy accounts for the money to go to.”
“Won’t those be at risk though?”
Liesel took a deep breath and shared a look with Jordan. “No, because our names aren’t attached to them.”
“What do you mean?”
Jordan looked at Liesel, who nodded. “They’re all in my name,” he said, his voice neutral.
Rex and Tommy shared a look. What was going on between the two of them that Liesel trusted him with this?
Rex studied him, then asked, “What do you get out of all of this, Jordan?”
He didn’t ask if they could trust him. He was sitting in this room. Either Liesel trusted him, so they all should, or she had enough information on him to destroy him if he betrayed them. Probably both if he was honest.
Jordan shrugged. “A chance to earn your trust and hopefully a place in the new business someday.”
Rex gaped at him. Liesel had shared their plans with him? That was an interesting development. He tried to meet Liesel’s eyes and get an idea of what was going through her head, but, as usual, that was useless. The woman was a vault, her face devoid of emotion.
It was Tommy who finally answered. “Jordan, if you can get us out of this mess, we’ll make you the vice-president of finance.”
Ari sat in the library long after Stella had left. The poor girl was a shadow of her former self. After talking with her for hours, Ari knew she hadn’t been raped outright, but she had been forced to watch and do things no fourteen-year-old should. For a long time, they had simply sat in silence. Ari had assured her over and over that was fine, but also let her know she would listen if Stella wanted to talk. They had both been reading books when Stella had started to sob. Setting the book down, Ari scooted closer to her, but didn’t touch her until Stella crumpled into her side.
Ari had shed several tears herself as she’d relived the awful forty-eight hours with her.
“Ari, I was so scared,” she whimpered.
“I know, sweetie, but you’re safe now,” Ari assured her.
Stella shook her head. “I wasn’t scared for me. I was scared for Rex. They did it to get him. I heard them talk about hurting him. I knew he’d come for me, but what if they’d killed him?”
Ari’s heart froze. Yes, what if they had killed him? That thought choked Ari, but she forced that feeling down. This wasn’t about her and her misplaced feelings for a man who didn’t really want her. All Ari could do was hold her. Eventually, Tommy came in and brought a young woman with him.
“Stella, this is Remy. She’s a counselor. Would you like to talk to her?”
Stella glanced from Ari to Tommy, uncertainty painting her face. Ari spoke up. “When you’re done, I’d like to talk to her too.”
That seemed to be enough for Stella and she let Tommy lead her away. Ari breathed out long and slow trying to pull herself together. She meant it. Talking to a counselor was necessary for her, too. She needed to be healthy enough to stand up to a custody hearing and all the evaluations that would go with that. She had so much she needed to figure out. Ari wanted to talk it all over with Rex, but she hadn’t seen him alone since they’d arrived home from the hospital yesterday. She went back to reading her book, but was interrupted when Tommy came back in. Ari eyed him warily, remembering the last time he’d wanted to talk to her alone.
Sitting across from her, he met her gaze before speaking. “I owe you an apology, Ari.”
Ari blinked at him. This was the second apology in two days she’d gotten from these powerful, rich, dangerous men. Ari felt like the world might have turned upside down.
“I… uh… thank you?”
It came out sounding more like a question than anything.
He gave her a small smile. “I have a few things to talk over with you. With the death of your stepfather, everything goes to your mother. There isn’t much. It looks like he gambled most everything away. The house has a second mortgage on it.”
Ari blew out her breath. It was what she had guessed, but hearing it was still hard.
Tommy continued. “A car found at the house was registered to you.”
“You got my car?” It wasn’t much, but her old corolla had been safe, reliable, and cheap.
Tommy cleared his throat. “I… well… yes. But I disposed of it. I used the sale to help buy you a small SUV. It will be safer for you and the kids.”
Ari stared at him in shock. “You bought me a car?”
“Well, yes. You’re going to need it going to school next year—”
“Mr. Nardone, I can’t afford nursing school if I have to pay off a mortgage,” she started, but he stopped her, holding his hand up.
“Let me finish, please,” he asked.
Ari nodded slowly.
“The mortgage is in your mother’s name. It has a disability clause in it. If she’s declared legally disabled, which I have a lawyer working on, it will pay the house off. She also has a life insurance policy that you were the secondary beneficiary of.”
“Well, at least I don’t have to worry about that,” Ari said, relieved. “Is it enough to pay for school?” she asked him
Tommy chuckled. “Liesel fixed that for you. You’re all set for fall.”
Ari gaped at him. “What? How?”
“A scholarship,” Tommy said, avoiding her gaze, “And the Nardone family will be making a generous donation to the scholarship fund. Eventually.”
“Oh god. Please tell me you aren’t trying to pay me for helping Stella. I don’t… you can’t…” she trailed off. How could she make him understand? She didn’t want him to think she was ungrateful, or worse, that it was just him.
“No…” he said. “And yes. We don’t know how Stella is going to do. For that matter, how you will. I just wanted to tell you myself, if you agree, that I want you to stay here with us. It would give you help and stability to get through school. If you and Stella can help each other out dealing with everything even better.”
Ari studied him for a minute. How did she ask the next part? He knew what she and Rex had been doing. If they had to continue living together, that could get awkward. It was just physical for him, but for her, it was so much more. She wouldn’t be able to pretend indefinitely. Finally she asked him, “We?”
Tommy took a deep breath. “Yes. Me, Liesel…and Rex.”
“Mmm,” Ari said. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Tommy gave her a hard look. “Rex is planning to stay at his own house for a while. You and your brother and sister will keep the rooms you’ve been staying in.”
Ari’s heart stopped, then sped up. “Why can’t I… I mean… couldn’t you just help me get my own place? I don’t want him to have to leave.”
“It’s what he wanted, Ari. We just broke up a huge criminal trafficking ring. We’re hoping you’re safe, but we don’t know. This is the best place to be. You aren’t stuck here like you were. But coming home here each night would make us all rest easier.”
All of them except Rex, who was literally leaving his own home to get away from her. Ari wanted to cry, but she knew what Tommy was saying was true. They were safe enough for now, but unless they wanted a completely new identity and relocation, they still needed the Nardones.
“Ok,” she finally said.
Tommy’s face relaxed with relief. “Ok?”
“Yeah. We’ll stay for now. At least until we know everything is safe. What about the custody? Will that be a problem with me living… here?” She really hoped Tommy understood what she was asking. She didn’t want to offend him after his extremely generous offer.
“Liesel is working on that,” he said, and Ari laughed. Truly laughed.
“She’s got some pretty awesome powers, doesn’t she?”
“To be honest, I have no idea what she can do. She scares me a little, but yes, she does. All she’s doing is making sure your case gets in front a judge that doesn’t hear our name and immediately scowl. It’s not so difficult in family law. It also helps that none of us have a real rap sheet. Rex and I have been running things differently.”
“I noticed,” Ari murmured.
Tommy gave her a strange look before saying, “Well, I’ll leave you to relax. Remy said she has no problem staying to talk to you. Take as long as you want with her,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Ari?”
“What?”
He paused before saying, “I bet you’ll be glad to have a room to yourself again.”
“I..”
She didn’t know what she’d been planning to say, but Tommy must have seen something on her face and said, “I see.”
He was gone before she could respond.