Chapter Eighteen
That night, I sat at the vanity, putting my face cream on while Micah toweled off from his shower.
I’d been working up the courage since he came home to ask him about the money he apparently thought my mother stole from him, but after my shouting match with Davis, I knew I needed a better approach that didn’t start with accusations and end with insults.
“Micah.”
He parted the towel, peeking at me through the cotton. “Yeah?”
“You’ve been really sweet not to bring it up, but I think we should address the elephant in the room.”
“Elephant? What elephant?”
My goodness, it was hard to keep my eyes on his face. This man firmly believed a towel was only meant to dry your bits, not cover them. All of him hung hard, hot, and free as he draped his towel around his shoulders.
Lips parting, I said the words I’d been scripting for half the day.
“About the money you believe my mother stole from your family,” I began.
“I still don’t believe she could’ve done that, but if she did and the lawyer finds it when he gets access to her accounts, I’ll tell him he legally needs to give it all to you. No questions. No fighting. It’s yours.”
He stared at me, brows crumpling—and panic seized.
Oh no, did I say the wrong thing? Did I give myself away?
“Sue, uh... wow.” He dropped down on my bed, reaching for his boxers. “Baby, that’s... wow.”
I swallowed hard. “Could I possibly get more than a wow?”
“If you want more words, don’t be leaving me speechless.
” He tossed his head, sending those long, sweet-scented locks flying through the air.
“We fought about this so many times. Every time you called me a twisted, paranoid piece of shit and refused to even entertain the thought of helping me get the money back. And now, just like that, you’re saying you’ll have it all returned?
That’s wow,” he repeated, then smiled at me.
“That means a lot, Sue. It really does. It shows me that you’re serious about a fresh start for our family, and for us,” he said. “But it’s completely unnecessary.”
“What? What is?”
“Giving me any money from the charity clique’s inheritance,” he said, “because you were right the whole time. Your mother had nothing to do with the con. I blamed her the whole time because she was the one who introduced that man to my parents, but I see now that she was tricked and taken in by him just like we all were.” The last few words were strangled as his jaw clenched and anger darkened his face.
“Remember that day you called me asking if Lily could stop the piano lessons?”
“Yeah,” I replied, turning to face him.
“Well, I lied,” he told the floor, bending over to put on his pajama bottoms. “I wasn’t out on a job. When you called, I was in a casino in Atlantic City.”
“A casino? What were you doing there?”
“The conman piece of shit that robbed my parents is in the wind. By this point, he’s changed identities fifty times, and the investigators we hired just can’t find him,” he said.
“That’s why the last one told us to stop trying.
We needed to stop chasing the wind, and start looking at what it was leaving behind. ”
“Uhh,” I drew out. “That explanation did nothing for me.”
He chuckled. “What he meant was that we need to track down his other victims and figure out what we all have in common, and how he got to all of us. Once we know how he picks his marks, we can find his next target before he does, and finally get ahead of him. And that’s why I’m an ass.”
“Once again, you’ve lost me.”
Micah dropped back on the bed, covering his face with his hands. “That day, the investigator tracked down another victim. I went to Atlantic City and found the poor drunk son of a bitch throwing the last of his dignity on the craps table. He told me everything.
“All about how he won forty-two million dollars in the lottery, but he wanted to be smart. He didn’t want to go the way most of them do—broke in a year. So when his cousin introduced him to a financial advisor, he took the recommendation, because why wouldn’t he? He trusted who his cousin trusted.”
Micah groaned. “Everything he described was exactly what happened to my parents and the buyout money they tried to invest for me. I gave them all of the money because I didn’t trust myself back then.
I was partying too hard, drinking too much, smoking too much, and sleeping around too much.
I really thought having all of that money would kill me.
I’d be found dead in my mansion with vomit on my pillow and coke dust on my nose within a year.
So I gave it all to the people I trusted most.. . and then that shit floated up.
“Apparently, this guy specifically targets new-money folks who suddenly get a massive windfall and don’t know what to do with it.
But unlike other preying scum, he’s smart.
He never approaches the person directly, instead he gets close to a family member or friend and happens to mention to them that he’s a financial advisor and investor, so when his mark suddenly mentions that he’s in the market for one, the friend will go, ‘oh, hey, I actually know a great guy who can help you out. I’ll give you his number. ’”
“Wow,” I breathed, slumping against the vanity. “That’s evil. It’s smart, but it’s evil. You automatically trust the guy a little more because you went to him. He didn’t come to you.”
“Exactly. Which is again why I’m an ass.
” Micah dropped his hands, sending me a sheepish smile.
“That guy had never heard of your mother in his entire life, and neither has his cousin, for that matter. All this time, I blamed your mother for introducing that piece of shit to my parents when it was never her fault. He lied to her like he lied to so many others. The only one who was ever to blame was that thieving snake.”
“Oh, baby.” I went over and lay by his side, resting my head on his arm.
My heart did flips as he rolled to face me, resting his other arm across my hip.
Micah was fresh from the shower—enveloping me in a cloud of apples and honey.
I was less than in the mood to have sex five doors down from the room where I walked into a new and terrible nightmare, but damned if a part of me wasn’t still wishing for a can of lager and Micah’s naughty, searching tongue.
“I’m so sorry, but it sounds like that guy was right. Average people who suddenly come into massive windfalls have a hard time hiding it. If around them is where he’ll be lurking around, your investigators can get there in time to take him down.”
“That’s the plan.”
I stroked his cheek. “But why didn’t you tell me any of this? The last few days, I’ve been low-key wondering if you killed my mother to settle the fight.”
Micah laughed. “That’s nuts, and wildly short-sighted on my part.
Until literally right now, I had no way of knowing if your mother was packing a few extra billions in her bank account, and no way of knowing if you’d tell me if she did.
For all I knew, that’s why you suddenly had a change of heart about the divorce and wanted us to send you off with pocket change. ”
“So you didn’t tell me because you didn’t trust me?” I asked. “But at that point, you knew my mother had nothing to do with the scam? How did trust even come into it?”
Micah shook his head. “Trust absolutely came into it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you not to be nasty about it,” he said to my shocked expression.
“I could already hear you laughing at me, saying I told you so, and once again calling my parents a bunch of gullible dumbasses. Finding out that we were just one of many marks wasn’t going to spark any sympathy in you.
.. or so I thought. You’ve really changed, haven’t you. ”
A tender, stroking finger caressed my forehead. “Amazing what a bump on the head can do.”
My smile didn’t reach my eyes. “I did walk away from that accident that morning believing I was meant for a new start. But now? Everything’s just so fucked, Micah, and I don’t know what to do.”
“You can stop trying to do everything by yourself for one.”
“What do you mean?” I propped up on my elbow. “Are you talking about settling Omma’s estate? Because I don’t want to do that by myself. You can absolutely help me.”
“No, I’m talking about you trying to find Omma and Mrs. Prado’s killer.
” He saw the look on my face. “Alex overheard you shouting at Davis. I know you’re not going to stop until you get the truth—and I’m not telling you to,” he rushed out when I opened my mouth.
“But this doesn’t work, Sue. You need information only the cops have, and you’re not going to get it making an enemy out of every single one you come across. ”
“Argh!” I flung back, adopting the same hands-on-face position Micah did.
“I know, I know. He just pissed me off so much because I know he agrees with me. He knows Courtney didn’t do this and the missing bloody clothes are important, but he’s not going to do anything about it, because he’s a shit-his-pants coward.
How is that not supposed to piss me off! ”
“It pisses me off too. Especially because they were fucking lazy. After they found the knife in Thorne’s bag, they stopped all the interviews and I never got to tell them that there was an eleventh person who went upstairs that night,” he dropped on my head like a ton of bricks.
“Someone who wasn’t in the ballroom the next morning. Someone they missed.”
“Excuse me?” I flipped over, jumping on him and tearing a grunt from his chest. “What are you talking about?”