Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
“W hat did you do?”
Ace glanced up as BJ entered the office. His twin’s accusatory tone stiffening his spine.
“Excuse me?”
BJ leaned against the door. Crossing his arms over his chest, he shook his head. “I just passed Millie talking with Trisha. Looked like she’d been crying and whatever they were talking about gave off a bad vibe.
“She quit,” Ace answered bluntly, grabbing some paperwork on the desk. His eyes glazed over the numbers and words on the paper. He didn’t really care what was on it, he just needed something to focus on instead of the judgmental look in his brother’s eyes.
“What? Why?”
Glancing up, his gut churned with the freshness of the betrayal as he growled out the words, “She knew.”
BJ frowned, confusion furrowing his brow.
“About the theft. She knew.”
Pushing off the door, BJ took a few steps into the room. “Well yeah, of course she did. You two were working on finding out who did it right?”
“No,” he shook his head, fist closing around the papers in a death grip. “She knew who did it and she didn’t say anything. She knows who stole the money and refuses to tell me who it is.”
BJ blinked. Ace could see his twin felt the same shock of surprise, but BJ didn’t appear angry at all. Only confused.
“Wait, she knew the whole time?”
He shook his head again. “No, she told me she only found out recently and was waiting for the thief to come clean on their own.”
What the hell kind of thief comes clean though? Not this one. Evidenced by the fact that they returned the money but did not confess. Millie trusted too much. She always saw the good in people. He wished he could be like that, but he’d seen too much to believe it.
“The money is back,” BJ said, placing his hands on the back of the chair facing the desk.
“Yes, but we still don’t know who stole it or why? What’s to stop them from doing it again?”
Why did no one see the problem with this situation?
The papers in his hand started to rip as his grip increased. Not wanting to ruin important paperwork, he relaxed his grip and set the papers aside. Ruining an invoice or payroll statement or whatever it was would only add to his problems. Especially if it was something his sister had worked up. Charlie would have his head if he messed up her paperwork.
“This still doesn’t explain why Millie quit,” BJ said, coming around to take a seat in the chair.
He sighed, leaning back against the headrest. A throb pounded behind his eyes. Closing them, he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve the pressure.
“We…had a disagreement about revealing the identity of the thief.”
BJ snorted. “You mean you demanded she tell you who it was, and she refused.”
He dropped his hand, opening his eyes to glare at his twin. “That was the deal. She finds out who the thief was and tells me. We had an agreement.”
Why was this so difficult for everyone to understand?
“Maybe she had a good reason for wanting the person to come to you directly,” BJ shrugged.
“But there’s no guarantee that person will come forward,” he argued.
Besides, that wasn’t even the whole issue. She promised to do something. She broke his trust. How could he believe anything she said knowing she lied to him like this? How could they…he sighed, a heavy weight sinking in his chest.
“Are you really worried about the thief or are you hurt that Millie kept this from you?”
Damn twindar. Normally Ace loved the fact that he and BJ were close enough to nearly read each other’s minds, but right now it was annoying as hell.
“She betrayed me,” he said softly, allowing the pain he felt to seep into his confession. “How can I ever trust her knowing that?”
BJ stroked his beard. It was getting long. His brother said Tilly loved playing with it, so he refused to cut it. That little girl had her daddy wrapped around her tiny finger. The whole family was wrapped around it, if he was being honest. Ace would do anything for his niece. Including cutting people out of his life if they posed a risk to the business that kept his family afloat. He never imagined Millie would be one of those people, but here they were.
“So let me get this straight,” BJ said, leaning forward. “The money is back. Millie admitted she knows who the thief is but refuses to say because she wants that person to come clean. You two fight. I’m guessing you said some real bonehead things like refusing to pay her for your deal or something like that and she quit.”
It was eerie how accurate BJ’s assessment was.
“They weren’t boneheaded. They were factual,” he replied, unease squirming within. “And why should I pay her if she didn’t complete the job?”
What Millie and BJ didn’t know was Ace already transferred over the payment this morning when the money was found. The money was back, and they agreed he’d pay her the rest on that stipulation. He wasn’t going to take it back now. His threat had been said in the heat of the moment. He would have paid her either way. But he wanted her to trust him enough to share what she knew. What was she afraid of? Did she really think he was a coldhearted bastard?
BJ smiled, shaking his head with a small chuckle. “You forget, Ace. I can see the bank transfers too. I know you already paid Millie. I also know you’re not taking any of that money back. What do you think she’ll do when she sees that?”
Use it to finance her dream he hoped. Despite the stinging sense of betrayal, he wanted her to be happy. She deserved all the happiness in the world. Nothing would ever change his mind about that.
“I don’t care, I—”
“Excuse me,” Trisha’s soft voice interrupted as she popped her head into the office. “BJ, Ace, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Swallowing down the frustration of the conversation halting, Ace motioned her inside. Trisha closed the door behind her as she came to stand at the side of the desk, facing them both. He noticed her hands were shaking slightly. Trisha was a good employee, always on time, never complained. He’d never seen her this worried before. BJ had mentioned she was talking to Millie a moment ago. Had Millie shared she was leaving? Was Trisha worried about her job?
“I did it,” she said, hanging her head, refusing to look either of them in the eye. “I returned the money.”
Ace sat there, shock rendering him speechless. He hadn’t wanted to believe any of their employees had stolen the money, but Trisha was way down on his list of suspects.
“But I didn’t steal it,” she insisted, head snapping up, truth shining out of her glossy eyes.
The throb in his head started pounding like a jackhammer. He knew he was in for a story. Motioning to the seat next to BJ he nodded for her to continue.
Trisha sat, shame clear in her expression as she opened her mouth to explain. “Do you remember my ex? Griffin?”
He nodded along with BJ. The guy had only come into the bar a few times, but Ace had gotten a bad vibe off him. He didn’t care who anyone dated, but he hadn’t been sad to see the creep no longer hanging around the bar.
“He was the one who stole the money,” Trisha admitted.
Ace frowned. “How?”
It didn’t make sense that a non-employee would steal the money. They didn’t have access to the register.
Trisha let out a groan, covering her face with her hands. “This is so mortifying. I’m so sorry I don’t know what I was thinking, you have to believe me. I swear I’m not usually like this. He just brought out the worst in me.”
She went on to explain—thankfully not in graphic detail—how Griffin convinced her on multiple occasions to let him in the back after closing so they could fool around in the bar. The security cameras were off during closing hours because they’d never seen reason to keep them on if no one was there. A mistake he’d be rectifying immediately.
“He must have taken the cash from the register while I was…um, cleaning up. I think he knew my code. It’s my birthday,” she admitted, face turning red.
Every worker who handled sales had a specialized code to get into the register. He warned employees to not make it something as easy to guess as their birthday or anniversary, but people rarely listened.
Fuck! He accused Millie of being too trusting, but he now realized they needed to shift how they handled closing details. Since most of their revenue came from cards, he’d never worried about the cash being in the drawer overnight. It was locked and no one was there. Or so he thought.
“I am so ashamed and sorry,” Trisha continued, tears escaping to run down her cheeks. “And I understand if you want to fire me. I deserve it.”
He glanced over to BJ. Grateful for the twindar this time, he acknowledged the understanding light in his brother’s eyes and nodded.
“You’re not fired,” he said softly. “But I’m afraid we will have to change your schedule. No more closing shifts for a while. We’ll also be restricting your access to the cash drawer for the time being.”
She blinked, a hopeful smile peeking out through her tears. “Of course. I totally understand. Thank you, Ace, thank you, BJ. I promise I’ll never do anything like this ever again.”
“And you’re taking the money back,” BJ insisted.
She paused, wrinkling her nose as confusion filled her eyes. “What?”
“I’m sure that money came from your savings and not your ex returning it, correct?” BJ asked.
Ace watched as her cheeks turned pink.
“Um, yeah. He said if I told you guys, you’d fire me and prosecute. I have no evidence that he did it. I don’t want to go to jail. That’s why I tried to return the money without saying anything, but then I saw Millie and… please don’t be mad at her. I put her in an awful situation. She was just trying to help me. She encouraged me to tell you. None of this is her fault.”
BJ smiled. “We know. But we also know now that it wasn’t your fault either. Not entirely. It’s not your job to pay for someone else’s crime.”
“Let us handle Griffin,” Ace growled. They’d have a little talk with the creep. If that didn’t work, they had legal avenues to pursue. The guy would pay back every cent he stole one way or another.
She nodded, standing. “Thank you for being so understanding. Again, I’m so sorry and please don’t be mad at Millie. She’s a good person.”
With that Trisha left their office and went back to work.
“We’ll have to shift the schedule around,” he said, going over all the revelations of the past half an hour in his head. “And we definitely need to have those cameras on 24/7.”
“And you should talk to Millie,” BJ insisted.
He stiffened, jaw clenching. It was too soon. The betrayal still too raw for him to even think of talking to her. He knew she promised Trisha she wouldn’t say anything, but he still couldn’t help but feel deceived. He thought they cared about each other. He certainly did. His feelings for Millie snuck up on him. Or maybe they’d always been there, but he simply denied them until they smacked him in the face.
“Ace,” BJ said, leaning forward. “You need to talk to Millie.”
He shook his head. “Why? The thief was found, she quit. That was the end of our deal.”
“But what about…your relationship?”
He eyed his brother, not in the least bit surprised that his twin surmised he and Millie were sleeping together. He could never hide anything from BJ. No matter how hard he tried.
“It wasn’t serious,” he lied. “The job is done so we’re done. End of story.”
A heavy sigh left BJ as he stood and made his way to the office door. “Sounds like a pretty shitty ending to me.”
It was. But life wasn’t like movies and books. It didn’t give you warm fuzzies all wrapped up in a bow. It killed the people you loved, revealed betrayals, and ripped your very soul out one tragedy at a time. Life was bleak and he’d been a lot better off when he believed that. Before a woman with bright blue hair and a smile that could light up the darkest night came into his and ruined it forever with the hope of a dream that could never be.