Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
It’s been a blur of activity since we arrived at the hospital, and even with a private wing for Tinsley, apparently it still requires a lot of people to check her out after everything that happened.
As soon as Allie and Thor leave to escort Tinsley and her medical team to get yet another scan, my brother slips in, asking to speak with Wells and me privately, before shutting the door after a handful of assistants and lawyers leave the room.
Ryan nods at me and Wells, not wasting time with pleasantries. We saw him when we first got here a few hours ago, but this is different.
And I already understand why he wanted to clear the room.
He has a name.
The red haze of anger starts to build back up. The adrenaline of the break-in and the attack has calmed down, but my anger is roaring back to life. “Who was it?” I demand.
Ryan lifts a finger, dialing a number and a cheerful voice fills the room.
“Hey, Ry Guy. Do we have the head honchos in the room now?” Ryan looks up, the right side of his lips slightly lifting.
That’s as close to a smile as he’s going to get right now, but my mood is far worse than his and my patience is non-existent.
“Who’s this?” I bark.
“My apologies. I’m guessing that’s Jack, as it sounds just like Liam and Ryan and the rest of you fifty-two Callahan brothers. Hey guys, I’m Sophia. I work with Liam on … well, everything, but I assisted with your situation a bit today.”
“I’m here too. Jack, don’t be a dick,” Liam chimes in from the background.
Well, too late for that. “Shit. I’m sorry, Sophia. Honestly, I owe you so much for what you did to help today, not my anger. It’s been an emotional day, and you’ve gone above and beyond for my family and those I consider family more than once. I really do apologize.”
“It’s okay, big guy. It’s been a shit show of a day, but I’m glad Tinsley is okay.”
“I hope to one day be able to thank you in person, but really, thank you.”
Liam huffs. “I didn’t say make it weird, Jack. Anyway, it’s been a fucking day, we all agree on that, but unfortunately, the day is not over. Soph, you want to explain what you discovered and then I’ll fill Wells and Jack in on what’s been happening since we found that?”
In the background, a rhythmic melodic sound that’s not quite consistent chimes. He’s on a boat somewhere, I knew it. I shake my head.
“Happy to. So, when we upgraded everyone’s security after last fall’s …
incident with Savannah, the only way to access your residence specifically was one of three ways: the security team approving the arrival via the elevator entrance in the lobby, or accessing the residential elevators utilizing a passcode, or one of the very few all-access cards. Everyone following?”
“Yeah.” I look to Wells.
He points at himself. “Literal genius. I’m good.”
“The system confirmed, along with the video evidence that Rick and Kane accessed the penthouse via your residential floor, Wells,” Sophia continues as Wells rears back in shock.
“But that didn’t make sense because we know you and Max aren’t involved with this bullocks.
So, I followed them on the security feeds, and they accessed the building from the staircase that opens to the street by your surface parking lot and parking ramp entrance.
That’s a secured entrance, but they walked right in because someone had given them an all-access security card. ”
An all-access card?!
I look at Wells, bewildered. “How did that even happen? I only have three of them myself and I own the damn building.”
“Two,” Sophia corrects me.
“What?”
She softly says, “You only have two.”
My stomach drops at that. “It was one of mine? How is that possible?”
“Yes. Those are set up so we know whose card it is, and they used one of your cards to access the building at the employee entrance, then used the secured staircase to walk to the loft residential floor, used the card to access that floor, then used that same card to take the elevator. They could’ve just used the stairs all the way up, but I’m guessing from what I’ve learned, Rick wanted the entrance to be dramatic.
He probably has a small dick too, although from what I hear it’s also an injured one now so maybe it’s a little bigger than normal, like from swelling or whatever.
I could see it. I don’t want to see it, but clearly, the guy has small-dick syndrome. ”
I still don’t understand how this happened. “Where did they get one of my keycards?”
“Earlier today when you were in Nashville for your finance meeting? The Senior Vice President of Finance Natasha Markova accessed your office, Jack, and apparently, told your assistant at that location that you needed something for the meeting that she was calling in on.”
“Natasha?!” Wells is the first to speak, but is clearly as shocked as I am. “You have video proof? She’s early forties, brown hair, a bit plain looking, maybe; she’s not ugly or anything, but a bit of a wallflower and somewhat awkward socially.” Wells shakes his head. “Are we sure it was her?”
“How long has she worked at Lux?” I ask Wells because the genius remembers everything—and I mean everything.
“She was hired over fifteen years ago as a finance manager and has steadily been promoted. This doesn’t make any sense.
She’s a nice lady and has never even been written up, let alone helped a scumbag like Kane Daughtry or Rick Wilson.
” His face pales, and I know exactly how he feels because we trust membership of our leadership team—especially people that have been with us for as long as Natasha has been.
“I might have a suggestion for a motive, it might be a stretch, but honestly, stranger things have happened.” Ryan surprises me by chiming in.
I nod for him to continue. I’ve been trying to get Ryan to come work in, or even run, our finance at Lux for years, but he’s held me off.
Not for lack of me trying, and Ryan has been a good sport about it, coming along to events and meeting key people in the finance department.
“Last year when your CFO retired, and I turned you down again.” Of course, he mentions it. “You and Wells wooed Chris Greene from that start-up you guys bought out.”
I follow but I don’t. “So, she was pissed we let the CFO be in New York instead of Nashville?”
“No, you dumb boys, she was pissed she didn’t get the CFO job,” Sophia speaks up. “Why wouldn’t she want that job if she’d been with the company for as long as you say and as faithful as you say?”
“Obviously not that faithful!” Wells argues. “She almost got my sister killed!”
“Not justifying her actions, not at all. But when I dug into her personal life, I don’t think she has it very easy, so who knows what her thought process was,” Sophia explains.
I look at Ryan and he nods. “Yeah, she wanted that job. I think she maybe thought it was going to be hers until it was announced Chris was coming onboard. She was crushed when you and Wells didn’t even open it for internal applicants and just pulled someone in from outside, especially with everything that had happened with Kane.
She felt like she had wasted her career and was stuck. ”
What. The. Fuck.
“How do you know this? And why didn’t I know this?” I ask him a little too rough.
“She was venting at the holiday party you made me go to, asking if there were any openings at the hospital. I didn’t think anything of it, or I would have said something, honest. And by then, Chris was already in place and things were going smoothly for you guys, so I thought she just needed time to adjust.”
“Also, it may be of interest to add that she’s been making monthly payments to a bookie out of Nashville that’s known for taking a pound of flesh if necessary.
Her history doesn’t add up for a gambling issue though …
although her brother’s lifestyle and bank account absolutely does.
She also has had more than one direct deposit from the celebrity gossip site The Spill, and those transactions are eerily close to when stories with inside information about Tinsley’s location were leaked. ”
Natasha wouldn’t have known where Tinsley was, but because of her position, she knew I was with Tinsley, and my leadership team is typically always aware of my general location.
“Where is she now?” I demand as I run my fingers through my disheveled hair. The movement causes me to get a whiff of myself, and I scrunch my face in disgust. Did Rick puke on me? I need a fucking shower. I hugged my girl smelling like this? Fuck.
“Thor had security detain her until authorities could place her under arrest. She was also taken into federal custody as an accessory to Rick and Kane’s crimes. She’s facing a lot of shit,” Liam explains.
“Good.” I don’t feel bad. Not really. Maybe a little that I upset a faithful employee who had worked that long for us, but that does not justify her betrayal which almost cost Tinsley her fucking life.
I could have lost her today.
“So, was the finance meeting location even a misunderstanding?” I ask the room.
“No, her texts show that she used that as her ploy to get into your office. It was planned so she could get access to your desk, which apparently, it’s not a guarded secret that’s where you keep the all-access keycards,” Sophia says and I can hear the unspoken security threat.
“But Liam already made a call, and you’ll have a safe with biometrics for those access cards in your office by the end of day tomorrow. It’s already being shipped.”
I never would’ve questioned the security of my actual office with how careful we are with everything else, and I might be the one to puke knowing that my oversight contributed to this in any way. “Thanks, Liam.”
“I’m hoping we have more news from Walker yet today, but it sounds like all three were taken into federal custody and will be facing, well, a shit ton of charges.
But I’ll keep a close eye on everything, and I have contacts that are watching it closely as well.
Rick and Kane won’t be free men any time soon—if ever again.
And Debbie Jo better like the color orange because she’s looking at serious time for her crimes as well.
” Liam may be in the middle of some sea, but he’s still always keeping an eye out for us.
“I can’t wait to meet Tinsley one day, especially if she’s such a … ball buster,” Sophia gleefully adds, and Liam’s rich laughter echoes off the sterile hospital walls.
“I’m so damn proud of her,” Wells says as his eyes fill with tears and he swallows back even more emotion.
He shakes his head as he rubs a hand down his face.
We know how today could have gone—and even though there’s a massive pile of shit to sort through, I’m incredibly grateful to have these people by my side as we figure it out.
And, as my sister Savannah would say, we take out the damn trash.