Chapter Six #2
Hunter looked around the table, confused.
Augustus smiled. “I get that a lot.”
“What?” Hunter asked.
Augustus gave a lazy shrug. “Women like my voice.”
“Dude has a sex voice and it’s perfectly deep,” Meryn explained.
“Then you’ll really appreciate all of us,” Eoin said, winking at Meryn.
“No, she won’t,” Aiden protested.
Caiden pointed to the other end of the table. “Join us. Stuffed shells for dinner.”
“You have our thanks,” Connor said.
Myra was wiping her eyes from laughing. “Boys, behave. These pretty girls are mated.”
“Yes, Aunt Myra,” Rory said as they sat down.
Hunter started with his eldest cousin. “Augustus Armstrong, he’s Graham’s age. He’s a lawyer. Second eldest is Rory Armstrong, public relations. Then there’s Connor, he’s my age, he’s the contracts guy. Finally, the baby, Eoin, he’s Ewan’s age and he’s the face.”
“I’ll say,” Genevieve whispered.
Eoin smiled. “You ladies know how to make us poor bear-shifters feel welcome.”
Augustus passed the paper down to Rory, who looked it over. “Mediocre work, at best. Give me a day and I’ll counter this.” He stood, removed his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves.
Meryn whimpered.
All the men at this point looked confused.
“He did the forearm thing,” Kiera whispered.
Hunter would think his cousin was innocent, but Rory was smiling as he read the paper.
“Meryn!” Aiden barked.
Augustus looked up, eyes narrowing. “Don’t be upset with her. If our small, playful efforts affect them so, that means you all have taken them for granted and stopped trying to woo them. That means you are lacking.”
Aiden sat back looking gobsmacked. “You’re right. We’ve been so busy going from crisis to crisis, I’ve been remiss in my duties as her mate.”
Meryn shook her head as if to clear it. “Does ‘plausible deniability’ apply to you as my lawyer?”
Augustus smiled. “No, darling. You can tell me everything.”
“That doesn’t mean you can flirt,” Aiden said.
“I’m just being pleasant,” Augustus countered.
Meryn gave a single nod. “I like them.”
Kendrick drank his wine. “You would.”
Connor held up his plate as Ryuu served him three large servings of shells. “She’s quick.”
Caiden shook his head. “Were you testing us or her?”
“Testing is such a strong term,” Augustus said, helping himself to the bread.
“It was more like showing us what they can do,” Meryn explained.
Rory gave a distracted nod as he flipped to the next page of the newspaper.
“And, we really want to stay on your good side, Princess,” Augustus said. “We met you as the King of the Fae dropped to his knees to beg for mercy. It has become our top priority to keep you happy.”
“Darian loves me,” Meryn announced confidently.
Keran nodded. “That’s what brothers do,” he said, sagely.
Augustus laughed. “You are absolutely right, young one.”
Hunter pointed. “That’s my son.”
Augustus’ smile froze before he looked at his ma. “Aunt Myra is he telling the truth?”
His ma pointed to Kiera. “I wanted to surprise you boys. This is Hunter’s mate Kiera Sorrel and her brother and sister, Keran and Nicol. They call Hunter, Dad.”
When his older cousin turned to him, he saw nothing but pride. “Congratulation cuz! I’m so damn happy for you.”
Keran leaned forward to look at Hunter. “Dad, who are they?”
“They are your grandma’s nephews and my cousins. Their mother, is your grandma’s sister,” he explained.
“More family?” Keran asked, his eyes bugging out.
“Yup, more.”
“It’s their abusive uncle we’re gonna kill,” Meryn informed them.
As one all four men began a low growl and looked up.
“Why does he need killing?” Augustus asked.
Nicol looked at them with her huge blue eyes. “He hurt us.”
Augustus swung back to look at him. “He’s still breathing, why?”
“Because killing the man in charge of the proctors at the Magic Academy while shit is going south with the Witches’ Council is problematic,” Hunter replied.
Connor looked to Nicol. “Don’t you worry about a thing sweetheart, your big cousins will take of everything. That mean man won’t come near you again.”
She nodded. “My Dad said he would keep us safe.”
Hunter sat back feeling satisfied. “My daughter.”
Nicol blushed at being claimed. “I think I’m going to like having big cousins.”
“And he prolly stole our money,” Keran added.
Augustus looked to Meryn. “Is someone on that?”
“That someone would be me, and yes, I am on that. From what I’ve been able to tell, money is in that account, and it hasn’t been touched since the parents died. So, if the uncle knows about it, he can’t touch it,” Meryn said, twirling mozzarella around her fork.
“I just gave you their names,” Kiera said, looking surprised.
Meryn took a bite, chewed, then swallowed. “Bank stuff is pretty easy. They all tend to use the same security and software.”
“How much are we talking?” Connor asked.
“They had three savings accounts set up. The first one had one hundred million in it. The second and third had about forty-five million in them. And the fourth account was more like a checking account and looked to be the one they used for day-to-day things. Last charge was five years ago for a lunch and coffee at the airport. It’s still sitting around fifteen million. ”
Kiera’s fork dropped. “Excuse me?”
Meryn looked up from her dinner. “Y’all didn’t know?”
“No! I’ve had to bust my ass for the past five years scared to death I wouldn’t earn enough to help house my brother and sister.” She sucked in her breath. “If they had fifteen million in the bank, why did they take that job on the East Coast?”
“What kind of job was it?” Meryn asked.
“I don’t know.”
“If I had to hazard a guess, it may have been enough to bring those other two accounts up to one-hundred million. One thing I learned recently from the Witches’ Council, human government jobs pay big. What kind of magic did they have?” Meryn asked.
“Mother was an air witch, and father was a water witch,” Kiera replied.
Connor leaned forward. “Kiera, does your uncle know you’ve mated?”
“I don’t think so, why?”
He turned to Meryn. “How good are you?”
“You won’t find better. What do we need to do?”
“Ideally? Move the money to accounts we can access. Worst case scenario freeze them so no one else can touch them.” He stood and walked over to where Meryn sat.
Meryn went to lean down, but Aiden was already handing her, her laptop.
The room was silent except for Meryn’s tapping. “Oh! That’s interesting.”
“What?” Connor, Kiera, and Hunter asked.
Meryn looked to Kiera. “You should have gotten your money when you turned five-hundred and could be tested for magic.”
Kiera sat back. “That’s when they died, right before my birthday. Keran was four and Nicol was three.”
“There’s clauses on all three accounts. On Kiera’s, it was to be given to her five years ago.
At that same time, when your parents died, she became the executor of the other two accounts, to be held in trust for her siblings.
” Meryn kept typing. “This bank is solid. They denied your uncle’s request for access on multiple occasions.
Looks like they tried to reach you, but the only address they had on file was your uncle’s estate. Where did y’all live before him?”
“Here in Storm Keep, but father had taken a long-term job in Lycaonia right before their trip. Heading to Boston was their last contracted job.” Kiera gave a short laugh.
“We had already packed up and sold the house. When they died, everything went to a long-term storage company. That’s why only my uncle’s address was on file. ”
Meryn stared at her screen. “This might get tricky.”
“I thought you were good?” Connor teased.
“Oh, I can do it. The problem is, there’s a ton of notes on Kiera’s account.” She kept reading. “Oh, man, I wanna meet this chick.” She chuckled. “I need her in my life.”
Aiden was smiling at his mate’s amusement. “What baby?”
Meryn looked across the table. “Your uncle called in and tried to get the money. This chick was in charge of your account. He proceeded to berate, belittle, and threaten this poor woman. She, in turn, blocked his phone number in their system. He couldn’t get through for like a year.
When the company got his next call, he blew his top, which was enough to put the higher ups on alert.
They saw that this cool chick had flagged your account and had basically typed out everything he said previously, transcript style, in her notes.
They not only denied him access, but threatened to contact the police.
” She looked up at Connor. “I could move the money, but when we have a human element, it gets tricky. I have a feeling this account is being protected by this chick who is petty as fuck and holding a grudge.”
“Recommendations?” Connor asked.
Meryn turned to Kiera. “Portal out there and meet her in person. Get everything squared away legally and your uncle won’t be able to do a damn thing.”
“That simple?”
“You have human ID?” Meryn asked.