Liam
This is stupid. Stupid. It’s almost midnight, and I’ve gotten in and out of bed three times. Had two beers. Opened my business ethics paper—what a joke—and closed it again. Moved shit around in my drawers. Rummaged through the fridge. And I’ve reread the text exchange with my wife a dozen times.
My beauty: Maybe I’m just seeing things clearly for the first time.
What in the absolute fuck is that supposed to mean?
That’s it. I’m going to get her. I told her I’d come for her tomorrow, and by the time I get to Elizabeth’s, it’ll be after midnight.
Officially tomorrow. Taryn’s bratty ass has had enough time to sulk over whatever has her in her latest snit.
I’m pulling on pants when my phone lights up with Ryan’s name.
Shit.
“What’s wrong?” I answer on the first ring. If Ryan is calling after eleven, something’s bad.
“She tried to move her money,” he says, voice rough with sleep.
“Taryn?”
“Of course Taryn.”
I rake a hand through my hair. “Are you sure it was her?”
Silence.
“Okay, okay. You’re sure it was her,” I mutter. “This is bad, right?”
Ryan doesn’t answer immediately. I can practically hear him counting to ten on the other end. “Yes, Liam. It’s bad.”
“I’m going to need you to explain to me what this means.”
He sighs, resigned. “She triggered my alarm. She logged into the fund and tried half a dozen passwords in under sixty seconds. So I know she forgot it. Then she finally got in, and set up transfer instructions to a newly opened bank account. It wasn’t successful because I blocked it, but now the Greeks have the IP trail and the failed password attempts logged on their end.
They’re going to see all that activity and wonder what the hell she’s doing. ”
I sit down hard on the edge of the bed.
“They’re watching it that closely?”
“They’ve got flags on every account we touched, Liam.
We wanted them looking at those other accounts, remember?
Wanted them to chase the useless trails.
Only now, Taryn’s account is one of those trails.
I had to scramble to hide our footprint again.
I’m feeding them ghost traffic now, but they’re going to notice something’s off since it involves her account.
They’ll start looking at everything else now, locking their stuff down since her account is involved. They’ll add firewalls to everything.”
I press the heel of my hand to my eye socket. “Why would she do this now? She hasn’t touched it in weeks.”
Ryan exhales. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.”
He sighs as if this is all too annoying to even contemplate. “Well, why did she need the money in the first place? She set up the fund for a reason. It’s probably the same reason she’s trying to access it now,” he says, voice dry. “Just a thought.”
It hits harder than I expect. “Jesus, Ryan.”
“You asked. Listen, I don’t care why she tried to move the money. I care that she did. It’s suspicious that the account was dormant until now. They’ll want to watch her more closely moving forward.”
“What? Why?” I’m not typically an idiot, despite what my father thinks, but I seriously can’t follow my brother at the moment.
“Because she’s accessing her account at the same time they’ll be noticing leaks in other places. There’s no way they’ll think that’s a coincidence.”
“But it is a coincidence,” I growl at him.
He ignores me. “They will think we are using her as our pawn to access their accounts. That was the story you spun, remember? We wanted our clans to think you set this whole thing up. We fed that information to everyone so they thought we outsmarted our rivals. I’m sure it reached the Greeks as well, even if they knew that wasn’t true, since no money was touched.
” He exhales loudly. “Only now, it looks like we are trying to use her to mess with their accounts. So, unfortunately, we have to spin a different story that the Greeks will buy—one that makes her look naive and self-interested again. Otherwise, they’re going to assume we are behind this.
Or that Taryn’s smarter than she’s been acting and is doing this on her own. ”
“She is smart, Ryan.”
“I know that. That’s the problem.”
I rub my hand over my face, knowing only one reason she’d try to move her money. “She thinks I’ve trapped her. She must have overheard us.” I’m scrambling to remember exactly what my brother and I were discussing when Taryn came to the door.
“Have you told her what you’re doing?” Ryan asks. “If so, overhearing us wouldn’t have been a big deal.”
I don’t answer. Of course I haven’t. I’ve made her laugh.
I’ve made her come. I’ve made her scrambled eggs for dinner.
I’ve told her about my family and my classes.
Yet, I haven’t told her anything about what I’ve been doing behind the scenes.
Not about the Greeks. Not about the fund. Not about any of it.
“You’re treating her like a variable to control,” Ryan says, voice quiet but firm. “In my experience, people don’t work that way, unfortunately. They often need context. If you want her trust, you’re probably going to have to trust her as well.”
The line goes quiet, but his words resonate. My little brother. Giving me advice about women. Never thought I’d see the day.
You want her trust?
I blow out a breath and lean back in the chair. “She wants to run.” My voice is hoarse.
Why else would she attempt to move her money? I feel nauseous.
“Then tell her what she’s running from. Give her some context so that even if she does try, she understands the danger.”
I nod to myself. He’s right. She already tried. It’s why she set up the fund in the first place.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “We need to move fast. You said the Greeks are going to lock down their accounts?”
“They’re already poking around access logs again. I’ve looped some traffic and masked our IP, but it won’t hold.”
“Then fuck it,” I say. “Blow them up.”
“You sure?”
“They used my wife to come after us. I’m not letting that slide. You said we have access. Use it.”
“I need a day. I’ll start preparing to route their money through shell accounts we control. Enough to cause confusion, maybe even a couple internal audits. But we don’t want them going underground yet.”
“No,” I agree. “But, I’ll let you know when to start moving the funds. I have a couple things to take care of before you do. We need to make it hurt.”
“Oh, it’ll hurt.”
I run a hand down my face.
“And Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me,” he says. “I’ll get everything set up.
It’s not like the movies, Liam. It’ll take a little while.
In the meantime, maybe go talk to your wife before she torches your entire plan with one click?
After that, you’re going to have to tell Da, because this will be big.
I’ll send up a prayer for you.” The line goes dead.
Apparently, Ryan is done with this conversation, which is good, because he’s right. He’s just outlined my next two steps.
I’m pulling into Elizabeth’s driveway before I even have time to process what I’m doing. Taryn’s going to try to leave me. The thought is on a constant loop in my mind. I play with the simple gold ring on my finger. No. Fuck that. I’ll chain her ass to my bed if that’s what it takes.
The house is dark, but that doesn’t stop me from pounding on Elizabeth’s front door hard enough to wake up the entire neighborhood. It’s quiet for only a moment before I hear the girls arguing on the other side of the door.
“Open up, Taryn!” I shout through the wood. “It’s tomorrow. I told you I’d come for you if you weren’t home by now.”
That does it. The door flies open and my disheveled wife stands in a tank top and sleep shorts. Tiny sleep shorts. “What the fuck, Liam?”
“Get your pretty ass in the car.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Yes, wife, you caught me. This is my joking face. Now get in the fucking car.” I practically snarl the words at her. I hear a gasp, and look over Taryn’s shoulder to see a wide-eyed Elizabeth, who appears to be reevaluating all her life choices.
“Sorry, Elizabeth,” I mutter. “Taryn and I have things we need to discuss.”
To my surprise, Elizabeth gives me a solemn nod. “I’ll grab your purse, Tare.”
“Wh—wait! No!” Taryn calls to her. “Are you crazy?” she hisses at me as a shiver wracks her shoulders.
It’s still close to freezing outside and I whip off my winter coat to throw it over her shoulders. “Let’s go.” We can come back for her damn purse.
“I told you I was staying the night here!” She throws one arm in the air while the other clutches my coat closer to her.
Okay. Enough. I throw my arms around her waist and hoist her over my shoulder.
“Liam!”
She beats on my back with both fists as I march her toward the car.
Opening the door while hauling a furious, half-dressed woman over your shoulder?
Not as easy as I thought it would be. I set her down beside me while I reach for the handle, and she uses the opportunity to stomp on my foot and take off back toward the porch.
Of course, she’s only wearing socks. The stomp is more dramatic than painful. But damn if I’m not impressed by the fight in her.
Elizabeth stands in her open doorway, Taryn’s purse in hand, looking horrified and fascinated at the same time.
Taryn’s halfway up the lawn when I catch her around the waist and tackle her to the ground, twisting at the last second so I hit the muddy grass first and she lands on top of me.
“Oof.” I feel myself sink into the soft earth beneath me. Not my best idea. I knew the weather had warmed enough for everything to begin to thaw, creating the sopping mess I’m now lying in.
Taryn tries to take advantage of my disorientation and scrambles to escape.
Her hands, which had landed in the mud, now slide uselessly against my chest. The soft earth betrays her, and she slips, landing on top of me again.
The breath rushes from my lungs with a groan when her knee lands in my gut.