Chapter 24
TUCKER
ONE HOUR earlier
I’ve never bought a woman roses before. I don’t even know if Nora likes roses, but tradition dictates that I bring flowers, and roses are the flower of love, and the best. She’ll only get the best from me.
My olfactory is begging me to get away from the overwhelming smell of flowers and pollen that aggressively enveloped me as soon as I walked into the cramped flower shop. Shiny things, smelly things, and colors cover every wall and are obnoxiously showy, to say the least.
The clerk hands me the bright red bouquet in the white lacy cellophane and my credit card. As I turn to leave, I wonder if I need to get something to put them in, so I turn back to the clerk.
“What if she needs to put them in something?”
The old woman can barely see over the cash register, but she smiles and points to a wall with several dozen different styles of vases. Why so many? I stand frozen in place as I stare at the ridiculous selection. How the fuck should I know which one she would like best?
“Does she wear a lot of jewelry?”
I look down at the old woman, who has appeared next to me and is maybe five foot next to my six two, she feels half my size.
Her long gray hair is in a braid, and her blue eyes are a little dull, but I can tell they were the color of the sky once.
Her smile is sweet, and her head is tipped back to look at me.
The only jewelry I ever see Nora wear is a set of small diamond studs in her ears, a watch and the little ring on the middle finger of her right hand. She doesn’t even wear a necklace.
Staring down at her in confusion, I shake my head.
Maybe a vase isn’t important.
But there’s a cabinet full of different vases in the kitchen at the ranch. It must be important if we have a cabinet full of them. But it’s just a vase, for fuck’s sake. Wouldn’t one be plenty? The flowers are supposed to be the pretty part, not the vase. This shit doesn’t make any sense to me.
“Describe her.” The old woman says as she slips her bony hands into the front pockets of the smock she has on over a sweatshirt.
When I stare at her longer, wondering why I would do that, she says, “Go on then. You want help picking the right one or not?”
Lifting my eyes back to the vases, I easily think about her image in my mind. It’s there all the time. Feeling a little foolish sharing what I think is personal information, I do it so I can get what I think she might like.
“She has long red hair and green eyes. Her lips are full and almost the same copper color as her hair. She’s graceful and soft, and her face lights up when she smiles.
She’s soft-spoken, but she’s one of the strongest people I know.
” I look down at the little woman as I finish my thought.
“She has freckles across her cheeks and nose, they kind of stand out because her skin is so white, except when she blushes. She does that a lot.”
The woman smiles as if I just told her an inside joke, softly crinkling the outside edges of her eyes. “She’s a lucky girl.” She turns to the vases and walks up to one of the shelves, picking up a square crystal vase that has lines etched into the surface. It’s modest and elegant - like Nora.
After paying for the vase, I set the boxed vase and the roses on the passenger seat of my truck. I’m about to put it in gear to back out when my phone buzzes in my pocket, and Callum’s number flashes on the display panel on my dash. I tap the picture of the little green phone on the screen.
“Harlow.”
“It took a little longer than I thought it would, but we got quite a bit of info on your guy. It’s pretty fucked up.”
The muscles across my back tighten. “Fucked up how?”
“I’ve got Spits on the line with us; he found all the info. Spits.”
Clicking keys on a keyboard travel over the line, and Spits starts talking. “So, Matthew Dean Simmons, twenty-eight, graduated from Columbia University seven years ago. Works with his father, Ellis Simmons, at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Brother is Eugene Simmons, works at the DOJ.
“Matthew met Nora Kathline Abernathy, twenty-five, from Topeka, Kansas, at Columbia while in her senior year of a double major for English and Journalism. She graduated with a four point oh, and top honors three years ago. He moved her into his condo right after.”
It doesn’t surprise me that my girl is smart, but it pisses me off that the guy rattling off the information like he’s reading from a file knows more about her than I do. I didn’t even know her middle name.
“With Daddy’s money and influence, Matthew moved up the ladder quickly. It’s not clear whether this was the plan from the beginning or if it became a plan after they started dating, but Matthew created a shell corporation in Nora’s name after she moved in with him.”
He’s been using her. I roll my head from one shoulder to the other to loosen the muscles twisting across my shoulders.
“They have been facilitating stock market trading under her name and the name of the corporation she owns. From the surface, it all looks legit as long as Nora signs off on the quarterly reviews and asset distributions. All the money is transferred into multiple accounts in her name while Matthew is listed as her legal defense.”
“Wait.” I stop him. “How many accounts are we talking about? And how much money?”
As if I hadn’t interrupted him, Spits continues. “There are two offshore accounts that total thirty-five million, and three U.S. accounts with seven million combined.”
Holy fucking shit. He’s made himself a very rich man just by keeping her around.
“Why do you say ‘looks legit’? What kind of trading are we talking about?”
“He trades in stocks regularly, but after digging, I found some transactions that lead back to his brother in the DOJ and a woman in the SEC. They have been buying stocks on tips from clients and companies that Matthew and Eugene are counsel for. Eugene’s girlfriend at the SEC is keeping them off the radar.
The brother and the girlfriend also have their own offshore accounts. ”
Insider trading.
These are some big fucking felonies.
“They got Nora involved as soon as he moved her in after graduation almost three years ago.”
My thoughts are spinning in ten different directions. “How much trouble is she in?”
“It’s pretty bad, she’s been signing off on the paperwork every quarter.
For all intents and purposes, she’s the owner of a company that’s breaking some pretty big laws.
However, she did not sign in the last quarter, and now she’s late in the current one, they’re losing money, so it’s making them antsy. ”
“The digital sabotage of her account.” I’m not really talking to them, but mainly just thinking out loud. He’s getting desperate and needs to get her attention.
“Yes. There is a digital tracker that has been looking for her; I’ve narrowed the initial trail down to almost two months ago.”
Spits’ monotone voice stops, and it makes the hairs on my neck stand up, he’s not the ‘loss for words’ kind of guy. “What is it?”
A small huff travels over the line. “I broke into Matthew’s system and found paperwork assigning himself as her executor in the event of her death.
It’s dated the day before she left him, six months ago.
There are also all new documents for her to sign since she left.
He has been getting his ducks lined up and covering all his bases since she left.
He’s preparing for whatever scenario presents itself. ”
Is he planning to kill her if he can’t get her to go back to him, just so she can sign some fucking paperwork? A part of me I’ve barely had a grasp on for the past year is scratching and clawing under my skin to get out. If they harm a hair on her head, they will lose theirs.
She’s been his cover all this time, and he probably never expected her to defy him. He probably thought he hit the jackpot when he met her. She’s nice, trusting, and forgiving. Too much so. To a scumbag like him, she’s perfect to use. He never expected her to have a backbone.
That’s my girl.
“He obviously digitally forged her name on the executor document; it’s easy to do. It’s coincidental that she would sign something like that the day before she leaves him.” I stare out the windshield into the flower shop. Just think, five minutes ago, my only issue of the night was a goddamn vase.
Spits pulls me out of my thoughts. “I’m sure you’re aware of the video posted last week.”
The fucking video. Leaning my arm against the door, I cup my mouth in my hand. “Yes.”
“They picked it up pretty quickly. He knows where she is, and he arrived in Tulsa yesterday evening. He’s staying at the Mayo Hotel.”
“Have you got eyes on him?” I ask, my anxiety spiking.
“Affirmative, I’ve hacked into the hotel security system and aside from bringing a woman to his room from the bar last night, he’s been alone.”
“I’m on my way to her now, but let me know any new information.”
“Roger that.”
I hang up and realize our date has been ruined. When I asked her if she wanted to go, her eyes sparkled. Kinley also sent me a text earlier teasing me by telling me they went shopping for something to wear today. All she would say is that I’m going to like it and that Nora is excited.
Fuck.
I don’t know what this asshole has planned. I don’t particularly want to be out in the open with her, and I sure as fuck don’t want her staying at the inn alone. I’ll need to bring her back to the ranch with me.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dial Rhys’s number. He picks up on the second ring. “Abbot.”
I’ve never been one for small talk, so I jump right into what I called for. “Did Kinley tell you about her conversation with Nora?”
“She did.” I hear glass shatter and Kinley curse loudly in the background. “Hold on.” The phone thunks on something hard, and I hear them talking in the background. “Baby, get away from this before you cut your feet. I’ll take care of it, go sit down and rest.”
My sister whines. “I just wanted some damn grapes.”
“I’ll go to the store and get more grapes after I talk to your brother.”
I hear a small sniffle. “Well, if you’re going to the store, I’d rather have pistachio ice cream.” The whine is still in her voice, and I’m just glad that Rhys takes good care of her.
“I’ll get you all the ice cream you want, baby, but only if you come sit down.”
A few more seconds go by before he picks up the phone. “I’m back, but I need to wrap this up.”
“Can you meet me at the ranch tomorrow? I’ll text you some bare-bones intel and fill in the gaps tomorrow.”
“Sure, when?”
As we set up a time, I pull out of the parking lot to go to the inn.
When I get to her door at the inn, I’m questioning my decision to buy the flowers. Will she think it’s too cliché? Will she think I’m being pushy because I got red?
As I’m standing there, I hear something fall and clatter inside, and my instincts are on alert as I hit my knuckles on the door. “Nora, are you okay?”
The lack of response has my dander up. He could have left the hotel under cover and is in there hurting her now. I’m about two seconds from kicking in the fucking door. “Nora, sugar, if you don’t open this door, I’ll have to break it down, and Allison will be pissed at me.”
Relief washes over me when the door quickly swings open.
But my heart goes to my throat, and my dick hardens in my pants.
She’s fucking gorgeous, and the need to back her up to the bed and claim her right now is banging on every door in my head.
I want to make her mine in every way; I don’t care what I have to do to do it.
My mouth is dry as I take in the fringed western skirt that hugs her hips and the open valley between her breasts on display in the skin-tight vest. Taking a deep breath, all I can manage on the exhale is, “Christ.”
Her curves are on display in every way possible, in the best way possible. Her hair is down and curled around her arms and down her front, and her makeup is dark around her eyes, making the green even brighter.
I have to hang back and not touch her yet; she needs to know that her ex is in Oklahoma. If I touch her, all common sense will be shuttered, and I can’t have that right now. When I meet her eyes, I can tell something is off, and I wonder if she already knows. “You okay?”