AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Micah scuffed a hand through his beard. The dock records were meticulously doctored in-house, so none of the manifests were on our servers. He’d have to manually find and sort them all. “It’ll take me a day or so for all of it since we’ve got an arrival later. Are we pausing deliveries until we get this sorted?”
No part of me wanted deliveries going out, but the cost of delaying them—and the shit-fit my clients would throw—made the decision for me. “No. We keep going as usual. Keep an eye on the error margins, though.”
With his promise to drop things off as soon as possible, we thanked Micah and headed back to the SUV. Even Dominic, who received a cool but cordial goodbye. Progress.
Geneva opened the back door, and I slid into the last row, letting the guys have the bucket seats in front of me. Grey had insisted we use bombproof SUVs after meeting Cash, and I wasn’t willing to argue.
Rapping my fingers against the cupholder, I talked through my thoughts as we pulled away. “We’ll need to figure out who was working those shipments. I know Micah’s got a trusted group of men, but maybe there’s a pattern there. Someone working less and earning more.”
Grey nodded, taking down more notes in his tablet with one hand and texting with the other. “I’ve got Harris adding staff to the audit. Moore and Tennessee will do background checks when it’s done.”
“What about the other businesses?” Dominic asked.
“I have access to everyone else’s accounting and data tracking tech. I’ll pull the records and send them directly to the auditors.” Grey paused what he was doing and looked up. “I don’t think we’ve gotten Gilded set up with that yet. I was supposed to, but things have been crazy.”
“Let’s stop by since we’re already out.” It wasn’t exactly a hardship. Nate had been on my mind since opening night, even though I hadn’t seen him since. Despite being sure that this trip would be no different, something compelled me to go. “Geneva?”
“Already on it, boss.” She flipped the SUV around, and we were off.
* * *
I was two steps into Gilded when the blur of a body rushed me.
“Fuck,” Dominic bit out, reaching for his gun. We’d left Tennessee and Moore outside to touch base with security.
“Don’t!” Grey and I shouted. My body locked tight as the impact nearly staggered me. Only Grey’s hands on my hips kept me upright, even as the three of us slammed into the wall. I distantly reminded myself not to think about his arms around me. “Shara, you’re squishing us.”
Shara Maury was a former cage dancer, a wicked bartender, and the general manager of Gilded. She was also one of my only friends, though that was thanks to being Antoni’s longtime love.
I adored her.
“Well, whose fault is that?” she snapped. “You don’t write, you don’t call. I thought I’d have to resort to carrier pigeons soon.”
The edge of worry cut through her dramatics. The last time a Marcosa fell off the face of the earth, we’d buried him.
Shit.
I hunched over her smaller frame, the scent of castor oil and cocoa butter surrounding us as I buried my face into her locs. She must’ve gotten them retwisted for opening night, and I wished I’d gotten a chance to see her. It’d been ages since we’d had time to text, let alone talk, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed her. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by.”
“Or texted.”
“Or texted,” I agreed.
“You’re forgiven.”
We separated, and I saw the exhaustion written all over her. Her deep-brown skin still looked radiant, her matching eyes were bright, but something about the way she stood spoke of responsibilities weighing on her. I could relate. “What about you? You’ve been so busy. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re sleeping here.”
She snorted. “I wish. My apartment’s too small.”
My face split into a grin, and Grey huffed a laugh, sweeping her into a hug too. Shara lived in a luxury two-story penthouse in one of our high-rises with more space than most single-family homes in the suburbs.
Free again, Shara threaded her arm through mine as she looked Dominic over. “He looks like your type, babe.”
He grinned. “I like her already.”
Grey rolled his eyes. “Don’t. She’ll gut you quicker than Mari on her worst day.”
Shara tipped her head in acknowledgment. “True.”
