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“It seems there are some transactions from your personal account as well. You had about forty thousand dollars withdrawn from that account into this offshore account three days ago,” Marcus said.
Her face went white, a feat since she had barely any color to her skin as it was.
“Almost all of it’s gone,” she said. More tears fell. “That was given to me from Nana Bee, all of the money I’ve paid her through the years. She saved it and gave it back to me when she was gone.”
“Wait. What money?” Rafe interrupted.
“She’s been making payments to Nana Bee since she was fourteen, trying to pay back what her father stole,” Bass said.
Rafe’s eyes widened. He’d had no clue. He looked at Ella in awe, sort of how Bass always found himself looking at her. She was truly remarkable. Before he could say something, Rafe spoke up as he reached over the table and put his hand over Bass’s and Ella’s clasped fingers.
“We’ll get it all back, Ella.” There was a fierceness in his tone that assured everyone in the room he’d do exactly what he was promising.
“I don’t understand how this could’ve happened . . .” She stopped as her eyes grew wide. She looked at each of them.
“Has anything unusual happened in the last few weeks?” Marcus asked.
She shook her head.
“Why don’t you walk us through the last two weeks. What you might think is insignificant, might actually be important,” Marcus suggested.
Ella started talking. She spoke of working on the horse therapy property, of shopping, of dates with Bass. She blushed a bit when she spoke of that. Then she came to her father.
“I had lunch with my father a few weeks ago. My debit card was missing. I went to the bathroom... maybe he took it from my purse. I lose it so much I didn’t think anything of it, and I never use that card so I haven’t even searched for it, thinking it’s in the house somewhere. I think maybe he took it. But even if he did, how does that have anything to do with Paul and his company?”
“Have you signed any documents lately?” Marcus asked.
She shook her head before she gasped. “That same lunch, my dad wrote up this contract he said was from his counselor. He was apologizing for all of the things that had happened in my life. He asked if I could sign it to acknowledge his apology. I was a fool and signed right on the dotted line.”
She hung her head in shame, but Bass reached for her and lifted her chin. He gave her a gentle kiss. “None of this is on you, Ella, none of it. Your father is a monster. I don’t know what this has to do with your former boss yet, but we’ll figure it out.”
“I knew he didn’t come back without wanting something,” Ella said. She was heartbroken, not because she loved her father, but because he still wasn’t done stealing from her or those she cared about. Bass understood her frustration.
“First things first. Let’s get you out on bail. This won’t draw out, Ella. We already have a lot of information. We’re going to make sure the right people pay for what they’ve done,” Marcus said.
They talked about the technicalities of their case until it was time for the arraignment. Bass paid the bail for Ella and then they left the courthouse. They’d get it solved, and then Ella would truly be free from her father for the rest of her life. He’d make damn sure of it. She’d never have to be bullied again by her own family or a corrupt boss. She now had him to lean on and he was damn determined to prove himself worthy of being her hero.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ella
Ella was shocked at the power of the almighty dollar. She knew money could buy a lot in life, but she hadn’t been aware of how fast it made things happen. She was well aware now.
She’d been arrested and hadn’t even seen the inside of a jail cell. She’d had to go through the humiliation of having her picture taken, holding a sign with a number on it, and she’d been fingerprinted and then taken into the room to find Bass, Rafe, Lia, and her attorney, Marcus, who’d worked his lawyer magic.
Her arraignment had been within a couple of hours and then she’d been out on bail. That had all happened a week earlier. In that short timeframe, her attorney had about twenty people working on her case. She was absolutely horrified at what they’d found.
There was a trail between her father and Paul Coffey. They were working together. She wasn’t sure why she was surprised by this. How had her father planned it? She wanted to ask him, but was it worth it? Maybe. The man might decide to be honest for once in his life, but could a leopard change its spots? The answer was no, but humanity kept trying for a different outcome.
Though Paul and her father had their plan in motion for a year, they’d done their best to cover their butts. The high-powered attorney Bass hired established a paper trail of checks between the wedding business and the secret account. Her father had used her signature and stolen debit card to link her to it.
It seemed the sexual harassment had amped up because Paul had wanted her to storm off the job. He’d needed her to look like a disgruntled employee. Paul appeared to have a gambling problem and his wife became sick of the cheating and had filed for divorce. He’d tried to get as much of his money hidden as he could before she filed. He thought a partnership with her father was smarter than the one with his wife. They deserved each other.
Ella checked in at the jail’s front desk. Her father had been picked up earlier that morning. She knew he would do his best to get out of the situation, but it might be the best time to talk to him, the only time to talk to him. She’d never visited him in prison and when he went back she wouldn’t visit him this time either. She held her head high as a shudder ran through her while walking inside the same jail she’d come through the week before. She never wanted to be arrested again.
It took nearly an hour before she was in a room, waiting for her father. Ironically, it was the same room she’d been taken to when she’d been a prisoner . . . for a couple of hours. Ella couldn’t understand repeat offenders. She’d been arrested once and wanted to make sure it never happened again. She couldn’t imagine having the same awful thing happen over and over again.
The door opened and her father was brought in, wearing the unflattering prisoner uniform. Their eyes met and his cocky smirk showed he had no regrets. She didn’t care. It didn’t matter to her that the man didn’t love her, that he was a monster. She was over it. They might share DNA, but she didn’t owe him her loyalty. She didn’t know why she felt the need to get answers from him. Maybe it was for closure.
