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As always, she was silent whenever I mentioned something that drew attention to her lack of involvement.
I turned the page, wondering what other things I overlooked. “No wonder I didn’t know about the groom gift. It’s on this list that might as well be called Shit I Don’t Need. Gah!”
“Some people are trying to sleep,” Paul growled in the background.
“The wedding’s not for six days, Rayne. Go online and order something for Hale. Then have it expedited to New York.”
“Fine.” The way she minimized my frustration only aggravated me more. “Sorry I woke you.” I hung up the phone, irritated by her patronizing tone and the fact that Paul kept telling her to call me back later.
She didn’t get it. Hale was the best gift buyer in the world. He was thoughtful and knew all my sizes. He always added special touches while I sat there like a moron, explaining my gifts by saying dumb shit like, “It’s a blanket that looks like a burrito.”
I dropped my face into my palms and groaned. This was going to be the Christmas fiasco all over again.
I spent the next hour panicking as I shopped online. The more desperate I became the worst my options seemed. Hale was getting me something nice. He only wore ties when he visited upscale boutiques. That meant jewelry or maybe a designer bag.
I searched the internet for men’s jewelry. I was already getting him a wedding band. Wasn’t that enough? I paused as a large Superbowl type diamond ring filled the screen. Then I scoffed and scrolled on.
“He’s not a used car salesman, Rayne.”
Biting my lip, I tapped my foot nervously. What the hell was I going to get him? I needed to know what he got me.
Throwing a few more Cheerios in front of Elara as she sat mesmerized smiling at the monkey on the television, I backed out of the living room and tiptoed into Hale’s office. I rummaged around his desk for receipts in the most tidy way possible. He was very organized, so if anything was out of place he’d suspect something.
In the bin on the corner of his desk I spotted the credit card bill. “Perfect.”
Skimming over the charges for the wedding, I looked for something out of the ordinary. Then I frowned.
“What the hell is Crypto Casino?”
There were several charges. Some for hundreds of dollars and others for more. My brows lifted when I spotted one charge for four thousand dollars.
“What is this?” Lowering into his chair, I opened his laptop and typed in What is Crypto Casino?
A spammy looking ad with a spinning slot machine popped up and I quickly exited out of it. “Shit.” I should not be looking such things up on Hale’s work computer.
I put everything back as I found it and left the room. By the time Elara’s movie was over, I was thoroughly out of ideas for a wedding gift and concerned my future husband might have a secret gambling habit.
But that didn’t seem right. Hale liked pragmatic order and dependability. He didn’t indulge in games of chance and often disapproved of senseless investments. My gut told me Hale was not a degenerate.
Or was he? Did he have a problem?
There were several thousand dollars of charges on that bill, all beginning around the same time. Something wasn’t right.
Why would Hale make so many transactions. Even if he wanted to play a few games with the online casinos, he would have done so once and been done with it. It wasn’t his style to feed unhealthy habits. He was too disciplined and controlled to allow such temptations to enslave him.
My stomach started to cramp. I knew Hale. He wasn’t a gambler. No one else, aside from me, had access to his account.
Or did they?
I thought about how many times I swiped that little black card in the last three months. I’d spent a small fortune getting things for the wedding. It was possible the card was hacked. But wouldn’t the company contact us if they suspected suspicious activity?
For charges to get approved, especially with such a high price tag, wouldn’t they require more than just a credit card number. The signer would need the expiration date and secret code on the back—things that were never written out on any sort of statement.
Another wave of cramps hit my stomach. I shifted uncomfortably as Elara banged her sippy cup on the table.
Who had access to the credit card? Seraphina had it on record at the boutique but she would never use her brother’s card for something like that. Would her employees?
The wedding planners all used invoices to get reimbursed and Hale paid them with checks. Who else could have made those charges?
