AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“To realize what?” she asked.
“The investor who Justin worked with was someone who came into the firm where I worked five years ago looking for a job. This was before I started my firm,” I said.
The kitchen door opened, and Lindsey came back out with two massive plates of food. She set one down in front of each of us. I dove right in, but Bryn just stared down at the mountain in front of her. It included a bacon, swiss cheese, and sautéed mushroom double-patty burger on a bun griddled with garlic butter, a pile of double-fried fries, a couple of mozzarella sticks, and small bowls with dipping sauces.
“Um,” Bryn said, cautiously poking at the toothpick tenuously holding the towering burger together. “I’m a vegetarian.”
I paused with my mouth full of beef and a tiny piece of crispy bacon sticking out of the corner of my mouth. “Oh, shit.” I poked the bacon back into my mouth. “Are you serious?”
Bryn shook her head. “Not even a little bit. This looks amazing.” She pulled the toothpick out of the burger and set it aside. “What is it?”
“Lindsey came up with it for me a couple of years back. I was kind of going through a funk.”
“A funk?” Bryn asked after her first big bite.
“Yeah. Work stuff. Trying to decide if I really wanted to stick with this career or do something more exciting. I’m the only one of my brothers who didn’t stay with the family business, and I was suddenly having questions about that.”
“It was a whole thing,” Lindsey said.
“Anyway. I came in here one night, and Lindsey made this for me to drown my funk in,” I said.
“So, it’s like the guy version of eating a pint of ice cream after a bad breakup,” Bryn said.
“Just a pint?” Lindsey asked. “Girl, you must have had some easy breakups.”
Bryn looked up at her with her mouth full and then glanced over at me.
“Not exactly,” I said. “Which is how she ended up here.”
“Ah,” Lindsey said.
There was an awkward silence until Bryn pointed at the little bowls sitting at the edge of her plate. “What’s that?”
Thankful for the diversion, I plunged a fry into my own little bowl. “The red one is marinara. It’s for the cheese sticks. The other one, though, that’s where the magic is. Mayonnaise and garlic. It’s to dip your fries in. I know it sounds weird, but it is pretty common in other cuisines. Just try it.”
Bryn looked at me with the same kind of incredulity my brothers did when I told them to try it. Finally, she picked up a fry and dipped it into the mixture. She bit it and her face contorted. Picking up the little bowl, she dropped it on the bar near my plate.
“See?” Lindsey said. “I told you it’s not universal. I might have made it, but that stuff is gross.”
I shrugged. “Can’t win them all. Which, actually, brings me back to the investor. He came in to have the interview at the firm where I was working, but he didn’t get the job. I never heard anything else about him after that. My boss never talked about it and nobody else seemed to know what happened. I didn’t even think about him again until I saw his name in their papers. So, I called my old boss.”
“Did he remember him?” Bryn asked.
“He did. So, I asked why he didn’t get the job. He said when the guy came in for the interview, he exuded untrustworthiness. That’s a big problem when you work with money. He said there was more to it than that, but the biggest thing was he just didn’t feel like this guy could be trusted or would be able to handle large investments properly,” I said.
“And that’s the guy Justin worked with?” she asked.
“Yep. Apparently, someone took pity on him and gave him a job. And now that I know he’s the guy who’s responsible for this, I can look into the actual practices he used to see if he cut any corners that we could catch him on.”
Bryn nodded like she understood and looked back down at her burger. I was glad for that. If she wasn’t looking at me, I didn’t have to see the hope in her eyes anymore. That was good, considering it was possible I was about to steal it all right back.
“Okay,” she said.
“Now, I have to tell you. Even if I can prove he did something illegal, it might not mean you’ll be able to get your inheritance back. The money might be gone for good. And if, a very big if, this goes to court, it could take years to make it all the way through and deal with the red tape, appeals, everything. So, I might be able to prove your ex did illegal dealings, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be able to get your money back,” I said.
