“Where’d all the money go?” I answered for him.
She turned in my direction, a set of laser eyes panning from person to person until they landed on me. I pulled my mask up over my head and tossed it to Bellatrix. She caught it and immediately dropped it like it’d burned her.
“What money?” Vee with the vendetta asked, acting as though she didn’t know what I was talking about. The tick in her jaw told me she did and she wasn’t happy about it.
“The money you were syphoning off the Prescotts for years. The money that little prick Bernard was skimming off the top for you before he…disappeared.And you had to find another way into their pockets. The money you’ve been depositing in all these accounts under a fake name.”
I took the folded-up piece of paper out of my pocket and slid it across the desk to her. It didn’t so much slide as it fluttered up and fell short. But it didn’t matter. She wasn’t gonna grab for it anyway.
“The money you used to pay off all the Prescott lawyers to change the will and turn their heads whenhis wifeywas looking for a way to fight it.” I hitched a thumb towards Lambo before continuing. “The money you’ve been scamming off a shit-ton of rich old ladies under the guise of charity. The money you’ve been hoarding for the last twenty-odd years.”
I could see Bellatrix squirming in her seat. She wanted to know the answer to my questions too. She just wasn’t gonna make it known.
“Those are a lot of accusations for a little boy in a Halloween mask and a pair of shoes he didn’t buy himself,” Vee replied calmly.
“Hey, look at that.” I slapped a hand on the table and leaned forward. “We got the same sugar daddy.” I glanced in Lambo’s direction, and he rolled his eyes.
“Get to the point, Casper.”
“Precisely what I was doing, Bossman.” I returned my focus to Vee. “Where’s the money?” I asked her again.
“You don’t have any proof that there ever was any,” she countered.
I threw my head back on a laugh, dropped it down, and aimed a finger at her. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I havepagesof proof.”
“Had,” she corrected me. “You don’t have them anymore. Besides, nothing in there said whatever you’re claiming.”
“It didn’t, did it?” I agreed. “That was the part that took me a while to figure out. Why a journal from nearly two decades ago was so important. Important enough for you to risk the life of a girl you treated like a daughter.”
“I didn’t?—”
I slapped another palm on the table. “Nope. Don’t interrupt. You’ll have your turn when I’m done speaking.”
She nodded once. But it wasn’t because she was giving in. It was because she wanted more time to think.
“As I was saying, everyone in that journal was dead. Except you and Lambo. And if you cared so much about him finding out about you, you wouldn’t have shown up here. That first time or now. So, while I was holed up in that hospital bed with all that time on my hands—thanks, babe.” I gave Bellatrix a wink. “I went through those pages a second time until I got to a bunch of random numbers in the back. Bank account numbers. Each of 'em indirectly tied to Prescott R&D. Each of 'em indirectly tiedtoyou, Veera Vaughn. So I’ll ask you one last time, where’s the money?”
She took a deep breath through her nose, letting it out through her mouth when she replied, “I spent it.”
“Liar. I looked into that too—well, Bugs did.” I threw a hand out towards the fucker in a bunny mask sitting next to me, with his arms crossed and his ass hanging off the edge of the chair. “You all haven’t turned a profit in years. Every penny goes to those two, while you’re scrambling to keep a roof over their heads.”
Bellatrix twisted her lips up while I was certain her sister from another mister was reaching for a syringe under the table. I grinned at the girl in the gray mask and her arm stiffened. But she didn’t let go.
Whiskers was just dying to stab me.
Bugs dug an elbow into my ribs, and I refocused my attention on Dommy Mommy. “You said it yourself in that journal: You were gonna take everything from Tate Prescott. And you did. His name, his widow made sure that disappeared off the building real quick. His reputation, ruined when his bastard stepped up to claim the inheritance—his mixed-race bastard. His money… The goal was to have all the old man’s illegitimate kids step forward and claim what you felt was rightfully theirs. What you didn’t expect was to have so many other people moving the pieces around the boardorfor none of those kids to want to claim anything. So where is it? Where did all that money go?”
“It’s gone. Does it really matter where?”
“To me? No.” I tapped a finger on my chest before turning it on her. “To you? Abso-fucking-lutely. But you don’t need to answer anyway. 'Cause we compiled a list of where that money went. Or should I say to who that money went?” I glanced over at Bellatrix, who was watching me intently as I tossed anotherpiece of paper between us. “By the way, there’s a name on that list that might interest you… personally,myshka.”
Vee ignored me, swiped up the papers, and looked directly across the table at Lambo. “What is it you’re hoping to gain from all this, Adrian?”
“Don’t worry.Idon’t want anything from you or your girls, Miss Vaughn.” He jutted his chin forward. “But you will work off everything that’s owed to my wife, everything that should have been hers and was stolen out from under her.”
Vee nodded, though it was clear she wasn’t happy about it. Itwasn’tclear if she was actually gonna go through with it. The thing was, Bossman didn’t care about the money. At least in this instance. He cared about the principle. About being a game piece when he was so used to being the one moving them around.
“If that’s all?” Vee quirked an eyebrow as she slowly rose from her seat and smoothed the creases out of her dress.
