Page 19 of High Reward

His expression softens, and he pulls me into the office. Lili follows, despite Owen’s objections.

“Grace is right,” Victor snaps. “Now tell us what the fuck this is about. What did you find on her phone?”

Owen swears but pulls the device from his pocket. “I ran a scan for malware, tracking software, etcetera. But I didn’t find that. Instead, I found a series of emails dating back almost a year, inwhich Grace has been emailing a client we cut ties with. Sharing secrets about our books.”

“I swear those aren’t real. And if they are, I didn’t send them. May I see them?”

He hands me the phone, and I read through the email chain. Most of the emails are short, but the sentence structure is clunky and nothing like the way I write.

I tap the header of the email to look at who it was supposedly sent to. My shoulders instantly relax when I see that the email was sent from my UNLV student email address.

“These have to be fabricated, Owen. And I can prove it.”

“I bloody hope so, Gracie.”

Zara clears her throat. “Don’t be an ass, Owen.”

“Excuse me?”

“You just called her Gracie because you’ve decided you don’t trust her. She’s been with this establishment from the beginning. You owe her a little more respect than that.”

“My apologies, Grace. How can you prove they are fabricated?”

My head is spinning from the quick back and forth between people I’ve called family for years. “This is my university email address. I didn’t have access to this until about six weeks ago. Somehow, someone planted emails after the account was set up and made it look like I’ve been sending them for months.”

Owen frowns as I pass the phone to him. Victor puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple. “Good catch, butterfly.”

“Have you received any strange emails on this account lately?”

“Nothing leaps to mind. I got a call about a week and a half ago from someone pretending to work for UNLV. That’s when my security disappeared. Did you ever find that guy?”

Owen shook his head. “We’re still searching. So far there’s no trace.”

Victor squeezes my shoulder. “What about the scholarship?”

I frown. “The one I wasn’t expecting? It was strange, but I called UNLV and verified that it was real before I clicked on the link to fill out the confirmation.”

Owen scrolls on my phone. “When did you get that email?”

“Maybe two weeks ago? It was a few days after Lili came to be with us.”

Owen nods and keeps scrolling. “This one?” He turns the screen for me to look at the email he’s pulled up.

“That’s it.”

He taps and swipes at my phone for another minute, then lets out a wicked little laugh. “Got you, motherfucker.”

“I hope you never use that laugh with Bellamy,” I say nervously.

He looks up and grins. “Of course I do. It makes her wet.”

I laugh and step closer to Victor.

Owen puts my phone aside and holds both hands out to me.

“Forgive me for being an ass, as Zara so lovingly put it,” he says when I put my palms against his. “You deserved better from me, pet. Will you accept my apology?”

I smile. “Of course, Master Owen. Under the circumstances, especially with Bryce betraying us the way he did, I can understand why you were quick to be suspicious. You’re forgiven.”