Page 50 of Playing for Keeps

“This can’t be right.”

“We were barely keeping up,” Lee said. “Daginger had me flying out two, three times a week when I was supposed to be working with other clients. Not even covering the expense when he demanded me there. And the others were pulling back, unwilling to commit to staying when I couldn’t deliver on the company’s promises to take care of their needs.”

“But how...” Frankie flipped the page on the report, not finishing her sentence, not looking up.

“Each of the new clients paid a retainer. The funds were used to offset the income you would have made from Daginger. We paid bonuses to the current staff to keep them on, and there were a few signing bonuses to attract new employees.”

Frankie’s head whipped up, all narrowed eyes and pursed lips. Without a word, she flipped through every stack of paper, searching for something but not saying what. When she’d made it through every pile in front of her, she extended her hand to me.

“Give me that,” she demanded, and I slid the last stack of papers in front of me over to her. After a moment, she looked back up at me. “These are just NDAs.”

“Yes. There’s one for each of the new clients, every employee and contractor we’ve hired on.”

“So where’s the rest?” Frankie pushed the piles of papers away from her. “You’ve given me all the contracts and NDAs and even a new goddamn employee handbook. Feels like you’re hiding a pretty important piece.”

Time seemed to stop. I fought against the urge to fidget. To move. To take the hurt she was feeling and make it mine. I had hoped she’d come to understand it before now. Had hoped she’d accept what I was trying to do. Yet there she was, accusing me of taking everything away from her when I’d given her everything I had it in me to give.

“I’m not hiding anything, Frankie.”

“Really? I see nothing here about how much you’ve made off of this. About what your role is in my company. Mind clearing that up for me, cuz?”

With a nod, I rose from my seat. Walked around Lee and rifled through the stacks of reports. When I found what I was looking for, I opened to the proper page and set the packet down in front of her.

“There.” My hand shook as I pointed to the proper place. I snatched it back, stuffing both hands in my pockets in an attempt to hide the feelings rolling around inside me.

“This is the fucking employee manual, Vinny. It doesn’t say shit about what I want to know.”

“Actually, it does.” With my hand still shaking, I pointed once more to the section I wanted her to read.

She shook her head. “This only says there’s a finder’s fee for bringing on new clients or staff.”

Behind me, Lee shifted, but I wanted to get this out before he said anything. “That’s all I took, Frankie.”

Her head jerked up when Lee muttered, “Fuckin’ dumbass.”

“Excuse me?”

“Told him it’s not enough, but he won’t fuckin’ listen.”

“I don’t want your money,” I said stepping back enough to look at them both. “What I got was more than enough.”

“And how much was that?” Frankie asked, her tone still laced with distrust.

It hurt. It hurt that she thought I’d hurt her. That I’d do anything against my family. “Eighteen thousand.”

“Damn idiot.”

“That’s one thousand for each client, employee, and contractor I brought on, not including me.”

“But—”

“He’s an idiot,” Lee insisted. “Ain’t done shit but work on this the last two and a half months. Won’t take nothin’ for the work, nothing for the travel expenses—”

“I told you, I don’t need it. That’s not why I did this.”

“Why did you do this?” Frankie asked, her tone sharp.

I turned to my cousin, imploring her to hear me, to see my side of things. “I’m not trying to take the company from you, Frankie. I’m trying to help you. With everything you’ve got going on—the trials, the wedding, the family I know you’re going to want to have—I wanted to get this set up so you don’t have to worry about it. So Lee can take on the day-to-day and your time can be freed up for the things that matter most to you, or for setting up other investments and doing marketing. That’s where your heart is, Frankie. It’s not in the day-to-day of this security company, and if it’s not, then there’s no point in you torturing yourself by doing that.”