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She shook her head. “You’ll hate me.”
“Doubtful.” Lee laughed.
“You don’t know what I’ve done.”
“Other than give us everything we’ve ever wanted?” Tyler stared at her.
“You’re going to find out either way.”
“Find out what?” Lee’s blue eyes turned a dark cobalt color. “You’re scaring us, Brooke.”
She stared at the sheet. She couldn’t face them. “Remember when someone hacked your payroll system two years ago?”
“Are you talking about StarCon Global right now?” Tyler asked.
She nodded. She had to fight the tears. These weren’t happy ones. “Niall has had all kinds of ideas to make cash. It never ends. One of those ideas was training me to be a hacker. And I hacked StarCon’s payroll for a quarter. I transferred the payments into one of Niall’s offshore accounts. Small amounts so they wouldn’t be traced. And only for three months. But it was me. I stole from you.”
The room was quiet. She looked up. Brooke’s heart fell to her stomach.
Forty-One
Lee
He’d never loved a woman like he loved Brooke. He couldn’t imagine sharing anything more intense than what they had this morning. But now she was sitting in between him and Tyler, confessing to theft. To hacking. To hiding money.
Lee bit his lip. He was stunned. He heard the words, but it was unbelievable. How was it possible? Brooke? Their sweet perfect Brooke had done this.
“Niall made you hack into our payroll?” He tried to keep his voice calm.
She nodded. “I knew it was wrong. I knew stealing from you was wrong. I didn’t touch the employees’ income, just the company portions. I know that doesn’t make it any better, but Niall didn’t know where the money came from, only that it ended up where he wanted it.”
She hung her head. “I thought it was better to steal from you rather than the employees. It was the only control I had. It was the only thing I could think of to do.” He heard the pain in her voice.
Tyler pressed his lips together. “This is it, isn’t it? This is what the fucked-up money philosophy is all about?”
She looked at them. “Yes,” she whispered.
He pushed off the bed and paced at the window. “Damn it, Brooke.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Lee stared at her. “What did you mean we were going to find out?”
“Niall is blackmailing me. He said if I didn’t get cash to him this morning he was going to the press and outing me.”
“That’s insane.”
She sniffed. “I didn’t want to ask for the money and I don’t have enough to pay him.” He saw the look of desperation in her eyes. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed by me. I don’t want to tarnish Soar. If the press finds out what I did, it’s going to ruin the Dreams with Wings reputation. It means so much to you. It’s your life’s work. God, I don’t know what to do to make this right.”
“You should have told us,” Tyler growled. “From the beginning. You should have told us. We could have helped you. What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t in the best position to say much.” She stared at him. “I wasn’t a guest during your retreat. It wasn’t like those first two weeks were some kind of magical fairytale. I was glad I stole from you.” The tears welled in her eyes. “But I’m not now. I would never want to hurt either of you. I’m so so sorry.”
Lee placed a hand on her knee. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve told us now. We have to figure out how to deal with your cousin.”
Tyler continued to pace. He knew his friend would be angry for a while. But he knew exactly what was going through his head. He was pissed at Niall—not Brooke. They would do everything they could to protect her. There were no words to describe what Niall had done to the woman they loved.
“You what?” She blinked back the tears.
