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Remy sighed, trying to settle the butterflies in her belly. “Yesterday, Asher took me to see Damon—”
“Boone told me you punched him in the nose.” Peyton smiled.
“I did, it felt awesome.” Remy returned the smile, remembering the satisfaction of hearing his nose crunch and seeing the blood.
“Um, hello.” Kinsley snapped her fingers and said firmly, “You have a giant bag of money here. Focus.”
“Right.” Remy turned back to the task at hand, gathered her focus, and explained, “When I was there, Damon said that he needed a favor with something here at the loft. Which had me thinking—what could he possibly need me for?” She drew in a quick breath, staring at all the bills. “Asher packed up Damon’s stuff yesterday and got it out of here, and he didn’t find anything then, so this morning after Asher left, I went looking.”
Kinsley voice rose in pitch as she pointed at the bag. “And you found this?”
Remy nodded. “In my air duct.”
Peyton slowly shook her head like she couldn’t quite believe it. “Wait. How did you even find it there?”
“From a movie I saw once,” Remy said with a dry laugh, trying to cut through the heavy tension in the room. “People always keep stuff in air ducts, so I looked there after I checked everywhere else, and, yup, Damon wasn’t even original.”
“Wow,” Peyton breathed.
Kinsley leaned forward, snooping in the bag. “How much is in here?”
Remy had counted twice. “Two hundred thousand. Give or take.”
Silence descended into the room. Heavy silence. Until Remy couldn’t take it anymore. “I guess I should call Asher and report this, right?”
Peyton nodded. “It’s the right thing to do.”
Kinsley slid off the couch to grab wads of bills. She lifted them to her nose and smelled them. “If we call Asher, he’ll tell you to hand it in.”
“Which is exactly what I should do,” Remy said.
“Yes. Definitely,” Peyton agreed with a firm nod.
Kinsley paused, sat back on her legs, and exhaled deeply, pondering. She eventually said, “I’ve heard something before from my dad. If you turn in Damon’s money, the money goes in for evidence and it might be stored for years, even decades. Then it’ll go to the Treasury to be destroyed.” She picked up a wad of cash in both hands and shook it at Remy. “This will buy you your shop.”
The thought had crossed Remy’s mind the second she opened the bag. When her fingers first grazed the money, she knew the freedom the cash would buy her. She’d finally have the life she wanted, sharing all the things that Nana had created. Healing people. Bringing them happiness. Remy wanted that too. But…and there was a big but…”Yeah, good and all if I don’t want to go to hell and spend the rest of my life burning in misery for being a terrible person for spending money that doesn’t belong to me.”
“Who says the money’s not yours? It’s in your house,” Kinsley countered. “You haven’t committed a crime. You’re just not giving Damon his money back. As far as I see it, this is a way to take what’s gone wrong and make everything right again. You deserve this, Remy.”
Unsure about that, she nibbled her lip and glanced at Peyton.
Peyton stared at the money for a long few seconds, then shrugged. “I don’t know. What if it’s money that belongs to the other women Damon married?”
“But what if it’s not?” Kinsley interjected. “What if it’s just Damon’s cash from investments or something like that. He was a smart guy. He’s got nearly four million in his bank account, from what my dad told me.”
Peyton’s eyes widened, her hand covered her mouth. “That’s how much he took from those women?” she mumbled.
“Obviously, this was some sort of addiction,” Kinsley said with a nod. “Greedy sonofabitch. His first wife lost the most—two million dollars. Second wife lost a half mil. Third wife lost a few hundred grand before he took off running. The rest of the money he got from making smart business investments.” She turned to Remy and said softly, “Boone and my dad told me that his accounts are currently frozen, because the women he stole from are going to receive all their money back once things settle. Even once that is figured out, Damon will still have a couple million in his account.” She reached for a wad of money again and held it up. “Everyone is getting what they deserve. You deserve that too, Remy.”
When Remy turned to Peyton again, looking for answers from the sweetest and most honorable one of the bunch, Peyton sighed. “You do deserve this,” she after a beat. “After all you’ve been through, I, out of anyone, know that finding a bit
of happiness in the darkness can change everything.” Peyton did understand—she’d lost her husband in a car accident arranged by his murderous and greedy business partner in Seattle. “I moved here because I needed that new something. I found that here. I found you both. I found Boone.”
Remy smiled, her heart thundering in her ears.
“So…?” Kinsley asked, bright eyed.
Peyton’s lips pursed as she glanced between them. “I was never here. This conversation never happened. I saw nothing.” She moved to Remy and gave her a big hug and then strode out the door.
