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She stared at the sheet. She couldn’t face them. “Remember when someone hacked your payroll system two years ago?”
“Are you talking about HiTech Global right now?” Hunter asked.
She nodded. She had to fight the tears. These weren’t happy ones. “Leo 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 HiTech’s payroll for a quarter. I transferred the payments into one of Leo’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. Alison’s heart fell to her stomach.
Thirty-Four
Drew
He’d never loved a woman like he loved Alison. He couldn’t imagine sharing anything more intense than taking her virginity the way he had this morning. But now she was sitting in between him and Hunter, confessing to theft. To hacking. To hiding money.
Drew bit his lip. He was stunned. He heard the words, but it was unbelievable. How was it possible? Alison? Their sweet perfect Alison had done this.
“Leo 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 Leo 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.
Hunter 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, Alison.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Drew stared at her. “What did you mean we were going to find out?”
“Leo 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 Soar 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,” Hunter 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 here. 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.”
Drew 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.”
Hunter 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 Leo—not Alison. They would do everything they could to protect her. There were no words to describe what Leo had done to the woman they loved.
“You what?” She blinked back the tears.
Drew pressed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”
She shook her head, her hair flying around her bare shoulders. “No. I’ll leave. I’ll resign from my position at Soar. You can clean up the PR nightmare when I’m out of the picture. It’s better for the foundation this way.”
Hunter rushed to the side of the bed. “Hell no. That isn’t going to happen.”
Her eyes flew to his. “Don’t try to protect me in this. I did it. I hacked in. I helped Leo. And maybe I didn’t get caught then, but I’m going to have to pay for it now. My past. My sins. My penance to pay, not yours.”
Hunter’s hands moved to her face. “We’ve all done shit we’re not proud of, sweetheart. But no one is going to hurt you again. Drew and I will make sure of that. We’re in this together now. Your past and everything that comes with it.”
“How can you forgive me?” she whispered.
