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Stryker: You’re all good, hell, everyone is just now starting to wake up. Come on down to the dining room when you’re ready, and we’ll get some lunch then let the team know what we found last night on Ingram.
Conrad: Sounds good, I’ll be right down.
Stryker:thumbs up emoji
I quickly toss my legs over the side of the bed and get up. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a black v-neck tee from my dresser, I get dressed. Before heading downstairs, I make my way to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth. Gotta make sure I look good for our girl, after all.
Walking down the stairs and through the threshold of the dining room, I see everyone moving around doing various things, dressed and ready for the day. Then I see a very exhausted Nat in a pair of black yoga pants and an off-the-shoulder workout top with her hair up in a messy bun. She’s curled up in one of the chairs at the table with both hands cupped tightly around a coffee mug that says,’Don’t talk to me until the coffee kicks in’. A very manly giggle escapes my mouth because no truer words can be said about our girl. Making my way across the room towards her, I stop just short of her and lean over, placing a kiss on her forehead.
“Good morning, beautiful. Has the coffee kicked in yet, or should I still be wary? Did you sleep well?” I ask just to pick on her a bit since, by the look of her, she clearly didn’t. A mischievous smile crosses my face. She lifts her head and looks up at me with sweet eyes that quickly turn cunning.
“You’ll all be the death of me, I swear, but I would die a thousand deaths to do last night over and over again,” she says with a smirk and a flirty wink. She sips from her coffee mug again, closing her eyes as the coffee apparently hits the spot, pushing energy through her veins.
Stryker interrupts our little exchange to let me know that before I came down, they decided to order some Indian food for lunch, and it should be here any minute. Marcela came to pick up BJ earlier this morning for an errand, so Stryker called them to see if they would pick it up on their way back.
I get the room all set up for lunch. I get plates and all the eating utensils out and place them on the table, but then I also grab my computer along with a projector screen that I set up on the far wall so that everyone can see what I’m scrolling through on my laptop. The dining room has kind of become our in-home Noggin Chamber.Once the food arrives, we will be ready to have a chat about Ingram. When I get all finished a few moments later, like clockwork, BJ and Marcela walk in with bags and bags of food.
“Woah! Are we expecting company or something, that’s enough fucking food for an army,” King comments.
“Well, Nat and I were in charge of ordering, and we were both fucking STARVING! So this is what we got. Honestly, who is gonna be mad about leftovers? Someone is always hungry in this house, and it’s normally you, King, so shut it,” Stryker barks back at him.
All seven of us practically jump on the food once it’s all out on the table and fill our plates before settling into our spots. Stryker and I take the ends of the table since we are the ones who dug deep into research last night after our fun with Nat, and we will be going over everything we found.
“Conrad, do you want to take the lead here since you did most of the work last night? I was basically just your assistant?” Stryker asks with a laugh.
“Yep! Thanks, morning, or I guess, afternoon now, guys. Stryker and I worked our asses off last night trying to find anything and everything we could on Ingram.”
“I was able to tap into his computer remotely but couldn’t find anything, which was frustrating as hell. It seemed a little too clean if you ask me. So he’s either keeping his information on another computer, or he’s onto us and wiped it clean. However, I did get into his bank accounts, which was a little more telling. We found some questionable transfers, which I delved into a little deeper. He has a German offshore account withSchwarzer Falke Bankand has been transferring money from it to his stateside account for a while now, which is obviously more than a little sketchy.”
BJ Gasps before I can even continue. “OMG! What normal person has accounts like that? Please, tell me you kept looking and didn’t leave it at that, Connie?!”
“Yes, I did.” I place my hand on my chest and release a small faux gasp, appalled she would even think I would stop there. “Please, you know me better than that, BJ. I hacked into the bank server…”
“Which we all know is highly illegal, and since we’re supposed to be off this case, I don’t have The Elite’s crone lawyers backing me. If I get caught, all your asses better be bailing me out as soon as possible,” I threaten.
I give them all a stern look since they are all looking at me like I’m being dramatic and joking about getting caught. “I’m not kidding, assholes!” I howl.
“Anyway, I found out this shocker, wait for it…all the funds that are going into the offshoreSchwarzer Falkeaccount are coming from none other thanStarling Trucking!” I pause a moment for dramatic effect because, after last night, I’m in a playful mood today.
But BJ lets out a squeal before I can go on, saying, “Stop it, shut up!” Alexie and King join in with a loud “Fuck,” almost in unison.
King stands, nearly knocking his chair over, and punches the table with both fists. “That piece of shit, mother fucking scumbag. He had us all fooled, even more than Luci over here. I’m going to fucking kill him,” he growls.
Marcela picks that moment to walk back into the room with a pie in hand, stopping right in her tracks. As she looks around at the scene in front of her, she looks lost and confused as to what caused the sudden flare in tempers.How did I miss her leaving the room?
“Oooookay, what did I just miss? What did the backstabbing bitch do now?” she asks as she whips her head over to my Spitfire, giving her a malicious look.
“Ruuude, Celly, apologize. Nat didn’t do anything, it’s Ingram! I like that little nickname. Can I start calling you that now? Oh, yummy, my pie! Sorry, you know I am easily distracted! Connie found some bank stuff,” BJ rambles to her in response.
BJ is like a toddler seeing something shiny, no focus at all.
“Conrad found an offshore account that Ingram has. All the transfers into that account are fromStarling Trucking,”Stryker explains to her.
“He is sending most of the money to his personal accounts here stateside. He is in bed with those bastards and has been doing it for what seems like a long time, right under our noses, without a care in the world,” I tell them
Stryker punches down on the table in anger. “This bastard really thought we would never figure any of this out. It’s pretty obvious now why he’s been so hard up for us to stop working on this case. It’s so we wouldn’t find out his dirty little secrets,” he grinds out.
“Honestly, I’m not super surprised, though. Ingram has always given me the heebie-jeebies. Especially on Nat’s first day when I barged into his office. He was a little too close for comfort with her if you know what I mean. I could tell Nat was so uncomfortable, I had to save her and steal her away,” BJ tells us.
