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As we pass through town, we are silent, both of us considering the next hour ahead. This could backfire on us spectacularly and I just pray Flora looks enough like her sister to fool the bank teller.
As the car stops outside City Bank, I register the interested looks from the passers-by as my men spill out onto the sidewalk and create a safe environment for us to exit into. I realize this is ostentatious and we draw more attention to ourselves than if we traveled like any other human being on the planet but here, in this town, hell even this state, I walk around with a huge fucking target on my back and by association so does Flora.
She is nervous beside me. I can tell that already and as she walks slightly in front, to anybody watching, we are people it’s best to turn away from. The bodyguards, the menace that we wear well and the arrogant threatening glares we throw around like confetti, make people lower their eyes and look the other way.
This is how we protect ourselves and how it’s always been, and I doubt that will change all the time I breathe.
The door to the bank opens and we head inside. Flora is slightly in front of me, walking with a straight back and purpose. We head straight to the desk, and it stuns me a little when she says in an identical voice to her sister, “I wish to close my account.”
The teller doesn’t react and just nods, turning to their computer screen.
“Do you have your bank details?” They say pleasantly and Flora removes the relevant details from the folder and passes them to the teller.
“Do you have your card, ma’am?”
Flora hands it over and I wonder how Pasquale does this. He’s a master manipulator and it can’t have been easy to arrange, but somehow, he has pulled off the impossible and duplicated everything needed for our plan to work.
As the teller taps away on the computer, only the slight raised eye and the nervous glance in our direction tells me this won’t be as straightforward as we hoped and then she clears her throat and says apologetically, “I’m sorry madam, I will need my manager’s authorization code to initiate the transaction.”
Flora just nods as if she’s bored already, and it strikes me how like her sister she is at this moment. The resemblance is astonishing, but it’s soon apparent they are poles apart in personality when Flora grants you access to the frightened woman hiding behind the worried frown.
It only takes a few minutes for the manager to appear and cast a concerned glance in our direction, causing the sweat to appear on his brow when he is on the receiving end of my most menacing expression.
“Mrs. Ortega.” He almost bows to Flora and hearing him use that name in reference to Diana makes my blood boil when I think of her marriage to my father. However, hearing him refer to Flora in this way deals me a strange sense of pride that I wasn’t expecting. For some reason, I like thinking of her this way, and it shocks me a little.
“I trust there isn’t a problem, um, Mr. Tav-i-st-ock.”
Flora says sharply, peering at the manager’s name badge and emphasizing every syllable of his name, causing him to glance again nervously in my direction.
I play along and consider him with a thoughtful gaze, telling him I now have his name and unless he plays along, things could get very uncomfortable for him and his family. I know I intimidate well. Hell, I’ve practised my craft all my life, and it has the desired effect when he coughs and taps in a code with no further questions and says with relief, “Account closed, Mrs. Ortega. May I ask if there was a problem regarding our service to you?”
He looks at Flora keenly and she snaps, “No, you may not.”
She grabs the folder back from the teller and nods in my direction.
“Please check the funds have arrived in my new account.”
I’m impressed with her acting because right now, even I believe Diana is standing before me and for some reason, it doesn’t hurt as much as normal.
As I check the new account on my phone, I smile to myself because there it is. Five million dollars stolen from a thief right from under their nose.
“And the rest?” Flora says coolly, referencing the several savings accounts also currently residing at City Bank and, as I check every single one of them, it’s as if we’ve won the jackpot when eye watering sums of money pop up in black figures on my phone. We have effectively cleaned Diana out and seized back control of the finances required to run our empire, but I can’t relax until we are safely back at the mansion.
I say in a monotone voice, “It’s all there.”
Flora nods and stares at the manager with an expression that causes him to sweat, and she says imperiously, “I would appreciate your discretion in this matter, Mr. Tavistock. I have reason to believe that my late husband has many enemies who will stop at nothing to get their hands on his assets. I am withdrawing them to protect them, and nobody must discover any details about that, for all our sakes.”
She waves her hand in my direction and says in a hard voice. “My stepson and his brothers are very protective of their family. I would hate to give them any reason to defend it. So, for your own protection, I would wipe all traces of our visit from your security footage and deny any knowledge of this meeting at all if anyone asks. It will be in your own interest to play dumb.”
The manager looks as if he’s about to pass out, but Flora just says politely, “Good day, Mr. Tavistock. Please send my regards to your family.”
As she turns away, she catches my eye and the spark in hers does something to me I wasn’t expecting. It hits me so hard I am stunned and as she walks away with a sway to her hips and a confidence that takes my breath away, I know in an instant that Flora Corlietti is more than a match for her sister and as it turns out, is also more than a match for me.
CHAPTER21
FLORA
Iam shaking inside. From the moment we walked into City Bank, I wished I was anywhere else. I was freaking terrified and yet when I placed myself in Diana’s head; the fear melted away and supercharged me into someone even I don’t recognize. It was so good. I felt so powerful. Flora was gone and Diana manifested in me, and I understood exactly how she would play it. I’ve watched her closely over the years and know how her mind works. She’s used it often enough on me and I suppose I absorbed more of it than I’d like.
