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I gape at him, speechless. My father is a lot of things, but a thief?
He adds, "It's hundreds of millions of dollars."
My mouth turns dry. I inquire, "Will he go to jail?"
A sinister smile lights up Riggs's darkened expression. "No. I'm taking care of things, so it's not public, but your father will soon have no money. It's better than doing hard time. All the things he takes for granted and waves in everyone's faces will disappear."
I swallow hard, asking, "How?"
He kisses my lips. "Don't worry about it. I have everything under control."
My belly quivers. I hate my father, yet he's still my blood. A moment of sympathy hits me.
"You don't like the thought of your father suffering?" Riggs questions.
Visions of all the bad things my father did to me over the years, including kidnapping me twice and ordering me to choose to marry a man who disgusts me, fill my mind. And stealing, screwing over Riggs and his clients, adds to my disgust. I softly admit, "He deserves to lose everything."
While I believe in my statement, something about Riggs's admission nags at me. I can't put my finger on what bothers me about it.
Riggs palms my cheek, insisting, "He can't harm you, pet. Don't fret over this. Plus, I'll go to my grave protecting you."
I convince myself Riggs has everything under control. I smile at him. "I know you will."
I fully believe my statement. He'll always protect me. He's my husband. No matter what my father tries to do to retaliate, Riggs will make sure I'm protected.
I snuggle into him and fall asleep in his arms; safe, warm, and happy in the belief Riggs would never hurt me.
28
Riggs
As soon as I close the latest deal, I leave the office and pull out of the parking garage.
A black Charger veers into my lane a few cars behind me. My gut says something is off. I'm unsure why, but I don't ignore my gut feelings.
I detour through a few L.A. side streets, and the black Charger is still there.
Am I being followed?
I speed up, weaving in and out of heavy traffic for a few blocks. The Dodge stays far enough behind, and it could be a coincidence, but I'm not taking any chances.
I turn on my blinker to go right, and at the last second, I cut across the intersection in the opposite direction.
Horns blare at me. I accelerate, passing traffic as fast as possible. I wait until I haven't seen the Charger for several miles before I feel confident I've lost it. I'm still unsure if I was being followed, but it's got me rattled.
Is Hugh onto me?
No, he can't be. He's clueless, and his life falls apart more and more every day.
This will be over soon.
Hugh doesn't have the resources left to pay anyone to follow me.
It's only a matter of weeks until he's completely out of his money. Jones has drained the last of the offshore accounts. I alerted the banks we use for our business accounts about the hacks on Hugh's personal accounts. Most already knew since Hugh had banked personally there as well. I asked them how we could add additional layers of security to play it safe, even though Jones is always watching.
After the bank meetings, I informed Hugh that we would get alerts for any transfers in the accounts. Normally, those things are on statements and George reviews it all. But now, he and Hugh can't hide anything.
Hugh didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could say without blowing up his secret regarding all the stolen funds. And it's stopped him from taking any more.
