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“What did you do with the money I gave you?” I seethed. Behind me, Seth and Tania had gone silent, and Seth was on his feet in case I needed backup, as I knew he would be.
“I had things I needed to buy, and Dad wouldn’t give me the money. Look, I’m sorry, okay? I just… I did the deal when I had money, but then I lost the money and panicked. So I borrowed, lost that, then took what you had given me and fixed some things. It worked out,” he explained, and I could feel my brows furrow.
“Yeah, it’s ‘fine’ because I am paying the eight hundred thousand for you. You realize you could have just told me you needed money, right? I would have given it to you.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. It would have come with strings. You’d have wanted me to work for it or something.”
“And what’s wrong with that?!” I exclaimed so loud that people at the surrounding tables were looking at us now. Shit, I didn’t want to cause a scene.
“I don’t have time for that,” he said, pulling an empty chair up to the table. He set the back of it against the table and straddled it, sitting between Natalia and me. Seth and I sat back down, but not happily so.
“But you have time to show up here at the beach for no reason,” I pressed. He would tell me eventually.
“Yeah, well, I was looking for someone who was supposed to meet me here, but it doesn’t look like they are going to show up,” he explained. I raised an eyebrow at him, but before I could question him further, my phone rang. Reluctantly, I answered it.
“Hello?”
“Umm…Mr. Morelli?… This is Pete Decker, the security officer coming on for the second shift.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, cutting to the chase. The only reason a security officer at the company would be calling me would be if something big had happened. I braced myself for whatever he was going to say.
“I got here about ten minutes ago, and all the cameras were down, the officer on duty was missing, and the fences had been snipped. I’ve already called the police, and they are on their way, but they said they needed you here.”
“Thank you, Pete. I’ll be there soon,” I assured him and hung up. I looked over at Natalia who was watching me with weary eyes. “Something is going on at the office. I’m sorry, but I have to go. Seth, would you mind bringing Natalia home?”
“We have to go to my mother’s today,” Tania countered. “I’m sorry, but we were just about to hit the road ourselves. She lives about two hours away.”
“But we could drop Nat back off in the city before we go,” Seth looked at his wife with a silent plea of understanding, but the look on her face made it seem like she wasn’t going to budge.
“I can bring her home,” Daniel offered and instantly I hated the idea.
“No. I’ll just call her an Uber.”
“Don’t be silly,” Daniel said, putting an arm around Natalia in a friendly manner. “I’ll take good care of her. Trust me, brother”
He gave me a smile that looked genuine. I looked from him to Natalia. She looked leery but not uncomfortable. She shrugged at my questioning look.
“I’ll be okay with Daniel. Go, take care of whatever is going on. Just text or call me to let me know what happened. I’m worried.”
“I’m worried too,” I admitted, then I turned back to Daniel, “Take care of her. I mean it.”
He rolled his eyes at me and stuck out his tongue. Forever the child.
I stood up and went around Daniel to hug and kiss Natalia. As I pulled away, she squeezed my hand, showing the love and support she had for me with her eyes. Or at least I hoped what she felt was akin to love. I leaned down and gave her another kiss, to which Seth and Daniel groaned, and then I turned to leave. If I didn’t go then, I never would, and I had things I had to sort out at the office. Hopefully, everyone was okay, and whoever broke into the building didn’t do too much damage.
I drove away from the beach as fast as I could get away with, wishing I had Natalia at my side.
Chapter 20
Natalia
Honestly,Iwasnotcompletely comfortable with Daniel bringing me home, but I felt it was better than making Seth and Tania mess up their plans for me. I knew Jimmy had to get going and didn’t want to leave me, but if something big was going on at his work, it didn’t make sense to bring me along. I would just get in the way, more than likely. An Uber would cost way too much for me to justify it, even if Jimmy didn’t mind paying, so relying on my brother-in-law it was.
We stayed at the Flagship for only a little while longer as Tania wanted to get going. Seth gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek goodbye, as did his wife. They were both really nice and told me that I could call them if I needed anything. Seth gave me his number and made me promise to use it. Jokingly, I texted him as he was leaving to fulfill my promise.
After their exit, Daniel and I sat back down at the table. He started drinking the rest of Jimmy’s drink and looking around at all the people. He didn’t really speak to me, just typed to someone on his phone and jiggled his foot up and down under the table.
“Daniel, are you sure this is alright?” I asked. “I can always get an Uber home if you have somewhere to be. You said you were supposed to meet someone here… Do you need to catch up with them?”
