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Uncle Cliff turns to me, shoving me harder. “You set me up. You fucking bitch, you set me up!” He raises his hand to swing right as someone slides in front of me, blocking him and shoving his body down to the ground.
“Now arrest him.” Ezra’s voice commands.
My whole body goes still. My worst nightmare is coming true. He found me so he must know. I glare at Kyle, who won’t meet my gaze. There is a flurry of police and investigators. Ezra fills them in on my uncle’s connection to some crime lord in Las Vegas who was responsible for sending Scooter after me. They were still unable to find Scooter but getting my uncle was good enough. The police have a mountain of evidence that my uncle made many unsavory and illegal deals and bets with my money, my property and me during his reign over my life at BNE. They were willing to take what they had seen today, including Spyder’s video and my recording, plus the texts from my uncle as part of their case.
When I hand my phone over, I catch the glaring look Ezra is giving Spyder. “You were going to help her when she could have been in danger?”
Spyder looks from Ezra to me then back to him. “She’s an adult and can make her own decisions. I showed up in case she needed backup because I did think it was weird.”
Ezra’s eyes turn molten and his hands flex at his sides. “Take her back to the hotel,” he orders Kyle.
“Yes, boss,” he answers and helps guide me away.
“I’ll call you,” I say to Spyder and see the cheeky grin he gives me as I leave. Ezra stares him down before climbing in his own car and tailing behind us.
“Did you tip him off?”
Kyle shakes his head sighing. “No. You did that all on your own when you took three million dollars out of your account. I think he thought you were planning to leave him forever.”
Sighing, I lean my head back against the seat. My intentions were good but now that he knows, I don’t think I’ll be able to dig myself out of this. I arrive first and get into the hotel elevator. Kyle hits the button for the penthouse suite.
“He’s staying here tonight too.”
I groan and cover my eyes. We reach the top before I can blink again and Ezra is waiting by the door. “You can leave us,” he tells Kyle. My bodyguard gets back in and disappears from sight.
Ezra goes to the door and slides his key. The door unlocks and he holds it open. “Get in.” My shoulders fall and tears sting my eyes. This feels different from my Aruba trip. Fear that I’ve finally stepped over the line creeps in.
I take off my shoes and set my stuff down. Ezra ignores me, throwing his tie and his coat on the couch before grabbing a tumbler of liquor and pouring it in a glass. “Did you honestly not think I’d find out.”
“I didn’t want you to find out that way.”
His head snaps up, his eyes wild and filled with fear and panic. “And what the hell were you trying to accomplish?”
My fingers twist together, but I refuse to back down. “I was trying to make him go away. I had a plan.”
“Go away,” Ezra scoffs, “the man had a knife in his back pocket, Ocean. A fucking knife. Do you honestly think you would have gotten away with tricking him?”
“I don’t know. I was going to get him to talk and give him the money like he wanted. Then explain it all to you so you could tell me what we should do next.”
“You were actually going to give him three million dollars?” Ezra practically shouts, while unbuttoning the top button on his shirt and taking another drink.
My shoulders shrug. “What is a couple million in the long run if it keeps us safe.”
His jaw clenches, and in the next instance, he throws the glass across the room. Booze and glass shatter on the floor.
“Ezra.”
He holds up his hand. “No. Just don’t. Not yet. You lied to me all week, you had Kyle keep things from me so that you could try and pay off your uncle.”
“I wasn’t lying about everything. The stress was getting to me. I was feeling sick and not sleeping the best. And Kyle is my employee, okay. Whatever I ask him to do, he should be doing.”
“Not if it compromises your safety, Ocean!”
“And who is going to worry about you and your safety? You don’t think I want to keep you safe too? That it didn’t kill me with what he was going to say about you, about us. You’re always the one taking chances and plotting to protect me. I just wanted to protect you too.”
Ezra runs his hands through his hair, his chest heaving. “Ocean, I take the chances because I’m prepared. I have back upplans. I’ve been working on this investigation into your uncle for almost a year, since you told me about what happened.”
“You didn’t tell me that. Don’t you think that is something I should know?”
