He wondered how she’d overheard his conversation but realized she was still talking to her brother.
“What can I do to help?” He tried to ask pleasantly, but he wanted to know what Luke and Rachel were talking about. Anything with his credit card and charges with the resort could be resolved tomorrow. He had this exclusive card with no limit and a personal concierge so he didn’t have to deal with crap like this. He paid the exorbitant yearly fee, spent millions on it per year, and had it automatically set to be paid in full every month. Why was she calling him when he wanted to be holding Rachel, and making sure Luke didn’t sabotage him again?
“Well, sir. Initially, the charge came through several weeks ago for the Paradise Retreat for two-hundred and twenty-two thousand, eight-hundred and seven dollars.”
“Yes, that was the cost of myself and twelve guests for the week.”
“Well, in the past five minutes that charge has been repeated eleven times.”
“Excuse me?” he tried to say calmly when he wanted to curse as he calculated quickly. Over two million dollars charged from this resort to his card? “Why wasn’t it shut down?”
“It has been flagged and further charges stopped, but because your card is a no limit and you regularly spend large amounts, it wasn’t stopped immediately. We’re assuming it’s just a glitch. The resort ran the charge repeatedly for some reason.” Her voice didn’t sound like she thought it was a glitch. “That’s why we’ve been trying to contact the manager and resolve the issue. I realize it’s only been a matter of minutes but I felt this needed attention and quick. Our system can often override such charges but we’ve tried, and the money is already gone.” She paused for a breath. “I’ve gotten through to other staff members at the resort and they have repeatedly asserted they cannot refund the money without the manager’s consent. I wanted to make you aware of the situation and reassure you we will remedy it, but if you happen to see Preston Sant, could you please have him call me immediately?”
“Oh, I’ll find Preston Sant.” His jaw clenched. What was his friend playing at? Where had he disappeared to? Was this really a glitch or could his longtime friend be cheating him like Rachel thought Preston was cheating her brother? The very idea turned his stomach. Even after ten years he hadn’t forgiven Angel for her betrayal. Preston couldn’t be doing the same.
Rachel looked at him, still on the phone with her brother. “Will you hold for just a moment, Lisa?”
“Of course, sir.”
He pulled the phone away, ready to ask Rachel if he could talk to her brother and straighten out this credit card mess but then he remembered that Luke was the reason he almost lost Rachel, and her brother might be warning her to stay away from Abe at this very minute. So instead of accusing Luke’s resort from stealing from him, he said, “Everything okay?”
Rachel shook her head. “Just a second, Luke.” She pulled the phone away. “The storm is going to get worse. We’re right in the path of a bad tropical storm, possibly a category one hurricane. The main body of the storm should pass over us around two a.m. Preston hasn’t been responding to the weather service so they’ve been contacting Luke. Luke said the staff is going to gather everyone to the most secure spot, the spa and fitness center. Worst case we’ll spend the night in the storm shelter. He’s hoping we can help the assistant manager and other staff keep the group calm without Preston around.”
“Of course.” His stomach churned though. Preston had disappeared, wasn’t responding to calls? What was going on? Could his friend … no he couldn’t think it. Angel’s betrayal still stung too much. If Preston had betrayed him he might lose the self-control he prided himself on. “I need to find Preston though. My credit card has been charged over two million dollars in the past few minutes from this resort.”
Rachel’s eyes widened and she got there quick. “You think Preston’s stealing from you.”
He wouldn’t have outright accused his friend, especially not that fast. Could Preston truly steal from him? After all they’d been through?
Rachel stepped closer. “Abe. The conversation I heard with Preston and that woman. What if this is what they were talking about? They’ve taken money from Luke by embezzling from the employee funds, now they’ve hit your credit card repeatedly with the same charge so it took the credit card company a minute to catch up and now they’re going to run with the money. It might be stupid to run during a storm but it would cover their tracks pretty well too. They might’ve thought it was worth the risk and since he hasn’t responded to the weather service he might not know it’s going to get worse.”
Abe felt cold and a little lightheaded. Could Preston do that to him? “May I?” He opened his hand for her phone.
“Sure.” She handed it over.
“Luke, this is Abe Bradford. The charge from your resort of over two-hundred and twenty thousand dollars has been repeated on my credit card eleven times in the last few minutes. Could a glitch like that happen?”
“No,” Luke said shortly. “If a glitch like that happened, which it never should, it would happen immediately after the initial charge, not weeks later.” He blew out an angry breath. “I’ve suspected Preston Sant of skimming employee funds. I didn’t want to accuse him without solid proof as he’s been a fabulous manager and the former owner praised him, but now it looks like he’s scammed you also. Well, your credit card company will get stuck with the charges unless they can recover them.”
“We’ll find Preston,” Abe said with a clenched jaw. He didn’t care if it was his money or the credit card company’s funds, Preston wasn’t getting away with it. The betrayal he’d felt when Angel had scammed him was horrific. He thought the wounds might heal now that he had Rachel, but he didn’t know that he could live through that again. Preston. They’d been friends for years.Please let it be a glitch.
“Unless he’s already skipped the island,” Luke said.
“The charges were only made five or six minutes ago and it’d be suicide to leave the island in this storm.” That said, the helicopter pad and then boat launch would be his first spots to look. Preston was a certified helicopter pilot.
“Good luck,” Luke said. “Let me know when you find him.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh,” Luke stopped him from hanging up. “Rachel seems to trust you implicitly.”
Abe looked to Rachel, ecstatic to hear that. He trusted her implicitly as well and he never thought he’d feel that way again.
“Damage that trust,” Luke’s voice was full of warning, “and you’ll have five angry brothers hunting you down.”
Abe almost laughed, though the threat wasn’t really funny. Despite Luke causing the mess earlier he thought he would like the guy. “Don’t worry. My only plan is to increase that trust.”
“Good. Stay in touch.”