“Wait? How did you know I went digging?” A sheepish expression crosses his face. “Never mind, I don't even care. It’s sweet you wanted to protect me from who they might be now.”
“It seems your father might want to protect you from that too.” Ivan gives.
“What does that mean?” I don’t recall finding anything about my father.
“He was here today.”
I stare at him in shock. “You and your word bombs. I think we need to take a few steps back.”
“More like a few dozen.” He stands, carrying me into the closet. “You need clothes, or I’ll never get through all this without pouncing on you again.” He gives me one of his shirts. I slide it on. He bought me all these fancy silk sleep clothes, but he’s always giving me his shirts to wear.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my father was here today. Ivan pulls on some sweatpants before he leads me back to the bed, where he places me in his lap and starts from the very beginning.
He doesn’t leave anything out this time. Including all of his stalking ways.
21
Ivan
It hadn’t taken me long once I started digging around to find the hole and start to piece things together. The biggest problem was getting myself to leave Rae in bed. Her safety and my sanity depended on it.
Marco had wanted me to compile a list of people close to me. That was to include any individual that I assigned work to or trusted with other tasks. There weren’t a ton of people that I trusted, but I can’t do everything, so I’ve relied on a few. In business, you have to have a team. I didn’t have anyone close to me in other areas of my life. I hadn’t at least. But Rae has changed all of that for me, and now, I will do anything to make sure she’s protected.
He also wanted to know of any big deals I’d done over the past five years. He wanted to dig beyond the Stone brothers. He might be good at his job, but when it comes to money, that’s my area of expertise.
In a matter of an hour of searching, I’d realized why Paul was asking for a phone call. He’d caught on to something but didn’t know the full extent. Once I was able to focus and narrow things down, the paper trail started to reveal itself. Marco was right. It was someone in my inner business circle that was betraying me, and it was about money. But she couldn’t have done it on her own. Oh, she would have had to pull the trigger, but she’d need help from my CFO, Jonathan. He’s already been picked up by the FBI.
Two million had been dropped over to a fake shell company. The thing is it was only a matter of time before I realized what was happening. Maybe she thought if the number was small enough that I wouldn’t notice, but it was the opposite. The small amount is what caught my eye first.
It was stupid and almost sloppy. Unless I caught them before they’d made their next move. What would that have been? I drum my fingers against my desk. The Stone brothers are still coming to the forefront of my mind. There has to be a reason why she was pushing me so hard to make that deal.
“She’s in the wind,” Marco says as he strolls into my office. He rolls his shoulders. I’ve never seen him this irritated. No more jokes are coming from him.
“How did I not see it?” I am normally so good at reading people. Eva worked for me for years. Though she’d only been doing this over the last two months. If I had to guess, she’d seduced Jonathan or she had something on him. But there has to be more to it.
The kid is a genius with numbers, but he should have known I’m better. He had to know I’d catch on at some point. The kid isn’t that stupid, but then again, I’d do anything for Rae. I’m still missing a piece of the puzzle, which is driving me insane.
“It’s two million dollars. She’s not getting far. I’m curious what tipped her off.”
The FBI had swooped in and grabbed Jonathan for embezzlement. They’d done it quickly and without much notice as he’d made his way to the office.
“I don’t know, but she’s not on a plane or train. I have every camara clocking cars like hers on the highways leading out and nothing. I’m tracking her across the board, and nothing is popping. Not her cards or cell phone.”
“Eva is not completely stupid. I’m sure she had an exit strategy.” Or help from whomever is truly driving this bus. Because Eva might have done the work on the inside, but I know there is someone else pulling the strings from afar.