Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (42 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR

Brooke

I
spent the afternoon at
the office looking through the files that Jordie and Roger had compiled on the
fly. We tried to trace Lydia's locations before she was kidnapped, and then
tried to brainstorm a list of possible reasons why someone would want to kill
her.

What the guys had
discovered about Lydia gave us a number of leads. Her bank records showed that
she was depositing large amounts of cash every month, and since her death,
there had been numerous withdrawals, all for the same amount. We had no idea
who else had access to her accounts, since we knew she wasn't married, nor did
she have any children. I told Jordie to follow up on this with the bank.

"Where is
Roger?" I asked.

"He said he
had an errand to run and that he'd meet us back here later," Jordie said
as he searched for Lydia's employment history and leafed through a large file
that Alma had brought him.

"Find
anything else?"

"It's
weird," he said as he tapped the keyboard and then looked back at the
screen. "She has a steady employment history up until two years ago, then
it looks like she practically dropped off the map. No W2 on record, no taxes
filed, nothing. It's like she didn't exist anymore."

"That's
weird," I said. "She was obviously making money, lots of it. Where in
the hell was it coming from?"

"Probably
something we need to ask our client," Jordie said as he punched more keys
and looked back at the screen and then down at the file. "This is weird,
Brooke. Two days before she disappeared, she deposited a huge sum of cash, but
she did it over a period of a few hours and at different branches of the same
bank."

"What the
hell?"

"I know,
right?" he said. "She had to know that would show up in her banking
records. It wasn't like they were separate banks or something."

"Unless, she
wanted it to show up," I said. "Like she was trying to send a message
or a signal. Do we have any records of any other accounts at other banks?"

"I hadn't
checked," he said. "I assumed she did all her banking at the same
place."

"Check it
out," I said. "I need to get going or I'm going to be late for dinner
with my parents."

"Can't you
reschedule it?" Jordie asked.

"No, it's
important," I replied. "I'll come back after I'm done, though. So,
leave anything you find on my desk and I'll look at it."

"Who says
I'll be gone?" He grinned.

"Good
point," I laughed. "And, Jordie?"

"Yeah?"

"Find Roger,
dammit," I said as I walked to my office, grabbed my purse and headed out
to catch a cab.

#

Thirty
minutes later, I
got out of the car and walked up the front walk of my parent’s house. The
lights were on and I could hear music and my parents’ laughter coming from
inside. My mouth watered as I thought about a thick juicy hamburger with a side
of my mother's zesty potato salad.

"Hey, what
are you doing? Trying to invite the neighborhood for dinner?" I called as
I opened the front door and walked back toward the kitchen where my parents
were dancing across the linoleum to the rhythm of Santana.

"Nah, we were
just waiting for the grill to heat up so we could put the burgers on," my
father laughed. "I got the sudden urge to dance."

"Your father
has been assigned to watch
Dancing with
the Stars
," my mother explained as he twirled her around again.
"It's not enough for him to watch it, he needs to live it!"

"You could
have had a career, Pop," I said as I watched him spin my mother.

"There's no
need to be a smartass," he shot back laughing. "I'm enjoying
this!"

"I'm not even
kidding, Pop," I said smiling. "You've got the moves of a regular
Gene Kelly!"

"Come here,
kiddo, let me spin you around the dance floor while your mother gets the salad
ready," my father said, holding his arms out to me.

"I'll pass,
Pop," I said as I perched on a stool and watched my parents work together
to get dinner ready.

"Then come
with me and help me with the burgers," he said as he grabbed the plate
piled high with freshly made patties. "Your brother should be here any
minute, and I don't want to take a chance that he'll get called in to the house
without eating."

I followed my
father out the back door onto the patio he and my brother had built the year
before. My parents had the kind of backyard that made you forget that you were
in LA and left you feeling like you'd escaped the city for some exotic spa.
Teddy and my father had carved out a small space for a hand-built grill in the
back of the yard, and we headed toward it.

"Brooke, we
need to talk about something," my father said as he slid the burgers onto
the grill and then closed the lid.

"What's up,
Pop?" I said playfully punching him in the shoulder. His face was solemn
and serious, though. "What is it?"

"Brookie, I
know you took this Malone case because your firm needs visibility and money,
but are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.

"Yes, why do
you ask?"

"One of the
city reporters passed information on to me about Dax Malone, and I'm not sure
that you know exactly what you're dealing with here," he said quietly.

"Dad, he's
been accused of a murder that he didn't commit," I said. "I'm not
sure it gets any simpler than that."

"But, Brooke,
if the source is correct, Malone is a major drug dealer," my father said
with a worried look on his face. "There's talk that his lawyer was
executed."

"We've been
looking into that, Pop," I said, understanding his concern and wanting to
reassure him that I'd be okay. "Jordie and I have found evidence that
points to someone other than Dax."

"Don't be
naive, kiddo," he said. "Just because he didn't do it himself doesn't
mean he didn't have it done."

"Pop, look,
everyone deserves a proper defense, and I believe Malone when he says he didn't
do it," I said. I needed to calm my father's anxiety or he would drive my
mother crazy worrying about me. I knew he was right in that it was risky
representing Dax, but I also knew that if we didn't do it, the firm would be
sunk. "We need this one, Pop. And, since I believe he's innocent, I think
we can do a good job defending him."

"I don't like
this," my father said as he lifted the lid on the grill and flipped the
burgers. "I don't like it one little bit."

"Well, you
can be my inside informant, how about that?" I said. "You can tell me
what you're hearing about Dax, and I'll let you know if you're right."

"Brooke,"
my father turned and looked at me as he laid his hand on my head. "Please
don't do anything foolish. We can help you out if the firm fails, but we can't
do anything if you are killed trying to prove you can make this work."

"I'll be
careful," I said as I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. I
knew he was going to keep this from my mother, and that the secret would cause
him a great deal of anxiety. "I promise. I'll be really careful."

"Teddy's
here!" my mother called out the back door. "Are those burgers almost
ready?"

"Coming!"
my father and I yelled back in unison, grinning.

CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE

Dax

"
Where
is Beck?" Riza said as she pushed open
the door to my office. "What did you do with him?"

"Beck is
where he needs to be right now," I said. "What are you so riled up
about?"

"You locked
him up somewhere?" she asked. I could hear a note of urgency and slight
panic in her voice, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

"Beck is in
rehab, Ri," I said as I watched her pace the floor in front of my desk.
"It's where he needs to be. He's dangerously close to doing something
stupid, and I don't want to have to worry about him while we're fighting this
murder charge."

"That makes
no sense, Dax," she said as she tugged on a strand of hair. She only did
this when she was extremely agitated, and I couldn't understand why Beck's
entry into rehab would make her so upset. "You can't just lock him away
like that!"

"I'm not
locking him away," I replied. "I'm doing what's best for him."

"You pulled
him out of jail and stuck him right into another one," she said with an
accusing look. "You're always doing whatever you want with him."

"Ri, what's
going on?" I asked. "Why are you suddenly so worked up over Beck
getting clean?"

"I'm not
worked up about him getting clean," she grumbled as she slowed her pacing
and perched on the edge of my desk. “Do you ever think about how what you do
affects other people?"

"Ri, what the
hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying,
you always do whatever you want," she said as she held my gaze. "You
take what you want, you make the decisions you want to make, you affect
people's lives all without ever asking them what they want."

"Ri, look,
I'm a businessman. I do what needs to be done. I don't ask people, because if I
asked everyone how they felt about my decisions, none would ever get
made," I replied. I could feel myself getting riled up. She was
questioning me. My second in command, the person who was supposed to have my
back and be my best friend, was questioning my decisions. "I make
decisions because someone has to or we'd be in a shitload of trouble!"

"Yeah, that's
what Papi used to say, too," she mused as she looked down and flicked at a
stack of papers lying on my desk.

"Are you
mad?" I asked.

"Mad about
what?"

"I don't
know, whatever the fuck you get mad about," I said exasperated with her
guessing game.

"No, I'm not
mad, Dax," she said standing up and tugging at a strand of hair. "I'm
not mad at all. I'm just tired of being your right-hand woman, your go-to girl,
the one who gets shit done, but who never gets consulted about the big
decisions. That's all."

"What big
fucking decision am I making that you're not part of?" I shouted. I was
tired of the game playing and the buried resentment she was obviously carrying.
"What, Ri? What is it?"

"If you don't
know, then I'm sure as hell not telling you," she said as she spun on her
heel and stormed out, slamming the door hard enough to shake the pictures
hanging on the wall.

"What the
fuck?" I yelled after her. Something was going on with her, but she wasn't
interested in telling me about it, so I shrugged it off and picked up the
phone.

CHAPTER
FORTY-SIX

Brooke

I
was just leaving my
parents' house with Teddy, who had offered to drop me off back at the office,
when my phone rang.

"Brooke? I
need to talk to you," Dax said. There was an urgency in his voice that I
hadn't heard earlier.

"Yeah, what's
going on?" I replied as I looked at my brother, hoping he would keep his
big mouth shut.

"I need to
see you," he repeated. "Now."

"Can it wait
until tomorrow?" I asked. The truth was that I was worried about seeing
him without Jordie or Roger being around. I didn't trust myself, and I
definitely didn't trust Dax. We were like gasoline and a match, and I knew that
if we ended up in the same room, things would explode.

"No, it
really can't," he said. "I need to talk to you tonight."

"Alright, I'm
on my way back to the office right now," I explained. "Can you meet
me there?"

"Yeah,
sure," he said. "How long before you get there?"

"Well, my
brother's driving, so it'll probably be faster than I think it will be, he's a
lead foot," I said, gently slugging Teddy's arm. Teddy stuck his tongue
out and walked around the car, leaving the passenger side door locked while he
got in and started the engine.

"Hey!" I
yelled forgetting that I was still connected to Dax.

"What?"
he said.

"Nothing, my
stupid brother is threatening to leave me here," I laughed as I pulled on
the door handle and then pounded on the window. "Stupid brothers! Argh!
Gotta go, see you in an hour!"

I disconnected and
pounded on the window again, yelling, "I'm telling Mom!"

From inside the
car, Teddy mouthed "tattletale" and then put the car in reverse,
backing up a short distance before he stopped and unlocked the door.

"Get in,
pest!" he laughed. "I've got to get to the fire house."

"You're the
pest!" I pouted as I climbed in and shut the door. "To the office,
Ted."

"Don't push
your luck, kid," he grinned as he reached over and cranked the rock
station on his radio and began singing along with Van Halen.

I rolled my eyes
and yelled, "Old school!", over the song. Teddy laughed and sang
louder.