Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(54)
“Juarez thinks the bank accounts are about their side business. The Chinese lost a lot of money to Manny Diaz. He stole several shipments of heroin and sold them. They’re out hundreds of millions, they’re hurting, and they’re desperate. They owe lots of money, and they’re looking to replace it.”
Oh f*ck. My fingers comb through my hair in frustration. I need to find my money, so they’re creditors will take them down. “Let’s get going. Thank you.”
I drive back to the tower, my head and heart sick with the knowledge that we’re going to have to fight more drug dealers. They wanted to buy my company, and I turned them down, so instead they stole all my profits and my technology.
“An Escalade is following us,” Cyn says in a low voice.
“For how long?” I ask.
She swallows what looks like a rock in her throat. “Last couple miles.” She pulls out her gun, and courage looks damn sexy on her.
Unholstering my gun, I pull into the tower, but they don’t follow us into the garage. Timmons’ car is parked, so we have company. The Escalade veers off, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
We were damn lucky the first time Cyn and I faced off Manny, but I doubt we’ll be as lucky the second time.
Cyn leans over to touch my thigh, and I cave into this strong vibrant woman. Her taking on Manny was hot and scary as hell. “We need to go over these files and then talk to my lawyer to see if he can make a deal for my dad.”
“Let me deal with Timmons, and we’ll see if we can’t get through the files Juarez gave us pretty fast. My friend is working on hacking into the bank account. He should be done quickly.”
“Won’t that anger the Chinese?” she asks, her voice strained.
“Yeah, but if I can get the IRS off my back, then I can work my business from Alaska, and we can get away from this nonsense.” I draw my princess into my arms. I love her, and I can’t risk losing her again.
“Willa has a full scholarship here.”
I hadn’t thought about that, and Cyn wouldn’t want to leave her unprotected. “We’ll work on that later.” Once I pay off the IRS, I could afford to pay for Willa to go to school.
Timmons is waiting in my office, and unfortunately Sonia is entertaining him.
“Sonia, no one is allowed in my office unless I’m here,” I say, irritated.
She smiles like it’s no big deal and leaves. I’ll write her up, so I have cause to fire her. I won’t put up with any shit from my employees.
Timmons lights into me. “You ditched Niki, and now our case is blown, and I couldn’t even get a hold of you on Sunday all day or the night before. Where the hell were you?”
That’s because I was helping Cyn kill her uncle. I wonder if the DEA or Mexican government has found the bodies yet. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Cyn found a flash drive that contains not only a file incriminating her uncle but the Chinese who stole from me.”
“Where is this proof? You should’ve already given it to me.”
Fuck this *. I stand over him and leer. “Why didn’t you tell me it was the Chinese? You have to have known, and Niki doesn’t have anything to do with them.”
Timmons looks sheepishly. “She did steal from you. We’re sure of it.”
It was someone in my company. Someone smarter than her. “She didn’t.”
“When do I get to see the files?”
“You’ll have to work that out with Cyn’s lawyer. She’s trying to reduce her father’s sentence.”
Timmons snorts. “Good luck with that. We’ll subpoena the files.”
“She can destroy them at any time, and I’ll say they never existed. You need to protect us from now on. We’ve been shot at, and someone tried to run Cyn over. We’re being followed all the time now. You should be able to catch them.”
“We don’t know who these people are,” Timmons says.
“I don’t believe you.” The DEA has to have some inkling, and the feds are working with them. “I should have names from the drives in a few days, but you should start with the Chinese business men who have drug connections in Austin.”
Timmons has to be lying to me, and he’s going to get Cyn and me killed.
He leaves, looking disappointed, but the files are Cyn’s. It’s good that she’s on my side and in my bed. I can’t believe our lives are a tangled mess, even though criminals tend to know one another.
After I sit down at my desk, I get a text from my hacker. “Check your bank account in the Caymans.”
I use my phone’s network to connect to the Internet, instead of Red Sky’s, and log into my account.
Fuck me. $150 million has been added to my savings. Four hundred and eighty million was stolen from me.
I immediately contact the IRS. They said they’d settle for 100 million out of the 200 million I owed. I can pay them off, so I want to get this out of the way now.
I transfer the monies over to the IRS, and now I can focus on Cyn and getting the Chinese out of our hair. She and I need to celebrate as soon as we pick up Willa.
Checking my phone, I mutter, “Shit. We’re late to pick her up.”
Chapter Willa
Yesterday I killed my uncle and his son. My throat hurts from all the broken glass I’ve swallowed. So much guilt weighs me down I worry that I’ll turn myself in. I don’t want to go to prison for saving Cyn and me.