Page 71 of Taming Her Temptations

“Fine,” I say, snatching the towels from him. “Lucky for you, I’m extremely adept at this and can do it faster.”

“Yep, lucky me.” He says dryly.

I swipe the wretched cream off my legs and take a sigh of relief. I look at the water on the table, and I offer a smile as I look him in the eye and dip the other paper towel in. He makes a disgusted grimace but I still have about one minute left.

“Thank god,” I say, feeling much better. Besides the fact that I might be spending the night in jail tonight.

I throw the used paper towels on the stainless steel countertop and tie my robe tighter before offering up my wrists again.

“Okay,” I breath. “What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with a simple one,” he says, locking my wrists in. “Where is Steven Bran?”

I look up at him like he’s lost his mind. “He’s not already in jail?”

“Do you think I would ask you that question if he was?” He says as he sits back down across from me.

I shake my head. “I don’t understand. What is it you think I’ve done?”

The whole idea was that Steven was going to tell them that I was a part of one very specific transaction. But if they don’t have Steven, then he wouldn’t have gotten a chance to tell them it was me.

“We have evidence of you withdrawing significant funds in the last few months to perpetuate an ongoing Ponzi scheme. We have a recorded confession saying you called the bank and there have been dozens of documents and forgeries found in your items. And now your husband is missing.”

I just blink at Agent Park, taking in what he just said. And then I do the only thing my body is capable of. I laugh.

“You think I’m the criminal?” I say out loud to the room, still laughing. “Me?”

He breathes in deep as if trying to find his peaceful place far away from here. This makes me actually feel for the man. He’s probably had a pretty long day. A long day going on a goose hunt Steven laid out for him.

“This is a very serious matter, Ms. Rivers. You could be facing significant jail time.” He says dryly.

I steady myself. “Sorry,” I nod. “You’re right. This is very serious. And more than anyone, I know that. As I was one of the people in charge of filing the anonymous tip to you on Steven Bran.”

I begin listing the contents of all the documents. I even describe a ridiculous sheet of pink paper that Odette had used to print out the evidence of her bank transfers.

Finally, the female agent who arrested me comes in with a coffee and a scone and places it in front of me.

“Yeah,” she shrugs as she sits across from me. “The detail about the pink paper really just kept you from sitting your ass in jail for the night. But you’ve got a lot of information to spill, so eat the scone and strap in for a long night.”

I sigh. Where do I even begin?

After a long while spilling my guts, I realize that I actually kind of like Agent Park and the woman who’s name I’ve learned is Agent Spinello. At the very least, they’re very good at listening to stories and their facial expressions have matched every peak of drama with great interest.

“Well, you got lucky.” Agent Park stands up after listening to something on his ear piece. “Levi Wilde was just questioned after coming to the office looking for you and your story matches his completely. Except for the confession from you, we don’t have enough evidence to hold you anymore, but if we find Steven’s phone and that confession is undoctored, then we will be knocking at your door again.”

I raise my hands, appreciating that they’re free to move now. “No problem. As you’ve probably learned, I’m an open book.”

He signals to me to stand up and walk with him to the door, but I still feel like I need answers.

“Madison and Steven?” I ask. “No sign of them at all?”

“We shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’ll take some pity on you since this information will help you divorce this fucker. But both their passports were processed at the Mexican border about two days ago. They could be anywhere.”

My first thought is the baby and how selfish Steven is to drag Madison into this mess. Sure, she can make decisions on her own. But she’s young. I certainly didn’t make the best decision when I was young.

“Oh and another tip,” Agent Spinello says opening the door for me. “Levi Wilde is pretty pissed you tried to play martyr and help his sister without telling him. So if I were you, I’d start coming up with some good groveling because I’m sure you don’t want to lose that slab of muscle.”

I wince at her. I was afraid of that.

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