Page 54 of Truth

He laughed.

“At least you’re honest.”

I walked back to the chair behind my desk and sat down again. Leaning forward to rest my elbows on the desk, I appraised Ross. Taking a chance, I filled him in on what was happening with Ian Pierce.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to go through the files yet, but I’m hoping to find something—anything—that will put Peirce behind bars.”

“What do you think the chances are of that happening?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but there has to be something. Brianna didn’t suffer through all that for ten months to have that bastard get away scot-free.”

After Ross left, I finally had a few minutes to myself and took the time to open the envelope Oscar had sent over for me to look through. The stack was almost two inches thick. Going through everything would take a while, unfortunately. Oscar still had people sifting through everything, but an extra set of eyes wouldn’t hurt, especially since we really didn’t know what we were looking for.

I ended up spending the last hour of my day looking through the stack of spreadsheets detailing Pierce’s bank account. There were large sums of money everywhere, both coming in and going out. By the time five o’clock rolled around, I was starting to see double.

After placing the seemingly endless amount of papers back into the manila envelope, I tucked them under some other paperwork on my desk and turned off my computer. I’d considered putting the papers in my safe or taking them home with me, but I wasn’t worried about someone seeing them. All the account numbers had been blacked out. Plus, other than the cleaning lady, no one but Jamie came into my office while I wasn’t there, and I wasn’t overly concerned with either of them. Both had worked for me since I’d taken over the foundation.

I paused outside the door of my condo and wondered how and where I’d find Brianna. She always seemed to keep me on my toes one way or another. Would she be in the kitchen cooking? The living room, reading? Or would I find her kneeling, waiting for me?

Opening the door, I was hit with the scent of spices coming from the kitchen. Glancing over in that direction, I was disappointed when I didn’t see her. She wasn’t in the living room either.

“Brianna?”

I heard a noise coming from my bedroom, and then a handful of seconds later, Brianna appeared in the doorway. She looked... unsettled, guilty. It made no sense.

Taking a step toward her, I saw her tense. What in the world was going on?

Ignoring her discomfort for the moment since she didn’t look hurt in any way, I removed my jacket as I walked across the room and threw it, along with my tie, over the back of the couch. By the time I stood in front of her, she was looking down, her shoulders hunched over, and she was wringing her hands. I had to admit, I was curious as to what had brought out such a reaction in her.

I pressed one finger under her chin and tilted it up so I could see her face. Her cheeks reddened under my scrutiny. I considered asking her to explain but thought of a better idea. Since she’d come from my bedroom, I was willing to bet that whatever was causing this was in there.

Releasing her chin, I reached for her hand and marched us both into my bedroom. She resisted for only a moment before reluctantly following. I had to stifle a laugh. I had no idea what she’d done, but I doubted it could be that bad. Brianna was such a good girl. She was always trying to please.

Once we were inside my bedroom, it didn’t take me long to realize what had her feeling so guilty. The bottom drawer of my nightstand was lying on the floor, all its contents spilled out haphazardly on the carpet. From where I stood, I could see the ropes I’d used on Brianna’s father along with several other toys I kept in there.

Glancing over at Brianna, she’d not moved much. She still looked as though she’d stolen a cookie from the cookie jar. I had to keep myself from laughing. She was too cute. Did she really think I’d be upset with her discovering my toys? Obviously she did.

“Do you mind telling me what happened here?” I asked, keeping the amusement out of my voice.

“I... I didn’t mean to, Sir. I was cleaning, and... my shoestring got caught on the knob. The drawer opened and... before I knew it, the whole drawer had fallen out... and everything, and...” She paused for a long time. I wasn’t sure she was going to finish her sentence at first. “I... was curious.”

I released her hand and walked over to kneel beside the drawer and its contents. One by one, I picked them up and replaced them in the drawer with the exception of three items. With the drawer back in place, I went to the bed to sit down, patting the mattress beside me. Again, I had to suppress a chuckle as she literally dragged her feet.

“Give me your hand,” I instructed once she’d sat down.

She held out her hand and closed her eyes. I wondered if she thought I would smack her hand or something. Instead, I ran the feather over her knuckles. She opened her eyes and glanced up at me. The look on her face was no longer that of apprehension, but of shock.

I saw her other hand twitch as I continued to move the feather back and forth lightly over her hand. “What does it feel like, Brianna?”

“It tickles, Sir.”

I smiled and removed the feather.

I picked up the bamboo skewer and followed a similar path along her knuckles and the back of her hand.

“And this?”

“Sharp. Like a knife.”

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