Page 14 of Sultry Nights

She yelled it as if Hanna didn't remember. It had been seared into her mind.

"And then, didn't he try to use your house as collateral on a football bet?"

"Yes."

"Yes. He sure as hell did. But did you leave him?"

Tears escaped her eyes and slid down her cheeks as her shame was tossed at her again. "No."

"No." Jalyn turned toward the windshield and crossed her arms over her chest as if she had been the one cheated and stolen from.

Jalyn sat quietly even though Hanna had pulled into her driveway. After a few moments, she turned her head toward Hanna. "I'm sorry."

Hanna swiped at the tears of shame that once again stained her cheeks. "I know you are."

"I love you, and I get so pissed when this fucker hurts you. We thought you were finished with him."

"I know." She pulled a tissue from the box in the center console and swiped under her eyes.

"What did he do to steal the money?"

He catfished her. Said he was going to marry her. Said he was starting a business. Said I was stealing her money from him and that's why he kept asking for more. So he could get away from me."

"Mother. Fucker. Mother-son-of-a-whore fucker."

Hanna swallowed and stared out the windshield at Jalyn's house. It was pretty. Tan siding with a darker brick front on it. The landscaping was lush and thriving. Jalyn and her mom spent hours outside working on it. A lump grew in her throat. There'd been a day when she had a cute little house like this, back in Colorado. She'd spent so much time making it the perfect home for Isaac and herself.

"So, now what?" Jalyn softly asked. Her hand reached over and gripped Hanna's. They sat quietly in her SUV. It was still running, so they had air conditioning.

"She says she's going to find a lawyer who will agree with her that I'm partially to blame, so she gets some of her money back from me."

Jalyn shrugged. "She won't. She's mad. Lashing out. But, frankly, she freely gave it without checking out who that jackass was. There isn't a lawyer out there who won't see that."

Hanna nodded and frowned. "Yeah."

“How did this woman get your number?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask because, honestly, I didn’t want to engage her further in conversation. I was stunned stupid and didn’t want to say the wrong thing.”

Jalyn nodded. "What about your money?"

"The bank is making me whole because they have an admission from the redhead."

"That's a start."

Hanna nodded. "Yeah, and they are doing a forensic audit to see if there's more. Their insurance will cover anything I lost."

"Okay." Jalyn inhaled a deep breath and blew it out in a whoosh. "That bastard makes me so fucking mad."

"I know. Me too."

"You need to tell your dad."

"I know. Thank goodness he's the bakery's money manager. I'm going to ask him to be a second on my bank account so he can watch to make sure Isaac isn't figuring out another way to get to my account."

"That's a great idea."

"And, I have a date tonight, but I think I'm going to cancel."

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