Page 126 of Arran's Obsession

Riordan’s concern shifted to outrage. “Arran Daniels? Are you insane?”

“I’m not going to get your blessing, then.”

“Don’t even joke. That man’s reputation?—”

“Is well earned,” Jamieson quipped from the sofa. “Don’t mess with his woman, whatever her relationship to you.”

My brother cut him a glare then came back to me, dropping his voice even further. “We’ll return to that later. I found a way to get the money we need to save the flat.”

My heart sank. There was only one route to that amount of cash, and it wasn’t working long hours on a building site. “Please, Rio, don’t do anything stupid.”

He poked his tongue into his cheek. “Like you haven’t?”

I’d done so many idiotic things and missteps I’d lost count. That wasn’t a debate for now.

I took a deep breath, centring my thoughts. “I’ll use the university fund. I know you’re going to argue, but it’s my choice.”

Riordan’s expression faded from concerned to bleak. “If only you’d answered my calls. The money is gone.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“I went back yesterday to check the mail. All the landlord would say over the phone was that the debt wasn’t theirs anymore, which made no sense, so I assumed something else had happened. I found the door open and the place turned over. The cubby in your bedroom was emptied. The prospectus gone, including the envelope with the bank card.”

The university prospectus had contained my savings account details. The only people in the world who knew about it were my little family. Three of us including me.

“That doesn’t mean the money’s gone.” But as I said the words, I found my phone from the pocket of my hot-pink dressand logged in to the bank account I rarely checked but had added to for years.

The balance was nil.

“What was your PIN?” Riordan asked.

I breathed the answer. “Mum’s birthday.”

“Dad took it. I can’t think of another answer.”

I sank in Arran’s leather seat, heartsick. Of all the things Dad could’ve done, the disappearing, the lack of contact, this was a low blow.

“Was much else taken?” I whispered.

“No. He did a sloppy job of staging it.”

We shared a look of horror, and of absolute defeat.

My brother exhaled hard. “This whole time, I feared the worst. I thought he’d crossed the wrong person or got himself into something he couldn’t undo. I pictured him dead.”

I pressed both hands to my lips. “I had, too. We’d be orphans.”

“Exactly. I was more worried about the effect on you than me, but now I think he’s up to something else, but I have absolutely no idea what.”

Heaving a sigh, I told him what I knew about Dad’s interactions with the Four Milers, including how yesterday one of the members had implied he was on a job.

I gazed at my brother. “Are you a member?”

That same outraged expression returned. “How can you even ask?”

“Because of Moniqua. Her family are deep in it.”

“Her cousin is. They don’t have any other family. She’s not a member, and anyway, I wouldn’t join a gang just because I’m fucking some woman.”

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