Page 59 of Reluctant Surrender

“I’ll get to that. First, I need you to listen about Camille. She’s really scared.”

“She probably should be.” All she had to do was tell me what the fuck was going on, and I could have handled it.

“She made the first few payments and allocated it as a business expense. I never would have found those payments unless I had done a thorough audit of every expense. But then the payment amount went up, and she couldn’t fudge it enough through the allocation she was using, so she had to start fudging other numbers.”

“Get to the point, angel.” I followed along, but if she was going to start throwing figures into the mix, I wasn’t going to hold out much longer. Numbers weren’t my strong point, but I knew a thief when I saw one.

“The money is missing from the accounts, but she wasn’t keeping it for herself. She was using it to pay the protecting money, that she agrees she should have just told you about to begin with, but she was trying to figure out a way to save the club from them, so you would keep her on as manager.”

I blinked.

“She did all that because she wanted to keep her job?”

“There’s more.” She wrung her hands together. “And you’re really not going to like this next part.”

“I’ll be honest, angel, I’m not thrilled so far.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Continue.”

“Her brother got caught up in some gambling debts with the same people she’d been trying to protect the club from. So, they were both—”

“Stop.” I shook my head. It wasn’t possible. “Are you about to tell me that Sammy Bertonelli took Camille’s brother on to pay off his debts and Camille has been paying protecting money to the Bertonelli family this whole time? Is that the insane story you’re about to tell me?”

Maggie frowned. “Well, not now. But yes. Sammy Bertonelli upped the protection money, and then after my mess, he upped it again. Jared was sure Camille would get in trouble for paying the money without telling you, so he was trying to make the cash to get her out of it all. After he replaced the money she took for the payments, she was going to tell you everything.”

I grabbed my phone and tapped out orders for Andrezj.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, coming at me to see the phone.

“I’m dealing with it.”

“No. Wait. You can’t just react.”

I looked up from my screen. She was worried, not for herself, not for me, but for a woman she’d only met this afternoon.

“I’m having a security detail put on Camille until I can talk with her tomorrow. Jared, too,” I explained as I sent another message through. I wanted a meeting set up with Bertonelli as soon as possible, but Maggie didn’t need to know that.

“She’s afraid you’re going to have her killed,” Maggie said softly.

“Do you think I would?”

“I think in your world, a theft is a theft.” She lifted a shoulder. “Sammy wanted me dead over the poker game.”

I finished sending out my orders then tossed my phone onto the dresser. “I will deal with Sammy, and I want your promise that you’ll stay far away from this.”

“But it was my fault he upped the payment on the club.”

“No. It was my fault for not taking a closer look at the books. Sammy took advantage of my negligence. That’s not on you.” I brushed her hair from her face. “Don’t worry about Camille or her brother or Sammy.”

“What are you going to do about Camille?” she asked as I ran my lips over her cheek.

“I’m going to let her explain everything and then I’m going to calmly explain that she should have just come to me to begin with.” I worked the buttons open on her blouse. “And then I’m going to fire her.”

“But you can’t.”

I laughed. “It’s too dangerous to have her stay. For her and her brother,” I explained while shoving her blouse over her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.

“Are you trying to distract me with your kisses?”

“No. I’m trying to get you naked, so I can bend you over my knee for your punishment.”

---