Page 149 of Love Me Reckless

“My brother’s… uh, in a bit of a jam.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Enough of a jam you two cooked up a plan to steal Ms. St. Claire’s identity and drain her personal finances?”

“No! I’m telling you, this is wrong. I made no such plans. I have not touched Kirilee’s wallet or stolen anything from her.”

The answer hits me like a punch to the throat. Oh fuck.

Sheldon.

I watched him like a hawk, but he’s a pro. He could have slipped Kirilee’s wallet from her purse last night or even this morning. I was distracted by the idea that he might try to wrench that diamond ring right off her finger and he knew it—he messed with my head and set a trap—and I’d walked right into it.

Fucking Sheldon.

Has he really gone this far? The Sheldon I remember was sneaky, but identity theft is a new level of low. Whatever he’s mixed up in must be worse than he admitted to me last night. Much worse.

I’m also now convinced he’s not acting alone. He’s either working with someone, or he’s led his debt collectors here, knowing he’d score by stealing from me or my friends.

But because Kirilee’s accounts got frozen, he likely didn’t get what he was after.

Which means this isn’t over.

Chapter Thirty-Four

SAWYER

I needto get out of here. What if Sheldon is planning something that targets Kirilee directly? Even though I watched him get on that bus, I didn’t see it pull away. If Sheldon’s desperate, he’ll do anything. And if he’s realized Kirilee’s wealth, things could get scary very fast.

This is my fault. I should have never let Sheldon stay the night. I should have never gone to work today. But more than the awful events unfolding in real time, I should have never allowed Shel to hold our past over my head all these years. I’ve paid for his silence since, again and again. The last time he came to me, we agreed it was the end. I for sure thought it was the end.

But it’s clear that as long as I have value to him, this will never end.

How am I going to get us out of this mess?

“I’m going to turn this over to our cyber security specialist,” Stu says

“Am I under arrest?”

“No, you’re going to cooperate,” Stu says in a firmtone. “That means helping the cyber security team by turning over your account information and passwords so we can conduct a full investigation.”

“I have done nothing wrong.” My words come out gritty and harsh.

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” Stu stares me down.

I release a tight breath. The quickest way out of here is to do what Stu says. “Fine. Tell me where I need to go so we can get this over with.”

A knock on Stu’s door startles us both.

“Enter,” Stu says, frowning.

Leslie Jones from HR steps into the room, dressed in a long wool coat with a colorful scarf around her neck, like she’s headed home. Or was.

Her quiet eyes stay focused on Stu, her face tense. “I heard, um, Mr. Reed was in your office, and I, uh, was told to deliver this in person.”

The bad feeling from earlier cranks lower, harder, spreading the sense of doom deep into my core. “Deliver what?”

Leslie seems to pause at the door for another moment, her eyes troubled, then hurries to Stu’s desk. To my further confusion, she places an envelope on my end. It’s addressed to me.

“The results came back.” She squares her shoulders, like she’s steeling herself for something distasteful.

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