Page 51 of Vengeful Sins

“Maya needs a place to stay right now. She… she’s my girlfriend,” I announce, and she makes that choking soundagain. It would be nice if she could just play along. “So I offered to let her stay here with us for a while.”

Mom clears her throat, offering a smile which Maya returns. “Well, we’ll be glad to have you,” she assures her, though the look she slides my way tells me I have some explaining to do. I would expect nothing less, but at least she’s being supportive. I hear the soft sigh Maya releases and know some of her fears are dissipating.

“Things aren’t going well at home with your father?” Dad asks, because of course he is more blunt, to the point. Something I inherited from him.

Looking Maya’s way, I catch her lifting her chin and rolling her shoulders back before shaking her head. “No. They’re not. Things are very bad right now, sir.”

His jaw tightens, his eyes narrowing, but soon he nods firmly. “Then I’d rather you be here. I’ve never trusted your father.”

Now it’s my turn to be surprised, my eyes opening wide, but Dad shakes his head slightly before I can ask what that means.

“Thank you both. That’s so kind of you.” There’s emotion in Maya’s voice, which is now shaky and thick. “This is so generous.”

“Generous?” Mom laughs lightly, shaking her head as she goes to the coffee maker. “Sweetie, I walked into this kitchen to find my son cooking. If this is the effect you have on him, you are more than welcome here.”

“Okay, okay,” I grumble, but it’s nice to hear them laugh together. Almost too nice. I finish scrambling the eggs and serve them up while Maya plops toast on our plates. There is something comfortable about sitting down and chatting with Mom and Dad, making small talk, discussing logistics and what not.

Though every once in a while, I look Dad’s way and find he’s not smiling. Is he going to give me shit? When I meet his gaze, he shakes his head slightly—obviously, there’s something he wants to discuss in private.

When we’re finished eating, Maya goes back upstairs to take a shower before heading over to grab some clothes from Wren. Dad takes the opportunity to pull me into his study, where the mild expression he’s been wearing drops from his face. “Listen…” I begin, but he shakes his head before I can get another word out.

“Listen to what I have to tell you,” he warns, sitting on the corner of his desk. “There’s something you need to know about Maya’s father.”

“I already know he’s a real bastard,” I grunt, folding my arms.

“I won’t argue with you on that,” he replies with a scowl. “I need you to be extra careful. It is for the best Maya stays here—really, no matter how concerned I seem about everything else,” he assures me.

“Thank you for that.”

“But that son of a bitch has scammed half the town out of a lot of money.”

I wasn’t expecting that. My mouth drops open while he nods slowly. “What?”

“Paul Wilder is currently in the process of building a case against him with the district attorney.” He glances toward the door like he wants to make sure nobody’s listening before he continues. “He has made enemies of way too many people. From what I understand, he has essentially been running a Ponzi scheme, but everything’s falling apart. That sort of thing is only good for so long—eventually, investors want answers. Generally around the time when the incredible returns they were boasting about go dry,” he adds. “A scheme like that can’t last—there are only so many new people to pull in, so the person runningthe scheme can take the initial investment as the money they’re using to make it look like everything’s above board. Nothing lasts forever.”

“He’s not managing any legit investments, though?”

“Exactly,” he concludes, sounding grim. “There are still loose ends that need tying up, statements Paul needs to gather to prove beyond a doubt what’s been going on. As far as Paul knows, he’s unaware of how close the authorities are to putting a stop to all of it. But the closer they come,” he warns, “the more unpredictable he’s going to be. I don’t want you getting caught up in something that has nothing to do with you.”

None of this is exactly surprising. That’s the worst part. It goes right along with everything Maya has already told me about him, not to mention what I heard from him over the phone. “I am not going to let him hurt her more than he already has,” I vow, grinding my teeth, imagining how nice it would be to squash that bastard like the bug he is.

“Yes, I got that impression.” Dad looks almost sorrowful, shaking his head. “Don’t make any rash decisions. That’s all I ask. It’s commendable that you would want to help her, since I’m sure she needs help, considering who we’re talking about. But my first responsibility is to you. My son. As much as I would like to shelter her from whatever is coming, I need to think of you first.”

“I have everything under control.”

He only chuckles, giving his head a slight shake. “The certainty of youth. I remember being sure of myself when I was your age, too.”

“Oh, yeah? What changed?”

“The world changed me. Eventually, you figure out there’s only so much you can control.”

I’m already starting to learn that. It’s going to be a challenge, getting everybody at school to lay off her from now on. I putthe ball in motion, didn’t I? “She’s getting a lot of shit at school, too,” I confess, because I’m hoping maybe he can give me some insight into what to do.

He only shrugs. “No big surprise. Most of the kids there have parents who invested with her dad. Between you and me, more than a few of them won’t come back next semester, thanks to their tuition money being wasted on those so-called sure thing investments.”

“No way.” Now I’m more sure than ever that I can’t let her out of my sight. “The guy is lucky he’s still alive.”

“Be sure not to tell her about any of this, and not only because we want to shield her from it. We can’t risk him finding out how close he’s coming to the end of this scheme.”

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