Page 46 of Ordinary Girl

“And that’s not all.” Skip gets up and goes over to the window that looks out across the compound. “Money’s gone missing.” He turns around and faces me, arms crossed over his chest. “Some fucker’s hacked our account. 150,000 krone gone, just like that.”

“Seriously?”

He nods, sliding his hands into his pockets, his shoulders visibly tensing.

“Why take just 150,000? That’s, what? Around twenty-one/twenty-two thousand US dollars, give or take?”

“It’s still a lot of fucking money, Joel.”

“But why not take the lot? Why leave the bulk of it there?”

“It’s a warning.”

“Do you think it’s the Hawks?”

Skip shrugs and turns back to look out of the window. “I’m finding it hard to believe any of those fuckers are anywhere near clever enough to do something like that.” He faces me again. “Who else wants to fuck us over, Joel? Who else is up for starting something, huh?”

“What’s Rik doing about it?”

“He’s on the case.”

“So, what are we gonna do?”

“Nothing. Yet.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing. Let’s wait and see what Rik comes up with. In the meantime, I’m not ruling the Hawks out, although, I still don’t think this is their style. But we need to keep eyes on those assholes. We’ve unfinished business with them that still needs to play out, so I want all bases covered. If someone’s ready to fuck with us, we need to step up. Be more on our guard.”

“I’ll talk to Kasper.”

Skip moves away from the window and leans back against his desk. “Have you seen much of Ana lately?” He’s on edge, his body language, his tone of voice, all signs he’s preoccupied with something more than just the usual shit. And that’s not good news.

“Not for a few days. She’s not left the house, according to Freja.”

There’s a knock at the door, and Cady pokes her head around it. “Hey, guys, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“What’s up?” Skip looks at Cady, almost as if he was expecting her.

“I went to see Ana this morning.”

“And?” Skip arches an eyebrow.

“She’s coming tonight. To the party.”

“Great. Joel, can you pick her up?”

“Yeah. Okay.” I haven’t seen her since we shared that kiss, a moment I’m struggling to push aside: not think about. “Is she alright?” I ask, because I actually give a damn, now.

“Yeah. I think so. Think I might have managed to get through to her a bit more, actually. She’s coming round.”

“About fucking time,” Skip sighs, going back behind his desk. “Right, get out of here, both of you. I’ve got a shit load of crap to deal with.”

We leave him to it, and head back out into the clubhouse.

“She seemed a little distracted, though,” Cady says. “Ana, I mean.” And for some reason she’s eyeing me like I’m supposed to know what the fuck she’s talking about.

“So?”

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