Page 103 of Building What's Meant to Be

“You can’t prove a thing,” the other brother says.

“I can and I will and the two of you will go back where you belong.”

The second brother completes his rotation and looks at the sidearm then at me. “Aiden Fuller. Well, this is an interesting surprise, considering you tried to ruin us.”

“Tried, failed, won’t happen again.”

“Did we become your pet project?”

“No, I try to avoid scum like you, but as fate would have it, you stepped onto my turf. For the record, a bad deed will not go unpunished,” I grind out.

“Fuller, you can be sure you’ll be seeing us again.”

“Yep. Behind bars.”

“On what grounds?”

“I’ll come up with something and I’ll be sure to visit. Then again, you shouldn’t get lonely since you have each other. Misery loves company and all that.”

Sirens wail nearby and in less than sixty seconds, Henley is by my side and on alert. I half expect the Kravens to attemptto run or put up a fight, but we have them surrounded. They underestimated our little town.

We make the arrests and the Kraven brothers occupy the same jail cells Tinsley and I did until I arrange transport to another facility.

After doing the necessary paperwork, I want nothing more than to find Tinsley and make sure she’s okay, but the guys intercept me with a box of doughnuts and don’t let me go until we head up to my office for a debrief. Aggie joins us.

“Okay, secret agent. Explain what all just went down,” Taylor says as if in awe.

I arrange the pieces in my mind, most of which only came into focus today, like a Sherlock Holmes grand reveal. “Sheldon Gatlin Hebert was a scrappy, scrawny, skinny kid from a small town in Louisiana. He fell in love with the daughter of an oilman. Joyce Estelle Blanchard grew up wealthy and her daddy would accept nothing less for her future.”

“I take it Sheldon Gatlin Hebert is also known as Gatlin Stoll,” Bo says.

“You got it. So the young, enterprising man skimmed some money from the coffers of the local swim club where he worked as a custodian. He placed a bet on a horse at the Louisiana Downs and won. He must’ve enjoyed the thrill because he kept betting until he amassed a nice little nest egg to present to Daddy Blanchard in exchange for the blessing of their union.”

“Sneaky,” Buck says.

“What’s sneaky is the two of you having a boys club meeting up here without us,” Mae says, appearing in the doorway.

“You have your own headquarters,” I reply.

The ladybosses and Bess all file in and take seats.

“Where’s Tinsley?” I ask.

“She’s with Rhondy.”

My shoulders settle. She should be here with me, but I understand why she’s mad at the moment. I owe her an apology and an explanation, but I have to get through this inquisition first. I owe this group the facts. Tinsley will want those and more...and I’m ready to give her anything she wants—all of me—if she’ll take me back.

“Can you start from the top?” Bess asks.

I repeat what I told the guys then add, using the familiar names for ease of understanding, “Shortly after Gatlin and Estelle were married, they moved to Nevada. Supposedly Stoll had a job there, but he got in over his head gambling. Years passed in a feast-or-famine fashion. Then the Kraven Casino opened.”

“And that’s owned by the two guys you just arrested?” Christina asks.

I nod and Cassian eyes me like he knows there’s more to that story.

“Suffice it to say, the Kravens and I go back. I went to work for their company and quickly moved through the ranks then they made me an offer I had to refuse. Turned them in to the authorities. Became an agent because I detected something their best men did not. I have a way with numbers.”

“And all that time, we thought you had a way with women,” Bess says.

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