Page 51 of Easton’s Claim

“Whoa, holy shit,” Charlie breathed. Now everyone was gathered around the laptop, including Austen and Mr. C.

Piper’s eyes widened as she looked at the screen. “Are those…dollar amounts?”

“US dollars, yeah.”

Piper scanned them quickly, a mix of shock and revulsion making her stomach churn. She counted hundreds of thousands of dollars as she added the numbers up. It was four times what Greg had racked up in debt while they’d been married. He’d had the means to pay it all off at any time, and yet he’d instead hidden it all away in the offshore account she’d been unaware of, and unable to touch.

“Is it from his parents, maybe?” Charlie asked her. “Maybe he socked away various amounts they gave him over time?”

Piper shook her head. “They cut him off financially years ago. This…he had to have gotten it illegally.” She swallowed and looked at Easton for help.

He was watching the screen. “My gut says it’s from Gallant, or at least from his network. Greg got in over his head and got desperate. He knew they’d come after him so he’d been socking this away and hid the package in the chest of drawers for collateral.”

It was unreal. “How did he get the money?”

Easton exchanged a loaded glance with Jamie before answering. “He must have skimmed money and product from Gallant or someone further up the chain. Maybe he’d embezzled money, too. It’s hard to say.”

Her head was spinning. The depth of Greg’s betrayal rocked her to the core. “We need to call the police.” She didn’t want him to die. She wanted to find out the truth, and for him to be held accountable for what he’d done.

“I’ll do it.” Easton pulled out his phone and walked into the kitchen to make the call.

While everyone else spoke in hushed tones of shock and disbelief, Piper stared at the drugs, money and passport sitting on the table. She wanted to move it somewhere else, because the sight of it tainted this room, and the beautiful family gathered around the old table where they’d shared so many meals together.

Easton’s low, deep voice carried to her from the kitchen. She turned away from the others and the damning evidence on the table and headed toward him. Right now she was numb, lost. She needed him to be her anchor through the coming storm.

He saw her come in, reached out an arm for her and wrapped it around her, holding her to his broad chest. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead on his pectoral muscle, breathing in his clean, masculine scent. Maybe the police would be able to track down Gallant and negotiate for Greg’s release now.

You’re not that naïve anymore, Piper. You know he’s going to die.

She curled her fingers into the soft cotton of Easton’s shirt and let out a hard sigh. She didn’t want to think of what would happen to Greg now, or how Bea and John would react to this latest news. She just wanted this nightmare to end so she could finally move forward with her life, once and for all.

“Sounds good. See you soon.” Easton ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket before sliding both arms around her back and hugging her tight. “The detectives and investigative team will be over within the hour.”

She nodded without moving her forehead from his chest. “So what now?”

“We should go take another look at the rest of what you’ve got in the shed. There might be more.”

Deflated but resigned to face what was coming, she straightened. “Okay.”

The air felt cold on her skin as she stepped out into the darkness to follow Easton back to the shed, Sarge waddling beside them. She shivered, then Sarge stopped and stared intently at something in the darkness that she couldn’t see. The fur on his back stood up and he let out a deep snarl that made the back of her neck prickle.

Easton’s body was rigid beside her. He stared in the direction Sarge was looking and reached out one arm to grab her and push her behind him.

The moment he did a gunshot rang out, shattering the stillness.

Chapter Seventeen

Piper didn’t even have time to flinch before Easton spun around and tackled her to the ground.

Fear sucked the air from her lungs, made her entire body rigid as she lay pressed into the ground beneath Easton’s weight. Sharp bits of gravel dug into her but she didn’t dare move, didn’t make a sound.

“Get to the barn,” he commanded gruffly, rolling off her and yanking her to her feet. She stumbled, took a jerky step forward. “Run.” He shoved her in the direction he wanted her to go, sent her lurching a few steps toward the barn.

She sent him an uncertain glance as he drew his gun from the holster at his hip but then did as he said, her heart in her throat as her feet flew over the ground. That shot had come out of nowhere. She hadn’t seen the shooter, didn’t know how many there were or what was happening.

The breath sawed in and out of her lungs as she raced for the barn, her skin crawling, waiting for a bullet to tear through her flesh. Easton’s running footsteps crunched over the gravel behind her.

The back door of the house burst open and Wyatt’s deep voice called out. “You guys okay?”

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