Page 21 of Secrets and Ruin

“He’d have staff,” I promised, not liking how much work that sounded like it would be.

“Hire out cleaning services for now. Oliver can just schedule them and make sure they show up. From there, have him take point on starting whatever nightlife spot you have in mind and give him the ability to hire the underlings he wants.” Landon grabbed a notepad and started writing all of that down. “You have the money for this, right?”

“Yeah, unless Hasan takes back what he gave me years ago,” I said, sighing. “He could… Maybe. I don’t actually know.”

“Wait, you live off Hasan’s money?” Ranger frowned deeply at me. “Seriously?”

“When I left after being Changed, he gave me a substantial portion of his wealth to establish my own way in the world without needing to worry about finances,” I explained. “It’s grown, thanks to people smart with investments, but not by much. I’ve only been a supernatural for….” I had to do the mental math. “About fifteen years. I’ve only had that money for eleven of those. I don’t think he’ll take back the money, though.”

“It would be a low blow,” Shamus said, nodding. “Still, is it in the same accounts you received it in?”

“Yeah.” It took me a second to realize what he was saying. “Oh…”

“You might want to move the money and assets into accounts he doesn’t know about,” Shamus continued. “For safekeeping, just in case. Clearly, you know him better than me, and I don’t want to imply he would, but….”

“You’re not offending me,” I promised. “It’s not a bad idea. I’ll need to hire a new accountant since I share one with him, and I wouldn’t doubt he gets reports on me.” I had never considered how much I had leaned on my family to get the basics of supernatural life. In one simple conversation, I was facing the fact I could lose everything if Hasan really wanted to make that happen. “Damn.”

“I know a company,” Heath said, but his expression was wary. “If you’re okay with sharing. I won’t have access to your finances or anything.”

“We’ll work it out,” I said, shaking my head, trying to not let this weigh on me. “We have other things to do today. We’ll worry about all of this tomorrow, so we can let Carey have fun at the Market without being distracted.”

“Oh, you two are taking Carey to the Market?” Ranger looked between us, his eyes wide. “Heath?”

“Jacky didn’t convince him. I brought it up, Jacky was on my side, and Carey was able to convince him without even trying. That’s why we’re waiting on everyone to get back. You two will be in charge for the rest of the day when we leave,” Landon said, looking over his shoulder at Shamus. “Ranger’s already proven we made the right call. If he was left with you, the pack, and those boys, he wouldn’t have survived it.”

“I don’t do children,” Ranger muttered.

“They take practice, and you were given two teenage boys with no experience. Shamus was too busy for them, though,” Heath said, clearly apologetic. “You did well. It’s the last day and a weekend. No harm done.”

“Harm was certainly done,” Ranger grumbled. “To my house.”

“Oh, no…”

“They played midnight paintball after Ranger went to bed,” Heath told me, an evil glint in his eyes.

“They had their paintball guns? I didn’t think they would take those to Ranger’s house.”

“They didn’t, yesterday,” Ranger growled.

Shamus was grinning behind him, and Landon wouldn’t look in his direction.

I had wondered where Heath wandered off to on Saturday, snickering about something he told me I didn’t need to worry about.

“What color paintballs?” I inquired innocently. “I like the orange ones… very visible?”

“Hot pink.”

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.

“All over the side of my house,” Ranger muttered as though he was going to kill someone.

“We should take the whole pack once Dirk is back,” Shamus said brightly, his smile not abating when Ranger pinned him with a dark glare. “It’ll be fun! Jacky, you’d come, right?”

“Absolutely,” I said, chuckling. “The chance to shoot some of you without it being permanent? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“I like the idea.” Heath crossed his arms, listening to Shamus break down how we would all get there, how to assign teams, and what games to play.

So, we planned a Saturday of paintball for two weeks from now, giving Dirk a week to recover from jet lag and relax after his time in Germany. It was something fun and innocent to do while we all constantly looked over our shoulders, wondering when someone else was going to come for us. Everyone in the room knew we had enemies, and we were constantly watchful. We couldn’t let them deprive us of a day to have fun.

---