Page 149 of Lush

Laurene looked away, struggling to steady her breathing. The tears came now, unbidden, and she wiped them away hastily. “Well, I wish I knew that before I gave my inheritance away. But how much worse can it get?”

I stopped pacing and pulled the journal from my pocket, tossing it onto the bed.

“Conrad,” I said, voice flat. “He was stealing from the company. Millions, probably. And he was gonna pin it on me.”

Her breath caught. “What?”

“It’s all in there.” I nodded at the journal. “Numbers. Transactions. A whole fucking plan to make me the fall guy while he walked away clean. But where he was sending that money? I don’t know.”

Laurene reached for the journal with trembling fingers, flipping through the pages, her eyes darting over the handwriting. I saw the moment it hit her, the way her shoulders tensed and her expression tightened.

“He was going to frame you,” she murmured, looking up at me. “He—Reese, he was really gonna do it.”

I used to think that one day, despite everything, Conrad and I could fix what was broken between us. Yes, he stole my ideas, but we weren’t always like this—hateful, distant. As kids, we were brothers. Then I hit my teenage years, and suddenly Conrad became Dad’s perfect shadow.Yes, Dad. I agree, Dad.Harold’s own fucking robot.

Now he wasn’t fucking redeemable in my eyes.

“Yeah.” My voice was rough, edged with something I couldn’t push down. “He spent years treating me like I was afucking disgrace. And the whole time, he was the one stealing from the family. From me.”

Laurene stared at the journal like she wanted to burn it. “Reese, this wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah? Tell that to the part of me that would fucking kill him if he wasn’t dead already.”

Laurene leaned forward on the bed, catching my hand.

“Then scream,” she whispered. “But you’re not carrying this alone.”

I let out a slow breath, flexing my fingers against hers.

“I’m investigating everything now—where the money Conrad stole went, who else was involved. I’ve frozen all the company accounts. No one’s touching a damn cent until I know the full damage.”

“But we have to pay off the blackmailers.” Laurene swallowed.

I stiffened. “No, we don’t.”

“Yes, we do.” Her voice was softer, but unshakable. “They aren’t going away, Reese. Look at me!” She gestured to herself on the bed.

“I’m not handing over money to some faceless bastard when I don’t even know what the endgame is. Twenty million? Who’s to say it stops there?”

“There’s nothing else we can do. They could have killed me and Jennie and the baby.”

Every instinct in me rejected giving in to their demands, but I knew Laurene had a point.

“I have the ten million from Dante.”

I stopped cold. “FromDante? Since when are you friends with him?”

She straightened. “Recently. I made a deal with him.”

“A deal for tenmillion? For what?”

“For my help when the time is needed.”

I made a face. “What the hell does that mean? Now we’re friends with him? He’s still a suspect.”

“It means we have some money.”

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “So instead of being tied to your parents, you decided to owe Dante Castillo?”

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