Page 110 of Last Chance Love

I stared at her, blown away by the audacity, until I finally found my voice, raising it. “Lucky? This is what you call lucky? Are you fucking kidding me?”

She opened her mouth and then scowled when the office door opened. I spun around to see Max marching into the office, his brow tightly stitched. I wondered if I had ever seen him look so pissed off.

“Heard you yelling, so I figured I could come in,” Max grunted, stopping a couple of feet from the door.

“Yeah, because I’m not talking to her or anything.”

“Funny how it didn’t sound like talking.”

“Talking very loudly then.”

“Also funny how many times I’ve wanted to talk to her very loudly. Perhaps there should be a club.”

“I want to be amazed that you found a sense of humor in the last year, but this is not the time,” I snapped.

He shrugged, staring past me, and his face turned back to the same scowl it had been when he’d left. “The orders for the new saddles and leather strips are in.”

“From Mr.—”

“I’m not stupid, Mona. I know who you wanted them from. And I know why you ordered me to do it,” he said, his lip curling upward. “Next time you want to use my family name to bully people into giving us a discount, I expect a bonus on my paycheck.”

“You still have access to accounts your father couldn’t touch. Why would you need the extra money?”

“It’s about the principle, not the money.”

She looked at me. “Leon, I’m sorry, this will have to wait until I’m done with business that?—”

Max let out a harsh bark of laughter. “Like fucking hell are you using me to get out of being turned over the fire when you damn well deserve it.”

I watched a spasm ripple softly over Mona’s face as she watched Max. “Please, Max, tell me how you really feel.”

“I told you the other day when you decided to rope me into this entire mess how I felt about being dragged in as a personal thug. And I meant it. Get cops here next time, or I’m quitting. I don’t care if it’s me or someone else you drag into this kind of mess,” he said, turning and walking out of the room without another word.

“Enjoy yourself?” Mona asked in an icy tone after the door closed harshly behind Max.

“I have to admit, seeing someone else give you shit was pretty fun,” I said, turning toward her and raising a brow. “I guess you’re pissing everyone off lately.”

“So it seems,” she said with a weary sigh. “Dane has been avoiding me every chance he can find. Both Reno and Elliot have tried to talk to me. You might even be proud to know that Reno kept quite calm.”

“More like unsurprised. Elliot has always had a temper,” I said. “Which you’d know if you dealt with him more than once in a while.”

“I get it, you’re pissed off at me. Max is pissed off at me. Elliot and Reno are pissed off at me. And Garrett is…well,” she shrugged. “But as sorry as I am, I’m not going to let everyone’s problem with me get in the way of doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

“Look, I get that you probably have evidence that points to…whatever it was you think he did,” I said because whatever it was, Reed didnotdo it. I didn’t need to see the evidence to know that but damned if I didn’t hate being kept out of the loop anyway. “And I get that you have to do what you have to do in the face of that. But isn’t there supposed to be some process? Some way for him to, I don’t know, refute the charges?”

“This isn’t a credit card bill someone stole,” she said with a frown. “These are serious charges.”

“Charges you won’t even tell anyone, and I doubt you even showed him the evidence he’s facing.”

“This isn’t a court of law. This is the court of this ranch. The legal system will deal with him after he leaves this ranch.”

“So that’s it? He’s just gone?”

Mona gave a weary sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Would it make you feel even remotely better if I told you what is happening?”

Personally, I would only feel better once Reed was free and clear. It wasn’t like Mona couldn’t send me away without telling me anything. Hell, she could threaten to have me demoted or locked up as well, just like she’d done the other day when I refused to leave her office. Of course, I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity, so I crossed my arms. “Alright, tell me.”

“I’m going to keep this short because, yes, I really do have more to do today than deal with your boyfriend,” she said, leaning forward and clasping her hands in front of her. “He’s been found to have been stealing. Specifically drugs from the clinic and their shipments. He’s been selling them to people within the program and outside. We’re still figuring out how it was done and who he was selling to, but I can promise you, we will figure out most of them.”

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