Page 128 of Last Chance Love

“Whatever the hell you gave me the last time I was in here, a double if you’re feeling generous,” I said in the nicest tone I could manage.

“I might just be feelin’ mighty generous,” he said with a chuckle. “And maybe it might be enough to keep the peace around here for a bit longer.”

“I’m beginning to doubt that,” Reed said between clenched teeth, glaring at Mona.

She watched him as Mr. Isaiah went about pouring drinks, handing glasses to Reed and me first, waiting until we’d taken a drink before stepping away to pour more. Then he made Mona and himself one, handing hers over and returning to his seat. After she took a sip, she glanced back at him, a silent conversation occurring between them before she finally sighed.

“I had suspicions, yes.” she finally said.

“Goddammit,” Reed hissed.

“Language,” Mr. Isaiah chided gently.

“Sorry, sir.”

“You had strong suspicions,” I said, watching her. “I’d bet you were almost completely sure. But there’s a but?—”

“But Alice was decent at covering her tracks. Worse yet, Reed, through being the ever-helpful man he is, ended up making himself inadvertently the best target.”

“I…what?” Reed asked, looking at her in confusion.

“Well, the staff is in hot water for letting you take care of so much they were supposed to be responsible for, but yes, having access like you did made you look more suspicious than before. That and she purposefully chose Rufus’ login, using itonlywhen you were on shift. And it was known that you had access to patient information, including their injuries and issues.”

Reed grimaced. “I had the perfect collection of people to sell to if I wanted.”

“Precisely.”

“How long?”

“Has she been selling and stealing?”

“How fucking long has she been setting me up?”

“Ah,” she said with a sip. “From the beginning. Seventeen months, give or take. The operation started outside the ranch, but she got greedy, impulsive, or who knows, and moved in toward the ranch about six months ago, when I began to catch on.”

“Six months?” Reed asked, his eyes darting back and forth. He was putting something together, slapping a missing piece into place, and grunted, “That’s when you asked me to push Leon in the ‘right’ direction.”

“Of course you told him,” she sighed.

“Yeah, and so what?” Reed asked. “People do that when they’re close and trust one another. Maybe you?—”

“No, wait,” I said, gripping his arm and squeezing. “Let her speak because I suddenly have this feeling that trying to push me wasn’t her intent.”

Mona’s brow arched elegantly. “Well, on point as usual. It was your agreement that made you suspicious in my mind once I realized what was going on. If you were willing to be duplicitous with someone who cares about you, and you for him, what else might you be willing to do?”

“How ironic, he told me in the moments leading up to you showing up with your goon squad,” I said with a snort.

“That is almost fitting,” she said with a sigh, setting her glass aside. “Quite honestly, I tried to find a solution thatdidn’tpoint to you. All the pieces seemed to fit, but there was something wrong with how the picture looked in my head. I felt there were pieces I was missing, and I felt they pointed toward her.”

“So you were, what? Sitting around waiting for her to confess out of the goodness of her heart?” Reed asked.

“No,” she said, not bothered by his attitude and probably expecting it. “It was why I kept digging, under the guise of ensuring I had every piece of evidence to get you with and find other potential sellers and buyers. Simultaneously I was keeping Alice on smaller, less frequent shifts. I was busy applying pressure in every direction I could while delaying the very real possibility that I would have to call to have you collected.”

“Wait, youdidn’tcall?” Reed asked, his surprise breaking through his anger.

Mr. Isaiah chuckled. “Nope, had to talk all sorts of circles with some concerned donors. Not sure how they caught wind of it, but that’s how it can be around here.”

“Helps when you wine and dine them,” she said with a smirk, nodding back at Mr. Isaiah. “An excellent skill set of his.”

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