Page 60 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

“Because you’re right. This is what he came back for. Maybe he’ll leave once he has it.”

Something about her tone, her sudden change of heart about letting Emmett into her place, and the way she kept talking about the mysteriousit, clicked in Linc’s mind. “Do you know what he’s looking for?”

“Nope.”

That answer had come too fast. She knew something. And if he knew her at all, she was going to try to use what she knew to do what she’d promised. To get rid of Emmett.

Pride and something else swelled in his chest as he cradled the cell phone close to his ear. “All right. I’ll bring him over right after I’m done with afternoon chores.”

She let out a snort. “Which he’s not going to help you with, I’m sure.”

“You would be correct.” He smiled at her accurate guess. Eva was smart on so many fronts. It didn’t matter if it was knowing people or knowing computers.

“I’ll make sure I’ve left for the mansion by then. Poppy’s attempting to cook family dinner. Donotbring Emmett with you.”

That might be tricky. “I’ll try my best.”

“Try hard,” she said before surprising him by disconnecting the call without even a goodbye. Although nothing Eva did should surprise him. It was one of the things he loved best about her.

ChapterThirty-One

Eva arrived at the mansion riding an adrenaline high. Emmett was going to search her apartment. He was going to find his thumb drive right where he’d left it a year ago.

What he wouldn’t realize was that she had found the drive and had been in his crypto account. She had his log in info and could take everything he had in there if she wanted to.

More than that, she now knew the extent of what he’d done. And thanks to the tracer she’d installed, she’d know everything he did in the future and where he was doing it from.

So would any authorities she chose to share that information with. Anonymously, of course, because this wasn’t about her. This was all Emmett.

He’d accumulated a hefty sum in that account as the price of crypto increased on his initial investment.

Court records had told Eva where Emmett had gotten most of the money to buy the crypto in the first place. The facts showed that what he’d stolen from her, Poppy and Olivia had been small potatoes compared to the funds he’d embezzled from an elderly Kentucky woman with the help of her granddaughter, who he’d also met online and then had moved onto having an in-person relationship with after he’d left Tennessee.

But even after the crime had been revealed, because he’d hid the money in a crypto account and not in a bank, the poor woman—God rest her soul—and her relatives never got any of her money back. It was after her death that her eldest son, the executor of the estate, had discovered her life’s savings missing.

It seemed there were rotten apples in every family tree and apparently they found each other.

They also turned on each other. The granddaughter had named Emmett as her partner in crime, probably in an effort to get a reduced charge for herself. But she was the family member who had stolen and misused the bank log-in, so she got nailed the hardest. And since the authorities couldn’t find any of the funds, Emmett claimed that she’d spent all the money.

She couldn’t prove otherwise so he only got charged as an accessory, proving there was no honor among thieves.

Emmet had left Eva so much rope to hang him with, she wasn’t sure where she wanted to start. His parole officer because he’d left the state, no doubt illegally, immediately after being released from prison. The son who should have inherited the stolen money. The DA who could probably come up with a few more charges to throw at him based on that crypto account. It was like a buffet of revenge and Eva was paralyzed by the plethora of options.

Entering the Wilder front hall, she drew in a big breath to calm her racing pulse.

The scent of the fresh cut tree reached her nose. Merry Christmas to her. She couldn’t think of a better gift than legally screwing Emmett Wilder.

As she closed the front door and started to take off her coat, the warm air surrounded her, chasing away the chill of outside. She sniffed again and smelled fire. The good kind from the fireplace hearth and not from Poppy burning dinner—which hopefully wouldn’t happen since she was hungry. Revenge gave her an appetite.

The scent of cinnamon wafted to greet her, coming from the direction of the kitchen. Yum.

This really was a lovely home. And she did enjoy coming out of her hermit apartment for the family dinners they’d begun having here since Olivia’s confinement.

She could only hope the snake left and stayed gone, with or without her assistance. He didn’t deserve this family.

Maybe she didn’t deserve them either, but she’d be damned if he got any of their stuff. This beautiful old museum of a mansion included.

But that wouldn’t happen. What she’d found insured it—she hoped.

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