Page 59 of Allure
Colton watched from his car, his little Kat and Syra walking down the street. He’d seen the entire exchange that happened between Syra and what looked like frat boys and cursed. He may have not heard the taunts, but he had read the body language loud and clear, knew what it looked like for men to see a woman naked without their knowledge and run into her the next day. Joel hadn’t wasted any time in leaking the information he handed over to him, and it was only a matter of time before a news outlets got wind of it, especially with the current investigation surrounding Garrison Inc. They were being blamed for poor Christina’s murder, and there were whispers of shareholders pulling out of Garrison Inc, but it wasn’t the wave Colton thought it would be. Maybe this next breaking news would do the trick.
His phone buzzed, and he saw an incoming text from his little Kat along with the news alert that Lisa Mensa was missing. He ignored Kat’s message long enough to stare at the missing woman’s picture on his screen. It was the same woman he saw dining out with Joel the other night. He knew this was coming, but it still surprised him how much these women looked like Syra.
“You’re either being really sloppy or there’s a hidden genius in that skull of yours,” he whispered.
The more he stared at the picture, the more he felt like he wasn’t the one who had engineered this little plot to take out Marco and Garrison Inc. It really made Colton think about the end game, especially when he did a little more digging on Joel. There hadn’t been any red flags at first, but Colton had to wonder if Joel was just that good at hiding things.
He made a call to his lawyer friend who had been Syra’s lawyer through the divorce and hadn’t heard back from them yet. He wanted to make an in-person visit, his gut whispering that something was wrong, but he didn’t want to leave Lockwood to do it. There was still too much to do here. A lowly lawyer wasn’t too high on his priority list.
He sent Kat a text, still surprised that she had waited for him that morning after Orchard Tree. He had to dodge Asli who had been waiting nearby, but they made quick work of exchanging numbers. He hadn’t found a need for her just yet, but the more he sat here wondering if this was going to end the way he had thought, the more he realized he needed a contingency plan. If things around him were going to go up in flames, he needed to make sure he was the one left standing.
Marco rubbed his tired eyes. The screen in front of him started to blur—the numbers all smushing together and turning into one big blob. He’d been at this for what felt like hours and still couldn’t find the hole his money was being siphoned through. He looked at this from every angle, and it all matched up to what he thought it should be, but he knew he was missing something.
He pushed away from his desk and grabbed his coffee. He hoped the caffeine hit would jolt his mind into seeing what he was missing so he could finally pull out whoever was actively working against him. Between the ongoing investigation into Christina’s murder and more of his properties either being burned down or getting broken into and destroyed, he knew someone was out there trying to bury him.
The question was, who?
Marco wasn’t the kindest person in the industry, and even if he was, he knew jealousy and envy went a long way in fueling someone’s hate. The list of those who would be out to get him had been miles long, and unfortunately Joel and Colton weren’t at the top of it, yet. He hadn’t begun to rule anyone out.
He took a sip of his coffee and winced, tasting the cinnamon and sugar in what should have been black coffee. “Fucking, Asli.” He chuckled, despite his annoyance. The asshole that he was kept sneaking in flavored creamers and sugars in his coffee once he found out that he and Syra had the same taste in caffeine beverages thinking Marco needed to be on board with them too.
The door to his office opened and he shook his head. Asli stood in the doorway with his own cup of coffee and humor sparking behind his eyes. He walked in, closing the door behind him. “Enjoying your coffee?”
Marco flipped him off, placing the offensive beverage back on his desk. “You’re a prick,” he grumbled. He wanted to throttle Asli, but he was also thankful for the distraction. He needed a break—a small one to give his mind and eyes a rest. Maybe once he was finished with Asli, he’d be able to finally see what he was missing.
“Only sociopaths drink black coffee.” Asli smirked as he plopped down into the empty seat in front of Marco’s desk. “And don’t ask Evelyn to get you coffee. I marched her into my office to take a nap. She’s been running herself ragged trying to help us.”
Marco scrubbed a hand down his face, feeling his own exhaustion nipping at his heels. “I keep telling her we got it, but she feels like it was her fuck up for not seeing the money issues until now.” He could relate.
He lived and breathed Garrison Inc to the point he was sure it wasn’t healthy, but after his first company tanked, he didn’t want to take any chances. He checked over everything—every sale, every time they placed an order for something, he’d gone through it with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there was no underhanded shit going on. Which made this situation worse because he didn’t understand how he missed it.
“Speaking of, I know you’re running through your own method, but I have a program set up to catch discrepancies.” Asli leaned closer. “The program caught several over the course of three years. It looks like the money is being taken out when supplies are ordered. A few price increases here and there but nothing that would cause concern, especially when the invoices and website we’re using was being doctored to match. Whoever is behind this is intelligent. I had to pull in a few favors, but I have the name of a company that the money was being dumped into.” Asli patted his pants pocket before he pulled out a piece of paper and slid it across the desk.
Marco grabbed the paper, holding it between his fingers. He felt the weight he’d been carrying shift again. He was starting to pay attention to how vital Asli was in his life. Their friendship had helped him stay afloat when he’d otherwise be buried alive.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Asli shook his head. “Stop,” he waved a hand in the space between them. “You’re getting sentimental in your old age. I don’t need to hear it, and I’m not sure why after all this time you need to voice it. I told you when we were eight, I gotchu, always.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Besides, what’s on that piece of paper could lead to more questions and not answers.”
“True.” Marco toyed with the piece of paper for a moment, wondering where his need to voice his gratitude toward Asli was coming from. No matter how rocky things got around them, they had been each other’s anchors since as far back as he could remember. Maybe with everything going on, he was being hit with this need to keep his best friend and estrellita as close to him as possible. He spent five years away from Syra and needed to make up for lost time—even if she had been the one to put those five years away from each other in motion. He had a desire to make sure she knew what he meant to her, and that was somehow bleeding over into his relationship with Asli.
“When you say favors…,” Marco went to reach for his coffee and cursed when he remembered it tasted like shit. “I’m gonna kick your ass one of these days if you keep touching my coffee. But who’d you pull these favors from?”
“Jamie, and before you say anything, she’s one of the most intelligent people I know when it comes to numbers and dealing with the public and people in general. I trust her in matters of business. It was one of the reasons I pushed to have her as a shareholder for Garrison Inc.” He shrugged. “She helped me figure out the program I have running, got the information that’s on that piece of paper, and even started a little rumor about our shareholders pulling out, so whoever is behind this might get sloppy enough in their perceived victory to make a mistake.”
“And what does she want in return?” Because no one gave anything away for free, especially when they were good at something.
Marco had no doubts about Jamie’s intelligence. She had amassed her own wealth before she married her husband and had helped set up one of the first properties for Garrison Inc. She was an ally Marco liked to keep close, but Jamie had a long-standing crush on Asli. She wasn’t shy about her want for him, and now that Asli was with Syra too, Marco was worried Asli had used Jamie’s crush against her to get her to help them.
“I would be hurt if I didn’t know it was coming from a good place. I’ve only fucked wives when their significant others okayed it, and Lucas is not.” Asli stated matter-of-factly. “I also wouldn’t hurt our little star like that. She told me we are on a no-sharing basis right now, and I respect it.”
“Good,” Marco opened the paper, “I’d have punched you in the face otherwise.” He looked down at the name written on the piece of paper: Horizon Inc. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he heard it or what it actually was.
“Speaking of, where is our little star? I feel like the only time we’ve seen her lately is when she’s in our bed.”
Marco’s blood heated at the reminder of how their morning started. Syra was spending all her time at his penthouse and Asli’s. Going to sleep inside of her and waking up next to her had made him and Asli eager to rush home every night and hate leaving in the morning. They had come together in an easy flow that made him feel good. Everything about what they were doing and sharing felt better this time. Even this shit show with his company couldn’t interfere with how much he enjoyed having his estrellita by his side.
“She’s with Katrina and Delilah. They’re meeting up to go over stuff for Sirens, speaking of, you need to get with Kat so she can order materials for whatever furniture you plan on building for them. I know she said she already ordered stuff, but she wants to see your blueprints.”
Asli looked at him with a wide smile and Marco fought to roll his eyes. “Shut up, D doesn’t want to punch me in the face anymore, and Syra practically begged me to use their first names now.”
