Page 122 of Severed Rivalry
Finally, she drops her huge tote on the island with a clunk androunds it to drop her head into my chest. “Hey, big brother. How are you?”
Her warmth and love are so welcome. We’ve always been tight, but the last month even more so. “I’m good, sis. I was just making coffee. I figure after all that—” I tilt my head toward her satchel. “It was required.”
“That plus liquor, plus dog sitting ad infinitum. Our father is an ass. A cheating, lying, thieving, self-centered ass.”
I look over her head to Sariah and share a knowing look. Here we go.
“But”—Ayla pulls back and grins—“he’s an ass who is stupid enough to leave a paper trail and he busted his own damn self. So at least there’s that.”
“Rosie,” I glance at the older woman. “We have family drama.”
“That’s an understatement,” Ayla adds.
“You’ll be looped in eventually and you’re welcome to stay.” I release my sister and return to the cabinets, pulling down four coffee mugs. “My sister is a bit of a coffee snob and a coffee addict, and we feed her habit.”
Ooh. I don’t know if that was okay.Grimacing, I turn back to Rosie but still my movements. “Is it okay if I say that stuff in front of you?”
“Why?” Ayla asks.
“I work at a rehab facility, counseling addicts,” she says to Ayla before focusing her attention on me. “That’s thoughtful of you, Cian, but I’m good. It’s common lingo and it doesn’t bother me.”
I fill coffee mugs, loving that I know each of these women’s orders. It’s a little thing, but one that makes me happy. I set Sariah’s in front of her with a kiss and lean a hip against the counter opposite the island and lift my mug. “How bad is it?”
“Overall,” Ayla starts. “Bad. For Seamus, it’s terrible. For you, best case scenario when there was drug money and bribes.”
I take a sip, mostly to buy time. “Whew. And here I was thinking you would mince words.”
My sister looks around, pausing on Rosie’s face, then Sariah’sbefore settling on me. I hope my nod tells her she may speak freely. There are no secrets. Not here at least.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Rosie begins. “I’m going to take in some of the sunshine and fresh air.” She takes her mug and sees herself out to the stone terrace that dominates the back yard.
“Is everything okay?” Ayla asks.
“Yeah,” Sariah offers. “She’s trying to give you some privacy.”
“My father is an ass. I’ll shout that from the rooftops. I have no need to protect him from anything.”
“Here it comes.” I smile and sip my coffee.
“I looked at M.E. as an entity, Dad’s—God, I hate calling him that—and your books. Basically. He was cheating you and cheating the business.”
Why am I not surprised?
She goes on, “Or he tried. If he hadn’t already incriminated himself to the other stuff, this would be enough. Though I’d still say you should keep all this in your back pocket.” She rounds the island, slides four folders and a laptop from her bag, and slaps them on the counter.
I flip open all the manilla folders and lay them out on the huge island in a manner where I can see all at the same time. My eyes scan, but lock on one section before raising my gaze to my sister.
“Seriously?”
She nods, just as Sariah asks, “What?”
I gesture in a swoop from Ayla to Sariah while I scan and rescan the paperwork.
“Seamus created an additional account three years and one month ago. It’s tied to Ci but was never used. In the last year, substantial deposits were made into it. Substantial. I’m thinking it was the drug money, since there were no business or personal expenditures or revenues that match.”
“He set me up to take the fall.” My head lifts first to Sariah then to Ayla. My shoulders slump in defeat.
“And if that wasn’t enough, the IRS would come knocking fortax evasion after a couple of years,” my sister adds. “If we hadn’t discovered it.”
