Page 26 of Painfully Merry

“I don’t think you’ll be upset, Chaos. I honestly didn’t think you would care about my company,” I tell him truthfully.

He pulls away, bowing his head. I take that moment and pull my pants up, but he grabs my wrist. “Sabstar, if you or Parker are trying to get revenge, then I’m interested. Don’t ever think otherwise. Now, fill me in because I don’t like being kept in the dark.” He glares at Parker.

“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to, but I know how you are, and we don’t want him dead.”

“You think I’m going to give you the embezzler’s name after all this? Kiss my ass, you assholes.” I kick and twist the Christmas lights off my legs and work them off my arms. They both can forget about meworkingwith them. That was never the plan after this stunt that Chaos pulled.

“Oh, and Sabrina. I already know the name. It’s Kevin.”

I snap my head up from my hands. “What?” I can feel my heart beating faster with apprehension. Parker walks to his duffle bag, unzipping it. He digs under his clothes and pulls out my black notebook.

“I have this. Your handy work scribbled all over.” He tosses it onto the bed.

Chaos grabs the notebook, flipping through it. “This is the book I stole. Is this why you wanted it back this entire time?”

“One of them,” Parker tells him.

“The other reason?”

Parker glances back at me. “I need it for her.”

“Me? Why?”

“You honestly think your Grandpa left you the company for a reason? Out of anyone, he chose you? Don’t be so naïve. Why do you think your uncle no longer works for the company?”

I throw the lights to the ground and stumble off the bed. “He quit because Grandpa was sick. He needed to help take care of him. What are you implying?”

“If that’s what you believe. Your family has some dark secrets you might want to explore.”

Chaos flips through my notebook, his brows knitting together. “How did you figure this out? All from her book?”

“No, Chaos. He figured it out when he was working for me. When I was too blind to see what was going on behind my back, he was digging, but why take this long to tell me? Why not mention this when I was firing you for embezzling? If we both knew it was Kevin.”

We fought about this, and he acted like he knew nothing about it. Then what, he grew a memory? Something is fishy, and I don’t like it.

“Why did you leave the movie, Sabby?” Chaos taps his leg three times with the knife. “That’s my only issue here.”

“Was that the reason for all this?” I point to the lights.

He shrugs. “Perhaps. My imagination went wild, and I can’t help it.”

His imagination went wild. That’s the excuse we’re going with. “Chaos. Perhaps next time, you ask questions. I don’t care how your little brain works all this.” I wave around the room. “Could’ve been avoided if you did. Wanna know what I was doing? I was trying to log into the server to access Kevin’s files. He’s the only one that has permission over the holidays, and if my suspicions are correct, he’ll be trying to move money either tonight or tomorrow.”

“What are you gonna do?” Parker asks.

“I have no idea. If he already has access to the bank account, there’s no stopping him now. I’m fucked.”

I sit on the window bench, resting my arms on my knees and staring at the white carpet. Kevin could do anything to Chocolate Halo, and I can’t stop him. He can make it look like the company is failing, when realistically, he stole every penny. If only Harvey had listened to me when I brought up my concerns earlier, but of course, he didn’t. He only hushed me and said I had no idea what I was talking about. He told me the board members had this handled. By handle, they mean firing Parker.

“Parker. When did you figure out that it was Kevin?”

“I had my suspicions for a while. Why?”

“Did any of the board members know?”

Parker is quiet for a moment. When I look up, him and Chaos are sitting on the edge of the bed. Parker’s nose is swelling from where Chaos smashed him with his elbow earlier. A trail of dried blood runs down his lip and chin. I can’t help but study it. Chaos isn’t afraid to make a person bleed.

He rakes his finger through his dark hair. “I didn’t say a word, Black. I’m not sure how or if they figured it out. But I’m the fall guy.”

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