Page 46 of Silent Vendetta (Vendetta Duet)

I cracked my knuckles. “Let’s just say I obtained that information in an illegal way.”By torturing a man. “And if anyone finds out what it is, I’ll be staring at prison bars.”

Grayson glared at me, and looked up. “And the girl knows this?”

When his eyes met mine again, I nodded.

“If you let her leave, you go to prison?” he clarified.

“When you say it like that, it sounds more sinister than it is.”

Grayson looked up at the ceiling again. “What are you going to do with her?”

“I’ll let her go when she’s safe,” I said.

My brother studied me.

Bam, bam, bam.“I’m going to snap your dick off and throw it in the lake, Hunter!”

“What do you need from me?” he asked.

I sighed in relief, because with that one question, my brother had pledged his support.

“Whoever wants her dead is about to find out last night’s hit failed and that the timeline shrank. The hearing got moved up to this Friday, and while I’ll try to get it pushed back, the person’s likely about to get more desperate.”

“You need my help toprotecther?”

Bam, bam, bam, bam.“I’ll tell the blogs you have a little tiny penis! Like a baby carrot!”

Her shriek was interrupted by my cell phone ringing. If it were anyone else calling, I wouldn’t have answered, but when Barry’s number flashed on the screen, my entire body tensed.

“If you’re about to say you’ve reconsidered…”

“No, sir,” he said.

Thank hell.

“I just returned that voice mail I mentioned.” Barry’s voice was tighter than earlier. And that was saying something. “For the record, this was set in motionpriorto your accelerated timeline, but it’spossiblewe have a clue.” He elongated the wordpossibleto diminish whatever he was about to say. “It’s most probable that it’s a dead end, to be honest, but it’s worth digging deeper.”

“What kind of clue?”

“Or a dead end,” Barry repeated. “I have a colleague who’s an excellent forensic accountant. When I started reviewing your father’s case, I asked him to look through the company’s official financial records, filed the year of your father’s death. Figured it was a long shot,” Barry continued, “but he specializes in untangling complex financial data. And he found something…curious.”

I stilled. “You have my attention.”

“It seems some money went missing that year.”

“Missing money?” Grayson and I locked eyes. “I don’t remember reading about this in any of the police reports. And I don’t remember any of the private investigators coming across this.”

“I don’t know that any of them utilized a forensic accountant. And like I said, it could be nothing. Could be as simple as a poorly documented accounting transaction, but with your permission, I’d like to request more information about that transaction from the accountant. You’re a large shareholder of the company, correct?”

I leaned back in my chair. Upstairs, it sounded like Luna was trying to dismantle my door, piece by piece.

“I am.”

“Shareholders, particularly those with a significant stake in the company, have the right to access financial information and can request additional details to assess the company’s financials.”

“I’ll call the lead accountant now. He’s our personal accountant as well, so having him send you whatever you need shouldn’t be an issue.”

Bam, bam, bam.“Hunter Lockwood!”

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