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At his entrance, she looked up, eyes wide. Shadows under each one revealed how tired she was from the work she was doing.
After she dropped the bomb on him about her father’s suspected gambling problem, he walked directly to the desk and pulled her out of her seat and into his arms.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his shirt. “What are we going to do?”
He rubbed her arms. Goose bumps rippled over her skin.
Using a knuckle under her chin, he lifted her head to meet his gaze. “You’re sure of it?”
“Sure enough. I hacked into his bank account and I was able to see where the money’s been going. There are a lot of cash withdrawals. One large amount was in a casino.”
Fuck. This was what he and Colton suspected, given the involvement of the loan shark. In response to Ivy’s statement, Hunter nodded slowly.
He moved to the desk and sank to the leather chair. When he drew Ivy into his lap, she curled against his chest with her legs dangling over his.
“I knew it must be something like this. I just hoped I was wrong.” Her voice sounded small.
“I know, baby. You have a lot of questions that you need answers to, I’m sure.”
“How am I supposed to ask him? His health is so rocky right now, this could set him back. The nurses had to take his phone because just getting notifications about ranch security was upsetting him!”
“We should talk to Meadow and Colton. Get their take on this.”
She nodded. “Is there anything we can do to get that loan shark to stop harassing us?”
The guy was coming for his pound of flesh. If he didn’t get his money—with extreme interest—he’d take what he wanted in other ways.
Hunter was rarely afraid. Worried, on occasion. But the thought of this bastard coming for Sean Gracey’s innocent daughters made his blood run cold.
Laid up after heart surgery or not, the man should know what his actions had done to his family.
He’d never met Ivy’s father, hadn’t set eyes on him in more than a photo that his son showed Hunter, but when he did, he wouldn’t hold back from giving him a piece of his mind.
He had to drag himself from the brink of the fury pounding through him. Forced himself to keep his grip on Ivy loose when all he wanted was to grab and claw.
“Will you show me what you’ve found so far?”
She nodded and twisted in his lap, reaching for the laptop.
Over her shoulder, he studied the screen she brought up. She pointed out the withdrawals and the name of the casino.
“I thought at first my father was just being lax in paying bills.”
From the corner of his eye, he studied her. “What made you think that?”
She pushed out a soft, breathy sigh. “When I was in Europe, my credit card got declined when I tried to pay my hotel bill and again when I attempted to book the flight home.”
“How did you get the money then? Did Meadow wire it to you?”
She tightened her lips as if holding in some secret or embarrassment that she didn’t want to share. “I hocked some designer pieces from my wardrobe and used the cash to settle my bill and buy a plane ticket. When you saw me on the plane, I only had a few bucks to my name.”
He stared at her. “But you just bought supplies for the house and lunch for the guys.”
“Oh, I have money now. When I got home, a card was in the mail to an account I haven’t been able to access before now. I have a little savings accumulated from my travel vlog.”
God, this woman. She was amazing, resourceful, witty and adorable. Not only a princess…a queen.
He’d been a complete idiot when he thought she wasn’t worth even giving the time of day when all he wanted was to spend the rest of his life worshipping her.
