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“And Dex? Was he good for you too?”
Laughing, Samantha rolled her eyes. “I’ll never kiss and tell.”
Brandy grinned. “As long as you kissed,” she said, following Samantha into her office.
“How were your days off?” Samantha lowered herself into her chair with a sigh. It felt good to be back where she belonged.
“Lots of R and R,” Brandy said. “Although I’m looking forward to my next longer vacation in the fall.” Brandy had planned a trip to Jamaica and Samantha understood her excitement. “As for work,” Brandy went on, “I did as you asked and kept an eye on Jeremy. He’s been sneaking around, talking to the VPs and associates, schmoozing people he never bothered with before. The snake is up to something.”
The peace Samantha had been feeling about work since her return disappeared. “Okay, thanks for keeping an eye out. I’ll touch base with Tim,” she said of her attorney. She hadn’t spoken to him since the phone call in Florida.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Was keeping this place really worth dealing with Jeremy and his bullshit? Yes, it was, dammit. At the very least she was going to walk away with what was rightfully hers.
“Good luck,” Brandy murmured, her voice causing Samantha’s eyes to open, and she refocused on her surroundings.
“Thanks.”
Brandy walked out, shutting the door behind her.
The first thing Samantha did was leave a message for her lawyer. Then she texted Ian and asked if he’d spoken to Tim. The attorney had permission to discuss her case with her brother. Without hearing from either of the men, she dug into work.
An hour or so later, Tim called her back and asked her to come by his office. Hearing the urgency in his voice, she grabbed her purse, let Brandy know she was going to a meeting, and took a car to Midtown. She gave her name at the receptionist desk and was immediately escorted to Tim’s office.
He stood as she walked in and gestured for her to take a seat in front of his desk. Once she did, he lowered himself into his chair. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
She forced a smile, panic swirling in her stomach. “It sounded urgent.”
“It is. A financial record search of your partner has uncovered a bank account in the Cayman Islands.”
She blinked, certain she’d heard wrong. “I’m sorry, what?”
Tim threaded his fingers together, leaning forward as he spoke. “The forensic accountants and the investigators they hired uncovered the account. And they confirmed that the companies your firm paid, the ones that weren’t a match to anyone you are doing business with, are shell corporations that funneled the money to the account in the Caymans.”
Her mouth ran dry. “How much did he steal?”
The attorney shot her a sympathetic look. “Roughly five hundred thousand over a long period of time… as of now. Clearly, he planned on taking much more over time. And if he married you, he’d have been funneling whatever he could get his hands on.”
She sat back in her seat, stunned. “According to our criminal litigation department, he’s looking at a second degree, class C felony. That’s fifteen years in prison if convicted.”
Her head spun and she didn’t know what to say. “What happens next?”
“We continue to dig and compile evidence. We can decide if we want to approach him with what we found or take the information to the police. Either way, you’ll have decisions to make in the near future. But you should know, there’s a strong likelihood Jeremy has been made aware of the search and what was discovered. He may be volatile.”
She nodded. “I won’t be alone with him.” She’d be much more careful than prior to her Florida trip. She didn’t like that she was seeing a side to her ex she’d never imagined he’d been hiding from her and the world.
When she arrived back at the office, she texted Brandy to meet her downstairs, so if she ran into Jeremy, she wouldn’t be alone, and together they headed upstairs where she settled in to work.
Not long after her return, a knock sounded on the door. “Come in!” she called, shutting down the account information she’d been studying.
Leah Johnson, an associate, walked in, iPad in hand. “Sorry to bother you, but would you have time to go over the Perfect Pillow account pitch?”
Happy to think about something she enjoyed, Samantha nodded. “Come on in. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The rest of the afternoon passed similarly, with meetings, lunch at her desk, and catch-up calls with clients. Before she knew it, it was after six p.m.
Samantha grabbed her bag and stepped out to find Brandy still at her desk. “Ready to go home?”
“Definitely. Want to grab dinner?” Brandy asked.
