“Reese is behind the missing money.”
What?
I waited for a few minutes to pass before I answered, sure they were making a joke. Neither Ray or Melissa said anything. They didn’t elaborate. They both just looked at me.
“You jest.”
Melissa stepped forward. “No, Kane. I looked over Ray’s findings. The computer program that was collecting and moving the money originated from Reese’s computer. The stealing started just after she joined the company.”
I waved my hand and stopped her explanation. “It’s not Reese. Reese was looking into the inconsistencies. I told her to give her findings to Ray.”
“She never gave me anything, Kane,” Ray explained. “The program we found on her computer had the same password as her desktop. And that’s not the worst of it.”
I raised my eyebrow as an indication for him to continue. I didn’t trust my voice at the moment. I clenched my hands together and waited.
“The off-shore company, Investpex, we traced the funds to…it’s in Simon Harper’s name. We think that they were in on this together. They… she set you up Kane.”
Ray put a hand on my desk and looked down. He knew this would hurt me. Just when I was starting to trust someone new, this happened.
“Reese working with Simon?” I scoffed, unable to accept what they were telling me. “She would never work with that lout.”
Melissa frowned and inched towards my desk. “It’s true, Kane. This whole thing was a set up. She’s smart and a good actress. She fooled us all. I liked her, Kane, I did, but the evidence is against her. There was an email that just showed up in her inbox that contained conformation for her ticket to the Cayman Islands. I called the airline, Simon has the seat next to her reserved.”
I stood and turned to stare out the window. My chest felt tight, like someone was squeezing my heart. Reese played me? Was she just another woman after my money? I thought she cared for me.
Just minutes before this, less than an hour ago, she had said she loved me. Loved me! I thought she said that by accident, goaded on by good sex, but maybe she was just trying to get me to accept her into my life more and I did. I asked her to move in with me. Now, she was at my house—alone.
I grabbed my car keys and stormed out of the office, leaving Ray and Melissa with their mouths hanging open. I didn’t want to believe them. There had to be an explanation. No way would Reese do this to me. No way.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Reese
On the ride to Kane’s house, I skimmed through apps on my phone not really paying attention to anything, but when I checked my inbox, another angry email waited for me.
You thought he was yours. When I’m done, he’ll never be yours. You’ll never see him again.
Whatever.
I forwarded the email to Melissa. A few minutes after I hit send, Melissa called. Hopefully, she had some news for me.
“Hey there,” I said, trying to sound cheerful and not as scared as I was. “Have you found anything out?”
For a few seconds, there was only silence.
“There was nothing in the email, Reese. The body was empty.” Her usually musical voice was stern and cold.
“But… that can’t be right… hold on a second.” I set my phone to speaker and clicked into my inbox. The email was right in front of my eyes.
“It must be encrypted or is something that only I could read. I can take a screenshot to show you.”
“There’s no need. You had us all fooled, didn’t you?” She hung up.
My body stiffened in surprise and worry. What the fuck did that mean? How did I have them all fooled?
Desperate, I rang back, but the call went straight to voicemail. Dammit. What was going on with her? Perhaps my screaming Kane’s name during my orgasm had been heard throughout the penthouse. I would be pissed if I’d heard that echoing through the hallway while I was trying to work.
I shoved the emails and Melissa’s words from my mind and focused on all the lucky things that had happened to me in the past few weeks. I pulled on my star pendant and let its points sink, sharply into my fingers.
I’d met a man I loved. I hadn’t expected to blurt it out during sex or have him say he loved me back. Perhaps spilling my guts during sex was the wrong thing to do, but the emotion of the moment took over. I’m sure Kane would forget all about it.
I couldn’t and wouldn’t be some needy little girlfriend. I had to show him I could take care of myself that I was independent. I didn’t need him to tell me he loved me. Hopefully, in time, he would, and would eventually say those same words to me. I could wait because I had enough love for the both of us.