Romero (The Moreno Brothers 4)

“If I’m right, Charles is having an affair, babe. It’s with a woman in Miami. And he’s been embezzling money from your dad’s campaign and transferring it to her account.”

Both of Isabel’s hands were over her mouth now. “You know this for sure?”

“I know for sure he’s been taking money from the campaign account and putting it into hers. And I know he stays with her whenever he’s in Miami. What I don’t know is what he’s planning on doing with all that money and if she’s actually someone he’s having an affair with or just an accomplice, but it looks bad. I don’t know if your sister knows about this either.”

“Of course she doesn’t.”

“Well.” Romero didn’t want to sound condescending but it was hard to believe she was completely clueless. Charles hadn’t exactly covered his tracks too well. “You never know, but his other girl knows about Pat. She’s been giving him a hard time lately, which is the reason why I think he may be considering making some kind of move. I’m just not sure what, but I think that’s what the money is for.”

Isabel started to get up. “I have to tell her.”

Romero reached for her hand. “No, Izzy, not yet.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s still not clear-cut what this relationship with this girl is. It looks likes she might also be married, but there’s something weird about it. I’m still checking things out. Although that doesn’t mean anything. She could be having an affair herself. But he could still say she’s just be an assistant. He has several. And the whole transferring money to her account he could probably come up with something relating back to the campaign and just deny the whole damn thing.”

“But—”

He squeezed her hand gently. “What do you think your family is gonna say when you tell them I’m the one making these accusations? Without proof whose word do you think they’ll take?”

She stared at him, taking a deep breath.

“Just wait. I should know this coming week. My friend at the mall is gonna… look into his computer and see if he can get some personal stuff between Charles and this woman. And I’ve made a few other calls. I should be hearing from them soon, too.”

Isabel shook her head. “How am I supposed to face this lying bastard tomorrow without slapping him?”

Romero laughed. “Just think of what your sister will do to him when she finds out. He’ll get what’s coming to him. Don’t worry.”

Isabel leaned in slowly. “I’m sorry I was thinking the worst about you.”

Romero lay back pulling her onto him. “No. I’m sorry I kept anything from you. I just wanted to have everything down before I told you.” He kissed her. “I told you, you have nothing to worry about. But I get why you might’ve jumped the gun this time. I probably would’ve myself.” He chuckled. “Only I wouldn’t have handled it quite as calmly as you did.”

“No, you handled hearing about me going to see Michael just fine. I was proud of you.”

Romero let his head hang back. “Don’t remind me.”

He filled her in on a few more of the minor details he’d uncovered, but he didn’t have a whole lot more to tell her. He only hoped this wasn’t something that looked and smelled bad, but was actually nothing. That happened a few times when he was following a potentially cheating spouse. Isabel’s family already didn’t like him and him flinging false accusations like this, certainly wasn’t going to buy him any points. As long as Isabel could keep this under wraps until he knew for sure, everything should be okay.

***

Art and Sabrina were already there when Isabel arrived at the restaurant Sunday. She hugged them both eagerly. “So what is it?”

They both laughed. “You have to wait until everyone is here,” Art said kissing her on the cheek. “Where’s Romero?”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me started.”

“What happened? Did you break up?”

“No.” She took the seat across from Art. “After last week’s nightmare he’s been banned from coming around the family. They all say he’s dangerous for me, but we both know who’s the most adamant about it. They actually had an intervention for me on Friday.”

“Get the hell out of here.”

The waiter came by and filled their champagne glasses. Isabel took the pitcher of orange juice on the table and poured some in her champagne glass. She loved mimosas. “No, I’m not kidding. Whose idea do you think that was? They even brought Jacob along to put in his two cents.”

Art laughed. “Well, Pat’s in for one today. I don’t give a damn what she says anymore.”

Isabel downed most of her mimosa and nodded her head. “Good for you.” Maybe if Pat spent less time worrying about other people’s relationships, her own wouldn’t be such a mess. “Did you really tell Pat you agreed about Romero being dangerous?”

Art finished sipping his champagne making a face. “No, she said I did?”

“Yeah,” Isabel nodded. She should’ve known Pat was full of it. “She said you’d agreed the night of dad’s announcement dinner.”

Art then laughed. “I said she better watch her ass, because Romero didn’t seem like he’d be one to take her shit.”

Isabel had to laugh, too. Of course, Pat would find a way to turn that around in her favor. She then eyed Sabrina, remembering how Pat had made it sound like Art purposely hadn’t brought her to please Pat. “And why weren’t you there the night of my dad’s dinner?”