Dazzle: The Billionaire's Secret Surrogate

“I just wish I could get her to stop printing lies in the papers,” Kady complained. “You would think that was a violation of the restraining order, wouldn’t you?”

“I believe it must be,” Athen

a agreed, and Kady could practically see the wheels in her head turning as she thought it over. “I’m going to have Samuels look into that right away. By the way, Kady, there’s another matter I need to mention that he told me about. You know that Archer was attacked the other day, yes?”

“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Kady frowned, remembering the awful black eye and numerous scrapes that she saw on his beautiful face on that day she had visited him. “I’m just glad he’s okay.”

“Well, it sounds like his employee, Parker Chou, was a bit disgruntled that Archer refused to admit to any complicity in the skimming, and I guess he’s really been holding a grudge. Anyway, Samuels is also a bit of a detective as well, so I had him spy on Mia,” she explained. “The woman has been visiting with Parker Chou every week since he was sentenced. That means she must have known exactly who Archer was before she ever went to his home.”

“Well, who is Mia to Parker then?” asked Kady with a frown, trying to make the connection, but failing.

“The documentation lists her as his sister,” Athena said.

“So, the sister of a man who attempted to ruin Archer’s business is now in hot pursuit of him?” Ellen asked. “God, this big business stuff is so weird.”

“So the real question is, why would Mia become involved in a scheme with her brother—assuming that’s who he really is—that targeted Archer?” Kady pointed out. “What good could it possibly do her to go after a man who can’t even access his own money thanks to her brother?”

“Maybe it’s not about his frozen accounts,” Athena speculated. “Maybe she knows about his offshore accounts. Parker would know about those, wouldn’t he?”

“Why does Archer need offshore accounts?” Kady wanted to know.

“I’m the one who started them for him, truthfully,” Athena admitted. “You see, all my life I was surrounded by wealth, and everyone I knew had accounts in other countries to keep part of their money safe. So I made sure Archer had them as well. His first one he’s had since he was sixteen years old. But I suppose that might make him look suspicious to the government if you think about it.”

“So why would Parker necessarily know he has those accounts?”

“They were never a huge secret from his top employees,” Athena said, with a shrug of her shoulders. “But Parker, in particular, knows about them because he wanted me to create an account for him in the same bank. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now in hindsight I wonder why it was so important to him. Having me make the account specifically, and in that same bank. It’s very suspicious, if you ask me.”

“So this guy, he’s skimming the funds and putting them into the bank, how did he get caught anyway?” Kady wanted to know.

“One of the clients figured it out,” Athena said. “Some woman, I guess.”

“What was her name?”

“Cheryl Jenkins,” she said, after a moment to remember. “I’ve never seen what she looks like or anything. I think she’s in her thirties though.”

“Have you asked Samuels to find out more about her as well?” Kady wanted to know, feeling like she was still missing a piece to the puzzle. “It couldn’t hurt, right?”

“I did, but I haven’t heard back from him yet,” Athena said. “But, back to the point at hand. Ellen, now that you know Mia is not to be trusted, if she comes into Dazzle again I want you to have security escort her out, and inform her that she is not welcome on my property. I don’t have the time or the inclination to put up with that woman or her malicious lies about my son. Kady, however, may come and go as she pleases from now on.”

“Wait a minute, did you just say Cheryl Jenkins?” Ellen asked, slapping herself on the forehead. “There’s a Cherry Jenks working up on the third floor, isn’t there?”

“Yes, there is, as a matter of fact,” Athena said. “So what?”

“What if she’s who Mia has been coming to see?”

“So you think that the accuser came and interviewed for Dazzle after discrediting my son?” Athena scoffed. “Why would she do that?”

“I really don’t know,” Ellen replied, with a small shake of her head, looking as confused as the other two women.

“We could easily find out if it’s her if we can tap into the footage of the trial,” Kady said. “We could get a picture of her face and see if it’s the same person.”

“You know how to do that?” Athena asked.

“I didn’t go to school for four years for nothing,” Kady reminded her. “Just lead me to a computer that’s connected to the internet, and we could possibly solve this mystery ourselves.”

Chapter 31

Kady stared with a look of shock at the picture of Cheryl Jenkins that she was now watching on her screen. This woman had a very familiar face. In fact, she was one of Mia’s sidekicks, and was the one who had been with her in the kitchen of Archer’s home on the day she returned with news of her pregnancy. But that being the case, it made even less sense now than it had before.