Accidental Acquisition (Kindred)

Jillian shook her head.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about! I’ve been living up on the Kindred Mother Ship and I haven’t even been down to Earth at all in the past year. Not since I visited my Aunt for Christmas.”

“Baby, please don’t be like that,” Brad whispered hoarsely. “You and I both know you came down to see me last week, right when I was counting the take for the big game.”

“What big game?” Jillian demanded. “What ‘take?’ What are you talking about?”

“It looks to me like you two have an awful lot to discuss,” Moreno remarked, frowning. “I think I’m gonna leave you kids alone and see if Braddy here can get you to fess up, honeybee,” he said to Jillian.

Then he swaggered out of the small room, closing the door with a hollow bang behind him.

“Brad, what in the hell is going on?” Jillian demanded at once, glaring at her ex. “What have you gotten me into?”

“Look, just give me the money and I’ll pay you back later,” Brad said in a low voice. He had perked up now that Jimmy Moreno was out of the room and he was giving Jillian a sly look from his puffy eyes.

“What money?” Jillian demanded. “You think I just happen to have fifty thousand dollars lying around that I can give to you? Are you crazy?”

“Sure, you’ve got it—in that safety deposit box of yours at the bank!” he insisted. “Don’t be stingy, baby—just let me borrow it for a while and I promise I’ll pay it back. With interest, even.”

“My safety deposit box only has two things in it,” Jillian said. She counted them off on her fingers. “One, my mother’s diary that she kept when she was carrying me and when I was little and two, my grandmother’s diamond engagement ring. It’s an antique but the diamond is pretty small—no more than a chip. I doubt you’d get more than a couple hundred for it, even at the most generous pawn shop. I only locked it up because it has sentimental value and there had been some break-ins in my neighborhood.”

“What? You’re lying! You have to be lying!” Brad’s eyes widened—as much as they could with all the swelling, anyway. “You’ve gotta get me that money, Jilly-baby, or we’re both dead! You know what Jimmy Moreno’s nickname is? Jimmy the knife!”

“What do you mean ‘we?’ I had nothing to do with this!” Jillian put her hands on her hips and glared down at her ex. “Let me guess, you were working for Jimmy Moreno—probably in some illegal capacity—and you started skimming off the top. Am I right?”

“Something like that,” Brad muttered sullenly. “It wasn’t that much, though! These guys make so much money, I didn’t even think they’d notice.”

“Brad, you idiot, guys like Jimmy always notice,” Jillian hissed at him. “What is he—an enforcer from the Mob?”

“Something like that,” Brad muttered again, looking down. “Look, if you’ll just stop being a bitch and give me the money—”

“I don’t have any money to give you!” Jillian exclaimed. “You cleaned me out, Brad! Do you understand that? I had to move up to the Kindred Mother Ship and start all over again because I lost my house and my job and you ruined my credit! You—”

“Okay now, kids, have we got things all settled?” Jimmy Moreno walked back into the room, grinning at both of them. “You going to tell us where you hid them money you took, honeybee?” he asked Jillian.

“I didn’t take any—”

“She won’t tell,” Brad cut her off quickly. “She’s still mad at me because she caught me with another woman.” He looked soulfully up at Jillian. “Baby, please believe me—she didn’t mean a thing to me! Not like you do! I love you with all my heart and soul—please just tell Jimmy where you hid that money you stole from me!”

Jillian stared at her ex in disbelief. She could see well enough exactly where this was going. Brad didn’t care if she had the money or not—he just wanted to shift the blame to her shoulders. Basically, he was throwing her under the bus to the tune of fifty thousand dollars, which he had probably blown at a craps table in a single night.

And unfortunately, it seemed to be working.

Jimmy Moreno was giving her a hard stare.

“Now, honeybee,” he said to Jillian. “Let me explain something to you—you didn’t steal that money from Brad, here—you stole it from me and my associates. And I’m afraid you’re not going to like what we do with thieves, so why don’t you tell me where it is right now?”

Looking at the Mob enforcer’s black, predatory eyes, Jillian felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cubes into her belly. Oh God, this was bad news—everything to do with Brad was always bad news! Why hadn’t she just refused to come down here in the first place? She should have left her ex to rot—it was clearly what he deserved.