Dirty Stack (The Devious Games Duet 2)

A few days ago, we spent time with his lawyer after he picked me up from work in what he told me was my new wheels. A burgundy Land Rover SUV.

I gave my brother Cody my old car as an early Christmas present, with my parents’ permission, and he was absolutely stoked.

After the meeting with the lawyer, I felt numb. I’m still flabbergasted about the amount of wealth he’s built up for his age. Beyond the condo, the house his brother lives in, and the beach house, there’s the four nightclubs and he owns all the buildings they’re in. He’s also got a very profitable online gambling website. Profitable is an understatement. That thing is a cash cow.

Beyond the SUV, two sports cars, and a pretty diversified investment portfolio, he’s got other property. He’s got millions of dollars otherwise. And he wants a life insurance policy on top of it, which is overkill, and also said that as soon as we have kids he wants trust funds set up for them.

As much as I’m not in this for the money, it’s sweet that he wants me to know what his assets are, wants me to feel safe and protected. Financially secure. I joked I’d probably still shop the discounts and got a dubious and judgmental look from the lawyer at that comment. Like I’m bullshitting. Like I’m really a gold digger.

His lawyer doesn’t like that he didn’t make me do a prenup or a post-nup, that Killian said right there that he wanted a seven figure life insurance policy with me as the beneficiary. But it’s his job to protect Killian’s interests and I said as much when Killian got salty with him about his attitude.

Since getting back from Italy, we’ve also enjoyed a nice family dinner with my parents, aunts and uncles, plus my cousins and grandfather as well as a night out with Susanna at a fancy restaurant. And while I’d initially said I might want to have our family wedding at Grampa’s, Mom talked me into doing it at this house when I showed her the old real estate listing after finding it online.

She fell in love with the possibilities and reasoned that even if we tried to do all the work ourselves or hired professionals to get Grampa’s house ready for the party, it’d put undue stress on him. She’s right.

And this house is big enough for all of us. Mom promised if we wait until the right time in spring to have the ceremony, she’ll get roses from my grandmother’s place and make me a bouquet.

After too-long of watching, ogling Killian while daydreaming about the family wedding, I turn around and flick the hand mixer on. Not five seconds later, everything turns off all at once.

Uh oh. What did I do?

I’ve got the microwave going as well as the oven and the coffee maker along with the radio on, so I’ve clearly overloaded the circuit.

I call out the back door but since he’s running the chainsaw, he doesn’t hear me.

This is an old house, so I’m not shocked I’ve blown a fuse or flipped a breaker or whichever – depending on how ancient the electrical system is.

And being a giant house you’d think the electrical panel could be anywhere, but the most logical place for this kitchen would be somewhere close, like the basement since this is the original part of the structure. I head to the basement door after pulling on my sneakers so I can go down there and investigate.

As I head down the stairs, I’m assuming things are tidier than they were the last time I was down there, when he first showed me this place. He was so angry about the condition his contractor had left it in. When I get to the bottom of the staircase, it doesn’t look much different.

There are piles of construction materials. Stacks of drywall sheets. Stacks of bricks. Some lumber. Three doors leaned against one wall. A workbench and a large tool chest.

There’s no electrical panel at the bottom of the stairs so it must be deeper into the space.

Unlike last time, there’s at least more space to walk around the construction materials to get deeper into the basement.

It’s chilly down here and I shiver as I turn around a corner and see the back side of the basement is mostly empty. There’s a massive brick enclosure on one side, but past it, I can see my target, the electrical panel on the wall and thankfully, it’s one with switches and I can see that only one switch is the wrong way. I peer over the edge of the enclosure as I pass, and it’s got to be at least twelve feet deep. A strong bleach odor assaults my nose. Very strong. Is that a water well or something?