Vicente (9 page)

“Money. I know where the money is. All of their money.” She got up and went to Vinnie’s computer, and started clicking around for several seconds as she continued. “I was in charge of deposits and billing. Not a big job in the larger picture of what they did there, but about three months ago I was asked to the office. I was told that Mr. Nolan was having marital problems and he wanted to make sure his wife wasn’t going to take him to the cleaners. I was told to be creative in hiding his money. Then a few weeks later both Mr. Dillard and Mr. Henson wanted me to do the same.”

When Samuel and Kennedy joined them a few minutes later, Abbie had found what she wanted. She not only still had access to the accounts, but there was more in the banks than there had been when she’d set things up for them. She hadn’t told them the amounts when Samuel asked her. For all they knew, he said, the money wasn’t enough for them to run, but just enough for them to hide for a little while.

They hadn’t cut her out of the system, which Vinnie thought was stupid on their part, but she really did have access to their money. Samuel sat down and looked at him and Stephen. Whatever was going on in his mind was going to be epic, Vinnie just knew it.

“I say we move it. Those women they killed, they had families. And Stephen, you told me that a few of them were supers like us.” Stephen nodded. “If we move it into an account that they can’t find or get to, then I’d like to say we use it to help the families out. I don’t know how much is there, but even if it’s half a million, it’ll help even divided twelve ways. Or however many they killed. What do you guys think?”

Vinnie looked at Abbie. He’d like to take it and do just what Samuel had suggested. Whatever the amount, like he said, was better than they had now, even if it was just enough to buy a marker for their loved ones. But the decision was hers. She was the one who had found it, and it was hers as far as he was concerned.

“I think it’s a good idea. And there’ll be plenty if we move now rather than wait until they empty the accounts. The only person who would be able to cut me out is Mr. Dillard. And I doubt if he’s given a thought to me getting into it. The man uses drugs like he’s never going to get enough, and he seemed to think I was a dishrag.” Both Vinnie and Stephen laughed, and Kennedy grinned. “Well, believe it or not, at one time I was.”

“I believe you.” Yve landed on the keyboard as she spoke. “Go ahead, my lady, let us see what sort of construction these people have done.”

“Corruption.” Vinnie smiled when Abbie corrected Yve as he would have done. “And I think you might be pleasantly surprised.”

They were, and then some. There was over eighty million in Dillard’s account alone, ten million in Black’s account, and just over four hundred million in Henson’s account. Vinnie was stunned. He had more than that, but these were young men, men who wouldn’t have had the chances he’d had in investing and earning money the honest way.

“Christ.” Samuel picked up his phone as he continued. “We need help with this. I want it out of there while you’re still in the accounts, but I think we should move fast. I have a buddy in the banking area that can help us move it without any problems.”

The person at the other end answered and Samuel stepped away. Vinnie looked at Abbie and was surprised to see that she looked sad. He reached for her hand, and she looked at him.

“I remember three of the women down there with me saying that they had children. To be…they just killed them without a thought to what they were doing to their families.” He nodded. “I know we may never know their names, but I’d like to see if I can put some sort of marker up for them. Do you know how much that would cost?”

“We shall help you, my lady. The markers must be made of stone. The other faeries and I will carve them for you right away. They will be beautiful.” Yve looked at Vinnie as if just remembering he was there. “My lord?”

“You do what needs to be done. I’ll have Clar and Hawk go to the site and see if they can get anything from the remains. The police have been there, of course, but they can find out names faster than anyone else can.” Yve nodded and flew to the window that was always open for them. Vinnie smiled at Abbie. “It’s going to be great, and she’ll love being in charge for you.”

Abbie played with the mouse, and he knew that something else was bothering her. Kennedy got up, saying she had to check on something in the kitchen, and she herded the men with her. They were alone when he pulled her chair around to face him.

“What am I doing here?” He didn’t understand her question because he had no idea what she meant. But before he could ask her what she wanted to know, she got up to pace and talk. “I’m not really good at anything. I had to stumble through the meetings yesterday, and had it not been for Yve, I would have given the wrong decision to help them most of the time. Did you know that a female brownie can’t live on her own, but a pixie can? Why? No one knows other than it’s written, so they have to abide by the rules. And Yve tells me that there is a yearly meeting that we’re to attend now. Do you have any idea what a person is supposed to wear to a meeting of a bunch of dragons? And what is a group of dragons called?”

He let her babble. Vinnie knew that sometimes he needed to vent like this too, and he also knew that most of what she was saying was worry about what was going to happen to the men who had hurt her. In addition, there was the added sadness of the women who had died. She’d had a lot on her plate, and he felt sorry for her.

When she finally sat down, he smiled at her. “Feel better? I do when I can get everything off my chest. Usually it’s Stephen or Hawk that has to listen to me when I do it, but I guess from now on we can use each other.” He took her hands into his and kissed the back of each of them before continuing. “But most of what you’re saying are things that will work out. But what I want to do is answer the first question now.”

“The meetings? Or the brownie pixie thing?” He shook his head and picked her up and sat her on his lap. He loved the way she felt there and turned her around to face him. “We have people in the other room, you know?”

“I do. And when they’re gone I’m going to take you upstairs and ravish you. But for now I want to tell you what you’re doing here.” Vinnie took a deep breath. “For as old as I am, I’d never thought to have a mate. And I mean from the very beginning of my life, the thought of a female to be with me daily was something that…well, I’d not had a great deal of contact with other people, and none other than my mother when it came to dragons. When she died…when she killed herself, I was determined that I’d never find a mate to leave myself exposed to the kind of hurt she had when my father left us. For years I wandered around, trying to keep to myself and stay away from anyone that might come into my heart. Then I met Stephen. And then Samuel. Had it not been for either man, more so the second because of the friendship he’s given me without a single thing in return, I’d have given in to the temptation of turning into something that I’m not…a killer. A dragon who cares little for what he can do, and one that has taken and taken without giving anything in return. Now, because of them and more so now you, I’m a better man who cannot think of living a day without you in my life.”

“My brother tried to ruin that with his…he tore us apart. Took me to places that I’d never been to before, too.” He shook his head. “You didn’t let him bully you into leaving me?”

“No. I did leave you, but I don’t think we would have lasted very long. It wasn’t that…I wasn’t ready for a mate, so it never occurred to me that you might be mine. Had we stayed together, me never telling you what I was, it would have killed whatever love we had for each other. I think your brother did us a favor by pulling us apart then. I think I’m a better man for it.” Abbie put her forehead to his. “I love you very much. More than I ever did back then, and will love you more daily because of what you are to me.”

“I have it. Oh, sorry.” Samuel didn’t look the least bit sorry as he moved into the room. “I have a place to put the money. But she said to warn you that they’ll figure out who did it just from that. If you don’t want to do this, then I understand. We all will. Here you go.”

“I want to do this. If not for the simple fact that they will just spend it on things that mean nothing in the end. I want to do this because it’s the right thing to do. Those other women, they didn’t have anyone there for them like I have.” She looked at Vinnie. “I want us to do this together.”

It took her less than twenty minutes to move all the money but a dollar in each account. Abbie had thought that too much money, but Samuel had said that leaving so little would make them realize it was taken by someone rather than simply misplaced in the system. It made sense. At least it did to Abbie after a bit. Vinnie was like her though, take it all and fuck them. When they were finished with the task, Samuel invited them all to the house for dinner. He said that everyone was going to be there and that their presence was required. As soon as they left, Vinnie picked Abbie up and put her on his desk.

“What are you doing? I thought we were required to be at this lord and master’s house. Who made him boss anyway?” Vinnie told her to lay back. “This is not us getting ready.”

“I’m already ready, love. Feel me.” He rocked into her opened legs and moaned. “You are too. I can smell you. Just a quickie and we’ll go, I promise.”

She looked at him as if she didn’t believe him. He didn’t care so long as he could be deep inside of her, and soon. When she lay back, he pulled her blouse open by tearing it from hem to neck. He leaned down and took her breast into his mouth, bra and all.

“This is not a quickie.” He grinned at her and put his hand in the back of her pants and lifted her to his cock. “Okay, but you have to give me something, like right now. I need to scream at least once before I can be completely happy about you making us late.”

“Deal.” Vinnie sat up and pulled her pants from her body. Tossing the rags away from them, he looked down at her. She looked good enough to eat, and he decided that was just what he was going to do. Sitting down in his chair, he moved up to where she was waiting and buried his mouth over her wet silk. She cried out even before he pulled her clit into his mouth and suckled.

They were going to be so late. And he didn’t care one bit.

Chapter 9

“What do you mean, it’s all gone? How is that even possible?” Leonard wanted to come around to the other side of her desk and slap the bitch he’d been talking to for over twenty minutes. This bank had his money or knew who did. And he wasn’t going to leave until he had it back. He fucking hated banks, but they were a necessary evil when it came to dealing with money. “There was a great deal more money in that account than one fucking dollar.”

“Sir, I’ve asked you several times now to tone down your language or I’ll call security.” He glared at her, and she continued. He was so fucked if this bitch didn’t find his money right fucking now. “There was a withdrawal made yesterday. It says that the money was transferred out with your approval. If you’d like, I can show you your signature.”

“I did not sign to have my money robbed from me.” The security guard that had been standing near the door took several steps in their direction. Leonard might have shot him, but he’d left his gun in his car. Who would have thought he’d need it to make a withdrawal from his—?

“When was this money taken out?” She turned the screen his way, and she could see that he had indeed signed for the money, but he also knew who had done it. That fucking cunt. “I think I’ve been had.”

“Sir?” He waved her off and pulled out his cell phone. He needed to see if Woodrow had had the same problem. When he answered, Leonard knew he wasn’t at work where he should have been. He moved out of the bank and towards his car. He was pissed now, and he was going to take it out on someone else that wouldn’t shoot him in the head because he’d lost his temper.

“Do you even work for me anymore? I mean, when was the last fucking time you worked a full forty-hour week? Or for that matter, when have you put in a full day without napping on your desk or taking a long fucking lunch? You do know we have a business to run, or have you forgotten who pays your fucking bills?” Woodrow mumbled something about having a pounding headache and that he was sick. “Again? Even as coked up as I am most of the time, I manage to make it to work. Mother fuck. Are you planning to—? Never mind. I don’t care right now. I think our little friend has done some house cleaning. Check your account, the big one.”

After five minutes of waiting for Woodrow to say something, Leonard hung up. What did he care if the little bitch had taken Woodrow’s money or not? His was gone, and that was all he really gave a shit about. Three minutes after he was at the office, Woodrow called him back.

“Motherfucking cunt took my money. Left me with a buck. A fucking buck. What the hell am I supposed to do with a fucking dollar? I had over four hundred million in there, and now I don’t even have enough to buy a fucking cup of coffee.”

Leonard’s mind stuttered to a stop at the amount that Woodrow claimed to have had in his account. “How much did she take from you?” There was silence. “Did you just tell me you have over four hundred million, as in a four and eight fucking zero’s, in your account? Where the hell did you get that money from? Are you skimming the accounts? I mean like
really
skimming them? Christ, you’ve been robbing me too?”

“Well, not anymore I don’t. I have a fucking dollar.” Leonard was pretty sure that Woodrow wasn’t getting that he was pissed. Not so much about the money now, but that he’d had so fucking much more than he had. “We have to figure out a way to get it back from her. I mean like right now. I had plans for that money, and it didn’t include her having a fucking vacation with it. We’re going to have to get the hell out of the country now. If she has our money, there’s a good chance she’s remembered all the other shit as well. No telling how little time we have left to get going.”

“She will pay.”
And so will you
, Leonard thought
. Just you will pay harder than she will because you had the nerve to rob me.
Not to mention when he’d needed the money to pay back the company, Woodrow had told him he was tapped out, and had even gone so far as to suggest he borrow it from someone and not touch his stash. He told him that if he wasn’t able to pay it back, then he’d have running money. “I want to get together and figure this out. I wonder if she took Nolan’s money as well.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. I would say she’s taking a lot more than we ever did to her.”

Leonard started making calls to get things lined up as soon as he and Woodrow got off the phone. He had a lot of debt that he had to pay off. He could more than likely hold off on his dealer because of the buys he made. The guy was nearly salivating at the mouth every time Leonard went to see him. Before he made a single call, however, he did three lines of coke to fortify himself for the shit he was going to have to do to keep from being killed. The first call he made was to his loan shark. The man was not going to be happy. Well, neither was he.

“You said you’d have me paid off this weekend. I don’t like to be lied to.” Leonard rolled his eyes. For such a big man, he could whine like a little baby. “What kind of arrangements do you expect me to make for you concerning this dilemma we find ourselves in? And before you ask, yes, it’s going to cost you.”

“I have to find this woman.” Manny laughed, and Leonard wanted to knock the shit out of him. “She took me to the cleaners, along with my partners, and I plan to get every penny back. I just need a couple of days.”

“A woman, huh? Didn’t I tell you that women are the downfall of us all? That to fuck one is like giving her access to not only your vital organs such as your dick, but your credit cards as well?” Manny sighed heavily. “Leonard, Leonard, Leonard. What am I to do now? It will cost you, this having to wait thing. I don’t run a charity, as you well know. I have mouths to provide for as well, and if you owe me…well my dick gets just a little harder knowing that you will owe me more.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” He wanted to tell him that he was going to get just over sixty million dollars of his money, why not cut him some slack? But he didn’t bother. It was his fault he was in this deep, and now the fucking cunt Abigale had fucked him over as well. “How much more are you going to charge me for say…another week?”

“Oh, another week? Well, I’d say another three percent at least. More if you’re late again. Are you going to be late again, Leonard?”

“No, I’m not.” And the one-point-nine million more he was going to owe was going to make sure that he wasn’t. He hung up a few minutes later and did another couple of lines of coke while awaiting three other calls to be returned.

There were nine messages on his desk, and one of them was from a man by the name of Stephen Silva. He decided to call him back first, not having a clue why one of the richest men he’d ever heard of would be calling him.

“I’d like to come in and have a word or two with you. I’m venturing into another line of work—just dabbling, mind you—but I wanted to see how you guys at your firm handle things. If you have the time, that is.” Leonard would make time for this man, even if he had to go to the man’s house. “I don’t want to put you out. I understand if you have too much going on right now.” Leonard had a moment of confusion, as he had a feeling this man knew more than he did about his life at the moment, but let it go in favor of working this guy into his day.

“No, no, that’s fine. I have time.” He tried to think of his password to his calendar and had to get up and find his secretary. Not bothering to go back to his own desk, he had her look to see when he had open, and decided to just move things around. “I have time tomorrow morning if you’re free. From about nine until noon?”

“That’s perfect. I’ll bring my wife with me, as well as my business partner. He and I will have to agree on what we have planned, and he might as well be there at the same time.” Leonard thought the more the merrier, but told Silva that it would be fine. Silva told him a man by the name of Vicente MacIntyre would be with them.

Leonard went back to his office and did a search on the other man. “Christ. I’ve hit the fucking jackpot.” It seemed Mr. MacIntyre, or he supposed he should call him Lord MacIntyre, as one of his many titles had suggested, was as rich as Silva. And that man was reportedly worth billions. Leonard tried to find out what sort of business Silva was into, but he had his fingers in a great many pots. So he set his search on the other man. MacIntyre owned the largest construction company, having offices all over the world. He’d even been known to work on castles, as well as a great many mansions in Europe.

When his phone rang, he was just finding out about other partners of theirs, a Samuel Payne as well as James Burger. The four of them were huge, and Leonard was thinking he’d have to convince all of them to bring their business to him for investment purposes. Who knew how much he could skim off the top from them?

“I’ve found out where your girl is.” Just what he wanted to hear, and he asked his investigator where. “You’re not going to believe this, but she’s at her old apartment. Saw somebody going in and out of there when I went by just now. Big man and she were going inside for a nooner, I’d say. He looked like he might have taken her right there on the steps had not the neighbor poked her head out just as he was dropping to his knees to take a few tastes.”

It didn’t sound like Abbie, but what the hell did he know about her? She’d been working for the firm when his father was alive, and now…Christ, he didn’t even know who his secretary was, much less who any of them fucked in their free time. He told the man to watch the place until he heard from him. Just as he was hanging up, his last call came in.

“She’s got a few bucks in her account, but nothing like you said. Her rent is past due, as is her cable bill. Not like her as far as I can tell, but then women are stupid when it comes to money.” Leonard wouldn’t know. He’d never had a relationship that lasted past him paying them for their services. “She does have a savings account. A few thousand in it, but nothing has been deposited or taken out of either account for some time now.”

“Credit cards or anything like that?” Leonard looked in his bottom drawer at her purse and wondered why he’d never thought to take it to the cabin. It could have been burnt up with the rest of the shit out there. “Or even something off shore?”

“Not sure about an offshore account right now, but I’m still looking. There is one credit card that she pays off monthly, and right now has an outstanding balance of about fifty bucks. I’d say if she has the kind of money you were asking about, it’s not anywhere I can see it. Her car is a piece of shit, no outstanding college bills. I’m going to ask around the neighborhood to see what kind of person she’s like tonight. Right now…well, she’s clean if you ask me.”

“But I didn’t. Keep digging.” He told him he would and would call him back tonight. When Leonard looked around his office, he thought about the bitch and all the issues they’d had with her when they moved her to accounting. She’d nailed them right off by turning them into the powers that be on some unfair hiring issues.

Of course she’d denied it, and so did the people who had come out, but Leonard knew as well as Nolan and Woodrow. That had cost them a pretty penny, and then he was told that if she suddenly lost her job, they would have to dig deeper. As fucked up as his accounting department and human recourses were, he didn’t want anyone digging any deeper than the grass. He was really fucking the company over with his habits.

Leonard had an addiction. It wasn’t money, though it usually came down to that. It was heroine, and he had a taste for it as badly as he needed his next breath. And he did the breathing thing a great deal, he thought with a laugh.

He’d started out as a simple cocaine user. He’d take a hit before a board meeting or when he had to be brought before his dad. In a short amount of time, it wasn’t enough. He didn’t just want a bigger high, but a longer one, until he could not function without at least a few hits every hour or so. And when he was high, he wanted everyone around him high, and that was fucking expensive, and the real reason he’d had to borrow so much money from the company. Borrow? Okay, hell, he’d taken it. His thoughts were it was his fucking company, right? But the government didn’t see it that way and frowned upon him taking things—money he’d skimmed from larger accounts—and spending it as he pleased. Fuckers.

He knew he was killing himself. Hell, a man had to die somehow, and why not as high as a kite? He didn’t drive when he was stoned—at least not that much—and he rarely did it before breakfast. Lately had been a fluke. He’d been under a great deal of stress. As soon as this was over, he’d slow down again. Maybe.

Leonard asked himself if he was planning to stop someday. He smiled…hell no. He was having too much fun to let it slow him down. Ever. But he had run into a bit of a problem when he’d realized as an audit approached that his little addiction was going to put him in jail. He’d
borrowed
too much.

Hell, all of it had come from the firm’s accounts and not a penny from his own money. Which, when he thought about it, wasn’t enough for all he had to put up with. And three months ago he had to put it all back when Abbie had noticed that the accounts were nearly forty million short. He had to go back over the accounting records she’d given him and saw that not only had he spent a great deal of money on the drugs, but he’d also had to pay out exorbitant amounts of money to hotels that had been trashed, a yacht that he’d borrowed that had been wrecked, and he’d also apparently purchased a dozen low end Ferraris as well as three dozen Rolexes that he had no idea where they’d gone. Leonard had had to go to Manny for a quick loan. It was that or prison. And the interest rate that Manny had given him was much better, in his eyes at least, than having to give all of it up and seeking professional help with his habits.