Secret Designs(43)

"You know, Dylan, you're not the only one who's had a painful past," she said with censure.

He gulped, shamed. "I realise that. I'm sorry. Please give me another chance. At least hear me out," he implored.

He held his breath as he waited for her response, hoping she wouldn't ask him to leave instead.

"What did she do to you? Your ex?"

He leaned on the kitchen counter, relief making him weak. She was going to listen and he was going to take this chance to tell her the whole story.

"She tried to steal from me. I'd been going out with her for three months when she sprang on me that her dad needed a heart bypass surgery as soon as possible. I've never met her dad. In fact, we've never met each others' families. But I didn't have a reason to disbelieve her at the time.

"Anyway, she was a smooth talker. She said that while Medicare covered much of the surgery expenses, she said there were out-of-pocket and after-surgery-care costs that her parents just couldn't afford. I found myself offering her some money to help cover her father's care. She sat beside me while I did an electronic funds transfer from my account to hers. It never occurred to me that she would memorise my bank customer number and password. My online personal account was linked with our company bank account. Logging in to my account also gave access to the company's money.

"Around that time Trey, Adam, and I were waiting to get paid a large fee for a big project we'd just delivered to a client. We were initially annoyed that the pay was delayed by a couple of weeks, but it turned out to be a blessing. I was checking the bank account one day and noticed the area where the bank tells you the date and time you last logged in. I knew it had been a good few days since I was online and it wasn't me who logged in on the date the bank showed.

"There were no suspicious items on the accounts, but I was worried enough to call the bank. That was when I found out someone had increased my daily online transfer limit to a substantially larger amount. No wonder she borrowed my mobile phone at one point. She was waiting for the security code texted by the bank to my phone to activate the increased transfer limit.

"The bank had a record of someone logging into my account daily after I transferred money to her. She must have been waiting for our big pay day. If the payment for that big project had gone through on time she could have easily taken a couple of hundred thousand dollars in the span of a week. I don't check my accounts often, and she knew that.

"I told Trey and Adam my suspicions. They were livid, of course. It was their money, too, that I'd jeopardised. We set up a mini sting operation and caught her trying to access my account. She confessed after that and pleaded for my forgiveness."

Dylan took a deep breath as he tried to gauge Ari's expression. She'd been quiet throughout his whole story.

"What happened afterwards?" she asked finally.

He shrugged. "We broke up. I told her never ever to show her face to me again."

"Didn't you report her to the police?"

"No," he said with a deep sigh. "First, it was my fault for not securing my password and my phone. Second, I don't believe she had done it before. Third, Trey, Adam and I put the fear of God in her to make sure she doesn't attempt something like that again. All it took was to show her how easy it was to trace people through IP addresses, and such. It dawned on her she couldn't possibly get away with something like that."

He paused before continuing. "And fourth, even at this moment, I'm still fucking ashamed of my stupidity. My family doesn't even know."

"She must have been desperate. Was her dad even sick?" Ari asked.

"Apparently not. She just thought I was an easy target."

She was silent for what seemed like ages.

"Ari? What are you thinking?" he asked. His arms ached to hold her but he refrained, waiting for her to make the next move.

"You and your friends thought I was making it up when I said I was giving financial support to my sister and my nephew," she accused.

"There was a question mark, especially in Trey's mind," he admitted. "But as for me, it's not about the money, Ari. I don't care about the money. It was about whether your feelings for me were real or not."

Ari's eyes flashed in anger. "Whether it's about the money or not, you still thought I was a scheming whore who slept with you to get to your pockets."

He rubbed his face in anguish. "I never thought you were a whore, Ari. Please don't use that term on yourself!" he said insistently. "The whole problem was me—my fears, my guilt, my shame from something I should have buried years ago. I see that now. I'm ruining my present because I've failed to move on from it. But I'm willing to close that chapter now, Ari. Please. I just want to be with you."