Tempting the Crown(266)
She stared at the sheet. She couldn’t face them. “Remember when someone hacked your payroll system two years ago?”
“Are you talking about HiTech Global right now?” Deacon asked.
She nodded. She had to fight the tears. These weren’t happy ones. “Cal has had all kinds of ideas to make cash. It never ends. One of those ideas was training me to be a hacker. And I hacked HiTech’s payroll for a quarter. I transferred the payments into one of Cal’s offshore accounts. Small amounts so they wouldn’t be traced. And only for three months. But it was me. I stole from you.”
The room was quiet. She looked up. Abby’s heart fell to her stomach.
34
Cole
He’d never loved a woman like he loved Abby. He couldn’t imagine sharing anything more intense than taking her virginity the way he had this morning. But now she was sitting in between him and Deacon, confessing to theft. To hacking. To hiding money.
Cole bit his lip. He was stunned.
“Cal made you hack into our payroll?” He tried to keep his voice calm.
She nodded. “I knew it was wrong. I knew stealing from you was wrong. I didn’t touch the employees’ income, just the company portions. I know that doesn’t make it any better, but Cal didn’t know where the money came from, only that it ended up where he wanted it.”
Deacon pressed his lips together. “This is it, isn’t it? This is what the fucked up money philosophy is all about?”
She nodded. “Yes,” she whispered.
He pushed off the bed and paced at the window. “Damn it, Abby.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Cole stared at her. “What did you mean we were going to find out?”
“Cal is blackmailing me. He said if I didn’t get cash to him this morning he was going to the press and outing me.”
“That’s insane.”
She sniffed. “I didn’t want to ask for the money and I don’t have enough to pay him.” He saw the look of desperation in her eyes. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed by me. I don’t want to tarnish Soar. It means so much to you. God, I don’t know what to do to make this right.”
“You should have told us,” Deacon growled. “From the beginning. You should have told us.”
“I wasn’t in the best position to say much.” She stared at him. “I wasn’t a guest here.”
Cole placed a hand on her knee. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve told us now. We have to figure out how to deal with your cousin.”
Deacon continued to pace. He knew his friend would be angry for a while. But he knew exactly what was going through his head. He was pissed at Cal—not Abby.
“You what?” She blinked back the tears.
Cole pressed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”
She shook her head, her hair flying around her bare shoulders. “No. I’ll leave. I’ll resign from my position at Soar. You can clean up the PR nightmare when I’m out of the picture.”
Deacon rushed to the side of the bed. “Hell no.”
Her eyes flew to his. “Don’t try to protect me in this. I did it. I hacked in. I helped Cal. And maybe I didn’t get caught then, but I’m going to have to pay for it now.”
Deacon’s hands moved to her face. “We’ve all done shit we’re not proud of, sweetheart. But no one is going to hurt you again. Cole and I will make sure of that.”
“How can you forgive me?” she whispered.
Cole smiled. “You were in bed with us about thirty minutes ago, weren’t you?”
She blushed. She was beautiful and sexy. Still so innocent. “Yes.”
“You belong to us. We belong to you. That means something, Abby. Deacon and I will take care of your cousin.”
There was alarm in her voice. “Are you going to pay him off?”
Deacon scoured the room for his clothes. He threw a shirt at Cole. “He’s not going to bother you.”
“Wait. Please tell me something. Anything,” she pleaded.
Cole leaned to kiss her on the cheek before he and Deacon left. “We’ve got you. We’ve got this. Try to get some sleep.”
“Sleep? You expect me to sleep?”
“Work?” he suggested.
“I have to get to the office. I have another Soar meeting.”
“Good. We’ll meet you there. And stop worrying.”
35
Abby
There was no point in sitting around her room. Abby hopped from the bed and walked to the master suite. She started the hot water in the shower. At least if she were in her office she could be distracted. She’d rather listen to Maureen ramble on about her dating life than sit alone and worry about what could happen when Cole and Deacon faced Cal.