Their Virgin Hostage (Masters of Ménage #5)(26)

Law laughed, the sound of a deeply amused man. "Absolutely. You wouldn't believe how many, baby."

He needed to rein this thing in. She was beautiful and seemed fragile, but he knew something Law didn't. "Tell him about your charity, Kinley. Tell him about the checks you've been writing."

She turned, a startled expression settling on her face. "What? You can't have abducted me to talk about Hope House."

Luckily, he had everything laid out. He opened the folder in his hand and set the documents Riley had dug up on the table in front of her. "Is that your handwriting?"

She set her coffee mug down, then picked up one of the copies of the checks. Her face flushed. "Yes. That looks like my signature. But why is it made out to 'Cash'? I never need cash for the charity. Everything comes through vendors and we use our Tax ID to get exemption. These are the private checks, but they're just for backup. I've never used one."



       
         
       
        

So she was going to play dumb. "Over the last six weeks, you've drained almost fifty thousand dollars out of that charity."

She put her hand to her mouth. "No, I haven't. You're lying!"

And now Riley came in handy. He had his laptop open and ready. "This is your bank account for the charity. As you can see, over the last six weeks, there have been five checks written for cash, each for nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. One penny more and you would have been required to fill out forms. Someone knows their banking regulations. You're down to almost nothing in that account."

He saw Law's face fall as he looked down at the evidence in front of him. Damn, Dominic knew he was to blame for this mistake. He'd allowed Law to focus fully on surveillance and hadn't brought him into the loop during the investigative portion. All Law needed was firm proof that his honey was involved in Jansen's organization, and he would stop thinking with his dick and be ready to roll on the mission again.

Law took a step back from Kinley. "When did the money start disappearing? What date? What time was the check cashed?"

Riley ran his hands across the computer screen. "The first date was May tenth and the time stamp on the check is two thirty-five pm."

Law held up a hand. "Give me a minute."

Kinley sank into her chair. "I don't understand. I knew the balance was bad, but I had no idea the account was so close to empty. Greg promised he would write a check for a hundred thousand as a wedding present to me."

"As a wedding present or to cover your tracks?" Dominic paced as he talked.

"What? No! It wasn't to cover up anything. It was the first part of the fifty million he promised to endow the charity with."

"All right. Did he ask you to take out the funds?"

There was a time and a place to be the good cop. He'd be the best cop ever if she could help him pin illegal activities on Jansen.

"Greg never mentioned anything about it. I know this looks bad."

"This looks criminal," Riley pointed out.

"But I didn't have anything to do with this."

Was she telling the truth? Dominic sat across from her. Sometimes he thought he'd become far too cynical because he saw lies everywhere. Still, he had those checks. She'd signed them. She'd taken the money. Maybe she'd had virtuous reasons. Maybe not.

Dominic felt a little wave of peace flow over him. He was in control again. This was right where he needed to be. She didn't know it yet, but he was her best bet to avoid both jail time and her own murder. "Then don't make me use this. Work with me. Let's talk about your fiancé." 

"I already tried, man," Riley said.

He ignored his friend. "The feds haven't been able to catch your fiancé, but I'm going to."

Her eyes came up, narrowing as she looked him over. "What did you say your name was?"

"I'm Dominic Anthony." There was no reason to lie to her. At the end of the day, she would be grateful he'd helped her. And if her gratitude didn't keep them out of the pen, then he would blackmail her with the information she was looking at.

"Are you any relation to Carrie Anthony?"

His gut turned a little. Had that fucker been talking about her? "Yes. She was my younger sister."

Those brown eyes turned sympathetic. "I'm so sorry about her death. She was far too young to go."

"Yes, she was." He let a moment of silence pass. "Especially since Greg killed her."

She should fully understand why he had chosen this path.

"Is that what this is all about?" She stared at him. "Mr. Anthony, I am truly sorry about your sister. Greg says she was a wonderful woman. He has a portrait of her that he keeps in the house. She was so beautiful."