Their Virgin Hostage (Masters of Ménage #5)(36)

"How long?"

Law didn't pretend to misunderstand, and she appreciated that. "As far as I can tell they were lovers about six months before he met you."

"She introduced us." Kinley hadn't meant to admit that out loud. It probably made her sound even more naïve. But she supposed she was. She certainly felt that way.

Law's right shoulder shrugged up in a negligent gesture. "Sounds about right. I believe they've been colluding together for a while."

I have the perfect man for you, Kin. Don't screw this up. This is important. This could be your future.

She'd been so insistent. Becks hadn't taken no for an answer when Kinley had tried to get out of the date. Nope. Becks had come over to her apartment and helped style her hair and picked out her clothes. It had been nice for her sister to pay attention to her. She'd liked the thought they might grow closer. Becks had said she wanted that, too.

It had all been a lie.

"Your sister recently bought a multimillion-dollar life insurance policy on her husband." Riley placed a photocopy of the paperwork in front of her. No disputing the evidence. Becks had taken out a three-million-dollar policy on her husband, naming herself the sole beneficiary. She would absolutely benefit from his death, just the way Greg would have benefitted from hers once they'd been married.

Kinley took a long breath, wishing this nasty position she found herself in-deceived by her sister and fiancé, and used in a vendetta by the three men around her-wasn't real. But obviously, she'd been discounting the truth too often lately.

"Who would run Hope House if you die?" Dominic asked, his voice completely steady as though he wasn't shattering her world.

She suspected they damn well knew the answer, but told them anyway. "Becks."

"I'd bet every last dime I have that she's already dipping into your funds. I have no doubt she's the one who cashed those mystery checks from your charity's account," Law growled.

Kinley hated to believe that her sister could be capable of stealing from her. Cheating on her husband, yes. Becks had all but admitted it just before the ill-fated wedding. Sleeping with Greg was crushing enough. But this …  It felt like a poison-laced ice pick to the chest. But who else could it be? No one else knew where she kept the paperwork for Hope House. Becks was clever enough to forge her signature, too.

"Or I guess your dad could have taken the funds. After all, he has all those gambling debts to pay," Law said matter-of-factly.

"Gambling debts?"

Dominic dropped a series of photos of her father at the race track and at a poker table, smoking and drinking, his face grim. "Riley took those. He had a camera in his hoodie."

"Your father likes to play deep and he's horrible at the card table," Riley added. "He tugs on his ear or blinks a lot when he's bluffing. They're obvious tells."

Kinley didn't even know that her father liked playing cards. "Leave my dad out of this! He's got cancer."

Law knew that. She'd cried to "Mike" during a long conversation one night. She'd confessed how scared she was that she would lose her dad the way she'd lost her mom. She'd tearfully explained all the long nights she'd sat up with her mom and how she'd been forced to watch the woman who'd given birth to her waste away.



       
         
       
        

"Maybe this is a distraction for him," Kinley spit at them. "If he needs the diversion to escape a possibly terminal illness, I can't blame him. I'll talk to him about not playing in high-stakes games when I get home, but for now, he's off-limits."

"After you told me about his illness over the phone, I had Riley check it out," Law began. "He hacked into the patient records of the hospital your dad said he'd be going to. They have no record of him. Neither does a single oncologist on staff. Your dad doesn't have cancer. It's all a ruse to bilk you out of money."

"That can't possibly be true!" Of course it would be great news if her father wasn't dying, but she could hardly believe that he would scam her for money.

Law's face remained like granite, resolved and grim. She had a sudden feeling that the bad news wasn't going to stop. She forced herself to meet his stare. "Please don't do this to me."

He gave her no mercy. "Your father has been coming to you for money so he can pay his bookies. He's also run up all his credit cards. Someone, probably your sister, forged your name on his new applications as his cosigner." He grabbed yet another of those seemingly never-ending photos and shoved it toward her.