Time to Play(53)
“That’s my sister you’re talking about. Sign the paper before I end you.”
John picked up the pen, signing his name.
Simone looked at his signature. “Now, sign mine.”
He hesitated, and Daniel pressed into the base of his back. “Sign her name.” He signed her name. She grabbed the piece of paper then pulled out the one she’d found in the filing cabinet. Matching them up, it was a perfect fit.
She turned both pieces of paper round to show John. He paled.
“What the blazes is going on?” Malcolm asked. His voice rose in the airy office.
“The man you’ve been paying to try to take us down, decided to steal from us. Not only that, he’s been broadcasting your daughter over the internet and getting profit without her knowledge,” Callum said.
“I don’t understand why you did it,” Simone said.
“You have no right asking him these questions. I suggest you leave,” Malcolm said.
“Don’t interfere, Malcolm. We’ll come to you in a minute,” her brother said.
Simone did not take her eyes off John. “Why did you do it?”
John looked at her and sneered. “It is all right for you. You grew up in luxury. I needed the money.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Malcolm yelled.
John stared at her father, and she saw the look of revulsion on his face. “I did everything you asked. I’ve given you more than enough to take down their company. The moment they took over the agency it was a piece of cake.”
She looked at Cole and Callum to see their reaction. The file in front of her father contained important information. Daniel grabbed it off the desk. He flicked through the contents and paled. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” he asked.
Malcolm reached for the file, but her brother held it out of his reach. She watched, shocked, as her father remained silent.
“You could ruin everything with this,” Daniel said.
“What do you mean?” Simone asked.
“Stealing is a criminal offence. If he’s convicted he’d be doing time,” Cole said.
Simone looked over at her father. “All this over a woman?”
John laughed. “He’s got a real grudge against these two. He wants them out of the picture.”
“Why are you suddenly being forthcoming?” her brother asked.
“You’ve got me. I think it’s best if I cooperate.”
“No, his debt collectors are after him,” Malcolm said, finally saying a word.
Her head was beginning to hurt. “Debt collectors?”
Malcolm smirked. “I do my background work properly. You like the cards and pretty much any game that risks losing you money, don’t you? He’s up to his neck in debt and not from the sort who can wait for their money back.”
“Wait? This is all about money?” Callum asked.
She watched John bite his lip but didn’t say a word.
“How much are we talking?” Callum spoke again.
The two men remained silent.
“What does the debt matter?” she asked.
“Why would someone steal money from us as well as being paid to steal facts about our business, and then set up cameras in your apartment? There are too many money grabbing schemes here. How much money are we talking?” Callum explained the facts. John must be making plenty from the two jobs. Why set up the cameras?
John mumbled a seven figure sum. Simone paled at the amount. “How can you get into that much debt?”
“I guess you haven’t been to Vegas, baby,” Cole said. “In twenty-four hours on some high price stakes you can lose triple that.”
Her body was shaking at the amount.
“Let me guess. They were coming to collect?” Cole asked him.
John stared at Malcolm and then turned to Callum. “He goes down with me?”
“He won’t be leaving this unscathed.”
“Three collectors were knocking on my door, and Malcolm paid enough to keep them off my back for a price,” John said.
“Shut your fucking mouth.”
“We already have the evidence, Dad,” Daniel said, silencing their father.
“I was to get employed by the marketing firm that was handling your advertising. While I was there I was to gather as much information as possible.”
“We’d never suspect anything from an unknown source,” Cole said.
“When you bought the company, I was able to get everything he needed. He’s supposed to pay me the rest when the job was done.”
“Why did you put the cameras in my apartment?” she asked.
John sighed. “My creditors came calling.”
“There were more creditors than I anticipated,” Malcolm said.