“What if they hurt Lia?”
“This is why we have to be strong. I’m not going to lie to you, Annabelle. These scumbags are capable of anything. But if they gain positions of power this way, they’ll hurt a lot more people along the way. We cannot bend to their wishes. I understand if you want out. But we have a better chance if we find out who did this, and make them pay now, and get them out of the company.”
I take a breath and gather my composure. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
When I get to the hospital, the nurse informs me that they are waiting on the test and examination results, but so far there are no signs of any serious injury.
“Oh, thank God. Can I see her?”
“She should be right out. Just give the doctor a few minutes to go over the tests.”
“Thank you.”
After what seems like thirty minutes, Lia comes out of the double doors leading to the patient waiting area. “Hey, moneybags.”
“Lia!” I run up to her and hug her. “How are you feeling?”
“The asshole scratched my face up.” She scowls and points to her bandage. “These better not scar, or I’m going to kill that piece of shit.”
“I have some aloe vera gel that will fix you right up.” I hug her and we head out to the car. “Lia, we’re probably going to have to talk to the police tomorrow. These papers they were looking for…” I say while getting in the car.
“The contract or whatever the assholes were going on about?”
“Yeah. Kalin’s place was ransacked too. So we’re pretty certain this has to do with him. I can tell you the whole story when we get home. But he’s not doing anything wrong. I am so sorry. This is my fault.” I pull out of the lot.
“It’s not your fault, Belle. If Kalin is straight, that is? How much do you really know about what he’s doing?” She wrinkles her brows and narrows her eyes.
“The executives, the ones we think are behind this. They’re trying to wrest control of the company from him. Kalin offered me a lot of stock to prevent what they are trying to do.”
“How much is a lot?”
“Do you know the bonus money I got?”
“Yeah, of course. How could I forget, moneybags?” She gives me a teasing smile.
“This is going to make that look like spare change.”
“Holy shit, Belle. How much are we talking about anyway?”
“Enough to piss those guys off. Enough to try and scare us out of the deal.”
I glance at Lia and she’s staring ahead with her mouth partially open.
“What he’s doing is planning to take away some of the executives’ wealth and power of decisions. They don’t take kindly to that sort of thing. I’m sorry, Lia. They’re trying to scare us into not going forward. They knew they would get to me if they hurt you. He’s going with me to the police station tomorrow. Kalin thinks that they came after you because it would keep me from going forward with this. If it were just me, or him, then they know it wouldn’t scare us off. But you—he thinks they were trying to hit a soft spot with me.”
“How would they know that?”
“I don’t know. But they’ve done this before. And Kalin thinks they were following us.”
“Jesus Christ, that is creepy Belle. Were they outside of our apartment?” She lifts her dark brows at me.
“I don’t know. But I’m not going to do this if you don’t want me to. Our friendship is too important, and I don’t know what these goons are capable of.”
“No, fuck them. If Kalin can show us all that he’s on the up and up, and these thugs are just trying to steal from him…or whatever…then fuck them.”
I pull into the apartment driveway and help Lia out of the car. “I don’t want to see anything else happen to you, Lia. If you want me to stop and walk away, I will.”
“No. No! Fuck them. Look what they did to me, Belle. You think I want them to walk away with the money? Fuck no. Nothing would give me more satisfaction than seeing them lose millions of dollars, and see it transferred to you.” I notice that in spite of her injuries to her face and arms, she holds her shoulders back and radiates confidence. I cannot help but feel absolute love and admiration for her in this moment.
I hug her. “You are my inspiration, girlfriend. I love you.”
“I love you too, babygirl.”
“There’s just one more thing.”
“Oh, Jesus, Belle, what could possibly top what you just told me?”
“I think you should come inside and sit down for this.”
Chapter Eleven
Lia situates herself on the couch, away from the rip, and I bring her a glass of chardonnay. “Don’t worry about this mess,” I say. “I’ll clean up the rest tomorrow morning.” I step over a stack of scattered papers, sofa foam, and bits of broken furniture.