Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Suddenly desperate to set the record straight, to come clean, I rushed into my bedroom, stripping out of my wet pants and slipping on a fresh pair before making my way back into the living room.
I rushed around, grabbing what was left of the money that I’d taken from Rico but hadn’t handed over to Kyle—and, apparently, Jake—yet, and counted it up before stashing it in my purse.
I was going to go find Rico.
I was going to tell him what happened.
I’d give him the money I’d stolen.
I’d clean out my account and give him that as well.
I’d swear to pay the rest of it back. Every single penny. Even the ten grand he’d given me purely out of the goodness of his heart.
I’d apologize.
I’d make this right, damnit.
It was the only thing left to do.
I didn’t have any delusions that it could somehow erase the betrayal, that he could actually forgive me for what I’d done. Not just stealing from him. I did think he had enough good in him to understand the situation I was in and forgive that.
But lying to him.
But letting him hold me and kiss me and make love to me while I was keeping this awful secret from him, while I was screwing him over behind his back.
He couldn’t forgive that.
I couldn’t expect him to.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t owe it to him to confess and make a plan to pay him back.
Decision made, I slipped into my shoes and jacket.
It didn’t matter that I didn’t even know where he was at this time of night.
I would find him, damnit.
I could start at the meat shop in case he was there after hours doing some work.
“I’ll be back, buddy. I’m going to go make this right,” I told Evander. “But you might never get to see Rico again after this,” I added. I swear he looked at me like he understood. And that he would never forgive me for fucking up his life as well.
I’d let down everyone down.
But I would have to deal with Evander later.
I had to find Rico now.
I made my way to the door.
I pulled it open.
Only to find Rico standing there.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, babe?” he asked, his voice tight.
He knew.
Oh, God, he knew.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rico
I could look past one week where the books weren’t right. But the second week of a few grand missing had alarms going off in my mind.
“What’s going on?” Bass asked as he walked into the office at the meat shop after hours.
“I think I got a problem,” I admitted as he dropped into the seat across from the desk.
“What kind of problem?” he asked, leaning back.
“A problem where my books aren’t balancing right,” I told him.
“How imbalanced are they?” he asked, leaning forward.
“Couple grand last week and this week.”
“You’re sure it’s the books, not the calculator?”
“You got something to say?” I asked, tone going cold.
“Look, I’m happy to see you distracted. Kick’s been good for you. But if your head isn’t completely on the books when you’re working on them, you could fuck up the math.”
“Been counting since I was five. Been balancing books since I was in my teens. I didn’t fuck this up twice in a row,” I said, pushing the books across the desk to him. “But go over ‘em yourself. Let me know if I fucked something up. Because if I didn’t, I have a big fucking problem.”
I sat there waiting as Bass went over the books line by line. Starting at the most recent week, then working backward.
He sucked in a deep breath, looking up at me.
“You’ve never misplaced a dollar before,” he concluded. “Until the past two weeks. It looks like seven grand total.”
“Fuck,” I sighed, leaning back in my chair.
“No one is new, right?” he asked, closing the notebooks and passing them back to me.
“No.”
“Makes no sense. Why would someone be here for months, or longer, never stealing a dime, only to turn around and start taking thousands?”
“That’s what I want to know,” I agreed.
“Timing-wise, this started not long after the robbery, right?”
“Right.”
“Maybe someone found out and thought it was a sign of weakness?” Bastian suggested. “Decided to take advantage of the situation?”
“If that’s the case, I need to find the fuck and make him see that I’m not someone who can be taken advantage of.”
To that, Bass nodded. “How well do you know everyone who works here?”
“I dunno, man. Know Ricky better than anyone. Know some basic facts about everyone else. But they’re just… employees. Not part of the family. I didn’t do background checks on any of ‘em.”
“Who has access to the register?”
“Everyone,” I admitted, suddenly seeing what a flaw that was now. “There’s only one. And when shit is busy, they all share it.”
“Do they all cash out the drawer?”
“Usually Ricky. But the cash-out is just taking out the excess, putting it in a sealed bag with the receipts, and putting them in the drop box right outside of the office. Then I deal with it from there.”