Page 36 of Everything After

“I’m not being outranked by some fucking bitch!” Ronan says, spitting in Mason’s face. Mason casually pulls a pistol from his waistband holster and presses it under his chin to force his head up slightly.

“Say it again,” Mason says, but then the rage we all know and love slips in. “Say it again, Ronan! You want to talk shit? Go ahead. Call my sister a bitch again!”

“Mason,” I say simply.

“You’re lucky,” Mason says, slamming his head back against the wall before turning and walking back to sit. Bella moves over to sit in his lap, but I don’t move. Ronan stares me down as Beckett wraps his arm around my waist.

“Enjoy the party, Ronan,” I say, smiling at him. I keep my eyes fixed on him, knowing I can’t be the first to look away. Eventually, he scoffs and walks out of the shop to get on his bike. When he pulls out, he hammers down on the throttle to speed away.

Something tells me there is more going on here than I originally thought.

Chapter Sixteen

Beckett

Two Days Later

I’m staring at the computer, but this cannot be right. How is he missing so much money? Mason and I officially discussed joining everything, but we would run things together. In doing so, we decided that he would go through my books, and I would go through his. Now, I am looking at nearly a million dollars missing, and he has no idea.

I rub my hands down my face and lean back as Sierra walks into my office. “Hey, Kitten,” I say as she moves to sit in my lap. She straddles me and drops her forehead to my chest. I chuckle and wrap my arms around me. “Everything okay?”

“I hate people,” she mutters.

“Me too, baby,” I laugh. “Something happen?”

“Not really. Just a bunch of stupid people.” She sighs and sits up. “How are you?”

“Uh…” I laugh nervously. “Any suggestions on how to tell your brother that Shaw Customs is missing nearly a million dollars?”

“What?!” she gasps. “How?!”

“I don’t know,” I say, pointing at the computer behind her. “I’ve run the numbers at least a dozen times now.”

“Shit…” she says, turning to look at the screen. “Where is it going?”

“To an offshore account, it looks like,” I say. “But the trail is a bit hard to follow. It switches between different customer accounts, a few vendors, and then is being paid out to a bank out of the country.”

“That’s… Let me grab Bella,” she says before leaving the office. A few seconds later, she comes back with Bella as she quietly explains what’s going on.

“Oh, hell,” Bella says, walking around to look at the screen. “This is bad.”

“This is really bad,” I say. “Either he is stealing from himself, or someone is stealing from him. Now, I know Mason wouldn’t do some dumb shit like that, but someone there is.”

“Hey, guys,” Mason says, walking in with Ace behind him.

“Shut the door,” I say simply.

“Uh oh. I know that look,” Mason says. Ace shuts the door and sits.

“Come sit,” I say, standing up from my chair. Mason gives me a confused look, but then sits. “Take a look.”

“You’re still working on this?” Mason chuckles. “I finished yours hours ago…”

“Tell me what you see,” I say.

“I… Are these numbers correct?” Mason asks, scrolling through the document.

“They are,” I confirm.