Page 9 of Scarlet Embrace

“What else?”

“A batch of fake bills, some shady real estate deals that I couldn’t look into because my father told me I was barking up the wrong tree.”

Something was wrong, but I couldn’t get the full picture, and even with this recent car theft, I can’t point hands at a particular suspect, which means they were either good at covering their tracks or they were someone high up.

“Seems you have your hands full,” Rufus said. “If I may offer my two dollars.”

We both laugh at his statement. The phrase goes back a few years after the death of my mother. Rufus had one day sat right beside me and said. “If I may offer my two cents—”

“Don’t have the need for two cents,” I had cut him off.

He paused, most likely taken by surprise at my statement. He then proceeded to ask what he might offer if I wasn’t interested in cents.

“I’ll take two dollars then,” I told him without looking up at him.

Ever since then, he always found a way to remind me of that single encounter, one that had come to cement our relationship.

“Claiming you have a spy would only make Andrew distrust you. Find your evidence and present it to him. Don’t blame anyone for the theft, but focus on recovering your cars, then find out how the thieves knew about it.”

It was the same thing I’d been doing, but maybe I was going about it the wrong way. A brilliant idea popped into my head, and I thanked Rufus, who seemed a little bit hesitant.

“Before you go rushing out, there’s something I’d like to tell you,” he said.

The tone in his voice made it obvious whatever he wanted to say was obvious, and I looked at him with all attention. Rufus told me I wasn’t getting any younger, and he asked me if I was planning to get married any time soon.

“Your father was your age when he had Daniel,” he pointed out to me.

You mean when he moved on from my mother’s death to have Daniel?

“My father and I are two different people, Rufus,” I said calmly.

True, I wasn’t getting any younger, and in two months, I’d hit thirty-five, but the marriage was the last thing I was looking forward to. In fact, I don’t have time for a relationship, and I don’t think I have enough time to spare with my present circumstances to think of starting one.

“Maybe, but you need a family of your own, Lucas. Family gives a man purpose, and you need one.”

Arguing with him wouldn’t get me anywhere, especially not when I had a few things to do. I told Rufus that I’d see what I could do, and he told me I had just a year to present a woman to him.

“Why are you giving me an ultimatum?” I asked, surprised.

“Because that might be the only way to get you to act,” he answered.

I sighed, knowing there was no arguing with him since he seemed pretty much determined. There’ll be time to talk him out of it, and I was happy he was the one making that demand and not my father. I spent a few more minutes with Rufus before I hurried outside to enact the idea I had. Sonto had mentioned that he couldn’t find the cars in the city, but what if they weren’t in the city?

There were only a handful of people who would be able to hide eight luxurious cars in the city, and my family was one of them. All this while, we’ve been under the assumption that whoever had stolen the cars was using conventional means, but if they were working with the spy or were sent by the spy, then the real target was to undermine my effort, which would mean that I need to check within our organization.

“Did you have a good time with Rufus?” Thomas said as I got into the car.

“Yes, and I think I know how to get the cars,” I said with a bright smile.

“How?”

“I need a list of our empty warehouses. It’s possible that someone in my family is helping me hold onto those cars, and all I need to do is find the warehouses we own.”

“That seems quite a stretch,” Thomas pointed out as we drove out of Rufus’s estate.

Yeah, it really does seem like a stretch, but that was my current situation. I need to find whoever was behind this whole thing and bring them to justice. There’s no way I’m going down with a fight. In fact, I’m not going down as I was going to find out the identity of the person behind everything and pay them with their own coin.

CHAPTER 5: ELENA