Page 110 of Barristers & Bones
“Has he hurt you?” I asked.
Evelyn looked away, and I saw her swallow heavily. “He’s hit me, and he threatens me almost every day.”
The silence in the room felt heavy and thick. Ezra stood, poured coffee, and handed the cups to Roman and me. He had a slight tremor in his hands, and as I reached out to take the cup, a few drops splashed over Evelyn’s white linen sheath.
She jerked back and glared at Ezra. “Damn it! You’re too old to play the gracious host anymore.”
Ezra grimaced at the small brown stains. “My apologies, I have a stain removal stick in the bathroom that may work.”
As he ushered her to his restroom, he looked back over his shoulder and gave me a slight nod.
While they worked on removing coffee stains, I quickly rummaged through her five-thousand-dollar designer handbag, pulled out her phone, and handed it to Roman. He then stepped out of the room. When Ezra and Evelyn came back, I listened to the woman lie through her teeth.
“If you give me a copy of those account records, I can use it as leverage to get a better settlement. He won’t know where I got them, so you should be perfectly safe.”
I told her what I expected in return. While we talked, I knew Ivan and Roman were in Sylvie’s office a couple of doors down, adding a program to Evelyn’s phone so we could eavesdrop on her conversations. They also planned to pull data from it if they could.
Roman returned a few minutes later with his own phone in hand, as if he’d just gotten off a call. But Evelyn had picked up her handbag and set it on her lap. As Evelyn got ready to leave, she put her bag on her shoulder.
I folded my arms and addressed her. “I’ll let you know when I decide. Have you given him divorce papers yet?”
She turned to me. “No, but as soon as I have some insurance, my attorney plans to have him served.”
While she faced me, Roman stepped up behind her and deftly slipped the phone back into her bag. Seconds later, she said goodbye and walked out.
We sat in Ivan’s office an hour later, listening to Evelyn make several phone calls from her hotel room. It’d been scary getting her phone back in her bag, and I was still coming down from the adrenaline high.
As we listened to her make the first call, I heard a man’s voice on the line. At first, I thought it was my father.
“Hello, darling. How did your fishing expedition go?” he asked.
“I think they bought it. I’m in my hotel room now. She wants his records on that horrid boys' ranch Montgomery was involved in, and whatever else I can scrounge up about his business dealings in return for the account numbers.”
“Are you going to provide those?” the man asked.
Evelyn hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t have much to give them. Since Luna stole that information, Montgomery has been much more careful with his records. I’ve looked around, but his account passwords are the only thing I’ve found that might be useful.”
“Offer her a small share of your settlement. She doesn’t have to know you plan to takeallthe money,” the man suggested.
My mother agreed. “It would be better not to implicate Montgomery anyway, since we don’t want the police looking too closely into his finances.”
“Give her the secret email account I set up for you, and tell her to send those account numbers in exchange for… say, a million dollars. Start there. If my niece is as smart as I remember, she’ll ask for more.”
Evelyn giggled, sounding so carefree and young it was creepy. “Just think, Alistair, in a month, maybe two, we should be on some tropical island, or maybe Europe somewhere, living rich and carefree without him, the police, or some government regulator breathing down your neck.” They continued planning and scheming as I sat down hard in a chair.
When they hung up, Alexa raised a brow and turned to me. “Isn’t Alistair your uncle’s name?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered faintly, my mind struggling to compute this strange twist.
She grimaced. “Holy shit. Your family might be even more dysfunctional than mine.”
Roman shook his head. “Jesus, what a mess. She’s having an affair with Montgomery’s brother, which puts you in even more danger. Your father isn’t going to give up that money easily, especially if he finds out it’s his own brother who’s fucking his wife.”
Evelyn made two more phone calls, one to her divorce attorney, and the last to a day spa to schedule an appointment.
I stood and paced. “Their divorce will make thatHousewivesshow look like child’s play.”
Ivan picked up an expensive-looking pen and started twirling it through his fingers as he stared at Alexa. I turned to them. “If my mother kept those passwords on her phone somewhere, can you guys find them?”
