Page 44 of Crash Over Us
Margot crumpled one of the sheets of paper in her fist and shook it at me. “Is this true? Are you the Island Stewards, LLC?”
It was like someone had tied an anchor to my body and dropped me off the side of a ship. I was sinking fast to the bottom of the ocean.
“Caleb? This money. It’s from you, isn’t it?” she pressed. The accusation was rhetorical. She already knew the answer.
I glared at Dean. “What are you doing? What are you trying to do?”
He scoffed. “I’m just doing my job. Following the law. Something you are not doing by putting Margot in this position.”
A shot of fear ran through me. This was not fucking happening. I had done my due diligence. Set up two different LLCs with the help of my brother’s advisor. This was supposed to protect me and Margot. How had Dean figured it out?
“What difference does it make where the money came from?” I asked. It was a weak defense, but I wanted to throw up as many shields as I could.
“Because I know you don’t have this kind of money. It came from Carrie, didn’t it? You took the money she kept pushing on you.” There were tears in Margot’s eyes. “You swore you didn’t.”
Dean looked at her, then me. “Wait, where did the money come from? From someone you know?”
I shook my head, trying to warn Margot not to say another word. “From the mom of the little boy we rescued.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t believe you would do this. God dammit, Caleb.”
“I was trying to help you. I was trying to do a good thing. You were drowning in debt. Debt you didn’t deserve. It was killing you. I had to do something. You wouldn’t accept my help or anyone’s help. Even Dean’s,” I growled at him.
She whirled on me. “But Carrie? You know there are strings attached to that money. You know all she wants is to sleep with you! That is her only objective. It has been since she met you in the hospital.”
I saw the smile appear on Dean’s face. I needed to get this under control fast. She didn’t know what she was doing, but Margot had already fed him what he’d been looking for for years. A way to hurt me.
“Let’s go back inside and talk about it,” I pleaded.
“I can’t talk about it right now. I need you to go.”
I lunged toward Dean. “You did this.”
“Don’t!” Margot screamed.
Dean backed up with a terrified look on his face. “I will call every cop on this island. You know I have their personal numbers.”
I exhaled. “You know she needed this money.” I stared hard into his eyes. “But you don’t care, do you?”
“I represent my client. And if she has received money that was not legally available or has broken a federal statute, then…”
“Federal statute? What are you talking about?” I barked. “It helped her save the marina. She can stay on Marshoak now.”
I hated the pompous look on Dean’s face. “Bribing an officer? You took money, man. You can’t do that. And if the mother implies there was some kind of relationship. A sexual one?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake. I didn’t sleep with Carrie. Margot knows that.”
Dean shook his head. “You are the one who put Margot in danger by accepting funds you had no right to take. She then used those funds to pay taxes to the government, Officer O’Connor,” he snarled my name with such spite I wanted to slug him.
I rubbed the side of my face to keep from forming a fist and punching him anyway.
“I didn’t take your damn spot in the Coast Guard.” I gritted my teeth. “This revenge plot you’ve had going since then is fucked, man.”
“What?” Margot’s voice sounded as if it were in a faraway tunnel. “What revenge?”
I turned to her. “You know this thing that you’ve asked about… why Dean and I don’t get along? Yeah, well it’s because he blames me for taking his commission in the Coast Guard. I haven’t been able to explain to him why he’s wrong. It’s not how it works. If he didn’t make it in, that was on him.”
Dean spat back, “You’re a legacy Coast Guardsman. Of course, it’s how it works. They only had one post on Marshoak Island. Who was going to get it? You, the legacy.”
“You could have gone somewhere else, Dean. You could have taken another commission. I didn’t take your spot.”
