“You’re endearing.”
When Perry slings his good arm around my shoulders, I let him. “I think I’m scared,” he admits.
Perry and scared aren’t two things I would have put together. “Really?”
“Well, yeah. This is serious shit, and I don’t know how we fix it. Us, your brother, my sister, and Lars. I sort of feel like I’m pulling everyone into this mess, like a black hole, and no one deserves to be here.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t you who did it. Instead of blaming yourself, blame Yanni, Luther, whoever. Not you.”
Because I won’t say it out loud, but Perry is one of those people who have the kind of soul that needs protecting. The kind that sees the best in people. The kind that doesn’t know how not to protect people and look after them.
I like that part of Perry a lot.
“I’ll try.”
My phone starts to ring, breaking up our moment, and Perry quickly pulls his arm back from me.
“I’m going to clean up and wake Lars while you take that.”
I’m about to tell him I don’t want to talk to anyone, but when I pull it out of my pocket, ready to silence it, I see the nameLivy Sullivanon the display.
It’s so fucking weird to be on the run for my life and running a business at the same time.
I answer it as Perry leaves. “Hey, Livy, how are you?”
“Yeah, I’m great. Just busy.” Her voice sounds distracted. “Iknow your staff said you’re not working today, so I’m sorry to call, I just wanted to get these books balanced from before the opening of Saint Clare’s so I can move on to working through the last month.”
“Yeah, I’ll help however I can, but I wasn’t lying when I said this isn’t my main department.”
Her sigh is tinged in frustration. “Any idea of when your brother will be back?”
The reminder that no, I fucking don’t shifts anxiety back into my gut. “Sorry, no. He’s out of range for a bit.”
There’s a long silence, and I check if she’s hung up, but the line is still showing as active.
“Livy?”
“No, I’m here, I …”
Her tone catches my interest. “Is something wrong?”
“Potentially. It might be nothing.”
“Do you want to explain that?”
There’s some rapid clicking on her end. “Those cash withdrawals you weren’t sure about on the statements happened again.”
I’m not following all of that, but judging by the worry tinging her words, I know it’s not pointing to anything good. “Okay …”
“Yesterday, there were multiple cash withdrawals for the same amount. Here’s the thing. Large cash withdrawals for the same amount at the same time every month raises red flags. It’s either illicit substances, a loan that’s trying to be hidden, or … services people don’t want anyone to find out about. In my experience, it’s rarely a good thing.”
Okay,thatI understand. Considering how preoccupied I was yesterday, I know for certain I didn’t take that money, and there’s only one other person with access to our account.
Colin.
“Can you see where the money was taken from?”
“Yeah, it’s got the ATM details there.”
