Page 75 of Defending Love
I shook my head. “Not yet. That’s one of my questions, to ask him for a fingerprint sample. Also, he had access to your and your parents’ electronics. The virus was being sent to the Indianapolis area.”
“Again, nearly two million other possibilities. And they were on his electronics too.”
“A good way to throw us off.”
I inhaled.
“Okay, the most damning is a recent five-million-dollar withdrawal from his crypto account.”
Her arms dropped to her side. “A five-million-dollar withdrawal, when?”
“Ten days before your father was shot.”
Taking two steps, I moved closer, cupping her soft cheek. “Dani, you wanted honesty. That’s the God’s honest truth. I asked Ben to run a check on Darius’s and Damien’s financials. Guardian didn’t even know about Damien’s crypto account last year. I’m not sure if he had it and we missed it, or it’s new. The point is that he took half of the value from the account.”
Dani took a step back. “I can’t believe what you’re saying.”
“You don’t want to believe it. There’s a difference.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Let’s think this through. Did Damien reinvest it somewhere?”
Inhaling, I nodded. “I didn’t ask. Maybe Damien can shed some light on the subject.”
The uncertainty in her blue orbs caused my chest to ache. I wanted to take that doubt away and give her back the life she had—no, more than that, the life we could have together.
The ring of her doorbell echoed through the condominium.
“You can ask questions,” she said matter-of-factly, “but I’m going to be present. I want to hear what he says.”
I nodded. “Let me answer the door.”
“You don’t honestly think Damien is going to pull a gun on me in my own home.”
I didn’t think he would. I was more concerned that he wasn’t the person who would show. Removing my gun from the holster, I walked to the door, ready to meet face-to-face with our FBI frauds.
“Eli,” Damien said. His gaze quickly moved to the gun in my lowered hand and back to me. “What the hell?”
“You hired him,” Dani said jokingly, coming from behind me. “We’re a bit on edge.”
“Why, has something new happened?”
Dani led her brother inside. “My refrigerator is pretty bare. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No, I’ve already had too much coffee,” Damien said, watching as I secured my gun in my holster. “Tell me what has you unnerved.”
Dani sat on the sofa where last night she’d had her feet in my lap. Damien took a chair near the window, leaving me to either sit with Dani or opposite Damien. I chose the latter.
“We had some excitement in Florida,” Dani began. She went on to tell him about the FBI men who visited the villa.
To his credit, Damien seemed rightfully appalled and concerned. He turned to me. “You reported them, right?”
I shook my head. “No. I didn’t want to tip them off that we knew they were impostors.”
“Well, fuck, Dani. No wonder you came home a day early.” He leaned back, crossing his ankle over his knee. “I don’t get it. You said someone took all of Dad’s journals from his desk but didn’t take anything from his safe.”
“We thought maybe they didn’t know about the safe until we opened it. As for missing, I don’t know if anything was missing,” Dani said. “I just know it contained items.”
“Where are the contents you found?”
