Edward felt as though someone had just pulled the rug out from under him. “Dammit. I think we had been making the assumption that Tex Johnson had been attempting to sabotage the company because he wanted it to fold and then he intended to sell off the pieces.”
“Why would he want to damage the company if he wanted the money from it?” Diana did not sound as though she were trying to be rude. She was just pointing out something that was a bit of an inconsistency. “If you were going to try and steal a company from the heirs and sell it off, or even to force the heirs to sell it off by exercising your rights as a primary shareholder, then why would you do anything to damage the assets? That would just be making your payout less. Right?”
Edward stared at the ledger. It was all squiggles right now. He could not see past the huge wall he was visualizing in his brain. He was beginning to think that they were approaching this whole thing from the wrong angle. Tex Johnson was dead. Their only source of information or chance to discover why and how was gone. How convenient.
“What happened to Tex?” Diana asked quietly. “The papers were rather vague.”
“He attacked my mother and Skye hit him with a golf trophy.” Edward realized he needed to be clear. “That wasn’t actually how it died though. He tripped over that trophy when it fell to the floor and bashed his head on his desk.” Edward did not add that it was the desk he was currently sitting at or mention that Tex’s dead body had once sat on the floor right there between Diana’s chair and Edward’s desk. They had gotten rid of those items and scoured the office. Unfortunately it did not lessen the creepy factor.
“So his death was kind of an accident,” Diana mused. Then she bit her lower lip and sighed. “Except what if it wasn’t really an accident? What if it was meant to happen? Even if he didn’t realize that, maybe someone else did.”
Edward almost could not wrap his mind around that idea because it suggested one person more than anyone else, and Edward just wasn’t ready to believe that his mother could concoct a plan quite this elaborate. Surely not. Surely this was more coincidence than anything else. Wasn’t it?
Chapter Five
Diana knew from personal experience that it was damn hard to accept when your parent was not just dirty, but also scheming and underhanded. Those were difficult concepts to wrap your head around. She’d had difficulty with that herself. As she watched Edward try to search his mind for possible culprits to blame for the current state of affairs at King Security Solutions, Inc she thought that he was probably avoiding the obvious.
“Okay.” She waved her hands in front of her to get his attention. “Let’s think of this another way, shall we?”
“And how is that?” There was a smile playing at the corners of Edward’s mouth. “Because the truth is that you don’t need to be thinking about this at all. It isn’t your problem. It’s mine. I’m sure you have enough on your plate without adding this mess to your list.”
“Maybe.” Diana shrugged. “But maybe I’m also hoping that if I help you unwind this mess you’ll reconsider my job offer.”
“Your job offer?”
“Yes!” Diana wanted to groan but managed to keep a lid on it. Surely he had not thought she was fibbing about wanting him to come and work for her firm? “I want you to come and work with me. I think it would be something that you would not only enjoy but that you would be good at. Is that really so surprising?”
“I’m sorry.” Edward lifted his hand. “I know that you were making an honest offer. I was not trying to discount that. I was just thinking that everything here is such a mess right now that I cannot imagine it being any better.”
“But it will get better,” Diana assured him. She stood up and set her case on the chair. Then she marched around the desk and stood behind Edward. Her intent had been to focus on the ledger and the computer screen. At the moment she was getting distracted by the fact that he smelled so good. Clearing her throat, she struggled to stay on task. “Here. Let’s look at this from a different angle. Forget about the whole thing.”
“Excuse me?”
“Forget about the whole problem. Pick one transaction and start there. Trace it. Follow it and do not get distracted by the others that pop up on the same track.” Diana let her hand rest of Edward’s shoulder. It was warm and hard. Oh boy. She cleared her throat. “Here.” She pointed on the screen. “Just stick with that one right there.”
“Okay. The amount is certainly strange enough to stick out.”
“Exactly,” Diana agreed. She felt herself warming to the work. Truly there was nothing as satisfying as unraveling a financial knot. “That’s what’s actually kind of good about the payroll aspect of this situation. Payroll amounts are generally really strange.”
“Something else I noticed about that,” Edward said, sounding distracted. “Is that the taxes, benefits, and other pre-tax deductions were paid out exactly as they should have been.”
“Wait.” Diana could not help but chuckle as she realized what had actually happened. “You mean that someone just took the net pay of your employees.”
“Yes.”
“If you check your audit records I bet you will find a single entry that changed all source accounts for payroll.” Even as Diana said this she realized that it was almost certainly true. “Most accounting software has that feature where you can essentially reset a direct deposit system in case of a sudden need to issue paper checks for any business-related reason. Think of it as an easy failsafe. Because it would take a million years to go in and manually tell a computer to reroute the funds back to the company or to actually just stop a direct deposit. So the feature allows an administrator to go in and just change all direct deposits to one bank account—presumably a company payroll account—and then hard copy checks are issued from that.”
Edward spun in his seat and stared up at her. For just a moment Diana almost could not resist the urge to plop down in his lap. She was right there. He was so close and so very welcoming even though he probably wasn’t intending to be. They were only inches apart. His broad shoulders and lean torso were nearly close enough for her to run her fingers from one to the other. She wanted very much to touch him. It had been so long.
No. It hadn’t been a long time. It had been since never. No matter how many times they had mutually acknowledged the chemistry and magnetism between them, Edward had always called a stop to anything that might have happened. Diana had often thought that it was just because he was so very respectful of her. Now, though, she was beginning to see things from the perspective of a woman in her mid-twenties who knew at least a little more about people and men in general.
“Thank you for your help,” Edward whispered. His throat moved as he swallowed.
Diana could not catch her breath. She felt as though she were having difficulty remembering to even try and breathe. Her heart was hammering a staccato beat against her chest. She was absolutely going nuts trying to decide what she was feeling. Her brain was mush. Her thoughts were worse. And then she heard the telltale squeak of Edward’s office door.
“Hey, I need you to look at…” Orion King walked into Edward’s office without even a knock.
Diana leaped away from Edward’s shoulder just in time to avoid being knocked aside by Edward himself as he shot from his chair to a standing position. The two of them probably looked guilty as hell even though nothing had actually happened. Of course nothing had happened. It was Edward King. Nothing ever happened. Not that they would be likely to convince Orion King of that fact. Diana had never seen such a glower.
“Hello, Diana,” Orion grunted. Then he pointed at Edward. “I want to talk to you right now in private.”
“I’m busy,” Edward said immediately. “Diana has come up with some really great possible ways to track this problem through our system. I’m really hoping to run back downstairs and check the logs.”
“I want to talk to you right now.” Orion held up a file folder. “It’s about the land.”
Edw
ard seemed to sort of wilt right there. “I thought we had already discussed that.”
“It’s not settled.” Orion seemed to be quite determined to get Edward out of the office and away from Diana. “It needs to be discussed between the five of us again.”
“Is Jason here then?” Edward asked with what Diana viewed as forced nonchalance. Obviously, Edward was tired of being pushed around by big brother. Diana bit her lip. She was getting tired of it too.
Orion sent a pointed look Diana’s direction. “Jason will be here any minute. I want to get started without him.”
“So you can neatly try to cut him out and completely invalidate his desire to gain the land because you guys are cutting him out of the company as well.” Edward’s bold words probably should not have been said right in front of Diana.
Her mind was spinning with the little tidbits that she had just gleaned from the conversation going on in front of her. No wonder Orion didn’t want Diana around. He was trying to cut Jason out of his father’s will altogether? Why? She bit her lip to keep silent, but it would not last. She felt the strangest desire to stand up for Skye and her man the same way that Skye had stood up for Diana and—by extension—Edward.
“Are you trying to cut Jason out of the will because you don’t like Skye?” Diana asked Orion in what she hoped was a bold and forthright tone of voice. She set her chin and put her hands on her hips and glared at the bully of the King family with as much gumption as she could muster. “Because, honestly, I think Skye Kincaid is the best thing to happen to the King family in ages and I’ve known you guys all my life.”
“Yes, Diana.” Orion’s voice dripped sarcasm and his gaze was hard enough to cut glass. “That’s what my purpose is. I want to screw over my baby brother and then punish him for getting engaged to the most outspoken woman I’ve ever met.” Orion tilted his head with curiosity. “Until now. What got into you? You used to be at least polite. I don’t seem to recall you being so rude.”
“I’m not being rude.” Diana hated how people got rude and honest mixed up. “Just because I ask a question that makes you uncomfortable or say something you don’t like doesn’t make me rude. Your tone however, does make you rude.”
Orion’s eyes were bugging out. The dark-haired, swarthy-skinned replica of Mac King was practically glaring at Diana. She could not believe that she was managing to hold up under the pressure. Perhaps she wasn’t still as mousy as she sometimes feared.
Edward exhaled a sigh. “I already told you what I think about the land deal. The developer is no good. The land cannot be developed. It was left in trust to us. And if you’re truly planning to cut Jason and I out of the company and make sure that we’re never anything more than employees getting a higher-than-industry-average salary, then I say screw you, Devon, and Zane. You three don’t need a share of the land. You guys want the company? Fine. Then Jason and I will split the land. You’re still getting the better end of the deal monetarily speaking.”
Diana was dying to say something about this. She could not believe that Orion actually believed that he would get away with this situation. Did he not realize what was going on with his stupid company?
“You’re an idiot,” Diana said with a shake of her head. She pointed to Orion so he would have no doubts as to who she was referring to. “Do you have any idea what’s actually going on right now? Your company is teetering on the brink of a really serious lawsuit. Right now every employee would have a right to file a class action lawsuit together. That means they will tie up your assets until the end of time unless you just reimburse them for the money you owe them for back pay. But the second you do that you will likely lose your chance to point the finger at the party who did this.” Diana shook her head at Orion. “I know you’re good at contracts, managing employee work schedules and workforce utilization, but when it comes to the ins and outs of the actual money I sometimes wonder if you failed all of your math classes past the high school level.”
“You’d better watch yourself,” Orion snarled. His dark eyes flashed and for just a moment Diana felt as though she were facing a wild animal who could lash out and bite off her fingers at any moment. “You aren’t as smart and perfect as you think you are.”
“I never said that I was or that I am,” Diana retorted. She gestured to Edward. “But if he walks away from your stupid company right now you will never figure out who it was—right here in the middle of your precious company, by the way—that stole over three hundred grand right out from under your nose.”
Orion’s gaze swung toward Edward. “I thought you said it was less than two hundred.”
Edward did not answer for several moments. Diana wondered if he’d been keeping secrets from Orion on purpose. “It’s still a work in progress.”
“So now you’re telling me that it’s still happening?” Orion barked. He stomped closer to Edward’s desk and glared at both Edward and Diana. “And now you’re telling her what’s going on so that she can what? Blackmail us? Put together a lawsuit against us?”
“No, you unbelievable moron!” Diana snarled. She was so sick and tired of this bullying big brother and had been almost her whole life. “I came to offer him a very good paying job away from all of your bullshit. That’s what!”
“He’s not taking it.”
Diana gasped and drew back. She jabbed her finger at Orion. “You don’t get to decide that. Who the hell do you think you are anyway? You’re acting like you think you own not only this company but all of your brothers too. You’re not the boss, Orion. You’re equal to them. Try getting your plan to disinherit them past Texas probate law. You’d better hope your father’s will was unfair. And honestly, as much as I thought your dad was a jackass, he loved all of his sons equally.” Diana felt one more sentence about to burst out of her mouth. She could not believe she was about to say it and yet she could not keep it back. “Actually, I amend that. I think the whole world knew that Jason was your father’s favorite. So if you think anyone who knew your dad is going to believe that Jason got left out of the will, you might as well just shoot yourself in the foot.”
Diana could feel Edward’s shocked stare and abruptly felt as though she were just done with this whole thing right now. Edward King obviously wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. If he was going to stand here and let his big brother push him around and steal his inheritance while Edward sat here and toiled over financial records looking for the rat, then maybe Edward wasn’t the man that Diana needed for this job after all.
“Where are you going?” Edward called after Diana.
But she was already pushing her way past Orion. “You have my number if you ever decide you want to leave this frying pan behind. I hope what I saw in the ledgers helps you. But honestly, I’m so sick and tired of one family member trying to control the others that I don’t care to watch any more of it.”
And with those final words, Diana left the building.
Chapter Six
Edward was still reeling hours later over Diana’s abrupt and total slap down that had completely put Orion in his place. That was not the old Diana. Edward knew that she had changed. It was impossible not to see it in the way she spoke and carried herself. The demure and pleasant woman was still there, but she’d gained a hard sort of edge that was very much unlike the old Diana that Edward had known during their school days.
“It’s about time you showed up.” Orion glowered at Edward when he walked through the back door of their mother’s University Park house. “I’m getting pretty damn tired of making excuses for you to Mother.”
“Then feel free to stop at any time,” Edward retorted. He gazed at his brother and shook his head. “Nobody asked you to be my keeper.”
Orion leaned back against the granite countertop and took a long swig of his beer. The house was huge with five enormous bedroom suites upstairs, a sprawling floor plan, gardens and a pool out back, and plenty of room to entertain for dinner parties with the dining room, butler’s pantry, and enormous
front room with windows overlooking the high-end street corner that was pretty much swallowed by the house itself. The pale sand stucco structure was topped with a red Spanish tile roof, and the property was surrounded by wrought iron fencing and enormous shrubs tended by a horde of gardeners and landscapers. The house was more of a showplace than a dwelling.
Edward considered it a ridiculous money pit. There was absolutely no reason in his mind that their family required such a place. It was high time Orion, Devon, Zane, and Jason moved out. Actually, Jason had moved out. He and Skye were living in her one-bedroom apartment on the fringe of downtown. Edward had been living in his own place for nearly three years.
Orion tossed his empty bottle into the recycle bin in the pantry and headed for the fridge to get another one. The thing about being a shifter was that drunkenness was not actually that easy to achieve. Their metabolism was simply too fast. But as Edward stood in the kitchen and the twilight outside the window slowly stretched into the darkness of night, he took a sideways peek into the recycle bin and saw that there were more than a dozen empty bottles emblazoned with the label of Orion’s favorite beer on them. Nobody else drank that brand. Orion would have ripped their arms off.
“How many of those have you had?” Edward went to the refrigerator on the pretext of grabbing himself a soda. He could hear his mother in the next room going postal on the caterer about the placement of the wine glasses. Edward opened his soda and drank a few swigs. Then he glanced at the beers in the fridge before closing the door and looking right at Orion. “What are you going to do when those two are gone?”
“Go get more.” Orion didn’t seem to be worried. He didn’t seem to care. He only shrugged. “What are you suggesting?”
Edward pursed his lips. What was he suggesting? The idea of a shifter having a drinking problem was laughable and yet here they were; Orion had probably been drinking all evening and would continue to drink the rest of the night away. At what point did it become more about the reasons for the behavior than the results of it?
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 28