Heartbreaker

by Claire, Grahame

  My brother pointed at Mulaney. “She was in charge when we lost Carter Energy, so this is on her.”

  “Drew,” Mama scolded before I could. He was so far out of line, it was ridiculous.

  “She’s always acted like she was born into this family. You don’t find it the least bit strange they got married without telling a soul and next thing you know, she’s CEO? It should’ve been Easton. Or me,” he shouted.

  “Drew,” my mom and dad both said at once.

  My brows shot up, but my wife didn’t appear all that surprised.

  “How dare you—”

  “She was more than qualified. You cannot in any way take away her abilities. Apologize,” my dad yelled.

  “I won’t. You know I’m right, Easton,” he said, and I had honestly never seen such anger in his eyes, especially directed at Mulaney. A low growl of frustration escaped her.

  “Tread carefully,” I warned.

  “We all should,” he said, turning his stare from Mulaney to our father. “If someone finds out about this money you hid, we could all be in serious trouble. I’m guessing it wasn’t listed in the assets when we brokered the deal with SPE.” He joined our father at the bar and slammed back a shot. “On the surface, this looks like embezzlement.”

  “It wasn’t in the assets,” Dad said, sounding far calmer than he had a minute ago. “If it had been, I might not have sold.”

  “They got a hell of a deal,” Drew responded, though it was probably not the thing to say right then, even if it was true.

  They glared at one another.

  “What are we going to do with the money?”

  “We can filter it into SPE’s accounts in small increments. They’ll be none the wiser,” Drew offered, slamming back another shot.

  “That’s crazy. If we get caught, we’d be in a world of trouble—” Dad paced in front of the bar.

  “We’re already up shit creek,” Drew said, pushing his empty glass away.

  “We can’t give them forty million. That’s exactly what we’d be doing since they didn’t factor in the cash in their bid.” Mulaney piled her hair on top of her head, but let it go when she couldn’t find anything to secure it with.

  “We lied.” Drew’s argument echoed through the room.

  “It was an honest mistake,” I said. “If you’d have told us you were going to sell the company—”

  “You didn’t exactly announce you were putting cash away,” my father said.

  Mama set aside the pillow she’d been leaning on. “We should keep the money.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Mulaney

  “Keep it?”

  Loretta Carter might finagle seating arrangements at dinners to nudge me and her son together, but keeping forty million was a totally different ballgame.

  Yet she seemed unfazed by my doubt. “Yes. Keep it.”

  Drew fiddled with his phone, the lines around his mouth in a pronounced frown.

  “Sounds like Mama solved our problem,” Easton said, hands still in his pockets. His forearm flexed and bunched every few seconds. “Everybody in agreement?”

  “We can’t just leave forty mil in a bunch of offshore accounts,” Drew said, darkening the screen on his phone.

  Easton raised a brow. “I didn’t say they were in offshore accounts.”

  “Where the hell else would you hide that much money? I doubt it’s in the vault at First National Bank of Houston,” Drew challenged.

  “Close but wrong town.”

  I looked at my husband like he’d grown another head. “You couldn’t have stashed that much in a bank.”

  “I put some of it in Burdett. Grandma Carter has stock in First National.” He shrugged.

  “In an account?” Mr. Carter asked.

  “A little bit. There’s nothing illegal about opening a new bank account. Some of it’s in a safe deposit box,” Easton said casually.

  “Is the account in Carter Energy’s name?” His father grabbed the back of a chair. “If it is, it’s as good as SPE’s.”

  “I put it in the drilling company we set up back in the day to shuffle money around. Totally separate from Carter. Look, it’s only two hundred forty grand. You’re on the account. I’ll get you the number and you and Mama can take it.” Easton’s forearm flexed and released in a rapid clip. He glanced toward Drew, who looked uncomfortable.

  “We’re not touching it,” Harris responded right away.

  “We know you need it,” Easton insisted.

  “We just made two hundred million from selling the company,” Harris said. “And you’re the one who’s in trouble.” He stared back at his son.

  “You sold Carter Energy for two hundred million?” I asked like he was insane. He’d said SPE got a good deal, but that was a fire sale price.

  “No. That’s our part. You each receive two hundred million. We’re still shoring up the transfer of assets,” he said.

  It was my turn to grip the back of the sofa. That was a ton of money that truthfully Easton and I didn’t need. “What do you mean Easton’s in trouble?”

  “He sold his house in Houston and moved in with us. Sold his boat, his Jeep. He started bringing his lunch to work, and if we went out to eat, he ordered the cheapest thing on the menu.” Harris laid out his case as if he’d sifted through all the facts a thousand times. “I can’t understand why you took from Carter Energy when you could’ve asked your mother and me. Why did you need that much money?”

  “I didn’t,” Easton said, aghast. “I sold the house so I could be closer to Mama, and I realized it wasn’t what I needed anymore. I’d planned on expanding the family and wanted something with some land, a home not just a house.”

  We all stared at him.

  “I thought you got rid of those things because you needed money,” Harris said. “When the last five million disappeared, I decided to sell the company. I figured what we’d make off the sale could save you. And I’d arranged for you to keep a position with SPE in case that wasn’t enough.”

  Easton blinked. “You did it for me?”

  Drew stiffened in his seat and his jaw clenched.

  “Yes, but it was for all of us.” Harris looked around the room at everyone, deep love in his eyes. He was willing to sell his company, the one he built that meant everything to him, for his family.

  “You’re the one in trouble. Why is your personal bank account depleted?”

  We all gaped at Easton’s direct question.

  Harris shrank back as if he’d been slapped. “It’s not, but even if it was, how do you know that?”

  “You keep running through the money I deposit,” he continued, ignoring the question.

  Loretta put a hand to her throat. “Easton, you didn’t.”

  “Would someone please explain what the hell is going on?” Harris loosened the collar of his shirt as if it were choking him.

  “Your account was low. Easton and I talked about it, and he deposited what we thought was plenty of money,” Drew said.

  “No one has answered how either of you know the balance of our account.”

  “I saw a statement,” Drew said easily, which I supposed technically wasn’t a lie.

  “How much did you deposit?” his father asked Easton.

  “Doesn’t matter.” That forearm flexed, flexed, flexed. “Why are you running through money like it’s going out of style?”

  “We aren’t,” Harris shouted.

  “Is it the medical bills?” Easton pressed.

  “I spent it,” Loretta said. “At the clinic, I met some children undergoing chemo. Lucy wants to be a doctor. Ramon and Dante want to serve in the military. They’re so young, have so much life ahead. I don’t want them or their families to worry about anything except beating this disease.”

  “Loretta—”

  “Don’t you dare scold me, Harris Carter. You said that was my account to do as I see fit.”

  “They’re all your accounts, honey. Everything we have is yours.�
� Harris’s voice was scratchy as he spoke.

  “Easton, I’ll pay you back,” she said. “I didn’t realize you were the one replenishing the account. We have overdraft protection tied to another account. I thought it was coming from there.”

  “No, Mama. We’ll help as many kids as you want.”

  “What if these people are taking advantage of you?” Drew slid over next to his mother.

  “They aren’t. Ramon reminds me so much of you.” She brushed his hair back. “He wants to play baseball.”

  “I hope you didn’t encourage that,” Drew muttered.

  “That’s why you want to keep the money Easton had saved,” I said.

  “We could help so many people,” she said softly. “I don’t have much time left, but I’d feel better knowing something was being done when I’m gone.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Harris choked out.

  “I’ve accepted I’m going to die and made my peace with it. That doesn’t mean I have to stop living.”

  My eyes stung, and Easton turned away toward the windows. After the scare with Ruby, death was too close to my soul. I couldn’t bear the idea of losing Loretta. My heart was breaking for Easton.

  “We’ll figure out a way to extract the money and use it any way you want,” Harris said.

  Drew tensed, but eventually put his arm around his mother. “I’ll do what I can to make sure nobody finds it.” Then he looked at me with utter contempt and added, “Nobody.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Easton

  “What do you know about your brother’s computer skills?”

  Daniel leaned forward and placed his arms on Muriella’s desk.

  “That whenever there’s something technical I can’t do, I call him.” I propped an ankle on my knee.

  “He writes software too. There’s EXODUS that he wrote for you.” Mulaney scratched her temple. “Remember he wanted Carter Energy to use some sort of program he wrote to keep up with leases. All I recall is your dad vetoed it.”

  I wrapped my arms around my leg as she stirred a vague memory. “I’d forgotten about that, but EXODUS is pure genius. There’s no way I’d have functioned as efficiently as I have without it.”

  “How close are the two of you?”

  What was with the inquisition? “Close.”

  Daniel tapped the glass surface of the desk. “My people have traced who set up the LLC.”

  “Then why the hell are we talking about Drew?” I dropped my foot to the floor, irritated.

  “He did it.” Mulaney slumped in her chair and stared at Daniel as if willing his words not to be true.

  “No.” The denial was out before I thought about it. He was my brother. My friend. My blood. While he wasn’t perfect, he wouldn’t implode our family legacy.

  Daniel passed a folder to me. I flipped through the series of emails and legal documents and handed them to Mulaney. Fucking hell.

  “Son of a bitch,” I yelled.

  “That bastard.” Mulaney looked ready to rip the folder into pieces.

  “He funneled the money out of Carter Energy to buy a pipeline project in our names with this mostly fake construction company. What you haven’t answered is why,” I said in frustration.

  “The only person who can reveal that is Drew.”

  “He wanted the pipeline. We knew that, just not how much and to what lengths he’d go to get it,” Mulaney said, tossing the papers on the desk.

  Daniel straightened one of the photos lined up across it.

  “Is my father involved?” The question felt wrong coming out of my mouth, but I had to know.

  “There is correspondence between him and Drew, where your brother urges him to consider SPE for the sale. Other than that, nothing so far.”

  I straightened. “Did you say for the sale?” He nodded once. “Is that what the email said?”

  “Yes.” He thumbed through the papers until he found what he was looking for. “Here.”

  “’Dad, SPE is interested. They’d be an excellent candidate to sell CE to, a good alignment, and they have the resources.’” The more I read aloud, the more it sickened me.

  “Drew acted as surprised as we were about the sale,” Mulaney said.

  But he’d been calm. If there was one thing I recalled most from that meeting was how calm Drew had been. Now it made sense. “But he knew. All along, he knew.” A throbbing pulsed between my temples.

  “Rat bastard,” she said. “It’s too late to get Carter Energy back, but we can punish him for what he’s done to the full extent of the law.”

  “We can’t do that.” He was my brother. I couldn’t do anything until I found out why. There had to be a reason.

  A soft knock sounded on the cracked-open door. The three of us turned as Holly poked her head in.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I found something I think you might want to see.” She glanced toward Daniel and clutched the laptop in her hand. “Muriella said I’d find you here.”

  “Come in.” Mulaney stood and indicated for her to take her seat.

  She looked uncertainly at Daniel again, as both he and I moved to stand at the same time.

  Mulaney waved us off. “Keep your seats.” She folded her arms on the back of the chair she’d just vacated to look over Holly’s shoulder.

  Holly pulled up EXODUS on the laptop and logged in. “These numbers. They aren’t anything like yours or Mr. Carter’s.”

  I bolted from my chair and moved beside Mulaney. I leaned closer when she pointed toward the total balance of assets. There was a substantial difference. Like nearly a billion.

  “Where did you get this?” I demanded.

  She looked back at me and swallowed hard. “It’s Mr. Carter’s account.”

  “My father’s?”

  “Your brother’s.” Her eyes darted to mine.

  I raised a brow, and she straightened. “How did you get access to his EXODUS login?”

  “It’s not important.” She silently pled for me not to push.

  Mulaney ignored it. “I highly doubt he just handed it over.”

  “I’d like to take a closer look.” I reached for the laptop and sat back down.

  Daniel watched the entire exchange without a word. Holly squirmed in her chair. Mulaney waited impatiently for an answer.

  “He—umm—” She rubbed her hands up and down her thighs. “I saw it in his office on a sticky note.”

  “Why were you in his office?” Mulaney asked.

  “Getting our new email accounts for SPE set up,” she said quickly. Drew had handled IT, but there had to have been someone else to take care of that besides him. “He put it in his desk. After you had me look through your EXODUS account and Mr. Carter’s”—she pointed at me—“that Mr. Carter, I wondered if his might be different too.”

  “And he doesn’t know you have this?” Mulaney asked.

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  I hovered the mouse over a dropdown menu. My name, Dad’s name, and Mulaney’s name were listed. I clicked on my own. Once the screen loaded, the figures changed to show we were only a few hundred million down.

  “This is what I’ve been looking at.” I shook my finger at the screen, although it was little consolation I hadn’t imploded the company because I was incompetent. I’d never been looking at the real numbers.

  “Click mine,” Mulaney said over my shoulder. “And those are mine.”

  “I found a log,” Holly said. “You can see how many times he updated your programs. It runs automatically in the background.” She showed me how to navigate there, and sure enough, there were time and date stamps for every update.

  I sagged in the chair. “This. He couldn’t have done this.” I closed the laptop unable to bear seeing the evidence any longer.

  Everything was in front of me. My brother, the one I trusted as much as anyone. He’d destroyed all our family had worked for. What he’d done was illicit and unscrupulous. But why? And he’d tried to pin it on ev
eryone but himself. Especially Mulaney. Shit. How had I not seen this?

  Mulaney touched my arm, though she didn’t say a thing. What was there to say? Nothing was as I believed, except her. In this storm, she was the only solid thing. And my brother had tried to destroy that too.

  “I’ll leave you to it. My resources are at your disposal.” Daniel collected the papers and put them into a folder, handing it to me. “Family can make us bleed.”

  He strode from the study.

  “I thought you should know,” Holly said apologetically.

  “You were right, even if you shouldn’t have taken his password,” I said. If she hadn’t, we still wouldn’t have the full truth.

  “Does Drew have any idea you did this?” Mulaney asked.

  Holly fidgeted with the cross around her neck. “I-I don’t think so.”

  “Ugh. I can’t even stand the thought of being in the same building as him, let alone related.” Mulaney made a disgusted face.

  “He’s here? In this building?” Sheer panic transformed Holly.

  “He and the Carters moved in a few days ago,” Mulaney said.

  Holly gulped down air. “I have to go.” She bolted even as Heartbreaker called after her.

  “What’s all that about?” That was a hell of a reaction.

  She frowned. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” She dropped into the chair beside me. “At least now we know how he did it. And he’s in deep shit,” Mulaney said, tapping her boot on the floor furiously.

  “As it stands, we’re the ones in deep shit,” I corrected. “Right now, it appears you and I did this.”

  “So what are you saying? Let him walk?”

  “I have to talk to him before we do anything,” I said as I closed the laptop and stood.

  Mulaney looked up at me like she’d never seen me before. “What are you going to do? Lay out everything we know? He’s already a thousand steps in front of us, and he obviously doesn’t give one shit about you or your parents.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Open your eyes. He stole one billion dollars from Carter Energy,” she shouted.