Do you ever really stop loving someone?
Chapter 21
The week after the new bar opened, the stress of juggling her life with Ken and her affair with Gi was driving Taren crazy. She’d tried to end it with Gi, but she couldn’t. Gi was like a drug. When they were together, the high was extreme.When they were apart, the sober life was nice, too. But the high was always in the back of her mind.
She was exhausted when she got home from the office at night and when they had dinner, she pushed the food around until it looked like she’d eaten.
Finally, one night, Ken sat down on the couch and put his arm around her.
“Are you pregnant?” he asked.
Taren pulled away from him like he was a stranger. “Excuse me?”
Ken shrugged. “Howard, one of the guys in my office, said his wife started acting weird, stressed out, couldn’t sleep, wasn’t eating, and it turned out she was pregnant.”
“No,” Taren said, “I am most definitely not pregnant.”
“Okay, then what’s going on? Is it something with Gi?”
“What?”
“I noticed you two were pretty chummy at the party last week. There’s more to you knowing her in college, isn’t there?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you two party harder than most people? Or were maybe good friends and had a falling out?”
“What? Gi and I were barely friends in college.”
“I don’t know. You’re acting different. It’s like you’ve become a completely different person since you went to work for her.
“It’s just stress.” She patted his thigh. “I have a lot on my plate right now, that’s all.”
“I understand stress, Taren. I handle billion dollar acquisitions for a living. Whatever is going on with you is much worse.” He wrapped his arm around her. “Maybe you should see a therapist or go to a spa, find a way to relax and let work go.”
“I don’t need a shrink,” she laughed. “But a spa day does sound really good. I think I will book an appointment for this weekend.”
“Good. You’re not yourself lately and I’m really starting to worry about you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, kissing him softly.
***
The following Monday, Taren sat at her desk, feeling refreshed from spending Saturday at the day spa, rejuvenating herself and her mind. She’d gone the entire day without seeing Gi, which was a good thing.
Her high lasted until she noticed another chunk of money missing from one of the accounts they used to pay the suppliers. She started looking at the ledger for that account. There were no withdrawals, and none of the supply order invoices matched the amount.
Taren immediately grabbed the phone and dialed Gi’s cell number.
“Hey,” Gi answered.
“Are you coming back to the office?” Taren asked.
“No. It’s five. You should be heading home,” Gi replied, shifting gears as she came to a stop in the downtown traffic.
“I found another error, this time it’s with our supply account. Something’s going on.”
“I’m headed to my house. Come over. I’ll make you dinner and we can talk about what you found.”
“I need to be able to get into the accounts to show you everything.”
“You know we have access to our server remotely, right?” Gi asked.
“Yes. I guess…I don’t know. I’ve never trusted a remote system.”
“It’s fine. I do it all the time.”
“All right. I’ll see you in a little bit. Do I need to bring anything?” Taren asked.
“Dessert,” Gi teased, and hung up.
***
Taren leaned against the counter, watching Gi sauté shrimp to add to the pasta primavera she was cooking.
“You can open a bottle of wine if you want. There are reds and whites in the cooler.” Gi nodded towards the built-in wine cooler on the other side of the dishwasher.
“I’m fine.” Taren sighed. “Since when do you drink wine?”
Gi laughed. “I keep it for company.”
Taren smiled and shook her head. “It’s definitely an acquired taste.” She looked around at the immaculate kitchen. “When’s the last time you cooked in here? It looks like nothing has ever been touched.”
“I don’t know, six months, maybe.” She shrugged.
“Where do you eat?”
Gi raised an eyebrow.
“Come here,” she said, holding a spoonful of the sauce she had simmering on the back burner.
Taren moved closer, allowing Gi to touch her lips with the spoon. “Ohhh,” she cooed, “that’s good!”
Gi grinned. “It’s almost done. Grab the plates from that cabinet.”
When Taren set the plates on the counter, Gi went to work mixing all of the ingredients and adding a generous portion to each plate. She topped off both dishes with a sprinkle of cheese, and set the plates on the small table in the breakfast nook.
“This is amazing,” Taren exclaimed, tasting her first full bite.
“Thanks. Sometimes I forget how much better food is when you cook it yourself.”
“I’m surprised you eat out so much. You always cooked in college.”
Gi shrugged. “I had someone to cook for.”
***
When they’d finished dinner, Gi tossed everything in the dishwasher and moved closer to Taren, pinning her to the counter she was leaning against. Their lips met softly, sending a throbbing pain to the middle of Taren’s chest. She casually pushed Gi away.
“We need to talk about what’s going on with the supply account,” she murmured.
“Is that really what you want to do? Discuss numbers?” Gi whispered, kissing her again.
Taren felt her knees grow weak. She wrapped her arms around Gi’s neck, reveling in the intoxicating sensation of Gi’s mouth against hers. She squeezed her eyes closed, forgetting all about accounting as Gi’s hips moved against hers in a slow, seductive motion.
The ringing of Taren’s phone shattered the moment. Taren pulled away to answer it.
Gi went upstairs to the library to boot up the computer on her desk. She sat in the large, wingback chair, staring at the full bookcase, while she waited for it to connect to the company server.
Taren appeared a few minutes later. “Sorry,” she said. “That was Ken. He left this morning for Cleveland.”
Gi rolled her eyes, realizing that was why Taren had agreed to dinner. She logged into the system and turned around. “Where is the issue?”
Taking Ken’s phone call had been a huge mistake. Taren knew should’ve sent it to voicemail. Her body was still reeling from the make-out session in the kitchen, which was heading towards sex right there against the counter. She’d barely been able to hold the conversation with him out of guilt for what he’d interrupted. She glanced around the room, trying to clear her head.
“Where is the issue?” Gi asked again, with a slightly harsher tone in her voice.
“Supplies. Go to the bank statement for the supply account,” Taren replied, looking over her shoulder.
“These are all vendor orders,” Gi stated.
“That one isn’t.” Taren pointed to a transfer of $98,400.
Gi went into the supply ledger, looking for any recent amounts that would add up to the transfer, but nothing matched. “This has to be Uncle Bruno or Sergio using the wrong account to pay for something.” She shook her head.
“What the hell cost nearly a hundred grand? The bar has been open for two weeks.”
“It could be an old invoice from the renovation. It’s really not a big deal, Taren.”
“Why does your family have so much access to your company? You used to never trust anyone.”
“It can’t do it all alone. Part of bringing my uncle into the business was allowing him access to be able to run GR on his own eventually. I had to make sure he was capable
of that.”
Taren rolled her eyes.
“You disagree?” Gi asked, leaning her elbow on the arm of the chair and resting her chin on the top of her closed fist.
“I don’t know. It’s not my money, or my company. So, I really have no place to say anything,” Taren sighed, looking into the blue eyes fixated on her. The emotional rollercoaster she was riding was too much for her to handle, and the fact that Gi could care less about the missing money was starting to make Taren think she’d made an even bigger mistake going to work for her.
“Don’t tell me you still think I’m laundering money.” Gi turned the computer off and shook her head. “You have access to everything, including my personal bank accounts.”
Taren’s phone rang again and she reached for it without answering Gi.
“How much longer are you going to keep your little secret?” Gi asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Huh?” Taren looked down at the phone, seeing Ken’s picture.
“When are you going to tell him you’ve been having cake and eating it, too?”
Taren sent the call to her voicemail. “Are you serious?” she growled.
“I want to know. How much longer are you going to play him for a fool? Or is me you’ve been playing all this time?”
“It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not. In fact, it’s quite simple. You came back to me, so why are you still with him? Or is this just a torrid affair to give you the thrills you’re missing at home?” Gi sneered.
“Damn it, Gi, stop!”
“I’m trying to figure this all out. He has to know something is going on. It’s eating away at you. I see it every time I look into your eyes.”
“He does and he’s asked.” Taren shook her head, trying to avoid the tears. “Look, I can’t do this right now, okay?”
“Why did you come back to me?”
“I don’t know,” Taren huffed. “I thought I could get you out of my system.”
“And how is that working for you?” Gi crossed her arms.
“You really want to know?” Taren threw her hands up. “It’s killing me! My life was good before you came back into it! I was happy!” she yelled.
“I wasn’t exactly looking for you either. You came into my bar. I had no idea where you were or what you were doing. Five god damn years, Taren! You left me…remember? You came back into my life!”
“You offered me the job!”
“You didn’t have to take it! I offered it because I needed your skills!”
Taren clenched her jaw and looked away. “Don’t say you didn’t want something to happen.”
“Well, don’t tell me you were happy, because if you were, you wouldn’t have started this,” Gi’s voice softened. “You wouldn’t have come back to me.”
“We…” Taren sighed. “This thing between us…Gi, it’s unhealthy. It’s making me crazy. You make me crazy.”
Gi nodded. “Well, let me help you out. I’m done.” She shrugged. “I’ll make the choice for you. You go home to Ken and ride his dick all you want. All I care about is the work you do for my company. If that’s too much for you and you want to go, I’ll even give you severance.” She opened the drawer of the desk and removed her check book, barely able to contain the emotions she was hiding from Taren as she filled out the slip.
Taren wiped a tear from her cheek.
Gi handed her the check. “Go, Taren, be happy and never come back, because I won’t be here,” Gi growled, choosing anger over the sadness of feeling her heart break again over this woman.
Chapter 22
Taren spent the rest of the night and all of the next day crying. She was thankful Ken was out of town because she truly had no explanation for him, other than the truth. She cried for the mistake she made starting the affair, the pain of losing Gi again, and the thought of not knowing what she wanted anymore. The sadness finally turned to anger a day later, making Taren raging mad. She turned to blaming Gi for everything from their getting together, to her simply pushing Taren away like a bad habit. The more she thought about the last two months, the more pissed she became. She’d never intended on starting an affair with Gi, but it had become so much more than that.Even though she’d been unable to say it, she was sure Gi felt it, too. She couldn’t throw everything away, not again, and she wondered how Gi could so easily. Had she actually been making a fool of Taren, getting back at the woman who’d broken her heart? There had to be a reason Gi turned on her, ending everything like it had been nothing at all.
Taren’s mind turned to the account discrepancies that she kept finding, making her wonder if she had found something and Gi pushed her away to keep her from uncovering it. If Gi had truly had an issue with Taren still seeing Ken, then why even start the affair? The company books had been a mess and Taren spent weeks putting everything into a nice and neat, efficient system, just as she’d done with the gambling ring.
Thinking she’d been used for Gi’s personal gain, Taren lost it. She grabbed the vase from the table and smashed it against the wall. It shattered into a hundred small pieces. The fake flowers and clear marbles in the bottom flew across the room, scattering all over the floor.
“Damn you, Gianna Revisi!” she yelled. “You can bet your ass I’m going to find out what you’re up to!”
Taren immediately opened her personal laptop and tried logging into the company. Sure enough, her passwords were still active. She quickly began looking through Gi’s personal financial records, comparing them to the company’s tax statements for each year since the company had been established.
***
By the time Ken arrived home that night, Taren had cleaned up the mess from the vase and gotten through the entire first year of business for R&R. So far, she hadn’t found any inconsistencies. She was starting to wonder if she should just let it all go.
“Are you still working?” he asked, walking behind her at the dining table where she had a stack of handwritten notes next to the laptop.
“Actually, I’m not working…well, not technically, anyway.” Taren shut down the computer and tucked her notes into a nice little pile. “I lost my job,” she said.
“What?”
“The stress was just too much for me. There is way more involved with being the financial director for that company than I ever thought possible,” she sighed.
“You’ll find something else,” Ken said, rubbed her shoulders. He bent down, kissing her cheek. “Do what makes you happy.”
Taren watched him walk over to the couch. She had no idea what made her happy anymore. So much had changed. Before they moved to Chicago, Taren was happy and enjoying the life she was living. She was content because in the back of her mind, she knew she’d never see Gianna Revisi again. Keeping Gi out of her sight, also kept her off her mind. It was simple.
Moving to Chicago had been a huge adjustment in itself, but running into Gi had sent her mind on a whirlwind. The past had come rushing back, sweeping Taren off her feet and right into Gi’s arms. Reuniting with her had been a living hell and a beautiful dream all at the same time. For the past two months, Taren had been on the most stressful ride of her life, juggling her job, her affair, and her quaint life at home. She should’ve been happy when Gi did what she couldn’t. She put a wall up between them.
Looking at Ken, lounging on the couch, flipping through the channels, she knew what life was like with him: predictable, easy, a steady course. Was that still enough? This was the question she asked herself as she sat down next to him.
***
Desperate for something, anything, to justify everything that had happened over the past two months, Taren kept exploring R&R’s records, almost to the point of obsession. She spent the rest of the week copying everything onto her computer in case the system caught up with her termination.
A week after everything had blown up between her and Gi, Taren stumbled across the first variation in the accounts. They’d started app
earing six months ago. Taren made notes of bank transfers and withdrawals that didn’t match any invoices or side notes.
When she began adding these transactions line by line, she realized the money was steadily going out of R&R and nothing additional was coming in.
They’re losing money, not gaining,” she whispered. “What the hell is going on?”
Taren noticed a lot of money was moving around within the direct accounts for Gentlemen’s Rook, way more money than was moving through the other two, well-established businesses. It didn’t make sense. There was no way the bar could justify the expenses.
Taren went onto the bank website, praying her login still worked. “Gi, what the hell happened to your trust issues?” she murmured when she was able to get right into the accounts with no problem.
When she clicked on the first transfer in her notes, the money had gone from a fixtures account for Rapture, into the expense account for GR. The next transaction was out of a rollover account for all three businesses, again moved into the GR account. Over the course of the last six months, over a million dollars had been moved out of various accounts all over R&R and deposited into various expense accounts for GR.
“Son of a bitch!” she yelled, when she began digging through the GR accounts. The money was being withdrawn in small increments that wouldn’t raise any red flags. None of the withdrawals were listed in the ledger anywhere, meaning the withdrawals weren’t used to pay invoices billed to the company.
Taren had no idea what to do. She needed to figure out where the money was going before she could go to Gi. If she was doing something illegal, her bank account should’ve been growing with money that was unaccounted for. Instead, all of the deposits to her personal account were linked directly to payroll.
The only thing Taren could think of was maybe an offshore account, which she knew Gi had. That was part of the reason they’d vacationed in Mexico and the Cayman Islands. Gi had accounts in both countries where she hid the money she made from the gambling ring. That had been the main reason why the university and local police couldn’t crack her system. They were unable to find anything linked to her.
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