I didn’t deny her statement. “It’s not your place to apologize.”
“Hardly a fun weekend for you, though. I wanted it to be great.”
I finished the ice cream, wiped my hands, then threaded our fingers together. “It is. We’re together. We had an awesome evening with your friends, and tomorrow, I’ll try really hard to get your dad to approve of me.”
She looked wistful. “He’s gotten worse. He’s so grumpy. And you kept your cool and never rose to the bait.”
Remembering Richard’s words earlier, I decided to give her dad the benefit of the doubt. “He wants what is best for you, BB. I’m not what he had in mind. Give it a little time.”
“That’s very generous of you since he rode your ass all day.”
“And he might tomorrow. But we’ll get through it, and we have a couple of days to have some fun.”
“Why are you being so nice about this?”
“Because I love you.”
Our eyes locked across the table. Her gaze lowered to my mouth and her tongue peeked out, running over her bottom lip. “Reid?”
“Yeah, BB?”
“I want to go and have some fun right now.”
I stood. “Let’s go.”
Gerald wasn’t happy to see me return the next day. Becca had the whole day planned with things she wanted the three of us to do. He wasn’t enthused about any of them. I took Richard’s advice and kept trying to engage with him. I asked him about Becca as a child. Commented on various pictures he had around the room. Asked to see more of them. I even inquired about his career as a police officer. Anything to make him talk. After lunch, he announced he needed to rest for a while, and I was grateful when he shut his eyes, feigning sleep. I was so exhausted, I needed a nap myself—only I wouldn’t be faking. He made being nice damn hard work.
Becca’s phone rang, and she looked at the screen. “Oh, it’s Maddox.”
She answered and spoke quietly. Her face paled, and she asked him to repeat himself. She looked at me, panic written on her face as she listened. “I don’t understand, but I’ll check into it right away,” she said. “I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry. I’ll get it cleared up and bring you the money next week.”
Money?
She hung up and looked at me, confused. “Maddox says my rent check bounced. He thought it was strange and wanted me to know.”
“What?”
Becca tapped on her phone screen, her face even whiter when she looked up. “Reid, my bank account balance shows I’m overdrawn, and my credit card is maxed out! Oh my God, what’s going on?”
I dug into my knapsack, and pulled out my laptop. I had her sign in to her banking site, and she scanned her accounts.
“It’s all gone,” she whispered. “All my bills that I pay at mid-month automatically—they’re all being rejected. My checking account is overdrawn, my savings are gone, and my credit card is to the limit.”
I held out her phone. “Call them now.”
Two hours later, Becca hung up from yet another call. “They’ve put a freeze on everything. They say it will take time, but I should get most of the charges reversed.”
“What about your money?” her father asked.
She shrugged. “Someone withdrew it all. Somehow, they got a hold of my information and made a duplicate debit card. They got it to override the daily limit and drained everything.” Her watery eyes widened. “Last night—that’s why my debit card didn’t work.”
“Yeah. Someone was stealing your money.” I cursed under my breath.
Gerald sniffed. “Sound familiar, Reid?”
I ignored his comment. I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me, and that didn’t matter to me right now.
“Okay, Becca. What else did they say?”
She shrugged. “That they’re working on it and will be in touch. All my cards have been canceled, and new ones will be issued.”
I shook my head. “They can be doing more.”
Becca frowned. “He mentioned I should check and make sure my other online profiles hadn’t been touched or hacked.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
Gerald spoke up. “I called a friend in the fraud department. They’re going to check into that for me.”
Becca sighed. “Thanks, Dad.”
“I can do it faster,” I insisted.
“Illegally, you mean?” he asked, his tone smug.
“Faster,” I retorted.
Becca glanced at me, uncomfortable. “Why don’t we see what they come up with and go from there?”
“Because they could be using your information to procure other credit cards and racking up debt in your name. If they got your banking information, they got everything they need, Becca.”
“They’ll get on it right away. I’m sure they’ll call soon, Rebecca,” her father insisted.
I shook my head. “We’re not talking about some kid who took your card. This can happen in an instant with the technology they have access to. Let me do this, Becca.”
She hesitated.
Gerald spoke. “Why don’t we let the proper channels handle it? I’m sure Reid here is overreacting.” He paused. “Maybe he is looking for any excuse to get back to his old habits.” He cocked his head. “Maybe somehow he caused this mess.”
Becca pushed away from the table, her hands clenched tightly in fists. “Dad, stop it! Reid had nothing to do with this. He’s trying to help, which is more than you’re doing with your not-so-subtle digs at his character. Leave it alone!”
He laughed, the sound forced. “Oh, I’m only teasing, Rebecca. Reid can handle it, can’t you, boy?”
I swallowed my reply.
“It’s not funny,” she insisted.
“No, it’s not, Rebecca.” Her father sighed. “Let’s leave it to the law-abiding professionals to handle it. Someone will call me soon.”
Becca sat down, not meeting my eyes.
“Okay.”
An hour later, my patience had reached its limit. There was very little I could do trapped inside her father’s place. He didn’t own a computer, and the internet was shitty. The link I had was slow and dropped constantly. I had a hot spot from my phone, but I needed a strong connection and some major machinery. Becca had fallen silent, constantly worrying her lip and wringing her hands, then glancing at her phone, only to remember she had turned it off.
The phone rang, and her father listened for several minutes, speaking in a low tone I couldn’t hear. He hung up and smiled at Becca.
“They’re going to get to the bottom of it, honey.”
She sagged in relief.
“First thing after the weekend, they’ll be looking into it and doing the right thing. In the meantime, I can give you some cash to tide you over.” He glanced my way, distaste on his face. “Do I need to call the hotel and pay the bill?”
“I am paying for the hotel bill, and I don’t require your help.” I stood, grabbed my laptop, and shoved it into my bag.
“Where are you going?”