Are you egging him on at all? Chann questioned Shannon, worry in every word.
No. This is all him.
Move in closer. Alarick’s voice didn’t leave any room for argument. Right on the edge of the tree line. He can’t see us in the dark. My superior hearing could pick up the movement I knew he wouldn’t notice as he glared at me.
“I took it, of course. How could I not? It’s not like I had any choice. I went to the rehab she picked out. Quit drinking. It was enough to convince her I was serious about everything. I learned to keep the gambling quiet. I got an accounting degree, and I found a different kind of way to pay for debts at first.” He stared up at the sky, though, unlike me, he wasn’t taking comfort from the moon above him. He stared at it as if he could own it, the way he wanted to own the world around him it seemed. “I’d found I was good at numbers, you see. A shift here, a change there. Easily covered.”
“You were, what, laundering money? Embezzling it?” Okay, so math wasn’t exactly my thing, but I had some idea of what that was about.
He smirked. “Something like that. It’s amazing what people will sign on an accountant’s advice.”
Anger began to creep through me. My wolf snarled, pushing me to shift, to throw off Alarick’s command and take down this pathetic excuse for a man in front of us. “I still don’t get it!” My voice was louder now, though I knew I needed to keep calm. “So you’re mad that she made you go to rehab? That she made you get a job? Grow up? This is all stupid sibling rivalry bullshit!” My wolf wanted to howl a challenge, to tear into this man who had spent the last month threatening us, threatening our family over nothing.
“Stupid girl,” he spat. “Of course not.” I blinked at him for a moment before throwing my arms up.
“Then it’s just been fucking story time?”
Language, Ian told me, though it seemed more habit than an actual censure.
“As emotional as your mother,” he snarled. “So sure you’re right.”
“Considering how emotional you are at the moment, I don’t think you have room to talk,” I snarked, crossing my arms over my chest, breathing in the scent of pine to try and center myself.
Try not to piss off the crazy man, Chann suggested with a weak laugh. As much as I want to kill him, I don’t think Raff would approve.
He would if he was a true threat to the pack, Ian commented idly. He already gave Alarick permission. Huh. Creepy, but okay.
“Fine then. Finish your story. I still have to study tonight. Unlike you, I’m not a degenerate,” I reminded him. I could hear Chann wince across our bond as I ignored his advice.
Lyle seethed. “I needed more money,” he explained stiffly. “I approached your mother a few times over the years. Never about gambling debts, of course. Told her I had moved, changed jobs. Hospital bills. All on the up and up. Every time, she told me she had you to worry about now, you came first. She couldn’t lend me money, she was sorry.” He kicked my car and I growled. He whirled, searching for the sound, not realizing it had come from me.
Careful, Penny, Alarick warned.
He kicked my car. Mine! I snarled back.
Thought you didn’t like your car, he teased, though the words were strained.
It’s still mine, I muttered back.
“If you want to kick a car, kick your own,” I told him. “That’s from my scholarship, and I don’t want it damaged.”
“I’ll damage it if I choose. You only have it because I agreed you could go to that school. Maybe I’ll just pull you out of there.” His eyes searched my face, and manic glee crossed it when I scowled. “Oh, didn’t like that much, did you? Maybe that will make you more cooperative.”
“Why don’t we just focus on story time first?” I deadpanned, studying my fingernails. “So my mom wouldn’t give you money because she was a single mom with a kid while you were a single guy with no responsibilities who got himself into trouble. I’d say that’s pretty legitimate.”
“She had money,” he snarled, stepping toward me. From the rustle at my back, I knew my friends were ready to breach the tree line. “Our parents’ money! Your father’s life insurance. Her life insurance! It should have all been mine.”
I paused, studying him closer now. “You thought she was rich? And what, just not spending any of it?”
His chest was heaving as he glared at me. “She never spent money. Not unless she had to,” he snapped. “I knew she was hoarding it away. She had to be.” He spun now, kicking hard at his car.
“But…” I considered him for a minute as I ran over what little Mom had told me about her family. I knew she’d gotten a little money when they’d died, but it hadn’t been much. “She had to pay for their funerals.” I racked my brain, trying to think. “You just said she paid for your rehab, your debts, your education. Maybe she put money into our house?” I shrugged, not really sure. “I told you my dad’s money went to medical bills. She explained that years ago when she told me if I ever had kids to be prepared to pay out the nose for it. You’re the accountant, so I’d think you’d be the one to trace it.”
“I did trace it!” He whirled, screaming the words at me.
Fuck this, Ian spat. I’m leaving the camera in the tree, but I’m coming down, he stated firmly. This shit is going sideways fast. Wow, Ian swore twice, he really was worried. The errant thought tickled my brain as I sidestepped Lyle.
“There had to be more! There had to be!” Panic twisted his face now. “I made promises, damn it! I swore that once she was dead, I’d be able to pay. How could I have known that there was almost no money left? That she had used the little she had brought in over the years on you to buy diapers or groceries or pay for your school?” He spat the words as if they were disgusting, rather than realities of being a good parent. “She didn’t have a good life insurance policy! The perfect Candice only had enough to pay for her goddamn burial,” he seethed, slamming his fist into his car again. “And the fucking lawyer she had draw up the custody papers made them so damn tight I couldn’t even put an insurance policy on you like I’d promised.” Ice froze the blood in my veins, and I felt everything inside of me still.
The link in my head went dead silent as the repercussions of that statement echoed across our bond.
Chapter Thirteen
Pixie
“You told them she’d have an insurance policy?” The words felt foreign in my mouth. “You told the people you owe money to, a lot of money to, that my mother wouldn’t pay your debts but had money and a life insurance policy.” I was shaking now as my wolf fought to rise to the surface, the need to override Alarick’s command as strong as breathing. “You told them you’d put an insurance policy on me if it wasn’t enough.”
“I sold everything to pay what I could, but it wasn’t what I’d promised. Then they took you away to that damn school,” he hissed, stepping closer. Shock held me in place as my wolf howled her sorrow and fury. “Awful things happen at boarding schools, especially to scholarship students. It’s on the news all the time. I figured you’d run or get kicked out. Everyone had seen you regress, fall apart, shut down. When you disappeared, I wouldn’t have even been a suspect—a healthy young girl like you would fetch a good price, you know.”