Page 85 of Ravish

“You should press charges,” Colby said.

“I know, but I don’t want anyone else affected by my stupid family.” She rubbed her forehead. “I don’t want anything to blow back on the club. I’m thinking about more than just me and you.”

“Well, let’s just take care of that, too.” Colby grinned and dialed another number, putting his phone on speaker. “Wicked Sanctuary, Max speaking.”

Lara’s eyes widened.

“Max, it’s Colby.” He quickly outlined what had happened and Lara’s concerns.

“Go after the bastard,” Max said. “I’m sure everyone knows about the club by now. We’ll be fine. After Damon and Tessa’s press conference, membership actually went up.”

“Thanks, Max.” Colby hit the end button and looked at Lara. “Does that help?”

“Yes, but honestly, I need to talk to Aunt Tammy; this could affect her as well.”

“Then let’s talk to her.” No matter what Lara tried to put in his way, Colby was going to get her to press blackmail charges against her ex, even if she dropped them later or they pleaded out. But he was glad she’d talked to Jordan about a restraining order.

Next door, Lara, at Colby’s insistence, laid out what had happened.

“Walter did what?” Aunt Tammy hit the table with her hand before she stood up and crossed the room and picked up her landline phone.

“Aunt Tammy?” Lara asked.

Tammy waved her hand. Colby watched Tammy’s face; she was mad. Spitting mad, as Colby’s mother would say.

“Lawrence, enough is enough.”

Lara jumped up from the table, but her aunt put her hand up, and Lara stopped in her tracks.

“I mean it, Lawrence. I’ve had enough of your shenanigans. Stop pushing Walter at Lara; he wasn’t right for her. Never was. But what you’re doing now is pushing the boundaries of family.”

Her aunt’s fingers tightened around the phone. “If that’s how you feel, I can’t change your mind. But I can remind you I sit on the board of the bank as the majority owner.”

Lara could hear her father yelling as Aunt Tammy hung up the phone.

“Let him chew on that,” Tammy said.

“You sit on the board of the bank?” The astonishment in Lara’s voice didn’t surprise him, and it was good for her that the truth was coming out.

“Of course, I do.” Tammy retook her seat and put her hands on the table. “My dear departed Ephraim started the bank. When he died, he made sure I was a majority owner. I let your father run it because I had no interest in running it, and he did a good job.”

“But you encouraged me to go to another bank for the loan to buy the ice cream shop and expand.”

“I did, because I didn’t want people to think the family just gave you money. It’s bad enough your father has control over the initial loan.”

“Maybe not for long,” Lara said, explaining she’d decided to consolidate everything under one loan, and the approval was almost done.

“Good girl,” Aunt Tammy said.

“Aunt Tammy, you are a dark horse, keeping your position from us,” Colby said, feeling better now than he had when Lara first told him what happened.

“I know how to play poker, young man, and don’t you forget it. Now, why don’t you two go home and make whoopee.”

“Aunt Tammy.” Lara’s cheeks turned red, but Colby just laughed.

“I can’t think of anything better.”

Chapter 15

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