Page 61 of Masked

He woke up the computer and found her research. Part of him felt bad for snooping, but the other part was intrigued by what she was studying. She already had several articles published in prestigious journals, and when she graduated, she was going to have her pick of positions at any university in the country. But she seemed to like D.C., and he could see her taking over at the ACSL when Jim Perkins retired.

After a few minutes of guilty reading, he minimized her research and opened a new browser to check out Parker’s latest social media posts. He rarely talked to his family about what was going on, but he posted everything on social media.

According to Reva, he’d told her that his job in New York didn’t work out. But according to Noah’s research, there had never been a job in New York.

Social media revealed little. But he scrolled through the last few years of posts, anyway. He noticed the only posts that included Reva were ones she’d tagged him in. He’d never tagged her in a photo. That seemed odd.

His phone rang, and he dreaded looking at the screen for fear that he was getting called back into the field. But he pulled the phone out and looked anyway.

It was Gage Allard.

“Gage, what’s up?”

“Your son is in some serious trouble.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s up to his ears in debt, and he’s facing some potential fraud charges.”

“That sounds too bad for him. What does that have to do with Reva?”

Gage cleared his throat, which meant there was something awkward he didn’t want to share.

“Spit it out.”

“Reva has a completely untouched trust fund.”

Noah scratched his head. “What does that mean?”

“It means she’s loaded, but she doesn’t want the money. Looks like it came from some sort of settlement when her family was killed.”

That made little sense. Why wouldn’t she use money that rightfully belonged to her?

“And you think Parker is trying to get to her money? Is that why he proposed?”

“It looks that way. Of course, we have no proof of that, but I did find some evidence in his browser history where he was researching marriage and divorce asset laws to find out if he would have any claim to the money if they divorced.”

“Well shit. I wasn’t aware. He could have come to me for help. He doesn’t like me. None of my children do. But the younger two still know I’ll always support them when I can.”

“So, what do you want me to do next?”

“Keep watching him.”

“Can do. Don’t get too pissed at Reva over the secret money. I suspect there’s a negative association to it, and that’s why she won’t touch it. Again, I’m speculating, but she’s a smart girl, so it makes no sense for her to not touch it.”

“Thanks, Gage. I’m not mad. Only curious.”

The call ended, and he leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling.

“It’s blood money. I won’t use it. Ever.”

He jerked upright to find her standing naked in the doorway.

“Hey, little siren. You’re awake. You don’t have to tell me about it, but I do need to tell you something.”

“Parker only wanted to marry me because he found out about the trust fund? I had a feeling.”

“So why didn’t you say something?”

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