Page 48 of Brother In Arms

Chapter 16

Bailey

It turned into a good old fashioned family cook-out, or what I imagined one to be. The crystal wine glasses were replaced with red Solo cups, and the china with sturdy paper plates and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There was no stiff formality here. There was easy laughter that wasn’t at anyone’s expense or something so esoteric you laughed so you didn’t look like an idiot. It was comfortable, and I was blown away that Ghost, the husband, cooked while his wife worked on my problem.

That never would have flown in my father’s house. He would have asked my mother to go somewhere else when the business talk began. Made up something that she needed to do in that way when it was time for the men to talk. I loved my father, but he was firmly raised and somehow stuck back in like the 1950’s… Men did the dealing, women took care of the home. That was the way it was, always. I wasn’t allowed to go hunting or fishing, those were activities reserved solely for my brother.

I was amazed when he’d bought me riding lessons, but not for racing, oh no, I was a dressage rider, limited to doing shows and exhibition jumping. I’d been alright with it, mostly because I had been raised in such a bubble as to not realize there were any other things a girl could do, let alone should do.

Boarding school had been both a blessing and a bane. Even being an all girl’s school, it had been eye opening for sure. I’d been introduced to things that now made total sense to me, like the concept that well behaved women rarely make history.

I took a drink from the bottle of beer in my hands and stared out over the wavering grass in the vast back yard off the porch. The little one had long since been put to bed, and that had been a sight to see… My Uncle José was actually pretty exceptional with kids. Who’d have thought?

Shelly and Data were still playing at their laptops treating their mission with great enthusiasm and zeal. Meanwhile, I stood over here terrified about what they’d find; torn between wanting them to find something to vindicate me, to tell me yes, you have every right to feel like they’re cheating you because they are, and wanting them to find nothing. To know and believe that while my brother may not have the farm’s best interests at heart, that he somehow did still value our bonds as family enough to not completely fuck me.

My hopes were dashed when Data leaned back in his seat with the scrape and clack of leather and metal fittings against the metal of the patio chair.

“You got it?” Shelly asked.

“Which set of books do you want?” he asked grimly and Shelly made an ‘ah ha’ kind of noise.

“Both of them please.”

“Bailey,” Data called.

“Yes?” I called back.

“I’m going to need you to do something for me when you get those lawyers involved and you’re going to want to get them involved fast.”

My heart sank and I went back to the table. Before I could sit down in my own chair, Rush pulled me into his lap, his large arms holding me loosely around my waist.

“What’s that?” Data passed me a card.

“Get me involved as a securities contractor so I can do this again on the level. Who are your lawyers anyways?”

I gave him the name of my mother’s firm and he nodded, “I’ve done investigative work for them before. I’ll get the door open for you to have them hire me on. Shells, your printer up and running?”

“Yeah, fire when ready, Captain Dorkus.”

Data chuckled and tapped and clicked through some things, “Well, he fucked up and Shelly’s going to be able to find exactly what I’m talking about. He says in his books that he’s paying you like three times the amount he’s actually paying you. You, obviously, have bank records proving that’s a fucking lie but he can’t hide that because if he does, it proves that he’s not fulfilling his job as trustee anyways.”

“Okay,” I said quietly, a numbness setting in.

“So as for where the money is actually going? Looks like it’s headed to a ‘Giangiulio Development Group’ he’s using money he’s straight up stealing from you to invest in the developer who’s trying to take your farm in the first place.

Incendiary rage, hot, fierce, and unlike anything I had ever felt before bubbled up inside me. I leveled Data with my gaze and asked, “And you’re sure, absolutely sure, you can nail his old ass to the fucking wall?”

“Without a doubt, I’ve already got it. Even if he goes and erases it, I can fill a bunch of juror’s and lawyers heads with enough technical internet jargon that they’d be willing to do or say anything just to make it stop.”

“What if they have their own experts?”

“Problem with that, sweetheart,” my Uncle Dragon said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Ain’t none of ‘em Data,” Ghost said and took a swig of his own beer. Shelly made a pouty face and I realized it was at the beer as she rubbed her swelling stomach.

“Okay,” I nodded.

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