Page 26 of Ferocity

A knock at her door drew her attention. She held up her finger as she crossed to it. Scarlett opened the door and relaxed. “I'm glad you're here.” She stood aside as Dave entered her office. Ever since they were little, Dave had this six sense about him. Whenever she was in need, he came running. Any time. Any day.

“I couldn’t shake the feeling something was amiss when we talked, so I came here instead.” He sat next to Timothy. “What did I miss?”

“The bank called Scarlett,” Timothy said. “Seems the loan has been paid off and now another has been drawn up.”

Tension radiated off of Dave. “What?”

“It gets better,” Scarlett muttered. “Seems the money was earmarked for upgrades to our facilities.”

Dave chuckled, the dark sound slithered down her spine and was filled with foreboding. “Oh really?”

Scarlett inclined her chin. “Seems Mrs. Cruz-Velasquez can pick up the paperwork whenever she ready. But there’s more.” Scarlett filled Dave in. She knew she’d have to do it again when she saw Kenny and Edward. A part of her wished Dave would have been with his friends and brought them with him to get all the nonsense out of the way.

“Shit.” Dave scrubbed his face. “We can't allow this to continue.”

“Well, anything we do now, might cause Maisie to run,” Timothy said. “We have bits and pieces to this puzzle. Not the whole thing.”

“Well, first thing’s first. We need to see the conservatorship paperwork. My father didn’t handle it,” Dave said. “If anything, he advocated for Scarlett. He demanded your parents send you to therapy and then asked to question Maisie for them. He never believed her cock and bull story about not being anywhere near the cats.”

“How do we get them if we don’t know who the lawyer was that helped my parents?” Scarlett asked.

“We go to the bank. More specifically, I go to the bank. Since I represent the sanctuary, I should have all copies of important documents. If the Leon Trust was left to you and Maisie, then the trust should know under what conditions you’ve been put on conservatorship.” Dave stood then. “Give me an hour and then we’ll wrangle the other two up and go over what we have.”

“Sure,” Scarlett said. “An hour.”

“Don’t look so down, Scar. We’ll figure this out. I am a hundred percent sure this paperwork is bogus.” He crossed to her and placed a kiss to her lips before cutting his gaze to Timothy. “Take care of her.”

Timothy nodded. “You got it.”

Dave strode from Scarlett’s office. Rage burned through his veins. None of the documents the bank had were real. Which meant, Maisie also pulled the original will and trust from the bank and replaced it with forged documents. What was her end game? What did she hope to accomplish? As it stood, she was running the refuge into the ground. Give the place another year, maybe five, and it would be boarded up. She wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Yet, didn’t it play better for her if she kept the sanctuary? Then it hit him. What if Maisie wanted a redo of her childhood? What if she wanted back into the limelight? Play the savior when her sister became incapacitated. The thought gave him pause.Fuck me.He pushed out the door of the main building and came face to face with Kenny and Edward.

“You,” he said pointing to Kenny. “You’re coming with me. Edward, I need you to go up and sit with Scarlett. Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. Timothy is already up there.”

Edward nodded before pushing between Kenny and Timothy to get to the door. When he was inside, Dave turned to Kenny. “I’ll explain everything on the way to the bank. But, this is worse than both of us knew.”

Kenny gave him a look crossed between confusion and anger. “How did I fucking know.”

“It’s a wonder we didn’t figure it out before now.” Dave jogged toward his car. “Hurry, we can’t let Maisie see us. I’m sure the bitch has a snitch or three around here. We don’t want to let her know we’re onto her.”

Kenny climbed into the passenger side of the vehicle. “You’re right. So, spill.”

Dave pulled out of the gated property and turned onto the paved road. "It's a clusterfuck. Worse than I expected. I hope to get more answers at the bank." He started from the beginning and told Kenny about the conservatorship. The fact the loan had been paid off and what it'd been for. By the time he finished, they were pulling up to the bank.

“Give me a second,” Kenny said. “I feel like breaking shit.”

Dave understood. “My dad would never do something so deranged.”

Kenny waved him off. “Never thought he would. Nor you.”

“Good. This could be fucked when we get in there,” Dave said. “You sure you’re up for this?”

Kenny grunted. “Yep. Lead the way.”

They stepped inside the bank and Dave went straight for the first available teller. He grinned as he folded his hands on the counter. “I wonder if you could call Mr. Brinks and let him know Dave Youngblood here is to speak with him.”

The girl smiled in return. "I sure can. It's good to see you again, Mr. Youngblood." She picked up the phone and dialed an extension. When the person answered she began to speak. "Mr. Youngblood is here to see you, Mr. Brinks. Should I send him up?" She waited for a beat. "Can do. Thank you." She hung up the phone then motioned to the staircase to the left of where they stood. "Mr. Brinks will see you now. Have a good afternoon."

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