Page 7 of Cain
Her scream is music to my ears. Her moans and cries add to the sweetness of her release.
On a groan, I follow her over the edge.
Grinning like a damn fool as I flip on the lights in my office.
I follow my routine. Open the safe. Count the cash. Start the day.
Except—
I open the safe, and my breath halts. The bundles are gone.
I blink, then check again, like maybe I’m imagining it. But no. The deposits from the weekend—gone. Ten grand in total. Disbelief slams into my chest, followed by a sharp, panicked spike of anger.
“Cain?” Paula’s voice cuts through my shock as she walks in, Melody right behind her. Paula takes one look at my face and her eyes narrow. “What’s wrong?”
I don’t answer at first. I just step aside so they can see the empty safe. They both know my ritual. Hell, Paula comes by to ask me for money, knowing I do this.
Melody gasps. Paula’s mouth tightens.
“Are there are any signs of a break-in anywhere else?” I hate how my voice shakes.
Paula and Melody exchange a glance.
My sister speaks first. “Cain, we saw Faith here last night. After closing.”
“What?”
“We came back to grab my purse, which I’d forgotten.” Paula looks uncomfortable as hell. “She didn’t see us, but we saw her. She was in your office.”
“No,” the word slips out. Faith was with me.
Not all the time. After closing, she went to her apartment; she said she needed some things. Then she came to my apartment. It’s upstairs. A loft. It’s convenient and…
“Cain, I saw what I saw,” Paula says defensively, her mouth in a pout. “Are you saying you don’t believe me?”
I don’t know what to believe. I just had the best night of my life with the sexiest and nicest woman I’ve ever met, and now…I shake my head. “You know, I do, poppet.”
Paula has a job at Ripley’s. She doesn’t do any work, but she gets a paycheck. She’s supposedly managing our social media and marketing, which is bullshit because everyone in Silverton knows Ripley’s and everyone comes here.
I don’t need to market the restaurant.
But she’s my sister, and I take care of her, even though she’s twenty-five. She has a degree in marketing but keeps getting fired or laid off or whatever.
She’s the baby of the family, even though she’s only five years younger than me. We all spoiled her. My parents tried to get her to get a life before they left for the warmer climes of Palm Desert—and told me to stop bailing her out of trouble.
Butshe’s my baby sister.
Damn it! But I can’t believe Faith would steal. She just doesn’t seem the type.
“Maybe she was just?—”
“Cain,” Melody cuts in gently, almost too gently. “Kyle had her checked out. Last night, after Paula told him what she saw. We didn’t want to say anything,but...she has a history.”
I raise both eyebrows.
Even though Faith and I’ve known each other for six months, I don’t know much about her past, except that she grew up in foster care. She left Seattle because she needed a change. She stopped here on her way to Los Angeles and fell in love with Silverton.
“What did you find out?”
