Crush (17 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

BRAD

I woke up with Mia in my arms again, and I looked down at her. Her head was nestled in the crook of my arm, and a little trail of drool was making its way out of her mouth. Yep, she was a sleep-drooler. Anyone else would have probably thought that was the most unsexy thing ever, but I didn’t give a shit. She could have been slobbering all over me like a rabid dog and I’d still think she was the sexiest woman to have ever walked the Earth.

Her phone vibrated on my desk a moment later, and I grabbed her and nudged her awake. “It’s your Dad,” I whispered, glancing at the caller ID.

She groaned, but at the mention of her Dad she sat up and rubbed her eyes before answering the phone. “Hello?”

I couldn’t make out exactly what Michael was saying on the other end of the line, but he sounded mad as hell. Shit. Did he know Mia was with me…in my bed? Surely not. Who the hell would have told him?

“What?” Mia said into the phone. “Dad, no! Why would I…no! I swear, I didn’t. I’d never spend that much money! Are you joking?”

I raised my eyebrows at her, and she turned away and dashed over to her handbag. “No, it hasn’t been stolen. It’s right here in my purse. I’m looking at it right now.”

She listened to him for another few seconds, and her face took on a panicked expression. “You’re actually serious? Dad, you know I’m careful with the cards you give me. I don’t know what…no! I didn’t even know the limit on it was that high!”

I pulled on a pair of pants and a T-shirt as she spoke, and finally she hung up and turned to me, her face aghast.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Dad thinks my credit card must have been stolen,” she said. “But it’s right here. I don’t understand how anything could’ve happened to it.”

“Why would he think that?”

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she answered. “He said the bank called him to ask about unusual activity. Apparently five separate transactions went through this morning. Ten thousand dollars each. But I swear, I had nothing to do with it!”

I rubbed her back, making soothing sounds. “Of course you didn’t. You’ve been right here with me the whole time.”

“He’s so mad at me,” she said. “He thought I went and bought a house or something. But I’d never do that. I’m always careful with his money, because I’m so grateful that he’d even help me out by giving me a credit card. So many other people don’t have parents who can help them out, and I don’t want to be spoiled and take advantage. All I spend money on is food, books and the occasional shopping trip with Tamara. That’s it!”

She was bordering on hysterics now, and I kept massaging her shoulders. “I’m sure your Dad isn’t actually mad at you. He’s probably just concerned at whatever’s going on. I’ll call him, okay?”

“No, don’t. He’ll know I’m with you. I’m meant to be back at Overton right now.”

“It’s all right. I’ll just say you called me and told me about it. I’ll get to the bottom of this, okay?”

I dialed Michael’s number on my own cell, and he answered immediately. “Brad? How are you?”

“Hey, Michael. I just spoke to Mia. She’s really upset.”

He sighed. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t have shouted at her like that. It’s not her fault. I just don’t understand what the hell is going on. My bank says her card was used to authorize five huge transactions, and I have no idea where that money has gone.”

“How is that possible? Surely the bank can track it?”

“I just got off the phone with them again. The money seems to have gone into a dummy account, which has since been closed down. After that it was transferred elsewhere and converted into something called Bitcoin. Christ, I don’t even know exactly what Bitcoin is, but they can’t trace it any further than that. Whoever took it knows what they’re doing. Are you absolutely sure Mia’s card wasn’t stolen?”

“Yes, I’m right here…er, I mean, she said it’s right there with her. It wasn’t stolen. As for Bitcoin, it’s a sort of cryptocurrency.”

“A what?”

“Digital currency. Very popular with younger, computer-oriented types of people these days. My friend Carter was telling me all about it a while ago. He studies software engineering.”

“Right. Well, does your friend know anything about tracing stuff like that?”

“I don’t know. I’d have to ask.”

“Okay. Well, I’m going down to the bank to see if they can sort anything else out for me. I’ve had Mia’s card blocked for now, just to stop any more transactions going through.”

“Okay. I’ll tell…I’ll call her back and let her know.”

“Thanks, Brad. And thanks for calling. I know I must have really upset her. I’ll give her a call later when we’ve both calmed down a bit.”

After I’d hung up, I turned to Mia. “Are you absolutely sure no one else has had access to your purse in the last couple of days?”

She shook her head, and I pressed on. “You sure? What about when I was in class yesterday and left you alone here? Did you leave my room at any point, or did anyone come in here?”

She was about to shake her head, but it turned into a slow nod. “Actually, yes. Carter came in for a few minutes.”

“Carter?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I was taking a little nap, and he knocked and came in. He said you borrowed a shirt from him a while ago, and he needed it back. Or maybe it was a jacket? I don’t remember exactly…I was half asleep. But I said it was okay for him to go into your wardrobe and get it back. I think he was only rummaging around in here for a couple of minutes. Shit, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. But he’s one of your best friends, so I thought it would be okay with you.”

I frowned and mulled things over in my mind, and Mia looked up at me, her eyes wide. “You don’t think Carter had anything to do with this, do you? I mean, as soon as I said it was okay for him to go into your cupboard, I lay back down and closed my eyes, so I didn’t see exactly what he was doing. He wouldn’t have gone into my purse and stolen my card details, would he?”

I remained silent. Something was still ticking over in my mind, and I recalled an incident from yesterday. It was something that had seemed innocuous at the time, but now that I thought about it, there could be more to it. A lot more.

Suddenly it hit me. I knew exactly what had happened. More specifically, I knew
who
was behind this, without a doubt.

“I have to go,” I said, grabbing my keys from my desk.

“Wait,” Mia said. “Are you going to talk to Carter? He’s not here. I got up to pee earlier this morning, and while I was in the bathroom I overheard him on the phone saying he had to go see some friends.”

“Uh-huh,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just stay here. I’m going to go sort this shit out.”

I stormed out of the house and got into the car before checking something on my phone. Yep, I had the location. Now all I had to do was get there. I gunned the engine and raced down the road, and fifteen minutes later I arrived at a cheap, seedy-looking motel on the edge of a side street. Very classy.

Glancing at the plates on the cars parked outside, I figured out which room I needed, made a quick phone call, and then rapped sharply on the door.

It opened, and a surprised face stared out at me. “Brad? What are you doing here?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

BRAD

“Hi,
Dad,
” I said, practically spitting out my words.

“How…how’d you know where I was staying?” Tobin asked, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. “I don’t remember telling you.”

“I tracked your cell phone. I guess you missed the memo on how easy it is to do that these days.”

I knew I was right about him, as heavy as that made my heart feel. He wasn’t a consultant of any kind. Unless ‘consultant’ was the long way of saying ‘con man’. I’d be surprised if he even had a real job of any kind.

“No…of course. What can I do for you, son?”

“What can you do? Well, you can start by returning all the fucking money you stole from the Williams family. Do it right now, and I’ll consider leaving the police out of it.”

“Brad, I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” he said. ‘Why don’t you come in, and we can…”

I cut him off by pushing past him and striding into the motel room. The place was a mess. I turned and grabbed him by the throat, shoving him up against the wall and squeezing tight.

“Don’t even try to lie to me. I know it was you. Tell me what the fuck your little gig is here, or I swear to fucking God, I’ll choke you,” I said. “Did you really think I’d be that stupid? Huh? You thought I wouldn’t figure it out right away?”

His face reddened, and his eyes bulged a little. “Okay,” he choked out. “Just…let go. You’re…killing me.”

Pussy little bitch. He’d broken so easily.

I let go of him, and he rubbed his throat and gasped for air. Just like he’d pretended to do last night at the restaurant. As soon as I’d gone to get him water, he must’ve reached into Mia’s purse and somehow managed to get all her details within a few seconds. I wasn’t sure how, but I knew he’d done it. It was the only thing that made sense right now. No fucking way someone like Carter would have done anything like that. Yeah, he was smart and good with computers, and he probably knew how to launder money over the internet via stolen bank card details, but he came from a rich family and had his own trust fund. He had no desire or need to do anything dodgy like that.

But Tobin…he was a different story. As much as I liked to think I’d gotten to know him in these last few months, I hadn’t. Everything he’d ever told me could’ve easily been a lie. It wasn’t like I’d ever checked. I’d just taken him at his word, because I’d been so eager to believe I actually had a decent human being for a father.

“So,” I said. “Start talking, or I’ll break your fucking nose.”

He held his hands up. “No need for that. Look, this wasn’t part of the plan, okay? Things just crept up on me. I needed the money sooner than I thought.”

“What plan?” I asked, my voice dripping with venom.

He sighed. “I admit, I haven’t been entirely honest with you, son. I’m not a consultant anywhere. I was, but I got laid off a year ago.”

“For what?”

“Smoking weed on the job,” he said. “Among other things.”

Jesus Christ. As I looked at him, I saw what could’ve been my future. If I’d kept smoking pot and hanging around fuckheads when I was a teenager, I could have been exactly the same as Tobin. I shuddered to think how I would’ve turned out if he’d actually raised me as a kid.

“Anyway,” he continued. “Things have been hard since then. I’ve just been drifting around, staying with friends and doing odd jobs.”

I didn’t even ask what ‘odd jobs’ he’d done. No doubt it was illegal shit.

“Then I heard through the grapevine that Karen had married some rich guy. I looked him up and saw that he was from the Williams family. Old money. So I came up with a plan. A long term investment, so to speak.”

“Get close to me and get at the money through me? Is that it?” I said, taking a step towards him.

“Not exactly. That was part of it. Don’t hit me,” he replied as I approached. He looked fucking terrified of me, like he actually thought I’d kill him if he didn’t tell me everything. “Just let me explain. Brad, you’ve gotta believe me, as soon as I met you, I actually liked you. I didn’t want things to be like this. You’re a lot like me, son. I wish I’d known that earlier.”

Bullshit. I was nothing like this asshole.

“I figured I’d track you down, get close to you. Then I’d be able to worm my way back into Karen’s life. She always had a soft spot for me. Didn’t matter how I treated her or how many times I cheated, she’d always come running back to me in the end.”

“You’re fucking deluded,” I said. “She wouldn’t go near you if you were the last man on Earth.”

“You’re young. You haven’t figured this out yet, but most women are fucking pathetic,” he said. “They’re like puppy dogs. You kick ‘em, and they just come back for more, trying to make you love ‘em. I know it would’ve taken a while, but once I was back in your life, she would’ve started speaking to me again at some point. She’d have to. I’m the fucking father of her kid.”

“And then what? You think she’d loan you money as an old friend? Because she might feel sorry for the father of her child after two decades of nothing?”

“Maybe. Or maybe she and her husband would start having issues. Maybe she’d use me as a shoulder to cry on. Bet she’d be more than willing to give up the goods then.”

Jesus, he really was deluded. I crossed my arms. “A – Michael and Mom have the strongest marriage I’ve ever seen. Nothing could split them up. And B – even if they were having problems, you’re still the last man she’d go running to. She’d never give you a cent of his money.”

“They might not be as strong as you think,” he said with a nasty smile. “After the first few threats, maybe they think they can get through it. But when they keep coming, maybe Michael starts to resent his wife for causing all these problems for him.”

“Wait….you’re the one who’s been sending Michael racist threats?” I said, my eyes narrowing. This was even more fucked up than I thought. “You’re a fucking cunt.”

I paced back and forth and balled my fists up, trying to contain my rage. I remembered all the way back when my Mom first married Michael, I’d overheard them discussing the threatening letters which had been showing up at Michael’s office. At the time, I’d thought it was some pathetic racist hicks behind the hate mail, but now I knew better.

“Calm down,” he said. “You haven’t let me fin…”

“Wait.” I cut him off. “Just wait a damn minute. You didn’t really find out about me through the wedding announcement in the paper. You said you heard my Mom remarried ‘through the grapevine’. So you already knew about me, didn’t you? All that shit you said about your mother not telling you, and you not seeing the pregnancy test that day…it’s all bullshit, isn’t it? You knew about me this whole fucking time!”

He held his hands up again, his arms trembling. “Brad, it’s not what you think. I was young back then. I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. Yes, I ran out on your Mom when I found out she was pregnant. But now that I’ve gotten to know you, I see what a mistake that was. You’re a great kid.”

His eyes widened with contrition, and my face burned with rage. He was a real fucking piece of shit, and right now there was enough hate in my heart to start a car.

The only reason he’d ever tracked me down was to use my connections to Mia and Michael, just so he could scam money out of them. He’d always known he had a son out there…he just hadn’t wanted anything to do with me until he thought it could benefit him.

I was a fucking idiot. All I’d wanted out of this was a relationship with my real father, and look how well that had turned out. I should have listened to my Mom and never struck up a relationship with Tobin, and now everyone around me was paying the price for my stupid decision. I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael never wanted to see my face again once he found out about this, considering how much money I’d likely lost him.

“How’d you do it?” I said, my voice dangerously low. “I want to know how you took Mia’s card details so fast.”

His lips curled into a semblance of a twisted grin, although his eyes remained fearful. “Why? Interested in joining your Dad in his little business?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? No. I want to know so I can find out how to get it back, you sack of shit. Tell me.”

I took another step towards him, and he caved.

“All right, all right. It’s not hard,” he said. “If you know the right people, you can get your hands on one of those little babies.”

He jerked his head towards the small brown coffee table, where a little black device sat. “Credit card scanner,” he said. “Swipe a card through it, and it logs all the details via the magnetic strip. Takes all of two seconds.”

My hands balled into fists again. “Give it back. That’s fifty fucking grand you stole.”

“I need it,” he said, backing away. “I have some…debts. I didn’t think I’d need it so fast, but when you mentioned you’ve been getting so close to Michael’s daughter, I saw an opportunity. You really are just like me, Brad. A player. Fucking your own stepsister. It’s exactly what I’d have done if I were you.”

I gritted my teeth. “I told you, I’m nothing like you.”

“Bullshit. Look at you, Brad. You’re the spitting image of me. You’re just like me in every way. Come join me. Help me grift these rich, snobby cunts. We could make a killing.”

He was scared. He knew I was going to fuck him up, so he was trying to weasel his way out of it by convincing me to join him. Ha. What a fuckwit.

I smiled at him, and he mistook the grin for acquiescence to his scheme. Oh no. This was the calm before the storm; the way a serial killer might coldly smile at his victim before slicing their throat.

“What d’ya say, son?” he said. “Come help me?”

I gritted my teeth again. “You’re wrong about everything. I’m nothing like you. And fuck our blood relation. I’m not your son. Never have been and never will be.”

I lunged forward, and with one furious swing of my right arm, I delivered a crushing blow to the side of his face.

“That’s for hurting my Mom,” I hissed.

As he reeled from the shock of the blow, I grabbed him by his shirt collar and slammed him into the wall again, hard, before punching him in the guts. “And that’s what you get for hurting Michael and Mia.”

He gasped out some half-assed excuse as he crumpled to the floor, begging me to stay and listen to him, but I ignored him and strode to the door. My hand ached like crazy, and I was fairly sure at least one of my knuckles was fractured from hitting him in the jaw on the first punch. Whatever. The pain was worth it. Michael Williams had been more of a father to me in the last few months than Tobin had ever been, and he deserved to be stood up for. He spent his days defending people without a voice and standing up for their rights, so punching the fuck outta the guy who’d threatened him and stole from him seemed like the least I could do.

I stepped through the door and then turned around. “By the way, you aren’t the only dirty fucking liar here. I lied too. I did call the police. They’ll probably be here in about five minutes. Good luck with that,
Tobin.
”

My mouth tasted sour as I left without another glance in his direction. I knew I’d done the right thing by turning him in, and beating the shit out of him for screwing my family over had felt awesome…yet I still felt like shit.

I was beyond moronic. My Mom had always said Tobin was a terrible man who couldn’t be trusted, and I’d hurt her by choosing to believe his lies.

Only twenty-four hours ago, I’d felt like I was on top of the world. It was amazing how fast that could change. In such a short period of time, I’d stooped to feeling like the lowest piece of trash in the world. Maybe Tobin was right. Maybe I was a lot more like him than I cared to admit.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mom and Michael cut me out over this. They didn’t need this sort of drama following them around, especially after everything Mom had gone through in her earlier years.

Only one thought comforted me now. At least I had Mia. She was one of the only bright spots on a horizon which had never looked darker.