“I hope you don’t mind,” Spencer says. “But since you said Chelsea bid on a few of the Prices’ properties, it just made sense for me to reach out to Addison.”
Addison is the largest private landowner in the world. She owns property everywhere, making her the perfect contact when looking to expand. Most of the properties Chelsea has bid on have been hers. She’s acted as the Lancaster realtor of sorts for properties.
“I was finding it very strange that within minutes of Spencer’s team putting in a bid, your team was as well,” Addison explains. “With our family’s history”—she looks at Spencer before continuing—“I really didn’t want to get in the middle of a feud and I just accepted the highest offer, but when Spencer told me what was going on with you and Chelsea, things were starting to add up.”
My eyebrow rises, not knowing where she’s going with this.
“A hostile takeover,” she explains, putting her hands up as if to say, duh.
“I had them look into the transactions and Jax hacked into the accounts you gave me,” Spencer jumps in, trying to piece it all together for me.
“Chelsea was very careful in what she said in her emails. She’s smart, but not smart enough.” Jax wiggles his eyes like the cat who caught his prey. “She led us to the idiot.”
I smile, waiting for them to roll it all out. I’ve wrestled with all the scenarios for years. I’m ready for someone else to take the fucking wheel.
“Apparently, your wife has been shacking up with the help for years.”
My brows knit in confusion. Help? What help? Then it dawns on me. Who’s the one person we’ve both had access to for years who could play both sides? “Fucking Miles. The head of security at my own damn hotel.” My knuckles clench into a fist at the revelation.
“Bingo,” Jax offers.
“That’s why he’s been avoiding me and Chelsea has always been one step ahead. That fucking rat.”
The need to strangle him is intense. I don’t give a fuck that he’s been with Chelsea. He can have her. It’s the fact he’s been playing me all along.
“It’s not just Miles, though. Karen from the Karen Michelle Agency has been playing both sides. When we would call to have her set up contractors to give estimates on the sites we were looking into, she’d send an email immediately to Chelsea,” Spencer adds.
My blood boils at the mention of Karen. She’s also the one who placed Bridget at The L. She was involved from the beginning. I make a mental note to destroy her and any reputation she has.
“We’ll worry about her another day. She’s a small issue in comparison.” Spencer reads my mind. He’s right. Another day.
Gray steps forward. He’s the financial guy in the Price family. He acts as Addison’s CPA. “I pulled all the receipts and information for the transactions between Chelsea and the property deeds. The original holding company you used when purchasing the land for The L was a different company than has been used for the last few transactions. We always look into everyone we do business with, but we didn’t with you because of our family history. Typically, we would’ve looked into any changes, but this one slipped through. We had Jax pull up the new company and that’s when it got messy.”
“Messy how?”
“The new company leads to an off-shore account. One that’s not affiliated with you at all.”
“She’s stealing money and funneling it into an account?” I need to make sure I’m following what he’s saying. His nod affirms my understanding.
“It gets worse, though. Off-shore accounts are tricky to infiltrate,” Gray explains.
“Not for me.” Jax’s lips turn up into a wicked smirk. “She’s been pulling funds from accounts that weren’t hers to pull from and funneling it into this account.”
I gathered this much. She doesn’t do anything outside of The L to have her own money and we just concluded she’s embezzling. How much worse can it get?
“She’s been pulling money from Isabella’s trust.”
I see red. Stealing from me and my company is one thing, but stealing from our daughter?
“Not only is she stealing from Isabella, but she’s been ‘selling’ residential properties in The L.”
“We don’t have residential properties.”
“Exactly. The paperwork she filed isn’t legit. If someone from the hotel ever noticed that people actually lived in one of these so-called apartments, The L would have the right to terminate the fake contracts. This wouldn’t look good for The L and would surely result in a lawsuit.”
“Wouldn’t this hurt me and the hotel’s image more than anything?”
“Not when we can show proof that all of the funds were siphoned into an outside account that does not have your name attached to it. She was dumb enough to put her own name on it. She’s been using those sums not only to try to ruin Lancaster, but she’s also been spending an extreme sum of money on herself and Miles Smith.”
“It seems she’s been having an affair with the head of your security for quite some time,” Spencer chimes in.
“She made me hire him. She . . . How long?”
“We dated it back over six years according to Miles’ emails and texts.”
Jax is a genius.
“Over the course of the six years, she’s stolen in little increments as to not raise a bell on your end.”
“How much?”
“Over four million, but only a little over one million is still in the account. They’ve clearly been enjoying themselves.”
I shake my head at the audacity of those two. Stealing from a child. How fucking low can they be? All the trips and fancy clothes have all been on her daughter’s dime. The fact that Miles has stuck around for six years floors me. What is he getting out of this? She’s had several affairs with different men so why stay? The money? Then it hits me.
Isabella.
It all makes sense. My blood runs cold and my face falls.
Miles Smith is Isabella’s father.
“What’s wrong, Grant?” Spencer asks, concerned.
“They were stealing from their daughter.”
The room goes silent as everyone allows me to process this information. It’s too much. Way too fucking much.
“How do I fix this?”
“Don’t you see? We’re saying we got her. We fucking got her. You can use all this as leverage. No way that bitch will want to go to jail. She’ll give you anything,” Jax explains.
“What about him? I can’t risk losing my daughter. Not when he can take her from me.”
“Nah, man. We got him, too,” Gray says. “He’s all over this. The email correspondence coming from his account is very damning. You got them both by the balls now. As for Isabella, he doesn’t care about her. What father allows another man to raise his daughter? And for what? Money?”
I let his words sink in, looking up at Spencer.
“So, what are you going to do?” he asks.
“I’m going to show them how it feels to live your whole life at the mercy of someone else. I’m going to get my life back.” Not wanting to waste a minute, I turn to face the door and see Olivia Miller blocking my way. She smiles.
“Keep her safe. Make her happy. Love her. And if you can’t, let her go.” She walks past me and out of the room.