Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“I realize this is a hard concept for you to understand, Mr. Rhodes.”
“Livingston.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“I just got started on this. And I am not a fool. I see the easy trail that implicates your brother. I know you want me to prove it wasn’t him. And while I can’t promise what I turn up will do that, it will be backed by solid proof and not what there is now, where a sloppy investigator takes the quick way.”
He tipped his head and looked her over in a way that reminded her all too well of how he’d gazed at her the night they’d been together. She shored up her defenses and pretended to ignore that tiny furrow in his brow, as if he teetered on the cusp of remembering her but just couldn’t, once more.
“My point here is that this is going to take time. And that time will only grow if I have to stop every few hours because you want to know what’s going on. Don’t micromanage me. I don’t like it. In fact, I won’t put up with it. I’m still going through all the reports I was sent. What I will do is come to your office later today and update you once I finish going through it all with my preliminary view. But otherwise, you need to stay out of my way and let me do my job.”
Chapter Three
He couldn’t get her out of his mind.
Even now, as he sat behind his desk, Livingston found his thoughts on the tiny slip of a woman who didn’t have a problem putting him in his place. Had he been an ass? Perhaps, but dammit, he was concerned about his brother.
If he didn’t trust Gareth so much, he wouldn’t have hired this woman. She looked innocent and young. And so fucking familiar.
He rocked back in his chair and stared over his ten-thousand-dollar desk. Fingers laced beneath his chin, he sighed.
Monica buzzed him. “Mr. Rhodes, there is someone here to see you.”
He bit back a growl. The only time she said it like that was when his father was in the casino requesting to see him. He’d long been denied access to the office area. This wasn’t his old man’s business. It was Livingston’s. And the bastard didn’t deserve to have free rein.
As he opened his mouth to deny the request, she continued, “He said it has to do with your brother.”
Fuck! He rested his hands on the desktop and took a deep breath.
“Let him up.”
Not even five minutes later, his door swung open and his father strode across the carpeted floor, a scowl on his face. One that when he was younger would have scared the hell out of him. Now, it was merely an annoyance.
“It’s ridiculous that I have to ask permission to come see my eldest. I should be able to walk in.”
Livingston didn’t even bother offering him a seat, just steepled his fingers. We had to seek permission to visit you at your place of business when we were growing up. That snark he kept to himself.
“What do you want?”
He wasn’t even going to ask what his old man was doing here in New Orleans, even though he was based out of Memphis, not NOLA.
“Where’s Bradford?”
Protectiveness rose and it wasn’t easy for him to stay in his seat, offering up nothing. Even though he didn’t know the answer himself.
“Not my job to inform you of your son’s whereabouts. If he doesn’t want to talk to you, then deal.”
“You need to get a handle on this. I have one of my firm’s accountants coming down to confirm what everyone else knows, that Bradford stole from you. She said it’s a very simple trail. He wasn’t very good at covering his tracks.” A derisive scoff. “Probably gets that from your mother.”
“I have someone looking into this, not that it’s any of your concern.” What worried him was how his father had gotten hold of his records. Who had leaked them to him?
“You’ll take the one I send over.”
There was a panel of screens to his left that allowed him to see parts of the casino. One of those parts was the hall to his suite, and he noticed his little spitfire walking to the elevator.
“I’ll do no such thing. This is my business, and I will use the accountants I want.”
“You got your stubbornness from your mother. Listen to me, boy, I’ve been in this business years longer than you. Since before your mother even took my seed and created you.”
There was a fucking image he would have willingly gone his whole life without having.
She was coming here. Livingston pushed to his feet and realized as he’d been watching Daisy, he’d forgotten his old man sitting there. “You need to leave. I have things to do and none of them pertain to you.”