Chances (Mystic Nights #1) (17 page)

After drying off
and dressing, Aliya took the time to quickly blow dry her hair. She didn’t work today but she had a lot to do. She was going to pop over to her parents for a quick bite and catch up. Then she would scour the local area for places that could house her studio, if the need arose. She wouldn’t let the council possibly denying her the space deter her from fulfilling her dreams.

She sighed. Her dreams. She had never dreamed of finding someone like Jonathan. She loved him. And he loved her. He’d told her many times during the course of the night. It had been the best night of her life, she reflected as she pulled closed the door to his suite behind her. Life could be good she thought, really good. It seemed all was falling into place. She patted her stomach, wondering what the future might hold. She needed to check on that, too. She hadn’t had any bouts of sickness since, but would check that out just to be sure. If she were pregnant, she felt in her heart that Jonathan would be okay with that. If not, she knew she wanted children with that man someday. She hoped he felt the same. With happy thoughts, she began to walk down the hall towards the bank of elevators.

*

Jonathan was already
in the lobby speaking to the concierge before he realized he had forgotten his phone upstairs. He used the desk phone to call Mr. Risolli’s room. He invited the man to join him for breakfast in his office upstairs. He wanted the man to be comfortable, but he also didn’t want people asking questions if they saw them together in one of the eateries downstairs. He planned to discuss with him what he’d found, and what he needed him and his associates to do. He also wanted to explain and ask that the man stay out of sight as much as possible. Less eyes and ears suspecting anything would be best. It would keep the rumors at bay.

Mr. Risolli was cordial, understood the need for as much delicacy as possible, and promised to wait for him in his rooms until Jonathan came to fetch him. But dammit, he would have to keep Risolli waiting. He needed his phone. It was what kept him in contact with all the goings on at the casino.

He was just getting off the elevator when he heard Aliya’s voice. She was talking to someone, and he had just handed her a large yellow envelope. Shocked to see who it was, the two of them together, he pulled back around a corner and waited. Something inside him twisted, but he had to see what was going on. Be sure.

“Tell Peter, I said thank you. I wasn’t expecting this. Not so soon, anyhow.” She tucked the large envelope under her arm.

“Peter wants you to call him. I am so glad I ran into you here.” Simon was walking her towards the elevator. “I took a chance you would be here when I did not find you at home this morning.”

Aliya blushed, but conceded to the fact that she and Jonathan were indeed an item now, and she had better get use to more and more people finding out. “Yes, Jonathan and I are growing closer. But, thank Peter for me. I do have a few errands to run this morning, but I will call him just as soon as I can.”

“Well, he is very pleased with you, Aliya. He knows you will do good things with this, and of course, he also asked to just keep this between us. He can be a very helpful man.”

“This is good news,” she reiterated as they walked towards the elevators. Jonathan stepped further back behind the overly large potted wisteria. His heart hammered in his chest.
What in hell was going on? What did Simon and Peter have going on? And how was Aliya involved?
He suspected Simon was behind the embezzlement, but Peter too.
And now, Aliya?
Had she deceived him?
His mind began to wonder if all this had been a sham.
Was she working for them? What was in that envelope? Money? A payoff to keep him distracted
. He needed to find out the truth. His stomach rolled.

As the elevator doors slid shut, Jonathan let out the pent up rage that had been building since seeing Aliya in the hall with Simon. His fist slammed into the drywall of the corridor, pushing it in a good two inches and denting the wall. The pain in his hand was ignored while anguish tore at his heart. Of all the damn luck, he’d fall for a girl who was duping him for money, was here to destroy him, and destroy the casino he and his family poured their heart into for their people. Her people.

Waiting just a moment longer before making his decision, he stalked down the hall like a man being chased by demons. When he got to his room, he swiped his card in the electric eye viciously. He saw his phone right away, and picked it up. He glanced at it. He saw he had a message. It was from Aliya. “<3, love you.” His heart twisted in his gut.
Lies.

Did she, he pondered as he shoved the cell phone deep inside his pocket. He just didn’t know. He was having doubts because of all the times he had run into Aliya and Peter together. All the times he’d warned her about him, but she kept trusting the man.
Was it all lies?

Jonathan launched himself out of his room, ignoring the scent of the roses as he went, hoping to hell he wasn’t the fool he expected he was.
Was it all lies?

As the elevator descended to the fourth floor where Mr. Risolli was staying, Jonathan did his best to shake it off. He needed to set the accountant up with everything he needed, but then he was going to confront Simon and Aliya. This couldn’t wait. It was too important. He needed to get to the bottom of this. And he was doing that today.

‡

“A
re you sure,
Jonathan?” Joseph asked. He was pacing the length of his brother’s office while Jonathan sat desolate, his hands fisted in his hair. He hated to see his brother like this. He couldn’t imagine what the man was feeling now. This was a true shit storm if he ever saw one.

“That’s what I heard.” Jonathan sat back at his desk, and then explosively stood up. He turned abruptly and faced the bank of windows behind him that overlooked the Mystic, and their competitors across the river.
What the hell was he going to do now?
He had finished setting up Marco in the conference room, all the papers and access codes to the files given to him. An associate of Marco’s would be arriving in less than an hour, and his team of six would all be here by the early hours of the evening. They had promised to find all the discrepancies, and begin working the computer electronic trails to find out where the money had gone. And it was. Two million dollars and counting.

Marco was good. He’d promised to figure it out. It’s what he did, crunch numbers, and follow the leads.

“Yes, but it may have been something else. It is still very vague.” Joseph was trying to give Aliya the benefit of the doubt, but even his legal mind knew it didn’t look good for her. His brother looked like hell, like he had been hit by a Mac truck. He knew his brother had lost his heart to her and was feeling betrayed. He knew from his own experience, that wasn’t a good feeling. It was the worst.

“I told her I loved her last night. Can you fucking believe it?” He fumed while staring blankly out at the world before him.

“We don’t know for sure.” Again, he wanted to give his brother a little glimmer of hope.

“Yes, I do. I went to Simon before I called you. I saw his light was on when I came up. He didn’t hear me come in. He was on the phone with someone. I heard him say, ‘Aliya’s got her package.’”

“Still. . .” Joseph’s eyebrows shot up. “You don’t know what was in that package.”

Jonathan turned towards his brother, facing him, and facing reality. “Joseph, I know you are trying to play devil’s advocate here. But it’s just not the time. We have millions of dollars missing, and the more and more I see and hear, it looks like Aliya is involved. And don’t worry about me.” He put his hands up as Joseph approached. “I will get my shit together. We have a whole reservation to look out for, and nearly one thousand employees whose livelihoods depend on us figuring this out. And right now, that is the most important thing.”

Joseph examined his brother shrewdly. He was waiting for some feedback. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. But still, let’s not jump to conclusions about Aliya.” He saw his brother was about to protest once again. He interrupted. “What do you need me to do today?” Joseph was ready to pitch in and lend a hand. It was crunch time. There was definitely a serious case of embezzlement going on, and it wasn’t just about the money. The gaming commission could shut them down for less than what Jonathan suspected was missing. The whole casino was at stake, and the reservation’s future prosperity could be destroyed.

Jonathan let out a long slow steadying breath thinking about the next steps they needed to take. He was glad to have his brother here. He needed all the help he could get. “I need you to go to security. Get Tom. I trust him and he is on duty today. I need him to shut down the wifi. Marco suggested it. He’s brought his own router so he can keep working, but it’ll stop anyone else from doing more damage. If they are taking anything electronically this will prevent anything else from going out.” Jonathan began to pace. “And have him put a security team on Simon, don’t let him leave the building, and watch who he meets with while the accountants are in. So far, I don’t think he knows they are here yet.”

Joseph was nodding. “Gotcha. Anything else?” he added over his shoulder as he began to approach the door.

“Yes, have the concierge call me. We are going to get some complaints about the wifi. I need to tell him a story to keep our customers appeased for the time being. Oh, and have the pit crews fill the ATM machines. They have a direct line to the banks and don’t use our system. We don’t want people not able to use their debit and credit cards there. At least they’ll be able to get cash until the wifi is restored.”

Joseph understood. It was going to be a very long day. “Mom is back in two days. Should we call and have her come in early?”

Jonathan just shook his head in resignation. “No. She would just be ordering us to do what we are already doing.”

“And Aliya?” Joseph asked. He wanted to know where his head was there. If he needed him to handle her.

Jonathan didn’t want to think about it. About her. Rubbing his hand over his face, he spoke. “A part of me really wants to think it is just some fluke, but I’ve got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just can’t figure out what is in it for her, you know. Was it the money, her studio? Peter has been riding us hard for years. He wants us to fail. I can see that now. But I still don’t know why. The only thing I can think of is money. Greed. Who knows? Maybe he convinced her to come work here for this exact purpose. To keep me distracted.” He was raw. He didn’t want to think about it, but could think of nothing else.

“Okay buddy. But again, you’re jumping to an awful lot of conclusions.” Joseph saw the naked pain in his brother’s eyes. He didn’t want it to be true. It would destroy him, but the pieces sure fit. The timing. “Do you think Peter is that twisted to set you up, us up like this?”

“I think so.” At that moment Dawn walked in glancing at both her brothers’ wary expressions, and shocked faces. She heard a lot of the conversation coming down the hallway.

“What are you doing here?” Jonathan snapped at his youngest sister.

“I didn’t think you would be in,” her voice sounded hurt. “Marco called me last night.” She looked hurt. “I came to help. I was coming to look at the books. This is my family too. My future.”

Jonathan shook his head. He kept forgetting she was grown up. But his instinct to protect her, and her twin was always there. “Sorry I snapped. I hired Risolli’s firm to look over the books because you always spoke so highly of them.” She gave him a gentle smile. The comment had softened her. “But what were you saying about Peter?” he questioned.

Dawn uncrossed the arms she had put before her in defense when Jonathan had barked at her. Before she answered she turned and shut the door. “I heard you all the way down the hallway. I won’t belabor you leaving me out all the time, but really? You should keep the door closed.” She turned back to face her brothers.

“What about Peter?” he asked again. “What do you know?” He crossed the room to stand before her. Joseph joined them in the center of the large open office.