“Ian trailed behind the couple long enough to confirm his suspicions,” Daddy says. “When the pair stopped and sat on a bench, Thana satonthe man’s lap, her arms laced around his neck.”
“Good Lord.”
“Ian didn’t think twice. He pulled out his phone and recorded what was unfolding in front of his eyes. He had barely pressed the button on his app, when the man planted an open mouth kiss on my wife’s lips. The video clip showed tongue action and…”—Daddy purses his lips in a tilt of disdain—“the man rubbing her private parts over her dress.”
I’m dumbfounded.
I don’t hate my stepmother because she was replacing my mom in my father’s life––well, that’s a big part of it, but it’s not the only reason. I can’t stand Thana because she isn’t trustworthy. She acts differently around my father than she does around everyone else. Especially the staff. Mom always treated employees with respect. Thana talks down to people and treats them like servants.
When she took over running the hotel while Daddy was recovering from his heart attack, morale went way down. Since Daddy was battling for his life after a scary brush with death, I didn’t want to add to his burden, so I kept my mouth shut. I always had visions of running the hotel side-by-side with my father, Thana’s arrival changed that.
“Even though Uncle Ian was dying to expose her as the lying and cheating piece of shit she is, he didn’t feel it was the kind of conversation to have over the phone. He wanted to tell me face-to-face.”
“Did you confront her when she got back from San Diego?”
“I didn’t.”
“Why not? She’s a cheater.”
His green eyes turn stone cold. “She’s far more than that.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You know the saying,when it rains, it pours––”
“She was cheating on you with several men?”
“That wouldn’t have been as scandalous as what she did.”
“Please don’t tell me she fired staff without your knowledge.”
“Thana was embezzling money from the hotel.”
My mouth drops open and my eyes bulge out of my skull.
His loaded words are the equivalent of being pushed off the roof of a New York City skyscraper.
I pick up my jaw from the floor. “Wh—what?”
“She was skimming money from me and lying to my face,” Daddy says.
Hearing it a second time doesn’t soften the blow. “How?”
“She had access to all the accounts and she had signing authority. Unknowingly, I had handed a coldhearted thief everything I owned on a silver platter. And the bitch took full advantage of it.”
My eyes widen in shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m as serious as a heart attack?—”
“Daddy, don’t say things like that. That kind of talk frightens me.”
“Sorry, ladybug, it’s a figure of speech.”
“In your case, it isn’t.”
“You’re right. To answer your question, no, I’m not kidding. Since Thana took over running the hotel after my heart attack, she had her filthy tentacles everywhere. By the time I recuperated and I was strong enough to get back to work, she had a nice little setup that allowed her to skim money from me practically undetected. She was good at covering her tracks.”
“How did you find out?”
