Chapter Ten
George wasn't sure his life could get any more complicated. He'd won over a billion dollars, but everyone seemed determined to keep him from collecting his winnings. He'd met his mate, except his mate didn't want him. And worst of all, he was pretty sure his parents were fucking with him, which meant they were back.
He really wanted that drink. Maybe a whole lot of drinks. How drunk could a man get on one point six billion dollars? Assuming he ever saw the money. At this point, he was starting to doubt it would ever happen.
The activity around him was insane. The bank hadn't been shut down, but close enough. There was a police officer manning the door, making sure everyone who came inside had a legitimate reason for being there.
Leon was in the bank manager's office with another officer and a man in a wrinkled blue suit. George was pretty sure the guy was a detective. He wasn't sure what they were discussing, but, with the way Leon's was gesturing, it wasn't good.
When Leon opened the door and gestured to him, George quickly got up and hurried across the floor. "What's going on?"
"I need you to come look at the bank's security surveillance and see if you recognize the man in the video."
"Yeah, okay." George didn't think some stranger off the street would walk in and try to steal his life. It wasn't as if this was an identity theft thing. Someone had targeted him specifically.
He already suspected who it was.
When they reached the bank manager's desk, Leon led him around to a laptop. He reached down and tapped a button then pointed. "Tell me if you recognize anyone on the video."
George narrowed his eyes as he peered down at the screen. At first, he didn't really see anyone who stood out to him. People were coming and going from the building, some walking up to talk to people at the desks lining one side of the main room, others going up to the tellers.
He sucked in a breath when he spotted a man who shouldn't be there. Well, maybe he should. Who knew where the guy banked. But George didn't think so. That was too much of a coincidence for his liking.
"George?" Leon asked. "Do you recognize someone?"
George pointed to the screen. "That man there, the one in the suit with the two big guys following him. That's Henry Barker's son."
He was a little shocked. He had been positive this was the work of his parents. He had no idea why Raymond Barker would be involved in stealing his money.
Leon frowned. "That's what I thought, too, but I wanted you to look at the video before I said anything."
"Do you think he's the one who took my money?"
Leon nodded. "The bank manager and the teller both identified him as the man who came in with the death certificate and power-of-attorney."
"But that doesn't make sense," George insisted. "How would he even know about—" George gasped as he remembered. "He was in the room."
Leon's frown deepened. "Yeah, but the question is, was he doing this on his own or was he working for his father?"
George wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that question, but it did help him answer another one. "Guess I won't be staying in this area."
He might not belong to Henry Barker's clan, but he still lived in the man's territory. If he couldn't trust the man, he didn't want to be around him. He certainly didn't want to stay in his territory.
He was funny like that.
When the guy in the wrinkled suit walked over, Leon pointed to the screen. "George identified this man as Raymond Barker. We both met him yesterday when we had a meeting with his father."
The man flipped open his note pad before looking up at them. "What was the meeting about?"
"Uh…" George glanced at Leon.
"George, this is Detective Watt. He's lead on investigating who stole your money," Leon said before turning to the detective. "George was talking to Henry Barker about buying some property he knew about."
Detective Watt frowned. "I thought you lived in the area."
"I do," George explained, going with the story Leon had started, "but I'm looking to buy some land to build a house on. I'm tired of renting."
"I see." The detective wrote something down on his pad before flipping it closed. "Well, I think that's everything. I have your contact information. I'll call you if we discover anything new."
