“You think Dorien—”
I didn’t say anything. Icouldn’t. If I opened my mouth, I’d explode.
Harrison swore, something I’d never before heard him do. “He won’t get away with this, love.” He jerked the car out of the hospital lot. “You make him pay.”
Oh, I planned on it. Sound the fucktrumpets, Dorien Valencourt was going down.
* * *
“Hey, Cory,” I whispered, cupping my hand around the receiver.
“Faye?” Creepy Cory – the mouth-breather who worked across the bar from me sounded surprised and fuckingdelightedto hear from me. Gag. “They told me you weren’t coming into work anymore. I was so worried. I even went around to your house to see you, but the place is empty.”
Obviously, you creepy stalker.Cory was half the reason I was so glad to leave that place. He was always leaning too close, always asking me out and trying to walk me home, always staring at me like he was wondering what my organs would look like splayed across his bed. “Yeah. I’ve enrolled in a fancy music school. I won a scholarship.”
“That’s amazing. Can I come and see you perform?”
“It’s not really that kind of a school. The thing is, there’s this guy who’s being horrible to me.” I let my voice simper, giving Cory something to latch onto – the chance to be my hero. “I’m… scared. He’s a bully, and he’s turned all the other students against me. It would usually be the kind of thing a swift throat punch would handle but…”
“But?” Cory’s voice sounded kind of choked-up. I bet he was remembering that time he tried it on with me after closing and I throat punched him. He couldn’t talk for a week.
“But… this guy has resources. He’s a rich dickweasel, and I need him not to be able to destroy me. I was hoping you’d be able to help.”
“You want me to teach this guy a lesson?”
“Something like that. I want him to know that this kitten has claws.”
“I can help. Give me ten minutes. You’ll have to friend me on Facebook again if you want to see. What’s his name?”
“Dorien Valencourt.” I hung up the phone, flipped open my laptop and logged into Facebook. I’d blocked Cory months ago because ick, so I went into my settings to unblock him. He popped up instantly with a link. ‘Click that.’
I clicked the link. A window popped up, showing a login for a managed fund account. A cursor moved across the screen of its own accord and a line of asterisks appeared as Cory typed in a password.
“Your creep isn’t very bright. I broke his password in seconds,” Cory messaged. A moment later, a list of accounts and transactions popped up on the screen. The banner across the top of the screen read, “Welcome, Dorien.”
I can’t believe I’m doing this.
Cody passed control over to me, and I clicked on the first account. Dorien used his money to wield control over not just me but everyone at Manderley. The only way to show him that he couldn’t control me was to take that money away.
My finger hovered over the mouse. What I was about to do was hella illegal. I wasstealingmoney. A lot of money. Not for myself – I’d chosen the perfect charity to receive Dorien’s generous donation. They offered music tuition to underprivileged inner-city children, sending the best and brightest to conservatories all over the world on scholarships. Just the sort of thing Dorien would be behind one hundred percent.
Yes. I’m doing this.
I exhaled sharply as I clicked Dorien’s main account, bringing up a list of transactions. My finger hovered over the Make a Transaction button when I noticed something odd.
Huh?
His account held only $224.67.
That can’t be right. That’s probably his last withdrawal or something. A guy like Dorien spends that much on luxury silk boxers.
I clicked through to his statements, searching for the honey pot. I didn’t find it. What Ididfind was a steadily dwindling total. Three years ago, Dorien had over half a million dollars in the fund. Month by month, that money had been withdrawn and never replaced.
Where’s all his money?
I rang Cory again. “Does Dorien have any other funds? We must’ve made a mistake. There’s no money in this account.”
“Not that I can see. He’s got a checking account with his bank, but I already hacked that and it only contains $23. Plus three credit cards, all practically maxed out. The last transaction was yesterday, for a little over $400 to NOTHING BUT THE DOUGH in the East Village. $400 on doughnuts, can you believe it? He must rack up tens of thousands of dollars each month then get Mommy and Daddy to pay them off. Rich bastards, right?”
