Jared’s eyebrows rose. “That’s good.”
“Is it? Is it, Jared?” Theo snapped, putting his hands on his hips.
Jared cocked his head to the side. What the hell was wrong with Theo? “Yes?” he asked.
“No. I mean, no. Damn it. Don’t you see?” Theo threw up his hands. “She shows up, out of the blue, and right now? Right when everything is going to shit around us?”
“Uh.” Jared rubbed his whiskers, trying to decipher the sentence. “Who, Theo?”
“Ginny.” Theo’s eyes spit black fire. “Right now, she just shows up?”
“Ginny?” Jared glanced at Chalton and back. “I figured maybe she heard about the mating and showed up.”
“No,” Theo said lowly. “She hacked us. She took the Benjamin file with her. Printed the whole thing out, bleached the hard drive, and took it.”
Jared reared back. “Ginny? No way.”
“Yes, way,” Theo bellowed. “You have always had a blind spot for that manipulative bitch. Jesus. She was here for a reason, and she took the Benjamin file.”
“That’s crazy,” Chalton breathed.
The Benjamin file was a complete list of all their holdings, real and personal property—as well as family dynamics and secrets they didn’t want out. “Why?” Jared asked. “What did she want?”
“I don’t know. The more important question is who she’s working for,” Theo said grimly. He glanced at the phone in his hand. “I have a lead on her, and I’m tracking her down.”
Jared paused. “Should I do that?”
“No.” Theo said, his eyes gleaming. “You deal with your woman. I’ll handle this one.” He grabbed his jacket and stomped out of the room.
Jared’s mouth dropped open. “Theo and Ginny?”
Chalton shook his head. “He’s going to kill her. Know any good lawyers?”
Jared scrubbed both hands down his face. “We have to figure this out.” Voices from the other room caught his attention. “Who’s here?”
“Veronica’s crime-fighting unit that was supposed to meet yesterday morning.” Chalton grinned. “Before your marathon that included all of us hearing your name screamed a lot more than I ever wanted.”
Jared rolled his eyes, his brain returning instantly to the threat at hand. “I’ll awaken Veronica. We need to kill the person who poisoned her before going after Ginny.”
“One disaster at a time,” Chalton agreed easily. “Everyone is just eating right now, but I think the doctor has news she’s ready to share.”
“All right.” Jared pivoted and headed back upstairs. He opened the bedroom door to see Veronica still sleeping peacefully, her face turned toward him. She was sweet and fragile in sleep, and he had to fight the urge to crawl back into bed with her and sleep the stormy day away. “Veronica.” He reached her and gently shook her shoulder.
Her eyelids fluttered open. “What?” she muttered.
He grinned. The woman was a grump. “Your friends are here. Downstairs.”
“Don’t care.” She stretched like a lazy cat and shut her eyes. “Tired.”
He had made the second mating a marathon, now hadn’t he? “Okay. You stay here and sleep, and I’ll talk to them.”
Her eyelids flashed open. Realization dawned, and she sat up, holding the blankets to her chest. “No.” She shook her head, and that glorious hair splayed down her bare back. “I forgot about the case for a moment.”
Masculine pride puffed out his chest.
She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself.” Pushing across the bed, she put distance between them. Then she groaned as she stood.
“Sore?” he asked mildly.
