Page 75 of Taking What Was His

She tried to look confused. “If you have it, why don’t you pay them?”

“It was here, and now it’s gone.” His voice turned rougher and more belligerent.

“What?”

“I had the money stashed here for safekeeping.”

“For God’s sake, where?”

“In the basement.” He stared at her. “Where is it, Beth?”

Oh, Lord, the way his tone flattened and became slightly hostile sent a shiver down her spine. She threw out her hands. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Has anyone been down there lately?”

She shook her head. “Besides you? I don’t think so, but Roman has been here without us. But I can’t imagine him taking your money.” She didn’t think she was pulling it off. She’d always been a horrible liar, and he was going to see right through her any second.

He started pacing again. “It wasn’t just money.”

“What are you saying?”

“There were drugs that didn’t belong to me.”

“Evan, what have you done? This isn’t you.”

He froze, turned to her, and barked out a laugh. “You have no idea what I’m like.”

“That’s not true. We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“You know the basics, but you haven’t given me a chance. You act like my buddy, but when the captain comes along, you’re all over him.”

“Roman and I have indeed spent some time together, but we’re both so busy it’s just not working out.”

He stopped and turned toward her. “You’re telling me you guys don’t see each other anymore?”

The way he looked at her sent a shiver of fear down her spine. She needed to pull this off if she wanted to get out of the house unharmed. “No, we have, but it’s getting too complicated, so I don’t think it’s going to last.”

He still looked a bit unsure but had relaxed a bit. “What were you doing just now?”

“When?” she asked, confused. It was hard for her to keep up when he changed topics all the time.

“You ran into the house,” he replied.

“I can’t find my bank card, and I was going to get groceries before I picked Jayden up from practice.”

Evan sighed. “I’ve tried to call him.”

“Jayden?” she asked.

“Yeah. It goes straight to voicemail.”

“I’m not sure what’s going on with his phone. But thank you, I’ll have it checked out.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t I believe you?”

She swallowed. “I’ve no idea. What are we going to do about your situation?”

“If I don’t get my stuff back, I’m a dead man.”