Author's Note (important) The word used by Bruce to describe Thomas is horrid to me. But I have heard others use the word in concerns with children and adults with special needs or different ways of learning. If it makes you angry as a reader. Good. It was my intention to have the readers angry at Bruce.
Trevor Canton knew quite a few things when it came to legal business practices. Therefore, when Danny Desai hired him to help Jo and Lacey go through the books of Love Laced business practices, he saw immediately that something wasn't right.
"This isn't adding up, Lacey." Trevor leaned back folding his large arms over his large chest. He stared at Lacey then glanced at Jo. "What do you think?"
Lacey bit her bottom lip. She hated to say it out loud but she knew what it looked like. "Well...ummm…well…"
"It looks like I'm embezzling money from Danny's company. That's what it looks like." Jo wasn't stupid. Actually, she was intelligent and numbers were her thing. "I promise. This isn't the reports I've been sending. We aren't that much in the red. We are completely stable. Nothing too big of a profit but not this big of a loss. I never purchased all this stuff."
"That's the problem, Jo. The company ,that this form claims purchased items from, doesn't exist. It looks like you were padding the reports."
Jo placed her hand in her short unruly hair. "I swear. I promise. I didn't do this."
"I'm sure you didn't." Lacey touched Jo's shoulder reassuringly. "But someone did."
"Who did you send the reports to?" Trevor asked as he scanned the file again making sure he was seeing correctly.
"The central accounting office of Love Laced Products." Jo pouted as she scanned the books herself. "I have my own copies."
"I know." Trevor half smiled. He knew someone was setting up Jo as an embezzler to pad their own pockets. "Your copies don't match these at all. If we had caught this sooner…"
Danny walked in a little early unbeknownst to the three. He had been listening to their chatter. Therefore, he interrupted. "If I had taken more interest in Love Laced Products." He spoke up from the doorway. "It would've been noticed. Whoever did this is skimming from the small company thinking I wouldn't notice." Danny glanced at Lacey. He winked. "Truth is I wouldn't have if Lacey didn't come back into my life."
"I didn't follow up because I thought I was doing my job." Jo sighed out.
"You would've hit a roadblock anyway, Jo." Danny said as he took a seat next to Lacey. "I have so many small companies that pour into larger companies. They eventually lead to one of my two major companies, Desai Industries or Marna Inc."
"You kept Marna Inc.?" Lacey raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah." Danny picked up Lacey's hand and kissed the back of it. "It was to remind me of where I could let myself go to if I became like my father. I never wanted to become that man. Therefore, I kept a Marna Inc. as a reminder to keep myself grounded."
"Danny, you said you had a lot of small companies that lead to a paper trail of companies. Right?" Trevor rubbed his chin.
"Yes. Why?" Danny already could sense where this was going.
"I bet Love Laced isn't the only company that is has funds not adding up." Trevor pecked his finger on the file. "How much you want to bet that your smaller companies are showing red when they are breaking even or making a small profit?"
"The thing is that my big companies are my money makers and I don't need the smaller ones. I had three small companies shut down over the last two years. The board of directors wanted this one on the chopping block. But it was my company made for Lacey so I didn't shut it down."
"For me?" Lacey looked puzzled.
"You were supposed to want to run this thing. I didn't know about Thomas and you being so busy with him. Think of the name, Lace." Danny smiled and shrugged. "It was made for me too. All these products were things you said you loved about Green Grove. It was my way of being home when I was out of the country or far away. I'd pack a product or two to remind me of home and you."
He then leaned and kissed Lacey passionately sucking her lips for good measure before pulling away from her.
Lacey blushed slightly as she glanced at the others. She held up her hand showing off her engagement ring. "What? We're allowed to be mushy. We just got engaged."
Danny smirked then gave his attention back to Trevor. "How would you like to make some real money by going through the books on other small companies of mine?"
"Sure but where would I start." Trevor sat up straight. He knew that Danny would pay good money. Danny Desai was known to pay his employees what they were worth. "You have a lot of businesses you've taken over."
"You can start with any company that has Bruce name attached to it." Danny scratched the whiskers on his chin. "Bruce has been a friend for a long time. However, Cole said he claimed never to know Lacey. It is a stretch but something is up with him."
Something was up with Bruce. Within the next few weeks, Trevor, Lacey, Jo, Danny, and Charlie plowed through the files. Each small company that showed failing in profits were actually making small profits. Each one shut down to go to the next. The accounts to these companies would all lead back to Marna Inc. In the scheme of things, none of this would've even showed up if Danny hadn't taken a personal interest in Love Laced.
Danny asked Lacey and Jo to stay out of the rest of it. He promised Jo that since he found more discrepancies that she was completely exonerated. He knew she was innocent but now she didn't have to prove it to the board of directors. However, Danny did fill Charlie in on the findings as well as bring Trevor along to the meeting with the board of directors.
"Bruce, did you honestly think I'd not find this out?" Danny slammed the files on the table. He glanced around the room as each member of the board opened their own copies of the file. "How are you connected to Rachel?" Danny shook his head. "All the money is sent to an offshore account that is in her name!"
It had taken weeks to follow the money trail. But eventually, they cracked one account after another until Rachel's name showed up on the last bank account.
Bruce rubbed the back of his neck. "Send out the members of the board and we can discuss this. It is between you and me."
"Fine." Danny waved his hand above his head and the men and women on the board scurried out. They would ask for explanations in the next meeting.
Charlie and Trevor stayed in the room. Bruce leaned back with a smirk. "Here is the deal, Danny. I'm going to lay all my cards on the table. My lovely sister, Rachel, is a sociopath."
"Rachel is your sister?" Charlie asked before Danny could.
"Yes." Bruce chuckled. "Red hair is in our genes. We get it from our father. " Bruce then leaned on his elbows being very cocky. "As I said, Rachel is my sister. My mother was treated about like your mother, Danny. Our dad seemed to get around like Vikram Desai did. We had a half sister too by my father. You may know her. Her name was Regina Crane."
There was a silence in the room. Then Bruce continued. "She was our father's dirty little secret just as Charlie McBride was your father's and Tess Masterson's dirty secret." Bruce laughed. "So we knew who Danny Desai was and how much money you had. Mother didn't mind moving to Arizona when my manipulative sister convinced her. As I said, my sister is a sociopath. Ironic isn't it when you were labeled that years ago. The thing is she was diagnosed that as a young girl. She is a manipulative thing. The problem was that our first plan fell through." Bruce looked up at Danny.
"First plan?" Danny sat down staring at Bruce for more answers.
"She saw you and wanted you. Money and all. She decided she could be the pampered , rich wife. Her husband would be good looking enough as she said. My life and my mother's life has been centered around Rachel. What Rachel wants, Rachel gets. So she wanted you. There was only one problem to that desire being met."
"Lacey." Danny stared at Bruce.
"Yes. Lacey Porter. You loved her and Rachel couldn't compete. Therefore, she put me in charge of becoming a close confidante and employee. One of your right hand men so to speak. She made sure to run into Lacey to tell of your happy life. But still, Danny Desai couldn't quit being obsessed with Lacey Porter. So Rachel decided if she couldn't have you, she at least wanted some of your money." Bruce grinned. "It worked too but you just had to get Lacey involved with Love Laced. We knew it wouldn't be long until our scamming was caught on to."
Danny ran his hand through his hair. "I paid you well, Bruce. You had no financial worries. I don't understand."
Bruce breathed out. "It is all about the game for Rachel. It is all about winning with her. You didn't play her game the way she wanted. So she had to do something to feel like she was the winner. You were the prize she wanted. She became addicted to you. Therefore, if she couldn't have you, she wanted you miserable." Bruce shook his head. "You can't win in this, Danny."
"What do you mean?" Charlie stepped up. "You admitted everything. You'll be the one going to prison along with your deranged sister."
Bruce raised one eyebrow. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a file. "Isn't that ironic coming from you, Charlie? Any way as I was saying, Rachel makes sure to get things she wants. You're the first one to not do as she wants. Therefore, she made sure you lose if you found out of our embezzlement scheme."
Danny picked up the file. He glanced over it and handed it to Trevor. "It seems I am embezzling from my own company. A company which has foreign interests."
Trevor shook his head. "They've made it look like you took money from your own company and taking from your partners in China. You can fix this. It will take some time but you can fix this."
"He can." Bruce laughed as he made himself comfortable. "But it will cost a lot of your money and even more of your time."
"I'll send you both to prison." Danny stood up. He leaned over placing his hands on the table. He stared menacingly at Bruce. "You really don't know who you are dealing with."
"Who am I dealing with, Danny?" Bruce laughed haughtily. "I will be gone before you can get enough proof I was involved in Rachel's plans. If you haven't guessed already, Rachel left out of the country weeks ago. When she found out you were tiptoeing around trying to get back into Lacey's life, she made plans quickly. Those plans included her brother's safety too. Thanks to your money, we will live a very comfortable life. While you fight to keep your money and yourself out of prison. I hope you enjoy China. You'll be there awhile."
Bruce stood up. He glanced at all the men. " Isn't your son just now learning to speak? Wouldn't taking him to China take all the progress away that he's accomplished? Do you think that your little retarded son can handle that big of a change?"
Danny lost it at Bruce's words about Thomas. He jumped on him and began beating him so harshly that all Bruce could do was curl in a fetal position. Blood squirted from Bruce's face but no one was sure where it was coming from. Danny was hitting too quickly and too fiercely.
"Shouldn't we stop him?" Trevor looked horrified as he watched Danny brutally assault Bruce.
Charlie shrugged nonchalantly. "Yea. But give Danny a few more minutes."