Chapter Thirteen
Ash stared at the numbers on her computer screen. Fifty million dollars. And it was all sitting in Erzsebet’s personal checking account. And if what had happened before was any indication, in less than two minutes all the money would be transferred out of hers and to another account. This financial hit would surely bankrupt Dark Wolf Enterprises.
She didn’t dare lift her head from her monitor for fear that her eyes would give her away. As the keys clicked all around her from the fast-working Vampires, she knew that she would have to work equally as fast. First, she had to freeze the account. That was easy enough. She wrote a bogus note in the comment section as to why the money could not be moved to another. She thought about transferring the money back into a different Dark Wolf Enterprises account, but Erzsebet would just transfer it out again. Holding it where it was, was ultimately the best course of action.
Ash glanced at the clock. It was well after bank hours and if Erzsebet wanted to talk to someone about it, she would have to wait until the morning. Ash had stalled her. Hunter was officially out of time.
Ash stood. “I’ll be back. I have to visit the restroom.” She didn’t look at anyone as she made her way through the room. She walked straight toward Hunter, remaining calm and not revealing that inside, she shook like a leaf. She didn’t owe Hunter anything, she had kept his secret, but now the stakes were much higher. She not only risked her life by keeping what Erzsebet was doing a secret, she was also putting the future of Dark Wolf Enterprises at risk. Then why was she keeping his confidence?
Love? No. She didn’t know him well enough to have developed those types of feelings.
He had been nice to her.
And that was the sad part. He had shown her a little compassion and now she’d felt the need to protect help him. Even if it meant dying in the process.
“I have to use the restroom. I’ll be right back,” she told him.
He gave a short, impassive nod. As she walked away, she felt his eyes on her back—exactly what she’d hoped for. When she was sure she was out of the Vampires’ sight, she grabbed a sticky note and pen from someone’s desk and kept walking. As soon as she reached the bathroom she ran into one of the stalls and sprawled out a hasty note and stuck it to the back of the door. She flushed the toilet and washed her hands. Before she left, she threw the sticky note pad and pen in the trash.
She walked right past Hunter without giving him a second glance and sat at her computer and went through the motions of checking the personal accounts of another one of Dark Wolf Enterprises’ employees. When she heard Hunter get up from his chair, she didn’t look his way. A few minutes later, he came back only to talk in hushed tones to Daniel and Gergo.
“I have to leave,” he announced to the Vampires. “Gergo and Daniel will stay with you.”
Daniel stopped him before he could leave. “What’s going on?” he whispered.
“Family emergency.”
“Is Erzsebet okay?” Daniel asked. Besides Pack family, Erzsebet was Hunter’s only family.
“I can’t explain right now.”
Hunter trotted to the mostly empty parking lot and jumped onto his bike. He understood that he didn’t have a lot of time to get to the bottom of what was going on with Erzsebet, but when he read Ash’s note he knew his time was up. Erzsebet lived twenty minutes away and he prayed that he would make it to her before she made the biggest mistake of her life.
He sped through the empty countryside and almost missed the dirt road that led to her house. He pulled up to the bottom of her front porch, not bothering to park on the designated dirt lot where her truck sat.
He leaped, landing on her top step and banged on her front door. “Erzsebet! Open up!” He banged again. Hearing movement behind the door, he shouted, “It’s me, let me in.”
The familiar click sounded on the lock. She opened the door wearing a pink fluffy robe. She didn’t seem like an embezzler, but he was finding that maybe he didn’t know his little sister at all.
She rubbed her eyes as if he’d woken her up. “What’s going on?”
He pushed past her and into the house. “I know what you’re doing and this ends now.”
She frowned at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He had to give it to her, she had the innocent look down pat, but he wasn’t buying it. Not anymore. He took her stairs, two at a time and stalked down the hallway to her office.
“Where are you going?” she asked, running after him, close at his heels.
“To stop you.” He walked into her office and went straight to her computer desk. Her bank account was up, and right there, on the screen was exactly what Ash had warned him of. Fifty million dollars.
All the air seemed to leave his lungs in a rush. His knees weakened and he dropped to her chair. “What the hell are you doing?” he whispered. He wasn’t prepared to see her deception staring right back at him.
She frowned. “Nothing.”
He turned her computer screen so that she could see it, too. He tapped her balance, drawing her eyes to it. “What’s this, Ezie? What have you done, little sister?”
She blinked rapidly and stared at the monitor. “I don’t understand. Why is all that money in my bank account and where did it come from?”
“Cut the shit. You know exactly where it came from. It came from the Dark Wolf Enterprises accounts.”
She inhaled a sharp breath. Her face turned red. “No, it didn’t! What are you accusing me of?”
He slammed his palm against the desk. Everything on it vibrated from the impact. Erzsebet jumped away from him.
“Yes, you did, and you’ve been stealing from the company for months. It all makes sense now. Besides me, Andras, Kristof and Lajos, you were the only one who knew that Kristof had hired Trudy’s accounting firm to audit the accounts. You hired the Russian Wolf-Shifters to stop her.”
Erzsebet shook her head so hard that he thought she would get whiplash. Wild disbelief was in her eyes. “That’s not true. I would never do anything like that.”
He pointed at her, his anger boiling over. “You tried to kill our blood to keep your secret.”
She took a step away from him. “How can you say that about me? I’m your sister. You know I love Kristof and Lajos. I’d never do anything to hurt them.” Her voice rose, almost hysterically. “And, Andras, he took us in when Mom and Dad died. We owe him everything. Hunter, what are you accusing me of?”
He hated to even say the words, but there was no mistaking the evidence right in front of his eyes. “I’m accusing you of embezzling from Dark Wolf Enterprises.”
She let out a small cry.
“You’ve been distant. You haven’t been yourself and now I know why.” He put his head in his hands and looked at the floor. He’d failed to live up to the oath he’d given his father. He’d asked him to do one thing—protect little Ezie. “It’s my fault. I should’ve taken better care of you.”
“I’ve been distant because I’m dating a Vampire!” She covered her mouth with a hand as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just said.
He lifted his head slowly and stared at her. The words were something that he’d never thought to hear from her. “Y-you what?”
She pulled her hand away and lifted her chin. “I’ve been seeing someone. He’s a Vampire. I know how you feel about them. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
“How I feel? Ezie, you were there, too. You saw them drain Mom and Dad dry. You were there when they almost did the same to us. You should feel the exact same way that I feel about them!”
Her hands shook. “B-But, he’s different. He isn’t like the others. He loves me.” She pulled back her shoulders. “And I…I love him, too.”
Who is this person standing in front of me? “Do you have any idea what they can do? They can get inside your head, make you believe things.” Dammit. As he said the words, it hit him. He knew exactly what was going on and why even now she had no clue about the money in her account. The Vampire had enthralled her and made her take the money. It would be easy to lie to Andras if she didn’t know what she was doing. Hunter stood and kicked the chair from under him. “Where is the blood-sucker?”
“M-my room. Why?’
Hunter pushed past her and trotted to Erzsebet’s bedroom. The sheets and covers were messed and the bed was empty. Wind whistled through the open window. The night’s breeze made the curtains blow and hit the wall.
“Look what you’ve done. He probably heard all of your yelling and ran. I told him how you feel about Vampires and you scared him.”
A Vampire, scared? Doubtful. “Don’t you get it?” he tried to reason with her. “He used you to get at Dark Wolf Enterprises.”
“That’s not true. He loves me. We knew that neither of our families would approve so we kept it secret.”
It wasn’t any use. She didn’t want to believe it. “When did you meet him?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe last November? I think it was around Thanksgiving.” She lowered herself to her bed and frowned. “I really can’t remember.”
“I’d wager that you met him right before the embezzlement started.”
She looked up at him, her eyes watery and red. “That’s not true,” she whispered. “Why can’t you believe that we’re actually in love?”
“Then if he isn’t using you to get to the accounts, then it’s all you, Erzsebet. You’re the one stealing from the company.”
She shook her head again—tears streamed down her cheeks. “I told you that I’m not.”
“Then how did that money get into your account?” He hated to be so harsh with her, but right now, she was blinded by what she believed was love.
She sniffled and wiped the tears from her face. “I don’t know. It must be a mistake at the bank. I’ll call in the morning.”
“You have all this money and you don’t know how it got into your account? Tell me, do you remember pulling up your bank information?”
Her eyebrows furrowed together. “No,” she cried out.
“Open your eyes, Ezie, and trust me.”
“But he doesn’t know my account information. I-I don’t know what’s going on. I’m so confused.” She was clearly grasping at straws. “W-we love each other.”
“I, for one, would like to know what the hell is going on, too,” a deep voice said from the bedroom doorway.
Andras.