“Yes, I called them last night after our unfortunate incarceration.” Leo leaned against the front porch railing. “Chase sent me a little report this morning. I can give it to you. Bryce’s financials are interesting in that they show a very middle-income man. Yet he paid cash for his Escalade. That car was eighty thousand dollars. Now, Shelley’s financials are a little different.”
“You ran my sister’s financials?” Trev hadn’t expected that.
Leo’s eyes went cold. “Your sister has an account in the Caymans. Chase can’t crack into it. Do you know what kind of security Chase can’t crack? He’s wanted by several foreign governments for hacking. The only reason the US hasn’t arrested him is his work with the CIA.”
Chase Michaels, along with his twin brother Ben, was The Club’s resident private investigator. The two Doms were known for being able to ferret out information that no one else could find. “Why would my sister have a Cayman account?”
“Because she’s laundering his money.”
What the hell was going on? Trev simply couldn’t believe his sister would do anything illegal. “He’s a real estate agent. Why the hell does he have dirty money?”
Leo shrugged. “No idea. It could come from any number of things. He could be embezzling. He could be evading taxes. I don’t know. Here’s what I do know. Bryce has spent a lot of time travelling. I just asked Shelley about his travel habits. She claims to only know about some trips to Austin for conferences and training seminars. Either she doesn’t know or she’s not willing to tell me the truth. According to his flight records, he’s been to Washington D.C. and Mexico City. We can’t track him once he hits Mexico City. He could have gotten anywhere from there. His passport doesn’t show anything beyond Mexico, but he was gone for weeks at a time.”
“How is Shelley involved?” What had his sister been through with this guy? And what was Bryce’s angle?
The stony expression was back. “I don’t know. She claims she doesn’t know about any of it. I’ve been told in no uncertain terms to stay out of her business. I’m headed back to Dallas. She doesn’t want me here. If you need anything, call me. Ben and Chase are continuing to look into it.”
Trev put a hand out. “Let me talk to her.”
“No. She’s made it plain that she’s happy where she is. She doesn’t want to be rescued. For all I know, she’s perfectly happy with whatever her husband’s doing. So I’m going to leave and stop fucking up her perfect life.”
“Leo, I don’t know what’s happening with her, but that doesn’t sound like my sister. If she’s involved in something bad, she has a good reason for it. If she just said something terrible to you, it’s probably because she’s trying to protect you.”
The little laugh that came out of Leo’s mouth didn’t hold an ounce of humor. “And that’s even worse. Look, I haven’t slept with your sister. I haven’t touched her. She’s married. I have a lamentable habit of falling for women who are, shall we say, unobtainable. I’m not really in love with your sister. I’m interested in her because she’s lovely, submissive, and attached to another male. I can at least be honest with myself about my own flaws. I need to spend some time figuring out what I want. I can’t do that here.”
Trev’s heart ached for both of them. “I’ll take care of her.”
“According to her, she doesn’t need any help. At least she probably won’t threaten her own brother with a restraining order. Bring Bo and Beth to The Club. I would love to see you. And call me. I expect to talk at least once a day for the first few weeks. Just because your sister hates me doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.”
Leo turned and stalked off, his keys in hand. It wasn’t more than a minute before his Jeep was flying down the road.
“Is he gone?” His sister’s voice sounded small and fragile.
Trev turned, ready to give his sister a piece of his mind. All thoughts of yelling at her fled when he saw the way her mascara had run down her face. His sister was always perfect. Since the day she’d discovered makeup and boys, she’d presented a perfect façade. It was gone now, and he could see the girl she’d been. He cursed and pulled her into his arms, wrapping his sister in a bear hug. “What are you doing, Shell?”
Her head moved against his chest. “I don’t know anymore.”
He held her for a moment, allowing her to cry, trying to be the solid rock he should have been all these years. Shelley had been on her own for far too long, and that was his fault. “Why did you marry him?”
She pulled away, wiping her eyes with her hands. “I can’t tell you that. Just know that you’re not the only one who can screw up in a really huge way. Um, I had to marry Bryce, or he would have sent me to jail. Don’t ask me. I’m not going to bring anyone else into this. Just know that Bryce didn’t have anything to do with what I did. He didn’t force me to commit a crime. He just used it to his advantage.”
And Bryce would pay for that. Trev decided not to push his sister on her secret. He could figure it out. She could go on believing no one knew, but he would find out and protect her. “What’s your husband into?”
Her fists clenched at her sides. “I don’t know. I think it’s something bad. He doesn’t talk to me, you know. Look, at first, it wasn’t so bad. It really wasn’t. Bryce can be charming, and there was this odd part of me that wanted to make it work.”
Because Bryce had, in effect, “claimed” her. He could see how his sister had fallen for it. Leo was right. Deep down, Shelley was submissive. She was looking for a strong man to take care of her and empower her. Bryce was not that man. And the one man who might have been able to do that had just left. “Why do you have an account in the Caymans?”
“I have no idea. I swear to you, Trev, I didn’t know that account existed until Leo showed me. It’s apparently tied to my decorating business. I let him do my books. I’m not good with money. I just want to do what I do, you know? I thought about hiring Mouse…Beth to do the books, but Bryce threw a fit. He said he didn’t want to lose the money, that he could handle it. Actually Barry was the one who handled it before he died. That was when everything seemed to change.”
“Barry Bellows?”
Shelley nodded. “He was Bryce’s business partner for six years. They started the real estate company. Barry had family here. He’s the one who brought Bryce to Deer Run. They met in college. After Barry died, Bryce seemed to lose it. He’s paranoid. I’m not allowed to answer the phone anymore. He goes on long trips. Sometimes strange people show up at the house at odd hours of the night.”
“Like who?”
“Do you know a man named Nelson Hall? He owns a garage two towns over. I’ve seen him with Bryce several times. Bryce told me Nelson was going to do some upgrades on his Escalade. Really? At two in the morning?”
Trev closed his eyes. They had talked about the man earlier. He was the meth dealer. “Nelson Hall. Yes, I’ve heard the name. And he has a son named Austin.”
Shelley nodded. “Yeah. He’s in trouble with the law a lot from what I hear.”
Trev could guess what kind of trouble that was. A nasty pattern was being laid out. He just couldn’t figure out how his brother-in-law was involved. “Beth said Bryce had tried to buy her place.”
“I love that house. I actually talked to him about trying to buy it when Maudine was alive. There was talk that she would need the money for a nursing home, but Bryce said no. He didn’t want to spend the money. Then he flew into a rage when he got back from Austin and found out the house had been auctioned off.”