These Violent Nights by Rebecca Crunden

Author:Rebecca Crunden
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9798643367635
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC - KDP Print US
Published: 2020-11-10T14:43:37.686909+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Try, Try Again

From the outside, the accounting office attempted to exude respectability, although how greatly it achieved its aims was left to the eye of the beholder. The gardens leading up to the front door teamed with well-manicured flowers that weren’t native to the island, and statues made of shiny metal or sleek marble that were too expensive for both the building and the street stuck up at random between the flowers, as if the landscaper hadn’t the faintest idea of where to set them. The brick building had also recently been painted a harsh white, ensuring that the office stood out against the neighbouring wooden and haphazard shops that were barely making rent. To top it off, the fancy lettering over the entrance was embossed in tacky gold. But the colour matched Vane’s interior design insofar as the inside was equally as showy. Really, Vane’s desire to flaunt how much money he’d acquired ought to have been a clue as to how underhanded he was.

The conversation, predictably, did not go well.

‘You stole from us,’ Lucien repeated for the third time. ‘That’s not something we can just let go of.’

Vane, no longer pretending to be innocent of the charges, sneered at him. ‘You can’t prove it.’

‘We can, actually,’ said Adair.

‘And who are you going to report to?’ Vane’s words dripped with knowing confidence. ‘No one is going to take your word seriously in a court of law. No court would even entertain your presence unless you’re in handcuffs. Your businesses are half off the books and one word from me will land you in prison for life. If they don’t hang you.’

The brutal fact of the matter was: Vane wasn’t wrong. No one in the human world, and no Suriia with standing, would ever defend them. Henna liked Lucien and thus helped him wiggle out of trouble here and there, but Henna was a rare exception to the rule. Lucien’s name was dirt in every office of law in the country. There was nothing he could do aside from walk away.

Giving the accountant a disgusted look, he put his hat back on and stood. ‘I hope you get what you deserve,’ he called over his shoulder as he walked out, Adair and Shim flanking him.

‘Fucking dick,’ said Shim under her breath as they headed for the truck.

The roads were blessedly deserted on the drive back to the house. Grey skies and heavy humidity in the air hinted at a lacklustre afternoon to follow the wretched morning.

‘We’ll have to find a new accountant,’ he said belatedly.

‘Why?’ Shim propped her boots on the dashboard. ‘We can do it ourselves.’

‘I am rotten with numbers. You’re worse. And take your filthy boots off my truck. I just cleaned her.’

‘Yeah,’ she said with a rueful laugh. ‘But your husband’s clearly good with them. Let’s make him our new accountant.’

Lucien tensed. ‘Don’t call him that.’

‘That’s what he is.’

‘The enchantment was necessary to save his life. But we’re not together.’

Shim wisely noted the tone of his voice and let the matter drop with an apologetic nod.

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