“I meant to pay it back,” Charles muttered. “Fuck it, it got out of hand. I swear I didn’t intend this.”
“Pay what back?”
“Harvey’s credit. Come on, you know how much I love Rake’s. I didn’t mean the line of credit to get so high and then they were going to suspend me. And I was supposed to be paying my next Shenzhen collectibles bill then, too. But suddenly there’s Harvey telling us he’s rolling in cash, and I thought maybe I could just get him to pay for my collectibles without knowing. I’d pay Rake’s, then my new collectibles would come in, and as soon as I made a profit from them, I’d tell Harvey they canceled his order and issued him a refund. I’d see he got his money back.”
Rosalind’s lips were in a thin line. “I’d possibly believe you, if you’d made any effort to pay Harvey back. You didn’t. And I might have believed you if you had stopped at the first order. Instead, you were in Harvey’s ear for six months until you had all of the $1.4 million donation. That’s not a desperate unplanned act; it’s a dedicated, well-plotted campaign of conning.”
“No, I swear, it snowballed. Once Harvey got started, I couldn’t stop him from trying to order more and more without letting on it wasn’t real.”
“Lie number two. It would never enter Harvey’s head to order 134 varieties of collectible animals. He’d listen to an expert, be talked into it, but bless his heart, he’s not a big, bold thinker who’d dare like that without someone pushing him. He’s small picture, careful and conservative in scale. On the other hand, it sounds exactly like the BS you spin.” Rosalind met his eye. “Do not dare to pretend to know my husband better than I do.”
Charles bared his teeth but didn’t reply.
Rosalind’s eyes were hard. “So you’re a conniving con artist who played Harvey like a fiddle for six months till you’d wrung every spare cent out of him. My God, our parents would be rolling around in their graves. No wonder they gave me the inheritance to manage.”
“And that’s the problem!” Charles spat out. “You lord their money over our family like you’re our mother. How do you think it feels to have my sister dictate and oversee every dollar I spend at work? You treat me like a trained puppy begging for favors. You condescend to me from on high like you have all the answers.”
“So let me get this straight,” Rosalind said, stalking back to sit in her armchair. “All your scheming and conning and appalling attitude is apparently my fault.” Her heated stare was so laserlike, Felicity was surprised he didn’t have a pair of holes bored through him.
Charles shook his head in annoyance. “I’m saying none of this would have happened if our fucking parents hadn’t given it all to you to manage. Why the fuck did they do that, anyway?”
“Because I wouldn’t snort it or smoke it or drink it away; I wouldn’t spend it on horses or hookers.”
Charles’s shoulders bunched up. “I don’t do half of that.”
“You did enough of it to have them worried you’d blow it all. I have no doubt you’d have been indulging yourself in destructive ways even sooner if not for me.” Rosalind slapped her chair’s armrest. “If you wanted to be out from under my rules so badly, no one would have stopped you striking out on you own, making a name for yourself without family money. But no. You just ruined a charity, shattered a decent man, and tried to sabotage your own sister’s marriage. And all for money.”
Charles shot her a filthy look. “It’s easy to sneer at something when you have plenty of it.”
“You’d be well off, too, if you’d stopped blowing your generous salary on showing off around clubs to women, especially those who charge by the hour.” She straightened. “All right, enough. Time’s up. Let’s move on.”
“What are you going to do?” A hint of worry crept into Charles’s voice.
“It’s more what you are going to do if you want to avoid a criminal record. First, you will apologize to Ms. Simmons for stealing her boss’s donation. Next, you will apologize to Harvey for scamming him and for taking advantage of his trust in you. Third, you will email Shenzhen Industries, cc’ing me, tell them what you did, and explain that any orders outstanding should be canceled and any credit remaining put back into Living Ruff’s account. Fourth, I’m taking your store off you.”
His eyes widened. “No! You can’t!” His voice rose a notch to panicked. “Come on, everyone knows me. That’s mine. It’s got my name on it!”
“Names can be changed. The store will be sold. Next, I will be informing our family of what you did. They need to know whom they can’t trust. I won’t have any of them put at risk if you ever try another stunt like this again.”
“I would never hurt our family!” Charles said, fear now plain in his eyes.
“Need I remind you, Harvey is family, even if you don’t like him. Since you’ve already scammed family once, claiming you never would makes lie number three.” Rosalind’s fingers traced a pattern in red velvet. “Our cousin Aaron has been running a halfway house for five years. Spencer House? Did you know about that?”
Charles looked mystified as to where this was going. “Yes. Bunch of grumpy old bastards live there, don’t they?”
“It’s a place for unmarried men who have struggled with alcohol and substance abuse, men who’ve just gotten out of prison after long sentences and who lack the social skills to integrate directly into society. Aaron’s having some difficulty keeping managers because sometimes the clients get verbally or physically abusive. They need someone big and strong”—her eyes slid over Charles’s bulk—“who won’t take any nonsense to live and work there and straighten things out if they get violent.”
Charles’s mouth dropped open. “For fuck’s sake. How long?”
“It was going to be a year. Your three lies make it a year and nine months. If you keep your nose clean, I’ll try very hard to ignore what you did to Harvey. I won’t forgive because I meant it when I said it was unforgivable, but I will not mention it again. Additionally, you’ll be paying me back the funds you took. I’ll be reimbursing Living Ruff in the short-term. You can expect an amount to be garnished from the wages Aaron pays you each week. Lastly, you won’t be allowed back into Rake until your year and nine months of community service is finished. I know the manager, as I said, and he’ll make it happen. I’ll make it worth his while financially to keep you out.”
“I can just go to another club.” He lifted his chin.
“You can. But you just finished telling us that you love that one.”
Charles stared at her murderously. “And if I say no to all this?”
“Then I will do the following: Call the police. Support Harvey in being a witness at your trial. Comment extensively in Ms. Simmons’s many, many newspapers about how bitterly disappointed I am to have a brother letting down the family name in such a way. I will fund civil actions to have you repay the money owed. And I will never back your enterprises in any way again. Actually, that last one is a given, regardless. But on top of that, you’ll be dead to the whole family by the time I’m done.”
Charles stared at her, his hands bunching and unbunching. “I fucking hate you anyway, so no loss there.”
Rosalind looked unconcerned. “I understand. So what’s your decision? Community service or prison?”
He ground his jaw. “The first one.”
“All right. I’ll let Aaron know. You can start Monday. Now I think there’s something you had to say to Ms. Simmons.”
Charles glared at his sister and turned.
“Make it convincing,” Rosalind drawled. “That’s a condition, too.”
He sighed, stared at his shoes, then looked up. “I’m sorry I took your boss’s money. She did a good thing. I didn’t.”
“All right?” Rosalind glanced at Felicity.
“Yes.” Felicity was hardly going to prolong this by pointing out his apology had all the sincerity of a politician around babies.
Rosalind turned back to Charles. “Good. Now leave. On your way out, find Harvey and apologize to him, too. While you’re at it, maybe remember to mention you won’t try to destroy his marriage.” Her eyes were glittering with anger now.
“Okay,” he said, sounding defeated. “Sure.” He left.
“Well,” Rosalind said, returning to her previous position in the chair. Pristine and perfect. Her mask had returned, and it was as if not a cross word had ever been spoken in this room. “It’s done.”
Felicity stared at her in wonder. “Yes.”
“Nasty business but necessary. Now then, shall we talk terms, too?” She leaned toward Felicity. “The price to be paid to avoid you turning Living Ruff’s finances into a police matter. I trust you’ve now seen I’m a woman of good faith.”
Felicity nodded. “Proceed.”
* * *
“The first thing that will happen tomorrow,” Rosalind said, “is my accountants will make sure two things occur: Living Ruff’s vanished $1.4 million will magically reappear, unspent. This will therefore correct any anomalies on the books come audit time, so everything will be clean. The next thing that will happen is, I will see to it that an additional $1.4 million is returned to Ms. Bartell with a full apology for any stress or inconvenience caused by what happened to her donation. It’s unconscionable that she had to send her second-in-command to sort this out for her, and I’m sure having her money back safe and sound will settle the matter for good.”
“I believe it would,” Felicity said.
“This leads me to what happens to Living Ruff. Obviously, Harvey cannot remain as director. The board is comprised of my family and friends. The entire charity is connected to me through fundraisers I run to get donations. I need to future proof my foundation in case the scam ever leaks. No one can remain working with Living Ruff who is linked to me or Harvey; otherwise the charity will be tainted the moment the story breaks. To survive, it needs an entirely clean break from us.”
“Okay…” Felicity wondered where she was going with this.
