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“Funny,” Abagail answered dryly. “What question did you have?”

“None.” Ivy smiled, her beautiful face transforming into something akin to light. “I thought you could use an assist.”

“Well, thank you.” Abagail plopped down onto her chair and sighed heavily. She hadn’t needed it, but it was a much faster way to get Warren out of her office. “Be sure to do it again if he ever shows back up.”

“You don’t like your nephew?”

“I don’t like entitled asshats, no.” Abagail frowned as she glanced at her computer screen as it came back to life. The bank account she’d just been in was littered with red exclamation points. What was that all about?

“I suppose if he was your kid, he wouldn’t have ended up that way.”

“Certainly not,” Abagail commented. “And he’s the entire reason I never wanted kids of my own.” That was mostly the truth. The other part was just that she couldn’t see herself as a parent—ever. The idea sickened her in a way that was vastlyuncomfortable. She’d never dug deeper than that, preferring to avoid the feeling rather than explore it.

“Oh,” Ivy answered. “Well, if he’s your example, then I can understand why.”

Abagail stopped paying attention to her as her cell phone rang. It was the bank. She frowned at it and looked up. “I need to take this, sorry.”

“Right.” Ivy backed her way out of the office and shut the door behind her.

As Abagail listened to the banker, her stomach plummeted.

The account was frozen.

Not hers, but Nicola’s.

She couldn’t imagine that Nicola had given her the wrong account information, and she certainly didn’t believe that Nicola had more than one account that Abagail could potentially deposit funds into. This was everything that Nicola owned. Hanging up, Abagail stared at her computer screen, her mind spinning with all the possibilities and absolutely no answers in sight.

What the hell was going on?

What kind of trouble was Nicola in?

thirteen

“We need to talk.” Abagail slapped some papers down on the kitchen counter, startling Nicola from the bowl of cereal that she was eating.

She’d convinced Cal to take her to the grocery store that day so she could get some junk food to snack on. She still had Abagail’s credit card in her purse, and Abagail hadn’t asked for it back yet. Nicola finished her bite of Fruit Loops and eyed Abagail over the counter, waiting to see what she would say next.

But there seemed to be judgement in her gaze.

“I tried to send you money today.”

Right. That was today. Nicola tensed at just the thought. She needed that money immediately to get the rehabilitation facility off her back. The only reason they hadn’t annoyed her the last few days was because Alanna was still in the hospital, though she was being transferred back tomorrow morning.

“But your account is frozen.”

Nicola’s brow furrowed. It shouldn’t be frozen. She’d left a whole eight pennies in there to make sure that she still had money so it wouldn’t get closed down or anything. She shoved a full spoonful of cereal between her lips and whipped out her phone.

She logged into her account, and sure enough, Abagail was right. Everything was frozen. The savings account that had zero dollars in it, the checking account that was now at a negative balance. What the hell had been taken out that she hadn’t thought about? And the credit card that had maxed out its limit. Fuck, she was so screwed.

“I’ll figure it out,” Nicola muttered before popping another bite of cereal between her lips. This wasn’t anything she hadn’t dealt with before. She could just open up a new bank account to get those funds from Abagail. “I’ll let you know in the morning.”

Abagail’s lips pursed, the lines deep around them. “How am I supposed to pay you for your services if you don’t have an active bank account?”

“There are other ways to pay me,” Nicola mumbled. She’d used those ways many times over the years, different websites to transfer money where she could hold it for a period of time before needing it in a bank account. Abagail was probably too rich to even be aware of them. She’d never need them, or she’d just have someone else do her dirty work for them.

Dirty.

That word rang through Nicola’s brain. She dropped her spoon into her bowl, suddenly losing her appetite. This entire conversation was making her feel dirty. She’d genuinely enjoyed the sex they’d had, and she’d mostly enjoyed the time they’d spent together—conversations like this aside—but that didn’t make what they were doing right, did it?