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Helen searched her brain for the reference, then nodded. “I don’t know what that has anything to do with…”

“No, let me finish.” Monique leaned forward, her elbows scraping against the desk. “When I looked out the window while you were gone, I saw your sister…”

“My sister what?” The look flashing on Helen’s face suggested that she expected anything other than what Monique said next.

“Jacqueline … that woman… came to your home, and she invited him in.”

There. It was out. The look on Helen’s face was one of both shock and disbelief.

“Jacqueline Love came to my house… and Evelyn invited her in…”

“Not only that, but she looked quite comfortable there.” Monique cleared her throat. “You can imagine how I felt about that.”

Helen shifted in her seat. Monique did not like how she did not immediately refute anything. Yet her shock was still palpable… was it because she knew? Or that she was genuinely surprised at Jacqueline’s presence?

“Please explain, Ms. Warner.”

She gave Helen her best serious look, the one she unleashed on people who wasted her time. Too many people were aware of this look.I never wanted Helen to know it.

“I can explain.” She was serious too. Hands folded in lap. Jaw set. Demeanor almost queenly. That was the kind of look Monique could fall for… in the bedroom. In this environment? She only wanted answers. “I’m not sure you’ll like the answer, however.”

“Fucking hell, Helen!” Monique stood, hands slapping upon her desk. Helen did not flinch. “Tell me what the hell is going on! I do not like being left out of the loop when shit like this happens. What are you hiding from me? It’s true, isn’t it? That you and Jacqueline are in on some joke together!”

“Monique!” She stood too, her stature overwhelming Monique’s even with the desk between them.What I would give to succumb to her right now. To feel Helen’s arms wrapped protectively around her… “Don’t you dare accuse me of something like that. What kind of woman do you take me for?”

“I don’t know, Helen. What kind of woman are you?”

She sank back into the chair, almost defeated. “A woman in debt.”

“What?”

They reached an impasse, in which Helen slid down in the chair and rubbed her face… the truth was out, whatever that was. Monique could only look on in trepidation. Her heart neither fluttered nor stalled. Whatever was happening… she wasn’t sure she was prepared for it.

“My father.” Helen snorted into the back of her hand before shaking her head. “It’s my father who is in debt. Not me. Many years ago… God, you’ll hardly believe this, but my father owes Jacqueline Love forty million dollars.”

The room was silent. Monique sucked in her breath and tried to remember such a deal being made during her tenure as Jacqueline’s sub.She lends people money, that’s for sure.It was one of the ways she kept her billions. When she wasn’t investing, she was loaning. Exorbitant sums. Outrageous interest rates. Jacqueline was the money-grubbing Scrooge who put on a smile every time she got someone to sign on the dotted line.

She didn’t remember any Gerome Warner coming through the door. It must have been before Monique’s time. Since somany people owed Jacqueline money, Monique never bothered to keep track of them.

“I don’t believe it. How?” The Warners were filthy rich. Why would they need money?

“It’s complicated. Isn’t it always?” Finally, Helen sat up, but she lacked the confidence from the time she walked into the room. “I’d say it was about… fifteen years ago? Maybe sixteen. Either way, my father pissed away most of his wealth with some seriously bad investments. Real estate.”

“I see.” Lots of rich investors lost serious money during the Great Recession. The Loves made a ton of it.

“I had already started making my fortunes, so it didn’t affect me. However, my father was stubborn and insisted on keeping up the same lifestyle as before. So he borrowed money. Like an idiot. I told you. They’re always boring stories in my family.”

“That’s hardly boring to me!”

“I’m sorry, Monique. I should have told you.”

“You damn well should have.”

“But I didn’t want to–”

“Didn’t want to what? Scare me off? Screw that! I thought you were pranking me!”

“Pranking you?”