Page 142 of Lavish

“I grew up with telenovelas.”

Asking for help was still strangely uncomfortable for me. I was so used to doing things by myself. But Jenese wasn’t someone who I could defeat on my own. I recognize my limitations now.

“Start from the beginning.” Dante said. “Tell me everything.”

I released a deep breath, looking to the right outside the window to our coastal town.

“It started like any other partnership.” I kept my voice even, but my fingers curled slightly against the edge of the seat. “Youknow how Laurene left after the Ashbourne incident. Mama needed help running King Developments at the beginning. Erik didn’t have time to get the company off the ground. So I volunteered. I wanted it. Wanted to show my mother what I could do.”

I sucked my teeth, thinking back to the moment.

“But I was in way over my head. I don’t need to tell you who my mother is. But she didn’t have the patience to really teach me. All of that went to Erik. When I met Jenese, I guess…”What was I then? Dumb? Desperate? Lonely?“I was easily influenced by what she could teach me. I thought I could impress Mama. Jenese had all this money, accomplishments, and seemed like a successful businesswoman. So I went along.”

“Hmm.” He leaned forward, lacing his fingers on the desk between us. “You said you found a photo of us?”

I nodded. “With someone named Roman Tolland?”

“Roman…” Dante sighed. “Yeah, he was a good friend of mine.”

A sad look crossed his expression.

“Was?”

“He’s dead,” Dante said plainly. “Killed himself a few years ago.”

I inhaled sharply, leaning back in the seat. “Jesus.”

“Yeah. I never believed his death was a suicide.” Dante’s voice was quieter now. “Roman had enemies. And secrets. I can’t prove it wasn’t but…Roman ran blackmail networks. Staged bankruptcies. Managed offshore accounts.”

“Why would you call someone like that a friend?” I asked, narrowing my gaze on him.

“You never know who you’re going to need help from.”

I rolled my eyes. Criminals were not allies. But it wasn’t like I could talk.

“He was turning things around, if you want to believe it, then he met Jenese and everything unraveled.”

“When was this?”

“About two or three years ago.” Dante tapped his finger on the desk. “I had seen her before with some other wealthy guys. Didn’t think anything of it—who am I to judge who’s in somebody’s bed? I thought she was too old for him. I just…had an uneasy feeling about her. She gets with one of these men, then suddenly everything goes wrong.”

“You think she’s a black widow?”

Has Jenese just been causing chaos everywhere she went? Was she killing men now?

“When Roman died, he left her everything. I heard recently she’s with some guy who runs cons down in LA, but we’ll see how long that lasts.”

Fuck, how did I get here? I couldn’t let her harm anyone in my family. I had to protect them.

“Alright,” he said, switching gears, “let’s stop talking in circles. What do you have, Serena? Evidence.”

I nodded. “She had me place a USB in Alan Price’s laptop. I took a picture. I also have another photo of the box she had me leave for Jasper. I recorded my last conversation with her.”

Dante whistled under his breath. “You’ve been sitting on gold.”

“Is it? It’s not enough to intimidate her, I show someonetwo thingswhen she has years of dirt on me.”

“It’s about how you spin it, Serena. You’re going to have to get over that black-and-white morality thing you got going on.”