Page 7 of Mine This Time

Chapter Seven

Nash

Lydia poked her head around the door. “Everything all set for Mari?” she asked when I gestured for her to come into my office.

“Yes. She’s upstairs in one of the staff condos. Thank you for getting it cleaned so quickly.”

Lydia smiled as she crossed the room and slipped into the chair across from my desk. “It was no trouble. I was due to call them anyway. Is Mari doing okay?”

“I think she’ll land on her feet. From what I can gather, that idiot Brett ran up all her credit cards and left her in a bind.”

“I hope you told her she could stay in the apartment as long as she needs. Does she intend to fly back home soon?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Apparently, Brett purchased refundable tickets for this trip and canceled her return flight for the refund. I’m gonna do a little digging this afternoon to see what other bullshit he’s been up to.”

Lydia pursed her lips. “Mari seems quite nice. Not that she would deserve it even if she wasn’t nice, but it makes his behavior all the worse.”

I chuckled at the fierce expression on Lydia’s face. “I agree with you on that. Don’t worry, Mari can stay as long as she needs. As you know, I know her brother, so I plan to reach out to him as well. We’ll find a way to make Brett pay.”

Lydia arched a brow, angling her head to the side. “This isn’t like you.”

“What isn’t like me?” I countered, even though I knew precisely what she was talking about.

“Going out of your way like this. I think you like Mariana Channing.”

“I’m just helping her out,” I said even though I knew Lydia was right. “I know Max well enough that it wouldn’t do for me not to make sure she’s taken care of while she’s here.”

Lydia’s smile was polite, but I didn’t miss the sly gleam in her eyes. “Of course. If you’re so worried, perhaps you should let her brother know what happened.”

I had a mini stare down with Lydia before I chuckled. “I was already planning on talking with Max.”

My main office phone rang, and Lydia stood quickly. “I’ll get that from my desk.”

After she left my office, I pulled up the contacts on my phone.

While Max was a friend and business acquaintance, we didn’t communicate often, so I needed to find his contact information.

I hadn’t spoken to him since he had helped with some of the tech for the security on the buildings I managed in downtown New Orleans.

Just then, my personal phone rang. I spun it around on my desk to glance at the screen. As if Max could somehow read my mind from thousands of miles away, his name flashed on my screen.

“What the hell?” I murmured to myself right before I answered. “Hey, Max.”

“Nash, I hope you don’t mind me calling out of the blue.”

“I never mind you calling, Max. You did a damn good job of setting up those systems for me. Oddly enough, I was considering calling you just now.”

“I bet I can guess why. My sister is in New Orleans. Harlow and I just got back from a trip, and Mari texted a few minutes ago.”

“Mari’s the reason I was about to call you.

Why don’t you tell me what you know? I’ll fill in the gaps.

For starters, she’s fine. I offered her one of our staff condos, and she’s up there now.

” Max grumbled something. “Look,” I added, “if you’re pissed I didn’t call sooner it’s because I literally just got back to my office.

I’m not so sure she’ll appreciate me talking to you without checking with her first.”

Max’s sigh was heavy through the phone. “I’m sure she won’t. Her fucking ex. I don’t trust the guy, so I had one of our guys put a trace on his spending. I expected him to try to take advantage of Mari. My guy tells me he canceled her return ticket and left her high and dry there.”

“Exactly. Brett’s an asshole if you ask me.”

Max was quiet for a few beats. “Agreed on that count. Although part of me wants to say you should’ve called me the second you knew she was there, if you had, Mari probably wouldn’t have let you help her.”

“Don’t tell me you want me to keep it quiet that we spoke. I might not know Mari all that well, but I’m guessing that would piss her off good.”

Max chuckled. “You read her right. Mari does not appreciate me having an opinion about her life, especially her love life. I’ll call her and let her know we’ve been in touch. In the meantime, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Keep an eye on her. Let me know if she leaves because I’m not sure she’ll let me know right away.”

“You two aren’t close?” I asked.

“Oh, we’re close, but the kind of close a brother and a sister only a year apart are.

We get along now after driving each other nuts when we were kids.

Mari gets touchy when I have too many opinions.

I told her I didn’t trust Brett after the first time I met him.

She wasn’t too pleased with me. Harlow tells me I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. ”

I laughed. “I have a younger sister. I know how that goes.”

“Did Mari happen to mention how long she plans to stay in New Orleans?” Max asked next.

“She’s insisting she doesn’t want to take advantage of me.” Max couldn’t see me, but I rolled my eyes hard at that. “She can stay as long as she likes.”

“Good. Thanks for looking out for her, Nash. I’ll be in touch.”

After I hung up the phone, I took a breath, letting it out slowly as I leaned back in my chair and spun around to look out the windows. I’d have helped Max out no matter the circumstances, but I knew he wouldn’t appreciate it if he knew I’d kissed his little sister.

I didn’t even know what to think of that kiss. Mari lit a fire inside of me, and I wanted a chance to have more than a kiss with her. I was already restless to ask her out for dinner tonight.

Considering Max, I figured I’d better leave her to her own devices.

I predicted she would be pissed at him, but I was relieved he’d initiated the call rather than me.

Although I wouldn’t hesitate to tell her I was equally concerned.

I had a bad feeling about Brett. For better or worse, I intended to make sure he at least paid a financial price for trying to fuck her over.

Spinning away from the windows, I tapped my phone, pulling up a local guy we used to chase down financials when we were assessing properties.

“Trent here,” he said, talking fast for a Southern man.

“Hey, Trent, it’s Nash Reynolds. How’re you doing?”

“Busy, busy. Yourself?”

“Same. I need to hire you for a not so typical job.”

“You know I’ll say yes. I love a change of pace.”

“Here’s the situation. A personal friend got screwed over by an ex. He maxed out all of her credit cards, although they were all in her name. I’d like you to do a forensic breakdown to see just how far it went and see if you can chase down any accounts connected to him.”

“You got it. I do this kind of shit all the time, but not usually for you. What gives?”

“Doing a favor for a friend. I don’t know if she’ll ever get her money back, but I’d like to make things uncomfortable for him. While we’re on the topic, you wouldn’t happen to know if there’s a way to slap charges on things like this, would you?”

Trent chuckled. “There’s always a way, but if they were shared accounts, it gets a lot more difficult.

Best way to deal with it is for the person affected to file fraud claims on every card.

If it’s enough money, they might get somewhere.

If you willingly hand over or share an account, there’s not a whole lot to do about this kind of fraud.

Is this a nasty divorce? Those are usually when I get called for things like this. ”

“Nasty break up, but not a divorce. I don’t even know if it was that ugly. He just ran her credit cards up and took off. At least, that’s all I know for now.”

“Damn, people can sure be shitty. Unfortunately for me, that’s what pays my bills. Get me the deets, and I’ll chase it down as far as I can.”

“All right. I’ll give you a call later. I want to run this by my friend before I hand over all the info.”