Page 109 of No Holds Barred

Hope chuckled lightly. “I always figured I’d be the one trying to convince you to stay with me in bed, not the other way around.”

Angelica sighed heavily. “Maybe my old age is betraying me.”

“Hardly. Just exhaustion from idiots.”

“From the patriarchy,” Angelica corrected. “Only from that.”

“Then I think some exhaustion is owed.” Hope kissed Angelica’s lips again. “It’s been a long battle.”

Laughing, Angelica shook her head. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” Hope kissed her loudly. “And it’s morning, and I need coffee. I’m sure you do too.” Moving to the edge of the bed, Hope sat on it and looked over her shoulder at Angelica’s still resting form. “I’ve got more interviews to do today. I think I’m close to solving your little problem.”

“My little problem?” Angelica raised an eyebrow at her.

“I think I might have found your iPad.”

Hope pressed her elbows into the table as she leaned over it, staring directly into Raina’s eyes. “I’m sure there’s been gossip about what I’ve been doing.”

Raina nodded and bit her lip, keeping her gaze downcast.

“So, do you want to tell me what’s going on here?” Hope was going to get an answer one way or the other. She was tired of this line of questioning. She wasn’t a detective. She was a chef and restaurant owner and reality show star—nothing more. And this was way more politics and understanding than she usually delved into.

“I don’t want to,” Raina whispered. “But I’ve never been okay with it.”

Hope paused. She’d never gotten this far with someone before. They’d all shut down and refused to talk to her.

“I don’t care if I go to jail,” Raina continued.

“Jail?” Hope shook her head confused. “Why would you go to jail?”

“Wylde, Maggie, and Kaidee… they’d turn me in if they found out I’m the one who told you.”

“I’m fairly certain there’s some sort of immunity for whistleblowers.” Hope folded her hands together. “But that also probably depends on the severity of what you’re about to tell me is going on.”

“We steal.” Raina sighed heavily, not looking at Hope directly. “From anyone who seems to not know that things will go missing.”

Hope’s heart hammered. “What do you steal?”

“Anything of value.” Raina pressed her lips together. “Electronics, watches, jewelry. Then we bring it to Wylde or Maggie or Kaidee, whoever is nearest, and they give us part of the money they get for selling it.”

Sitting back into the chair, Hope stared at Raina with wide eyes. “How many people are involved?”

“Just a handful.” Raina bit her lip and shook her head. “Those of us who have been around a while.”

“Those who can be trusted,” Hope surmised.

Raina nodded her agreement, but she didn’t add anything. “It never sat well with me, but they threatened that I wouldn’t find another job if I told anyone, and well, I need the job.”

“Everyone needs to work,” Hope answered. She pressed her lips together hard and debated where to go with this. “Tell me how it started, for you at least.”

Raina looked around furtively, like someone was going to walk in on them and take her away any second. Hope wasn’t sure who she was looking out for, but she needed all of the information that she could get.

“After I’d worked here for about six months, Maggie approached me after my shift and took me to a bar just down the street.” Raina gnawed on her lip. “We, uh… we had some drinks.”

Of course they would. This wasn’t the kind of conversation they would have sober. Hope kept her mouth shut, letting Raina talk and share what she needed to get off her chest.

“She said that she wanted me to join a special crew at the hotel and that it’d increase my pay. Double it.”