Page 280 of Santa Daddies

“We could,” Anson agreed. “After all, I’m not the person who turns up on Christmas Eve uninvited and shoves someone with an injured leg around.”

“Yes, I don’t think your boss would like that much, would he, George?” she asked.

“You will regret leaving me, Alice!”

He stormed off into his car and drove off. Anson closed the door. She stared at the door for a long moment, her brain racing.

“Baby, look at me.”

Her gaze shot to Anson’s. The concern and love in his gaze had her immediately seeking his chest and digging in deep. Then she realized she was shaking.

“I won’t let him hurt you, hear me?” he said fiercely. “He is nothing to you anymore. And he won’t be coming back here.”

“How do you know? He knows where I am now.”

“Because he’s going to find himself in a world of pain soon. He’s been skimming money from the company he works for.”

“What?” She drew back and gaped up at him. “Not George. He’d never do that. Do you know the lecture I once got for getting a speeding ticket? That’s when I lost the rights to the car unless he needed me to drive him somewhere.”

A low growl erupted from him and she winced. Yeah, she felt like an idiot for letting George rule her life for so long. Why had she let him dictate to her like that?

“That’s the image he wanted everyone to see,” Anson told her. “But he really was skimming off the top. For years.”

“How do you know that?” she asked.

He grasped hold of her hand and led her to the sofa. Then he sat and tugged her down next to him.

“Lochlan has people on retainer who are experts on discovering people’s secrets. Now, something like fraud would usually take longer than a week to discover. But when Lochlan’s guys started looking into George, they hacked into his home computer and found spreadsheets of information. George might be smart in some ways, but he was dumb in others.”

“He kept a record of the money he took?”

“Yep. They sent the information anonymously to his boss. Who, apparently, had already been suspicious and has had a forensic accountant looking into things.”

“Oh my God. That idiot.”

“So his boss would have gotten to the bottom of George’s fraud eventually. Lochlan’s people just helped him get there faster. When he goes back to San Diego, he’ll probably find himself being placed under arrest for fraud.”

“Holy Christmas bells,” she muttered. “That is so much to take in.”

“All you need to know is that he’s not ever going to be a problem for you again. Although, now that George is taken care of, I’m going to move on to Caldwell.”

“What?” She gaped up at him.

“He was already an issue, now he’s made himself a bigger one. I’ll get Lochlan’s guys onto him next.”

“You don’t need to do that,” she told him.

He grasped hold of her chin. “What if you’d been here alone when George turned up? What if he’d pushed you?”

Alice swallowed heavily and realized he was right. George had never gotten physical with her before but he hadn’t been in control tonight.

“Nobody fucks with my baby and gets away with it. Caldwell needs to be punished for what he did. After we’re through with him, he won’t be living in this state anymore.”

She wanted to feel bad for Caldwell, but she just couldn’t.

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten that I told you to stay put and you didn’t.”

“It’s Christmas Eve,” she protested. “Surely I get a pass, right?”