His phone rang at the forty-one minute mark. “Winters.”
“You’ve been very busy. I had no idea you had the time to jet set all over the country schmoozing women before stealing every dime of their money. I’m assuming Gabriella Hernandez showed up at your penthouse. That’s the address used for all the duplicate credit cards taken in her name.”
“What did they get from these women?”
“Grand total I’ve found so far is around two million – nine different women in four states. They concentrated on the West coast. I’m waiting for several searches to finish and I think there will be more. They completed the transfer from Miss Hernandez’s Washington account a few hours ago and the account they transferred to is now closed. Naturally.”
“How much?”
“They hit her for a little more than ninety-thousand combined from a small checking and substantial savings account. I’d say she’s been saving practically every dime for years.”
Classical music played in the background as Hollow dug into a stranger’s life. “Otherwise, she’s clean. Lived in the same small town all her life, went to college nearby, and returned after graduation. Has one older sister, both parents still living…well hello.”
Hudson listened as Hollow typed wildly fast on the other end. Thirty seconds later, the typing suddenly stopped.
“Her parents are loaded, dude. No shit. They moved from Mexico in their twenties and they’ve spent the last thirty years buying up small-to-medium businesses and property all over the country. Their daughters worked their asses off from…about sixteen. Gabriella at a small but very successful winery and Isabella at one of their clothing factories.”
More typing ensued and Hudson pressed his finger and thumb along the bridge of his nose.
“Hmm, they make standard wages but…oh yeah…they both own serious stock in the umbrella corporation which is kept in trust. That makes Miss Hernandez worth more than six million and these jokers only managed to grab ninety grand? Good for her. Total credit card activity shows she spends about six thousand a year, most of it on custom-made bras and panties. I don’t get that at all – she seems like a woman with few interests.”
Hudson mentally recalled the curves on Gabriella Hernandez and knew why she had to order custom. “I need you to get me paper on all of this. To the same courier service we always use.”
“Will do.”
“Thank you.”
“Whoa. You’re welcome, Winters. A pleasure doing business with you.”
They ended the call and Hudson phoned down to the concierge desk. “Yes, sir?”
“Carlo, what’s happening?”
“With Brie? Rodney is about to drive her around to see the dumps she found in the paper then will spring the brownstone on her. I’ll wait until she talks to Ms. Truing before I make the job offer. She circled a few waitressing jobs so I think she’ll jump at the chance to work here.”
Hudson agreed but didn’t know why she would. Why not return to her family? Why not ask them for help?
“I don’t get this woman.”
“She told us she came here for love, sir.” The young man cleared his throat and added quietly, “Maybe she’s too embarrassed to call her family.”
Instantly, he knew the concierge had it right. A woman leaving the home nest for the first time who ended up swindled and without a place to go? She hadn’t struck him as the type to want people to know that.
“Alright. Keep me posted.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Carlo?”
“Sir?”
“I need assistance packing up Christina’s belongings tonight. I will pay the workers in cash. Reserve a suite for her at the Hyatt. They can charge my account for thirty days. Send up building security.”
“I’ll contact them and send three women up, sir.”
After he hung up, he thought about the small, curvy woman who hadn’t been afraid to tell him where the fuck he could go. Part of him was pissed – no one talked to him like that.
It made the rest of him hard.
Despite her parting words, Gabriella Hernandez would be seeing him again.
Chapter Two
Gabriella walked quickly through the doors and out onto the sidewalk, sensing movement – probably the sweet-tempered Riya – behind her.
Without looking back, she crossed at the intersection down the block, stepped around a low wall, and dropped her bags in front of a bench.
She stared into the Conservatory Garden. It was the most beautiful park she’d ever seen. She tried to pretend everything was fine. She ignored the tears on her cheeks and sat on the wall to think.
Brie had options but she didn’t want to use them. Returning home was not something she had any desire to do. More than anything, she’d wanted something different. Maybe an adventure.
Being conned by some asshole hadn’t exactly been on her to-do list. Fuck…
Her father made it clear he was not okay with her going to live with some man without marriage on the table. She’d had to assure both of her parents that “Hudson” wasn’t like that. They’d given her three months to figure out what kind of man he was.
She and Izzy were close but her sister wasn’t the best person to talk to right now. More world-traveled and just more with it than Brie was, Izzy never would have fallen for a scam like this.
Her family loved her. They were good people but what they wanted for her was far different from what she ultimately wanted for herself.
She was humiliated. She didn’t understand why…
Suddenly she remembered something “Hudson” had asked her before she’d gotten on the plane and her blood ran cold.
“I’m going to track your location the entire time you’re in the air. I want to make sure you arrive safe and sound.”
Closing her eyes, she tried to calm the panic inside her and failed.
No. That wasn’t why at all.
She stood to pace and remembered silly conversations they had – random questions about crazy passwords each of them had used. He volunteered several and she felt silly not doing the same.
Then she thought back to the time he’d had her wallet in his hand when she came out of the shower. How he showed her the little note he was trying to sneak in there for her.
After blushing and smiling at how romantic it was, she put it out of her mind.
With a rising sense of doom, she dialed the local bank in her hometown. Ten minutes later, she discovered that the accounts she’d opened with her wages at the winery were practically empty. In the six years since college, she’d deposited the majority of every paycheck there.
In fact, payroll would have been auto-deposited while she was on her way to the airport. She was taking a large portion of her work for the winery remote but wouldn’t receive another paycheck for two weeks.
That money was her “start fresh” fund. Enough to see her into a place without tapping her savings or asking her parents to release a portion of her trust. They prided themselves on the level heads they’d fostered in their girls. She and Izzy had always been careful with money. Responsible.
More than six years of earned wages…gone.
She confirmed an account was opened in her name in New York. Her money was transferred there three days ago and the transaction completed while she’d been in the air earlier today.
Everyone back home knew she was moving to New York. As excited as she’d been for weeks, she told anyone who stood still for five minutes about her plans. Receiving new bank account information from NYC wouldn’t have seemed odd. Not to anyone who knew her. She liked things neat and Brie imagined the signatures matched exactly.
She sat down hard on the wall, and allowed herself a few moments to break down into tears of rage, disappointment, and sadness. This was not good.
This was nothing like what she imagined her first day in New York would be.
The worst part was how stupid she felt.
Obviously, this con man committed to t
he long game with his victims. She thought back over the past two years – to the emails, text messages, and various trips to see her. He showered her with attention and romanced her into loving him.
A bitter laugh escaped her and she shook her head.
What had he invested really? A few trips out to Washington where it was unlikely she was his only victim? What had he spent? A few thousand dollars and two weeks of his time to net more than ninety grand?
Not a bad gig if you could live with yourself.
Suddenly she was fucking furious. “That lying, conniving motherfucker. I’m going to find out who you are and make it my mission to fuck you up.”
She stood up and wiped her face. Feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to solve a damn thing.
Brie roughly calculated how much money remained in her account. He was good; he likely thought to make sure none of her travel expenses were declined which would have tipped her off. She fingered through the cash in her wallet and knew her situation was pretty grim.
She sent up a prayer of thanks for never moving her childhood savings away from her parents’ account. Absently, she wondered if there was a local branch where she could withdraw money without them finding out. She immediately nixed the idea.
If she so much as checked the balance on that account, her parents would know.
Bottom line: she had to figure it out on her own within the next twenty-four hours or she’d have no choice but to call home.
A hot dog vendor on the other side of the park entrance had a folded newspaper on the shelf of his cart. Gathering her bags, she asked him if she could have it. He handed it over happily with a stream of what she believed was Arabic.
Smiling and nodding, she returned to the bench.
Taking out a pen, she started looking for places to live and jobs. There would be no time to undergo the time-consuming interview process required for marketing positions. She needed something that started immediately and was thankful her mother and father always insisted she work.
As a result, she had experience in many different jobs.
Several tiny studios fell within the budget she quickly worked up in her head and she called the numbers listed. Two were already rented, one man’s questions included his creepy musings about if she was young and pretty, the last three were possible.
Grabbing her bags, she stepped to the curb to hail a cab. A sharp whistle from across the street had her head turning. Henry the door attendant waved her over.
Sighing, she crossed and approached him carefully.
“Miss Riya and the M’s would like a chance to talk to you. Rodney is going to take you wherever you needed to go, miss. They’ll be staying in for the night and their car is right here.”
“I have to look at apartments, apply for jobs…”
“Yes, miss but you don’t know the city. Rodney can keep you safe while you do your errands.” Gently, he tugged her bags from her hands, not attempting to take the backpack over her shoulder. “Follow me, miss. Everything is going to be just fine.”
Stepping back into the building, she couldn’t help but smile at Riya. The woman acted as if they’d known one another forever.
Getting a hug, and giving it back, honestly did make her feel better.
Hands on her shoulders, Riya told her calmly, “It seems bad right now, but it’s going to be fine. You have my word on that. Now, did you find some places you want to look at?”
Brie held out the newspaper. “Hmm…alright, this is a good place to start. Rodney knows these streets like the back of his hand. Also, we’ll check with some of the building personnel and see if they know of anywhere. Word of mouth is how you find the best places in Manhattan.”
“You have to let me…”
“Say one word about paying us back for being human beings and you earn a spank.”
Eyes wide, Gabriella blushed.
Riya tilted her head with a grin. “You remind me a lot of myself about four years ago. My friend Tawny is going to love you.”
Linking arms, she led her out to the street.
Brie was glad for the jeans, baby doll sweater, and flat boots she’d worn. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun but she knew it wasn’t going to last forever and it was adding to the whopper of a headache taking up residence behind her eyes.
“Here’s my card. You call me if you need anything. When I say that…I mean it.” She pressed the heavy paper stock into her hand and took out her cell. “Call me.” Riya smiled as she saved the number in her contacts.
Brie was stunned at the woman’s trust.
“Henry will store your luggage and we’ll be here when you get back. I’m going to insist you stay in one of the temporary residences until we get you squared away. Don’t worry about a thing.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
“That you’ll see me later.” Riya smiled and returned to her beautiful men who gathered her between them and went back inside.
Brie felt like she was having an out-of-body experience.
“I’m Rodney.” The good-looking black man smiled down at her and gestured toward the car. He had an accent that reminded her of the Caribbean. “I’ll run you around to the places you want to see then we’ll stop at the best little deli in New York. Consider it a field trip.”
It was impossible not to laugh. “Trust me, Rodney – there could never be a field trip that cost me quite so much as this one.”
She slid into the back of the Towncar and watched him jog around to the driver’s door. When he was settled, she told him the addresses she’d written down in the margins of the paper and he jotted them down in a notebook beside him.
“The second one you mentioned is probably a bad idea. I know that block. If you were a man, it might be alright. No offense ma’am.”
“None taken. Thank you, Rodney. I just need something small and safe.”
They chatted as he drove to the one he didn’t like first. He didn’t even slow down to let her out. A large group of rough looking men hung out in front of the run-down building where the apartment was located. A woman around her age walked rapidly down the sidewalk with her eyes averted as the group verbally harassed her.
Brie didn’t have a good feeling at all and marked it off her list. Dealing with several aggressive personalities wasn’t worth the risk.
The next listing wasn’t bad but the outrageous deposit would take every dime she had available. It was reasonably clean and close to the subway. The nearest bodega was a long haul if she had to carry groceries back but it would do if the last one didn’t work.
The last apartment was dark and smelled as if it hadn’t been aired out in a year. Just walking up the stairs and down the hallway made her depressed.
Back in the car with a sigh of frustration, she started to tell Rodney to take her back to the previous listing. He turned to smile at her over the seat.
“Carlo called me while you were inside. How would you feel about seeing one more place?”
“It couldn’t hurt. Thank you.” She was tired because she’d been up since before dawn. Exhaustion made her overly emotional but so far, Brie had managed not to cry on the poor man.
“I think food first, yeah?”
Before she could respond, he winked and pulled into traffic. He took her to a small deli that smelled fantastic and insisted she not feel rushed.
They settled at a table and she took a deep breath.
“I feel like I’m taking advantage. I just want to find something so I can stop being a bother.”
His laugh was warm. “Nah. Once you know Riya for a while, you’ll get how her mind works. She’s serious about getting you settled. She was worried when you took off. You okay?”
To her complete humiliation, she started crying and couldn’t stop. He handed her a napkin and she turned away to get herself under control. It took longer than she would have liked.
Then she told the driver everything. By the time she finished her story, she felt a bit more centered.
It was good to talk to someone without past perceptions of who she was.
“I’m embarrassed. I feel naive.”
“People like that, they take in people from all walks of life, Brie. They are bottom feeders. Scum. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed. It wasn’t your fault.” His accent was much thicker now. “I’m sorry about your money.”
Brie shrugged. “I’ll work hard and grow it again. It will take me longer to do it this time but I will.” She stared through the window at the passing pedestrians on the sidewalk. “I feel worse about being emotionally played. My sister never trusted what I told her about him.” Glancing at Rodney, she tried to smile. “Izzy has more street smarts. I should have listened.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. It will all work out. Maybe there are good things coming that you wouldn’t have found in Washington. You’re in New York…anything is possible here. Maybe this situation was just meant to get you here, yeah?”
She smiled in relief. “That’s a great way to look at it. Thanks.”
Their food arrived and Rodney laughed when her eyes closed in happiness around the fresh corned beef on rye sandwich. They took their time and she was surprised at how hungry she was. Her last real meal had been the night before; she didn’t eat when she traveled. A thought struck her and she grinned.
“This is my first meal in New York.”
He held up his fist and she bumped it with hers. “Glad to share it with you, mon.”
A few minutes later, he paid the check and they got back on the road. There was no way she’d have been able to get around so well by herself.
She’d think of something nice to do for Riya and her husbands. She was curious about their relationship since it wasn’t something she’d ever heard of before. It was interesting.
Admittedly, she struggled to find one honest man…much less two.
The moment Rodney pulled onto the block where the last apartment was, Brie was impressed. The buildings and street were well maintained, people were walking dogs and babies, and there was a good vibe…a safe vibe.
Hudson Page 2
