Sweet Vengeance: Ladies (Iron Orchids Book 14)

by Danielle Norman

  "Bo, I can't get into that right now, but Sunday is authorized to fill you in if she thinks it is appropriate."

  "Thanks, Traci, I didn't want to break our agreement and tell him anything, but he is determined."

  "It's fine, you can share information with him. I trust Bo." Bo raised one brow in challenge as he stared at Sunday. "I'm going to hang up, don't kill each other."

  Bo put his phone in his pocket and waited for Sunday to say something, anything.

  "Your mother hired me to find out what is going on with missing funds in your company. Your turn. Why are you here?"

  "I think that my father is behind those missing funds."

  "And what does that have to do with you setting up camp in front of our house?"

  "The amount of money going missing lately has been escalating. I saw you with a jump drive plugged into a financial computer, and I immediately jumped to conclusions. I thought maybe he brought you in to help funnel money out of the business. I know that he's cheating on my mom, she has no clue but I do. Please don't tell her."

  "Not my place."

  Bo stared at Sunday and waited. "Now you, how do you know Conner Reid?"

  "I told you that there was a private investigating firm that was better than Conner's?" Bo nodded. "They run a company called the Iron Ladies, and your mom hired them."

  "Am I to assume that you are them?"

  "Yep," Sunday confirmed. "Now you."

  "On top of the missing money, we have a number of contracts with my forged signature on them."

  "Who do the contracts belong to?" Sunday was excited that he had just unknowingly given her a new thread to track down. "Does your mother know?"

  Bo slowly shook his head. "As far as names, there are quite a few. No, My mom doesn't know, I wanted to have confirmation before I brought my concern to her. My dad is heading to New York in the morning, and I plan to follow him. I hope to find out much more." Bo paused and considered his next words carefully. "Do you have my mom's best interest at heart?"

  "Of course I do. She is a nice person."

  "She is more than that." Sunday smiled. "Would you like to go with me?"

  "I'll be there."

  Sunday

  "I need to call Traci," Sunday said as she walked into the house. "Olivia, please watch for him on the camera and make sure that he doesn't come back."

  Sunday grabbed her laptop out of the chair she had been sitting in earlier and moved to her bedroom to search the Orlando Executive Airport, which was where Camden Financial kept their private plane. She wasn't dumb enough to try to hack into the FAA database, since nine-eleven that system was locked tighter than Trump's tax returns and Hillary's email server put together. But she could log onto the airport's database and find out what their pilot had filed. It only took a quick search of employment records to find out that their pilot's name was Gideon North, so she typed that into her search, and let the system do its thing while she dialed Traci.

  "Hey, Traci, it's Sunday. Are you in a place where you can talk?"

  "Sure. What's going on?"

  "I wanted to go over a few things with you and tell you about my discussion with Bo."

  "Oh, good, I was hoping that I'd hear from you."

  "First, you were right. I think Bo is totally innocent."

  "I knew it." Sunday smiled, she could hear the self-satisfaction coming through the line, but she didn't blame Traci one bit. What mother wouldn't be relived to hear confirmation that her child was innocent?

  "Bo is ahead of us, he has been on this a little bit longer, he's suspected Kai for some time and has been trying to gather information to protect the company."

  "Really? How?"

  "It seems that Bo found some contracts with his name on them."

  "Of course, Bo signs all contracts," Traci explained.

  "His name, not his signature, they're forged."

  "Oh my god, our clients. This is a federal offense because we are an international financial investment firm."

  "Traci, please, I promise, we will figure this out. Bo has invited me to tag along on his trip to New York tomorrow. I guess he's been suspicious of Kai the entire time as well. I was calling to see if it was okay."

  "Go. Saving my company and our innocent clients is my number one priority."

  "Thanks, I'll--" Sunday's words stopped when her computer got a hit on something. She took a second to read, and as she did her brows tugged in confusion. "Your pilot is Gideon North, correct?"

  "Yes, why?" Kai wasn't going to New York City. He was going to Owen Roberts International in the Cayman Islands.

  "Kai isn't flying to New York, he's heading down to the Caymans." Sunday gave Traci time to let that absorb.

  "Why?" Traci asked.

  "No clue, but I'll find out, I promise."

  "Please stay in touch. Let me know that you're safe. Oh, if he's going down there, he'll be at the Ritz, not sure if that helps."

  "Oh, it does, that helps a lot. I'll keep you apprised of the situation." Sunday disconnected and began another scan, which would take considerably longer since her program had to break into the Ritz Carlton's main registration database. She left the program running while she went back into the living room to fill the girls in.

  "I'm headed to the Cayman Islands," Sunday announced.

  "You're what?" Adeline barked.

  "Bo is going to follow his father to New York tomorrow to see what he was up to and invited me along. Only, Mr. Camden isn't going to New York. He's going to the Caymans."

  "Want me to go?" Olivia asked. "You could stay here and continue scanning through their computer files."

  "I can scan those while I'm gone since I have them on a jump drive. I think it might be better if you stayed here to keep an eye on Camden Financial in case it isn't Kai who's doing this."

  "I'd rather Olivia go with you," Melanie stated. "Safety in numbers."

  "Ha ha, Bo is going." Well, he was if Sunday told him about the flight change. She really needed to think about this more, did she really want to tell him? That would mean putting up with his constant attitude. It would also mean getting to look at his hot body. Hmmm.

  Sunday mentally made a check off list of what all she needed as she headed back to her room. She snagged her luggage from the back of her closet, tossed it onto her bed, and then started to fill it with necessities.

  She was almost done when Olivia walked in with a padded camera bag hanging from her hand. "I've packed a tripod, long-range and short-range lens, and my spare camera."

  "Awesome. Thanks."

  A second later, Melanie strolled in holding jewelry boxes.

  "Here are the microphone earrings that I've been meaning to take back to the office and am now glad that I hadn't." She held up one box before waving the second box. "And the matching pendant necklace that is a camera."

  Finally, Adeline joined the group. "TSA approved gun case, put your gun in here." Adeline held out the large padded box.

  "I'm assuming that this is going to be a short trip just to find out why he would lie about where he was going?"

  "Pretty sure we already know why he lied. The Cayman Islands is a great place for stashing money," Adeline suggested.

  "I'd love to pull a Queen Latifah from Last Holiday," Sunday said, and Adeline looked confused. "Oh, that guy traveled with a mistress, but he never watched what he said around her and basically took her for granted. Queen Latifah's character, Georgia, befriended the mistress and got all the sordid details. She learned how he was ripping off people."

  "Let's not count on that. Let's count on you being sneakier than he is," Melanie said.

  Sunday

  Kai Camden might be flying out of Orlando Executive Airport, but Sunday Prescott was flying out of plain old Orlando International on a plain old regular Delta flight. She did however book a seat in first class.

  Like most travelers, she was still yawning at six a.m. when Adeline dropped her off at the airport. "God, I miss Skycabs," Adeline mumb
led as she helped Sunday unload her luggage. "It's hard to believe that you have all of this for a few days and it isn't all clothes or makeup."

  "Right? Let's not forget that I get to drag it all inside and check it by myself."

  Adeline laughed, not offering to park and walk her inside. Not that Sunday expected her to. "Did you ever notify Bo about the change in his dad's plans?"

  "I couldn't, I don't have his cell number." Sunday smirked.

  "You didn't ask Traci?" Adeline asked.

  "Totally slipped my mind." Sunday slung her backpack onto one shoulder. "I've got it, go." She waved Adeline off and then rolled the large, foam-packed hard case and her normal suitcase over to the Sky Priority line and waited.

  She lifted the first bag up onto the scale and waited to see if it made it under the seventy-pound weight limit, she was worried.

  "Seventy-one pounds, but I'll let it slide."

  "Thank you, sir." Sunday smiled brightly at the man.

  "Here's your boarding pass. You're at gate seventy-two, your flight boards at seven fifty-five." Sunday handed him five dollars for doing nothing more than his job, but it helped make the ungodly hour more tolerable and hopefully her bags would be tossed underhand instead of overhand.

  Adeline would have rolled her eyes and told Sunday she was being ridiculous, but who cared if Sunday tipped people for no reason and smiled at perfect strangers? Manners cost her nothing.

  "Good morning." Sunday nodded at a lovely elderly couple. "Hello." She smiled at a family with little kids who'd obviously just finished their Disney vacation.

  Sunday was standing in line, holding her boarding pass and license, waiting for the TSA agent to check her identification when she could have sworn she saw Bo Camden. She debated for a minute if she should get out of line and see, just in case it was him. Then she dismissed the thought. His flight was leaving in about thirty minutes, which meant he was long past the security checkpoints. She couldn't imagine anyone cutting it that close, but she still watched as the man walked briskly toward the TSA pre-check security line, and then, as if he owned the place, he glided through while Sunday was herded through the regular line with the regular people. At this rate, she had at least thirty minutes before she got to the front while the man was already setting his carry-on down to be screened. When he turned his head, Sunday flinched. Holy hell, it was definitely Bo.

  Her line moved, and Sunday kept her head down in case the man pulled his head out of his own oversized ego to look around him and managed to notice her. By the time she was kicking her shoes off and dropping them into a plastic bin, Bo was nowhere in sight. The TSA scanned her luggage, and then she was on her way to the monorail that would take her to Terminal B and to gate seventy-two.

  Bo

  Bo waited off to the side of the TSA checkpoint, aware that time was ticking away, and he had to get to his gate. He knew they were both cutting it way too close and could possibly miss their flight, but he wanted to make sure she made it through security without any problems.

  When she rolled her carry-on toward the tram that would take her to gates seventy through ninety-nine, he followed her. He stayed back and slipped into a different car at the last minute. As he watched her, he pulled out his phone and sent a text to his mom.

  Bo: Did Sunday tell you that she is flying to New York City?

  Mom: No.

  Bo: Well, she is. So am I.

  Mom: She isn't going to NYC, but why are you?

  Bo: What? Where is she going? I'm going to NYC to talk with Dad.

  Mom: Your father is going to the Caymans, so is Sunday.

  Bo: Thanks. Love you.

  Mom: Love you too.

  Caymans? Bo was pissed, beyond pissed, he was fucking furious. She stood there all innocent and let him invite her to tag along to New York, and she knew all along that it was he who was wrong. What the hell? The more Bo thought about it, the angrier he got. When the tram stopped, he waited and followed the crowd off. When Sunday turned left to walk toward her gate, he headed up to the Sky lounge to speak with a Delta concierge.

  "May I help you?" Bo handed her his phone and let her scan his boarding pass.

  "My meeting just got changed. I now have to head to the Caymans instead. Can you get me on a flight?"

  "Let me see what I can do." Bo waited while the Delta representative typed away. "I have a direct flight leaving at seven fifty-five, would that work?"

  "Perfect."

  "There is only one seat left in first class, would you like me to go ahead and reserve that?"

  "Please."

  "We have an American Express on file, is that the card you would like me to charge?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, Mr. Camden, I've credited your New York ticket and reissued you a ticket bound for Owen Roberts International leaving at seven fifty-five. We've waived the change fee. You're in seat two c."

  "Thanks." He waited for her to finish printing his boarding pass and then made his way to the executive lounge.

  Once he was settled, he cancelled his car service and hotel in New York and booked a new car for the Caymans. He didn't worry about booking a room since he assumed that his dad would be staying at the Ritz-Carlton like he normally did. The place was huge, so he'd get a room when he got there.

  "Mr. Camden, they're boarding your flight." Bo looked up at the woman who'd helped him earlier.

  "Thank you." He grabbed his carry-on and headed toward his gate. When he arrived, most of the area had already cleared out. He scanned his boarding pass and headed down the gangway.

  "Welcome aboard," a flight attendant greeted him.

  "Thank you."

  When he saw who was sitting in two d, against the window where she would be locked in by him once he sat, he smiled. This flight was going to be interesting.

  Sunday saw him and ducked as if that could possibly hide her. Finding entirely too much joy in her rather pathetic attempt, he stowed his carry-on and took his seat. "Fancy seeing you here."

  "What the hell? I thought you were headed to New York."

  "Yeah, and I thought that my dad was going to New York so I invited you along, guess you were laughing at me the entire time."

  "No. After you left, I went to book my flight for New York, but before I did, I wanted to find out what time your dad arrived so I checked the executive airport and discovered that he was going to the Caymans instead."

  "You could have called me and let me know."

  "How? I only know you as the crazy stalker who followed me home. I don't exactly have your cell number." Sunday looked smug.

  "Really? You can find my dad's flight times, don't tell me that you couldn't have found my number." Bo smiled wider. Mental hash mark, one to him. "By the way, do you even know where you're going once you get on the island?"

  Sunday raised one brow in challenge. "If I can find a flight plan, then I can find a reservation."

  "Yet not a cell phone number," Bo mumbled.

  "It wasn't intentional. Besides, why are you bitching? Obviously, you lied about New York because you're on this flight too. And to answer your other question, I'm going to the Ritz."

  "I'm only on this flight because I saw you coming through TSA and texted my mom to let her know that you would be out of town with me in New York. She's who told me you were going to the Caymans."

  "Well, aren't you a regular Sherlock Holmes."

  "Listen, I know that we got off on the wrong foot, let's start over." Bo held out one hand. "Truce?"

  Sunday stared at it and debated. "Sure, now because you want it? I tried this yesterday."

  "You did, and I acted like an ass. Truce or not?"

  "Fine, truce." Sunday shook on it.

  "So, why PI work?" Bo turned in his seat so that he could get a better view of Sunday.

  "It wasn't originally what I wanted, but I met the other three my third year of college and we became best friends. Olivia and Adeline were studying criminal justice, Melanie was working on a degree in ps
ychology, and I was studying cyber forensics."

  "Does Melanie analyze the clients, watch for body language and stuff like that?" Bo asked, totally enthralled.

  "Sort of, Mel studies their patterns and habits. You know, like a profiler."

  "That's kind of cool. Tell me about cyber forensics. What is that like?"

  "Have you ever watched a movie where they confiscate someone's computer?"

  "Of course."

  "It is a cyber forensics team that goes through the hard drive and can recover, rebuild, or decipher everything that device has done."

  "And that's something you like to do?" Bo questioned.

  "It is. I can get lost behind a computer."

  "I like that, I used to like my job as well." Bo leaned back.

  He couldn't get over how relaxed he felt with her, the two of them just talking. All it took was calling a truce then in a blink of an eye they went from enemies to . . . what . . . what were they?

  "You don't like your job anymore?" Sunday appeared genuinely concerned.

  "When you spend all your time watching what your own father is doing and making sure that he isn't trying to screw the company or your mother over, it sort of takes the fun out of it."

  Sunday placed one hand on top of his. "I hate this for you. You should be able to trust your parents more than anyone else."

  "Oh, I trust my mom. She'd do anything for me."

  Bo and Sunday fell quiet as the flight attendant came to a stop next to them. Her smile was warm as she glanced between them before asking, "Would you folks like a mimosa?"

  "Sure, thank you." Sunday accepted her drink first, and then Bo took his from the attendant.

  "A toast?"

  Sunday smiled and lifted her glass. "Here's to getting lucky in the Caymans."

  "Okay, I guess that I can drink to that." Bo chuckled.

  "Oh, I didn't mean like lucky as in lucky, lucky. I meant as in getting lucky and getting exactly what we need for your mother."

  "Okay, sure. I'm good either way." Bo clinked his glass to Sunday's.