“Probably.” Easton grumbled as we walked over to join him. “What did you find out?”
“What do you know of a transcontinental pipeline?” Daniel’s posture remained relaxed while tension radiated off Easton and me.
“We took a look at it, eight, maybe ten months ago. Another company proposed we go in on it together, but the cost wasn’t worth the risk.”
I pulled my ponytail tighter on my head. “If it hadn’t been for the legal shit, we might have done it, but as it stands, nobody has secured the right to go across some of the property the pipeline is supposed to cover. The landowners were putting up a heck of a fight and refused to agree to the lease terms or outright sell. It’s already been held up in court over a year. And Washington can’t make up their minds if the project is off or on.”
“Not to mention the terrain. A lot of it is easy building, but some of it, not so much. The construction costs alone were way out of line with our breakeven timetable on other projects.” Easton zeroed in on Daniel. “What’s the pipeline have to do with Carter Energy?”
“Not Carter Energy. You and Mulaney.”
We looked at each other. Easton and I had been firmly on the same side when it came to the pipeline. It hadn’t taken us long to come up with an absolute no. That had been the end of it.
“Does the name Muldoon mean anything to you?” Daniel asked.
Easton shook his head, and I wracked my brain. “Seems like there’s some people who own a property we lease with that name. Over in—” I could picture a dilapidated house on that land, but couldn’t remember what part of Texas it was in.
“Hang on a sec. In the early days of Carter Energy, my grandfather needed more capital and couldn’t get it from the bank. He partnered up for a couple years with a Henry Muldoon Statesman IV.”
“You remember his whole name?” I asked incredulously.
“Every time Grandpa Carter mentioned him, he said his whole name.” Easton mocked how his grandfather would’ve said it, like the guy was a highbrow man. “They had some sort of falling out. I think the man tried to force my granddad out of his own company, but I don’t know anything about it.”
“I take it you two haven’t formed an LLC by that name to buy a pipeline?”
I gripped the gate. “Are you saying—?”
“How is that even possible?” Easton shoved off the fence and paced the yard.
“The offshore accounts that are empty now? The money for the purchase has been traced back to them.”
My head spun. I trusted Daniel and his contacts, but the news was a lot to take in.
“Did you find where the money originally came from?” Easton stopped moving and waited for Daniel to answer.
“Carter Energy.”
“Directly from the company?”
“Directly,” Daniel confirmed.
“When did we buy this pipeline? I’d love to know when I’ve had time to set up an LLC.” I didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm.
“Two months ago. Although the money began funneling into the offshore accounts seven months ago.”
“I don’t understand why a Muldoon family member would do this.” Easton plowed a hand through his hair. “Henry Muldoon Statesman IV has to be dead by now. I wouldn’t begin to know who his descendants are.”
“I’ll check into them, though it is possible they’re not involved except in name only. I haven’t been able to nail down who set up the accounts or the LLC, but I have confirmed the two of you own it outright.” Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets.
This is unbelievable.
I held my hand up. “Somebody funneled close to a billion dollars out of Carter Energy and bought a pipeline in our names? Who the hell would do that?”
Easton and I pointed at each other. There was only one person that made sense. “Dad,” he whispered.
“But why? And what about Drew? He wouldn’t leave him out of this,” I said, though I was grateful he had.
“My contacts will continue to work on this, but it may take time.”
“We have to go to the authorities,” Easton said.
“But your father could go to prison,” I protested.
“Or you could keep it. If there is no paper trail then no one would know you didn’t execute the transactions. Who’s going to argue?” Daniel started toward the house, leaving Easton and me standing in shock.
He picked up a rock and hurled it into the pasture beside Ragnor’s. “I don’t get it. If my parents are out of money, why the hell would Dad buy a pipeline in our name?”
“The only thing I can come up with is to cover up something else.”
“Like how they went bankrupt in the first place?”
I touched Easton’s arm. “Daniel’s right. We shouldn’t do anything yet. Maybe we can unload this thing on one of the big Fortune 500 companies.”
“I have to confront my father.” He dropped his chin to his chest.
“Let’s see what else Daniel digs up first. It may not be of his doing.”
“I don’t know if I can. They’re family. I can’t believe he’d do this behind my back.”
“You’d think he’d have given part of it to Drew, especially since he wanted it so badly.” I bristled as I mentioned his brother. He’d argued with the three of us for weeks about the pipeline project until he finally realized he wasn’t going to win.
Easton yanked on his hair. “I thought I was saving the company moving that money.”
“You had no idea anything was happening other than your dad mentioning we might be in trouble. It was impossible for you to know this was going on.”
Slowly, he lifted his head. “I hid forty million dollars.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Easton
“You what?”
Mulaney’s voice echoed in the night sky so loudly I was certain the people four counties over heard it. Her horse raced over. The gate clanged when he ran into it. I wanted to do the same.
“When Dad first mentioned merging, I looked everywhere on the books to see what had him concerned. I couldn’t find anything in EXODUS, but I decided to move some money around to a different account. A bigger rainy-day fund than what we had.”
“Is it possible your father thought he had to sell because he couldn’t find the forty million?”
“It’s possible,” I said carefully. I’d run through the scenario a thousand times. Two days after I’d moved the last five million, he announced the sale was done. “Still, there should’ve been more than enough.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Ragnor nudged her, and she petted his head in reassurance.
“If we were failing financially, that was on me. Now I wish I would’ve run it by you, but I wanted to do what I could in case we needed the funds because we were facing bankruptcy.” I covered my face with my hand and squeezed my temples.
Mulaney thumped me in the head. “Failure is on all of us, not just you.”
“The CFO is the steward of the funds,” I said stubbornly.
“And that’s what you did. If we’re playing that game, the CEO is the captain of the whole ship.” She thumped me again. “Is the money still wherever you put it?”
“It was this morning.”
“Did you tell anybody what you did?”
“No, and it’s not on the balance sheet either. I hadn’t been sure how I wanted to account for it, so I left it alone for the time being. Forty million over time wasn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.”
She gave me the side-eye. “So SPE doesn’t know about it?”
“I haven’t seen what they based their offer for Carter Energy on, but my guess is no. From what I can tell, the transfers were completed prior to Dad’s negotiations.”
“Then whose money is it now?”
I pressed my fingers into my forehead. “I think it’s ours, but I honestly don’t know.”
Mulaney walked up and down the fence line, hair swaying as she moved. “This is ba
d. Really fucking bad. We’ve got this pipeline in our names and if anybody finds out about the money you hid?” She stopped. “Right now it looks like embezzlement.”
“Thanks for the newsflash.”
She pointed at me. “Being a smart-ass isn’t going to fix this.”
I opened my arms, and she came to me. As soon as she was within reach, I folded her into my embrace and rested my head on top of hers. “If I go down, I won’t let you fall with me.”
She snatched her head out from under mine, brown eyes flashing. “I won’t let you fall.”
I held her, needed her strength and determination. The world was cold and still around us, the only sound Ragnor’s occasional nicker.
“What was it like? Living here all the time?” Growing up, I’d loved the weeks spent at Grandma Carter’s, but life always went back to the city, the slow days in Burdett a memory.
“Peaceful. Hard work. Nothing to do but get in trouble sometimes.”
I cupped her cheek. “Do you miss it?”
She stared at me with confusion. It was as if no one had ever taken the time to ask her how she felt. “I miss my family, the animals, the land. Hell, sometimes I miss Mrs. Perkins, the nosy lady in the drug store.” Her head dropped back. “The funny thing is, as much as I hate the city, I never thought about leaving Carter. It’s where I was meant to be, and I figure I’ll land back here when I’m supposed to.”
“I’ve wondered if Dad will come back here, especially now that there’s no company. What’s he going to do without Mama?”
Mulaney squeezed my arms. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have to find out for a very long time.”
That was one of my greatest wishes, but miracles didn’t always happen. “I’d like to stay close to them, and then maybe—”
“What? You want to come back here?” she asked.
“Yeah. I want our kids to see both worlds, and I like New York. It’s been fun getting to know your brother and Muriella, and we could fit in there to some extent. Once we get some of this mess straightened out, I’m leaving SPE.”
She sagged against me. “Thank God. I can’t stand that place.”
“New York?”
“No. It’s not too bad. SPE.” Mulaney threaded her hand through mine. “We could start our own operation. Do things our way. Back to basics and what we love.”
“Just the two of us?”
“I’d bring Holly on and”—her feet dragged as she walked—“if you want your brother—”
“Why don’t you like him?” There’d been tension between them for as long as I could remember. She tried to act like nothing was wrong, especially in front of my father, but I’d caught their dirty looks in each other’s direction.
“He’s an asshole.”
I stopped. “Tell me how you really feel.”
She pulled me toward the house. “I’ll play nice for you and your mom and dad.”
“You already have been.”
Her hand tightened around mine. “He’s got a different side than he shows the rest of you.”
“He’s been through a lot,” I defended without thought. “He isn’t perfect, but nobody is. What he’s done to you is unacceptable.”
“Just—never mind. If you’d called one of my brothers an asshole, I’d have punched you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Noted.”
I reached behind her and pulled on her ponytail.
“Hey. What was that for?”
“I used to do that right here in this yard whenever I got the chance.” The chaos of kids playing filled my mind.
“I remember. I pulled your hair back.”
“You know that meant you liked me.” I slowed and took her into my arms again.
She made an indignant noise. “No way.”
I kissed her forehead. “I liked you, just in a very strong form of dislike.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.” She dragged me toward her grandparents’ house. “It’s cold as hell out here.”
“We could detour by the barn. I’ve always wanted to fool around in one.”
“Mitch and Jules already claimed that spot. If you want—”
I pushed her back against a tree and kissed her. She wrapped a leg around my waist, and I threaded her hair around my fist.
“I want to go to sleep with you in my arms and wake up with you still there. I want to work right by your side and build something for our family.” I pressed my lips to her ear. “I want to fuck you until neither of us can move or speak.”
Her chest heaved up and down. “Easton Carter, my grandparents got married under this tree. You can’t talk like that on sacred ground.”
“Is this where you wanted to get married?” I nipped her earlobe.
“I always wanted to do it in a chapel with a lady preacher.”
I dove my hand under her sweatshirt and palmed her warm breast. Her fingernails dug into the back of my neck.
“Anybody could see,” she hissed even as she tilted her hips toward mine.
“Wouldn’t it be something if we conceived our first child right here in this sacred spot?” I lowered my voice, my breath whispering against her ear.
“I stopped taking my birth control.”
“When?” I asked, stilling my hand.
“I lost track of it right after we got married, and then I figured why bother with it. No way could I fuck anyone else while I was married, and you and I weren’t getting between the sheets, so . . .” She trailed off, and I gripped her hips.
“Put your leg on the ground,” I commanded, and she immediately did it. A disgusted face followed when she realized what she’d done.
I ran a thumb over her frown. “I love your wild, Heartbreaker.”
“Then stop trying to control this.” She splayed her fingers on my chest and toyed with the buttons on my shirt.
“Can’t you see I’m not? Give me what you’ve never given anyone.”
She looked away. “I can’t.”
“You already have.” I braced an arm on the tree above her head. “Tell me you’ve felt something else like what was between us when we cemented our marriage.”
Her breaths grew shallow as she parted her lips. She wanted to lie to me. I saw it on her face. “I haven’t,” she finally whispered.
I leaned forward until my lips brushed hers. “Show me.”
She glanced toward the house and then back toward the pasture.
“Sissy and the other cows aren’t paying us any attention,” I said, pushing off the tree.
“You’re an insufferable horse’s ass.” She yanked off her boots and tossed them aside.
“Call me that when I make you come.” I folded my arms over my chest.
Mulaney glared at me as she shimmed off her jeans. The sweatshirt barely covered her exposed ass. She hooked her thumbs under the strings of her thong and hesitated. “You wouldn’t leave me out here with no clothes on, would you?”
A vulnerability crept into that tough exterior, and I ached for the girl who had been hurt. Fucking bastard took too much from my girl. “Only an asshole would walk away from you naked. Period. But I would never walk away from you.” I palmed her neck and brushed my thumb along her pulse point. I loved this woman. “You trust that wild stallion. One day, I hope you learn to trust me unconditionally.”
She shoved her thong off and let it dangle from her fingers. I slipped it into my pocket.
I traced a path from her hip across her lower belly as I buried my face in her neck. When she shivered, an intense satisfaction filled me. It wasn’t the cold, and I had little doubt I was the only one who had ever made her react this way.
I ran my fingers along her lower lips and between her slit. She tensed as I smeared her wetness on her thighs, up the crease of her legs and around to her ass. Her fists balled at her sides.
I pressed at the pucker, stopping short of penetration. Her ass cheeks clenched even as I tracked back across the path my hands had just ventured.
Slow
ly, I pried her fingers loose and guided her hand toward her stomach. Together, we circled her belly button and up her sternum. I palmed her breast, her nipples now pebbled, and used my other hand to place hers on top of mine. She wanted control, I’d give it to her.
For a moment, she didn’t move and neither did I. Eventually, she squeezed my hand—hard—before guiding it to her other breast. I kneaded it under her command until she dropped her arm.
“You do it,” she said, almost in defeat. “I don’t want to think.”
I nosed her cheek and teased my way down her body to her sex. Just before I plunged inside of her, I reached for her hand and hooked my index finger around hers. Twined together, I pushed, her greedy center sucking our digits in.
With measured movement, I worked in and out until she writhed, out of control. Her walls pulsed around us, swelling. She was close.
I pulled out, and she cursed me. Her hands flew to my zipper and tugged. She reached into my pants, the button popping when she freed me. I clamped my lips together when she squeezed.
She looked down and hooked her legs around my waist and one arm around my neck. I gripped her ass, resisting the urge to sink home. Mulaney ran my tip through her folds, and my balls drew up with how good she felt.
I groaned when she placed me at her entrance and eased inside. She fisted my shaft as I thrust until it was too much. I bounced her on my dick while she held on, grunting with pleasure every time her cunt contracted around me.
There was no need for words. We’d waited months to connect on this level. Her face was awash with gratification and pure unadulterated love. Tighter and tighter she clamped around me. When it became too much, she sank her teeth into my shoulder and shook as the climax overtook her.
“Insufferable horse’s ass,” she mumbled.
I stiffened as my own orgasm raced to the surface. When I couldn’t hold off any longer, I slammed into her and came with such a force we tumbled to the ground.
She landed on top of me with a laugh while I hit with an oomph.
“I feel like we’ve been here before,” I said, happy to be pinned underneath her anytime.
“Get used to it.”
Heartbreaker: A Workplace Friends-To-Lovers Romance (Paths To Love Book 3) Page 24
