Page 47 of Deserving Cora
Cora abruptly stood and began to pace the length of the conference room. Pipe kept his eye on her as the others erupted into conversation.
“So he’s either taking Lara with him, or he’s using her credit cards.”
“Why bring Lara to Arizona if he’s indulging in strippers?”
“More importantly, why would he be using her credit card when he’s loaded himself?”
“Is there a pattern to when he goes to the Blue Moon?” Stone asked.
Pipe turned his attention back to his friends.
“Sort of, but only due to frequency,” Tex said. “There are expenditures just about every night.”
“Which is good,” Stone said. “We can go to the Blue Moon, see what’s what. And we also know he’s out of the house every night.”
“Which also means we can head there while he’s gone and see if we can talk to Lara,” Owl agreed.
Pipe turned back to Cora and was surprised to see her crouched down with the wall at her back, hugging her legs. He pushed away from the table and went over to her. “Cora?” he asked, kneeling beside her and putting a hand on her shoulder.
She shook her head. “He’s using her formoney,” she said in a tone that was so defeated, so full of bitterness, it made Pipe want to take Cora in his arms and simply rock her. “It’s the one thing she dreaded most. It’s part of the reason she didn’t date much. I figured she thought Ridge was ideal because he’s just as rich. Lara might assume having money means she can trust that he likes her for who she is, not because of her bank account.”
“Let’s go back to the important question. Why would Michaels need her money if his family is so rich?” Tiny asked.
“Tex?” Brick said. “Any ideas?”
More clicking came from the phone on the table, but Pipe’s attention was on Cora. He felt powerless to do anything for her. It was obvious she was devastated by this latest news, and he couldn’t do anything to help other than remain by her side.
“Not really,” Tex said. “His family is loaded, and like Ms. Osler, Michaels has a trust that doles out money every month.”
“Something’s fucked up here,” Brick mumbled.
“Agreed,” Stone said with a nod.
“Wait a second,” Tex said. “Hmmmm…for years, it looks like he was getting twenty thousand a month from his trust. But before he started dating Lara, it dropped to three thousand.”
“That’s a huge drop,” Brick said.
“It is,” Tex agreed.
“Daddy took away most of his money before he met Lara. That seems like a good motive to me,” Tiny said.
“Right. So we know he’s using Lara’s money, and he goes out a lot, which is good for us,” Owl said with a nod. “Maybe going right up to the door and knocking isn’t actually a bad plan.”
“Or we can talk to the ladies at the Blue Moon,” Stone said. “Do some recon and learn who his favorites are, see what kind of information they can give us.”
“Cora?” Pipe asked. “What do you think we should do?”
Her head came up, and she met Pipe’s gaze head on. “Find where he’s holding Lara and get her the hell out of there,” she said firmly.
“I’m thinking we shouldn’t start out with a B&E,” Spike said with a wry grin. “We’ve got good connections here, but the last thing I want is to have to bail all of you out of an Arizona prison.”
“Wait, isn’t Arizona where that one guy made the inmates wear pink underwear?” Brick asked.
Pipe tuned out his friends’ chatter, his focus fully on Cora. “We’re going to find out what’s going on,” he told her.
She shook her head. “All she wanted was to find someone who loved her for who she was, not for her money.”
“You knew about her trust fund?”
