Chapter 39

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

EROS

“Okay, Heph is taking Athena out to dinner. We have maybe another hour before they are back,” I tell Perseus as I come up next to him and stand over the forensic accountant who is sweating bullets as he is frantically typing at his computer. “What’s wrong, Max? You seem a little nervous.” Yeah, I’m being an asshole, but I don’t really care.

“You would be too if you were trying to work with a gun in your back.” The weaselly little accountant’s voice is trembling. God, I hope he doesn’t piss himself. He probably will, but I really don’t want him to piss himself. Then I might just have to rub his face in it like a dog, and then I am going to need a shower before my girl gets home.

“You wouldn’t have a gun in your back if you would just do the job we paid you for,” Perseus grinds out, and judging by the whimper the weasel lets out, I will bet Perseus just pressed the gun in a bit further.

“I can’t trace these funds,” he whines. God I hate the fucking sound. What self-respecting grown man whines like a puppy? “It’s not that I don’t want to. Trust me, I do. I really, really do, but I can’t. I can tell there has been a total of almost four million dollars being siphoned from these accounts over the last five years. The amounts were always percentages that were small enough to go unnoticed but as the account grew, so did the transfers until they were several thousand dollars. When the owner died, the accounts were frozen, so the money stopped. That is when the transfers started coming out of your account. I tried tracing the money, but it goes to banks in the Cayman Islands and there is no way for me to get that account information. You don’t need an accountant, you need a hacker,” Max blubbers, a disgusting mix of snot and tears running down his face.

“Ugh gross.” I take a step away from him, still looking over his shoulder at the screen.

“Do you believe him?” Perseus asks me.

“I do. But where are we going to find a hacker for hire?”

“I know one,” Max says. “I can call him now. I can get him here in ten minutes.”

“No. I can call him. What’s his name and number?”

“Harry.” Max rattles off his number, and I call.

“How did you get this number?” a male asks.

“Is this Harry?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“I’m a friend of Max, and I need a hacker. You up for a job?”

“Depends on the job, depends on the pay,” Harry says.

“Fifty thousand dollars to hack some money trails in the Caymans, and if you do it quick, we might not kill Max.”

“Kill him. I don’t give a fuck, but I will take the fifty large. Let me grab my rig, and I will come to you.”

“Okay, you need the address?”

“Are you there now?” he asks.

“Yeah…” I say, a little uncertain.

“Then nah. I got it. See you in a few.” He disconnects the line.

“Weird little dude, but he will take the job. He is on his way now.”

Max sags in his seat with relief, so just for shits and giggles, I add, “He says he will do it for the cash. We can kill Max.”

Perseus raises an eyebrow at me while Max cries out.

“Calm your tits, dude. He said we can . I didn’t say we would. As long as your little buddy comes through, there is no reason you won’t be able to walk out of here. Now pull yourself together. But next time we hire you to do a job—overseeing our fucking money—you better do your fucking job.”

Harry is tall and wiry, with hipster glasses, and looks like he might be fourteen. It is not helped by the Capri Sun he is sucking down.

“Are you lost, little boy?” Perseus asks.

“Nah, I’m here to find your cash and collect my payment.” He marches past Perseus like he is a butler, not a heavily armed man who could bench press this kid and snap him in half like a toothpick.

“Hey, right in here. Max can give you the account information.” I look him up and down again. “Anything you need, milk, some Teddy Grahams?”

“You joke, but Teddy Grahams are the shit, and yeah, I need the Wi-Fi password.”

He tells Max what he needs, and to be fair, Max tries to get it to him, but he is shaking so hard Harry just pulls out the wheeled chair Max is sitting on and shoves it out of the way sending poor Max caterwauling down the basement steps.

“Fucking useless piece of shit,” Harry mutters as he gets the information straight from Max’s screen.

“So, you and Max are not as close as he would make it seem. According to him, you two are great friends.”

“That waste of flesh is less a friend. He screwed me out of some money and thought I was just too dumb of a kid to notice. But my bullshit is not why we are here. Let me work.”

Max emerges from the basement and scurries to the door to leave. I nod my approval. We scared the man enough for one day.

“Kind of mouthy for a kid,” I whisper to Perseus, who just nods as he watches the kid work, his fingers flying over keys and lines and lines of code fly over the screen.

“So how did you let someone steal from you for so fucking long before you found out? So fucking rich a missing million or four isn’t a big deal?” he asks. “It must be rough when your card gets declined when you try to buy gold-leaf toilet paper.”

“It didn’t start in my account,” Perseus says, grinding his teeth.

“I can see that. It started in some dead chick’s account. Freya Godwin. Oh older woman… Had a bit of a mommy kink going on? Nice.”

Perseus starts to clench his fists, and I move to stand between him and the kid. We need answers, not charges for assaulting a minor.

“Older women are the best, aren’t they? Not shy, they know what they want, and have no problem teaching a young pup a few new tricks. Am I right?”

“You’re about to die a brutal death,” Perseus growls out as I try to hold him back.

“Damn, you guys don’t play.”

“No they don’t.” Athena’s voice comes from behind me, and I turn to see my girl come through the door holding a plastic bag.

“Hey, baby girl. I thought you were going out to dinner.”

“We did. We were seated and served immediately. ”

“I changed my mind. She can stay,” Heph says as he comes in after her looking strangely happy and satisfied.

“What did you two do, fuck in the car?”

“No, I just told the waitress we wanted two of the biggest steaks and all the sides.” Athena shrugs, and that explains it. Heph is in a happy food coma.

This woman really was made to be the center of our little club. There is a saying that the quickest way to a man’s heart is his stomach. Which is absolutely true in Heph’s case. Feeding him a huge steak and carbs is the way to break down his walls.

Perseus isn’t that easy. For him it is his mind, challenging him, and he loves the fight. Athena met each of his attacks and countered.

And for me it’s about the chase. The game and okay, mostly about my dick.

“What’s in the bag?” Perseus asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“I brought back a few more steaks and some fresh rolls in case you guys got hungry,” she answers as she peers around me to see the kid. “Who’s this?”

“I’m the guy who is going to find your money…” his voice trails off when he takes in Athena, and his jaw practically hits the floor as he looks her up and down. “Hello, beautiful. I’m the man who can give you everything you need.”

“Down boy. She is spoken for,” I growl out. Athena pushes the bags to my chest and steps around me.

“And what is it that you think I need?”

“A real man.” He looks her up and down and licks his lips.

“So what? You’re going to call one for me… or…?”

“Oh, Mommy got jokes.”

“Call me Mommy again and see what happens.”

“Sure, but my safe word is pineapple.” Harry just grins at Athena.

I hold back a red-faced Perseus who looks like he is going to murder this kid. Thank fuck Heph is still in his happy food coma and is lying on the couch not paying attention.

“Are we really going to let him talk to her like that?” Perseus bites out.

“Yup, Athena can handle him. If she needs us, she will let us know.” I grit my teeth, still trying to hold him back.

“Damn, Mommy, you got those good boys house broken, don’t you?” Harry laughs .

“Don’t make any mistake, kid. You touch her, and I’ll kill you,” I say over my shoulder.

“You mean touch her like this?” He reaches out a hand to touch her arm. In a blink, Athena has Harry face down on the desk with the offending arm twisted around his back.

“Who the fuck is this kid?” she asks.

When it’s clear she has the kid under control and in his place, I let Perseus go.

“He is supposed to be figuring out who has been taking the money and where it is going.”

“I’m finished,” the kid coughs out, and Athena loosens her grip. Harry rubs his arm as he turns back to the screen. He is all business again, apparently having learned his lesson.

“Then spill,” Perseus says.

“The money was routed through a few shell corporations, including a Brothers LLC, which has a lot of money in it. Then the same amount that was funneled in through back channels was funneled out and put into an account here under the name Ellen Trust. I went ahead and did a little digging into that account. It was set up by a man when he left his wife and kid. He was paying into it until about seven-ish years ago.”

“When Paris turned eighteen,” I say. This was the proof. Paris was a traitor.

“You got to all of that really fast,” Perseus says, a bit of mistrust coloring his voice.

“Yeah, I am kind of known for my speed. I get in and out fast,” he says with a cocky grin.

I’m about to make a joke when Athena beats me to it.

“Aw, it’s okay, sweetie. Endurance comes with practice. I’m sure you will get there.”

“That isn’t what I…” Harry crosses his arms over his chest and sits back, giving up on his retort. “Is there anything else you need me to do, or can I get paid and go nurse what’s left of my fragile male ego?”

“Can you reverse the transfers from my account, putting my money back?” Perseus asks.

“No, but I can make a transfer from this account into yours, minus my fee of course.”

“Do it, add twenty percent to your fee.”

“Oh a tip, nice.”

“Not a tip, a retainer. I want you to be on call for the next few months while we get this sorted. And can you stop the hacker from accessing my accounts again?”

“Kinda, I can’t rewrite the bank security, but I can make it send you an alert anytime money goes out of this account. Though I would suggest just getting a new account, with new numbers.”

“Set the alert, move the money and we’ll be in touch.” Perseus pauses, looks the kid up and down. “And, good job.”