Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Surprise flashes in her brown eyes, but it disappears quickly. She shrugs as if she doesn’t care either way, which is bullshit, but I let it slide.
“Sure. If you want.”
I look around the room and see stacks of folders on the sofa and a wall safe hanging open. “Anything, in particular, you’re looking for?”
“Anything. Everything.”
“Got it.” I sit down on the leather sofa next to a bookcase. Aria has stacked neat piles of folders on the soft kidskin, so I begin there. I sift through each one, page by page. Geoffrey Morgan has been holding out on everyone, it seems, and for a long damn time. The man is even more loaded than we initially thought.
“Your father is a busy man.” Wealthy as fuck, too.
“That’s the one thing I’m already aware of,” she says in her snooty voice. “His business takes him away often and for long periods of time.”
That much I can see for myself, but what’s surprising is that Arturo Rojas isn’t the only cartel leader he’s in bed with. “Do you know Paco Gutierrez?”
Aria frowns and shakes her head. “No. There are only a handful of Hispanic businessmen that I know, and I’d remember someone named Paco. Why do you ask?”
“He’s the head of the Sanguine cartel.”
Her shocked expression confirms that Geoffrey’s done a damn good job of keeping his daughter in the dark about all his dirty dealings.
“Like the guys who cut off body parts and kill cops?”
“Yep.” And the more folders I go through, the more I learn how much Morgan has his hands in, starting with human trafficking, prostitution, and even art smuggling.
I page through another folder, close my eyes in disgust, and mutter, “Shit.”
“What?” Aria gets up and sits beside me on the sofa, her sweet-smelling, expensive perfume distracting as fuck. “What did you find?”
“A lot. Are you sure you want to know?”
Aria is a hard ass on the surface, but it’s easy to see beneath the thin veneer to the hurt little girl in her heart.
“It’s not good or bad, Aria. It just is. But it’s not what you might expect.”
“Just tell me what you found,” she growls, folding her arms so her tits are pushed up high and hard to ignore.
“Your dad is into everything. His import/export business is the black market, Aria.”
She shakes her head. “You’re wrong. He works with Arturo because the money helps keep the lights on, but Morgan International is the company that everyone who’s anyone uses to transport their most valuable goods from one location to the next.”
I laugh. “Old Geoffrey should have you do his commercials. Is that why you’re his marketing expert?”
“Funny,” she growls and snatches the papers from me.
“I’m serious,” I tell her and take the folder back, holding it out of her reach. “Do you want to tarnish the image you have of dear ol’ daddy?”
She pushes off the sofa and starts pacing the length of the big office, her long golden legs eating up the distance easily. “This is such bullshit, Lucky.”
“I didn’t create the fucking information, Aria. It’s here in black and white.”
While she’s distracted, I snap photos of dozens of pages that prove the extent of Morgan’s reach. It’s nothing that will fuck up the MC or our business, but this is the type of information that we can use to our advantage. It probably makes me an asshole, plotting to blackmail Aria’s father, but business is business.
“I need to see it,” she says and stops pacing. “I have to know everything, so I can figure out how to help him.”
She marches to the sofa and drops down beside me, taking the folders out of my hands. “You can find something else to do.”
I stare at her for a second and tell myself I must be a glutton for punishment, being attracted to this pain in the ass.
“Don’t you rich people take etiquette classes or something?”
She laughs and waves at me dismissively. “That’s for dinner parties and public events, not for snooping through my father’s personal effects. Just, please, go do something else. Check the safe.”
I glare at her and push off the sofa. “Fine, but only because you asked so fucking nicely.” I take a quick minute to text Wild Man.
Just sent some interesting stuff to you through that app you made us all download.
The encrypted one, I hope.
Yep
I don’t know much about all that tech shit, but Wild Man knows his shit. I trust him, so I downloaded it and used it as he requested.
Looking into it now, Lucky. Thanks.
I glance at Aria, but the wide open safe calls to me, and I go to it, noting that most of these files had been inside here at some point. Aria must have removed them in her quest to learn about Geoffrey.
It’s a standard safe with a mechanical combo lock, all hard metal, with three shelves. But the bottom shelf is slightly loose. I lift it, finding a keypad. This must be where Morgan hides the serious shit.