“I’m not sure. I just thought they might be helpful.” He held her gaze, then added, “You need to know that Seth informed me Tim and Colin were stealing money from the Blake-Moore Group.”
“What?” She didn’t think she could be shocked at anything Tim had done, but the news was startling. “Are you sure?”
He lifted a shoulder. “According to Seth, they’d been at it for a while. I take it you didn’t know anything about it.”
“No.” She felt light-headed, the blood leaving her face in a rush, and was grateful she was already sitting down. “Why would they do such a thing? Tim made good money, enough that he encouraged me to quit my part-time job as an accountant.”
“I don’t know.” His eyes were filled with empathy. “Greed often has no limit.”
“Greed.” She let out a harsh laugh. “I guess that sums it up right there. Tim always wanted more, felt he deserved more, but Colin...” She shook her head unable to finish. “I hate knowing how Tim dragged my brother down with him.”
“Tell me about the morning you left the house.”
The change in subject made her sigh. “That was months ago. What good will it do to go over it all again?”
“Please, humor me.”
She blew out a frustrated breath, thinking back to that morning just before Christmas. She’d started the day full of hope, thinking that maybe once Tim learned she was pregnant, he’d change. That he’d go back to the way things used to be.
Although based on what she’d just learned, she knew that things would never have changed. Except for the worse.
“Colin and Jeff came into the kitchen as Aaron and I were eating breakfast.”
“Did he have a key?” Ryker asked.
“My brother did, yes. Not Jeff.” She waved an impatient hand. “Anyway, Colin told me that we were all in danger and that we had to leave immediately.”
“But he didn’t say what the danger was?”
“No.” She gave him an exasperated look. “Are you going to keep interrupting me or are you going to let me tell the story?”
“Sorry.” Ryker looked chagrined. “Tell the story.”
She thought back. “I asked Colin what was going on, even as I washed Aaron’s face and hands from his breakfast. Colin told me he didn’t have time to explain, because we had to move in a hurry. I asked if I could pack a bag for both of us, since it sounded like we’d be gone for at least a couple of days, but Colin said there was no time.”
When she paused, Ryker asked, “So then what?”
“I told Colin we needed Aaron’s car seat, so he sent Jeff out to grab it. Then as I carried Aaron to the door, Colin told me to make sure I took Aaron’s diaper bag.”
Ryker’s eyebrows levered upward. “He actually said that? To take the diaper bag?”
She nodded. “I figured he mentioned it specifically because of the car seat. Like I should take some important things, but not worry about clothes and toiletries.”
She followed Ryker’s gaze as he turned and looked at the zebra-striped diaper bag. “We need to empty that thing.”
A wave of frustration hit her hard. “Come on, Ryker. I’ve been using that bag on and off for the past six months. Don’t you think I would have noticed if there was some sort of notebook full of bank-account information hidden inside?”
“Probably.” Ryker leaned over and grabbed the bag. “But it can’t hurt to check again.”
He set the bag on her lap, and she took out the Pull-Ups diapers first and set them aside. Then she pulled out a change of clothing she always carried for Aaron and set the outfit on top of the diapers.
“Hold on.” Ryker reached for the clothes. She watched as he quickly went over the seams of the clothing. When he finished, he noticed her gaze and shrugged. “Hey, it doesn’t hurt to check.”
“You want to go through the container of wipes, too?” She pulled that out next.
“No, thanks. You made your point.”
She pulled out her wallet and handed it over. “You should probably check this. I’ve used the cash I’d managed to smuggle away from Jeff, but none of the credit cards.”
He peered into every pocket and card slot of her wallet, then handed it back. “Nothing.”
It didn’t take long for her to empty the rest of the bag. “I told you—there’s nothing here.” She sat back against the headboard, suddenly exhausted.
The Blake-Moore Group continued to come after her because of the money. Everything came down to pure greed.
Maybe if she could find a way to explain to them that she didn’t have their stupid numbers, they’d leave her and Aaron alone.
Maybe.
“Let me see the bag.” Ryker lifted it off her lap and began running his fingers along the seams. She wondered if the stress was getting to him, too, because he wasn’t exactly behaving normally.
But then he pulled out the cardboard covered in plastic at the bottom of the diaper bag. Liv frowned as he turned it over in his hands.
“There’s a slit along the side.” He used the tip of his fingernail to lift the edge of the plastic up from the cardboard.
A slip of paper floated out, landing on her legs.
For a moment they both stared at it, in shocked surprise. Ryker reached it first, then met her gaze.
“The bank-account information has been in the diaper bag all along.” He showed her the small printed rows of account numbers with corresponding deposits. Her breath caught when she took note of the total.
Just over five million.
She couldn’t believe it. Nausea swirled and she swallowed hard. “I don’t understand. Why would Colin hide this in the diaper bag?”
“I don’t know, unless
