Such A Good Guy

16. Luna

CHAPTER 16

Luna

I might be trapped by a psychopath, but I was the most well-rested I had ever been in my life.

It was after the last show in Prince Edward Island, which had also been live-streamed to at least 2 million live viewers.

Ignatius, Luke, and I were in his makeshift base in a local office building, and Ignatius was enthusing about the last show, explaining how the concert tour in little-visited parts of Canada had attracted so much attention and was making Luke’s livestream numbers skyrocket.

To distract myself from looking at his sleazy two-faced self, I glanced down at the numbers in the huge stack of papers Ignatius had put on the desk. Was that really all the profit for the show in Montreal?

It was a huge sum, but.

But.

I knew damn well it should be more. Way more.

“I’d like to see the accounts,” I said, interrupting his monologue.

Luke had been listening leaning against the desk beside me, hands crossed over his chest. And if you didn’t know, you would think he was just a lazy sleepy beach bum, but he wasn’t.

Not by a long fucking shot.

Ignatius smiled ingratiatingly at me.

“Don’t worry about those, little lady. They’re all in order.”

I felt like grinding my teeth in rage. How could I ever have contemplated sleeping with this total jackass? Luke might be a psychopath but at least he never called me “little lady.”

“Where are they?” I repeated.

He shrugged with an attitude of nonchalance. “I’ve shown Mr. O’Neill the books and he’s fine with all the necessary expenditures.”

Pure rage seemed to flow through my veins.

Maybe it was the twin pregnancy hormones, but I could have throttled him in that moment.

Fucking disrespectful asshole, pretending like this shitty accounting wouldn’t be incredibly obvious.

“I didn’t ask if you showed it to this Harrison County himbo!” I said, my voice hard. “I said I want to see the books. The real numbers. And you are going to show them to me.”

Ignatius suddenly looked like he was sweating under the collar, his beady eyes darting around, and I put one hand firmly on his laptop, just one second before he did.

“Luke. . .” he said, his voice trailing off.

And, fuck, I knew then for sure.

He tried to tug the laptop out from my fingers, but since I was pretty sure it held the evidence of how he’d been stealing money from Luke, I wasn’t about to let it go.

I looked up, my eyes narrowing as my hand clamped tight around the laptop.

“How dare you take advantage of this ignorant simpleton,” I said, through my gritted teeth. “He may not know a debit from a credit, but I assure you I do and I am going to find every single place where you stole money.”

“How did you figure this out?” Luke drawled from beside me. “I swear, your mind is the most beautiful thing, Luna.”

I ignored him, watching Ignatius with angry eyes.

He was sweating profusely by this point, big droplets of sweat racing down his handsome face and soaking his collar.

And he suddenly turned and bolted for the door.

I was so fucking furious I grabbed up a stapler and threw it at him, but unfortunately it missed and gouged a huge hole in the office wall.

“Shit,” I said.

“Never mind about that,” Luke said soothingly. “I have a lot of money. I could buy this whole building.”

But Ignatius wasn’t getting out of it that easily.

I gave chase.

“Stop!” I cried, charging as fast I could after him.

Hell, these pregnancy hormones were incredible if they had me this ragey. I was normally a very even-tempered person.

Ignatius looked back at me and I was pleased to see fear in his eyes.

I was wheezing but I was determined to catch him.

Unluckily for him the front door was locked, and he whirled around just as I came panting around the corner.

In a fury, I grabbed one of the walking sticks from beside the door and swung it at Ignatius, connecting with his ribs with a satisfying crack.

“ Amazing job, angel,” Luke said, and even though I was a fast runner, he was only approximately one and a half inches behind me.

Damn, he didn’t even sound out of breath. I needed to hit the gym.

I swung at Ignatius again.

“Luna, stop!” he protested. “You’ve got this all wrong!”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” I snarled. “You’re keeping two sets of books and skimming a fuckton off the top because you think you can take advantage of this himbo simpleton. Well, you cannot.”

Panting hard, I waited for my next opening as Ignatius yanked at the doorknob.

“I love your energy,” Luke said. “It’s unmatched, Luna.”

“Now, let me do this myself,” I snapped back at him.

“Of course,” he said. “I’m here for moral support only.”

I hit Ignatius again, then again, very satisfying painful blows on his back and side.

“Where’s the money?” I snarled. “What did you do with it?”

Ignatius finally abandoned the door, and this time my swing missed. The disgusting criminal lurched forward like he was going to grab the stick from me, stumbling heavily in my direction. But he had barely taken a few halting lunges forward when Luke’s arm shot out, his hand wrapping around Ignatius’ throat.

There was something truly terrifying about the calm and pleasant voice Luke used as his fingers tightened around Ignatius’ neck.

“Steal my money if you like, but threatening Luna, now you’ve pissed me off.”

The other man tried unsuccessfully to claw his hands away, but Luke was too strong. Ignatius was literally turning purple before my eyes as Luke yanked him up by the throat and then slammed his head back on the wall.

Those goddamn pregnancy hormones were flooding through me and for a terrifying moment bloodlust rushed through my body and I wanted Luke to kill Ignatius.

Then my sense returned and I darted at Luke, pulling at his T-shirt. I felt the hard lines of muscle underneath my hand, the flat taut stomach, lined with a record of my life.

“Stop!” I said sharply. “You can’t kill him, too many people around!”

I had no idea why I said something so practical, but either way he stopped immediately.

Ignatius staggered away, rubbing his throat and gasping.

“Where’s the money?” I asked. “Give it back and maybe we won’t call the police.”

“I spent it,” he said.

“Then I guess maybe Luke should kill you.”

“Be careful, Luna,” Ignatius said. “This guy’s a fucking psychopath.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, to stall for time.

“Ask him,” Ignatius said, rubbing his throat. “Ask him about that time at the group home. If you try to fuck with me, maybe I’ll share some of what I’ve found out.”

Then he finally rattled the door open and shot off outside.

“Should I go after him?” Luke asked.

“No,” I said. Because suddenly, things began to fall into place, and I saw what maybe should have been obvious all along.

“Luke,” I said, “You killed my brother, didn’t you?”