DOUBLE EDGED A Harper's Book. (Book 10)

Fake Stash

As I waited for my men to arrive I stared at my now empty safe in wonderment. Hell yes I was mad. Whoever did this walked away with over a million dollars but the joke is on them. Every bit of that money is counterfeit. Like any crooked business man I'm always looking for new ways to make money. Vegas is practically a hot bed of money with the many casino's, tourism and entertainment.

I purchased a abandoned ranch out in the desert. Long story short, I renovated it and breed some of the finest steed in these parts. My horse's are known and bought across the country. One has even competed in the Kentucky Derby. Breeding of horses isn't the only thing that takes place there though. Many stables grace the land so I use one of them to produce my fake bills. The counterfeit money is smuggled back into Vegas at my casino. Needless to say people come to gamble and blow thousands to win. In return I give them the counterfeit cash. The reality is that they didn't technically win and I also gained their cash. You see I branched out from the family's traditional investments such as weapons, drugs and land. Yes, I still have my hand in those dealings but I expanded out into different area's and so far I'm making a killing.

So when this culprit spends my fake cash there's a huge chance they could be caught if it hasn't happened already. Basically they will reveal themselves to me if and when caught. My men finally arrived and we all stood by inspecting the safe. There was no sign of forced entry which left us stumped. My safe is only activated by my fingerprint and without that it was impossible to open. I was looking at the safe for any missed clue when one of my men called out. "Take a look at this boss".

Walking over to where he stood I looked to the floor where he pointed. So clear that it was barely visible lied a strip of tape. "Anybody got any tweezers or something of the sort?"

Another man stepped up and supplied me with a Swiss army knife. We all looked at him strangely. "What? I was a boy scout, I'm always prepared."

Shaking it off, I used the tweezers attached to the knife and carefully picked the strip of tape up. Holding it up in the air to the light I could see a finger smudge. "Lock my safe back. I think I may have found our evidence" .

Once the safe was sealed, I gently placed the tape over the tiny scanning screen. Just as I assumed, my safe popped open. "Whoever did this is sleek. Johnson, scan the apartments surveillance footage. Go as far back as the night I left. Adams, check the news from the past few month's. See if there has been any reports of counterfeit money being spent throughout the state. If so, break into the police's evidence data bank and see if the Bill's serial numbers match mine then we will go from there".

My men left in a orderly fashion eager to do my bidding. As for me I was too awake for sleep now. Pouring myself another round of Jack, I tried to rack my brain as to who may have done this. Whomever it was had to have access to my place but I never allowed anyone here other than my men, family and Ashton. I guess it's possible that one of my men may have betrayed me but I don't think that was it. That leaves Ashton but she wouldn't do something like this. Ashton is way to nice and definitely not the type to do this. Besides Ashton isn't criminally smart. She'd never know to use a clear piece of tape to pull my fingerprint off of anything. Not only that, she's too much of a girl to do such thing's. It simply isn't her nature.

And now my mind was back on Ashton. My stress level was at an extreme high and I needed something bad... That something that I can get from Ashton. To hell with her blocking my number. I have ways to get past all of that. Going to my home office, I sat behind my desk and picked up my business phone. Not caring that it was near two in the morning, I punched her digits in and waited. I let the phone continue to ring until she answered.

"Hello?" She answered in a voice laced with sleep.

" Get over here now. " I demanded as I poured myself another round.

Having heard my voice, Ashton was now wide awake and anger was evident in her tone. "Hold up a minute. If memory serves right you tossed me out once again over a stupid birthday party that I threw for you in an attempt to be nice. You humiliated me in front of many. Then I haven't heard from you in month's and for some reason you think it's okay to call me at two in the morning to demand that I come over? You must be a special kind of stupid. Good night and goodbye" .

"Wait, wait. Don't go. Hear me out". I urged.

" you have one minute ". Ashton declared.

" I was wrong and I'm sorry. I've been in New York for the past few month's. I'm super stressed and well, I need a little something ".

A evil little laugh echoed through the phone. "So now I'm supposed to jump out of bed and rush over in the middle of the night just because you gave a piss poor apology and want to sleep with me?"

" Yes. And my apology was sincere".

Ashton snorted. "You really need to look up the word sincere before you use it. I've heard better from lawyer's and you know how they lie. Maybe you're in the wrong profession after all".

Ignoring her rant, I asked. "So are you coming or what?"

" Hell. No. "

"Okay. So can I come to your place then? What's your address?"

There went that mean little laugh of hers again. I've never had Ashton be nasty with me and I must admit that I didn't like it. "Let me put it this way King, we are done. This little thing we had, whatever it was, is no more. Goodbye" .

"Wait". I tried to get her to listen but the phone went dead.

" Fuck". I growled slamming the receiver down.

I poured another drink and begin to pace. No one tells me no. No one but me makes the rules. Never had Ashton been so stern with me. She's always been sweet and compliant. I didn't like this version of her one bit. I'll show her and then she will understand why my name is King. Going back to my office I searched her address up. In a matter of minutes I was in my car driving my drunk self to her apartment.