Dating Agency Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 6) (9 page)

“No...” She
gasped and shook her head rapidly. “No! I didn't...”

“You threatened to send
this set of accounts to the authorities if Mr Fronzo didn't pay you
two million dollars. We did what you asked.”

Walking in a slow circle,
John went on, “You know, there are two types of people that Mr
Fronzo hates.” He held up two fingers. “Traitors...and
liars.”

John stopped pacing abruptly
and faced her. “You and Ian Renshaw betrayed Mr Fronzo's trust
and lied to him. Death—is too good for you, Miss Hatfield.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

Penelope clutched the edge of
the table so she wouldn't drop to the ground in a heap. Ian Renshaw!
The bastard.

She knew what Ian had done.

Ian Renshaw had set her up to
take the fall.

He had prepared two sets of
accounts for Mr Frank Fronzo, who by the look of things, wasn't such
an honest businessman himself. Mr Fronzo and his accountant, Ian
Renshaw, inflated his expenses and losses to make sure that Mr Fronzo
paid hardly any tax at all.

The books which had been
cooked to perfection were submitted to the tax authorities while the
raw, real accounts were given to Frank Fronzo. But Ian had saved a
copy of the accounts. And he told Mr Fronzo that he would send this
very detailed and accurate set of accounts to the authorities if
Frank Fronzo didn't pay him two million dollars, which was a mere
fraction of the tax that Frank Fronzo should have paid.

But Ian didn't use his name
for this shady, nefarious transaction. He used Penelope's.

She had opened a joint
account with him a long time ago and forgotten all about it. She
didn't have any money in the account and she forgot to close the
account. Ian used her name to blackmail Frank Fronzo. The two
million was deposited into their joint account under her name and Ian
simply withdrew the money and threw her to the wolves. Frank Fronzo
clearly wasn't a man to be trifled with. Frank was out for blood and
Ian Renshaw, the heartless, scheming bastard, made sure he got
Penelope's blood.

“How could he...”
Penelope punched the table, tears blurring her vision. She couldn't
believe that Ian wanted her dead. To think that she had once loved
him and hoped to marry him. Ian had never loved her, she knew that
now. But she never thought that he would go so far as to frame her.
He was going to walk away with his millions and leave her to pay for
his crimes—with her life.

How could he do this? How
could she have spent years with this monstrous man? How could she
have been such a fool?

“Where are the other
copies?” John asked coldly, pointing to her laptop. “You
must have saved a copy in a flash drive somewhere.”

“No! I have nothing to
do with this!” she screamed. “Ian Renshaw did all this!
He blackmailed your boss, and he framed me! He did everything! You
should go after Ian, not me!”

John narrowed his eyes.
“Ian's gone.”

“So find him!”
Penelope shrieked. “And leave me alone. I don't have your
money, and I don't know what your accounts are doing on my laptop! I
don't know how they got there...”

She stopped suddenly, her
hand flying to her mouth. “Oh, oh. That...that coffee! It's
that damn coffee!”

She slapped her forehead and
cursed. “I know how that file got on my laptop,” she
said grimly. “It's that goddamn coffee! I went to get him a
coffee and he loaded this file on my laptop.” She laughed
harshly. “Mr Ben Doe, yeah I remember his name. He even
spilled his coffee all over my desk to distract me. It's him. I
know it.”

Penelope looked up at John.
“Ben Doe and Ian Renshaw. They're in this together. Find
them! They have your boss's money. I am innocent! You've got to
believe me!”

John didn't even look at her.
Penelope gulped painfully. He obviously didn't believe a word she
said. It was just her word against the evidence that was found on
her laptop. Evidence that Ben Doe had planted.

“P-please...give me
some time,” she said, trying to think of something, anything
that would save her life. “I...I'll find Ian Renshaw. I'll
find him and you'll see that I'm telling the truth.”

“I think you've wasted
enough of our time, Miss Hatfield. Mr Fronzo doesn't like to be kept
waiting.” John signaled his two henchmen forward. “Bag
her.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Damien jerked when his phone
buzzed noisily in his pocket. “Shit!” he cursed,
grabbing the phone and jabbing at it angrily. Ian and Ben stopped
talking in the alley. They'd heard him.

“What?” Damien
barked into the phone. “You've got real bad timing, man.”

“Penelope's gone!”
Graham yelled into his ear.

“What?”

“I stopped by her
office and the place is a mess! Someone ransacked the whole office!
I can't find her. I followed her scent out to the back. Someone
took her, Damien!”

“Where are you now?”
Damien growled.

“In her office,”
Graham said. “I'm going to call the Sheriff...”

“No. Don't call
anyone, yet. Just...stay there. I think I can get some answers
right now.” Damien clicked off and walked straight into the
alley. It was a dead end so there was nowhere for Ian and Ben to go.
They pretended to be lounging aimlessly against the wall as Damien
stalked towards them.

Ben Doe might have changed
his hair and eye color, but he was still a puny little man. Ian
Renshaw was taller, but still a few inches shorter than Damien. He
was in jeans and had a cap pulled over his eyes. Damien walked right
up to him and yanked the cap off.

“Hey!” Ian
shouted. “What do you think...”

“What did you do to
Penelope?” Damien said, slamming him against the wall.

Ian coughed and choked, but
Damien only tightened his grip around his throat. Ben began to inch
away, hoping to make his escape but Damien grabbed him before he
could run and threw him to the ground.

Ben whimpered when Damien's
boot came down hard on his chest. “What the fuck did you do to
Penelope? Where is she now?” Damien roared.

Ian opened his mouth and
seemed to be trying to speak so Damien loosened his hold just a
little. “Who are you?” Ian sputtered. “You're
fucking crazy! I'll have you arrested...”

“You won't talk?”
Damien let his claws slice out. “Maybe you won't mind losing
an eye. Or maybe I should claw out your tongue, you fucking liar!”

Damien dragged his claws down
Ian's face and forced his mouth open. He pushed the tip of his claw
into the man's gums and watched his mouth fill with blood.

Damien made the bastard
swallow his own blood and grabbed him by the hair. “Tell me
where she is,” he snarled. “Last chance to speak. After
this, you won't be able to speak at all. I'll make you eat your own
tongue, you piece of shit.”

Ian covered his mouth with
his hand in terror. “I don't have her,” he said in a
rush. “Frank's men must have taken her away.”

“Frank?” Damien
shook him hard. “Who the hell is Frank? Why would Frank take
Penelope?”

“Because...of the
accounts.” Ian grimaced. “And the money.”

Damien grabbed Ian and Ben
and pushed his claws into their chins. “Don't fuck with me.”

“No, no, I'm telling
you the truth! Frank Fronzo would have sent his men to get her. I
let them know where to find her...”

“You got Ben to hide
something in her laptop,” Damien said slowly. “This is a
frame-up, isn't it?”

“I planned it
perfectly. She goes down, I go free!” Ian looked at Damien
and said earnestly, “Listen, I'll give you half the amount. I
don't know why you're poking your nose into Penelope's business but
let me tell you this. She ain't worth it. Take the money, man. One
million bucks! It's yours!”

“Shut up!” Damien
roared.

His phone started to buzz
again. Damien stared at the two men and saw that there was only one
thing to do. He banged their heads together and knocked them both
out at the same time. Dropping the two scumbags on the ground, he
fished his phone out of his pocket and answered the call.

It was his cousin, Reid.
“Where are you? Lunch break is over! You're supposed to be
back at the work site...” Reid scolded.

“Penelope's in
trouble.”

“What do you need?”
Reid said immediately.

“I need a ride.”
Damien nudged the two unconscious men with his boot and said, “I
have a delivery to make.”

His cousin didn't ask any
further questions. “Tell me where you are. I'll be there in
five minutes.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Damien glanced at his watch
as his cousin's car rounded the corner on squealing tires. Not bad.
Five minutes and forty-eight seconds.

Reid pulled his car to a
screeching halt as soon as he spotted Damien.

“Come on, we've got to
load the trash in your trunk,” Damien said as Reid ran towards
him.

“How many?” was
all Reid said.

“Two.”

Reid nodded and followed
Damien into the alley. Damien threw Ian over his shoulder and Reid
picked Ben up. They threw the two humans into the trunk and slammed
the lid.

“Where to?” Reid
asked, jumping into the driver's seat.

“Penelope's office.
Graham is waiting there.”

Reid stomped on the gas and
off they sped. Damien was out of the car once they neared Penelope's
office. He burst into the office and Graham whirled round to yell at
him, “What took you so long? I've been...”

Damien wasn't hearing a word
Graham said, even though the guy was hollering at the top of his
lungs. He looked around swiftly, trying to look for clues. His bear
rose and detected the lingering scent of three human males. His bear
growled as it latched on to Penelope's scent.

Damien stared at the files
and papers scattered all over the floor. Drawers and chairs had been
overturned and kicked aside. With a stab of rage and fear, Damien
followed Penelope's scent out the back door and his bear rammed
against his human skin, wanting out.

His bear could clearly sense
its mate's despair and panic, and it wanted to track her attackers
down and tear them from limb to limb.

“I tried calling her
but her phone is dead. Penelope doesn't have any enemies,”
Graham said. “Who would...”

“Her ex. Ian Renshaw.”

“What about him? I
never liked that guy,” Graham spat.

“He's the one who got
Penelope into this mess.”

“I'll kill him,”
Graham snarled. “Where is Penelope now?”

“My bear will find
her,” Damien answered. He didn't shift out of his human form
but he let his beast take over. His bear would be able to track down
its mate in the shortest time.

“Let's go!”
Graham and Damien ran back to the car where Reid was waiting
anxiously.

Reid followed Damien's
directions and drove at full speed towards their destination.

They arrived at an abandoned
warehouse at the edge of town within a few minutes. Graham's eyes
bulged when he saw what they had in the trunk.

“I'll finish him off,”
he growled, grabbing Ian by the throat. His claws slashed down but
Damien stopped him.

“We need them alive,
for now.”

Damien simply gestured for
Graham and Reid to carry the two human men out of the car and follow
him. His bear led them deep into the warehouse and through a door at
the back.

The door opened easily.
Three men stood facing them, guns drawn. Damien hadn't made any
effort to move silently. He wanted the men to know that they had
company.

One of the men had his hand
around Penelope's neck. The leader of the gang stepped forward. He
was the only one in a pristine white jacket.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Damien Ken,
and I've come for my mate. Let her go.” Damien jerked his
head at Penelope. “And who are you?”

“I'm John. And I'm
sorry to inform you that your mate has committed an unpardonable
offense against my boss. I can't let her go.” He raised his
gun to aim it at Damien's heart.

“She didn't do it,”
Damien said, stepping aside slowly. “Look, as a token of
goodwill, I've brought you a little something. I believe you're
looking for these men.”

Reid and Graham dumped the
two unconscious human males on the floor and kicked them forward.

“Ian Renshaw and
accomplice,” Damien announced with a flourish.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

Penelope stared at Damien in
amazement and relief. She was so happy to see him, and so amazed at
how calm he was. He even smiled and winked at her.

“Ian Renshaw,”
John said. “We've been looking for him.”