The Billionaire's Revenge (The Blank Check #6) - Jeannette Winter Page 0,49

beneath the sheets and said, “I know a great workout routine for burning those calories.” Jordan pulled her close and kissed her.

There might be a lot on his mind, but at the moment, the only thing that mattered to him was Gianna. And as long as they were together, they could deal with whatever tomorrow brought their way.

11

The continuous knocking on her door was driving Gianna crazy. She was trying to get ready for work. Jordan would’ve rung her cell phone if he’d forgotten something and Dolores had given up on Gianna joining her for a morning run.

She reached behind her and pulled the zipper up on her dress and headed to answer the door. If it was a salesperson, they were going to get a piece of her mind. Gianna almost opened the door, but then stopped and looked out the peephole. Mary-Lou?

Gianna quickly released the locks and opened the door. Mary-Lou rushed in, her eyes puffy and red.

“What’s the matter? What happened?” Gianna asked. She couldn’t ever recall her friend crying before.

“I lost my job,” she blurted.

Getting fired was serious, but not the end of the world. Mary-Lou would find another job. There had to be more to it than that. “Come on. Let’s sit down and you can tell me all about it.”

Once seated Mary-Lou said, “I was accused of stealing. I’ve never taken anything that didn’t belong to me.”

“You’ve been at The Beaver’s Tale since you got out of high school. How can they believe you’d do such a thing now?” she asked.

“It’s not just them. I’ve been charged with theft. I’m… I might…go to jail,” Mary-Lou said and began sobbing. “I didn’t…do…it.”

Arrested? Jail? Obviously this wasn’t like taking twenty bucks out of a cash register. “Mary-Lou, what did they say you did?”

“I started getting things delivered to my apartment over the past week. Things I never ordered. Each one said gift receipt but no information on who ordered it. I figured I had a secret admirer.”

“And do you?” Gianna asked.

Mary-Lou shook her head. “If so, the only thing he wants to do is ruin my life.”

“So by accepting these deliveries, it’s considered stealing?” Gianna was confused, because how do you get blamed for being a recipient?

“Because they were all sent to me using stolen credit card numbers. And guess where all those credit cards were used?”

The Beaver Tale.

“Oh, that’s not good. Okay. So…” She wasn’t a criminal lawyer or an investigator of any kind. Gianna had no idea what to tell her friend. Telling her it’d be alright was going to give her false hope instead of help. “Mary-Lou, do you trust me?”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here, Gianna. I would’ve called but right now, I don’t even want to use my phone for anything because I have no idea who is doing this and why.”

Neither do I.

“I know you must be so scared. I don’t blame you. This is horrible. But I know someone who might be able to help. I’m not positive, it might be worth making a call. Do you mind?” she asked.

“You’re not talking about Jordan, are you? Because from everything you told me, he’s a great guy, but he’s a businessman, not a detective.”

“No. Not Jordan. Let me get his business card.” She went into her room and searched for the card Sal had given her. He had said she could call any time. Gianna knew he had meant regarding Marvin, but it was worth seeing if he could at least point her in the right direction.

She couldn’t find it anywhere, and then remembered she’d left it on her desk at work. Gianna had never told Jordan she knew about Sal watching Marvin. Marvin was the one topic they both avoided speaking about. How was she going to get Sal’s number without leaving Mary-Lou here alone, broken? Although she could call Jordan and just ask him for Sal’s number, there was no way she could do that and not explain why. She trusted Jordan, but this wasn’t about her. She wasn’t about to share it with anyone without Mary-Lou’s permission.

Think Gianna. Think hard.

What did she know about Sal besides he was helping Jordan? It was such a brief meeting, so she didn’t have much to go on. Gianna closed her eyes and thought back to when they had met. Sal got Marvin to leave. Then they talked briefly about why he was there. And after that she…

Mama’s Place. Salvatore Marciano. That was all she needed. At least if she