A Promise To Bear (Second Chance Shifters 4) by Meredith Clarke Read Free Book Online

grandmother had done this purposefully, but not so they wouldn’t sell the business but so they could be together. This felt like her blessing.
    “I mean, I offered to help. She just seemed so overwhelmed last spring. I think she had six weddings in only four weeks. It was crazy! She said that her regular accountant didn’t have a lot of time because they were working on the books with all the weddings and the caterers, and I just didn’t think about it. I just helped. But she never claimed any of this money. I wonder if she even knew it existed.”
    “Well, someone’s been messing around in her affairs, and we have to find out who it is. We can’t run this business with someone stealing from us,” said Twila.
    “You’re right,” Jasper said, looking exhausted. “But that’s going to take some digging, which takes time. This person will reveal themselves, I’m sure of it. They’re bound to slip up now, especially with the ownership change.”
    Lauren shook her head. “I disagree. I think that they’ll just take the money and run. They can’t think that they’re going to continue this now that the two of you are here.”
    Twila sucked on her lower lip for a moment. “Do you think they’re actually here? Like on the premises? Or a citizen of Bear Lake? If I was this person, I would’ve set all this up and ran for it years ago. I mean, this is an offshore bank account, right? They could be anywhere!”
    Lauren nodded. “Then the first thing we need to do is to get this bank account shut down. I think you need to notify the authorities of what’s going on, and we need to freeze all of your grandmother’s assets until we figure this out.”
    Twila put her finger up. “Wait, doesn’t that mean we’ll have no money to run this business? I don’t have anything in savings to take care of a business this big. I don’t even think I could carry the salary requirements for a day.”
    Lauren sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Twila. I think that’s our only option right now. If you continue to use some of these funds, who knows what kind of trouble we could get wrapped up in. I’m so sorry. I’ll call one of the local cops I know. Just don’t touch anything until they get here. We’ll figure this out as quickly as possible. But I’m afraid you might have to close down until we can get this sorted.”
    Twila’s heart sunk in her chest. She had just accepted that she would be the new owner of the Bear Lake Lodge, and now, she was stuck picking up the pieces of what had become a broken business. This certainly was not honoring her grandmother’s memory. If anything, it was diminishing it. Lauren left the room, and Twila sat down at her grandmother’s chair while Jasper rubbed her back softly.
    “We’ll get this figured out, Twila, don’t worry. I’m sure it’s all just a big misunderstanding.”
    “Somehow, I don’t think that it is.”

9
    Twila
    T wila continued to shuffle through some papers that were left in the office while Lauren was making a call. Jasper stood clutching his own phone, looking through text messages.
    “Can you handle this? I mean on your own?”
    Twila looked at him, confused. “There’s not really anything to handle until the police get here. Why, what’s going on?”
    “I know Ranger Mills said that she wouldn’t have service, but she usually texts me right before she gets to what we call the point of no return. It’s very close to the other clan and where you lose signal. But she hasn’t sent me anything. I just feel like I need to go check on her. In case something has happened. I also want to check in on Liam, see if he knows anything.”
    “Who’s that?”
    “Another shifter, a friend that lives near the lake. I don’t know, something’s not right.”
    “What would happen to her? You said yourself that some shifters are completely crazy, like the one who killed my parents, and you said that others are totally normal. Do you think something is going on with