The Don's Trust

Chapter 22

Six full hours had passed by since Valentina arrived at Lilly's house. The two girls planned on learning together for their test. In the end, they got distracted and ended up in front of the tv.

"This is already the third commercial!'' Lilly exclaimed.

"It's the fourth,'' Valentina sighed heavily.

Lilly tilted her head and looked at Luke who was making a phone call in the garden, "Where is the other one? You have two bodyguards, right?''

Valentina quickly glanced at Luke before she looked at Lilly again, "Kevin is sick. Why?'''

"Just wondering,'' She shrugged and looked elsewhere.

Valentina narrowed her eyes as a playful smile formed on her face. She didn't miss to notice the blush on her friend's face. It was barely visible but Valentina still saw it.

"You like him?''

"Who?'' Lilly tried to be oblivious.

"Kevin,'' Valentina giggled when she saw Lilly's reaction.

Even though Lilly was glaring at her, she was also trying to keep herself from smiling. The girl was head over heels for the man. She couldn't stop herself from getting a crush on the humorous brunet.

Valentina heard the sound of a door being slammed shut and averted her eyes from Lilly to a man in his fifties walking into the living room. She assumed the dirty blonde haired man was Lilly's father, so she stretched her legs and shook his hand as she introduced herself to him.

"Ah, Lilly talked about you. It's nice to see she made some friends,'' Finn said.

"Dad!'' Lilly said in a high-pitched voice, "Stop embarrassing me!'' She added in a lower voice.

"Okay, okay! Calm down. I'll go away,'' Finn put his hand in front of him while backing out and went to the garage.

Valentina dropped herself on the couch again and focussed her attention on the television screen. The commercial break was over and the talk show showed again. Five minutes had gone by and Finn came into the living room to use the stairs to get to the second floor.

Lilly scrunched her eyebrows together. Lately, her father went in and out of the garage at any given moment. Her father's behaviour sparked suspicion in Lilly. Especially since her father almost never used the car. She wondered what kind of business he had to do there.

When Valentina asked what was wrong, she got to hearthatLilly was suspicious. Valentina found herself thinkingthat Lilly was someone who easily got sceptical about other people's actions.

"Come with me. I want to check it out,'' Lilly stood up, "Please?'' She pouted at Valentina.

Instead of staying behind, Valentina decided to go along with her. She trailed after Lilly and entered the garage of the house. The place was a lot less chaotic than Valentina expected it to be. It was Finn who always kept the garage neat and tidy.

Valentina's eyes roamed around in the room and settled themselves on the washing machine in the corner. She proceeded to come closer to the machine and crouched. It was the broken washing machine Lilly talked about the other day.

"You use your washing machine as a storage space?'' Valentina said with a raised eyebrow on her face.

"No,'' Lilly said while looking through the windows of her father's car.

"Are you sure? Because there is clearly something in it,''

Lilly went over to Valentina and got in the same crouching position as her. Feeling confused and curious, Lilly opened it and latched her hand on the duffel bag. When the bag was too heavy, Lilly used both of her arms to lift it out of the broken washing machine. She dropped the black bag on the concrete floor and quickly zipped it open. She was eager to find out what she would find in it.

"Cash,'' Valentina held a stack of hundred dollar bills in her hand, "And there is a lot of it.'' She handed it over to Lilly.

Now, it was Valentina who was suspicious of Finn and Lilly was only left with confusion. She watched as her friend checked if all the bills were hundreds. They were.

Valentina jumped when she heard the garage door being opened. She turned her body around and was greeted with a shocked and angry Finn. It was clear he wasn't pleased to see the two girls rummaging through the loaded duffel bag. Valentina internally panicked for getting caught. He took long strides and snatched the stack of hundred dollar bills out of his daughter's hand.

"You two, out now!''

Valentina and Lilly listened and left the garage. Not much later, Finn joined them in the living room. Valentina carefully watched as he rubbed his hands together and sat on the other couch. While Valentina was expecting a scolding, she and Lilly got an explanation from Finn. He explained that he inherited the money from earlier from his late parents.

"I don't want you two talk about this with anyone. Not a single word. Understand?''

Valentina answered with a yes and Lilly made a zipping motion with her mouth. Not wanting to stay at her house anymore, Valentina said her goodbyes and left with Luke. Valentina had become more than a little sceptical of Finn.

Inheritance money, Valentina sighed and leaned her head against the car seat. Why would he risk having all of that money in his house if he could put in on his bank account? It would make more sense than having a bag like that hanging around in your house. Why didn't Finn's late parents just put their money on their son's bank account?

"Are you feeling well, Miss Armani?'' Luke had a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine,'' She forced a small smile.

''You looked like you were deep in thought, Miss Armani.'' He stated.

"I was just thinking about school. So, really, I'm fine.'' Valentina stared out the car window and a train of thoughts started again.

Or maybe his inheritance were valuable items and he sold them? It wouldn't have made sense if Finn sold them to get money off of it. Unless he doesn't care about the emotional value of his late parent's items. Nothing is adding up.

Valentina wasn't over-thinking the situation. On the contrary, she was on the right path. Finn was feeding Valentina and Lilly a lie. It was a quick lie he made up on the spot. He didn't want Valentina, an outsider, to know where the money came from.

When Valentina left their house, Finn told his daughter what the money was and where it came from. He told his daughter the truth, hoping she would understand the sticky situation her father was in.