Scandal Exposed (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #4) by Nova Raines, Mira Bailee

I’m a classic Hollywood cliché: the messed up daughter of a tragic A-List couple. A legendary actress dies of an overdose. Her famous rock star husband fucks the town and drowns his sorrow in alcohol, coke, and strippers. The drugs eventually take him down the same way they destroyed his wife.
    Usually the story ends there, with a footnote about how the couple’s children ruined their own lives. Bad genes. Bad luck.
    There’s something satisfying about watching the lucky fall. It’s proof they’re no better than you and not worth envying. Or maybe it’s just like witnessing a car wreck and being glad it isn’t you.
    But… it is me. I’m that story. Except mine ends with a diamond heist and possibly real jail time.
    I just committed grand larceny to save my brother from the drug dealers my father did business with. If my dad wasn’t dead, I might kill him myself for putting us through this. My parents destroyed our family. Their choices fucked me up, and now their choices might end in my brother’s death. These thugs have kidnapped him and will do far worse if I don’t pay them what my dad owed.
    I’m speeding to my lawyer’s office, and the diamond is in my purse beside me. Since it’s a weekend, only a few people are working, and my lawyer’s not one of them. But the receptionist says I can schedule an emergency appointment with another lawyer in the firm. My dad put just one condition into his will: I had to get back the diamond he gave pop star Serena Lynn, and then I could have my inheritance. Now I need that money today .
    Everything has gone to total shit. I don’t understand what just happened back at the Stone mansion. One minute I’m certain I’m about to be arrested for grand larceny, and the next, the man I’m in love with is being taken in by the FBI for embezzlement.
    What the fuck is wrong with me? How did I miss it? I mean I knew something was up with Kaidan… all the phone calls, all the long hours at work. Thinking about him getting arrested nearly sends me into another panic attack, so I force the thoughts down.
    I can’t go there right now. I have to stay focused. I can only control one thing, and that’s getting the money to Luis and freeing my brother.
    That’s all that matters.
    The paps are out in full force, like usual, in front of the law firm. I don’t have any on my tail right now, and I’d like to keep it that way. So I continue driving past the main entrance and park a block behind the law office.
    The giant lump in my throat threatens to choke me as I grab my purse and sunglasses and get out of my Mercedes. Keeping my head low, I walk the street behind the office to sneak in through the back where the dumpster is.
    The gate swings open for me. The door’s locked, but I call the office and tell the secretary I‘m waiting at the back entrance. She looks just as stressed out as I am as she lets me in.
    I immediately get why. There are FBI agents in the hallway standing outside Kaidan’s office door. They look at me suspiciously as I pass them, and my palms grow damp on my purse.
    I’m hyperaware of the bulge in the side of it, the enormous gem hidden there. Oh my God, are they the same agents who just saw me at the mansion? No. No they couldn’t be here that fast. I just really need to get my money and get the hell out of here.
    The receptionist takes me to a different office than I usually go to, and I sink into the thickly upholstered chair and tap my foot impatiently, squeezing my purse tight in my hands.
    Then my heart seizes. What the hell am I doing? I can’t just hand over the diamond to someone who isn’t even my lawyer. And not with the FBI in the building.
    I get up to leave, but then the lawyer walks in. She’s a harried-looking, middle-aged woman who seems really annoyed that I’m bothering her today.
    She sits down in the chair across the desk from me and slides me some papers. “Good morning, Miss Wade. My name is Jillian. I’ll need you to sign