Antonio and Ethan followed John into the elevator and up to the top floor. The only way to get onto the top floor was with the use of a security access card, which had Antonio and Ethan both liking the idea.

They were then shown into the two rooms available. "I have a question," Antonio asked, amazed at what he was seeing. "You said these were recently updated, I'm curious as to what made them remodel the hotel while it was for sale?"

"Well, they had it on the market for quite some time and everyone who was interested in the hotel didn't want to spend the money updating. So, the owners decided to remodel. Then, they reason raised the price of the hotel, which turned to potential buyers away. By the looks of how surprised you two are, they never mentioned to you about the remodel."

Ethan shook his head. "No, they never mentioned any of it to me."

"We will take the two rooms," Antonio responded quickly.

"Perfect, if you'll come with me, I'll get everything set up. I'll also inform Dave and Diane that you're here."

They got checked into their rooms, inspected the rooms they were staying in, then went walking around, checking the place out. Feeling they've seen enough for now, they headed back to their rooms. Ethan sat on his bed thinking about the hotel and the discussions he had with the owners, with nothing adding up, he headed over to Antonio's room. A wicked grin formed on his face as he held his hand up to the door and started pounding on the door, pounding until Antonio opened the door and smiled like the Cheshire cat after seeing Antonio's expression.

"Damn it Ethan, did you seriously have to pound on the door like that? It sounded like you were the damn police."

"Why, has that ever happened to you?" Ethan smirked.

"No, but usually when someone knocks like that, it's usually something bad."

Ethan chuckled. "Sorry, couldn't help myself."

"What did you need, Ethan."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about the situation. "I came over to say, I find it odd Diane never mentioned a remodel, you would think being they were selling it would have come up in at least one of our conversations... almost makes me wonder if there was a fire or something."

"Could have been, I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

"We have nothing else going on tonight, maybe we should double check everything before making the final decision."

"I agree, let's go."

They walked around each floor, inspecting the floors, walls, outlets and lighting, then went down and checked out the dining room and bar. When they walked inside the dining room, it was dark with just the right amount of lighting, looked fancy and to their taste, then checked out the menus, curious to see what they offered. "Seems alright," Ethan said.

"I think so too... why don't we go get ourselves a cab and rent a car. It would be nice to see what Houston's like and get a feel of what's around the hotel."

"We should have done this from the start." Ethan chuckled.

"I know, I wasn't thinking."

Ethan drove while Antonio looked on his phone, searching local news about any fires that may have happened at the hotel recently. His body leaned to the side and looked up to see what Ethan was doing and saw him pulling into McTasty's drive thru. "What the hell are we doing here?"

"I'm hungry..."

"McTasty's? You realize how terrible that shit is for you, right?"

"Fine, I'll just order for me then, I don't have a problem eating it," he laughed. "Just keep on doing what you're doing and don't be worrying about what I'm doing."

Ethan pulled up to the drive thru and looked at the menu. "Welcome to McTastys, may I take your order?"

"Yes, I'd like a McWiener, supersized please..."

"I'm sorry, a what?" she asked, giggling.

"A McWiener..." he said slower and looked over at Antonio, chuckling while pointing to the speaker. "You do sell those here, don't you?" he asked, looking back to the intercom with a grin.

Antonio slouched down in his seat, shaking his head. "You're unbelievable..." He wasn't surprised by Ethan one bit, but couldn't believe what he asked for. He chuckled anyway and cupped the side of his face, not wanting to be seen when they pull up to the window.

"I'm sorry, we don't sell that here," she giggled again.

"Fine, I'll just take a double cheeseburger meal, with all the fixings, a coke and yes, supersize it please... it'll match my McWeiner," he added quietly.

"Holy crap, are you hungry? Supersize?"

"I'm starving. Just think, I almost ordered the triple cheeseburger," he chuckled.

Ethan pulled up to the window and couldn't help but laugh when he saw the young girl waiting to take his money, Antonio continued covering his face, looking the other way, not wanting any part in Ethan's shenanigans.

"You really should sell hotdogs here." Ethan chuckled, as he handed her money.

"I have to tell you, that was pretty freaking funny, it made me laugh... I needed that," she said while taking his money. Ethan looked at Antonio and chuckled. "See, at least someone here thinks I'm funny."

"Get your food and let's get out of here."

Ethan grabbed his food and parked to switch spots with Antonio. They drove around Houston for a bit, then took a drive over to the ocean. "I wish Harlow could've come with; she would have liked this." Antonio sighed, missing her already.

"I'm sure she would have; she's probably pissed at me right now... which is nothing new, I've been used to her being pissed at me my whole life," Ethan chuckled.

"She's not mad... I'm sure she's keeping herself busy and hanging out with your mom or Gemma."

"Gemma," Ethan said with a smile. "I wish that girl would quit turning me down, she doesn't know a good man when she sees one."

"You try too hard... plus she's your sister's best friend, which usually is a big no no when it comes to dating a friends sibling."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Later that night, Antonio called Harlow wanting to hear her voice. He was still feeling guilty to having to leave her for a couple days after coming home from their honeymoon. Talking until she needed to get some sleep. After hanging up, he and Ethan headed down to the bar, curious to see what kind of business the bar brought in.

For a hotel bar, they were quite surprised as to how busy it was and was informed by the bartender that it was busy like that nearly every night and how it was more like a nightclub at night, with DJs or bands on the weekends. The bartender went on explaining how the during the week, each night was a different theme, line dancing, karaoke, ladies night, even guys night. "My kind of place." Ethan said. The bartender had no clue who the two were and was very polite and informative, impressing Ethan and Antonio.

The next morning, Antonio and Ethan met with Dave and Diane inside the conference room, talking about the hotel and signing all the necessary paperwork. "We're so happy you guys bought the place; you'll be very happy with your purchase."

"I do have a question." Ethan said.

"Sure." Diane said.

"Why didn't you inform me about the remodel, or send us any updated photos? All I was given was before the remodel."

Diane looked at Dave for a minute, then back to Ethan and Antonio. "We were looking for the right buyers. We purposely had it priced high for a reason. Everyone who came to look at the place, gave us bad vibes, which had us not trusting them with it, then there were some we just didn't like their way of thinking on how they would run the business. Which is one of the main reasons why it was on the market for so long. Then there was a fire we believe was intentionally set. We couldn't prove it, but we're pretty sure it was since the fire marshal couldn't find any problems that could have caused the fire."

"I knew it..." Ethan said.

"After speaking with Ethan, there was something about him we liked, the way he spoke to us, the way he wanted to do business and the way he made us laugh. He's what got us interested in selling it to you. When he first made us the offer, it wasn't exactly what we were looking for, but since he was set on buying it without coming to see it, we felt it would be a huge surprise to you both, and decided to keep it hushed until you arrived to sign the papers."

"You didn't have to accept Ethan's offer."

"We know we didn't have to, but we just wanted to get it off our hands. As for the employees we employ, they're all wonderful and probably the best we've ever had and are a little worried about them losing their jobs."

Antonio and Ethan looked at each other, liking what they're hearing, but were still curious about the fire and wanting to know more about what happened and if there's any other damage that needs to be addressed. Dave and Diane handed them another file, showing pictures of what was damaged and the before and after remodel. "You're more than welcome to hire someone to inspect the hotel." Dave said. "But here is the paperwork from the inspectors giving it a go ahead. It was something that needed to be done before we re-opened the place anyway," he said, handing them the papers.

"As for the employees, I would like to have a talk with each one of them. With us being in Montana, I want to make sure the employees understand where we're coming from and what is to be expected." Ethan started to explain. "I will say, after dealing with a few already, so far, I would like to keep them... but I do have a question about who is doing all of your banking, the deposits and all that kind of good stuff."

"That would be John, he has full control of that. Why do you ask?" Dave asked.

Antonio explained what he discovered and showed the numbers he came up with, shocking the couple. "I had no clue, but I'll admit, there were times I questioned about the money, thinking it didn't look right." Dave said.

"We questioned him on a couple different occasions after we thought something looked suspicious. He assured us, the numbers were always right." Diane said, sounding heartbroken. "We trusted him. We've known him since he was a little kid," she sighed heavily.

"I'm guessing maybe that's why he did what he did, he knew you trusted him a little too much and knew he could get away with it." Antonio said, feeling bad for them. He looked at Diane and wanted to do something for them, even though it wasn't his problem, but pulled out his checkbook anyway, writing them a check.

"I'm going to give you a gift, please, do accept this, it would make me feel better," Antonio said, sliding the check across the table to Diane.

She looked at the check and gasped as she covered her mouth. "One million dollars?" she whispered, showing the check to Dave. He took the check out of her hand and slid it back over to Antonio.

"We can't accept this, that's way too much."

Antonio placed his hand on the check and slid it back over to them. "Please, it's a gift from me to you. The way I see it, you were taken advantage of and I'm sure, the renovations cost way more than what this check is for. Ethan's offer you accepted was too low for what you have done with the place. I know you're worried about the employees losing their jobs, but honestly, I don't see us getting rid of them, unless-."

Ethan raised his finger, stopping Antonio from speaking. "I'd like to say something."

"Sure."

"All I'm going to say is, I'd like to fire John, and place someone else in his position."

Dave and Diane looked at each other, both happy and shocked with Antonio's gift, but hesitant about firing John. "Are you even sure that it's him whose been stealing? It could be anyone."

Ethan leaned forward, tapping his pencil on the table, looking at what's being shown in black and white. "He would be the most obvious, since he's in control of all the finances. We will be here until Sunday; we can do one of two things. We can hire someone to place some hidden cameras around the office and see what he is up to, or, we come right out and ask him, with having all the evidence lying out in front of us."

Antonio looked at Dave and Diane and folded his hands together. "I say we bring him in here, cameras might not do us any good."

Diane called John, asking him to come in and to meet them in the conference room. While waiting for him to arrive, they looked over the paperwork once again, comparing the numbers to the deposits. The longer Diane looked, the more her heart was breaking and started feeling sick to her stomach.

Antonio felt bad Dave and Diane had to find out this way, but if they were going to be taking over the hotel, especially in another state, he wanted to make sure he had the best and most trustworthy employees possible.

John entered the conference room, smiling and shaking everyone's hand, unaware of what was coming to him. Diane's heart was pounding as she looked at John when he sat down next to her, hoping what's about to be said isn't true.

"So, what's going on? Am I getting a raise?" he asked, folding his hands as he looked at everyone with a smile. Ethan leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and looked at Antonio, wondering who was going to speak first.

"The reason why you're here is, we have something we would like to discuss with you," Dave started to say then paused as he wiped his forehead. His heart racing as he looked at John, nervous to what he has to say. He had always looked at him as if he were his own child and now, he was about to accuse him of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly millions from he and Diane.

Antonio slid John the paperwork he had photocopied earlier, curious to see his reaction. "What's this?" John asked, picking up the papers and scanning through them.

Antonio's eyes remained glued to John, studying him while he looked through the papers. His instincts were becoming true after he noticed John's Adam apple slowly bob up and down and how he started adjusting his tie with a nervous look with sweat beads starting to form on his forehead.

"I'm not understanding what this is."

Antonio stood and walked around the table, stopping once he got behind John and leaned over the side of him, pointing to what was highlighted. "Do you happen to see what's wrong here? Look at the numbers and dates. I'm curious as to why nothing matches."

John started to stutter as he tried to speak and the little beads of sweat, he had on his forehead, was now becoming more visible. John saw the look Ethan was giving him, then looked to his side and saw the looks he was being givin by Dave and Diane. He knew he was busted and placed his elbows on the table, and rested his head in his hands, then took a deep breath before admitting to stealing the money and to starting the fire after Ethan questioned him about it.

"Why? Why would you do that?" Diane cried.

"I'm sorry..." he said remorsefully as is head hung low, refusing to look at either one of them.

Diane stood. "Excuse me a moment, I'm about to be sick," she said before leaving the room in a hurry.

Dave asked John for his keys and to hand over his badge. Not long after, the police arrived. After Diane left the room, she called the police, explained the situation and asked for them to arrest John. "You're being arrested for arson and embezzlement," the officer said as he slapped the handcuffs on around his wrists.

Ethan walked back into the room with Diane at his side and sat down, waiting to give their statements to the police. "One thing you'll like to hear is, Antonio is also a lawyer," Ethan said, trying to send good vibes to the heartbroken couple.

"I can help you the best I can, to give you the best advice and to point you in the right direction. But I can't represent you since I'm not licensed in Texas," Antonio said, placing his hand over Diane's hand, assuring her everything will be okay.

"Thank you."

Hours later after everything calmed down and Dave and Diane left for the day, Ethan and Antonio went down to the bar, both ordering double bourbons. "Oh, lucky us. It's line dancing night," Ethan said excitedly as he watched the ladies walk in.

"You know how to line dance?"

"I do! I take it you don't?"

"No," Antonio chuckled, slamming his shot. "I'm Italian, remember?"

"I should teach you, it's quite fun."

"I'll just sit right here and watch, you can go make a fool out of yourself."

"You have no idea what you're missing."

As the night went on, both were feeling the effects of the alcohol. Ethan couldn't sit at the bar anymore and went out to the dance floor. He stood in between a couple ladies, said a few words, then began dancing with them. Antonio watched and couldn't stop laughing at Ethan making a fool of himself who was tripping over his own two feet.

After the song was done, Ethan walked over to Antonio, sweating.

"I thought you said you knew how to line dance, from what I saw you looked like a drunken fool trying to learn how to dance."

"It's been a while; besides it was a new dance that I hadn't learned yet. On a good note, I did get a phone number," he said, flashing a napkin with the girl's name and number on it.

Antonio shook his head and smiled while rolling his eyes. "I don't know about you... but it's getting late and has been a long day, I think I'm going to go get some sleep."

"I think I'm going to stay here for a bit and see if I can get my dancing skills to where they used to be."

"Have fun and behave yourself."

Ethan laughed.

Antonio left and went back up to his room to get some sleep hoping Ethan will behave himself.

Later in the night, Antonio awoke to his phone ringing and rolled over to look at the time. "What the fuck, it's three in the morning..." he groaned. "Unknown number... that's just great," he groaned again after looking at the caller ID. At first, he wasn't going to answer it, but remembered where he left Ethan and thought if he didn't answer, whoever was calling would call back, so, he answered it. "Hello," he answered hesitantly and tiredly. He quickly sat up and raked his hand through his hair. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." he said raising his voice.

He hung up the phone and quickly got dressed while cussing up a storm. He opened the door while looking back, making sure he didn't leave his security access card by the TV, and as he took a step out, he felt like he ran into a wall. He turned around and growled while feeling his face heat up.

"Ha-ha, gotcha ya!" Ethan drunkenly laughed.

🤞🤞Hope the chapter was OK, and you enjoyed it. Kind of a mellow hapter.😉😉

Let me know what you think.😊😊