by Riley Storm
He fell silent, scratching his chin thoughtfully. She watched him for a few moments, noting that when he wasn’t furious, he was actually fairly easy on the eyes. But his anger twisted his features up into something unpleasant to look at.
I wonder what his smile is like?
Catching herself, she started thinking about something else. Anything else. She was not going to go down this path with Kincaid, evaluating his looks. He was the enemy.
“Go home,” he said abruptly.
“What?”
“Go home. I’ll be in touch.”
He got up swiftly and was out of the room before she could say another word, the door slowly closing behind him.
“Well, that was fucking weird,” she muttered, getting up and doing as she’d been told.
Anything to get the hell out of this place. It gives me the creeps.
6
The sleek electric vehicle pulled into the parking lot with barely a rumble.
He regarded the white car with interest as he lounged against the building, his thick skin warding off the chill of winter, though all he wore was a tight navy-blue sweater and black jeans with gold stitching. The cold didn’t affect him. Never had. Part of it was being a shifter, but even amongst them, he felt it less than most. Perks of his lineage.
Through the window, he could see Haley looking at him. Probably deciding whether or not she’s going to get out of her car now I’m here. Kincaid put the odds at fifty-fifty.
He’d been at her place of work for nearly an hour, waiting for her to show up. Turned out she didn’t start all that early and he’d made the trip for nothing, wasting some of his day, and more of the precious little time his Queen had given him. Not that he blamed her. Word would get out sooner or later, and she would be forced to call him in for questioning, at a minimum.
“What do you want?”
She was out of the car now, the door still open. The small parking lot was right up tight against the building, leaving only twenty feet or so between the two.
“What do you think?” he said, asking the rhetorical question, then answering it himself. “I’m here to clear my damn name, and you’re going to help me like Kaelyn ordered you to.”
Haley shook her head. “I’m not some sort of servant. Nobody orders me around, got it?”
He dipped his head in her direction, acknowledging the truth of that. “Bad wording.”
But you’re going to help me anyway, or she’s going to fire your ass. You know it. I know it. Now stop being an obstinate bitch.
That was what he let his face tell her despite what he’d said.
Haley’s thin eyebrows came together over her eyes as she shot a look back at him. It said the same thing, except she used some other words to describe him, ones that weren’t very polite. It was clear Haley didn’t believe a word he was saying.
That was what fired him up more than anything, and why he’d sent her home the day before. Kincaid wanted her to believe him, to know that he was innocent. It bothered him that she wouldn’t, and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he cared. She was the one who had accused him in the first place, without even asking him about it.
Bitch.
“I’m not a traitor to my House,” he called, breaking the silence that had been lingering on between the two of them.
“You people are so weird,” she said, sounding exasperated. “You work at a company. Why do you talk about it like that? House. Queen. Traitor. She’s the President, you’re an employee. You stole from the company. I don’t know why she’s letting you look into it, but we should be getting the police. They handle these things. Not accountants.”
As much as she might not want to be there, Kincaid couldn’t help but admire her fire. She fought to obey the rules with as much strength as most did to break them. It was…odd, but respectable at the same time.
“Maybe,” he said. “But the police aren’t going to be involved. So why don’t we go inside so you can stop shivering, and you can give me the information I want. You know, work with me, like you’re supposed to be doing.”
“Are you alone?”
He blinked. That wasn’t the response he’d expected. Why would she be asking that? Who else would he bring? It wasn’t like Kaelyn was going to be accompanying them or anything. The Queen had assigned them to work together to figure things out, and that was what he was doing. Why was she…
Suddenly, he got it. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he growled, insulted. “You’re safe with me.” He didn’t want her scared of him, but that’s exactly what she was, he realized, looking at the situation from her side.
He’d been waiting for her outside of her work, where she was alone, by herself. Little tiny five-foot-four Haley, and him. She didn’t strike him as being particularly weak, but obviously, there was no contest between the two of them if it came down to it. Kincaid felt guilty.
“I promise,” he added, spreading his hands. “I’m sorry for waiting for you like this. I wasn’t really thinking about how it would appear from your point of view.”
Haley chewed on his words. “That’s not a surprise. Though this time, I think I do believe you. And that is one.”
Kincaid rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else. Haley had closed the door and was grabbing her bag from the back. The last thing he wanted to do was to say something that would damage the fragile truce between them. He needed her to work with him. For now, at least.
“Why didn’t you call me?” she asked, unlocking the door and walking inside without waiting for him. She punched in a code to disable the alarm and then they went to the elevator, where she punched the button for the top floor.
“I don’t have it.” He smiled, mostly to himself. “You’re not the only one who had no idea who the other was before yesterday, you know.”
Haley had the good grace to look sheepish, but that was the end of it.
“What more do you want from me?” she asked as they emerged into the offices for her company.
“I want the name.”
“What?”
“Of the company or person that deposited the money into my account. The name. You can look that much up, right?”
“I suppose,” she said. “What good will that do?”
He frowned. Clearly, she wasn’t very good at the whole espionage thing. “It gives me a place to start looking. To find out who was involved. To see why they might have done this. Anything, really.”
She nodded. “Okay. Hold on a moment then.”
He followed her into a private office and took a seat without being invited. Haley shot him a glare but didn’t say anything. The look had said enough. She didn’t like that he was in her personal space, in her sanctuary.
Well, too bad. You shouldn’t have come into mine and called me a traitor to my own House.
Tapping fingers against the back of his head as she started working on her computer, he looked around the office. It was nice, but…plain. The wood finishes on the wall were all high quality, dark stained and richly colored. Same with her desk, which was large, but not so huge that it gave off the impression she was trying to compensate or look aloof from the rest of her employees. A single bookshelf stood against the wall, to the left. It was packed with books.
The desk itself was clean, devoid of just about anything. A stapler, pen holder, calculator, and a mailbox tray were all that adorned it besides her monitor. No pictures, no personal belongings or knick-knacks of any sort. It was so sterile and impersonal, he felt awkward even being there like he didn’t belong in the office.
“Did you recently move into the building?” he asked casually. Maybe she hadn’t had time to unpack any of her belongings.
“No, we’ve been here the better part of twenty years, since my predecessor moved us here. Now let me work.”
He rolled his eyes and lounged back, crossing one foot up onto his knee casually. He could see her mouth tighten, flattening into a line as he gave his best fake relaxed sigh to go along
with it. Burying his grin, he looked away. Egging her on was just too easy sometimes.
“Okay, I have the name. But it’s probably nothing,” she said, sitting back. “Just a shell company. You guys have hundreds of them, you know. It’s a nightmare to look after.”
“Uh uh,” he said, standing up to come around to the other side.
“What are you doing?”
“Reading the name?” He made it sound like she should feel silly for asking something like that.
“I can tell you it, you don’t need to come hover over my shoulder,” she said coolly, but he ignored it. This way was more fun.
“I know.” His eyes found the line on the screen, reading the word aloud. “Granted Holding Company. I know that name,” he said thoughtfully. “You must have a list of known corporations operated by House Canis, right?”
Haley eyed him. “I do. Though why I’m supposed to watch out for things by your rivals still doesn’t make sense.”
“Just check it,” he said, though he knew he was right.
She did so. “Granted Holding Company. Associated with one Laurent Canis. Whoever that is.”
Kincaid was silent. He knew exactly who Laurent Canis was. He was the bloody Reaver of House Canis. Their businessman, he oversaw all the business interests of House Canis. Wasn’t that just an interesting coincidence?
Kincaid needed to know more before he brought it to his Queen. Right now, it would just make it look like he was a traitor, working with the wolves. He needed proof he’d been framed by them.
“Here, can I just…” He bumped her chair aside with his hip, tapping on the computer even as Haley sputtered and tried to recover her composure as he calmly took control of her device.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for them. And what do you know,” he said. “They have an office here in Plymouth Falls. How convenient.”
He stood up and walked around the edge of the desk, heading for the door.
“Where are you going?”
Kincaid looked at her over his shoulder, pulling open the door. He held it open with his foot, now facing back into the office. “To pay them a visit of course.”
“What for? Anything they did would have happened at a bank.”
This time, he couldn’t stop the grin. She was so clueless as to the world he lived in that it was almost adorable. Almost, if it wasn’t for the fact she had fingered him as a traitor.
“To see what can be seen. To get a clue as to who really runs it, and why they had ten million dollars they could just drop into my account. Someone put me up to this Haley, and I intend to find out who. This is about more than just bank accounts and money transfers. Someone is out to get me, understand?”
“This isn’t some sort of spy movie,” she said, standing firm.
“No, it’s not, but it’s not a game either. It wasn’t bank error in my favor, collect ten million dollars. Understand?”
“I guess.”
He nodded. “Now, are you coming with me or not?”
7
She stared at the door.
Go with him? To do what? What did he want her to do? For that matter, what was he going to do?
“Shit.” She got up and hurried after him, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack next to her door. The Queen had charged her with working with him, and she wasn’t about to let him go on her own.
“So, you are coming,” he said, holding the elevator door as she hurried inside, well aware that this was quite possibly the stupidest thing she’d ever done.
She was about to go get into a car with someone who hated her, and who was very likely trying to sabotage his own company. He was basically an enemy of her client, a client that had told her to work with him if she wanted to keep her job.
It was like being caught between a rock and a hard place. Haley didn’t want to go, but she wasn’t about to let him head off on his own. That would give him far too much freedom to come up with whatever sort of evidence he wanted. No, Haley had to go.
If there was proof to be found, evidence of any kind, she needed to make sure it was handled properly. If he was innocent and it showed that, she needed to verify it. But if they found something that proved him guilty, she needed to be there to ensure he didn’t destroy it, not until she could tell the Queen.
“Why bring me along?” she asked, getting into the SUV he indicated. There was no way in hell they were taking her car.
“Isn’t the answer to that a little obvious?” Kincaid’s attention was on the road as he guided them out of the parking lot and headed for the south end of town.
“I’m not really in the habit of asking questions that have obvious answers,” she said tartly. “Not on purpose.”
Kincaid’s shoulders slumped just a little. “I want a witness around. At all times.”
“Why?” This wasn’t going the way she’d expected.
What did you expect?
Haley thought it over and realized she didn’t have the slightest clue what she’d been expecting him to say. Maybe that he’d made the offer without thinking she would accept? That perhaps he’d assumed she would be tied to her desk and unwilling to go for a drive?
Probably because that would have been the smart thing to do.
“I know you might find this hard to believe,” Kincaid said, speaking slowly like he was rehearsing the words before saying them out loud. “But I actually, really do love, uh, working there. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. I’m not particularly keen on losing it, considering that I didn’t do anything wrong. Especially not stealing ten million dollars. I’m out here to prove that, and right now, nobody is going to believe my word. But someone who hates me, who found the evidence in the first place? If they say I’m innocent, well…”
“I don’t hate you,” she said automatically, but even as the words filled the cabin, she had to wonder if they were true. Not too long ago, her thoughts had been filled with an awful lot of mean things, most of them having to do with Kincaid.
“I’m not lying to you,” he replied, staring straight ahead. “I’d appreciate the same courtesy.”
Haley fell quiet, unused to being called out so bluntly. It was just another thing about him that aggravated her. He knew exactly the right way to push her buttons to get her fired up in an instant. Almost as if he didn’t have to try. It was infuriating and made her dislike him even more.
There wasn’t much to say back to that, so she fell silent, wondering what they were going to find once they got to their destination.
The prevailing answer she came up with was: not much. It was not like the business—especially if it was a front for Canis—was just going to let them waltz in and see their financial statements and the authorization for whoever had transferred the money into his account. Expecting that was…ridiculous, truthfully.
“Why did you agree to come with me?”
Kincaid’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she had to ask him to repeat himself.
“That’s easy,” she said without hesitation. “To ensure you don’t destroy any of the incriminating evidence in your quest to prove yourself innocent.”
Because of her earlier anger toward him, the words came out sharper than they might otherwise have. She saw the hurt on his face from knowing she believed him capable of such a thing. It was there and gone quickly, hidden behind the hard mask he wore much of the time, but she’d seen it.
Haley wasn’t about to be fooled by it though. There was every chance he was just acting, that the entire thing was a charade, and she couldn’t take that chance. Kincaid was involved in something, she just wasn’t sure what. There was no way that even if he was framed, he had been chosen at random. No, there was a lot more to this story that she didn’t know.
“Is there any part of you that believes I could be innocent?” he asked, turning off the main road and into an industrial area. They were nearing the docks.
“The chances of that being true are extremely small. They exist, bu
t right now, everything says you’re guilty of stealing money from Ursa.”
Kincaid tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. She watched his knuckles go white, and for the first time, she grew nervous about what he might do.
“Answer me this question then.”
“Okay. If I can. I’m not an expert on espionage though, Kincaid. I’m an accountant.”
“Just use your brains, you’re a very smart woman. Tell me, why I would have the money transferred back into my own account? Why would I risk that? If I already had it out, why put it back in?”
She snorted. “Because you think you could get away with it? Most criminals are like that, especially when it comes to monetary crimes. They get caught because they’re arrogant and make mistakes. Not because those after them are geniuses or some such.”
Kincaid shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. I’m smart enough to know better. On top of that, can you imagine that a, um, company, like Canis, would be open enough to implicate themselves in the theft, without taking a cut? It’s their company that put the money into my account. Until then, they weren’t linked at all. Why do that?”
Haley thought about it. “I don’t know. But I have a question for you then.”
He motioned for her to ask away.
The SUV moved through a turn and slowed even further as they started passing by rows of commercial offices, one- and two-story affairs. They must be getting close. She hadn’t paid much attention to the map, which she regretted now. Knowing where they were going and how to get out of the maze of streets that made up the docks were probably things she should have been aware of ahead.
“Let’s say that you are innocent,” she said, returning her attention to the conversation. “That you know absolutely nothing about how the money got there. Someone’s framed you for the robbery from the corporate account.”
“Which they have.”
“We don’t know that. But for right now, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt in this scenario. If they are trying to frame you, then how did Canis know exactly how much money to put in your account?”