“What’s the possibility you’re looking for?”
“I’ll tell you when I find it.”
I glanced at Brandy. She stood leaning against her desk, her arms crossed.
“You should go home.”
“I’m fine. I can stay.”
“Really. The only thing I need you to do is touch base with Everly to see how things are going in Seattle. You can do that from home.”
“But you have a meeting with Derek Price and the PR team, not to mention—”
“Brandy. Do I have to fire you?”
She tilted her head and gave me a wry look.
“You’re fired until morning,” I said. “Go home. Hug your son. Make out with your husband.”
“You know, one of these days you’re going to fire me for real and I won’t know the difference,” she said with a grin.
“Not going to happen.” I narrowed me eyes. “Unless you’re really the mastermind behind everything and you’re out to destroy me.”
“You see right through me, Whitbury.” She grabbed her purse. “I’ll touch base with you tonight or first thing in the morning.”
“Thanks, Brandy.”
She gathered the rest of her things and left.
I leaned against the doorway to my office, my arms crossed. Jude was still searching.
He pulled his hand out of one of my desk drawers and put his finger to his lips, then came out to his desk. He stretched out his hand, revealing a tiny device sitting in his palm. It was smaller than a dime with a one-inch wire sticking out.
He turned the device over and popped off the backing, then took out the disc-shaped three-volt battery.
“This is what I was looking for,” he said, picking up the device between his thumb and forefinger.
“Is that a bug?”
“Yep.” He eyed it carefully, turning it so he could see both sides.
“And you took the battery off so they can’t hear us now.”
“Exactly. Unless there are more, but I’ve checked everywhere. I didn’t find any camera lenses, either, but we’ll want to get a team in here to search the floor. I know a guy who can handle that kind of sweep and get it done fast.”
“Good, let’s schedule it.”
Jude narrowed his eyes, still inspecting the bug.
“What?” I asked.
“This is sophisticated. It fooled my radiofrequency detector.”
“Should I even ask why you carry a radiofrequency detector with you?”
He put the bug down. “Old habit.”
A voice behind me nearly made me jump. “Cameron, what’s going on in here?”
I closed my eyes for a second. Noelle Olson. My day just kept getting better and better.
“Someone broke into my office,” I said, turning to face her. “Police have been here. We don’t know who did it yet.”
“This is getting out of control,” she said. Her hair was in that bun she always wore, her pantsuit well-tailored and practical.
“I couldn’t agree more. Just when I thought my biggest issue was predatory journalism.”
She pinched her lips together in a thin line. “That reporter took my comments completely out of context.”
“I’m sure she did.” I was inches away from telling Noelle exactly what I thought of her. But Jude put a calming hand on my shoulder, and I bit back my rant. “We’re taking every precaution to ensure the office is safe. If you’d like to speak with the head of security or the police who are investigating, you’re more than welcome.”
Her eyes flicked up and down, her judgmental gaze scathing. “I’ll be working from home.”
I nodded once and she walked down the hall to her office.
“All I need now is for Bobby the douchebag to show up and my day will be complete,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m surprised he’s not blowing up my phone with texts already.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, it seems like every time I’m dealing with one of these incidents, Bobby either starts texting me or shows up. It’s like the universe keeps trying to add insult to injury when I’ve already had one hell of a day.”
“If he shows up, just let me deal with him.”
“That would be very entertaining to watch.” I tucked a loose tendril of hair behind my ear and lowered my voice. “If Noelle is trying to get me fired, it could explain the bug. But who were those guys following us?”
“Whoever did this hired professionals.”
A shiver of fear ran down my spine. “Maybe we should just get out of town. I have a plane. Two, in fact.”
“It’s an option I’m considering.”
Even though I’d said it, I hated that idea. I didn’t want whoever this was to have that kind of power over me. To make me leave my home and my company, even temporarily.
“Running is a last resort.”
“Agreed,” he said.
“What do we do now?”
He traced his fingers down the curve of my neck and laid his big hand on my shoulder. An intimate gesture here in my office, and one I appreciated. “We go back to Bluewater. Your physical space is easier for me to control there. And I have some calls to make.”
I took a deep breath and nodded.
Vagillionaires
Daisy: What’s happening over there? I’m in Milan. Do I need to fly home?
Emily: Someone broke into Cameron’s office. Trashed it. Planted a bug.
Daisy: WHAT THE FUCK
Luna: Cam, are you okay?
Me: I’m fine. Nothing a stiff drink and a good fuck won’t cure.
Daisy: She’s not wrong.
Emily: I’m at the lab, but I’ll come over as soon as I can.
Luna: Let me know if you need anything.
Me: Thanks. I’ll be fine. Just one more thing to handle.
Emily: Be careful.
Daisy: Kick their asses, lady boss.
Me: Love you bitches.
28
Jude
No sign of a tail on the way back to Bluewater, but that didn’t make me feel better. Why had someone followed us this morning but not now? Had it been a message? A sign that they were watching? They couldn’t have been following this morning simply to find out where she worked. Locating Spencer’s headquarters was as simple as a quick Google search.
And just as importantly, who were they?
The tail this morning and the bug in her office gave me an important new piece of information. Like I’d told Cameron, these were professionals. They represented a new angle and new tactics. Which probably meant they’d been hired recently.
Find out who they were, and I could find out who’d hired them.
There weren’t an unlimited number of options when it came to hiring this kind of team. Fortunately, I was acquainted with several of them. Unfortunately, I’d been at odds with most of them at some point in the last five years. But just because they didn’t like me didn’t mean they didn’t respect—and maybe even fear—me. I could work with fear and respect.
When we got to Cameron’s house I did a sweep looking for camera lenses, bugs, and any evidence of tampering—particularly in her office and bedroom. Checked for errant radio and wifi signals. I’d need to get my guy in here for a more thorough search, but so far, her house seemed clean.
Derek arrived, dressed in a tailored suit, no tie. Cameron was busy in her office, so I let him in the front.
“Some excitement today, I take it?” he asked, strolling casually into the foyer.
“You could say that.”
He paused and narrowed his eyes. “You sound… concerned.”
“I shook a tail this morning. Two of them, actually. They were good. And Cameron’s office was trashed. I think it was mostly for show, and to hide the fact that they planted a bug.” I took the bug out of my pocket and dropped it into his outstretched palm.
He held it up, pinched between his thumb and forefinger. “Emily told me. This wasn’t made by some kid watching a YouTube video,
was it?”
“Nope.” I took it back and slipped it into my pocket.
“Anyone you know?”
“Might be. This isn’t CIA issue. Or it wasn’t five years ago. But it could still be an ex-spook gone private. And there are a few groups who could have access to this kind of tech. The Cubans. The Russians. Italians. There’s no shortage of organized crime down here.”
“But what would the mob want with Cameron?”
“I don’t think they want her at all. Not directly. I think someone hired a team, though, and one of the ways to find that kind of talent is to go to one of the families.”
“They’d need a big set of brass balls for that. Not to mention a hefty bank account.”
“Which doesn’t really narrow it down,” I said. “Anyone with a reason to go after Cameron has the funds to pull this off.”
“True.” He checked his watch. “I need to get to my meeting with the lovely Ms. Whitbury. Maybe a little reputation-fixing will take her mind off everything else.”
I shook my head. This was such a clusterfuck. “Please tell me there’s not more bad news on your end.”
“Nothing new yet, but we’re planning for the worst when it gets out that someone broke in to Spencer headquarters and ransacked the CEO’s office.”
“Thanks for helping her with this,” I said.
“Of course,” Derek said. “Just doing my job.”
“Aren’t we all.”
Derek disappeared inside for his meeting with Cameron, so I went out front to make a few phone calls.
I knew a guy over in Little Havana who always had his ear to the ground. If someone had been asking around for a team who could break into a highly secured building and plant a bug, he might know about it.
Unfortunately, he didn’t.
I made a few more calls. Some friendlier than others. But they either didn’t know, or weren’t going to tell me without additional motivation. There was only so much I could do over the phone.
What I needed was access to both Aldrich and Noelle’s phone records. From there I could trace if either of them had been in contact with anyone connected to one of the crime syndicates. But I couldn’t do that legally. I had a guy who might be able to swing it for me, but it would probably take him a couple of days.
I swiped through my contacts to find his number, but Emily pulled up in her golf cart.
“I just got back from the lab,” she said, jumping down. She was dressed in a lavender blouse and slacks. “Is Cam okay?”
“She’s handling everything like a badass.” I slipped my phone in my pocket. “Derek’s meeting with her now.”
“Good. I swear to god, I hope you find the asshole who’s doing this to her so we can crush them.”
“We will.” My voice was flat, but she had no idea how much rage simmered inside. Crushing them was only the beginning of what I wanted to do to whoever was behind this.
“Was there really a bug planted in her office?”
“Yeah, a sophisticated one.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Corporate espionage?”
“Could be. Her IT people are looking for breaches, anything that might indicate stolen information. But I don’t know. My gut tells me this is personal.”
“Cam said her COO is a suspect. It makes sense. Or Aldrich?”
I nodded.
“Before the sex tape thing, I never would have thought Aldrich would do something like this. I didn’t think he was good for Cam, and I was glad when she left him, but I didn’t think he was the type to go psycho ex-boyfriend. But now?” She shrugged.
My brow furrowed. Had she just said sex tape? Had I heard that correctly? “You never would have thought Aldrich would do this before what?”
“Before the sex tape,” she said.
I raised my eyebrows.
“Oh my god, Cam didn’t tell you?”
I shook my head slowly.
“Oh no. I assumed you knew.”
My heart beat too fast and my eye twitched. “What sex tape?”
“Maybe Cam should—”
“Emily. Please.”
She took a breath. “Aldrich had a video of them. He assured her he’d deleted it, but she found out from a mutual friend that he’d shared it with some of his buddies.”
“When? How long has she known?”
“It was around the time that guy tried to attack her in the parking garage.”
I ground my teeth together and glanced away. Why the fuck hadn’t she told me?
“Look, Jude, I know her. Doing something like that is very out of character for her. She really regretted it.”
I didn’t say anything. Just nodded. I was too busy trying to process this new piece of information. See where it fit. How it changed things.
But mostly I was fucking furious that she hadn’t told me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make things worse,” she said. “I just figured—”
“Not your fault,” I said. “She should have told me.”
Emily nodded, then walked up the porch stairs and went inside.
I took a few deep breaths to get my shit under control. I couldn’t afford to be compromised right now. Had to stay focused. Stay sharp.
Although I didn’t like the idea that a video of Cameron—my fucking Cameron—having sex with another man existed, that wasn’t what had my guts twisted in a knot. It wasn’t even that it cast further suspicion on her ex, nor that it introduced the question of why he’d choose to keep it quiet if his intent was to hurt her.
What really got me was wondering why. Why hadn’t she trusted me enough to tell me?
I still had a job to do, and I was going to see it through. But I was also going to find out why the hell she’d kept this from me—and what else she was hiding.
29
Cameron
Derek and I finished up our call with my PR team. We had a plan of action for handling any negative spin as a result of the break-in at headquarters. We were taking a proactive approach, releasing a statement in an attempt to get ahead of things.
But at this point, bad press wasn’t my biggest worry. Not by a long shot.
This morning’s events had left me shaken. But more than that, I was frustrated. Stressed. And angry.
I was pissed at whoever was doing this to me. Pissed at the people they’d hired. Pissed that I couldn’t be in my office, working on forecasts and planning for next year. I wanted to get back to normal.
I wanted my fucking life back.
Emily was in the kitchen waiting for Derek when we came out of my office. She pointed to her phone and mouthed we’ll talk later before heading for the front. I grabbed my phone and checked my messages.
Emily: I didn’t realize Jude didn’t know about the sex tape. I’m so sorry.
A sickening sense of dread poured through my stomach. Oh god. He knew.
It had been stupid of me to hope he’d never have to know, but damn it, I’d held onto that hope like a little kid clinging to belief in Santa Claus. It felt like Jude finding out the video existed would be as bad him actually seeing it. And I’d been desperate to avoid that.
Fuck.
I found him on the back terrace. He leaned forward against the railing, facing the water. The blue waves of the bay sparkled in the sunlight and the marine breeze had cut the humidity. Under any other circumstances, it would have been a gloriously beautiful afternoon.
Any hope I’d had that he wasn’t angry with me burned away to ash as I took in his posture. I already knew him so well. The man I’d thought was a brick-wall—so adept at hiding his emotions—communicated volumes with every little movement and gesture. With the way he stood with one foot crossed over the other—seemingly casual but ready to whip around in an instant. With the way he leaned his forearms on the railing, his head lowered. I could see that he was angry in the way his shoulders bunched, his thick muscle knotting.
“Jude, I know I should have told you about Aldrich, but—”<
br />
“But?” he asked, cutting me off. He turned to face me. “Yes, you should have. Full stop.”
“You’re not going to give me a chance to explain myself?”
“No, I am going to give you the chance to explain yourself,” he said, his voice ice cold. “But first, I’m going to explain something to you. You hired me to do a job. And in order to do my job, I need all the relevant information. Without that, things get missed. People get hurt. Now I need you to listen to me very carefully, Cameron. What else haven’t you told me?”
“Nothing.”
His expression didn’t change. He was back to stone-cold bodyguard. Worse than stone-cold bodyguard. His eyes were like razors digging into my soul.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I asked you repeatedly if there was anything else I needed to be aware of. You’re a smart woman. You can’t tell me you didn’t realize the fact that your ex has an unauthorized video of the two of you having sex is something I should know.”
I clenched my teeth, my defenses going up at the way he’d phrased that. Not sex tape. He’d specifically said a video of the two of you having sex. Like he needed to emphasize what it was. What I’d done.
“What good would it have done if I had? Given you one more checkmark on the list of reasons my ex is a prick? We already knew that.”
“What else are you hiding?”
“I told you, I’m not hiding anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your workshop?” he asked.
“What about it?” I asked, drawing my eyebrows together. “And how is that even relevant?”
He crossed his arms. “Nicholas had to warn me about the blender.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the blender. It works great.”
“You should probably need a license to operate it.”
“Are you trying to be funny right now?” I asked. “Because I don’t know what this has to do with anything.”
“I’m just realizing how much I don’t know about you.”
“What are you talking about? You know plenty about me.”
The Mogul and the Muscle: A Bluewater Billionaires Romantic Comedy Page 20