by Layne, Ivy
When I realized I’d spent two hours on a job proposal that should have taken me forty-five minutes, I was ready to toss everything to the side and—
Do what? What did I think I was going to do? Find her and force her to come home?
Finding Alice and forcing her to come home was starting to sound like a good idea. I already had enough to apologize for. What was one more thing? I forced myself to stay at my desk, growing more restless with each minute that passed.
Not long after lunch, Evers strolled into my office, dropping into one of the chairs opposite my desk. “Got a call from Agent Holley,” he said. “Possible sighting of Dad in Texas. No word on Tsepov’s location, but things in Vegas seem to have shifted. His guys have scattered, and it looks like a rival crew picked up the slack. Still, I think Axel and Emma should stay here until we find Dad.”
“Yeah, that's good,” I said, my eyes staring blindly at the proposal on my screen.
“Coop? Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, I heard you. Dad might be in Texas. Tsepov lost Vegas. Axel and Emma should stay. Got it. You can go now.”
Evers didn't go. He sat there, ankle propped on his knee, and leaned back into his chair, obviously prepared to hang out for a while. I waited, knowing he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut. Between the two of us, I always won the quiet game.
“Where's Alice, Cooper?”
“Not here,” I answered.
“She upstairs? Is she sick?”
“No.”
I did not want to tell Evers what had happened. I love my brother. I love all my brothers, but the last thing I needed was to bring them into my fuck-up.
Unfortunately, Alice had a point about mixing work and our personal lives. Outsiders would see her as just the receptionist, but Alice was more than a cog in the wheel.
Alice was the linchpin. She facilitated communications from all the various teams, ordered supplies, handled the schedule. We could do without her for a day or two, longer if we’d planned for her absence, but every minute she wasn't here the entire office noticed.
I hadn't just fucked up my personal life, I'd fucked up everyone else's workflow. There was no way I could hide that. Especially not since Axel already knew what was going on.
He'd kept quiet through the weekend so he didn't spoil the celebration, but the wedding was over. The newlyweds were off on their honeymoon and everyone was back to normal.
Everyone except for me and Alice.
I pushed back from my desk and crossed the room to the wet bar in the corner. I used it mostly for coffee but kept a small working bar for the occasional client who needed extra fortification.
Clients came to us for all sorts of reasons, some of them under a lot of emotional stress. Every now and then, a drink was exactly what they needed. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had one myself during work hours. When I poured a healthy slug of whiskey and sat back down, Evers knew the shit had hit the fan.
“What the fuck, Cooper? Where the hell is Alice? What did you do?”
“Why does everyone always assume it's me?”
“Because I've seen Alice show up to work when she's half-dead from the flu. When she has a migraine. The day after her grandfather’s funeral. You two disappeared before the cake was cut on Saturday night and didn’t show all day Sunday. So, what the fuck happened? Is she okay?”
“Not interested if I'm okay?” I asked, sardonically.
Evers eyed the amber liquid in my crystal highball glass. “No. You're clearly a fucking mess.”
Not waiting for my answer, Evers looked down at his phone and typed out a message.
“Who are you texting?” I demanded.
He didn't answer my question, just inclined his head toward my glass. “Am I going to need one of those?”
I ignored him, already knowing who'd been on the other end of that text. My guess was proved right when Axel and Knox walked in less than a minute later.
Axel took in my bleary eyes, the whiskey in my hand, and laughed. “Shit, man, she fucking destroyed you, didn't she? Still haven't found her?” He dropped into the chair beside Evers.
“Obviously not,” I said.
Knox closed the door behind him. “Cooper drinking during the day? Fuck, what happened? Is Alice okay?” He dragged a smaller chair over and angled it by the corner of my desk, dropping into it and waiting.
“I don't know,” I admitted. “She left the wedding Saturday night. Took my car, drove back here, ditched her purse and phone, and disappeared.”
“It must have been bad,” Evers added, talking to Knox and Axel and ignoring me, “because I could see Alice freezing him out, but to walk out on the office? She knows she keeps this place running. She wouldn't ditch us unless Coop here screwed the pooch big time. So, what did you do?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Axel got there first. “Mom cornered her at the reception. Threw Dad's bullshit about them having an affair in her face. And Cooper told Alice that it was a long time ago and he forgives her.”
“That's not what I fucking said,” I protested, but Evers and Knox drowned me out.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Evers gave me a look of such disgust I sank back into my chair. “What the fuck do you mean it was a long time ago and you forgive her? Don't tell me you fucking believed that bullshit? Dad told me once and I fucking shut it down. I didn't even have to know Alice to know it was a lie.”
“I didn't know, okay?” The protest sounded weak, even to me. “He pulled me aside and told me they had a thing and she was hot, but her husband was jealous and I should keep my distance.”
“And you bought that?” Evers asked. I had to wonder what he'd seen that I hadn't.
“If I'd known you fell for his shit, I would've said something,” Knox said, gravely. “He lied, Coop.”
“He lied about fucking women all the time,” Evers tossed out.
“Yeah, he did, but this was different,” Knox said. He shook his head at me. “I'm sorry, Coop.”
“Are you saying this was more than his random bragging? He made it up for a reason?” Axel asked.
“It was a couple weeks after Alice started working for us. One of the guys—Jason, not with us anymore—he hit on her. Was a real asshole about it. When I pulled him aside and told him to can it or get out, he told me that if Dad was fucking her then he might as well make a run at her, too. I shut that shit down and went to Dad.”
“It's a good thing Jason's gone or I'd fucking kill him,” I muttered.
Knox shook his head at me. “Dad told me that you were getting all googley-eyed over the new receptionist. He didn't give a shit that she was married, but he said you were too young to settle down. He didn’t like the way you were looking at her, so he made up that bullshit story about sleeping with her to scare you off.”
“Why the fuck didn't you tell me?” I demanded, jerking forward, almost knocking over what was left of my whiskey.
Evers slid it out of my way before cocking his head to the side and parroting my question. “Yeah, why didn't you tell us that?”
Knox looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “I wish I had. Cooper had to go out of town for something, I can't remember what, and I had a job that kept me out of the office. By the time we were both back, everything seemed normal. Alice had settled in, Dad dropped his bullshit story, and everything was fine. There didn't seem to be much of a reason to bring it up.”
“You should have told me,” I said, sick at the idea that my father had seen through me so easily that he’d sought to poison my feelings for Alice by lying about her.
“It's not like you could have made a play for her anyway. She was fucking married, or am I the only one who remembers that?” Knox shot back.
“I remember,” I growled.
“Alice never cheated on that bastard of a husband,” Evers said, hi
s voice as low and rough as my own. “Jesus, I can't believe you accused her of sleeping with Dad. No wonder she took off.”
“I didn’t accuse her of anything,” I ground out through gritted teeth. “That was Mom. I tried to tell her it didn’t matter.”
“Yeah, that went over well,” Evers muttered.
“She could have talked to me,” I protested.
“See it from her side,” Knox interrupted. “Not only does she find out that you think she committed adultery, twice over, and she slept with her boss, she probably thinks the rest of us think the same thing. I wouldn't want to walk into work today either.”
Fuck.
“She’s not going to come back, is she?” I asked the room, not needing an answer.
I’d been so focused on what was going on with Alice and me I hadn't thought about that part of it. I’d just about convinced myself to give her time, to let her come back on her own, but if she thought the entire office believed she'd been sleeping with my father, Alice might never come back.
“I have to find her,” I said. “She’s not using her cards, didn’t fly, take the train, or a bus. Didn’t rent a car as far as I can track. I ran into a wall.”
Closest to the phone on my desk, Axel leaned forward and grabbed the handset, flipping the base around to punch in a few numbers. A second later he said, “Jackson, Cooper's office.”
Evers asked, “No trackers? She left her car?”
I nodded. “Cameras show her walking out of the building at eleven-thirty Saturday night and turning right. Then she disappears. I thought about checking out her friends, her family, but going full-on stalker didn't seem like a good way to get her back.”
“Normally, I’d agree with you,” Axel said, “but after the way Mom's been treating her and Alice thinking everyone at the office believes she was fucking Dad, I think going full-on stalker is your only option. If you leave her to her own devices, there's a good chance she might not come back.”
Axel was right. Alice loved her job, but she didn't need it. She made a healthy salary and had low living expenses. She’d been smart enough to parlay that into a very robust investment account. She couldn't retire at thirty-three, but she wasn’t under any pressure to pick up her paycheck on Friday.
She wasn't alone in the world, either. Alice had friends. She had a sprawling family who adored her. If she wanted to walk away from her life and start new somewhere else, she could do it. If she wanted to hide out and avoid all of us for months, she could probably do that, too.
Time to stop being patient and bring in the big guns.
Lucas Jackson strolled through the door, his eyes falling on me. “Want me to find Alice for you?”
Fucking Lucas Jackson. He had his ear to the ground. Lucas knew everything that happened in the office. Fuck, he knew everything that happened in Atlanta. He ran what we jokingly called our Hacker Division. His title was Director of Information Technology.
Innocuous enough, it sounded like he worked on networks and fixed the printer. Instead, Lucas was the guy who got us information. He could get into any system, no matter how secure, and he had the skills to work in the field. His team moved seamlessly between the worlds of zeros and ones and flesh and blood. He could do almost anything with a keyboard and was equally able to handle any field work we threw at him.
Lucas was a little scary. If he wanted to know something about you, he knew it. And if anyone could find Alice, it was Lucas. I just had to hope she'd forgive me if I let him loose on her.
I'd find a way to make things right.
I’d grovel.
I’d beg.
If Lucas could tell me where Alice was, I’d do anything to get her back.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alice
Kristi and Pete stayed the night. Unlike me, Kristi remembered to bring a bathing suit. She floated in the cool water, a blissful smile on her face at finally being weightless after carrying around her pregnant belly in the heat of early fall.
Pete pulled a kayak from the shed and paddled off with his fishing pole, giving us plenty of time to catch up on family gossip and baby plans. He returned with a smile and no fish a few hours later, ready to fire up the charcoal grill and toss on the steaks he’d bought in town when they’d stopped for lunch.
They left the next morning after a late breakfast, Pete driving the rental and Kristi behind the wheel of their sedan. My big brother had hugged me tight before he left, his voice gruff as he promised, “If that guy doesn’t make this right, you tell me. I’ll come get you and bring you home.”
I’d squeezed him back just as tight. “Love you, Petey.”
“Love you too, Allie.”
Then they were gone, and I was alone with my thoughts. I tried distracting myself with Pete’s leftover worms and fishing pole, dangling the line off the end of the dock and pulling in tiny sunfish and baby bass. I threw them back, one after another, until the worms were gone and the sun was sliding down the horizon.
Dangling my feet in the cool lake water, I watched the setting sun streak vibrant red across the darkly glittering surface. It was too quiet. I was lonely.
Maybe being by myself to think hadn't been the best plan. I was still going in circles in my head, angry and heartbroken, sad and indignant, wanting to rage at Cooper and missing his arms around me.
I hadn't realized how much I'd come to rely on him until he was the last person I wanted to see. This is why friends shouldn’t sleep together. Because when things went wrong, who did I have to talk to? I knew I could call Kristi or one of my friends. I could talk to my mom.
Perversely, I didn't want any of them. I wanted Cooper. And Cooper was the last person I could talk about this with. I already knew what he would say.
I watched the sun disappear into the lake and I forced myself to think. It wouldn't be long before Cooper tracked me down. I was no criminal mastermind. Cooper knew Pete and Kristi, knew where they worked. Now that the weekend was over and everyone was back from the wedding, he’d have everything—everyone—he might need to run me to ground.
I had to decide what I wanted before he did.
Out of nowhere, it occurred to me that I was absolutely positive Cooper was coming for me. Absolutely positive that despite what he believed about me and his father, Cooper still wanted me.
I had a right to be angry at Lacey and Maxwell, but why was I so mad at Cooper?
I’d been a stranger when Cooper met me. Maxwell was his father. Of course, he’d believed Maxwell. By the time Cooper knew me well enough to judge, Maxwell's story about our affair was buried in the past. Ancient history, just as Cooper had said.
Watching the lake as evening turned into night, I realized that while I was furious with Lacey and Maxwell, when it came to Cooper what I felt was more about embarrassment than anger.
I couldn’t bear the idea of facing him. It was irrational. I hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the one who should be too humiliated to look me in the eye.
So why was it the other way around? Why did I cringe every time I replayed his voice telling me he forgave me for sleeping with his father?
I thought about my desk at Sinclair Security, sitting empty all day. In almost ten years I’d never missed a day of work without notice. Never. Even when I was sick, I still covered email and the phones. As much as a part of me wanted to turn tail and run, Sinclair Security was my place, too.
The boys had rescued the family company from their father not long after Maxwell hired me, turning it from the most successful security agency in the Southeast to the best in North America. I knew how much they’d billed when Maxwell had been at the helm and that number was nothing compared to the business they did now.
I’d been there every step of the way. Was I just going to leave it all behind?
Not showing up to work would cause problems for more than just Cooper
. The angry, embarrassed part of me didn't give a crap. The part of me that had worked her tail off for almost a decade, who took pride in the job she did—that part cared.
It wasn't everyone else's fault that Maxwell was an asshole and Cooper was a dumbass. Most of the office hadn't even been around back then. They didn't deserve to suffer for Maxwell and Cooper’s mistakes.
And I made a killer salary with great benefits, including an on-site apartment that was practically free. On the other hand, getting free rent for so many years, I'd socked away a heck of an investment portfolio. If I didn't want to go back to Sinclair Security, I didn't have to. I needed to work, but I had enough saved to give me time to make other plans.
I missed my family. There were plenty of companies in D.C. that would love to get their hands on someone with my specific skill set. I could move home and see my family more often. I could be there when Kristi and Pete's baby was born.
I'd always wanted to start a family, but I'd held off, knowing my marriage had cracks long before our divorce. I tried to ignore the tick of my biological clock, but it was still there. I was self-aware enough to understand why I was so excited about my niece- or nephew-to-be. Even if I'd screwed up yet another relationship, I could be there for Pete and Kristi's kid.
The idea of going home floated in my head as a hazy, unformed potential. It was possible but held very little concrete appeal. I loved D.C. as the home of my childhood, but it wasn’t my place anymore. I loved and missed my family, but if I left, I’d miss the family I’d made in Atlanta.
I lay in bed Monday night, tossing and turning as I tried to sleep, my tangled emotions slowly sorting themselves out.
I wanted to kill Maxwell.
I could happily never see Lacey Sinclair again.
And I missed Cooper like a hole in my heart.
I was standing at the kitchen counter watching the coffee maker work on yet another pot of crappy coffee when the door to the cabin opened behind me. I whirled in alarm, my fear quickly replaced by the sense of fate asserting itself.