Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  “You look pale and you were off yesterday,” he explains, an adorable crease between his eyebrows.

  I run my thumb along it, smoothing it out. “Stop worrying. I’m fine. And yesterday was a weird day. You guys are tense at times.”

  “I’m sorry. I swear, it’s never usually like this. Our biggest dilemma or conflict before Black came into our lives was the Carter’s. Hell, the only thing we worried about was if we could drink at our local.”

  “You didn’t get on with them? And local?” I murmur, letting him pull me into his arms.

  “We didn’t, no. And we could never be in the same pub together. Whoever turned up first got to stay, the other had to leave. The only one who didn’t mind, as long as we paid for damages, was Jimmy at The Ginn Inn,” he explains, letting out a breath. “Paisley snuck around with Landon and it went to hell from there. They kicked the shit out of Jaxon at Christmas when they found out about him and Lily.”

  “Wow,” I whisper, then something occurs to me. “They were married on New Year. How long were they together?”

  Wyatt grins. “Not long. Jaxon has been in love with her since high school though.”

  “That’s sweet. No wonder he’s overprotective.”

  Wyatt’s pupils dilate and he grits his teeth. “He’s being more protective because he’s worried Black will go after her to get to him. He nearly killed her during that fire.”

  “But she has you guys to look after her,” I reply, my stomach turning. I’d love to have that kind of love surrounding me.

  “You can’t tell anyone this. I only know because I overheard them talking before the fire started, and I’m not sure if they’ve told anyone else yet… Lily is pregnant.”

  The blood drains from my face and I stagger back. The significance of what Andrew nearly accomplished threatens to take me to my knees. Even with no physical injuries, the smoke inhalation could have caused her to miscarriage. No wonder he’s been calling her every five minutes.

  “She’s okay though, right? I mean, after the fire.”

  The frown lines soften, and he gives me a small smile. “Yeah, she’s good. But that’s why he’s been a nightmare lately. He doesn’t know what Black will do next and it has us on edge. We want him out of our lives but he’s adamant on being there.”

  My alarm blares in my bag and I groan. “I need to go. That’s my reminder going off. I won’t tell anyone what you told me. I swear.”

  “I didn’t think you would,” he tells me, leaning down to capture my lips in a kiss. I kiss him back, my body flush against his. “Are you still okay for later?”

  Butterflies flutter in my stomach. I can’t wait for him to come to mine later. After Rebecca left last night, I cleaned the place up. Most of the furniture belongs to my mum and is old-fashioned, but since she was taken into care, I have worked to make it my own.

  After making sure everything was in order, I popped to the shop to grab ingredients for dinner. Then I put the beef stew in the slow cooker before leaving for work this morning.

  “I am. Message me when you’re on your way.”

  “Why, you going to wear something sexy?”

  I laugh, shaking my head at his teasing. “Maybe.”

  “Go. I’ll see you later,” he orders, chuckling.

  I kiss him one more time before getting in the car. Now more than ever I’m determined to get something on Andrew. All of them are innocent in my eyes, but with the pregnancy news, there is more at risk than a business. And after everything I have learned about the man to blame for all of this, he will definitely use her to get to Jaxon.

  I can’t let that happen.

  *** *** ***

  “Right, so I’ll distract the receptionist while you go look for paperwork,” Rebecca declares, her hands gripping the steering wheel.

  “Why can’t I distract her while you go into the office?” I groan.

  “Because you’re his daughter. She knows you.”

  “She doesn’t,” I tell her, eyeing her up and down. “And with your clothes and looks, she’ll believe you’re his daughter more than she will me telling her I am.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I’ll get a read on her. Maybe I can get her to distract herself and then I can come help you.”

  I inhale, running my sweaty palms down my jeans. “Let’s do this.”

  We get out of the car, and I can’t help but scan the area, searching for Andrew’s car, but I don’t see it in the small carpark. The noise from inside the warehouse echoes with machinery and men chatting or yelling to one another.

  “Do you have the memory stick I gave you?” Rebecca whispers, leaning in close when men stop to watch us walk up to the reception building. We ignore the catcalls and keep going.

  I push my hand into my pocket, gripping the stick between my fingers. After I told her about Jaxon mentioning the memory stick being encrypted, she came up with the plan to plant a fake one. We are hoping Andrew will think it’s a glitch since he must have a simple way to access the original memory stick. It might buy us a day or two, depending on how good his tech guy is. I just hope we get the information we need before he realises we set him up.

  “I do.”

  Rebecca straightens before pushing open the door, the bell above the door ringing. The blonde-haired receptionist looks up, a smile on her face. “Hello, I’m Jessica. How can I help you today?”

  I give her my best smile. “Hello,” I greet.

  “You look creepy,” Rebecca mumbles, coughing to cover it up.

  Relaxing my smile, I step forward. “I’m Andrew Black’s daughter. I’ve come to drop something off.”

  “His daughter?” she repeats, her lips parted. “He hasn’t mentioned you or your appointment. He’s not in today.”

  She reaches for the phone and I quickly rest my hand on top of hers. “He hates being disturbed while he’s golfing with colleagues. I only need to drop this off. Which way is his office?”

  Rebecca comes to stand by my side, dropping her bag on the table with a thud. “Listen, Jess, we don’t have much time. We’re going shopping.”

  Jessica isn’t paying attention though; her eyes are on the bag. “Is that the new Chanel handbag?”

  “It is. Did you see the new line?”

  “New line?” Jessica breathes out.

  I quietly step away from them, leaving Rebecca to talk clothes, and head into the back hallway.

  I bite down on my bottom lip when I see a few doors. I’m not sure which one will be Andrew’s, and I don’t have much time. I also can’t risk someone being in one of the other rooms and asking questions.

  I walk down the hallway, then roll my eyes as I come to a stop in front of one of the doors. I should have known he wouldn’t have something simple. No, he has ‘A. Black’ carved into a golden plaque.

  I lightly knock before stepping in, finding it empty like I had hoped. It’s everything I expected it to be. A cedar desk sits proudly in the centre of the room, a large black chair behind it. There is nothing personal about the office though, except for the picture he has on the corner of his desk of his wife and two children. They look as stuck up as I remember them to be. His wife, who is not much younger than him, needs to lay off the face fillers. Her smile looks more like a grimace.

  I don’t give the picture another glance as I move to the cabinets along the side of the wall. Reaching into the first drawer, I see nothing but personnel documents and invoices. I scan through the next, then the next, finding nothing of use to us.

  I shove the drawer shut. This is useless. He doesn’t keep anything significant here, and why would he when he has a lot at stake.

  “Did you find anything?” Rebecca asks, and I scream, falling against the cabinet.

  “Don’t fucking scare me while I’m trying to steal shit,” I snap.

  “Shush, before Jessica hears you. She’s distracted at the moment, looking on a designer clearance site.”

  “I can’t find anything,” I tell her, gripping my hair.
“We’ve done this for nothing.”

  “What’s this?” Rebecca asks, picking up a small diary binder.

  I rush over to her, nearly tripping over my own feet to see what’s inside. “What’s in it?”

  Her smile vanishes and she stares at me, wide-eyed. “Holy fuck. This is exactly what we needed. It seems the guy is old-fashioned when it comes to appointments. He must have changed diaries recently because most of this is last year’s,” she explains, flicking through the pages. “Wait, he had an appointment with the Hayes’ last year?”

  I read the page over her shoulder. “Maybe it was when he offered to buy the business.”

  “Call him. Tell him where you are, what you have, and that you won’t leave it until he agrees to lift the ban from seeing your mum.”

  I pull out my phone, dialling his number. It takes forever for him to answer, but when he does, I hear other men’s voices in the background.

  “I hope you have something for me.”

  “I do,” I answer, my voice hard. “In fact, I’m outside your office now. I can drop it off or I can put it back where I found it.”

  “What do you want?” he grits out.

  “I want to see my mum. Today. I’ll wait until the care home calls to say it’s okay. You’ve got five minutes and then I’m leaving.”

  I don’t give him a chance to answer and instead end the call, my hands shaking as I bring my phone down to my side. “Did I sound convincing?”

  “You did,” she assures me. “This was our only way. After what happened yesterday, there was no way he would have believed you did this for nothing.”

  “He threatened to have Mum hurt.”

  Her lips twist. “You make sure your mum is okay and leave the legal shit to me. You have enough to worry about.”

  “You’re the best, do you know that?”

  “Back at you, bab,” she replies, smacking a kiss on my cheek.

  My phone lights up, blaring a ringtone, and she grins when I lift it up, seeing the care home number written across the screen.

  “Hello?” I answer.

  “Hello, is this Miss Wilson?”

  “It is,” I answer.

  “We’ve had a phone call to confirm a visitation at six later today. Is this still okay?”

  Excitement bubbles inside of me. “It is. Thank you.”

  “See you then,” she replies, before ending the call.

  I grin at Rebecca, warmth filling me. “I get to see Mum. Tonight.”

  She squeals, pulling me in for a hug. “We fucking did it.”

  “I’ll bring my phone with me. If Mum has been hurt, I’ll take pictures,” I tell her, my cheeks hurting from smiling so wide.

  “Put the memory stick on his desk and let’s go. I can’t believe we did it.”

  I can’t believe it worked either. Now I just have to get my mum out of there.

  “Thank you for doing this with me,” I tell her, dropping the memory stick on the desk.

  She grins, bouncing on her feet. “I’ve actually enjoyed this. Your dad has been a wanker your whole life. I can’t wait to see his downfall.”

  I link my arm through hers. “I love you.”

  “Love you too, bab.”

  We head down the hall, and as we step into the reception area, the wind slams the door shut behind us as a bloke in overalls enters through the main door.

  “Ladies,” he greets, dipping his chin to his chest.

  Jessica pulls her attention away from the clothing site she’s on to glance at me and Rebecca. “You two are still here?”

  “We’re just leaving. Thank you for your help today. Andrew will be so pleased to have such a great receptionist.”

  Her chest puffs out and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Could you tell him that? I mean, he’s been cross with me a lot lately. Maybe a good review will stop him from firing me.”

  I kind of feel sad for her. I’m not sure if she’s good at her job or not, but still, I bet he treats her like shit on a daily basis. “I’m sure he won’t fire you.”

  She exhales sharply, slumping against the desk. “I don’t know. Everything I do lately seems to make him angrier. It’s all my fault though.”

  “I bet it fucking isn’t,” Rebecca barks. “Don’t let him get you down.”

  Jessica wipes under her nose. “No, no. It is my fault. Apparently, I leaked important information to a rival company. He’s been cross with me ever since.”

  I bend down a little, near her desk, so we’re eye level. I place my hand over her forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It doesn’t matter. You still shouldn’t be treated like that. If you ever need help finding a new job, message me.”

  I grab the notepad off the side and scribble my number down before handing it to her.

  “You would do this?”

  “I would. You should work in a safe and happy environment.”

  “He does get mad a lot,” she sniffles.

  “Excuse me, Jessica, we need those orders,” the guy in overalls orders, rolling his eyes when we all turn to glare at him. “What? She isn’t the only one he gets pissed at if they’re behind.”

  She startles and quickly reaches for the printer. “Yes, sorry, Woods. I have them right here.”

  “I’ll catch up with you soon, Jessica,” I rush out, dragging Rebecca out the door before we’re pulled into another conversation. I breathe a sigh of relief when we escape outside.

  “Helping Jessica was kind of you,” she declares.

  I shrug, brushing it off. “It’s okay. I still can’t believe that worked.”

  “It’s not over yet,” she tells me, losing her smile. “We have to find a link between these names and Andrew. I’m good with a computer so I can go through them.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. You need to go see your mum.”

  “Come on, I have the rest of the day off. We should go get lunch then head back to yours. I’ll help you print off everything we can find on the people in that diary.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she replies, before grinning at me. “Nando’s?”

  I roll my eyes as I pull my car door open. “Where else,” I mutter.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  WYATT

  My feet pound down the stairs before I jump the last three and hit the bottom with a thud. I grab my coat off the hook near the door, ready to leave for my date with Evie. If I leave now, I will make it to hers on time.

  “I’ll see you later, Mum,” I yell, hearing her banging away in the kitchen, preparing to feed a small army.

  She pops her head around the kitchen door, smiling. “Have fun. Give my love to Evie, would you?”

  Chuckling, I nod. “I will, Mum.”

  It’s strange to feel this excited about seeing someone. I have been excited about going on holiday, getting in a brawl, Christmas, birthdays, but never about seeing a person. It felt empty at work today without her there. I couldn’t explain why since she has only ever been professional whilst there. Yet, she still brings a lightness and colour to the office that was never there before. Even Paisley hadn’t brought that when she worked with us. Evie, however, has somehow brightened the place up.

  It shows in the red sofa she talked Jaxon into ordering so clients would have somewhere to wait. It was getting a cleaner and sprucing the place up with canvas paintings. It was how she made an impression on all of us without even meaning to. Even closed off, her personality shows with everything she does for the company, whether that’s intentional or not.

  I hadn’t realised how much of a difference she made until today. It was dull in the office without her.

  Pulling open the front door, I stagger to a stop when I see Jaxon walking up. He pauses mid-step, his body tense.

  It’s a shock to see him still here. He said he was calling Liam for the status on the memory stick then heading home.

  For him to be here, something has happened. If he can’t wait until tomorrow to fill me in, it has to b
e important.

  “What did he find?” I ask when I see his gloomy expression.

  His expression doesn’t change as he looks me dead in the eye. “We should talk in the office.”

  Fuck, it’s bad.

  I try to shrug the tension from my shoulders. “Whatever it is, spit it out,” I order.

  “In a rush to get somewhere?”

  “I’m going to Evie’s for dinner, but I can stay if you need me,” I tell him, watching him closely. I’ll always be here for family. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. “Did he manage to get into the files?”

  “No, he didn’t. This is about something else.”

  I shrug my jacket on as I take the stairs, stopping at the bottom to face him. “What is it about then? If you’re here to moan about me and Evie, I told you not to bother. You saw yourself today that we can keep it professional.”

  He holds his hand up, stopping me. “It’s not about that. It’s about the Franklin job.”

  “What about it?”

  “It was a job only we and the siblings knew about. Someone on that job or in the office told Black we would be there, that or he has access to our system.”

  “Yeah, we already assumed as much, Jax. But we ruled out our computers being hacked. Liam checked them. So where are you going with this? Do you think someone working that day said something?”

  He looks straight ahead. “No. The extra men we hired didn’t know about the job details until that day. No way was something of that magnitude planned in a few hours. Black would have needed to find those guys and then persuade them to do it.”

  “He could have already known them,” I point out.

  “True, but then we still have the mystery of how the information got into his hands.”

  What he’s implying finally clicks and I grit my teeth, shoving him back. “Don’t you dare put the blame on Evie. She’s not like that.”

  He flinches. “How do you know?”

  I don’t know who he is right now. How can he even think it? He has worked alongside her for months now. He should have seen how loyal she is to our company, to her job. There is goodness inside her, and she is kind. She doesn’t have the heart to play us like that. Not Evie.