by Leigh James
I’d been trying to distract Lauren, but I still felt sick about the events of the day and where we stood. What if they killed Hannah? What if Li Na decided that this was all too much trouble, she was cutting it too close, and it was finally time to walk away?
Levi sat down and stuck his feet in the water, which I noticed he did at every opportunity. This was most likely a by-product of living in crappy weather in Boston for most of his life. “I understand. And I’m sorry I got angry with you earlier.”
“Sorry I threw you against the wall. And called you dumb.”
“No, you’re not.”
I shrugged. “Remorse isn’t really my strong suit.”
“Today was terrible,” Levi admitted. “And you’re right, Hannah’s in greater danger now than she already was. It’s on my conscience. You aren’t responsible—it’s on me.”
“But I do feel responsible. Hannah’s like my sister, and I need to make this better for Lauren. This is tearing her apart. Sitting by, not being able to do anything—that’s tearing me apart.”
“I get it.” Levi looked out at the pool. “It’s interesting to finally see you with someone, you know. An equal… I never thought it would happen, honestly.”
“You, the eternal bachelor, are saying this to me?” Levi had been engaged once, but we never brought it up. Not unless we wanted to land in the emergency room.
My brother visibly stiffened. “Let’s get back to what’s important. We have an opportunity now to search locally for Hannah. Li Na’s most likely keeping her nearby, unless she’s decided to bail on the plan.”
“What do you think? It’s getting riskier for her to keep this up.”
“She doesn’t seem too worried.” Levi shrugged. “I think she’s been coming at Lauren hard for so long, she’s not going to give up—not when she’s so close to getting what she wants. We need to make searching the area our number-one priority. Ash has a team, but I’m going to bring our whole staff out here. It’s going to be a manhunt.”
The fact that he was throwing every asset available at the task made me feel better—his firm was one of the best in the country for a reason. Due to circumstances beyond his control we’d fucked up today, but I still had every confidence in him. “Can I help?”
“About that. I’ve been thinking,” Levi said, but he didn’t say anything for a minute. “I know you want to help. But we all have our special gifts, okay? You isolated the stolen plate number using an equation—that’s something I couldn’t have done. In fact, I’m going to hire a new tech guy who can do shit like that all the time, because it really came in handy…”
“Were you about to make a point?”
“Yes. About your ability to contribute. You can help, but you should stay out of the line of fire and behind a computer, where you belong—and please don’t punch me for saying that. I mean it as a compliment.”
“Right.” All the fight had drained out of me, though, so I waited to hear what he had to say.
“I’ve done some research, but I’m wondering, what do you actually know about Zhao?”
I shrugged. “Probably not a lot more than you. She’s in her early forties, she graduated at the top of her high school, undergraduate, and graduate classes, she’s divorced with no kids, and she started Jiàn Innovations a few years ago. They’ve been successful in the Chinese market, but she’s made it clear that she wants a bigger piece of the global economy. Other than that, I know she considers herself above the law in China. She’s said repeatedly that she is helping to rebuild Shenzhen, and that her government has no interest in having her extradited.”
“And those seem to be the only details available,” Levi agreed. “But I’d like to know more. I’d like to know about her background, her ex-husband, and how her company got to where it is today.”
“So you want me to do your research, like some unpaid intern?”
Levi shrugged. “I want you do some more digging, and then use your superior intellect to help piece together more about her character. She must have some sort of weakness—but we’ve been letting her run us in circles, and we haven’t been able to find it. You and Lauren have been so busy playing defense, you haven’t had the opportunity to consider an offense.”
“Like what?”
“You’ll think of something.” Levi patted me on the shoulder. “Dad always said you were the smart one. Let’s see if he was right.”
Chapter 17
Lauren
Bethany met me at the house that morning. There were dark circles blooming like bruises beneath her eyes. “You look how I feel,” I told her.
Bethany gave me a tired smile. “You look worse than I feel.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Have you heard anything?”
“Nothing after Li Na texted me and basically told me that she’d kill Hannah if I messed up again.”
“I’m so sorry.” Bethany squeezed my shoulder.
I nodded. “Let’s get to work so I don’t go crazy thinking about it.”
“I didn’t get as far as I wanted last night, so we really need to buckle down. Can we set up in Gabe’s office?”
“Of course.” I motioned for her to follow me down the hall. “He wants us to stay here for security purposes, anyway. It’s fine for today, but I need to get to Paragon later this week and hold an employee meeting.”
“Does everyone know what’s happening?”
“Everyone knows I’m working on some sort of deal with Li Na. And the board knows what the details are, of course.” I grimaced, remembering what Gabe had told me. “Which reminds me—someone on the board leaked the news to our international distributors, trying to throw the sale. With everything else going on, I forgot to mention it.”
“Someone on the board?” Bethany looked shocked. “Who?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“What’re you going to do?”
“Gabe offered to handle the issue, to get to the bottom of it. With everything else going on, I accepted.”
Bethany set her laptop down and started pulling documents from her bag. “Wow. This is big for you. You don’t delegate easily—I should know.”
I nodded. “It actually feels good. Instead of feeling weakened or threatened, I feel…stronger. Because I know he has my back.”
Bethany grinned. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Stop.” Blushing, I opened my own laptop and clicked on one of Paragon’s financial statements, which I needed to review. “Back to business—about the staff. I haven’t made a company-wide announcement yet, but Gabe’s offered all my employees positions with Dynamica.”
Bethany’s eyes sparkled. “He’s good, huh? He’s even starting to grow on me.”
“He’s very good. But please don’t start up about the prenup again,” I said. “We aren’t there yet.”
“You will be. And when you are, I’ll be ready with my laptop.”
I groaned and set my attention to the numbers in front of me. Whatever else was going on, I could always count on Bethany to be a pain in my ass.
I was grateful for the piles of work—it took my mind off yesterday. I hadn’t slept, worrying what might’ve happened to Hannah. The guard who’d been watching her had been rough, and she’d clearly aggravated him. I didn’t want to think about what he could’ve done to her when they got back to wherever they were going…
I checked my watch. The house had been quiet all morning. “I’m going to go check in with Gabe, okay?”
He wasn’t in the kitchen. I found a note from him on the counter:
Babe.
Meeting with your board and catching up at work. Levi and Ash are doing surveillance. If they find anything, they’ll call us right away. I’ll be home tonight. Love you.
I decided not to call him. I’d accepted his offer to help with the board. I didn’t need to micromanage him. And with all the drama, he must be falling behind at Dynamica. I should let him work.
I let hope well up i
n my chest that maybe, by the time everyone got back tonight, there would be some good news.
But as I headed back to review accounts payable and receivable aging reports, an image of Hannah flashed in my mind: my beautiful sister in a filthy shirt, kneeling before Li Na’s henchman, saying she didn’t want to be a liability anymore.
And the hope died a quick, although not painless, death.
GABE
Ryan had taken the step of contacting each of Lauren’s board members directly, calling an emergency meeting regarding Dynamica. They didn’t know the specifics, and they didn’t know Lauren wouldn’t be present at the meeting.
No Lauren meant no nice cop. They were going to have to adjust accordingly.
It felt awkward going through the doors of Paragon, signing the visitor log, and hustling past the curious employees to the boardroom. I’d been at Paragon without Lauren before, of course. When she’d gone to Menlo Park to work remotely for Li Na, I’d been smuggled into the building to help secretly launch the patch. This time felt different because the items on my agenda included tracking down an internal traitor and opening a can of whoop-ass on them.
“Gabe,” Allen Trade said, looking surprised. “It’s just you? No Lauren?”
I nodded at the board members as they assembled. “She asked me to handle this matter for her.”
They looked at each other, concerned, but no one said a word. Things had been so crazy at Paragon for the past year, they probably didn’t know what to expect next.
“Do you have an update on Hannah?” asked Mimi White, another longtime board member.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have good news. We tried to get her back yesterday, but things didn’t go the way we’d hoped. We’re working on it.” I wanted to reassure them. Between what had happened to the security guards and Hannah, everyone was already on edge.
“Is Li Na still expecting Lauren to hand over the company? Even though she’s criminally liable for kidnapping?” Mimi sounded outraged.
“Li Na has not backed down at all. That’s part of the reason why I’m here. It’s crucial that we follow her instructions from here on out. Our failed attempt to get Hannah back has put us in a worse position—we’ve lost what little trust we had.”
A worried murmur broke out in the group.
“The fact is, I’m worried that she’ll do something terrible if there’s another misstep. That’s why I’m here, actually.”
Mimi arched her eyebrow. “Please explain.”
“I had a conversation with one of my overseas partners. They claimed someone on this board has been attempting to upset the sale to Jiàn Innovations by preemptively leaking news of the takeover.”
Everyone started talking at once.
“Are you accusing us of corporate sabotage?” Allen Trade asked, his voice rising above the din.
“I am accusing someone on this board of trying to throw the sale. And I need to know who it was, and I need them to stop—before this has dire consequences for Lauren and her family.”
I stood up. “We need to handle this today. I’d like to speak to each one of you privately in Lauren’s office. Come down in whatever order you like, when you’re ready.”
I doubted that any one of them would confess to me early this sunny morning, but I hoped to at least glean more information from this process. I’d reviewed the contracts between Paragon, Dynamica, and our international distribution partners. I’d also asked Kami to do the same. She’d called me this morning to confirm what I’d suspected: our third-party distributors couldn’t unilaterally withdraw from the contracts if Paragon was sold. They could, however, refuse to renew their contracts after a year-long trial period with the new partner.
I paced back and forth in Lauren’s office, waiting for someone to come down. The person who leaked the information had most likely known this as well. They were attempting to start rumblings within the network. If our United Kingdom, Australian, and Belgian distributors decided that a partnership with the Chinese was undesirable, they could scare the other distributors, creating mass panic. Collectively, they could agree to boycott Jiàn Innovations in the future, ultimately sabotaging the sale and forcing our hand. If Li Na became aware of this situation before the closing, Paragon would seem a less lucrative venture, one which she might choose to let go.
Which would be fine, if she wasn’t holding Hannah hostage.
Whoever had leaked the information had breached the board’s confidentiality and violated their relationship with Lauren, with potentially devastating implications. It was a reckless move, one they were going to have to pay for.
Stephanie buzzed in a minute later. “Allen Trade is ready for you.”
Allen, a former NASA advisor, looked seriously pissed beneath his immaculate white hair. “That was quite a spectacle you just put on, in a long line of recent spectacles.”
“I didn’t do it for the entertainment value.”
“You have a lot of nerve riling us all up like this at such a crucial time. People are upset, Gabe. We all love Hannah, and we love Lauren too. No one wants to see their family hurting like this. And the fact that we’re about to lose the company? It’s terrible. Disgusting. But you have no right to come in here and treat us like a bunch of criminals.”
“Are you finished?”
After a moment, Allen nodded. “Yes.”
“Then sit down. Please.” I started pacing again, channeling Lauren. “One of my partners called to tell me they knew a Chinese buyer was about to take over Paragon. They already wanted out of their contract, and several other distributors have followed suit. When I pressed her, she told me that a board member was the source of the information. How do you think that made me feel?”
Allen looked beside himself. “Who cares about you? How did Lauren feel? On top of everything else, she has to worry about…”
“Lauren is upset, but Lauren has bigger things to deal with. Lauren had to watch her sister get dragged away at gunpoint yesterday, so I figured I’d spare her this debacle.” I ran my hands through my hair, feeling a headache coming on. “Jesus. The last thing she needs right now is to have someone she trusts working against her. She’s dealing with too much already.”
“If it’s any comfort, it wasn’t me. But I will get to the bottom of this, I swear. We don’t want to lose the patch, but nothing is more important than family.”
“Why should I trust you?”
Allen shrugged. “You don’t have to trust me. You just have to let me find out who did this. You can trust me afterwards.”
My phone buzzed, and I quickly read the text that came in—a text that made my heart drop. No no no.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s my friend the neurosurgeon—about Wesley, the security guard who was shot. He’s not doing well.” I looked up at Allen. “Can we get back to this later?”
“Of course. I’ll get you some answers. Please tell Lauren that we’re all rooting for her. And poor Wesley too. Jesus,” he muttered as he left the room. “That Zhao woman has a lot to answer for.”
Chapter 18
Lauren
As soon as Gabe called, Timmy and I rushed to the hospital. “Did Mr. Betts tell you what was going on?” he asked, his voice tight.
“Just that the doctor texted him and told him to come in right away. He said Wes had taken a turn for the worse, but he didn’t get specific. At least, Gabe didn’t tell me anything else.” I stared out the window of the car, not seeing anything as we flew down the freeway. Wesley couldn’t die. If that happened, I didn’t know how I’d bear it…
Gabe was waiting for us in the lobby, his face pale and strained. “I just talked to Dr. Kim,” he said. “He said that Wesley’s heartbeat had become erratic… He’s worried something’s going on. He wanted us to come in right away.”
The floor spun beneath me. “To say good-bye?”
Gabe’s eyes darkened. “He didn’t say that.”
“Can we see him? Do you any idea what�
��s causing it? Have you seen the doctor since you’ve been here?”
“Dr. Kim’s with him now. The nurse said he’d be out in a minute.”
We paced the lobby, and thoughts swirled through my mind. I wished Hannah could be here. I truly believed that if she could just hold Wesley’s hand, he would get better. The thought that his condition could be worsening sent me into a spiral as I paced. I couldn’t lose my sister, and I couldn’t lose her boyfriend. They were in mortal danger because of me.
The ugly truth crushed me. I collapsed into a seat.
“Babe? Are you okay?”
“No.” My voice came out in a hoarse whisper.
Dr. Kim came out just then, looking like he hadn’t slept in a few days. “I’m glad you’re here. We’ve stabilized his heart rate, but I’m not sure what caused the arrhythmia. We’re going to be monitoring him closely, and he’ll be moved back down to the ICU.”
I jumped up. “Can we see him?”
“Only for a minute,” the doctor said.
“Is this common for people in his condition?” I asked.
The doctor shook his head. “Induced comas are used rarely, and only for the most extreme cases. His body is supposed to be resting—that’s the point. The fact that his heart is struggling under these conditions… It isn’t a good indicator.”
“Can you be more specific?” Gabe asked. “We need to be prepared.”
“It means his heart is working too hard. Which could mean his body is being taxed too much by his injuries, even though we took the extraordinary step of putting him into a coma.”
“Do you think he’s going to make it?”
Dr. Kim gave me a tired smile. “He’s young and he’s strong. He was in excellent health before he was shot, and that’s wonderful. I’m hoping we can keep him stabilized. I know that’s a non-answer, but it’s the only answer I have at the moment.”