by Tawny Taylor
Images flashed.
Memories played out in my head.
It would be a miracle if I slept.
I woke up not knowing where I was for a moment. One second I was with Kam, lying in bed, writhing beneath him as he stroked my body from head to toe, and the next I was in my bed alone. Horribly alone.
Kam was in jail.
Oh God.
The minute my eyes were functioning, I checked the clock. It was three o’clock. In the morning. I’d slept for . . . fifteen hours. I was thirsty and needed to use the bathroom.
I took care of the most pressing issue first, then wandered down the hall toward the kitchen. As I passed my brother’s room I heard voices. His voice. And a female’s. She was giggling.
Clearly, this whole mess hadn’t affected his love life at all. He was right back to his old games.
Shaking my head, I kept going toward the kitchen. In there, I grabbed a water bottle and sat at the breakfast bar to unscrew the cap. I heard my brother’s door swing open. Voices grew louder as he and his houseguest continued to talk in hushed voices. They were coming my way.
“You’re sure you can hold her off for a little longer?” the woman asked.
Who was she talking about?
“Yeah. It won’t be a problem. Just do what I said.”
“Okay.” There was the sound of kissing, sighing. Then, “You are so sexy. I can’t wait until we’re out of here, in our own place, far away from everyone.”
“Soon, babe. It’ll happen soon,” Joss said.
What were they talking about?
He was planning on moving away with some woman? Where was he going? Who was the she they were talking about?”
Something made me slide off the stool and circle around the back of the counter where I would be hidden in deep shadow. Ducking behind a row of cabinets, I focused on breathing slowly, shallowly so I could listen.
They kissed again. The woman moaned. “I can’t get enough of you. I missed you so much.”
“Just do what I said. We need that bastard to stay in jail. I’m tired of hiding.”
Bastard?
Was he talking about Kam?
“At least they only found the smaller account,” the woman said. “The second one is still safe.”
“Good. We’re going to need every penny.”
What the hell? Money? Account?
What account was he talking about? What the hell was going on?
My brain started making connections.
Kam. They wanted him to stay in jail.
Bank accounts.
Me.
Was Joss somehow connected to the theft after all? Was there another bank account somewhere? Under whose name? And who was he working with? Who was the woman?
My brother? My freaking brother was involved?
No.
Couldn’t be.
My brother was troubled. He made some stupid mistakes, some really crappy decisions. But he wasn’t a bad person. He wouldn’t steal from his employer and then let the owner of the company go to prison for the crime he had committed.
I’d raised him to be better than that.
“See you later. Babe, remember. Be smart,” my brother said. He was in the living room, somewhere close to the door.
“I will,” the woman said. “I love you.”
“Yeah.”
My heart slammed against my rib cage as I heard the front door click shut.
I heard him walking toward me, toward the kitchen. I didn’t need him to know I’d been listening. Crouched low, I skittered around the end of the counter, ducking into the living room. The couch provided cover as I made my way around to the exit at the opposite end, where the bedroom hallway connected. As I rounded the corner, stepping into the hallway, I heard the refrigerator door open and close. I was in my bedroom a handful of seconds later.
In my bedroom.
And in shock.
There were so many questions whirling around in my head, I could barely keep track of where I was. But the biggest, most pressing question was why. If he’d done what I was beginning to suspect he had, I needed to understand why he would do something so underhanded.
Why?
There was the money. I got that. We weren’t rich. We lived a pretty simple life. But we’d made it through tough times, and we’d done it together.
Why?
Why would he turn his back on me now? By using my name on the bank account, he’d pretty much set it up to make me look guilty. My brother. The man I had bailed out. Over and over and over.
Why?
I paced my room for what felt like hours, until sunlight was leaking in my room through the slit between the curtains. I poked my head out into the hall and heard Joss’s faint snoring from his room.
He was sleeping.
Now was my chance.
I needed to go to the police and tell them what I heard.
But that wouldn’t give them much to go on. Would they even believe me? I had nothing to prove what I’d heard. No other witnesses.
If I could locate the second bank account, that would clinch it. If.
How?
Dammit, I was no detective.
There had to be a record of the bank account somewhere. Right?
My brother’s bedroom door was open. I peered inside. He was lying on his back, snoring.
Should I go in there and take a look around?
No. It was too risky. Better to do that when he wasn’t at home. I closed his door and scurried back to my room to think.
The problem was, I was too confused to figure anything out. I showered, dressed for work, put on some makeup, fixed my hair, and headed out to the kitchen to grab some coffee and something quick to eat. I found a cell phone sitting on the kitchen counter.
I swiped the darkened screen and, with one ear listening for any sign that he was awake, I started checking his phone records. The phone log contained calls dating as far back as two months ago.
Two months.
This wasn’t the phone he’d acquired recently, while he was in hiding. He’d had it for much longer.
I checked the phone number.
He’d never called me from that number before. It was a phone line he’d kept secret from me.
I wondered how many other secrets he’d kept.
Scrolling through the phone log, I saw that he’d made most of his calls to one phone number. That number was saved in his phone, but the only information he’d saved was one initial. T. That was it. No name. No address. Nothing else.
T.
One name popped into my head.
I was willing to bet this person, T—especially after seeing the last call he’d received had been from her—was the woman my brother had been with tonight.
Could it be her? Could it be Terry. Human Resources Terry?
I needed to find out.
Maybe I could do a reverse lookup on the number?
I needed something to write with.
I circled around the counter and started digging in the junk drawer for a pen and a piece of paper. As I was searching, I heard footsteps. I jerked my head up.
Joss. “Good morning, sis. You look better.”
I almost jumped out of my skin. After catching my breath, I somehow said, “I feel better. Thanks.”
“Good.” His brows furrowed. “What are you doing?”
“I was just looking for a pen and a piece of paper. To . . .” My gaze jumped to the phone and then back to my brother. The phone’s screen had blacked out, but I knew, having used touch screen phones before, that when my brother swiped the screen, he’d see the screen I had just been looking at. Would he remember what had displayed when he’d last used his phone? Would he realize I had been snooping? “. . . make a shopping list,” I finished. “Since we’ve been away, some of our food is expired.”
“Oh. Okay.” His gaze wandered from me to the counter, settling on his phone.
“Was there anything in particular you wanted me to buy
?” I asked, trying to distract him.
“No. Not that I can think of,” he responded. He slowly moved toward the counter. “I think I’ll go take a shower.” He leaned against the counter and, kind of hiding his movement, grabbed his phone and pocketed it. “Are you heading into work today?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.” He waved over his shoulder as he retreated.
“Call me if you think of anything you want me to buy,” I shouted to his back.
“Will do.”
His door shut.
Oh God, he was going to figure out I’d been messing with his phone.
Abandoning my search for a writing implement, now that I’d totally forgotten T’s phone number, I went back to my room, grabbed my purse and car keys, and headed for the front door. In the distance I could hear water running. The sound was coming from my brother’s bathroom.
Had he checked his phone already? Was he suspicious?
I locked the front door on the way out and hurried to my car. Within minutes I was zooming down Ford Street, heading to work. I had no idea what to expect when I got there. Would I be welcomed back? Would I be scrutinized? Now that Kam was in jail, did I even have a position?
Really nervous, I drove to work, parked in the huge lot, and tried to hide my anxiety as I strolled inside. I took the elevator up to the tenth floor and exited.
Stephanie was sitting at her desk. She saw me and smiled. “Abigail! You’re back!”
“I’m back.”
“I’m sorry about your loss. Was it . . . your grandmother?” She winked.
What?
“I heard you were out of work because of a death in the family,” she said, giving me a strange go-with-me look.
Why was she trying to get me to lie?
She jerked her head toward Kam’s office. Someone was in there. Someone who didn’t know I had been there the day Kam was arrested.
“Oh.” I schooled my expression to what I hoped would reflect grief. It wasn’t difficult. I was an emotional wreck. “Yes. My grandmother. I hadn’t seen her in a long time. She lives—lived—in . . . Omaha. I used to visit her every summer when I was a kid.”
Stephanie’s expression of commiseration was completely believable. “I’m so sorry. You missed a lot of crazy stuff going on.”
“Oh, really?” My gaze flicked to the closed door.
“Yes. Have you been out of the state the whole time? Have you heard anything?”
“Nothing.”
“Mr. Maldonado’s in jail. For embezzlement,” she said, doing one hell of a good job at pretending to be telling me for the first time.
My stomach churned. Hearing it . . . hearing it spoken aloud made me feel sick. “What? No way. Really?”
“Yes. Could you imagine? The guy was stealing from his own company.”
“I don’t understand. Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either. But what do I know about how rich people think? I’m not rich. Maybe he was trying to hide income from someone? Maybe he owes somebody money?”
“Maybe.”
Kam’s doorknob rattled.
“Anyway,” Stephanie continued, her gaze hopping to the door before returning to me, “I was told you need to report to HR when you came in.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll do that then.” I eyed the shut door, wondering who was in Kam’s office. “Do you think they are going to assign me to a new position? I’d like to get some things out of my office.”
“Um . . . hang on.” She picked up her phone, dialed. In hushed tones, she asked whoever was in Kam’s office if I could go in and clear my desk. A few seconds later, she nodded. “You can go in and grab your personal belongings.”
“Thanks.” I opened Kam’s office door and slipped inside. His office looked pretty much as it always had. With the exception of the laptop computer that was usually sitting on the desk. I guessed the police had confiscated it as evidence. And the man I didn’t recognize sitting in his chair, using his phone.
He didn’t acknowledge me, so I scurried to my office and closed myself in. Within seconds a strange sensation overcame me as memories of the times Kam and I had shared in that tiny space shot through my mind. Like when I’d been tied to that chair and brought to the verge of ecstasy. How long ago had that been? Not long at all. And yet, so much had happened. So much had changed.
Now he was in jail, awaiting trial for a crime he hadn’t committed. And I had just learned that my brother, who I’d protected and cared for all my life, was somehow tied to the theft that had started this whole investigation.
Not since the day our father had died had my life been so turbulent and confusing.
I had hoped and prayed it would never be as crazy as it had been then. Until now I’d been able to keep things relatively calm, relatively normal.
I checked my desk. I couldn’t remember where I’d put everything, exactly, so I couldn’t say for sure whether anyone had searched through my things. My computer was gone.
I emptied a paper box, stacking the reams on a shelf, and loaded the few personal items I had brought to work in it. Then I headed out, box in hand.
Stephanie gave me a little wave as I headed for the elevator. “I hope you like your new position.”
“Thanks.”
My heart thumped hard in my chest as I rode the elevator down to the third floor. The fast, hard thudding didn’t ease when the car stopped. In fact, as the door rolled open, it amped up a notch.
Especially when I read the placard next to the HR manager’s door.
Terry Stimpson.
Terry Stimpson. Yes, she could be the mysterious T. Hoping I would recognize T’s voice when I heard it, I gripped the box with my sweaty hands and pushed open the door.
Terry was sitting at her desk—the one Kam had been sitting at not so long ago, as we’d searched employee records for clues. Her brown hair was scraped back in a low ponytail, and she was wearing a dark gray suit and white blouse, pearl earrings. It was hard to imagine I might be staring into the eyes of a thief, that this uptight, conservative-looking woman might be capable of committing such a crime.
“Hello. I’m glad to see you’re back,” she said, not sounding particularly glad about anything.
Hmmm. Did that sound like Joss’s little sex partner? I couldn’t be sure.
Maybe yes.
Maybe no.
She was speaking in a very clipped, professional tone now. Nothing like how the woman had been talking to Joss.
I tried to look happy. “It’s good to be back.”
She motioned to the chair facing her desk. “Won’t you sit?”
“Thanks.” I set the box on the floor.
I couldn’t say one way or the other if Terry was T. I needed to listen closely, really concentrate.
She rested her elbows on her desk and leveled a serious look at me. “As you may have heard, we’ve made some sudden changes in the structure of the company. Your position as personal assistant to Mr. Maldonado no longer exists.”
Oh God. Was I going to be fired?
24
My heart had fallen down, down, down. It was somewhere in my ankles. As if things hadn’t been horrible already, they were about to get worse. How would I figure out what was going on if I was fired and couldn’t get into this building? How would I help Kam get out of jail?
I needed time. I needed access to the company’s computer system. I needed a fricking miracle. And I needed to find out who my brother was working with. I still couldn’t say whether the woman sitting on the other side of the desk was the woman who had been in my apartment.
I muttered, “Please—”
“I’m not through yet,” Terry interrupted, slanting her eyes at me. She cleared her throat. “I’ve found another position for you in the company.”
“Oh, thank God.”
Her stern expression softened somewhat. Slightly. Very slightly. “It isn’t at the same leve
l, so you won’t be receiving the same salary.” She flipped open the folder sitting in front of her—my file, the one that had been missing—and extracted a piece of paper. “I hope you find this satisfactory.” She pushed the piece of paper toward me.
I glanced down.
Position: Maintenance Department Administrator.
Pay scale: $32,000 salary per year, paid weekly.
Wow, it was lower, less than I’d earned even before being bumped up to executive assistant. My heart slid to my toes. After payroll taxes and health insurance premiums, I was going to have to try to live on less than four hundred dollars a week.
A big, hard lump formed in my throat. I had always lived paycheck to paycheck. Things were rough before. They were about to get much worse. Even after the raise, I had tried to keep my expenses down. I didn’t spend money frivolously.
Thank God I’d been smart enough to sock away a fair amount of money in the bank when I was collecting those big paychecks. But that cash, coupled with the money Kam had given me while we were on the run, would only last so long. Then what? What would I give up? Utilities? Food? Rent? Insurance?
Hoping the downgrade would be temporary, and I would be going back to executive assistant when Kam was released from jail, I nodded. “Okay. I’ll take it.”
“Very well. You can head down now and start your training. The person who has been in that position is being promoted. She starts her new position next week. If you have any problems, please feel free to come to me.”
“Thanks.” I stood, turned toward the door.
“Don’t forget your box.”
“Oh. Yes.” I squatted slightly and scooped it up. “Thanks.” Arms full, I headed for the door again.
“Incidentally, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but if you wish to continue your employ with MalTech, you must abstain from any contact with Kameron Maldonado.”
I pivoted around to face her. “O-okay.”
“It’s for your benefit as well as the company’s. Because of certain rumors, your reputation has been tarnished. If word were to get out that you were still communicating with the individual who stole from us, you might find yourself out of a job.”