“I guess you should be loyal if he’s giving you all this money,” Stephen sneered.
Mati took a stranglehold on her temper.
“I didn’t give her a dime,” Reese said mildly, capturing the attention of everyone in the room. He appeared for all the world unperturbed, his legs crossed, one arm stretched along the back of the couch. “You were fools not to make her a partner in your company from the outset, a mistake for which I will always be grateful. That gratitude, and because Matilda has helped me many times over, means I will gladly offer whatever help I can in return. But make no mistake—my only interest is in her well-being, not the company. If I think for one minute the investment isn’t sound, or that she’s being made unhappy, I will campaign furiously for her to sell Viveiros Produce to the highest bidder and walk away. The decision will be hers alone, of course, but if you think she got to where she’s in a position to buy and sell companies by being a soft touch, you’re more foolish than I ever believed.”
Mati reminded herself, sternly, that now was not the right time to go over and kiss the bejesus out of Reese. David appeared to be having the same struggle.
Mati focused back on her family, surprised to find her mother getting to her feet. She came around the coffee table, squeezed Mati’s hand, and went to Reese and David.
“I have coffee and cinnamon rolls. Can I get you gentlemen anything?”
If that wasn’t the seal of approval, Mati didn’t know what was. Her brothers knew it, too.
Her dad no longer looked angry, so much as resigned.
Mati would take it. It wasn’t like she’d ever thought for a minute they’d thank her.
Reese was having a religious experience. Watching Mati kick ass and take names was enough on its own, but now he was eating this fucking pastry that he swore to god had been made by angels.
He said as much to Mati’s mom—without the curse words, of course—and she beamed at him and went to the kitchen to get more.
“I need this recipe,” David begged when she returned.
She was obviously surprised by the request.
Reese smiled, mindful that strict gender roles were a thing around here. “David is a marvelous cook. I’m sure he could do them justice.”
David bumped their shoulders together in silent gratitude.
Mrs. Viveiros cocked her head. “But then how would I convince you three to visit me?”
David and Reese blinked up at her. She couldn’t possibly think…or know…
“We’d happily come whenever you’d have us,” Reese finally managed.
She was transparently proud when she looked at Mati, sitting at the dining room table with her brothers and father, hashing out the details for Viveiros Produce. “You take such good care of her. I can tell.”
She looked at both of them when she said it.
Mati was going to flip.
As if she could sense the semi-hysterical laughter bubbling in the next room, Mati stood and finished her meeting. “I’ll be by the office tomorrow morning. I know you have things to do.”
She didn’t actually say, “Like fire Frankie’s ass”, but everyone understood.
Reese and David rose while wolfing down the remainder of their third—fifth?—cinnamon roll, each, as politely as possible.
Mati was clearly trying not to laugh at them.
Reese thanked Mati’s parents for having them over, as if it had been a normal social call, while David helped Mati into her coat. As soon as the front door closed behind them, David picked up speed, jogging to the car and towing them in his wake.
“Please tell me you have your apartment keys with you,” he said to Mati.
Reese’s heart rate doubled, and he searched up and down the street. “Is something wrong?” he asked, diving into the car.
David slid into the driver’s seat. “No, but if I don’t get you two alone somewhere I can do indecent things to you in the next ten minutes, I’m going to embarrass myself in public.”
Mati laughed and dangled her keychain between the front seats.
Reese grinned. “It’s hot, right?”
“What is?” Mati asked as she grabbed her seatbelt and David tore out onto the street.
“You. When you get all…” Reese gestured, trying to come up with the right word.
“Business-like,” David supplied.
Mati’s brows went up. “I’m hot when I’m professional?”
“Yes,” David and Reese said in unison.
“You have no fucking idea,” Reese added in a mutter. He saw David’s erection pressing against the front of his jeans and his mouth watered.
Mati stared at them like they’d lost their minds.
“It’s the suit,” David said, clearly trying to put his finger on what, exactly, made Mati so…Mati.
“And the shoes,” Reese agreed. “But also, the look.”
“Yeah, I saw that. When she told them to sit? And announced the new name of the company? I was worried I’d have to spend the whole visit with my hands in my lap.”
“That’s the sexy librarian thing right there,” Reese said. “You were right.”
“It’s hard to miss,” David agreed.
Mati laughed breathlessly. A sexy flush bloomed on her cheeks, her eyes bright.
David parked in front of Mati’s apartment as best he could while practically diving out of the car. He dragged them up the stairs, lifting Mati clear off her feet when her shoes slowed her down.
The door slammed behind them and coats went flying. Reese had just freed his arms when David threw Mati onto the kitchen table. She fell back, dragging Reese closer as David slid between her thighs. Reese was still frantically shoving his pants down when she sucked his cock into her hot mouth and David hooked her panties aside with his fingers and plunged into her body.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mati had always liked her bed, had spent a lot of money on making sure it was comfortable and luxurious in all the ways she wanted it, but it turned out it was way more comfortable to lie on top of David and Reese on top of her fancy-schmancy mattress.
Who knew?
David was sprawled face down, with Reese curled around him and Mati draped over them both. She couldn’t remember how they’d ended up like this, still fully clothed. She did remember David carrying her this far when she hadn’t been able to get her legs to support her and Reese bringing a warm washcloth from the bathroom to clean them up.
She’d liked those parts. She liked all the parts where Reese and David took care of her. Not because she needed it or expected it—neither was true—but because they knew that and did it anyway, freely and happily. It made it easy, in the end, for her to not only accept their help but to relish it.
She’d always thought letting a man take care of her would be giving something up, letting go of some agency she was utterly unwilling to part with. But she’d been wrong. Reese and David built her up and made her stronger.
Her musing was interrupted by a buzzing from the other side of the room.
“Whose phone is that?” David muttered into the bedding, sounding annoyed.
“Yours,” Mati and Reese replied in unison.
“How did you know that?”
They both lifted their phones into the air.
David rolled his eyes, but Mati could see his smile. He wiggled and she made disgruntled noises as she climbed off his back and Reese pulled his leg from the tangle of limbs. David hauled himself to his feet and staggered to the kitchen with his open jeans barely hitched over his hips.
He dug the phone from his coat pocket, checked the screen, and answered it. “What’s up, Hodges?”
Mati sat up. Reese stood and fastened his pants.
She reminded herself they had other priorities and she shouldn’t feel disappointed.
“Hold on, let me put you on speaker.”
“No, I can tell you…fine.” Hodges’ grousing was loud in the quiet loft. “Muffy called the house. Hunter turned up at home this m
orning.”
Reese went to David. “Is he all right?”
“Seems so. His ears are probably ringing from his mother reading him the riot act, but he told her what happened.”
Mati slipped her feet back into her shoes and stood. “Muffy was worried he may have been dragged into something.”
“So it seems is the case,” Hodges agreed. “You’re not going to like what he told her.”
“Is that why you called me?” David asked.
“No, I called you because you were the least likely to answer if you’re all naked.”
David snorted. “Actually—”
“I don’t need to know anything!”
David grinned. “We have our clothes on, for what it’s worth.”
“Very little,” Hodges muttered.
“You have no idea,” Reese agreed, tracing one finger down David’s happy trail.
“Anyway,” Hodges went on emphatically, “the long and the short of it is that Hunter is the one responsible for cloning the phone.”
“He is?” Reese asked. “When did he have a chance? I don’t think we’ve been in the office with him before yesterday.”
“You haven’t, I don’t think. Or, at least, you didn’t have to be. He says Chaz asked him to set it up and made him write down detailed instructions for how to actually make it happen once they had the phone in question—which we now know was Mati’s. They even practiced.”
Mati shook her head. “I don’t get it. Why not Reese’s phone?”
“It was probably about access to the original phone. It’s not like it is in the movies, where they stand near a phone for a few seconds to clone it. To get the Bluetooth locks and encryption to match, they needed, among other things, to download some data and access a specific unique identifier for your physical phone.”
“How do you get that?” Mati asked.
“Well, it’s often printed under the battery, but they may have been able to access it through the phone’s settings. Either way, the download included hooking the phone up to an external device.”
David pulled her closer. Reese stepped into them both.
“So,” Mati said, swallowing when her voice shook, “Chaz had his hands on my phone and was in my phone, for a while? I can’t think of a single time that could have happened.”
“Someone who knew what they were doing with your model of phone might be able to do it all in a minute or less. But we don’t think it was someone that adept, in this case.”
“What do you mean? You don’t think it was Chaz?” David asked.
“Chaz told Hunter the whole process had to be quiet.”
Reese cocked his head. “So?”
“Because it was going to be done in church.”
Mati felt like she’d been punched in the chest. “Motherfucking Frankie,” she swore. “I’m going to kill him.”
“We don’t know that’s what happened,” David said, but he didn’t sound like he believed it.
“Yeah, but we can be pretty damn sure. I’ll bet you anything it was at my nephew’s christening. I was up at the altar with the family for ages, and we left our cameras, our phones, in the front pew so friends and family could take pictures with them. Shit, how did I not notice him take my phone?”
David ran a soothing hand down her back. “He’s proven far more adept at subterfuge than anyone would have guessed. How long ago was this?”
“Almost three months.” She watched David’s face darken. “What?”
“That’s a long time to be planning a crime. Planning, patience, technology, opportunity…”
“And no goddamn motive,” Reese finished.
“And short of stalking Mati, no goddamn motive,” David agreed. “It also doesn’t explain the break-in. Or Chaz’s presence in Boston.”
“Could Chaz be the brains and Frankie the muscle?” Hodges asked.
Reese frowned. “We have no reason to believe Frankie knew I existed five years ago. Let alone my father before that. But maybe?”
“And what’s the connection between Chaz and Frankie?” Mati wondered. “How did they end up in this together?”
“Could Chaz be Frankie’s attorney?” Hodges asked.
Mati shook her head. “I’d be shocked if he even has one. He doesn’t have any assets, let alone the kind of estate or trust that calls for an attorney like Chaz. He lives paycheck to paycheck.” A thought struck Mati. “Oh shit—paychecks. I need to call my brothers. I need to tell them to be careful.”
She whipped out her phone.
David stilled her with one hand. “Tell them not to fire him at all. They should act as though everything is perfectly normal.”
Mati blinked up at him. “They’re going to want to know why.”
“Tell them the boss-lady says so and to suck it up,” Hodges suggested.
“Oh yeah, that’ll go over like a lead balloon,” she said with a laugh as she dialed. She was trying to come up with a reason to go back on her demand when the call went to voicemail.
“Stephen, do me a favor and hold off on firing Frankie. I want to talk to you and Mikey about something first. Don’t say anything to him, okay? Call me when you get this.”
She hung up to call Mikey and ended up leaving the same message.
If her idiot brothers were off sulking, she would be pissed.
“What do we do now?” she asked, worrying her lip between her teeth.
“Well,”’ Hodges said, “you could go to Chaz’s house. That’s where Hunter spent the night once he discovered his uncle’s vacation had been cut short and he was home.”
All three of them ran toward the door, pulling on coats and grabbing keys.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Hodges asked.
“Yes,” Reese said, plucking the keys from David’s hand. “I’ll drive. We’ll call you once we’re there and have spoken to Chaz.”
They were halfway down the stairs to the street when Reese realized no one had questioned his driving. He grinned as they strode across the sidewalk and jumped into the car.
After all these weeks, all these years, he might finally have some answers. They’d already learned so much, and while none of it made any sense yet, they had a clear path forward, and that path led directly to Chaz.
Unfortunately, Chaz lived outside the city. Fortunately, Reese still knew all these roads like the back of his hand. He broke more than a couple traffic laws getting there in record time.
He tore up Chaz’s driveway and stopped in front of the door.
“We’re not sneaking up on him, I see,” David said dryly from the passenger seat.
Reese cringed. “Sorry, I—”
A flash of movement at the corner of the house caught Reese’s eye.
Chaz bolted out of a side door and toward his garage.
“Oh, hell no,” David said, leaping out of the car.
As soon as David was clear, Reese yelled, “Hold on!” and threw the car back into gear. He didn’t let Chaz’s carefully manicured lawn and a couple flower beds stop him as he drove straight for the garage.
They landed back on the driveway with a grinding noise Hodges would give him hell for and a loud whoop from Mati in the back seat. The car skidded to a stop behind Chaz’s car, blocking it in just as he reached it. His eyes widened in alarm and he took off toward the woods along the back of his property. He made it twenty yards before David was sailing through the air and tackling him into the bed of pine needles and tree roots.
Mati hissed.
Reese cringed. “That’s gotta hurt.”
When the two men remained in a motionless heap on the ground, Reese’s heart stopped.
“David!” Mati cried.
She and Reese shot out of the car.
If David was hurt, if anything at all had happened to him, Reese didn’t know what he’d do. He’d never forgive himself, to begin with, and the ideas only went downhill from there.
When they got closer, Reese saw David was smashing Chaz’s face
into the dirt and speaking in a low voice, directly into Chaz’s ear.
Reese heard the words “eunuch” and “mercy”.
Chaz was as pale as a ghost.
With a final shove, David lifted himself off Chaz and hauled him to his feet.
Chaz’s unblinking, terrified eyes swung between David, Reese, and Mati. He looked like he was about to wet himself.
“Did you just put the fear of god into him?” Reese asked David curiously.
David smiled like a shark. “It’s not god he should fear,” he said in a low voice.
Reese almost slapped his dick when it twitched, because now was not the time.
Mati tried to stifle a fit of giggles. “Sorry, sorry,” she gasped. “God, the adrenaline is getting to me. I’m going to step over there and call my brothers again,” she said, eying Chaz before walking away.
Reese had to say Chaz’s name twice before he would look away from David.
“What the fuck have you done?”
Chaz blinked up at him.
Mati left another voicemail for her brothers. A slither of unease worked down Reese’s spine. David held on tight to Chaz, but his gaze narrowed on Mati.
“Seriously, Chaz, you might as well tell me.” Reese glanced at David pointedly. “You don’t want to piss this guy off, do you?”
Chaz stood straighter. “I—”
“Wait!” David said, putting his hand up. He cocked his head toward Mati.
“Mom? Why aren’t you answering the phone? Call me when you get a chance, okay? I need to talk to Stephen and Mikey.”
Mati hung up, her hand falling to her side. “No one is answering, damn it.”
“At the office?” David asked.
“Office. Cell phones. My parents’ house.”
Reese glared at Chaz. “What the fuck have you done?”
Chaz shook his head fast. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t—I have nothing to do with Ms. Viveiros’s family.”
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