Blackmailing the Bad Girl (Cutting Loose)

by Nina Croft

  She grinned when she saw Summer. “Hey, the prodigal returns.”

  “Thanks,” Summer said wryly. “How is she?”

  “She’s good.”

  Summer bit her lip.

  “No, really. She’s good.” Ginny rested a hand on Summer’s arm. “One thing though. She knows what you did. Where the money came from.”

  “How?”

  “Danny told her.”

  “Danny?”

  She was sounding like a parrot, but she couldn’t get her head around this.

  “She was bitter after you went away. She’d been coming along well…improving, and then she just sank into herself. Said it was her fault, she’d brought you up all wrong, blah, blah, blah.” She led the way into the hall and paused again. “I didn’t know what to do. So I talked to Danny, and he said he’d come see her. He’s been coming every week.”

  “Why didn’t I know about this?”

  She gave a small shrug. “We didn’t tell you because you’d been so adamant about him staying out of your life. We didn’t want you to worry.”

  Her head was hurting again. Why couldn’t something in her life just go as expected? She was glad her mother was happy, but what had Danny told her?

  Ginny pushed open the door to the sitting room and ushered her in. “I’ll go make some tea.”

  The room was spacious, with a big floral sofa, french windows leading out to the back garden, and a wide archway that led into a dining room. Summer had gotten a specialized architect in to redesign the house to make it wheelchair-friendly. It had been expensive but well worth the money.

  Taking a deep breath, she entered the room, her eyes drawn immediately to the woman in the wheelchair. For a moment, she didn’t recognize her. Her blond hair hung loose around her shoulders, her face made up discreetly. She was slender, and if it weren’t for the wheelchair, it would be hard to tell that something was wrong.

  She was a beautiful woman, but had always worn a pinched, bitter look. And after the accident, she’d developed lines of pain and tension. Now they were gone, smoothed away. Her lips curved up in a smile, reflected in her blue eyes.

  “Summer.”

  And Summer burst into tears.

  It was becoming a habit. This was definitely the last time. But these were tears of relief and happiness. She suddenly realized how worried she’d been about this meeting. She ran the last few feet, fell to her knees, and buried her head in her mom’s lap. Like she had when she was a little girl.

  Her mother stroked her hair, and they were silent for long minutes. Finally, Ginny cleared her throat from the doorway, and Summer straightened.

  Ginny placed a tray of tea on the table close by and then headed out of the room. “Just let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Thanks, Ginny,” her mom said.

  Summer got to her feet as the door closed behind her. She poured them both tea and handed her mother a cup. She took it with sure hands and placed it on the small tray attached to the arm of her chair.

  Summer picked up her own cup and sat down. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I’m okay, just…” She shook her head. The last thing she wanted was her mom worrying about her. “I’m fine. It’s good to see you.”

  “You don’t look fine. You look thin. And pale and tired.”

  “I ate too much last night and spent the night throwing up.”

  “Alone?”

  No way was she going to try to explain Nik to her mother. That would make her worry. But she couldn’t outright lie. “No, I met an old colleague. We had a…meal together.” Well, half a chocolate cake. “But I’m just not used to it.”

  “I’ve been thinking. Maybe you could move in here now that you’re out. You could get a local job. We could spend some time together. Get to know each other again.”

  “I’d like that, but I can’t. Not right now.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve got a job. A good one.”

  “Do they know about…your past?”

  “Yes. That colleague I saw last night? He needs an assistant.”

  “Why would he take you on?”

  Good question, and one she really wished she knew the answer to. “He’s sort of this Good Samaritan type. Believes everyone deserves a second chance.”

  “He sounds nice.”

  Hah. Not the word she would use to describe Nik Masterton.

  “Young?” her mother asked.

  “Youngish.” She knew where this was going.

  “Well, you keep your distance. If you want a man in your life, how about that friend of yours, Danny? He’s been good to me. Visited every week without fail. We talked about you a lot.”

  “He’s fabulous, but we’re like brother and sister. Nothing romantic.” She loved Danny, just not like that. “Anyway, he’s got a girlfriend.”

  Her mother sniffed. “I know, I met her, but she’s not as pretty as you. He’d be safe. Reliable.”

  She had an image of Nik, last night. Naked. So freaking hot, he nearly melted her. He epitomized everything her mother considered unsafe and unreliable.

  “I still think you could move in here. The commute isn’t too long.”

  “I’m sharing an apartment with Regan and Darcy. I can’t let them down. Regan’s starting a business. I’m going to help with the accounts, though it has to be unofficial. I’m banned from positions of finance, at least until my probation is up.”

  Her mother held out her hand, and Summer took it. “I know you did it for me.”

  She shrugged, uncomfortable with where the conversation was going.

  “I also know that the job you went down for wasn’t the first you did. I never could understand where you got the money from. And I didn’t question it too much, because I was scared to find out. You changed my life.”

  Her mother had been in a long-term care facility before Summer had bought this place, and employed Ginny, plus a host of others, physiotherapists, occupational therapists. All of it had been paid for through the trust fund she had set up from the first job she’d done.

  “Just tell me one thing,” her mom said. “Are you safe?”

  She thought about Nik and his file on her and sent up a little prayer that she was telling the truth. “Of course I am. And I never took anything from anyone who couldn’t lose it. Besides, they owed you that money.”

  “You stole from Trenton?”

  Trenton Industries was the manufacturing company her mother had worked for before the accident. She’d been injured when one of the machines had blown up. They’d lied, claiming it was negligence on her mother’s part, and had refused to pay out on the insurance, leaving her mother unable to work, or even walk and look after her daughter. It had torn their little family apart.

  “They owed you,” Summer said, suddenly fierce.

  Her mother was smiling. “I wish you’d never had to, and I worry they’ll catch up with you. But it’s justice, in a way.”

  “It’s a dead end now. They’ll never come after me.” Unlike Nik—who’d clearly kept looking. Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? She was going to have to see him every day from tomorrow on. Couldn’t she give herself a break until then?

  Ginny poked her head around the door at that point. “Has she told you about her boyfriend yet?”

  “You have a boyfriend?” Summer glanced at her mom. She’d never had a man friend as long as Summer could remember.

  “He’s not a boyfriend. Just a friend.”

  “Who’d like to be more,” Ginny put in, before disappearing again.

  “Tell me about him,” Summer said. “What’s his name? What does he do?”

  “His name’s Pete and he runs a construction firm.”

  “Sounds good so far. And he wants to be your boyfriend?”

  Her mom waved a hand down at her legs. “How could anyone really want me? And I won’t be a burden. He’s a friend, and that’s all he can be.”

  Summer leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re beautiful. But I won’t n
ag you today. Next time, well, that’s a different matter.”

  She stayed for the rest of the day. Taking her mother for a walk, then lunch outside at the local pub. She felt almost like a normal person.

  As evening fell, she stood to go. “I’ll get my stuff.” She didn’t have a lot, just some clothes and a few books. She’d never accumulated much, since she’d always felt transitory. “Then I’ll order a taxi.” It would cost a lot, but she couldn’t carry all her things on the bus.

  “There’s no need.”

  At that moment, the door opened and Danny stood there. Summer felt a smile tugging at her lips. She ran into his arms. He lifted her off her feet and swung her around.

  When he put her down, she just stared, that silly grin still on her face.

  Danny, in his way, was as gorgeous as Nik. He had Romany blood, with black hair, olive skin, and golden eyes. He was the cleverest person she had ever met, with a bad habit of getting into other peoples’ computer systems. He was the one who had helped her set up her alternative identities—she would never have been able to do her crimes without him. But luckily, no one had ever linked them. Danny had done time in a juvenile facility when he was seventeen, for computer hacking, but he’d learned his lesson, albeit a different one than Summer had learned. He’d just decided to be more careful.

  She’d met Danny when they were both fourteen. Danny had been in and out of the foster system all his life. He wasn’t bitter about it and knew his way around. For some reason she’d never been able to fathom, he’d taken pity on first-timer Summer, taken her under his wing and stopped the others from bullying her. It certainly hadn’t been because he fancied her; at that point, she’d been fat and frumpy. She’d been a pathetic specimen back then, devastated over the loss of her mother, angry with the system and the company that refused to pay out the compensation that might have allowed them to go on with their lives and stay together. She and Danny found a connection over books, since both were voracious readers. Danny had taught Summer about computers, about what she could do with them. And together, they’d come up with Summer’s plan for revenge. It had been a game back then.

  Summer had already been predisposed to hate wealthy businessmen at that point. After all, her father had been one. Elizabeth Delaney had been eighteen and working at her first job when her boss had gotten her pregnant and then refused to acknowledge the baby. Her mother had accepted a one-off payment rather than go to court. What was the point? It had made her mother bitter; she’d been in love as only a teenager can be, infatuated with an older man, a wealthy man. A married man, as it turned out, though she hadn’t known that at the time. She’d made it her life’s mission to ensure that Summer did not make the same mistakes. Her “father” was dead now and she didn’t care. He wasn’t really her father.

  Summer had lost her virginity to Danny when they were both sixteen. It had been fun and they’d been lovers on and off in the years since, whenever they’d lived in the same city. But she hadn’t been with him since she’d met Nik for the first time all those years ago. Something had changed then.

  Maybe she’d finally acknowledged that while she loved Danny, she wasn’t actually in love with him. He was family.

  “It’s good to see you,” she said.

  “You, too.” He looked her over critically. “You’re too thin, though. We need to fatten you up.”

  “Grr.” If one more person told her she needed fattening up…

  “How about we pick up an Indian takeaway on the way home? You can show me your new place.”

  “Sounds good.”

  She kissed her mother on the cheek. “I’ll be back when I can. Probably at the weekend.” She hugged her tight. “Love you, Mom.”

  …

  What the hell was he doing here?

  There had been no response when he’d rung her doorbell. She wasn’t in, so where the hell was she?

  And why the hell did he think it was any of his business?

  It was official; he was crazy.

  Lisa had been giving him weird looks all day. He knew she was desperate to ask about Summer, but was too well trained to step over the employer/employee line. He was supposed to be in New York. There was a deal he should be overseeing, but he had canceled at the last minute. Someone else could do it. He’d tried to immerse himself in work, but kept being hit by memories… the feel of her writhing beneath him, the taste of her… He’d been hard most of the day.

  He hadn’t planned to come here. But somehow, he’d found himself instructing Paul to drop him off and finish for the night. He’d make his own way home.

  And she wasn’t in.

  At the sense of…hell, he wasn’t even willing to give a name to it…as he stood there and received no answer, he knew he was in trouble. He had to back off.

  But again, instead of following his own perfectly sensible advice, he took a seat at a table outside a coffee shop, across and down the street from the gym. He sipped a black coffee and brooded.

  Harry thought he was mad.

  Harry was very likely right on target.

  He was paying the bill when a car slowed down and pulled into the alley alongside the gym. A silver-gray Mercedes. Nice car. It stopped. Summer climbed out, laughing. He hadn’t seen her laugh before. Well, not since he’d known her the first time. A man got out of the driver’s seat, leaned over the back of the car and said something. Summer laughed again. Obviously, the guy was some sort of comedian. He looked a little more closely and recognized the man from outside the prison yesterday. He was someone she knew well, then.

  He opened the back of the car and pulled out a box. Summer picked up a suitcase, and they disappeared inside the building. Then came out and repeated the process. On the final trip, the man came out alone and grabbed some paper bags from the backseat of the car. Takeaway.

  Finally, he locked up and disappeared inside.

  Nik ran his hand through his hair, then pressed a finger to the spot between his eyes.

  He was in so much trouble. He’d turned into a goddamn stalker.

  He had to get out of here. Get a little distance. See things clearly.

  Since his divorce, he’d avoided relationships that might evolve into anything more than a few nights of fun. He knew he was screwed up, knew his ex-wife—bless her heart—had done a number on him, and he was stupid to let it control his life. But he’d loved her, and the experience had changed him. There was no going back from that.

  So why was he obsessing about this woman? One he didn’t suspect of wanting him for his money because he knew that’s what she was after. She’d talked to him, made friends with him, let him believe she liked him, and then she’d stolen from him. She might not have known who he was all those evenings they’d spent together, but she’d certainly known at the point when she’d pressed the button and transferred the money.

  Upstairs the light had gone on in what he knew was the kitchen.

  He wanted to go bang on the door, ask her what the hell she was playing at. Having strange men in her apartment.

  Yup, it was official. He was crazy.

  Time to do something about it. He pulled out his cell phone and pressed Harry’s number.

  “Can you get the plane ready for tonight?”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’m going to New York. You’re staying here to keep an eye on things.”

  “Hmm, by things, you mean your little thief. Very wise, otherwise you might not have a company left when you get back.”

  “Ha ha.” And he ended the call.

  It was time to put an ocean between him and temptation.

  Chapter Eight

  The deal in New York was done and dusted.

  It had taken somewhat longer than he’d expected, probably due to him dragging his feet. He’d been reluctant to come back and face the mess he’d made for himself.

  He vacillated between contemplating moving the company to New York without his brand-new personal assistant and just destroying th
e file on her and cutting her loose.

  How much harm could she do?

  Hell, it wasn’t as though the people she stole from couldn’t afford to lose a little, and if the company she’d gone to prison for was any indication, they deserved it. After he’d taken over from his father, Nik had severed ties with several companies because he hadn’t agreed with the way they did business. The company Summer had been working for when she was arrested had been one of them. While his father hadn’t always been entirely ethical in his business practices, Nik had tried to make changes since he’d been in charge.

  They were a good company to work for.

  Weren’t they?

  He’d stayed away until last night. Then he’d taken an overnight flight back and come straight from the airport. He’d decided in the end to just go along with the original plan. Rehabilitation. Ensuring she didn’t repeat her mistakes. She was right—there should be nothing between them on a personal level. It would only complicate matters. It was clear she despised him and his kind—whatever that meant. He should have a word with her about stereotyping. Especially since she was everything he’d sworn to stay away from after his divorce.

  So he’d just keep his distance. Be businesslike. Treat her like any other employee.

  Once Lisa came back, they could find a place for her in the company. While she had no qualifications, she was smart. Not in finance, of course. She clearly wasn’t to be trusted with access to large amounts of money.

  As he opened the door to the outer office, music filled his ears. Something…poppy was playing from the computer. But the office was empty.

  Where the hell was Summer?

  She certainly wasn’t at her desk; the chair was empty and there was nowhere to hide.

  He hadn’t spoken to her since that morning at her place. He’d kept in contact with Lisa until she finished on Friday—she’d reported that everything was going well. He’d made requests for a few reports since then. They’d arrived promptly, each with a succinct summary. Summer was good. She seemed to be able to recognize the important points. She’d even added some advice, which he’d taken.

  He’d known she was clever. She’d had to be, to do the jobs she’d done.