Change of Harte (Harte, #2) (Harte Series)

by Harris, Brooke

  Tears streamed down her face. And the ache in her head was threatening to burst out through the back of her skull.

  ‘Eva, it’s okay.’

  ‘Oh, my God. It’s not. It’s so not. Jesus, I should have read the signs. I should have helped her. I was so busy obsessing over being independent since I got home; I didn’t even bother to care enough.’ Eva doubled over in her seat now, acid burning its way up her throat, and she had to concentrate on her breathing to not be sick.

  ‘Eva, none of this is your fault,’ Shelly reassured, rubbing Eva’s back. ‘She’s safe now. She must be coming back to Dublin with us; that’s probably where Julian is now. He’s gone to sort it all out. This is good. I’m really excited for you.’

  ‘What? That’s crazy. Really? Oh. My. God! Oh, my God.’ Bubbles of excitement popped inside Eva’s belly like someone had shaken a can of soda and opened the lid. Julian. Julian must have done this. Why didn’t he just say so?

  Nathan was shaking his head and Shelly’s smile was instantly wiped.

  ‘What?’ Shelly said, her voice shaky and worrying.

  ‘I don’t think she’s coming to Dublin,’ Nathan said.

  Eva sank back against her seat. She knew it was too good to be true.

  ‘Nathan, where is she?’ Shelly’s concerned voice was changing to borderline panic, and the switch in tone pulled Eva’s body upright like a puppet on a string.

  ‘Gone.’

  Eva could actually see the huge gulp of air plummet down Nathan’s throat. Shelly was on her feet immediately. Her hands tossing her hair and her feet tapped the spot. Agitated, freaked out. Not fucking good.

  ‘What? Shelly, tell me? What’s wrong?’ Eva could literally see the colour in the room change.

  Eva watched as Shelly eyes glassed over and Shelly turned away.

  ‘Where is she now, Nathan? She was with Julian,’ Shelly stuttered. ‘Has he…

  Nathan shook his head. ‘Julian handed her over to some guy. I saw it with my own eyes last night. A big guy. Pretty rough looking, too. They didn’t know I was watching, obviously. Jesus. It looked like some sort of a deal or something. I think Julian is mixed up in all this. I think he was giving her back to her pimp.’

  Shelly backed away, holding her stomach like she might throw up. She was shaking, maybe even as much as Eva. Eva could see it in her hands, the same restless twitch that she had. It hurt a bit.

  ‘I think he was bullshitting you, Shell, and you fell for it. Fuck, it wouldn’t surprise me if Julian owned that seedy club. I know he has financial interests over here, but his accountants are unreal at creating a paper chase. It’s like a minefield trying to find shit,’ Nathan continued.

  ‘You’re wrong,’ Eva propounded, comforted to have found a hole in Nathan’s theory. ‘He’s a silent partner in HTK, that’s why he’s here. Not some club owner, jeez.’

  ‘What? HTK? So, you still work for Julian, then?’ Shelly sprung to life.

  ‘Yeah. Sort off. I guess so. But not really. Remember I mentioned Mia knew my boss, kinda? Anyway, it doesn’t really matter.’

  Fuck. That was not what Eva meant. She was just setting the record straight. Work was work, purely professional. Now Shelly was going to put some sort of a the-plot-thickens weird spin on it.

  ‘I thought I knew all of Julian’s interests overseas,’ Shelly said, disbelief and upset written all over her face.

  Eva rolled her eyes. ‘I doubt anybody knows all of Julian’s interests. In anything.’

  ‘No. No way. This is ridiculous.’ Shelly glared at Nathan like she wanted to hurt him, or…like he was hurting her. ‘Okay, so Julian kept the silent partnership to himself. Fine, whatever. I still know all the ins and outs of his business. More than you, Eva. Sorry, but I do,’ Shelly said and Eva picked up on the genuine sincerity in her apology. But it did little to rub out the territorial sound to it. ‘And no matter what you say, Nathan, Julian isn’t like that. Why did he tell me who she was, then? He could have just said it was just some hooker, I wouldn’t have known. But he didn’t. He told me.’

  ‘He told you because he had to. You would have told Eva. And he knew that. He’s seriously smart, Shelly. He’s always two steps ahead,’ Nathan said.

  ‘But he didn’t tell me. It was his housekeeper…Mrs…oh…Mrs…’

  ‘Cartwright,’ Eva said lifting her head. She wished she could zone out and not hear all this. Or at least zone out and think it was all a load of bullshit. But the pattern was becoming too clear.

  ‘No,’ Shelly reiterated. ‘This is bollocks.’

  ‘How in the hell else would he know all he does, Shelly? I’ve been following this lead for three years. Three fucking years! Julian waltzes off a plane and suddenly knows more than I’ve gathered in all those years. My fucking arse he’s not involved. I reckon this is his biggest game yet.’

  Shelly looked at Eva. Was she waiting for her to say something? What in the hell was there to say?

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Nathan said, close to tears, as he turned to look at Eva.

  Everyone was staring at Eva now. She sat rocking back and forth on the spot. She couldn’t tell if she was pissed off, upset, or just needed to throw her guts up.

  ‘So, you’re saying she’s back there. That he just used her, had a quick one and what? Handed her over like a dog to the pound? That doesn’t sound right,’ Shelly stuttered.

  ‘He sent her to hell, then,’ Eva added. Her blood was coursing through her veins like a runaway train. ‘Why? Why my sister? He could have any girl he wants. He has had before.’

  If Julian could keep HTK quiet, maybe he kept Vertigo quiet, too, she thought. She didn’t understand, but Julian had always seemed to know so much about her. She had too shy and timid to call him out on it before. But Nathan was right. Julian was a smart guy, anything she did ask he would have twisted anyway. She’d always known about Julian’s obsession with games, damn, it was probably one of the only things about him that he didn’t try to hide. But she’d enjoyed that on some weird level. The test of being a worthy opponent. The satisfaction of meeting his challenge to come out of her comfort zone and be the strongest person she could be. She even believed that she’d proved to herself over the last six months that she was the real winner. But this was obviously so much more than just a game to Julian. This was an obsession. And she had no idea what the hell his problem was. He’d really done his homework. Not just on her but on her whole family. It was all sorts of fucked up. And she was damn well going to find out why. She’d worry about making him pay, after. After her sister was safe.

  Nathan nodded again. Shelly’s hand covered her face, as if she could read what he was thinking. ‘Oh, sweet Jesus.’

  ‘I’m meeting my source there,’ Nathan said.

  ‘Vertigo?’ Shelly squeaked.

  ‘We have to go get her. I have to get her.’

  ‘Your source, Nathan? You have to get Melissa? Or you have to get the story?’ Shelly snapped.

  ‘I have to get Melissa.’

  Every millimetre of Eva’s body felt like someone had just beaten her up with a giant size baseball bat. Her whole world was spinning. Her father, her sister, Julian. It was such a mess.

  ‘You can’t go there, Nathan, if all this crap you’re saying is true. That’s as close to goddamn suicide as it gets,’ Shelly argued, putting her hand on Nathan’s shoulders. ‘Please, Nathan. Don’t go there. I know I’ve been pissy with you. But I’m asking you not to go. Please, for me.’

  ‘I’ll go with you,’ Eva said shakily forcing the words to come out. She caught eyes with her best friend knowing she was breaking her heart.

  ‘Eva, did you hear what I just said? Guys like that don’t mess around.’

  ‘Maybe Julian is a guy like that.’

  ‘Do you really think that?’

  Eva shrugged. ‘I dunno. Right now, I have no idea what I think. All I do know is my father is dead and my sister is a hooker, for Christ’s sake. And Julian knows a hell of a lo
t more about all this than I do. It’s time to grow up and stop running away from my problems.’

  ‘Great timing, Eva. That Latino boyfriend guy…if he scared you over the phone, that’s nothing to what he’ll do in real life. Eva, don’t you get it? If they find out who you are, they will kill you.’

  ‘You watch too much CSI, Shelly,’ Nathan interrupted.

  Shelly glared at him with a look that warned him to shut up, and if Eva wasn’t scared to the point of wetting herself, she might have laughed.

  ‘She’s my sister, Shelly. I should have helped her sooner. I have to help her now.’

  ‘Nathan, please? Talk some sense into her. Please? Both of you think about what the fuck you are doing.’

  Nathan pulled Shelly into his arms and kissed her. ‘I love you, Shelly. I really, really do.’

  Shelly crumpled to a heap on the floor. ‘Nathan, don’t do this. Don’t fucking do this,’ she wailed.

  ‘Tell Julian I’m sorry I missed the flight,’ Eva said. ‘I’ll fuck him over later.’

  ‘That’s just it, Eva. If you do this, there will be no later.’

  Eva rushed back and bent down to hug Shelly. ‘I love you, Shelly. But I love my sister. I’ve abandoned her once. Please don’t ask me to do it a second time.’

  ‘Eva, wait. Don’t you want to know the full story?’ Shelly called after Eva as she reached the door.

  Eva turned around.

  ‘I did. I wanted to know more than anything. But maybe there was a reason Julian kept me in the dark and never let me get too close. I thought I couldn’t handle this shit.’

  ‘Eva, please…’

  ‘Julian always says I surprise him. Well, he’s about to get the surprise of his life.’

  ‘Eva, it’s not what you think. This isn’t about a game, the game. He finished playing as soon as he fell in love with you. I thought you could see that?’

  ‘I can’t see anything right now other than how fucking scared I am. I am scared that I might lose the one chance I have to see my sister again. Scared that something really awful is going to happen. And most scared that I’ll find out Julian is really, somehow mixed up in all of this, and if he is, I’ll never forgive him. Not this time. Not for this. This is too big, I hate him.’

  ‘Eva, you don’t really mean that,’ Shelly interrupted, shocked.

  ‘I do. I really do.’

  ‘He’s changed you, you know. Look!’ Shelly scurried to her feet and was in front of Eva in a second. She tapped Eva’s chest with her fingertips. ‘We’re in the middle of the worst shit ever, and you’re not even crying. I’m falling apart, but you’re calm. You’re stronger. You’re better. And that’s all because of him.’

  ‘I know,’ Eva said. ‘And I’m so fucking scared that something will happen now and I’ll never get to tell him that how much I hate him doesn’t even begin to compare to how much I love him because of all of it.’

  Shelly grabbed Eva’s hands in hers and held tight. ‘Then stay here. Wait for him. Tell him all that.’

  ‘I don’t need to tell him. He already knows. This is Julian goddamn Harte we’re talking about. He knows fucking everything.’ Eva tried to laugh, but it was choked back by a huge lump in her throat.

  Eva studied her best friend’s face. Shelly’s confident words were contradicted by the lack of colour in her cheeks. Her skin was as pale as the stonewashed airport walls and her eyes were clouded over by a combination of fear and exhaustion. This was a game none of them ever wanted to play.

  ‘I have to get out of here.’

  Chapter 33

  ‘Sponge Bob,’ Julian said into the receiver of a payphone near the gates of Central Park.

  He couldn’t risk making that call on his mobile right now. It was all very two-thousand-and-one, but he’d run out of credits on his pay-as-you-go piece of crap. And like a dodgy thriller from the same year, the phone box he now found himself in was a potential coffin with a view. His eyes scanned all corners of the street. He looked at his watch. It had been fifteen minutes since he’d made the drop off. That was about ten minutes too long to still be anywhere near Central Park.

  ‘We’re going in as soon as you’re in the clear,’ the voice on the end of the phone replied. ‘Cameron would be proud. You’ve finished what he started. You’ve done good, kid.’

  ‘Almost finished, Hammond,’ Julian said. Eva’s beautiful face come to mind. Almost, almost.

  Julian hung up and stepped out into a crowd of people. Moving a few paces forward in a convoy of strangers and back again. Staying central to a bulk of people was imperative. He knew there were cops dotted in the buildings overhead. Operation Sponge Bob wasn’t over yet. Not until his arse was the hell out of there.

  Eighteen minutes. Julian paced. And paced and paced. There was a loud bang. Someone screamed. A woman, a child maybe. Julian spun around, and suddenly, he didn’t have enough eyes. He sighed to the edge of needing to vomit. A cyclist had crashed into a hot dog stand—it wasn’t Da Luca trying to blow his brains out.

  Twenty minutes. Twenty long minutes. Julian spotted Anthony in his car just in front of the plaza. Julian sandwiched himself between a group of Korean tourists, pulling oversized suitcases behind them. They were obviously checking in to the hotel, and they were perfect get-out-of-there-alive sized camouflage to lead him right to the door. He jerked open the back door of his car and slid across the seat with an exhausted sigh.

  ‘Go. Go. Go.’

  Anthony revved the engine and swerved around a convoy of parked cars. ‘Fucking hell, Mr. Harte. I need a raise for this shit. You had me worried stiff. Is it over?’

  ‘It’s over, Anthony. The feds are moving in as soon as they see us drive away.’

  ‘Well done, Mr. Harte. Well done. And Mr. Andrews’ body?’

  ‘It’ll be a week or so, but they’re flying him back to Ireland.’

  ‘Oh, that’s very nice of the state.’

  ‘It was a condition in his release agreement with Hammond. Clever old bastard knew he was going out. He just needed a few loose ends tied up.’

  ‘And you, Mr. Harte? Have you loose ends still.’

  Julian cleared his throat. The conversation was over.

  ‘Eva’s at the airport, ready to fly,’ Anthony said.

  Julian’s eyes narrowed. ‘They haven’t taken off yet?’

  ‘Not yet. Any minute now, though. But if we hurry, we could catch them.’

  ‘No. No waiting,’ Julian growled. ‘I want my plane the hell out of here. What the fuck is the delay?’

  ‘Fuelling, sir. And the snow was causing some problems.’

  Julian inhaled sharply and rolled his eyes behind his closed lids. ‘Just let me know when she’s airborne, okay.’

  ‘Of course, Mr. Harte. So, do I still head for the airport or have you somewhere else in mind, sir?’

  ‘We’re stopping by the cop station first. That loose end you mentioned; there’s a pint-sized big sister who needs to hitch a ride.’

  Julian caught Anthony’s big toothy grin in the rear-view mirror.

  ‘Eva will be over the moon, Mr. Harte, won’t she?’

  Julian smiled, but he didn’t reply. He relaxed back against the leather seat, dropped his head back, and stretched his arms across, behind the headrests. His body was heavy; he’d gone an unhealthily long time without proper sleep. His eyes weighed closed.

  Chapter 34

  Julian was irked when Shelly’s name splashed across his ringing phone. Firstly, it meant Eva still wasn’t in the air, and secondly, it meant drama. If it were something important, the pilot would have called himself. But against Julian’s better judgement, he answered.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You fucking bastard. You sick prick. What in the hell, Julian. Just what in the actual hell.’

  Lack of sleep was really torturing him now. Julian’s beyond cool exterior was on the brink of meltdown. He’d never shouted at a woman in his life, but Shelly was pushing him to his breaking point
. He moved the phone an arm’s distance away from his ear, and he could still hear Shelly screaming.

  ‘You fucked her, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  In spite of his exhausted state, Shelly’s shocked gasp at hearing the exact answer she attacked him for was really rather satisfactory. Of course, Julian was referring to Eva, Shelly really needed to be more specific with her questions.

  ‘You sick bastard. You think it’s funny, don’t you.’

  ‘I’m not laughing, Shelly. So, unless you can read my fucking mind, how do you know what in the hell I think?’

  ‘I know you, Julian.’

  Julian shook his head and closed his eyes; this conversation was irritating. He didn’t wish to entertain Shelly’s bullshit any longer. ‘Get your arse on the fucking plane, Shelly.’

  ‘Like hell I will, I’m not flying on my own.’

  Julian pulled the phone back to his ear immediately—suddenly Shelly had his full attention. ‘Where’s Eva?’

  ‘Gone to find her sister who you dumped when you were finished using her.’

  ‘Dumped?’ Julian spat.

  ‘Oh, don’t play the shocked card with me, Julian. I know what you’ve been up to. You know I’ve always really liked you, even when you broke all the girls’ hearts at work. But this is a step too far.’

  ‘Dumped her where?’

  ‘What are you asking me for. Okay, Julian. You can stop with the games crap, okay. You’re not going to twist this.’

  ‘DUMPED HER WHERE? Shelly answer the fucking question.’

  ‘Vertigo, of course. Where in the hell else?’

  Julian’s brain felt like it spun a full three-sixty in his head. ‘Shelly, Shelly, listen to me,’ Julian barked, cutting across Shelly’s high-pitched ranting. ‘Has Eve gone to the club?’

  ‘Yes. And I’m only telling you because I’m worried about her. You need to tell your co-owners of whoever the hell is there to leave her and Nathan alone.’

  ‘Turn around, Anthony. Turn. Around. Now. Go back to Vertigo.’

  ‘But Mr. Harte…’