Ava leaned in, ostensibly to press a kiss to Judson’s cheek. She murmured in his ear instead. “Her boyfriend is standing about a hundred yards away and knows more than a dozen ways to kill you without even breaking the skin.”
Judson made a muffled noise that sounded like straight-up fear. His hand immediately jumped away from Tegan’s backside and stayed unobtrusively and lightly on her side. Tegan’s smile grew broader, and Ava could see her struggling not to laugh.
“How are we doing?” Ava asked Tegan. She tried to keep her lips from moving too much. There was nothing wrong with a little whispering up here as Stedman accepted a few congratulations from his bank cronies. “We’re about to start the receiving line. Are you ready?”
“I’ve got this, Mom.” Tegan sounded cool and confident. “I promise.”
Ava spotted Sergei Yurevich queuing up with the other guests in order to wish the happy couple well. There were now at least a hundred and fifty people in the room. It was hot and crowded and approaching what would be described as a “total crush.” Ava didn’t care. The stupid party was doing what it had been planned to do, and that was what mattered.
She could see Nash, Carson, Wrath, and Quentin positioned about the room. Their gazes were all focused on the place that Stedman had wordlessly declared to be the stage. Ava held out her hand now to accept congratulations for her daughter’s upcoming nuptials. She smiled and nodded and tried not to feel like too much of a liar. This was all so awkward. If anything, she was just very glad that they had been so adamant about people not bringing gifts. She wasn’t sure she could have made Judson give back the presents. He might have thought it was his due for going through the farce.
“Oh, Mr. Yurevich!” Tegan’s voice was loud enough to carry all the way to Stedman.
From the corner of her eye, Ava saw Stedman’s head swivel around to look in Tegan’s direction. Stedman tightened his jaw in obvious disapproval.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. In fact, I cannot even imagine why you were on the guest list for this party!” Tegan was talking far louder than she ever would have under normal circumstances. Fortunately, Stedman was too distracted to realize it. Then Tegan managed to deliver the final line with aplomb. “Sir, that’s a very serious allegation!”
Stedman shoved his way through the people surrounding Tegan and Judson, and grabbed Sergei by the arm. “Sir, you are not to speak to my daughter in such a disrespectful manner!”
“I can speak to her however I want,” Sergei said imperiously.
Ava had to admit that Sergei was one hell of an actor. The guy had managed to garner the attention of nearly the entire room. Considering they were standing in the midst of a bunch of drunk Boston socialites, that was saying something. Still, this was the part of the plan that was not only hazy, but a little negligible as far as potential outcome as well.
Stedman dragged Sergei away. The jovial expression on Stedman’s face was a stark contrast to the hard set of his jaw. He was angry and trying hard not to show it. Image was everything, and right now, Sergei was threatening that in a big way. Ava edged away from the receiving line. She kept one of the large decorative pillars right in the middle of Stedman’s line of sight so that he couldn’t see her. Then she tucked in right beside it and listened into the conversation.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Stedman’s voice was shaking with anger. “Our association is over. You’re a fucking informant. Do you think you’re really going to turn my daughter against me? Those days are over.”
“Are you sure?” The way Sergei said the words made Ava’s stomach clench with fear. Was the guy going to blow the entire operation? Right now, he held that power in his hands. He could tell Stedman that this was all a setup. Everything hung in the balance.
Then Sergei grunted. “Just because your daughter is marrying some milquetoast moron does not mean she wouldn’t be interested in some business on the side.”
“Doing what?” Stedman snarled.
There was a rustle as though Stedman had grabbed Sergei by his expensive, custom-tailored lapels. Ava was dying to get a peek at what was going on behind the pillar. She glanced across the room and immediately met Nash’s gaze. He had a good view of what was going on, but he couldn’t hear a thing. It was an odd juxtaposition, for sure.
“Business on the side?” Stedman hissed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Sergei sighed. “I’ve approached your daughter several times over the last few weeks. Your son seems too loyal to you to be susceptible to anything I have to offer, but Tegan has always been a bit of a wild card.”
Ava felt her entire body relax as Sergei fed Stedman every single line from the prepared script. They were good to go. It was time to start phase two. Although Ava was starting to wonder if it was possible to distinguish one part from the next when it came to all of this maneuvering.
Chapter Nineteen
Nash pushed his earpiece twice to send a signal to the others. The bait had been delivered. The trap was set. Now, they just had to wait for Stedman to approach Tegan, and Nash could not imagine that they’d have to wait long. The guy was practically salivating with eagerness. It was in every single movement of his body.
His eyes were bright with interest, and he could not stop staring at his daughter. Tegan was playing her part to the hilt. Nash had closed the channel between the wire that Tegan was wearing beneath her dress and his own earpiece because he’d grown so damn tired of hearing her wish everyone well and thank them for coming to the party. Certainly nobody could accuse the woman of not being gracious. Of course, Tegan was her mother’s daughter. If anyone could teach manners and hospitality, it was Ava Harte.
Quentin signaled back to Nash. Stedman was on the move. The man was stalking Tegan. It was almost laughable. The room had shifted as the receiving line broke up and people returned to the bar, the buffet, and the dance floor, in that order. Stedman was slinking along the fringe of the activity with his gaze utterly focused on Tegan.
“Watch him,” Nash murmured to his men. “Don’t let him leave your sight. One of us has to be in range in order to fulfill the reqs for Brookes’s arrest warrant.”
It was a stupid fact and one that Nash was suspicious of. It did not make any sense that Nash or one of his men had to be in range of Stedman in order for the recorded evidence to be admissible, but Nash wasn’t about to split hairs now for shit’s sake. He wanted this done and over with.
Wrath got on the line. “He’s going for it. I repeat. Stedman is approaching Tegan.”
“Stay with him,” Nash urged.
Wrath snorted. “Like I’m letting him anywhere near my girl without supervision.”
Nash sighed. Young love was a pain in the ass. Wrath had been adamantly opposed to this plan. Fortunately, Tegan made her own decisions, but Nash could sort of see Wrath’s position too. Nash didn’t like the fact that Ava had been forced to have contact with Stedman at all. He knew that she didn’t like it, and that made him oppose the notion.
The crackly sound of Tegan’s microphone came through Nash’s earpiece. He adjusted the feedback and held his breath, hoping with every ounce of his being that they were going to get what they needed. This whole situation should have been tied up long ago. It had been going on for too long, and now he had a chance to finish it. It did not help things that Nash wanted it done for more than one reason.
“Daddy, thank you for coming.” Tegan’s tone of voice was sugary sweet. Nash could imagine Wrath rolling his eyes at the sound.
There was a rustle, and Nash spotted Stedman across the room giving his daughter a very fatherly hug. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world, kitten.”
Kitten?
“Radio silence,” Nash said into his communicator. He was trying to head off the litany of curses he could practically feel rolling off of Wrath in waves. They needed to hear Stedman and Tegan, not Wrath’s commentary on how idiotic her father was.
“Daddy, I’m
really sorry that Sergei got on the guest list. I know that must have been uncomfortable for you. I cannot imagine why Mother invited him.” There. Tegan had given her father the perfect segue.
“Sweetie, your mother said she got his name from the contacts on your phone,” Stedman said in a measured tone. “That’s where she got her invitation list from.”
“Oh!” Tegan sounded embarrassed. “I suppose that’s my bad, then. I should have deleted him once I told him I was done dealing with him.”
“And how exactly were you dealing with him?” Stedman was pressing her, but gently. This was perfect!
“Well, he was trying to get me to feed him information on you.” Tegan’s words were a blend of apologetic and conciliatory. “I realized that I didn’t want to report on you. You’re my father. I love Mom. I do. But the money thing—well, she just doesn’t get it.”
“No. She never has. Your mother has no respect for wealth, status, or the power that comes with it.” Stedman’s derisive words stuck with Nash. Was that really how the other members of the social elite viewed Ava? Unfortunately, Stedman wasn’t through beating up on the poor woman. “Your mother might as well be one of those unfortunates living in one of those rundown buildings your cousin, Kayla, owns in Southie. The luxury of life I provided for her didn’t mean a damn thing.”
“I know,” Tegan said, voice oozing supercilious bullshit. “That’s why I just don’t think I can do the being poor thing. It’s all fine and dandy to think that I want fulfillment in my job, but maybe I can have both.”
“People with money can always have both,” Stedman told his daughter with a chuckle. “Consider it a perk.”
Wrath was muttering almost nonstop now. Nash couldn’t even tell the man to be quiet. It was all he could do not to throw up his hands and deliver a few scathing remarks of his own from across the room.
“Speaking of having it all,” Tegan eased into the moment that they’d all been waiting for. “I need your help, Daddy.”
“Name it, princess.”
“Hyde-Pierson Financial is yours. And after you, it will belong to Ralston. I get that.” Tegan paused to build just the right amount of drama. “I want to run Politte Investments. I know I can do a better job than that moron Judson or his father. I want to be on the board by next week and head of the company by next year.”
“How would you feel about making Politte Investments a subsidiary of Hyde-Pierson?” Stedman said slowly. “If we weakened the company, I could buy it for a song and then give it to you to run. Wouldn’t even take a year. I could do it next week if you’d like.”
“Really?” Teagan said in a hushed voice filled with awe. “How would you do it?”
Nash held his breath. They all did. Wrath even shut up long enough for the line to be dead quiet. This was the moment. This was what they had been waiting for. Stedman would make an offer to do something utterly illegal, and they would have all the evidence they needed.
“Let’s just say I can use my position at the bank to funnel all of the money from Politte Investment’s accounts,” Stedman bragged. “I’ll hit them so hard that they’ll never see it coming. I’ll deposit their money into an offshore account under the name of a dummy corporation and then buy the company back from Politte with its own capital. Nobody will ever know what happened until it’s too late.”
Boom goes the dynamite!
AVA FELT WOODEN as she tried to keep one eye on the drama playing out across the ballroom between her ex-husband and their daughter while continuing to play hostess to everyone else. This pretending was starting to tax her nerves. If one more person told her what a cute couple Tegan and Judson were, she was going to point them toward Wrath and let him deal with their felicitations.
The idea that anyone could find Judson Politte an acceptable mate for their daughter was abhorrent to Ava. The young man was handsy, rude, and had a wandering eye from hell. He was also a completely gender-biased snob.
Ava was just fantasizing about taking that sexist asshole down a few pegs when the side doors of the ballroom burst open. A bevy of agents dressed all in black with white FBI insignia emblazoned across their Kevlar vests spilled into the room. The guests gasped in horror, and the band went silent. People milled about as they tried to back away from the federal agents as though they were carrying some kind of disease. It was rather comical in a demented sort of way.
Ava froze with bated breath. This was it. It was happening. Stedman Hyde-Pierson was finally going to jail. Or at least he was going to go through the humiliating act of getting arrested in a very public place.
A woman strode to the front of the phalanx of agents. Ava snorted. This had to be Miranda Brookes. It actually looked as though she had steam-curled her hair before putting on her gear. She was wearing heels and a silk pantsuit beneath her body armor. Seriously? She watched way too much television if she thought that was in any way a reasonable combination.
“Stedman Hyde-Pierson!” Brookes shouted into the ballroom. “You’re under arrest for racketeering, fraud, and embezzlement!”
The collection of gasps that went around the room was like a wave at a sporting event. It began in one part of the cavernous space and whipped around the ballroom like a virus. The shocked faces accompanying those murmurs and horrified whispers was the most satisfying thing that Ava had ever experienced.
“Ava Harte?”
She had to rip her gaze away from the spectacle of Stedman being handcuffed by the well-dressed Brookes in order to focus on the man standing right behind her. “Yes? Can I help you?”
Ava cocked her head to the side, confused. The young man was obvious a fed. He was dressed in FBI black with the trademark Kevlar vest. Then he holstered his weapon and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
“Ms. Harte, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud.” The man grabbed Ava’s hands and wrenched them around behind her back.
“Excuse me?” Ava struggled a bit. She was so confused! “I’m the one who set up this operation so that Miranda Brookes could make her arrest. I’m not part of a conspiracy!”
“Sorry, Ms. Harte.” The man shrugged as he spun Ava around and began marching her toward the doors.
The stares of everyone in the room burned Ava’s skin like acid. Great. Now they were all going to think that she was in on this with Stedman. What a perfect kettle of fish this was.
“Jason!” Ava called out. “Jason!”
She could barely see Nash in the crush. He was across the room, speaking to Miranda Brookes. The bitch. Ava had a bad feeling that Ms. Brookes knew a lot more about this than she was telling Jason Nash right at the moment. Unfortunately, Ava wasn’t going to get a chance to explain anything. She was whisked out the doors and across the green lawn to a black SUV with lights blazing. The only thing she saw on the way out were the judgmental stares of her peers as they tarred and feathered her right there while they drank the wine and ate the food she had paid for.
Chapter Twenty
Nash watched Stedman Hyde-Pierson disappear through the doors between two federal agents. Miranda Brookes was standing in the center of the ballroom with her hands on her hips like some conquering hero. It was rather amusing. Nash’s men flanked him like silent statues. Tegan was now standing beside Wrath. The way she clutched at his arm told Nash more than he needed to know about the emotional tax this situation had forced her to pay.
“Well, Mr. Nash,” Brookes said with a toothy grin. “We have our criminals in hand. There’s no more need for you and your men to be involved. You can pack up and go play in someone else’s backyard, thank you very much.”
“Wait just a second here,” Tegan called out. “Where are you taking my dad?”
“To an FBI field office where he will be processed. From there, we will work with the local authorities to make certain that he is charged accordingly and held accountable to the laws within this jurisdiction.” Miranda Brookes’s speech seemed not only rehearsed, but more than a little mechanical.
A whole slew of warning bells started going off in Nash’s head. Then Francesca appeared beside Quentin. She grabbed his arm and stood on tiptoe to whisper furiously in Quentin’s ear. Three seconds later, Nash watched his man’s whole posture change.
Quentin pointed at Brookes. “You fucking bitch.” The low tone told Nash just how serious Quentin was. “You lied to us.”
“I can’t imagine what you’re babbling about,” Brookes said airily.
Quentin turned to Nash. “She arrested Ava.”
“What?” So much adrenaline poured into Nash’s bloodstream that he actually felt himself begin to tremble with the force of it. He fisted his hands at his sides. “Tell me,” he snarled at Brookes. “What did you do?”
“Ava is an accessory,” Miranda said in a lackadaisical tone of voice. Her posture said it all. This had been her plan from the beginning, and she didn’t give a fuck whether she had lied, cheated, or sold an innocent woman down the river to do it. “She was married to Stedman. She knew about it. She’s an accessory.”
Tegan made a sound of outrage. “My mother wasn’t in on my father’s business! Are you insane? She hates him! She always has!”
“The evidence says otherwise,” Miranda said flatly. Then she started to turn away as though she was leaving. Wrath and Carson blocked her path. She pointed at them. “You’d better move your jarheaded asses out of my way before I arrest you for obstruction.”
“Find Sergei,” Nash told Quentin. It suddenly occurred to him that he had missed something critical when he’d decided to involve Sergei. Nash pointed at Brookes. “You whored yourself out to Sergei Yurevich. Didn’t you?”
Miranda’s posture changed subtly, but she still adamantly shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The fuck you don’t!” Nash shouted at the top of his lungs. He lunged for Miranda and managed to grab her by her vest. He shook her like a rag doll. “You sold your honor to Sergei. You owe him something. He’s the one that wanted Ava. It’s because of that fucking book! Shit!”
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