“Blaming him for everything?”
“No. But I should have told you about me—about him—but I was afraid you wouldn’t accept me for it…”
She paused. Here she was about to bare her soul and he didn’t say anything, but just waited for her to say more. “What’s the use? You’ll never believe I was an innocent victim of my stepfather.” She shoved her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out the report. “I have something important to give you.”
“What is it?” He got up, strode to her and took the paper.
“Farrington Construction had several orders for drywall that were rerouted to another warehouse before being brought to the Karger site. The drywall is intermingled with drywall that is laced with toxic chemicals. This is the report from the lab. These last batches were slated for the top floors of the building.”
“What the hell—”
“Whoever is sabotaging the company, is only doing a little here and a little there to harm you. Mostly, it seems, they were sabotaging the equipment to wreak havoc. But I don’t understand what the toxic chemicals on the top floors were for. None of it makes sense.”
Trent studied the papers, then glanced at her. “The replacement with low-grade equipment was probably done to make us look like we ran a sloppy operation and to wreak havoc. However, I agree that the drywall substitution doesn’t make sense. If Blake wanted the company, and this project, I’m not sure why he’d sabotage the actual building. And if he planned to take over our company and this building, his offices would be where the drywall was installed—where I had planned to have a penthouse apartment.”
“I wanted to make sure you had the information before I left the company. I’m moving away… and I probably won’t see you again—”
“You’re leaving? I haven’t told you I’ve released you from our deal yet.”
“I overheard you telling your grandfather about the divorce, getting him on your side, when I came to give you this report. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop—”
“You were outside the door listening?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, I heard it all! Count that against me! He’s agreed and so did your mother. She can’t wait to get rid of me. You’ll be free to marry whomever you want—perhaps Cecelia—your mother’s favorite. You won’t have to deal with me anymore. I’m leaving now. Oh, God, I’ll even face the elevator alone.”
She turned to go and Trent followed and caught her arm. “I thought you had other things to tell me? Tell me the rest…about you.”
“What’s the point?”
Before she could hit the call button, the elevator moved in the shaft.
Trent gave her a sideways glance. “Someone else is here. I’m not expecting anyone. Are you?”
Her stomach knotted. “No.”
The doors of the elevator opened and Frank Blake stepped off.
Kate’s heart pounded at a bursting speed. “Blake,” she cried.
Trent threw her a dark look. For one moment, hurt flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced with distrust. “So this was your plan, Kate? Both you and him here to trap me?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “You’ve got to believe me. I don’t work for Blake. I have nothing to do with him.”
“Don’t trust your wife, eh?” Blake chuckled. He walked around in the open air and spread out his arms. “See this view? I’ll put my office up here. I’ll be King of the Hill. You’ve built residences, recreation, shopping centers, and businesses all in one…a small town feel in a huge building.”
Hands on his hips, Trent strode to Blake. “How did you get past my security guard?”
“Your guard has seen me here with your mother several times. I told him you were expecting me. Farrington, I’m a rich man, and I want to be a part of what is going on at Farrington Construction. We could make a fortune with this design. This is the wave of the future.”
Trent glared at him. “Are you crazy? You’ve been trying to wreck my building. It will take months to find out what damage you’ve caused.”
Blake jutted his face toward Trent. “Don’t blame me for your failures. That’s why I’m offering to buy the company. You’ll work for me. Under my supervision, we’ll prosper.”
“Get it through your thick skull, Blake. Farrington Construction is not for sale.”
“Why are you playing this game with me?” Blake snapped. “Your mother said you agreed to sell. She called me—”
“I don’t care what she said—I don’t even know why she said it—but you’ve been using her. Now get the hell off my property,” Trent demanded.
Blake’s face reddened. “Why you… Eden said you would accept my offer. She told me to come down here.”
Trent stepped closer to Blake. “I said nothing of the kind. Now leave.”
Blake shoved his hand against Trent’s shoulder. “If you don’t sell, I’ll bring OSHA down on you.”
Trent pushed back at Blake. “You’ve been interfering with the completion of this building and harassing Roland. Leave my family alone.”
Blake snorted. “Then why the hell did you call me down here?”
“I didn’t call you. There’s no sale.” He threw Kate a hostile look. “You and Kate can look elsewhere for a company.”
“Your wife?” Blake chuckled. “What does she have to do with this? Oh, jealous of me and the beautiful wife. She told you? I’m surprised. She does owe me, don’t you, Mrs. Farrington? I paid a pretty penny to get between her legs.”
“Is this true?” Trent turned his ire on her.
“I don’t owe him anything,” Kate lamented.
Trent grabbed Blake’s lapels. “As long as she’s my wife, you stay the hell away from her.”
Frank Blake jerked his jacket out of Trent’s hold.
Kate stepped closer. “Trent, he’s trying to make it sound like there was something between us. There wasn’t. It was easy for our paths to cross, because my stepfather knew every shady, slimy character in town—”
“Tell me what it was, Kate?” Trent bit out, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at her.
She put her hand on his arm. “Let’s go. I’ll tell you everything in private...but not here. I can explain it so you’ll understand that what happened wasn’t my fault.”
Blake pulled out his cell phone. “Come on up, boys.” He turned back to Trent. “Farrington, I guess I’ll just have to prove I mean business. I don’t like it when someone refuses my offer. I don’t like it when you have me come down here and then lie to me. What do you need, more convincing? You’ll come to your senses after my boys are through with you.”
“You can’t use your strong-arm tactics to get my company. And don’t ever play loan shark with Roland again. Do you understand me?”
“I don’t give a damn about your useless cousin, but I want Farrington Construction. Financially, I need these projects.”
“So that’s why you want to buy so badly. Not my problem.”
“I had to stomach your nauseating mother to get close to you and your family, but the wife?” He chuckled. “Now, I’ll gladly do that job. I’m sure she’s learned from the best with her stepfather, and you fell for it. Nice breasts, and that teeny tiny heart-shaped birthmark on her collarbone, just so.” He stroked just where the birthmark would be on Kate’s body. “How many other men have paid for her services?”
Trent jerked his head toward Kate. “Is this what I’m thinking this is about? You’re a hooker?”
“It’s not like that. My stepfather…my stepfather made the deal with him!” Kate said. “It wasn’t my fault.”
Blake scoffed, “It is like that, Farrington. I paid $10,000 for one week with her. No other way to slice it, my dear. Farrington, you turned out to be a hell of a sucker.”
Trent shoved Blake and he stumbled and landed on a pallet of supplies. The outraged man struggled to his feet and dusted off his clothes.
With the wind whipping her hair around her face, Kate grabbed Trent’s arm. �
��Trent, don’t listen to him. He’s making it sound worse than it is. Let’s go so I can explain.”
“How can you explain something like that?” The cold look Trent cast on her made her shrivel on the inside.
Blake struggled to his feet and Trent stepped closer to him.
They were too close to the edge. “Please, stop,” Kate pleaded. “This is dangerous.”
“You’re not so hot, Blake, without your thugs around,” Trent said.
Blake whipped a pistol from beneath his jacket. “Oh, yeah? If you don’t sell the company to me, you’ll have nothing but trouble. OSHA will be there every day until Farrington Construction comes to a screeching halt.”
Kate’s heart pounded as she moved out of sight behind a vertical beam and punched out 911 on her cell phone. “Please, hurry to the Karger building site.” After giving the police the directions, she hung up.
Trent hit Blake’s wrist and the gun went flying. Blake swung at Trent and landed a punch to his chest. Trent shoved Blake backwards.
“Stop!” Kate cried. “I’ve called the police and they’re on their way.”
She was looking for something to use for a weapon when the elevator door opened and three burly men got off. One of them tried to break up the fight, another rushed toward Trent and shoved him from behind. Trent’s hands were clenched on the lapels of Blake’s jacket… They both tumbled over the edge.
Kate screamed, “No!” With her heart pounding, she rushed to the side. Blake landed on the flat surface of the scaffolding, while Trent dangled precariously from the ropes.
“What in the hell, Farrington? Are you trying to kill us both?” Blake demanded as he stood upon the platform.
“Please,” Kate begged. “You’ve got to help him, Blake.”
“Not my problem. If he falls, that’s one way for me to get the business.”
“That’s murder.”
Blake had his feet close to the edge of the scaffolding where Trent managed to wrap his fingers around a metal bar and began to climb up on the platform. Kate held her breath. All Blake would have to do is stomp Trent’s fingers or shake the scaffolding and Trent could fall to his death.
With squealing sirens, police cars surrounded the building.
One of the henchmen asked, “What do you want us to do, boss?”
“Help me get off this scaffold, stupid.” Blake snarled down at Trent, “I hope you can hang on long enough for the police to reach you, Farrington. Come on, boys.”
In the wind, the scaffolding pitched sideways a few inches. At the sound of ropes snapping and the pins in the scaffolding pinging, Blake scowled as if he became aware that the platform was dropping beneath him. He reached out with an outstretched hand to grab on to anything. A fleeting glance of terror passed over his face as he grasped empty air. His scream echoed off the downtown buildings.
Trent! Her heart racing, Kate rushed to the side.
One of Blake’s henchmen yelled, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Kate leaned over the edge. Trent dangled from the last remaining rope of the scaffold. “Trent! Oh my God. What can I do to help?”
“Just step back,” he rasped hoarsely.
He pulled himself up with the rope, then scrambled over the ledge to safety and then collapsed in a heap.
Sagging in relief, Kate dropped down beside him and put her arms around him. Tears streamed down her face. “I was so scared.”
They sat for a few minutes, while the terror of his near falling to his death subsided.
“Kate, Kate,” he rasped. “Why are you doing this to me?” Then as if he remembered, he shook off her hold. “You…and Blake! Others?”
She gaped at him. “No! I can explain everything. I’m not what you think and I certainly wasn’t involved with Frank Blake in hurting the company—”
The police stepped off the elevator and approached them. Police officers set to work with tape, gathering evidence and recording the crime scene. For the second time within a year, someone had fallen from the job site.
“We’ll have to take you to the station for questioning,” a police officer said, gesturing toward the elevator.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
With two officers flanking them, Trent and Kate rode down in the open-caged elevator in stony silence. With one glance toward Trent, Kate could tell he had cut himself off from her completely.
On the ground, the police were already outlining Blake’s lifeless body. She shielded her eyes as they walked past. His henchmen were loaded into a couple of cop cars.
After a short ride in the back of another police car, Kate and Trent were ushered into the station and into a room with mirrored windows and several long tables.
Kate accepted a cup of bitter-tasting coffee from a clerk. As she sipped the brew, she still trembled from the fear that took hold of her when Trent nearly fell to his death. Trent thought the worst about her, even worse than before.
Would he tell the police she worked with Blake in sabotaging the building? Could she prove that she didn’t? She might be facing years in prison if they wanted to prosecute her as Blake’s accomplice.
She was even less sure they would believe her when the detective on her brother’s case strode into the room. Detective Martin! Months ago, he had thought she’d fabricated the story when she claimed some shady things were going on at the construction site. There had been no evidence other than the words of her dying brother. No one else had been close enough to hear so there was no one to corroborate her story.
Another detective jotted notes on a tablet. “Mr. Farrington, now tell us again what happened from the moment Frank Blake arrived at the building?”
“I’ve already told you everything,” Trent said to the detective. “Blake cornered me at my building, demanding that I sell my business to him. We fought. We landed on the scaffolding, which broke. The weak scaffolding was probably due to Blake’s sabotage orders at my company, just one of the many disasters Blake orchestrated to make me look bad so he could come in and buy us cheaply. If you research his business you’ll find he was in financial difficulty—at least that’s what he claimed minutes before the accident.”
Eden strode into the room. “Frank’s dead?” she rasped, anger etching her face. She pointed her finger at Trent. “You…killed him.”
“I did not,” Trent said with a groan. “He came to me at the job site, demanding that I sell. He said you told him to come meet me and that you told him I was ready to. He was furious when I said I didn’t want to see him, let alone to sell the company to him. He threatened that his men would beat me up if I didn’t agree—”
“You’ve always hated him—ever since he stole our clients.” Eden folded her arms over her chest.
“This has nothing to do with years ago.”
“How could you?” Eden cried. “You know I cared for him. Why?”
“I didn’t push him. And he said some nasty things about you. He had no intention of being with you after this take over. He was using you.”
Eden pursed her lips. “Anyone could have arranged these schemes. You had nothing to lose if the building failed. We were insured… Perhaps over insured on the project. Trent, you just did not want me to ever be happy.” His mother dabbed a tissue to her eyes.
Detective Martin shook his head in disbelief, as he listened to their conversation, his forehead furrowed in thought. “Mr. Farrington, one of Mr. Blake’s employees said you pulled Blake onto the scaffolding—”
“That’s because one of his other thugs shoved me, and I had my hands clenched on Blake’s jacket,” Trent said through gritted teeth.
“I was there,” Kate said, speaking up. “Trent didn’t push Blake. It’s as he says. They did fight, but one of Blake’s men shoved Trent, Trent and Blake both went over the side. After the platform collapsed, Trent managed to climb up the rope. That’s the entire story.”
“Which man shoved him, Ma’am?”
“The tall, beefy man with red hair.”
“Yes, I did,” Kate answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
“And you said you couldn’t wait for him to rot in prison for the murder of your brother,” the detective added.
“You said this, Kate?” Trent asked.
Her heart hammering, she bit her lip and locked her gaze on the detective, and then stood. “Yes, I said all this, but all before…before I got to know Trent. When I took a job there, I found out the truth. He wasn’t skimming from the accounts to save money. Someone else has been cheating and sabotaging the building…but not him.”
“Or…has the story changed because your circumstances have changed?” Detective Martin looked over the rim of his glasses. “You stand to make a lot more from this as Mrs. Farrington. I’m sure you’ll protect your interests.”
“Oh, it’s the same as before, Detective Martin. You don’t believe me, do you?” Kate cried.
The detective shrugged. “How can I? Does the name Bill Jackson, convicted criminal, ring a bell? You were arrested in one of his schemes.”
“I was innocent! My stepfather used my name as a cover to save himself if he was ever caught.”
“The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“That’s what I overheard you saying the last time,” Kate snapped. “Don’t you have anything new to say?”
Disguised with the Millionaire (Dangerous Millionaires Series Book 2) Page 34