She shook with anxiety. What if the Frenchman was about to tell her that he not only didn’t believe her, but he would take some sort of legal action against her for delaying a billion-pound merger? Could he even do such a thing?
Javier could. He could talk to his solicitors, and they would use her snooping in his office, trying to mess up his deal, as evidence to get in her in serious trouble with the law.
“Please sit down.” They sat. “Vivian, you have asked me to look into Molly Richardson’s death. Javier, I have a couple of questions for you. Did you sleep with Molly?”
Javier gave an impatient sigh, obviously not pleased to have his private life on display. “Once.”
Edouard shook his head. “And then you fired her.”
“No. I made a mistake. Once, after a happy hour, I…got involved with her. It was an error in judgment. The next day, I apologized and explained it would be best if we forgot what had happened. Although she agreed, I could tell she was upset. A couple of weeks later, someone from the merger team came to see me and told me they suspected Molly was taking confidential information home. We looked into it, and once we knew for sure she intended to sell company information to someone, I fired her.”
Edouard shifted his head in her direction. “Does this seem right to you?”
Did it? Vivian blinked, still taken aback by Javier’s version of the facts. “I spoke to Molly. She told me they had an affair. And also that she sought out his opponent, Roger—I mean Easton Finn—after Javier fired her because he didn’t want to sleep with her anymore.”
“This is absurd. I would never do something like that.” He turned to Vivian, glaring at her for the first time during the conversation. “Did I take advantage of you during the time we were together?”
Edouard scratched his chin. “You two got involved.” It sounded more like an accusation than a question.
Vivian felt the heat spreading across her face. She glanced at Javier. “You didn’t take advantage of me. I don’t have any complaints.”
“Firing Molly was the nice thing to do. I could have sued her, but I let her go,” Javier told Edouard.
“I know that Javier didn’t kill her,” Vivian told Edouard. “He’s convinced me of that. But I’m sure someone did.”
“How about the investigator? Do we have anything on him?”
“I doubt it.” Javier reached for his phone and retrieved the contact information on the touch screen. “But I can give you his contact information.” He picked up a notepad, scribbled some words on it, and handed it to Edouard. “His name is Matt Smith. He has been a loyal employee whenever we needed anyone investigated.”
“Could Finn have hired the two men to stalk her?” Vivian asked.
“Why would he scare Molly when she was on his side?” Javier asked.
It made sense. Molly had been nothing but helpful to Easton Finn, and at no cost to him.
“I don’t know what happened,” Javier said. “Molly was unstable. Who knows what kind of people she got mixed up with? All I know is I had nothing to do with her death.”
“Well,” Edouard intervened, his expression focused and alert. “I need to make a decision.”
“What decision? She just admitted she was wrong.”
“Javier, I can’t sign a merger with you if there is any possibility you’d be linked to the death or suicide of this girl. It would be wrong on a personal level, and professionally I can’t compromise my business interests or my foundation. I need more information. My investigator tells me Molly’s only living relative is her mother, who lives in Switzerland. Perhaps she can help us to understand what happened, if there’s a chance Molly suffered from any illness Vivian didn’t know about.”
“That’s a terrible idea,” Vivian said, remembering how aloof Molly’s mother had been after the funeral. She’d flown out of England as quickly as she could, barely saying a word to Vivian.
“I say, question her mother,” Javier said.
Edouard snapped his fingers. “This is a delicate matter. It should be dealt with personally, but I don’t want to get involved more than necessary. You must handle it.” He looked at Javier. “Fly to Switzerland and talk to Molly’s mother. See if she knows anything that will help us assess what happened. Get it recorded and come back to me tomorrow with it.”
“I will.”
“How can you be sure the woman he’ll talk to is Molly’s mom? It could be anyone. He doesn’t even need to leave the country,” Vivian said.
“You’ll go with him,” Edouard said with calm confidence. “You both have strong reasons to discover what happened, and I trust you more than an investigator. Javier, if you didn’t torment this woman to death, you will get your deal signed as soon as you come back. But if I have doubts about how you handled yourself, I will have to cancel our merger agreement, and perhaps even consider Easton Finn’s proposal, since he’s so interested.” Edouard stood up.
“How are we supposed to find her mother?” Vivian asked.
“This is the address my investigator located.” Edouard handed a piece of paper to Javier. “Now I have to deal with the press speculating about the merger. Off you go. I expect to hear from you tomorrow.” Edouard clicked one of the many flashing lights on the phone on the conference table.
No wonder he had a coveted empire. When it was time to do business, the man worked swiftly.
…
“How long will the flight be?” Vivian asked when they boarded Javier’s private jet.
“Not long.” He sat down across from her. He could have picked any other seat. If he wanted to, he could have chosen not to even look at her.
But not looking at her was impossible.
He had to look at her to remind himself of how stupid he had been to nearly fall for the woman whose sole purpose was to ruin his life. Vivian Foster, who had lied to him and used him to please another man.
Just like my mother.
“What was Easton doing at Edouard’s office when we got there?”
“He was trying to persuade Edouard to consider his offer for the merger instead of mine. When did you speak with him last?”
Vivian sighed. “Yesterday.”
“How?”
“I bought a prepaid mobile at the souvenir shop. You may as well know it. I’m done with lying.”
“I paid for a mobile for you to call Easton.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice.
“I’m sorry, but it was the only way. I didn’t have my wallet or any money.”
Out of all his rivals, Vivian had teamed up with Easton.
Not only that, he had touched her. He had had her.
Javier clenched his fists so tightly, his nails broke the skin.
Easton Finn…his lifelong opponent and enemy, who was supposed to have been dormant, had awakened again. They hadn’t crossed paths in more than five years, when Easton outbid him at the last minute for a piece of prime real estate in New York. Javier hadn’t given Easton’s business antics much thought lately, since his investigator had found no signs of sabotage. Even when Molly had been caught taking confidential information home, there had been no sign of Finn’s involvement. They had investigated with no success, assuming that perhaps she’d intended to sell to the highest bidder. And hell, he knew he had quite a few opponents out there who’d love to sink their claws into the merger.
The old man was slick.
How could I let Vivian occupy a place in my mind that should have focused only on the merger?
The woman he thought worth his time and his bed, the strong woman with a vulnerability that had inspired him to dig deep and expose his own hidden weaknesses, his past… That woman had been a lie.
“No bodyguard?” Vivian asked.
“It’s just you and me,” he said. Javier wanted as few people around them as possible. Although he trusted his bodyguard, he didn’t want anyone to tell Easton of their whereabouts. “I intend to find this woman. If you have any tricks up your sleeve, forget them
.”
“Why would I have tricks up my sleeve?”
He didn’t know. He worried when he couldn’t read her thoughts. The blend of her lavender and orchid scent surrounded him, her perfume lingering in the aircraft.
“To buy Easton time. To get me out of the race.”
“Javier, I know now that you didn’t kill Molly. I’ll have nothing further to do with Easton. But there are some unanswered questions, and although I doubt her mother will be a big help, I’m on board.” A pang of sadness laced her voice.
Just an act.
“Do you have any idea what you have done? Because of your unfounded suspicions, a major business deal has been delayed. I have lots of people who depend on me whose jobs are on the line.”
“I didn’t know you were so altruistic.” Her voice carried sarcasm, or perhaps surprise. He couldn’t really tell any longer.
“I’m fair. What did Easton promise you, money?” The anger rose up—anger with himself for his inability to drop the subject. It was the idea of Easton being involved. Easton and Vivian.
“Money doesn’t interest me.”
“Why not? Do you have plenty of it?” He wondered if Easton had bought her jewelry or other expensive gifts. His chest tightened as he imagined Vivian in bed with the old bastard.
He would not allow himself to care who she’d slept with.
“I don’t have plenty of it.” She gave him a dismissive shrug, as if she didn’t care or money didn’t matter to her.
What a joke.
The flight attendant entered the cabin, smiling as she handed him a glass of scotch and gave Vivian a glass of orange juice. He usually didn’t drink during the day, but he needed something to settle the turmoil of his feelings.
He watched her as she drank her juice, torn between wanting her to disappear from his life and wanting her so badly it was a physical ache.
Wanting her after everything she’d done—it was a new low. But the idea of pulling her to him, ripping her clothes off, and taking her in the most primitive fashion wouldn’t leave his mind. Whatever sexual spell she’d spun around him was still pulsing, just like a part of him he wished wasn’t.
Javier pulled the tray closer over his erection. His own body had betrayed him.
“How can you be loyal to a lover who didn’t care if you slept with another man?” He had to know.
“Who, Easton?” She flipped the pages of a business magazine she had picked out from the built-in shelf next to the window. “He wasn’t my lover.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I told you there was no man in my life, remember?”
“Well, he is nothing but a dirtbag. Not a man. But still, that’s just terminology.”
“I didn’t lie to you about him.” She closed the magazine and glanced around before her blue eyes found his.
“What else didn’t you lie about?”
It didn’t matter anymore, but he wanted to know it all. “Your parents? Your upbringing?” His voice rose as he spoke.
“I didn’t lie about my parents or my life in general. I lied about why I was in your office, and it grew from there. But I did that because I had a purpose.”
Javier managed a terse laugh. “How did you meet Easton?”
“Molly approached him because she knew he was also very interested in the merger. After her funeral, he came to me—the only time we’ve met in person—and proposed that I continue what she’d started.”
“You’ve met him in person only once?” Javier snorted. “I don’t buy it.”
“I’m not going to keep apologizing to you for lying,” Vivian said. “You obviously hate me and don’t believe anything I say…and I don’t care what you think of me at this point.” She gave him a long, assessing look before opening the magazine again.
“Now that I can believe,” he said drily, raising his glass of scotch in a toast.
The jet landed smoothly forty minutes later, and they swiftly passed through immigration. The top-of-the-line German sedan Javier had requested from the rental desk as they traveled was waiting.
“No limo this time?” Vivian asked.
“The fewer people are involved in this, the better.”
Why is she so worried about being alone with me?
Javier shook his head. She wasn’t. Maybe she had counted on having either the bodyguard or a chauffeur around to distract him, or hoped she might persuade them to help her send Easton a message.
Javier held the steering wheel tightly as they turned onto the main road to the city.
It was a cool, sunny day, and Lake Zurich was crowded. Children chattered and squealed as they cheekily threw food to the ducks on the lake. A couple of stylishly dressed women walked their tiny dogs around the plaza, and cars fought for parking spaces. The traffic was slow and chaotic, just as he had expected. Downtown, tourists hopped on the city trolley, which made annoying, continuous stops. Blue-collar workers took the train to get into the city. It seemed that everywhere he looked, everyone was rushing to get somewhere.
Infierno. None of it took his mind off the woman sitting next to him. He could not get the dreadful image of Vivian with Easton out of his head. He needed to focus on securing his merger without allowing himself to be distracted by her presence, either in his head or by his side.
“It’s daytime. What if she’s working?” Vivian asked when he parked on the street in a middle-class neighborhood.
“Then I will find out where she works.” Javier got out of the car.
They walked in silence on the narrow sidewalk of an even narrower street, past a couple of restaurants and flower shops, until they reached a faded brown townhouse and Javier confirmed the number above the door.
He buzzed the intercom, but there was no answer. As he sighed in frustration, an elderly woman carrying a bag of groceries approached the narrow iron gate. She opened the door with an access key, and when Javier heard the clicking noise, he opened the door wide for her, smiling politely.
She smiled back and mumbled a thank-you as she walked in. Javier pretended to look for his keys until the lady was out of sight, then caught the door before it fully closed. He looked at Vivian as they entered the building.
“No elevator. Great.” She shuddered at the sight of an old stairwell. “What floor does she live on?”
“Fourth.” Javier regretted letting her walk ahead of him as they climbed the stairs. They were careful to stay a few steps behind the old lady, who had also taken the stairs. The last thing they needed was unwanted attention.
He looked away from Vivian’s perfectly rounded bottom, which swayed with every step.
The narrow stairwell seemed to close in on him, as he wondered what it would be like to take her right here against the wall or on the steps. To rid his body of the poisonous need.
To his relief, they soon reached the fourth floor.
“Maybe she’s out,” Vivian said after she knocked on the door a few times. “Or working.”
He spotted the lady across the hall, still fighting to find the key in her purse while balancing grocery bags. Vivian approached her and stretched her hand out with a warm smile. “Here, I can help,” she offered.
The lady handed her the bags, and after retrieving the apartment key in her purse, she opened her arms to get her bags back. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Vivian carefully handed them back. “By the way, do you know what time the lady from 4C will return? I was a friend of her daughter’s.”
The old lady smiled. “Laura’s on vacation. She left for Zuoz to go hiking. She does that every year in the spring.”
“Do you know where she stays in Zuoz?” Javier asked.
The lady wrinkled her forehead in thought. “A cozy little place that has a statue of two birds at the entrance. But I don’t know the name.”
“Thank you,” Vivian said.
“I’ll tell her you stopped by.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Javier said. “We’ll go and visi
t her in Zuoz.”
Chapter Nine
“We’re here,” Javier said, and Vivian woke, startled and disoriented. Her last memory before her lids closed had been of the pastel colors of the sunset over peaceful countryside, which, along with the slowed rhythm of the car, had lulled her into a doze.
She followed Javier from the car and smiled at the entrance to a dark-brown lodge with a medium-sized stone statue of two kissing birds in the front garden. If things weren’t so strained between them, she would have congratulated him on his acute sense of direction, as he had only glanced at the map once before finding the street filled with bed-and-breakfasts.
At the run-down reception area, Javier spoke in German with the receptionist. Vivian picked up a brochure for visitors and pretended to read while she watched Javier.
She knew Molly hadn’t committed suicide. Aside from that truth, all she had were questions. Did Molly have an affair with someone else? Could there be another explanation? Would Edouard get something out of Javier’s investigator?
“Vivian,” Javier called. “Laura Richardson isn’t here.”
“She’s not?” Vivian blinked out of her trance.
“She’s been staying here, but she has gone hiking in the woods for a couple of days.”
Vivian looked at the forest through the big window. Darkness blanketed the trees. “She went in there.”
Javier nodded. “Yes. And so will we.”
“I don’t think so.” Vivian crossed her arms. “It’s getting dark.” The prospect of adventuring into the gloomy forest with Javier after such a long day was not at all favorable. She hadn’t eaten on the flight. Her anxiety had been stronger than any desire for food. Now she was starving. “If we succeed at anything apart from dying of exhaustion, it will be scaring her to death. We can’t turn up in the middle of the night.”
“Are you trying to delay this from happening?” Javier stepped closer, his mocking, disbelieving eyes capturing hers.
“I’m starving. And not dressed to wander into the woods.” She smoothed her dress with her hands and avoided looking at his dark gray suit, which fit his large body perfectly.
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