No doubt. Gray couldn’t help but be proud of his sister for her resourcefulness. Even if he’d been the one to pay the price with seven years of his life.
Although, that was assuming his sister wasn’t aware of what she was doing. If she’d screwed him on purpose...
“You have no idea where she is?”
“If I did, do you think I’d have sent that note to your mom?”
No, she wouldn’t.
Gray let his gaze drift up and down, taking in the woman who’d given birth to him. Even through the heavy makeup he could tell she was tired and worn. Her shoulders were slumped and the caked-on makeup had settled into the deep lines around her mouth.
The only word that came to Gray’s mind was pathetic. She’d spent her life trading on her beauty to get what she wanted, but was clearly starting to realize external beauty faded. And now she was screwed because she didn’t have a backup plan.
“Don’t bother sending any more threatening notes. You won’t be getting any more money from anyone in my family.”
“I’ll go to the media.”
Gray shrugged. “Go ahead. Do you really think a thirty-five-year-old sex scandal will matter to anyone?”
Cece laughed, the sharp sound scraping across his eardrums. “Your name is still big in the media. They’ll eat up the story.”
“No one will care. I’ve been out of prison for almost a year. Hell, my parole is finished in a couple months.”
Blakely’s fingers squeezed his arm again. She hadn’t said a single thing during the exchange, but he’d known she was right beside him.
“Go ahead. See how far that gets you. You can only sell the story once.”
Gray took a few steps backward. The expression on Cece’s face left his belly churning—not because he was concerned, but because she looked utterly devastated and broken.
But that wasn’t his problem. She was no one to him.
His sister, on the other hand, was someone he wanted to talk to.
* * *
From across the aisle on the plane, Blakely watched Gray. He’d been quiet and distant since they’d walked away from his mother. At first, she’d worried he was about to lose it and tear into the woman. But she should have known better. Gray Lockwood had tight control, even in the midst of utter turmoil.
Hell, she was still trying to digest the information bomb his mother had dropped and it had nothing to do with her.
She’d been quiet for a while, but at some point, they were going to have to talk about it.
“What are you going to do?”
Gray turned to her, his gaze distant and unfocused. “What?”
“What are you going to do?”
His gaze sharpened. He blinked several times. “Find my sister.”
Obviously, she never expected anything less. “Are you going to tell the authorities about Cece and her role in everything?”
With a sigh, Gray let his head drop back against the seat. Reaching up, he rubbed his fingers into his eyes. “No, I don’t have any proof.”
“You have me as a witness.”
“Sure, and considering we’re sleeping together, that’ll go over well.”
“No one knows.”
Gray’s hands fell into his lap. He stared at her for a few seconds. “At the very least, everyone knows we’ve been working closely together.”
“Surely there’s a way to make your mother and her boyfriend pay for what they did.”
“I doubt it. It’s not likely there’s a trail to follow, but I’ll have Joker see what he can dig up. At least now he knows where to look, which should help. But I’m going to assume they were very careful about getting their hands dirty. And without the trail of money to trace back to them...it’s going to be difficult to prove.”
“Your sister is the linchpin.”
Gray’s body sagged against the leather. “She is. I need Joker to track her, as well. Same thing, knowing where to start will hopefully make the job easier.”
Maybe, but his mother had said they hadn’t been able to find her for the last eight years. And something told Blakely they’d worked at finding her since the girl potentially had twenty million dollars.
Eight years of being missing—that was a long time. Blakely didn’t want to say it out loud, but maybe she was dead. His sister had been sixteen, after all, when she’d disappeared. Even with twenty million, it must have been difficult to be on her own.
Blakely might have felt like her father had abandoned her, choosing his friends and a life that took him away from them, but at least she’d always had her mother to count on. To shelter and protect her. It sounded like Gray’s sister hadn’t had anyone to care about her. Blakely could hardly imagine the woman they’d seen tonight being anything close to maternal.
“When we get back, I’ll tell Stone you’re available for other assignments. I know he has a couple he could use your help on.”
“No.”
Gray’s eyebrows beetled into a deep frown. “You’re not still hell-bent on leaving Stone Surveillance, are you? Not only are you good at this kind of work, you enjoy it. Don’t try to deny that.”
Why would she deny it? “Yes, I really enjoy it. I enjoy putting the pieces together and solving the puzzle. I love feeling like what I’m doing might make a real difference to someone. But...”
“So why do you want to leave?”
“No one said anything about leaving. I’ll stay as long as I have a job.”
“I’m confused.”
“My assignment with you isn’t finished.”
Gray shook his head. “Yes, it is. You agreed to help me figure out what happened. Now I know.”
“Maybe, but the bread crumbs don’t end there, do they? I owe you a hell of a lot. The least I can do is see this through.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Blakely.”
That’s where he was terribly wrong. She owed him seven years of his life, but there was no way she could give those back to him. “You’re wrong. My testimony was key to putting you behind bars for a crime you didn’t commit.”
Gray opened his mouth to protest, but Blakely wasn’t having any of it. Holding up a hand, she said, “Don’t even bother denying it. We both know it’s true. How do you think that makes me feel? Knowing I’m responsible for you losing seven years of your life? Being disowned by your family and barred from the company and your heritage?”
Instead of smoothing out Gray’s frown, her words had the opposite effect. Dark anger swirled in the deep green depths of his eyes. “Do you think I want your pity?”
“No, so it’s a good thing what I’m feeling is far from pity.”
“Ha.” Gray let out a growling huff. “Guilt and pity are wafting off you so strongly I’m practically strangling on them. Blakely, what happened to me is not your fault. Nor is it your responsibility to atone for anything.”
“Is that what you think? That I’m atoning for some self-assessed sin?”
“Isn’t it?”
God, the man was infuriating and a major pain in her ass sometimes.
“No. I’m fully aware the only ones truly responsible for what happened to you are the people involved in framing you—your mother, her boyfriend and your sister.”
Gray flinched, which made her regret the words, even if they were the truth.
“We started something. I won’t abandon you or what we’re doing simply because we got a few of the answers. Especially not when those answers raised more questions.”
“Maybe I don’t want your help anymore.”
It was Blakely’s turn to flinch. His words hit her straight in the chest, bruising her just as much as any real punch could have.
“Is that true?”
“Hell, no. I never could have gotten this far without you.”
“So why are yo
u trying to push me away?”
Gray closed his eyes. With a groan, he sank back into the chair. “Because you scare the hell out of me.”
The confession was just as startling as anything else he’d said to her. “I scare you? That’s impossible. I’m no one with no significance.”
This time, when Gray looked at her with anger in his eyes, the emotion was clearly directed straight at her. “Don’t ever say that again. Yes, you scare me. I’ve truly known you for a little over a week and in that time, you’ve become the most important person in my life. But my life is utter crap at the moment and I really don’t want to drag anyone else into it, least of all someone I actually like and am starting to care a great deal for.”
Blakely’s mouth opened and closed. Words formed in her head, but wouldn’t tumble out. Until she finally said, “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
What the heck was she supposed to do with that? “I’m past starting to care a great deal for you, Gray. And you’ve quickly become the most important person in my life, too.”
Apparently, she was going to be more honest with him than she’d meant to. Suddenly, a wave of heat washed over her body. What was she doing? Uneasiness filled her, not because she didn’t mean what she’d said, but because the truth of her words made her vulnerable in a way she’d never let herself become before.
Relationships had never been her strength. In fact, she’d been accused of being cold and reserved by more than one boyfriend. And, no doubt, they’d all been right. Her father had taught her not to trust, a lesson that had been damn hard to unlearn.
Even now, the thought of letting Gray that close, letting him become important to her, had alarm bells going off inside her head. She was stupid for even considering it, wasn’t she?
A week ago, she would have convinced herself that the fact he was a criminal meant he couldn’t be trusted...but knowing what she did now, that felt like a cop-out.
But it also didn’t make it any easier to let down those protective walls.
“You should take the opportunity I’m giving you and walk away.”
Every self-preservation instinct inside her was screaming to do exactly as he suggested. But she couldn’t make herself do it.
She didn’t want to.
“No.”
In the end, uttering that single word was the easiest decision she’d ever made.
Eleven
Gray couldn’t decide if Blakely’s decision was stupid or noble. Maybe a little of both. She should walk away. There was no doubt in his mind that would be the smartest thing for both of them.
A jumble of conflicting emotions churned in Gray’s belly. Anger, frustration, hurt, apprehension. He couldn’t shake the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And that fear didn’t dissipate two days later, when Joker gave them a rundown of what he’d uncovered about his sister.
“You said Kinley, your sister, was sixteen when she ran off on her own?”
Gray, Joker, Blakely, Stone and Finn all sat around the conference table at Stone Surveillance. Everyone who’d been instrumental in getting Gray to this point was there with him.
Why did it feel so monumental? Like another crossroads in his life. An unexpected one.
“That’s what my birth mother said.”
“I still can’t believe you have a sister you never knew about,” Stone grumbled. “This is an utter cluster, man. I’m so sorry.”
That was Stone, apologizing for something that wasn’t his fault. Taking the weight of the world onto his shoulders.
Finn, on the other hand, drawled, “Look on the bright side. At least this sister hasn’t disowned you.”
Gray laughed. He had to. “No, but she framed me for embezzlement.”
“By accident.”
So his mother said, but he wasn’t convinced.
Joker chimed in, like he could read Gray’s mind. “I wouldn’t be so positive.”
His stomach tightened, the muscles knotting into a tangle it felt like no one would be able to unravel. “Tell me.”
Opening a dossier, Joker spread a bunch of papers across the table.
Blakely immediately jumped up, pulling several of them closer for inspection. Gray let her look. But he wasn’t entirely certain he was ready to know what they contained.
“This chick is amazing,” Joker said. “Who did you say trained her?”
“I didn’t.” Mostly because he had no clue beyond what his mother had shared. “My mother said she’d shown a natural aptitude at an early age and her father started teaching her.”
“That makes sense. Sure, there are some young IT geniuses who could figure this stuff out on their own, but she’s really damn slick for someone so young.”
It hadn’t taken Gray long to do the math. His sister was now twenty-four, give or take a few months. He didn’t even know when her birthday was. And that made his stomach tighten even more.
Growing up, he’d desperately wanted someone in his life he could be close to. His father hadn’t given a damn about him, unless he could be useful in some way. His father had been too wrapped up in his business affairs. And his mother had been happy to leave Gray’s upbringing to anyone else she could pay to fulfill the role.
Maybe that was the problem. He’d gained a sister only to immediately lose her because she’d been instrumental in the worst moments of his life. Karma really was a bitch, although he still wasn’t sure what he’d ever done to deserve her disdain.
“Yeah, yeah, she’s brilliant. We get it,” Finn groused. “Could you hurry this up? I’ve got things to do and places to break into.”
Gray rolled his eyes. Trust Finn to be in a hurry for a little B&E. Luckily, these days his extracurricular activities were wholly sanctioned. Not to mention profitable for their business.
“No, man. I don’t think you understand. I’ve never met another hacker that I couldn’t track within a few hours. Everyone leaves a trail, even if they don’t mean to. Bread crumbs are easy to follow when you know what to look for. This girl...” Joker looked chagrined. “She’s the best. Better than me.”
Shit. Gray sat up in his chair. Joker was the best he’d ever seen, which was why Gray had cultivated the relationship and convinced the man to work for Stone Surveillance. Joker had single-handedly uncovered information that had been instrumental in saving Piper’s life and exonerating Finn from being set up by his wife’s grandfather.
“Does that mean you can’t find her?”
Joker glared at him. “Of course not. It just means it took me longer than I would have liked. But like I said, everyone leaves bread crumbs...even if they think they’re sweeping them all up.”
Gray sank into his chair. The comforting weight of Blakely’s hand landed on the curve of his thigh. She squeezed, silently giving him her support. He hadn’t realized how much he’d needed it until that moment.
Setting his hand over hers, he squeezed back, a silent thank-you.
“It took a while, but I traced her trail backward for the past eight years, right after she left Vegas. Most of that time, she bounced from place to place across the world. A few months in Paris, a couple in Thailand, Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Iceland. There was no rhyme or reason, at least none I could figure out.”
He was damn good with patterns, so Gray would hazard a guess that if Joker couldn’t find one, there probably wasn’t one.
“She never stayed long in any place and she rarely came back to the States. She was here during your trial, though. One of her longer periods in one place, actually.”
“Here, as in Charleston?”
Joker nodded.
“Why the heck would she be here?” It made no sense. They knew she was responsible for framing him. They also knew she’d stolen another twenty million. Why put herself in jeopardy by coming so close to his trial?
“To make sure it went as she wanted?” Stone mused.
“Or maybe because she felt guilty about what happened,” Blakely countered, her eyebrows pulled down into a sharp V of irritation.
“We can speculate all day, but there’s no way to know for sure. I think we can all agree it’s suspect.” At least, that was Gray’s take on it. No matter what his sister’s motives for coming to Charleston back then...they obviously hadn’t been to see he didn’t pay for a crime he didn’t commit.
“It gets weirder,” Joker said.
“Weirder?” Finn’s dark eyebrows winged up.
“Once I was able to track her movements, it didn’t take me long to uncover several accounts in her name.”
“Let me guess—the balance started out at twenty million?”
Joker’s mouth twisted into a wry grimace. “Yep.”
“How much is left?”
“Just over thirty million.”
“Excuse me?”
“And that’s in one account.”
A sly grin stretched across Finn’s lips. “The little minx really is a genius. She’s managed to evade everyone and grow her money.”
“Oh, she’s done more than that.”
For the first time since they’d sat down, Gray realized Joker’s voice was tinged with respect and pride each time he talked about her. The rascal was impressed.
“Explain.”
“Kinley hasn’t just been investing your money for the past eight years. She used a little, but each time would eventually replace it with interest.”
“And how has she accomplished this?” Stone, who’d been silent and observant much of the time finally asked.
“By stealing money from other people.”
Why didn’t that surprise him? “Why haven’t we heard about these thefts? Did she decide to change her tactics and go after smaller amounts to fly under the radar?”
“Actually, it’s the opposite. Your twenty million is small change. She’s managed to steal almost a billion dollars from various people.”
“Now I’m less impressed that her bank account has thirty million in it,” Finn quipped.
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