by L. P. Dover
“Talents, huh?” I said with a smile. “I seem to remember you threatening to take money out of my bank account.”
“Who says I haven’t?”
I laughed, and shook my head. “There’s no way.”
A smug smile spread across his face, and he leaned back in his chair. “Login in to your bank account and find out.”
It couldn’t be true, could it? I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of watching me find out it was just a joke, but if he was being for real…
“Dammit,” I griped, sliding my phone out of my back pocket. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” I logged into my bank account and searched through my transactions. Nothing strange stuck out at me. I set my phone down, and glared at him. “You are such an ass. Everything’s there.”
“Sure about that? You’re not missing ten dollars?”
Grabbing my phone, I looked through my transactions again. I wouldn’t have noticed a ten-dollar charge. I would’ve expected something in the hundreds. However, it was right there in my recent transactions. There was no mention of who the money was sent to, only a transaction number.
Mouth gaping, I stared at him in disbelief. “That charge can’t be from you. There’s no way.”
His grin widened. “Oh, yeah? What if I told you the transaction number was 03175370? Would you believe me then?”
When I glanced down at the numbers, I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were the same. “Oh my God, how the hell did you do that?”
He shrugged, and stood. “I have my ways. And right now, I need to see what I can find out about last night. Are you planning on staying by the pool?”
“Actually,” I said, getting to my feet, “how about I help you? Everything that’s happened involves my family, and I don’t want to keep sitting out when I could be of some use.”
I had no clue how I’d be able to help him, but I wanted to know who the shooter was just as much as everyone else. Bryce shook his head, but then he must’ve understood the look on my face, because he ended up sighing and nodding toward the patio doors. I wasn’t going to let him dismiss me that easily.
“Fine. You can help. I might be able to use you.”
We walked back inside the house, and straight up the stairs to my rooms. “Where do you want to do this at? My room or yours?”
Something flashed in his eyes, and it made me shiver. He cleared his throat and nodded toward his door. “Mine. You’ll just need your laptop.”
He disappeared inside his room and kept the door open while I grabbed my computer. His room was decorated similar to mine as far as furniture and the king-sized bed, but the colors were completely different. My room was pale green and cream, while his was light blue with shimmering gold accents. I couldn’t help but think to myself how out of place he looked sitting at the desk. His back was to me, and the tattoos made him look hard and dangerous. It made me wonder what kind of life he grew up in. I knew he came from money, but that didn’t mean he had a good life.
“My mother painted those flowers on the desk,” I called out. Bryce leaned back in his chair so he could see the artwork. I shut the bedroom door behind me, and walked over to the window seat right by the desk so I could face him.
Bryce peered down at one of the flowers, and there was a sadness in those steely eyes of his I’d never seen before. “She was a talented woman,” he said, focusing back on his laptop.
“Yes, she was.” I thought maybe he’d say something about his own mother, but he didn’t. “What about your parents?” I asked cautiously. “Do you see them often?”
He typed away on his computer, not even attempting to look at me. “My mother’s dead, and I haven’t seen my father since I came to New York.”
There was a hint of anger his voice, and I knew exactly where he was coming from. I was still angry that my mom had been taken away from me so early, and now my father almost had been. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be pry,” I said, hoping he could hear the sincerity in my voice. “It’s just I don’t know much about you.”
This time he met my gaze. “You don’t want to know everything about me, Layla. Don’t forget, I saw the way you looked at me that first night in your father’s study.”
Swallowing hard, I froze under his stare just like I did that night. “I’m not afraid of you, Bryce.” His brows lifted, clearly not believing me, so I rolled my eyes. “Okay, fine, I was at the beginning. There was something about your eyes that sent chills through my body. I immediately knew you were dangerous.”
“What changed?” he asked, gaze narrowed curiously.
Even though I was drunk at the time, I knew the exact moment. Whether I imagined or not, I was about to find out. “The night of our dinner,” I stated. “That was when I saw a different side of you.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I’m surprised you remember anything. You were a little wasted.”
Heart racing, I clutched the edges of my laptop. Why was I so nervous around him? I’d never been like that around any man. “I was a little drunk at the time, but I never got a chance to tell you thank you.”
“For what?” he asked.
“For not telling my father how ridiculous I was that night when I asked you not to.”
His lips tilted slightly. “We made a deal. Then I said you owed me. One of these days I’ll collect.”
That sent shivers through my body, ones that went straight to my core. “You also whispered something in my ear when you laid me on the couch. You said I wasn’t at all what you thought I’d be, and then you touched my cheek. Ever since then, I knew there was a different side to you. Every second I spend with you, I see it more and more.”
And just like that, his emotions shut off. He focused back on his laptop. “That’s not who I really am, Layla. You’d do best to remember that.”
His response surprised me. I sat there, wondering what the hell went wrong. We had a connection, and I knew he felt it too. But why was he pushing me away? The first thing that came to mind was my father, but Bryce wasn’t afraid of him. He didn’t seem to be the kind of man to back down from something he wanted. Then again, maybe he wasn’t interested in me, and even if he was, and my father didn’t approve, he could tear us apart. It probably wasn’t a bad idea to keep my distance from him.
Pretending everything was fine, I opened my laptop and booted it up. What I really wanted to do was slap him. “All right, tell me what I need to do.”
Bryce typed away on his computer, but I couldn’t see what was on his screen. “I need a list of all the places around the gala. Once I have that, I can tap into their security systems.”
“The police should already be on that, right?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep, but it’ll take them longer. I can get in and get what we need.”
I didn’t even have to look online to find the names of the businesses in the area. Closing my laptop, I set it on the window seat cushion, and grabbed the small notepad from the corner of the desk, along with a pen. I wrote down every place in the area I could think of.
“Here,” I said, handing the piece of paper to him. “That should help you.”
He took the list and typed away. I was curious to see what he was doing, so I got up and stood behind him. There was nothing but gibberish on the screen, a bunch of letters and numbers in different patterns. It made no sense to me at all.
“What are you doing?” I asked, mesmerized by how fast his hands moved across the keyboard.
“I’m hacking into all the security systems.”
“How’s that possible? I don’t even understand how all those letters and numbers can even get you in.”
The screen went black, and then all of a sudden, there were about a dozen different video feeds that popped up. Bryce pointed at one and clicked on it. It was a live video of the street Avery Hall was on. I could see the entrance to the parking garage we had parked in. He pressed the button to rewind the feed, and everything moved quickly.
“These camera
s are all part of an intricate system,” he explained as he pointed at the screen. “To hack into them, it requires a lot of memorization and skill.”
“Who taught you how to do this?”
A heavy sigh escaped his lips. “Let’s just say I know the right people.” He stopped the video just as everyone from the gala fled for their lives. People ran out of the building, and cars sped out of the parking garage. A few seconds later, I watched as Bryce’s car was one of them.
The camera he needed to search through was the one on the opposite side of Avery Hall, where all the windows were. It was a chic clothing store, but just behind that was a bank, and on the other side of that was Mackenzie and Associates Law Firm, owned by Faith and her husband.
“I got it,” I gasped. Bryce jerked his attention to me, and I moved closer so I could touch his screen. “See if you can hack into the Mackenzie law firm cameras. My best friend and her husband own the practice.” I pointed at their building, which I knew had a ton of cameras all around, and I was pretty sure Faith’s husband had them on the roof as well.
Bryce’s hands moved fast on the keyboard, and it was only a matter of seconds before another screen popped up with video feeds. He clicked on one and shifted it to one of the cameras that was on the Mackenzies’ roof. The entrance to Avery Hall could clearly be seen.
“This is fucking perfect,” Bryce announced, obviously pleased with my suggestion by the smile on his face. It felt good to help. To not crowd him, I moved back over to the window seat, and looked out.
His room had a view of the pool, and the pool house, but you could also see the tops of the guest houses through the trees. The Corsino estate was like a small village. We even had a barn, but it was empty. My mother died before she could get the horses she wanted.
“What the hell?” Bryce grumbled.
I jerked my attention to him. “What is it?”
Gaze narrowed, he leaned in closer to his screen. “I can’t see a goddamn thing, that’s what.” I jumped up and got in behind him. All of the video feeds on display were fuzzy, as if the cameras had all lost connection. Bryce pointed at them, one by one. “Each of these are cameras from all around Avery Hall, at the exact time of the shootings. Looks like they’ve been tampered with.” He fast-forwarded the time ahead three minutes on each video. “See them now. Everything’s back to normal.”
“Oh wow,” I gasped. “That’s definitely not a coincidence.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Whoever did it is good at what they do.”
Chills ran down my spine. “If we can’t see the shooter, how are you going to find them?”
Bryce blew out a heavy breath, and peered up at me. “I don’t know. It’s not looking good. Your father’s going to want to hear this.”
Grabbing my cell phone out of my back pocket, I called my father and put it on speakerphone. I hadn’t talked to him since the gala. I set my phone on the desk, and Bryce and I watched it as it rang and rang. When I heard my father say my name, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Dad, are you okay?” Heart racing, I knelt down in front of the desk beside Bryce.
“Yes, cara mia, I’m fine. Just a little sore, but I’ve got everything I need to get better.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
He sighed. “Connecticut.”
I knew exactly where he was. My father owned houses in several different states, but I never spent much time at the one in Connecticut. “Why don’t you come back home? We’re all safe here.”
“I don’t want to take any chances with you, Layla. It’s obvious I’m a target. I don’t want you being in the crossfire. It’s safer for you to be away from me.”
A tear slid down my cheek. “How long are we talking?”
“Not sure,” he replied sadly. “It all depends on what Bryce finds. Is he with you right now?”
I met Bryce’s gaze. “He is.”
“Bryce?” he called.
Bryce cleared his throat. “I’m here.”
“Have you found anything?”
Bryce looked at me again before turning to his computer. “That’s one of the reasons why we called.” He replayed one of the videos, and it was the same as before. Nothing but a fuzzy background during the three minutes of the shootings. “Someone tampered with the cameras,” Bryce said, shutting his laptop. “I’m talking all of them. I couldn’t see a fucking thing.”
“Dammit to hell,” my father cursed. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“In the days before the gala, did you tell anyone outside your circle what I can do?”
“Of course not,” my father snapped. “I’m not an idiot. I would never share those secrets with anyone. It gives us an advantage.”
Shoulders tense, Bryce ran a hand through his hair. “Whoever it was, they’re smart. I can keep looking through the feeds, but I don’t know if I’ll find anything.”
“Thanks, son. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you can’t find anything, I know Sheriff Moneta won’t either.”
“What if it never gets figured out?” I asked, jumping into the conversation.
My father blew out a sad sigh. “We’ll give it a little bit of time and then move on, cara mia. Right now, I want to keep my distance. Dominic and Isaiah will stay in the city until further notice.”
“What about Bryce?” I said. “It’s not his job to be my babysitter. I don’t want him putting his life on hold because of me.” As much as I wanted him around me, I didn’t want it to be because he was being paid.
“I agree,” my father replied. “That’s why it’s solely up to him. I’m just hoping he’ll stay and keep you safe until I can come back.”
Bryce’s eyes met mine, and it made me tremble when he spoke, his voice dark and low. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll keep your daughter safe.”
“Thank you,” my father answered. “I know you will. Let me know if you find anything.”
We said our goodbyes, and I got up so I could grab my laptop off the window seat. Bryce stood as well, and I could see him in the reflection of the window, staring at me. I glanced down at the pool and then faced him. “Want to take a break?” I asked. “We could go for a swim. I need something to get my mind off of everything.”
He shook his head. “I need to make some phone calls. Also,” he said with a sigh, “I still need to look into the shooter. They had to have missed something.”
Holding my laptop to my chest, I nodded. “Okay. I’ll leave you to it then.” I completely understood, but there was still a pang in my chest. Why did I care so much? He wasn’t the kind of man I needed, but I couldn’t seem to stay away from him. I knew he wanted me too. I could see the way his eyes flashed heatedly when I asked him to go swimming with me. The question was…what was holding him back? When I got to the door, an idea hit me. Maybe the answer was right in front of my face. “Just so you know,” I stated casually and waved my hand about the room. “This room is private, along with the others that belong to me. Whatever happens behind these doors stays that way, so if you’re worried about my father seeing us together, don’t be.” I thought that might’ve been the problem on why he was distant, but all he did was stand there, his expression unreadable as he looked around.
“That’s good to know,” he responded, glancing around the room. “Once I get done with my calls, I’ll come down to the pool.”
Nodding in reply, I opened the door and went straight over to my room to put on my bathing suit. Sooner or later, I was going to break through his walls.
Chapter Ten
Bryce
The woman was going to fucking kill me. I knew she wanted me. Lord knows I wanted her. Hell, the second she said her rooms were private, I wanted to throw her on the bed and show her just how much I wanted her. Unfortunately, she was off limits, for a variety of reasons, and I had to keep my distance. Something told me it wasn’t going to be that easy.
In the beginning, I was fine playing a part for her father. All he wanted was for Julian t
o stay away from her at the gala, to make it look like I was interested in her. It’d be so much easier if she was a spoiled cunt that only thought about herself. I’d have no issues being an ass to her, or screwing her over to get to her father.
But Layla wasn’t like that at all. How in the hell did someone like her have a murderous bastard for a father? Then again, I wasn’t much different than him; only I didn’t kill innocents.
The sound of a splash echoed outside, and I knew I shouldn’t look out the window, but I couldn’t resist. I peered down into the pool, and there she was, in her teal bikini. She climbed onto one of her floats, and spread her arms above her head, stretching that gorgeous body of hers as she closed her eyes. My dick twitched, and I clenched my teeth.
“Fuck,” I hissed, moving away from the window. I had to stay focused.
Layla said the room was private, but I had to be sure before I made any of my phone calls. If what she said was true, then I couldn’t have asked for better luck.
My bag was on the bed, and inside were my clothes and a couple of my FBI gadgets, one being a bug and hidden camera detector. I pulled it out and combed every inch of the room, from top to bottom. Everything was clear.
I grabbed my phone off the desk and pressed Ian’s number. With everything going on, I didn’t know if I’d have the opportunity to be alone to call him without the risk of someone overhearing.
He picked up on the second ring. “Damn, brother, where’ve you been? I was worried about you.”
I walked back over to the window, and Layla was still out there, floating around. “I’m fine, I promise. I’m at the Corsino estate with Anthony’s daughter while he’s in hiding after that shitshow at the gala.”
“His daughter? What’s the deal with that?”
“Long story,” I answered, not wanting to go into detail. I didn’t want him to know how deep I was actually in. “The gala shootings set me back. I don’t know how long I’m going to be here.”
“Yeah, I saw that on the news. Any leads?”
“No, which is why I’m going to get help. All the cameras around the area had been tampered with, the exact same way we do things when we hunt.” I’d wondered if it could’ve been someone on the FBI side, but they would’ve warned me. They knew I was undercover.