Scandal Never Sleeps

by Shayla Black

  “They were very quiet about it,” Tavia confirmed. “He stopped seeing her after he started seeing Sara.”

  “You knew about Sara?” Everly asked. She thought that had been a closely guarded secret.

  Tavia nodded. “Yes, but I would never talk about it. That was their business. After Mad broke things off with Sara, Valerie made herself available to him again. But he chose to spend all his time with you, and you know what the rumors said.”

  So Valerie thought Maddox had moved on with her, all but discarding his old lover. No wonder the accountant had been so full of venom lately.

  “Valerie had to know that Maddox was never serious about her.”

  Tavia winced. “She’s always had a thing for him, though I suspect it was more about his money than his heart. And the fame. She wanted that, too, and was very upset he wouldn’t take her out in public. I tried to warn her that Maddox wasn’t serious about her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Mad couldn’t do anything that wasn’t messy.”

  “That’s true,” Tavia said. “We agreed that if Valerie took even a cent this year that I’d help him put together a tight criminal case against her. I’d planned to see that through after this year’s gala, provided I haven’t been fired by then.” She gave Gabriel a pointed look. “But Maddox took the paperwork with him. My hands are tied without that. Did you say you found it?”

  “Yes, but I’m not as worried about that as I am about the pictures of those girls,” Gabriel admitted. “I’ll bring in a forensic accountant and figure out everything Valerie’s done. We can proceed from there. Trust me, I won’t hesitate to fire her. Now did Mad mention why he wanted pictures of your missing girls?”

  “I gave those to him,” Tavia explained. “I asked him to hire mercenaries to find them. Um, a group with a very distinct set of skills. He was reluctant, and I gave him the girls’ pictures because I hoped that having faces with the names would motivate him.”

  “Mercenaries?” In foreign countries, they could be a necessary evil, but Everly wasn’t aware that Crawford Industries had ever needed to use them.

  “Yes.” Tavia continued pacing. She never sat still. “When I asked, Maddox said he knew some. After I shared the pictures, he promised to think about it. But before he could get back to me, he . . .” She sniffled, looking as if she tried to hold herself together. “God, what a mess.” There was a knock at her door. Tavia looked at her watch and stiffened. “It’s Valerie. We have a meeting.”

  Gabriel stood and straightened his jacket. “I’ll handle her.”

  “You can’t,” Tavia whispered. “Not until you get a solid case together and fire her. If you tip her off now, you’ll give her time to cover her tracks. I know her well, Mr. Bond. She’ll cause trouble if your ducks aren’t in a row.”

  Everly nodded at Gabriel in agreement. But even looking at the man threatened to split her heart open. Less than an hour out of his arms and already she ached. Grabbing a few minutes to herself seemed like a good idea.

  “We’ll get out of your hair, Tavia.” She turned to Gabriel. “Why don’t you go to your office for a while? I’m sure you still need to meet with the other VPs. And have Connor bring you the files. You can make some phone calls to start the investigative process. I’ll go to my office and tackle my inbox. We’ll meet back up at five. After all, appearances would be better if everything looked normal this afternoon.”

  He slid his hand into hers, locking their fingers together. “All right.” He glanced Tavia’s way. “Will you be okay with her?”

  Tavia was already striding to her office door. “Of course. I promise you, I can handle this. She won’t suspect a thing.” She swung the door open and gave Valerie a huge smile. “Hey, come on in. Have you had lunch?”

  Valerie barely ate at all, from what Everly could tell.

  The stick-thin woman looked past Tavia to stare at her. An expression Everly could only describe as one of distaste crossed her face. “I think I lost my appetite.”

  Gabriel’s hand tightened on hers. His face was perfectly bland as he led Everly from the room and turned to Valerie. “I’ll see you later.”

  Those four simple words might have sounded innocuous, but Gabriel managed to turn them into a threat.

  “I thought you were going to let Tavia handle it,” Everly murmured as the door closed behind them.

  She didn’t want to admit how much she enjoyed holding his hand, how safe she felt. She knew every eye in the office was on them, but at that particular moment she didn’t care. Touching him settled her, and she loved showing off her guy.

  And that was why she needed space. It would be far too easy to forgive and forget that he really wasn’t hers at all. Despite his words otherwise, she didn’t know that he ever could be.

  “I didn’t like the way that woman looked at you.” He steered them toward her office. “I’ll have her escorted off the premises as soon as I can.”

  She wouldn’t miss Valerie at all, but something felt off. “If she really took that much money, she deserves it. She might have been smart enough to steal and she was probably plenty pissed off at Maddox, but I don’t think she killed him.”

  “I don’t know about that. I’m more interested in her for her obvious infatuation with Mad than I am for her stealing. She would have been fired, but I doubt he really would have prosecuted her. It would hurt both the company and the foundation’s reputation. Any case he was compiling was likely in an effort to force her to keep her mouth shut.” Gabriel stopped in front of Everly’s office. He stared down at her. “However, she wanted him, and there are women crazy enough to kill rather than let their obsession go. We still have a lot to figure out, but I think it’s safe to say that woman had motive to murder Mad.”

  Absolutely, and Everly didn’t think Valerie was rowing her boat with both oars, so she might have wanted to kill Maddox. But being capable of his murder was something else. “I’ve worked with her for a while. I’m a little surprised she managed to swindle a hundred grand. I definitely don’t think she’s smart enough to blow up a plane.”

  Gabriel frowned. “Maybe her stupid is an act or she found greed motivating enough to get smart. Either way, I want the police to investigate. I’ll put together some information, then let them ask her questions. But I want you out of this as soon as possible.” He sighed and brought her closer. “I’d feel better if you came with me.”

  “I’m perfectly safe in the office.” She still wasn’t convinced Valerie was anything but a bitch. Besides it wasn’t long before she was supposed to meet with her informant. She was fairly sure she’d be safe there, too. The parking garage was never empty before nightfall. Employees would be driving in and out, and there were plenty of security cameras. “Go. Do what you need to do. I’m fine.”

  He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. God, that felt good. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Don’t leave the building.”

  She wouldn’t. Technically, the parking garage was attached. She glanced down at her watch. She had time.

  Her office was blissfully quiet.

  She went to the safe and pulled out the SD card she’d locked up previously. She sat down again and began downloading the photos. She wanted them on her laptop. Clearly, her desktop was no longer secure.

  She stared at the third photo. She could see Mad through the window of her loft. He was smiling and he had a glass of her crappy brandy in his hand.

  Her brother. What would her life have been like if she’d grown up with him?

  She downloaded two more photos before her computer popped up a message that the destination drive lacked adequate space to store the files. Something was eating up her hard drive. She’d known she was having issues with this damn system.

  Everly moaned. She hadn’t had the chance to fix or rebuild it, as she’d intended. Because her laptop had been having issues, she’d planned on wiping the system and starting over clean, hoping it would clear the problem. She’d spen
t hours on Monday backing up her files to the external hard drive in preparation but hadn’t been able to finish the next step.

  She hadn’t planned on spending her day performing computer CPR, but she suspected this evidence was important, and she needed to make another copy of the photos that she’d keep close—just in case. With grim determination, she double-checked that she’d captured everything she needed on her hard drive before she proceeded to wipe her system clean and reformat the drive. Once all that was done, she could finally reinstall the operating system but it was going to take her all freaking day.

  Scott came by about thirty minutes later with a sandwich in hand. They talked about inconsequential things as though Scott knew she couldn’t discuss Gabriel. He kept it light. She dealt with a myriad of issues, the day flying by.

  Hours passed before she looked up and realized it was time to meet her mystery contact. A little thrill of excitement zipped through her. Finally, something she could do. She’d felt so helpless the last few days, as if events were happening to her rather than her making them happen. The chance to be active was a relief.

  She ejected the SD card. Backing up these pictures would have to wait until she could get her laptop running again. She wasn’t about to take the chance with this evidence, so she tucked the disc and her laptop into her safe, then withdrew her gun. She’d felt naked without it these last few days, but she hadn’t felt right carrying a firearm to a meeting with her new boss or the police precinct, so she’d left it behind. Now, she checked the clip and tucked it in her purse. The parking garage should be safe, but she wasn’t an idiot. If she couldn’t bring anyone with her, she must have some sort of backup.

  Finally ready to get some answers, Everly called down to the security office and got one of the guards on the line. He would watch over her from the cameras and send a sentry in if she got in trouble.

  Now she had someone to watch her back. Everly could watch her own front.

  It was time to figure out who her informant was and what the hell he knew.

  • • •

  So you’re telling me Mad was murdered over money?” Dax shook his head. “I always thought he’d fall off the roof while trying to sneak out of a married lady’s house. Or be shot by some jealous husband.”

  Gabe looked at the receipts Dax had brought with him. It had taken his friend a few hours to gather the evidence they needed, discuss the situation with Connor, and cross town. He wished Everly would have made time to eat lunch with him, but she’d claimed she had too much to do. He’d spent a few hours organizing the receipts and Valerie’s HR file. Tavia had been right . . . and wrong. The purchase orders and receipts in the file looked damning but weren’t solid enough to convict Valerie if Mad had decided to threaten her with prosecution. But he may have found an ace up his sleeve. He had so much to wrap his head around but he’d been glad when Dax showed up.

  “I don’t know if I would say it was entirely over money, but money was definitely involved. He apparently fucked Valerie at some point, before he dated Sara. I suspect he discovered that she was skimming money from the budget Crawford donated to the foundation’s galas. I found more information this afternoon. He’d gathered a pretty solid case against her. His secretary gave me a backup of his computer. According to her, he handed it to her in a sealed envelope the evening he died, just before he left the office.”

  “Like he knew he was going to die?” Dax frowned.

  “Hilary said he often did that before he went out of town because he’d lost or dropped more than one laptop during his travels. He refused to use the same backup system as everyone in the building because he didn’t want anyone having access to his sensitive files. So he’d often backup to a thumb drive and seal it up in an envelope. When I asked Hilary where I should start figuring out how Mad ran this place and what plans he might have had, she handed me this thumb drive.”

  Dax shook his head. “So you can piece together his case against Valerie?”

  “Yeah. I found a whole folder about her. He’d compared the last three foundation fundraisers. Valerie handled all the ordering and catering for the last two. Between the year before Valerie stepped into this role and last year’s gala, the expenses went up nearly a hundred and fifty percent.”

  Dax whistled. “Didn’t she think that would attract attention? Unless she’s stupid, she had to know it would.”

  Gabe nodded, pondering Dax’s words. He was right; Valerie hadn’t been at all subtle. Everly had claimed the woman wasn’t smart. She’d managed to steal money, but not quietly. She had, however, shown enough creative accounting to make tracking her difficult. And that took brains. Still, if she’d been the one to blow up Mad’s plane, that would require more than passing intelligence. If she didn’t have much, wouldn’t there be some lingering clue? A smoking gun somewhere?

  “I don’t know. Mad knew more than I first thought. I found some additional files, but he had them password protected. I need Connor to break in.”

  He’d tried all the obvious passwords. He knew Connor could hack in, however. Since he wasn’t sure what he would find, he didn’t want Everly involved.

  “Pressing charges against an employee for theft could give that foundation some bad press.”

  “I don’t care.” He’d considered it and decided it was worth the bad publicity to make sure that woman went to jail. If he was right, then she’d killed his best friend.

  And he really hadn’t liked the way she looked at Everly. He knew a jealous woman when he saw one. Some women would merely be catty, but others—like Val—would go the extra mile. “The money was taken from Crawford Industries, not the foundation. It was an abuse of the company’s largesse, and as long as I come out with a firm statement of support for the foundation, it should be fine.”

  Gabe didn’t worry about that. But what the hell was he going to do to keep Everly close to his side if the imminent danger passed? He could buy a couple of weeks at most because of the press. If he couldn’t change her mind by then . . . He cursed under his breath. He needed more time because he did not intend to become friendly strangers with her. He didn’t intend to be someone she said hello to at the kid’s birthday parties or at business meetings.

  “I texted Connor. He’s already working up a dossier on Valerie. Roman has a couple of his associates compiling files on all of the workers here. And by the way, I talked to Everly’s mom this afternoon. She’s a real peach. She confirmed the information Everly gave us. I know your girl doesn’t want any more exposure than she’s already got, so I threatened her if she went to the press, just in time apparently. She was poised to make money off her daughter’s new fame.”

  “If she speaks a word, I’ll ruin her.”

  Dax chuckled a little. “I thought you’d feel that way. I spent some time with Everly’s employees. They’re really loyal to her. A couple admitted to being wary at first because she . . .”

  “Has breasts?” He could imagine what some members of the cybersecurity team had thought about reporting to a petite female.

  “Yeah. The last head of cybersecurity was an older guy, former military. Everly must have been a massive change for them. She proved herself very quickly. They now call her the queen of the geek squad. They like the hell out of her. They’re worried about her. You should be prepared for them to give you a hard time. You need to face facts, Gabe. She’s happy here.”

  Damn it, he’d rather have her with him at Bond. A working relationship would help foster their personal one, but she wouldn’t switch jobs for him. He respected that, even as he found it irritating. But she hadn’t given him much choice; he was going to have to deal because she was smart and competent and deserved her own career. Sara would likely back Everly up on this, so he would find himself outvoted.

  “What else did you learn?” He wasn’t worried about any skeletons in her closet.

  “She’s a hard worker. Everyone in her group likes her.”

  Because Everly was the sort of woman who exce
led. Unlike him, she hadn’t had a multimillion dollar company to fall back on. No inheritance. No cushy job or trust fund waiting for her. She’d had nothing but her own grit and she’d worked her ass off to succeed.

  His heart constricted. He’d dated a lot of girls, but she might be his first real woman.

  What was he doing with her? Playing around? Protecting his temporary turf? Because nothing they shared seemed that way. It felt so damn serious.

  “She is exactly what she says she is,” Gabe said.

  Dax nodded. “Yeah. You’re an asshole.”

  “I know. I should have believed her when she said she hadn’t been another notch in Mad’s bedpost. But I can’t take it back now. And I can’t let her go.”

  Regret weighed on him. He wished he’d had more time to convince her they could be great together. He would have come to the right conclusions about her platonic relationship with Mad on his own, but now he wouldn’t have the chance.

  Dax nodded in complete agreement. “No. You can’t let her go. You need her. She makes you halfway decent to be around, man.”

  “Asshole.” But he was smiling because it was good to have his friend’s approval. Dax liked Everly. Mad had loved Everly. Yeah, that mattered, too. He wondered why Mad hadn’t trusted him with the knowledge that he had a sister.

  His intercom buzzed. With a long sigh, he picked up the receiver. He recognized that he didn’t have the same enthusiasm for Crawford business that he had for his own company. He loved building planes and helicopters. As a boy, he’d been obsessed with anything that could fly. Bond had been his birthright. Crawford