by Linda Kage
“You will not best me, Lana Judge,” I announced, rising back to my feet and refusing to give up. “I will find your secrets, and I’ll bring you down, once and for all.”
I cleaned her office for another hour before deciding it was getting too close to the time she should probably come home. So I retreated to the kitchen and finished up in there. By the time she arrived, I’d actually run out of things to do. I was reading a book on my phone when I heard the front door slam shut, announcing her arrival.
Jumping out of my skin, I yanked my feet off the dining room table and popped upright, tucking my phone away as I hurried to meet her in the front room, but as I approached, I heard her snarling to someone.
“This is getting old, Fin Tin. I told you to stop calling.”
Fin Tin? Wasn’t that the name of the lawyer guy that Hayden said was supposed to be dead but was really alive? Holy wow. Maybe I could get some useful information for him today after all.
“You got all the cash you’re ever going to get from me,” Lana went on. “Extorting me for more won’t end well for you.” Pausing to listen to his response, she smiled wide when she answered, “Why yes, that is a threat. I’m glad you’re smart enough to realize it since you obviously weren’t smart enough to leave me alone. And now your greed will end you.”
She hung up with him and turned my way, as if threatening someone’s life left her hungry so she had to head to the kitchen for a snack.
Shit.
I darted back into the dining room and pulled my phone out, pretending to read again. Hey, looking lazy and ignorant had to be better than getting caught overhearing your boss threatening to end someone.
I’d just got my shoes back on the table with my legs crossed at the ankles when she burst into the room.
“Holy shit!” I cried, jumping to my feet and yanking my earbuds out, not even feigning the leap in my pulse or the start in my breathing because I was honestly freaked out of my mind, worried she wouldn’t buy my ploy.
“You’re home,” I rushed out, fumbling to put my phone away. “Hi. Sorry, I was just, you know, taking a break.”
“Taking a break?” she repeated incredulously, her face growing red with anger. Or maybe it had already been that red because of her conversation with Fin Tin, and she was now simply directing her malice my way. “I didn’t give you permission to take breaks, especially with your feet on my table.”
Okay, whew, relief. She suspected nothing.
“Well, I already finished the list of things you needed done,” I countered, arching a single daring eyebrow because admitting her lack of duties for me seemed like the best diversion. It was the last thing she would expect me to admit, and nothing threw her off her game like unexpected responses. “What else was I supposed to do?”
Somewhere in me, I knew I probably shouldn’t push this woman; she wasn’t one to be trifled with. Except I couldn’t seem to help myself. I simply loved to piss her off. For everything she’d done to Hayden and Kaitlynn and their other brother, Brick, whoever he was. For everything she’d done to me, and every person out there that she’d wronged, simply because she could. I loved picking at her and watching her mouth screw up tight with hate.
I couldn’t wait for the day when we could bring her down for good.
“Then I’ll be sure to give you more to do tomorrow,” she snarled.
“Great,” I chirped, smiling saucily. “Can’t wait.”
My reply confused her. Her eyebrows furrowed. She didn’t know how to quip something snide back to that. So she simply pointed toward the opening of the kitchen. “Just leave already. I’ll be docking an hour from your pay for that break you just took.”
“Sure thing,” I answered. “Sounds reasonable.” And I started for the exit, moving so perkily I caused my ponytail to bounce.
Score one for Gabby.
Chapter 21
Gabby
I was still grinning when I pulled the front door open and nearly collided with Hayden, who was approaching with what looked like a huge leather file folder under his arm.
“Hey,” I greeted enthusiastically. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Grasping his leash—er, tie—I yanked him in for a quick but hearty kiss. “Mmm.” Pulling away, I licked my lips and grinned. “I believe that makes us even again, three for three.”
“Hmm. I suppose,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes suspiciously even as he lifted his thumb to his mouth to touch the place I’d kissed him. “You’re entirely too happy. What kind of mischief have you gotten yourself into this time?”
“No mischief,” I answered, lowering my gaze to his chest and the buttons on that black suit vest of his. Damn, he looked fine in a suit vest. “I just adore how she tries so hard to say something to piss me off and yet rarely succeeds.” I ran my fingers along the buttons and winked at him. “Not like you so easily push my buttons, anyway.”
One of his eyebrows arched. “You’re saying I’m the reigning champion, then?”
Lifting my gaze to his, I paused at the top button of his vest and pushed it in threateningly. “Don’t let it go to your head, Carmichael.”
His eyes sparked with heat as he leaned in and whispered, “Too late.”
Behind me, Lana stormed into the room, only to jerk to a halt and snarl, “What’re you still doing here?” As soon as she spoke, however, she noticed Hayden with me and straightened, smoothing her hand over her hair as if to iron out the frayed parts her encounter with me had caused.
“So? Did you get it?” she asked.
Hayden blinked at his mother as if startled to see her so flustered. His gaze briefly sought mine, and I caught a glimmer of respect in their depths as he realized I really had just won a sparring match with her.
Then he turned back to Lana and held out the file-folder-looking thing. “The portfolio you requested.”
My mouth fell open. I spun to gape up at him, unable to believe he’d actually taken it. He wouldn’t do that to his own brother. To Kaitlynn.
The man I thought I was coming to know would never.
Unless—
Did I really know him?
Yes. Yes, I did.
Even though his gaze looked distant and blank when he glanced my way, I felt the certainty of my faith in him deep in my bones. He had to have found a loophole somewhere.
Next to us, Lana cooed with delight. “Oh, goodie,” she exclaimed, immediately flipping through the pages and browsing. “Mmm. These are rather good. I think I’ll sell this one to Captiva United, and maybe this one to Gold Designs.”
Hayden tore his stony stare from me to gape at Lana. “You’re going to sell them to our competitors?”
“What’s that, dear?” Lana glanced up. “Oh.” She waved a hand over the portfolio. “Only a few. The best ones, for sure.”
“But…” Hayden shook his head. “Why? That would hurt JFI. It would hurt you.”
“No, no. Not me, sweet’ums. You see, I’ve been growing tired of the company. It’s no fun anymore since Nash showed up.” She made a face as if trying to get Hayden to agree, but he just stared at her with his jaw working. So she fluttered out a hand and kept nosing through the portfolio. “I think I’ll sell the other half to someone Nash can’t stand, making sure I undermine him and poke enough holes in the ship before I abandon it that it’ll cause them all to go under within the year.” She laughed. “Watching him sink after we leave will be the icing on the cake, don’t you think?”
Hayden opened his mouth, and I saw about a million arguments on his face. But then he paused and furrowed his brow, repeating, “After we leave?”
“Of course, darling.” She laughed and flicked a finger playfully across his chin. “Honestly, you looked so worried there. You didn’t think I wasn’t going to bring you and your brother along with me, did you? Oh, Hayden, my dear child.” Cupping his face in her hands, she shook her head sadly. “You’re my flesh and blood. Where I go, you go.”
Instead of pleased that his
mother cared enough to include him, he looked vaguely ill by her announcement.
“Besides,” she answered, letting go of him and turning away to negligently toss the portfolio on the coffee table. “I’ll need you boys to get our next venture up and running. You both are so much handier at business things than I am, and I’d rather have someone I trust doing my grunt work for me.”
Oh, for Pete’s sake! She hadn’t been including her kids in her plans because she cared; she’d just wanted to use them for manual labor. She saw them as her freaking minions to control.
Hayden glanced at me, his face tight with all the anger he was containing. Since Lana wasn’t watching, I reached out and supportively stroked his arm. He caught my hand, his warm fingers clutching tight before he drew in a deep breath that seemed to bolster him. Then he let go of me and returned his attention to his mother.
“And what exactly will this next venture entail?”
“Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet, but I suppose…” Lana sent him a pampering smile. “As long as you boys can make it lucrative, you can decide what you want to do this time around.”
Hayden nodded. “I’ll ask Brick what he’d be most interested in.”
“Oh, no.” Lana held up a hand. “It’s best not to let him in on our plans just yet. Not until we’re out from under JFI’s hold. Knowing him, he’ll probably try to resist.”
Hayden didn’t react to her words except to give another obeying nod to let her know he understood, and yet I could feel how very much effort it took for him to contain his true reaction. The air filled with a taut anger as if I were trapped in a pressure cooker with him. If Lana prodded him too hard, he’d blow up all over her.
I shifted closer to him. He sent me a quick warning glance as if he thought I was going to break his cover if I touched him just now. But then his shoulders released some of their tension, and he seemed more in control of himself when he turned back to Lana.
“And Kaitlynn?” he asked.
His mother laughed. “Kaitlynn?” she repeated, as if she had no idea who he was talking about. “What about her? She’ll go down with JFI, of course. I hope she falls on her face and gets what’s finally coming to her.”
Hayden bobbed his head without speaking. Then he took my hand. “Well, if you’ll excuse us…”
Lana narrowed her eyes as her gaze fell to our interlocked fingers. “What? You’re still drooling after the maid? Seriously?”
“Goodbye, Lana,” he bit out forcefully, refusing to answer.
“Well, if you manage to get her under your thrall,” she went on, following us to the door, “can you at least teach her not to be so impertinent with me? It’s quite vexing.”
Hayden glanced back as he turned the handle, and a true smile spread across his lips. “Oh, I will gladly address her impertinence. Don’t you worry about that.”
Then he yanked me into the hall and shut the door, only to push me against the wall and kiss me breathless.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he rasped between each press of his lips. “Thank you for being vexing and impertinent and amazing.” Cupping my face between his hands, he tipped my chin up gently and looked into my eyes before breaking out into another smile. “If you hadn’t been in there with me just now, I would’ve strangled her. I would’ve fucking strangled her.”
Dear Lord, his smile lit up his entire face. His eyes brightened, cheeks lifted, lips stretched wide.
It was an amazing, transforming sight that left me light-headed.
“Well.” I inhaled, trying to catch my breath and calm my racing heart in one, long draw. Then I couldn’t help myself; I laughed because I couldn’t seem not to. Something about his smile left me too giddy to think straight.
“You’re welcome,” I said, beaming the entire time.
But then he winced, one side of his cheek twitching with the edge of reality breaking into our moment.
“Come on,” he murmured, taking my hand.
Glancing up at him as he started down the hall, I saw his eyes cloud with worry and strain. His encounter with Lana was no doubt replaying through his head.
“So, what loophole did you find for the portfolio?” I asked quietly.
He glanced at me grimly. “What makes you think I found one?”
I shrugged. “Just a hunch.”
“Well, maybe I didn’t. Maybe I just stole it outright, completely undermining my own brother and stepsister and the entire fucking company in the process.”
With a laugh, I shook my head. “Bullshit.”
Pausing to open the door to the outside, he waited until we were in the cool November evening before saying, “I scanned PDF copies of every page so they’d still have something to display at the presentation without the actual physical portfolio. But then I learned later that Kaitlynn had already done that, so I didn’t have to worry about trying to sneak my PDF files to them. And now, when they have the designs to show at the presentation tomorrow, Lana won’t be able to sell them to competitors, because by that point, we’d get them out to the public before anyone else would. But holy shit…”
He paused by his car to turn in a circle and run his hands through his hair, clearly distraught. “She really would’ve sold them off, though. I had no idea she had those kinds of plans. This means we need to find that proof in her apartment fast. Because over my dead body will she hurt Arthur’s company or pass the other half over to someone else. It was bad enough when Nash took part of it, and I actually like him and what he’s done around there. But it’s not his. It’s Kaitlynn’s. It belongs back in Judge family hands.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t found anything yet,” I muttered, my hope slipping until— “But, oh! I forgot to tell you about the phone call.”
Hayden glanced at me, suddenly alert. “What phone call?”
I scanned the area. No one looked suspicious, but I still lowered my voice when I turned back to him and said, “In the car.”
Nodding, he opened the door for me, and I waited until he was behind the wheel and had started the engine before I explained what I’d overheard.
He blew out a breath and shook his head. “So she was definitely involved in something with him and she must’ve paid him off for it, but now he wants more. It’s looking like I’m right about everything.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I just wish we could find some freaking proof.”
“I know. Dammit.” He smacked his hand impatiently against the steering wheel. “I wish I knew exactly what they were involved in together. That’d help us at least know what we’re looking for.”
“Wait. I’m confused. I thought we were looking for your stepdad’s will.”
“Yes, but what if I’m wrong about that? What if the will you found today is the only one he ever wrote, and whatever Finley and Lana were in on together had nothing whatsoever to do with that or the company at all? What if it’s nothing illegal? I mean, maybe they just had an affair together and—”
“And he’s still hiding out this long after your stepfather died?” I asked with a lifted eyebrow. “No. Whatever they’re involved in, it can’t be good. It can’t be legal. He faked his own death and skipped the country, and now he thinks he has every right to demand more money from her. So obviously, it’s bad, neither of them is innocent, and she’s in just as deep as he is. We just have to figure out what they did wrong.”
“Fuck,” he said under his breath. Looking weary, he glanced my way and reluctantly admitted, “You’re right. There’s no way she’s completely innocent, is there?”
I opened my mouth to crack off something sarcastic and biting about Lana, but the pain in his eyes caused me to pause. He wasn’t as unaffected by her wickedness as he pretended to be. Weighing my words and trying to come up with the right thing to say next, I huffed out an exasperated breath when my phone buzzed.
“Just a second,” I said and dug it from my purse before checking the text that had just come in. Then I frowned. “Huh. That’s strange.”<
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Hayden zipped his attention to me. “What?” he asked with a certain amount of dread in his voice.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” I shook my hand to calm him down. “It’s just weird. Papá texted, asking if I could pick Miguel up from school today.”
Head tipping to the side in confusion, Hayden answered, “I thought you picked Miguel up from school every day?”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “I do. That’s why his message is so—oh! He’s writing some more.” A second later, another text came through. “Holy shit,” I cried, reaching out to jostle Hayden’s arm as I explained. “He said he’d been planning to pick Miguel up today but it turned out he has an interview instead. Oh my God, Hayden, I didn’t even know he was looking for a job. Wow.” Breathing out a happy breath, I lowered the phone, smiling, only to pause and frown. “I wonder who it’s with.”
“Does it matter?” Hayden asked. “He’s out there. And he’s trying. That’s a start.”
“You’re damn right it is. And I still refuse to thank you for giving him the push he needed to get out there again, because you were seriously a total jerk about it, but…” I bit my lip and rolled my eyes, mumbling, “Thank you for giving him the push he needed.”
He didn’t seem to know what to do with that, so he cleared his throat and offered, “If this interview doesn’t work out for him, I could help him find something somewhere else.”
“What?” Grinning, I bumped my elbow into his and teased, “Are you going to offer Papá the same job you offered me, cleaning your apartment?”
He sent me a dry glance. “You know I only said that to illustrate how I could find you anything more pleasant than cleaning for Lana, in case you decided you didn’t want to help me with my search, right?”
“Whatever, it’s a moot point anyway. Because you’re not getting out of my help with your search, Carmichael. We’re in too far now; I feel committed to seeing it through with you to the end.”
He sent me a reluctant grin that seemed to be followed by a melancholy sigh.
Pulling up in front of Miguel’s school, he turned his attention to my brother, as if avoiding something I’d said. I didn’t pursue it in front of the ten-year-old, but as soon as we reached my building and I saw a familiar figure outside, hobbling along and trying to carry three sacks of groceries at once, I popped out of the car to catch her before she disappeared inside.