Everly wanted to say a lot more, but Connor entered, glancing at his watch with impatience.
With a nod, he and Gabriel left. She hoped Connor had some food in the place because she was a little afraid Dax would let her starve.
“I’m ordering pizza. You like mushrooms?” Dax’s big body took up most of the entryway.
“If you slap some pepperoni on it, too.”
An hour and one pepperoni and mushroom with extra sauce later, she pulled up the three photos she’d managed to download and turned the screen toward Dax. She’d used the system Connor had left for her to remote dial the laptop in her safe. It was connected to the small network of computers she kept for her use. Now that she’d accessed her system, she could see the pictures. She kind of wished she’d left the SD card in its slot. She might have been able to find a way to view the others without downloading them.
He frowned down. “And someone sent these to you. Any chance Deep Throat was referring to them?”
She had to shrug. “I don’t know. It’s not exactly information, is it? I hate to think there’s more than one creepy stalker following my every move, but I don’t see how it fits. Deep Throat is a conspiracy theorist. He was talking about Mad’s death being bigger than we realize. So why would he send pictures of me and Maddox?”
“No idea. This looks like it was taken from the building across from yours.”
“Yes,” she admitted. “The building across from mine has roof access so I assume that’s where the photographer was.”
“He had a nice telephoto lens on that thing.” Dax stared at the screen. “And you said there are more of these?”
“Yes,” she replied, but something Dax had said made her stop. “I’m having trouble with my laptop. I’ve had issues for about a week. Something’s wrong with my hard drive so my storage capacity is screwed up. I need to strip the thing down, but every time I try someone attempts to kill me. Sorry, it’s been a rough few days. The camera I received didn’t have a telephoto lens. It’s one of those little digital things.”
He shook his head. “This was taken with a telephoto lens. No question.”
Everly’s cell trilled. She looked down, hoping it was Gabriel.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Gabriel’s name that popped up on her screen but Scott’s. He usually called her at least once a day and twice on the weekends.
“I need to take this.” She rose from her plush chair.
Dax nodded her way. “I’m going to look through these if you’re okay with it.”
“Sure.” She wouldn’t have been yesterday, but she was rapidly coming to like Gabriel’s friends. She’d had a nice dinner with Dax. The navy captain had regaled her with hilarious stories about his childhood and some of the trouble he and Gabe and the rest of the gang had
gotten into. Sitting and talking to Dax had made her realize that, for all their wealth and privilege, they had been little boys alone in the world. Now, they were men. Like any other man, Gabriel could leave her. He could walk away, the same way her mother had. Any man could do that, but Gabriel might be the one man worth risking her heart over.
Everly dashed from the living room into the kitchen and swiped her thumb across the screen. “Hey, Scott. How are you?”
“Are you okay, Everly? I’m a little scared.” His voice was low, almost a whisper.
“I’m fine. What’s going on?” She headed back to the living room.
“I looked through those records you asked me to. Did you know that for a couple of years there was a secondary sponsor for the foundation fundraiser?”
There were always secondary sponsors. There was a whole list of corporations who donated money to the foundation. “Of course.”
“Everly, I talked to Tavia a few minutes ago and we’re both scared for you. She didn’t bring it up at the time, but after what happened to Valerie . . . I don’t want him to hurt you. Please, you have to get to safety.”
He was being awfully dramatic. “What are you talking about?”
“Gabriel Bond is in this up to his eyebrows. Bond Aeronautics handled the catering two years ago, and I found some e-mails between Valerie and Gabe Bond. They were lovers, running some kind of scam together and embezzling from Crawford. You have to meet me at my apartment so I can show you the evidence.”
A little chill swept through her.
Gabriel involved with Valerie? She’d been an attractive woman, and he’d never once given the impression that he knew her. On the other hand, Valerie might not have been smart enough to plot and execute a plane crash, but Gabriel certainly was. In fact, that was right up his alley.
But if they’d been in some sort of scam together, why would he
have brought the receipts for the foundation galas to her attention? Why would he have saved her from Valerie’s homicidal madness? If they were involved, Everly couldn’t picture him allowing Val to be arrested if he had any suspicion she’d die in jail.
“I don’t know, Scott. I probably shouldn’t. Maybe I can get away tomorrow.”
“You have to come now,” he argued. “Bond could hurt you. He’s the one behind this. You realize that, right? God, Everly . . . Valerie wasn’t my pal or anything, but I think he set her up to take the fall for everything. Get away while you can.” He hesitated, and his voice dropped again. “Tell me you’re not with him right now.”
That was an easy one. “No. He’s gone.”
“Then leave. Right now. Come to my apartment, and we’ll figure out what to do, how to keep you safe.”
Indecision twisted in her gut. Maybe Scott had read everything wrong, misunderstood, but she hated to worry him. Besides, if she didn’t say yes, he’d only keep calling. “All right. I’ll grab my bags and I’ll be there in an hour.”
“So you’ll be here by eight?” Scott asked, insistence in his tone. “Promise?”
Her grip on the phone tightened. “Yes.”
“All right. I’ll be waiting. He’s a criminal mastermind who doesn’t balk at murder. Be careful.”
She hung up the phone with a stunned frown and paced.
What was going on? Who the hell could she trust? She only had two choices: Gabriel or Scott.
Her friend was prone to a bit of drama and embellishment, but calling Gabriel a criminal mastermind? That didn’t sound like the man she was falling for at all. And Scott had been so insistent that she come to see him right now. If he really thought she was in danger, why didn’t he come to rescue her? Or even ask where she was?
On the other hand, was Gabriel telling her that he loved her his
ultimate lie simply to control her? Was she a sitting duck in Connor’s apartment?
Trying to bury emotion and sift through facts, she trekked the hall and stopped in the living room where the laptop screen illuminated Dax’s harsh features.
“I have a question.”
He didn’t look at her, but kept his eyes on the screen. “Shoot.”
“Did Gabriel know Val?”
“Who?” Dax reached for his soda.
“Valerie. You know, the would-be murderess who died in lockup a couple of hours ago? Any chance Gabriel knew her before this week and had been doing her?”
Now she had Dax’s attention. “What the hell are you talking about? There is zero chance Gabe was having a fling with that crazy bitch.”
She didn’t know Dax. She’d met him a few days before. She didn’t really know Gabriel all that well, either. On the other hand, she’d known Scott for a long time. He’d stood beside her. He’d been her friend.
“First”—Dax went on—“Valerie wasn’t his type at all. Second, he never once mentioned her to me, even as a piece on the side.”
“You don’t know everyone Gabriel has . . . dated.” She really hated to think of him having sex with another woman.
“No, but if he’d seen her more than a couple of times, the paparazzi would have picked up on it. And third, why does it matter? I’ve never once heard him tell another woman that he loves her. Ever.”
Everly stared Dax down. He didn’t flinch.
She really had only one choice at the end of the day.
“Then we have a problem. I think my friend Scott is involved in this thing. That was him on the phone. Maybe he’s simply mistaken about what he found, but he could also be trying to set Gabriel up. Scott tried to convince me that Gabriel wants to kill me.”
“And you don’t believe your friend?”
In the end, the decision had been simple. She’d done what her father had always told her to. She’d looked in her heart and she’d followed her gut. Gabriel Bond wasn’t a criminal. He was actually a horrible liar. When he’d said he loved her, he’d meant it. It hadn’t been a ploy. It had been his truth. She was betting her life on it.
“I don’t.”
Dax sat up. “Who is he?”
She sank to the couch. Sometimes a girl had to take a leap of faith. “Scott Wilcox works with me at Crawford. I asked him to look into the last couple of years of receipts for the foundation fundraisers. He said he has proof that Gabriel is involved in the embezzlement and that I should come to his place right now to see it.” She took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound. “Clearly, he’s trying to lure me away from here and feed me a plate of bullshit. It would be a good play if someone wanted Gabriel and me separated, for whatever reason.”
Dax stood. “You would be a very good pawn, especially if he wanted to use you as leverage against Gabe. My buddy would pretty much do anything to keep you safe. And we would help him. Maybe Scott’s figured that out.”
And there it was, the confirmation of her gut feeling. Deep Throat might have been spot-on about the lockbox and the investigation into Mad’s murder, but he’d been wrong about Gabriel. He and his friends would stick together. All five of them had one another’s backs, but that included their women, too. And she was Gabriel Bond’s woman.
She was going to be his wife, and it was time to follow her loyalties and take her place.
“We need to think smart. Like you said, I’m a pawn. I think it’s Gabriel they need. He had plenty of motive to want Maddox dead, and Scott, along with whomever he’s working with, is using that to their advantage.”
Everly refused to let Gabriel fall into danger. He wasn’t going down on her watch.
“Or they want to create chaos, keep us so busy watching our backs
we’re not catching what’s really happening.” Dax scrubbed a hand through the dark stubble over his scalp. “I don’t like any of this. If Mad really thought Valerie was stealing, why wouldn’t he have fired her ass? Why all the subterfuge?”
“He wanted to gather enough evidence to prosecute her?” She answered in a question because now that she thought about it, that logic didn’t make sense. “Except . . . I happen to know that we haven’t prosecuted an employee in forever. Earlier this year, when an employee was found trying to sell proprietary documents, he was simply fired. Most corporations don’t prosecute because of the bad publicity.”
“The stock can take a dive over something like an embezzlement scandal. The Mad I know would have fired her and cut his losses.”
But the receipts hadn’t been the only things they’d found. Actually, now that she really thought about it, the receipts hadn’t been locked up at all. They’d been sitting on his desk with a bunch of other papers. Mad hadn’t been hiding them.
What he’d kept hidden and safe were the pictures of the girls, as well as her mother’s and the Russian woman’s names.
What had Deep Throat said? Sometimes she couldn’t see the forest because of all those distracting trees.
Calm down. Think. You have pieces to the puzzle. Now see how they fit together.
Her father had adored puzzles. They would often eat on TV trays because the kitchen table had been covered in whatever puzzle he’d been working on at the time. He’d always told her that putting together a puzzle taught a man patience. He would stare at the individual pieces and slowly a pattern would form.
Maddox Crawford had been a man who almost always chose the direct path. She’d seen him fire an executive for getting an investor report wrong. Maddox hadn’t carefully built a case. He’d been judge, jury, and executioner. He’d certainly dismissed more than one woman he’d slept with who proved herself troublesome.
He was a man with a multibillion-dollar fortune at his fingertips.
He wouldn’t have truly missed the money. He would have been more worried about the impact to the company and the foundation than he would have been concerned about getting that cash back.
The important things had been in the lockbox, carefully concealed. The pictures of the girls. Her mother’s name. Natalia Kuilikov.
What had Tavia said about the missing girls today? That Maddox had been considering hiring mercenaries. But the morning after she’d slept with Gabe, Tavia had told her Crawford Industries’ own team was searching for the girls. Everly hadn’t really been involved with the case because it wasn’t a cyber threat. Besides, Tavia had known the girls and their families, had the necessary information.
She needed to look something up. “Can I see that computer again for a minute?”
He shrugged and scooted to the side, pushing the laptop in her direction. A few keystrokes later, she was into Mulford’s files regarding this investigation. And she didn’t like what she saw.
“Weeks, sometimes even months, have gone by and my counterpart who handles the physical security, Joe Mulford, hasn’t received any sort of update or request for reimbursement from any member of the Crawford security team overseas.” She frowned as another thought occurred to her. Suddenly, so many things weren’t adding up. “This is going to sound like an odd question, but did Maddox know any mercenaries?”
Dax laughed. “Hell no. Mad knew sommeliers across the globe, but not mercenaries. He would have come to me or Connor if he was looking for someone with that skill set in a farflung part of the world.”
“Would he have gone to Zack? After all, he was flying to DC when . . .”
“No. He definitely wouldn’t have asked the president for a reference on a soldier-for-hire. Besides, as you know, Crawford has divisions across the globe, each with their own security team. Mad would have started there.”
“If Mad had decided that wasn’t working?”
“Wasn’t working?” Dax stared at her as if she’d gone crazy. “You know they’re top-notch. They know the locals. They know their terrain. I dare anyone to do a better job in those territories. But if they weren’t getting the job done, he’d fire them and hire someone better. Not hire someone who could be bought off.”