by Ivy Nelson
Patrick’s heart twisted. “I messed up, didn’t I?”
Holly squeezed his hand and nodded. “I’m not going to lie and tell you that I know for a fact you can fix it, but I think you owe her the effort of trying, anyway.”
Patrick buried his face in his hands. “I just wanted her to have an exit strategy. I fucking love her. I’ve never been this crazy over a woman before.”
“You’re crazy, alright,” Holly teased.
“I tried to see her yesterday, but she was hiding from me. Not that I blame her. I’ll keep trying.”
“That’s the spirit. Do you want to crash here tonight? We have plenty of room.”
That was the understatement of the year. Elijah’s house was massive, and Holly was on a redecorating rampage since she’d moved in.
“I’ll stay,” he said, knowing it would make her happy.
They spent the evening talking and cooking dinner together. Elijah was holed up in his office working on a project but did poke his head out long enough to eat and peck Holly on the cheek before he disappeared again.
As they were deciding whether or not to put a movie on, his phone rang.
“This is Patrick,” he said, not recognizing the number.
“How well do you know Tim Reyes?”
“Jax? Where are you calling from? I thought I had your number saved in here.”
“Austin’s office phone. Mine is tied up on a video call with Lance. Now if your curiosity is satisfied, maybe you can answer my question.”
Was Austin listening? His heartbeat sped up as he thought of her working in her office.
“I don’t know him well at all, really. I did a pretty intense background check on him, but that’s it. What are you doing in Austin’s office?”
“Trying to keep your sorry ass out of prison,” he said. “I think Tim Reyes is involved. How did he come to work for you?”
Patrick thought back. “Grant Sterling recommended I hire him. Do you think Grant’s involved?”
Jax grunted. “Unknown. Someone is pulling the strings though. Either blackmail or bribery. If Tim’s family was struggling to pay medical bills, they aren’t anymore, and now his daughter is in some Canadian special treatment program for her rare genetic disease. Lance was able to get me a set of court documents. This all started about the same time the prosecution in your father’s case was hammering out details of the plea deal.”
Patrick paced the living room, keenly aware that Holly was on the edge of her seat, straining to hear the details of his phone call.
“What do you need from me?” he asked.
“Access to any communication devices Tim might have used in your labs. Computers he emailed from, company cell phones, anything like that. You own it so you have the legal authority to grant us access to it.”
“Consider it granted. Do I need to give you passwords or does Lance want to show off?”
“As much as Lance would like to show off, for it to be all legal like in a courtroom, we’ll want the passwords.”
Patrick chuckled, feeling some of the weight lift from his shoulders for the first time in days. “I’ll send everything in just a few minutes. I might have to call Lydia for some of it. I don’t know everything.”
Jax thanked him and said they were getting back to work. When he ended the call, he took a deep breath and turned to face Holly.
“Be careful with Grant Sterling, please.”
Her eyes grew wide. “After the night at Hunter’s club, things have been pretty cool between us. Do you really think he’s involved?”
He shrugged. “I truly don’t know. My money is still on dad, but Grant was close to him, they could be working together.”
Holly shuddered. “I thought all of this would be behind us with his trial.”
Patrick pulled her into a hug. “Me too. I’m sorry for all the trouble it’s causing. We’re going to get through it though.”
“Thank fucking god,” Holly said, pulling away from him. “I was getting tired of your doom and gloom outlook.”
He gave her a mock glare, but she was right, he’d been pretty pessimistic about everything. They decided against the movie, and Holly showed him to a guest suite.
“We’re all the way at the other end of the house, so you’ll have to text if you need me,” she said with a giggle.
When he was alone, he contemplated how he wanted to approach talking to Austin. Had he completely ruined things forever? He fucking hoped not. He would fight tooth and nail to get her back.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Jesus Christ, Austin. When was the last time you slept?” Lance asked when he showed up on her doorstep on Thursday morning.
She shrugged and took a sip from her coffee mug. “I’m neck deep in research. I’ll sleep when it’s done.”
“And Patrick lets you get away with not taking care of yourself that way? I thought you two were practicing D/s outside the club.”
Austin ducked her head. “We agreed that my work was off limits.”
“Well, if you were mine, you would be over my knee right now. You look like hell. Take care of yourself, woman. You’re not going to do Patrick, or anyone else any good if you pass out from sleep deprivation.”
“I’m not anyone’s,” she said, holding up her empty wrist.
Lance scowled. “I thought you were going to keep wearing the club bracelet.”
“I will, when I’m at Solitaire. Any other time is too painful right now. Can we change the subject, please? I want to get to work.”
He shook his head disapprovingly but pulled out a laptop and a tablet and started typing. “Wi-Fi password?”
She pointed to the fridge as she pushed past him to the coffeemaker to refill her mug. He’d flown into town at the request of Jax, to continue trying to chase the money trail back to whoever paid Tim Reyes. Austin had a feeling it was more of an excuse to check on her, though.
“Why did you keep working on his case after his dick move?” Lance asked as he worked.
“It’s my ethical responsibility as an attorney. I could have filed a motion to withdraw, but unless we just absolutely can’t work together, this judge is unlikely to grant it. Besides, he’s innocent, and we all know that. He deserves to have me fighting for him even if he was an ass.”
“Think you’ll work things out?”
Austin shook her head. “Please, Lance. I’ve cried so much in the past few days. Can we not talk about it?”
He paused his typing to hold up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I’m sorry. It’s just my awkward way of checking up on you. I feel like you’re my responsibility until you work things out with Patrick, especially since you’re continuing the house submissive program. Which I’m proud of you for, by the way.”
Austin shrugged. “It’s fun. You have a good group of people, and Solitaire is my second home. I’m not sure how I’ll face him there, but I have to find a way.”
“Good girl,” Lance murmured.
“Seriously, can we change the subject? What are you working on?”
“I’m trying to get some more numbers for Jax. He’s about to confront a potential witness for you. I’m not going to say who, but you’re a smart girl and you’ll figure it out. If we’re lucky, the witness will give us what we need to go to a judge and get the charges dropped. At the very least, they’ll give you something to present at trial.”
Austin leaned against her kitchen counter and watched him work.
“Will Patrick be at the club this weekend?” she said when he took a break from typing to dig in his backpack.
Lance shook his head. “No. He even let another couple borrow his suite for the weekend and got someone to fill in for him on his dungeon monitor shift. You want to tag along with me? That’s where I’m headed when I leave here.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It feels wrong, going without him.”
“I think you need the time away from his case, especially since you two still aren’t speaking. It can’t be go
od for your mental health, and did I mention you look like shit?”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Do that at Solitaire and see if I don’t spank you,” he said, glowering at her.
“I’ll think about it. When will Jax be back from his super-secret trip?” He had taken off early Wednesday morning promising to call as soon as he had anything useful but didn’t tell her where he was going
“He probably won’t be at Solitaire this weekend, let’s just put it that way. So, you might as well just relax and come have a good time at the club. For the demo this time, we were thinking of doing a mini version of the masquerade tasting tour. You could help us out.”
“Fine. I’ll go with you, but I can’t promise to have a good time,” she said.
• • •
“And you’re sure he’s not going to be here?” Austin asked Lance as they drove up the path to Solitaire the next day.
“Austin,” he said quietly. “You’re about this close to getting a spanking, and you clearly need a lesson in trust.”
Her face flushed with embarrassment. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve given you my word that he’s not going to be there. I have no reason to lie to you, and I find it offensive that you feel the need to keep asking.”
She dropped her head and twisted at her seatbelt. “I’m sorry. The thought of seeing him just hurts so much that I guess I’m projecting.”
Lance squeezed her shoulders. “I know, sweetie, but I’m starting to think you need to cut him a little slack. I’m not saying he handled things well, but you clearly have some trust issues of your own that you need to work on. Again, not making excuses for the guy, but I am suggesting that you take a long hard look at yourself.”
Austin sighed. Lance was ever the teacher and mentor, and she didn’t like that he was probably right. “Can we maybe not talk about this for a while? I’ve cried so much the past week. I don’t think I can handle anymore.”
They spent the rest of the drive in silence. When they were pulling up to the door, she gave him a funny look. “You wouldn’t really spank me, would you?”
He put the car in park and pulled the key out of the ignition. “Are you still a house submissive?”
She nodded.
“And as long as Patrick isn’t here, I’m your trainer, so yes, unless you withdraw consent you bet your ass, I’ll spank you if you fuck up. So how about you don’t fuck up?”
For some reason, that made Austin giggle. “I’m pretty sure I fucked up the day I gave in to Eli’s request.”
Lance just shook his head. “Get your ass inside and take a damn nap,” he said as he opened his door. “My suite is yours for the weekend. I’m bunking in one of the cabins.”
Austin trudged up the stairs and past the door to Patrick’s suite. A possessive part of her was jealous that someone else was staying there this weekend. She’d come to regard it as her room as much as it was Patrick’s.
When she stepped into Lance’s green suite, exhaustion hit her. A glance in the bathroom mirror before she climbed in the shower confirmed Lance’s declaration that she looked like shit. A nap suddenly sounded like the best idea ever.
A frantic knock at the door pulled her out of a restless sleep.
When she opened the door, Lance was there with a phone in his hand. “Jax did it,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
“He did what?”
“I didn’t do anything,” she heard a voice say from the phone in Lance’s hand.
She reached out and plucked it from his fingers. “Hi Jax, what didn’t you do then?”
“Tim Reyes is confessing to being paid to frame Patrick. I came to Canada to interview him. At first, he wasn’t saying anything at all, but he called me crying and blubbering about the money being gone. Whoever was paying him decided to cut and run and left a few nasty notes on their way out. Our pal Tim wants to turn himself in before someone else does it for him.”
Austin stumbled back into the suite, the phone still to her ear. Lance was right behind her and helped her into a chair.
“Just breathe,” he told her, a hand on her shoulder.
“Is this enough that the police will ask the DA to drop the charges?”
“It’s impossible to say for sure, but my bet is yes. Me and Tim are on a plane back to New York now. I just ducked into the bathroom to call you. I already sent Lance everything digital Tim had so you can look at it.”
Austin squeezed her eyes shut and focused on breathing for a minute. “And you’re sure you didn’t bully him into a confession? I need this to be airtight.”
“I’m sure, Austin. I honestly thought I was going to come home empty-handed, but I think whoever paid Tim got spooked when I showed up. I need to get off here. Call Patrick.”
When the line went dead, Austin sagged against the chair. “What do I do now?” she whispered, unable to think straight.
Lance laughed. “You’re the attorney. It’s already after five on a Friday. You’re going to have a hard time getting charges dropped until Monday, right?”
She nodded. “Right, but I still need to prep Victoria. Will you call him for me? I don’t think I can.”
Lance smoothed a hand through her hair. “Sure. What do I tell him if he wants to talk to you?”
She blew out a breath. “Tell him I’m not ready yet. But tell him we’ll have dinner soon. I just need some time.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Thank you so much for being here, Mr. Sutton, Miss Sutton. Please accept our apologies on behalf of the museum and New York City.”
Patrick stood stiffly next to Holly for the unveiling of the diamonds and listened to the curator apologize for the dozenth time. They were all there, and Tim Reyes was behind bars. The poor man had cried real tears when Patrick went to visit him yesterday. Fatherly love had somehow driven him to frame Patrick for the heist in an effort to get his daughter the medical treatment they needed and save his family from drowning in debt.
The only thing Tim wasn’t willing to say was who hired him. Whoever it was though had gone to ground, but not before dumping the diamonds on Tim’s doorstep with a death threat to his family if he named names.
FBI agents had been brought in to trace the money, but so far, they’d had no luck. Lance and Jax were still digging as well but as far as Patrick was concerned it was his father. All of his known assets were still frozen, but that didn’t mean there weren’t connections and money the police didn’t know about.
Holly seemed less convinced of their father’s involvement, but she wasn’t ready to accuse Grant Sterling either. Jax was digging into him as well, but so far nothing was tracing back to him.
Tim’s daughter was indeed very sick and had benefited from the large sum of money he was paid to pull off the frame-job. Since that money was no longer helping her now that Tim was going to prison, Patrick was now covering her medical bills. She didn’t deserve to suffer because of the bad choices her father had made. He’d made that mistake with Holly when he left home at eighteen.
He glanced around the crowd at the museum, which was twice the size it would have been at the original unveiling thanks to the publicity of the diamond heist.
“She’ll call,” Holly said, patting his shoulder.
He’d been doing his best to give her the time she asked for, but it was hard. It had been two weeks since Lance had passed her message along. He just wanted her back, but he knew he would have to work to win her trust again.
The museum curator had stepped to the podium and was giving a brief statement before he introduced Holly, who had also prepared a statement. Patrick wasn’t going to say anything but agreed to a few pre-screened questions.
None of the questions caught him off guard, and he stuck to the script this time. He called on the final reporter, a man near the back of the crowd, but instead of asking a question he stepped to his left.
His heart leaped into his throat when Austin stepped into the reporters va
cated spot. She looked like she hadn’t had a good night’s rest in weeks. He would have to have a talk with Lance about what it meant to make sure she was taking care of herself.
“Will you have dinner with me tonight?” she asked.
As the reporters turned their attention to her, Patrick gave a slow smile. “It would be my honor.” There were chuckles from the press pool, and a few shouted out questions, but Patrick didn’t hear them. He stepped back from the podium and made his way toward Austin. Holly or the curator could handle the questions.
When he got to her, she was holding out her hand and he gladly took it.
“Hi,” he said, feeling shy. He hadn’t felt shy around a woman since puberty.
“I was hoping you would say yes, so we have reservations about six blocks from here.”
Patrick turned his head and motioned to the press. “I would say let’s walk, but I have a feeling we would have company.”
Austin tugged him through the museum to the back entrance where a car was waiting for them.
The silence in the car was deafening at first as the driver pulled into traffic. “Austin,” he started.
“No. Let me talk first,” she said.
He nodded and shifted so it was easier to look at her.
“You hurt me,” she said, a slight tremor in her voice now. “Really fucking hurt me.”
“Baby girl,” he breathed. “I’m so sorry. I’ve wanted to call you and apologize every day, but I wanted to respect your request for space.”
“I appreciate that respect. I hated every minute of it, but I needed the time. In that time, I got a phone call from the attorneys of the innocent man I put away. They’ve finally been granted a retrial and I’m being called as a witness to testify on his behalf. It’s all very complicated but exciting.”
Patrick gave her a lopsided grin. “That makes me so happy for you, but what does that have to do with us?” he asked.
You hurt me, but I need to apologize to you as well. Because of my obsessive guilt over this other case, I latched onto your trial as a way to prove that I could redeem an innocent man. I put so much pressure on you, and I didn’t handle my responsibility as your attorney or as your partner very well. Yeah, you were an asshole, but I should never have let you get that stressed. I should never have brought my own baggage into this.”
