“I was sorry to hear about Ryske,” Parratt said.
Laying down the sherry glass, Harlow faced the couple who were again seated on the couch. Ophelia was stroking their mark’s thigh. “Did you fill in our esteemed friend?”
“Yes,” Ophelia said, opening her fingers to spread them over more of Parratt’s leg. “He seems… uncertain.”
Circling her shiny red lips, Harlow wrinkled her nose. “Oh, I do not like a man who’s uncertain. Confidence is sexy… isn’t it, Ophe?”
She’d never shortened her new friend’s name before, but she seemed to accept “Oh-fee” as a nickname. “Sexy? Oh, God, yes. Confidence is sexy.”
“You might not know this about us,” Harlow hummed, pouting as she strutted toward him, pointing one foot in front of the other, never taking her eyes from his.
She imagined teasing Ryske. Thought about the way she’d looked into her Crash in the times he’d curled his fingers around her throat, which made it difficult to restrain the impulses driven by her hormones.
“Know… know what?” Parratt asked.
Keeping him off-kilter was key. Sinking down to her knees in front of him, Harlow opened her hands on his thighs, sliding them up, letting her fingers twine with Ophelia’s in his lap. “Men who take risks turn us on… We like daring men… Men who are willing to go all the way.”
It seemed to take almost a minute for Parratt to close his mouth. Her head fell to the side and with her eyes still in seduction mode, she tried to think innocent with her pout. Ophelia took the baton and leaned in at his side, speaking to him with her lips just an inch from his cheek.
“We’re not asking for you to show us special treatment, Gil. All we want is Ryske’s part of the deal.”
Pushing forward, Harlow rose enough to let her breasts plump against his knees. “And, believe me, Mr. Parratt, Ryske would want us to have it.”
“Oh, he would,” Ophelia said.
It was difficult for Harlow to maintain her smolder when she caught Ophelia trying to suppress a laugh. Yeah, they were playing this guy with cheap tricks. Unfair? Maybe. But it seemed to be working, so she was going with it.
“Ryske never left us unsatisfied,” Harlow said.
“We were thorough for him,” Ophelia said, getting even closer. “Just as we can be for you.”
Noon’s words were pulsing through Harlow’s mind. Go with it. Go with it. If this ended with anyone suggesting they move this through to the bedroom, she didn’t have a clue how she’d react. One thing Harlow knew for sure, if she did end up naked with Parratt she sure as shit wasn’t giving the guy half a million bucks too. Living with herself after screwing him would require at least that amount in compensation.
Parratt didn’t quite know which way to look or how to act. He only just managed to gather himself enough to ask her. “You have the connections?” Without blinking, Harlow nodded once. He turned to Ophelia and almost seemed startled by how close she was. “You’ll have the money?” Ophelia mimicked Harlow’s nod. Parratt looked back and forth between them, probably trying to judge their veracity. “You know this isn’t a done deal. When we had to pull out before, Arjan didn’t take it well.”
“Call it a blip,” Ophelia said, tightening the weave of her fingers between Harlow’s and drawing both their hands higher up Parratt’s thigh. “All of us stand to make a huge amount of money from this endeavor… And, once we’re in, we’re in. Yarker was the one who got cold feet and pulled the plug when we lost Ryske. We’re not going to do that.”
Licking her lips slowly, Harlow got Parratt’s attention again. “We won’t ask you to pull out.”
Ophelia managed to subdue her laugh even after a shiver went through Parratt. “You’ll convince Arjan, won’t you, Gil?” her ally appealed to their mark.
“I’ll do my best,” he said, looking at each of them again.
Parratt spent more time looking at Harlow’s breasts than her face. The dress she’d chosen was proving its worth. His distraction let Harlow roll her eyes at Ophelia who smiled.
They couldn’t sit here all day stroking and fawning. Ophelia seemed to be of the same mind because she pounced to her feet, and pulled Parratt up too.
Playing her role as the assured seductress, Harlow stayed on her knees in front of him, like it was a place she was used to being every day of her life. Parratt actually had to shuffle sideways to get out from in front of her. Ophelia was ecstatic as she pushed him along.
“Ten days,” Parratt said. “I’m back in town in ten days. If we’re on, I’ll need the money delivered two weeks today.”
“Of course, Gil,” Ophelia said, guiding him into the hallway.
Harlow stayed there on her knees on Ophelia’s floor listening to the murmurs of the hostess showing Parratt out. “How’d I do, Crash?” she whispered, straightening her bracelet.
It was Ophelia’s scream that hailed the hostess’ return. Harlow leaped up fearing something had happened. Only when she saw her new friend’s grin did she know that Parratt was gone and they were in the clear… for that night anyway.
Ophelia dashed around the couch and pulled her into a hug. She pulled back to look into her face and then hugged her again. “Oh my God! Now I understand why he fell in love with you!”
It took some amount of effort to squeeze out of her friend’s embrace. Though Harlow was happy to have pleased Ophelia, she wasn’t sure that the adrenaline had subsided enough for her to relax and enjoy it.
“Do you think Parratt will do it?” Harlow asked.
Strolling over to the drink Harlow had left on the mantelpiece, Ophelia finished it in one gulp. “He will. Parratt is all about sex and we basically just told him he could have it if he followed through. I know it didn’t seem like it tonight, but he is articulate. He’ll convince this Arjan that we’re solid and we’ll be back on…”
“And Arjan is…”
“His European contact,” Ophelia said. “Our supplier… Gil will take care of him. All we have to do is get our money together. Are you on track?”
“I’m on track.”
Pretending to be confident on the outside was easier than being confident on the inside. Harlow wasn’t close to having the money. Even with two more weeks of the casino, she doubted she’d make half a million dollars. If Dover had been making a quarter of a million a week, he’d have been able to afford to fix the broken gutters at Floyd’s.
Ophelia went to fill the sherry glass and picked up another like she planned to pour a second drink.
“None for me,” Harlow said. “I have to go.”
“What?” Ophelia asked with obvious disappointment. “I thought we could celebrate.”
“I have somewhere to be,” she said, backing toward the door. “Thank you for tonight. You are a pro…”
Ophelia rushed over and kissed each of her cheeks, then kept hold of her shoulders to examine her. “I can’t work out if you’re scared to get close to anyone because of Ryske or if you’re just afraid to get close to me.”
“Either way, it’s about him, right?”
Blaming Ryske was meant to be a lighthearted quip, but it killed her high as she slipped out of the apartment. That man had carried her through the evening. He’d be the one to get her through this.
As for how else he’d changed her? Harlow was still figuring that out.
11
Ten days went faster than Harlow expected it to. It was a bonus because time hadn’t exactly been flying since she’d lost Ryske.
Floyd’s gave her a distraction that made her less aware of what she’d lost and more aware of what had to be done. Running the bar and their casino nights kept her so busy that there wasn’t much time left to dwell.
Ophelia had called her to say they were on. Parratt had convinced Arjan that the deal was a sure thing. Now it was their turn to come up with the goods.
Harlow couldn’t bury her head in the sand any longer. The deadline was looming. Every day she’d been hoping something would turn up
. It hadn’t. Half a million dollars wasn’t something that was easy to pull together. If it was, everyone would be doing it all the time.
During her search of Floyd’s, she’d found statements for a few bank accounts. If she emptied all of them plus her own, and hocked what little jewelry she might be able to scare up at her parents—if she dared venture there and risk an inquisition—she’d still only have about twenty percent of what she needed, twenty-five percent at most.
The hard truth was, she couldn’t pull the money together on her own.
Clyde wouldn’t have the money and probably wouldn’t agree with her plan, so there was no point in appealing to him for help. Her former colleague had visited Floyd’s several times. Sometimes he tried to probe into what she had going on. Whenever he’d asked if she still had a plan for payback, Harlow had been vague and pivoted to whatever new thing she’d done at Floyd’s.
Her plan for payback was all that mattered, which was why she’d swallowed her pride, and come to the threshold of her last hope.
Sweeting Securities, or SweSec as the family called it, had its offices on the corner of a beautiful Art Deco building in an area adjacent to the city’s main financial district. The lobby was marble and the carpets beyond were a deep red.
Though she’d only been there a handful of times since she and Rupert had broken up, the security men were the same and recognized her. They didn’t hesitate to wave her through the bullpen where walk-ins were seen. To the right, deeper in the heart of the building was a vault used to house a bunch of safety deposit boxes and confidential files.
At the back of the bullpen was a set of double doors that led to the offices and boardrooms used by more senior members of the company.
Turning her head to the side, she hid her profile from Brysen Sweeting’s office. Harlow didn’t know if her father was in or occupied, but she didn’t want to find out. If he caught her, he’d call her mother, and then she’d be peppered with questions that she didn’t have the answers for.
Without being too obvious about it, she hurried along the corridor and tapped on the familiar door with the fogged panel.
“Yeah,” came the call from inside.
Peeking around the door, she couldn’t help but smile when she saw Rupert working at his desk. For years, while they were together, any time they planned to spend time in the city, for dinner or maybe to see a play, she’d come to this office and seen him in exactly the same place, doing exactly the same thing.
When he looked up, she grinned at his surprise and slipped in, closing the door behind herself. “I’m sorry to just show up.”
“No,” Rupert said, leaping to his feet and opening a hand to the chair on the other side of the desk. “No, sit down. You’re always welcome.”
Polite was the response she’d been counting on. Rupert may not be so accommodating after she explained what had brought her to him.
Harlow went and sat down while he came around the desk to prop himself against her side of it. “Thank you.”
“Are you okay?” he asked. “It’s been weeks since I heard from you. You just walked out the hotel and your parents—”
“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry any of you. I promise, I’m fine.”
He smiled and leaned back, folding his arms across his chest that had been her pillow for so many nights.
If only it could’ve worked out with him, her life would’ve been so much easier. He was handsome and athletic, an amazing catch. Some woman would be lucky to have him, it just wouldn’t be her.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure? If you need somewhere to stay, I—”
“No, it’s not that,” she said, bolstering her courage and wrinkling her nose figuring that all she could do was come out with it. “I need a half a million dollars.”
His relaxed expression froze; his loose body grew rigid in increments. For a moment, he just looked at her, and she was happy to give him time to absorb what she’d said.
“Half a million dollars,” he said, leaving the proximity of his familiar perch to saunter back around to his side of the desk.
Taking that as an indication he was switching on his professional mode, Harlow didn’t know if that was a good sign for her or not.
“I know it’s a lot of money,” she said. He blew out an incredulous breath in agreement. “I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.”
He made eye contact. “Is it him? Does he need it for something?” She shook her head. “Are you in trouble?”
“No, I’m not in trouble,” she said, omitting that she would be if she didn’t come up with the dough.
Clearing his throat, he seemed to have come to terms with her request. “There’s fifty thousand in the wedding account.”
“Oh my god, you still have that?”
He nodded. “Your parents and my mother did offer to match whatever we saved… I’m not sure they’d stand by that without a wedding though.”
His smile made her laugh. It was her being polite. Seemed right to be kind to him. She was asking a lot and appreciated him not making her beg. “Anything else? Can you get me a loan?”
Squirming, he scratched the back of his head. “Uh, you don’t have collateral or anything for me to invest… do you?” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Harlow, I can’t authorize that amount without some sort of assurance.”
Slumping back, she didn’t know what else she’d be able to conjure up. Even if she took the full fifty thousand from him, and came up with a maximum of twenty-five percent elsewhere, she’d still be nowhere near the total that she needed.
His next exhale sounded more like a sigh. “I’ll get you the money.”
Perking up, she sat straight and smiled at him. “You will? Oh, thank you! I’ll pay it back, as fast as I can. I know the paperwork won’t be easy with daddy asking questions, but—”
“I can’t give you an official loan through SweSec,” he said. “For one thing, you’re family. In an audit that would flag us to the SEC given that you’re a questionable investment with indeterminate solvency.”
The last thing she wanted to do was endanger her family’s company in any way. “Then, I don’t understand. How—”
“You know I have savings and my grandfather left that inheritance for us.”
Shaking her head, she couldn’t believe he was suggesting a personal favor. “No, Rupe, I couldn’t even think about—”
“You came here for money, I’ll get you the money. When do you need it?”
“Rupert, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this,” she said, taking a turn at squirming.
He smiled and turned his hands up. “You wouldn’t have come here with this request unless it was important… and I’m guessing this wasn’t your first choice.”
She couldn’t deny that. If she walked out of there without taking him up on his offer, she may always regret it. Without the money, Harlow would have to give up on her plan. There was nowhere else to turn. After letting Ryske down and failing to get payback, she wouldn’t be able to stay at Floyd’s. The renewed connection would be severed for good. It was take Rupert up on his offer or admit defeat.
“I will pay you back,” she said, realizing this was her only option. “I don’t know when or how, but I—”
“You don’t have to pay me back, Harlow,” he said, which surprised her. “If you come home.”
She hadn’t believed Rupert was the kind of man who’d ever suggest… what it sounded like he was suggesting. “You’ll give me five hundred thousand dollars in exchange for sex?”
Her incredulity amused him. “No,” he said. “Home for good.”
That stunned her more than when she’d thought he was asking for just sex. “What?”
He became serious. “In the hotel lobby on the night of the SweSec event, you told me to find the love I deserve. But, Harlow, the only woman I’ve ever loved is you. You’re the woman I don’t want to give up.”
He meant it. Harlow knew th
is man better than anyone else. They’d been together for years, seen each other through the tough times and the easier ones. They’d been there for each other, celebrated and commiserated together. They’d planned to spend their lives together. At least, he’d envisioned his with her in it. Harlow wasn’t so clear on what she’d seen.
She needed to give this half million to Parratt in just a couple of days. Time was up. This was it; she had no alternative.
Although combined the consortium was laying down a significant investment, Harlow had no guarantee of when she’d see a return. Even when they did, she’d be at the bottom of the pile if they were handing out dividends.
Whatever they made back would go toward overhead costs first. As it stood, they’d have to wait after making the investment for the product to be produced and delivered. It could take months to build up a customer base, and longer still before they started to see any return. Even then, Harlow could be outvoted. Any equity could be invested back into the company rather than be returned as dividends… if criminal enterprises even worked that way.
Harlow hadn’t gone into this for money. Reminding herself of that allowed her to nod. The chance of her coming out of this with her life and her liberty were slim. She was prepared to die or go to jail. Either was a possibility. In that event, she wouldn’t hold Rupert to the deal.
“I need to do this,” she said. “This thing with the money… give me some time, let me take care of this… thing I need to take care of… then we can talk about the future.”
He smiled. “Our future.”
It wasn’t so easy for her to smile. Rupert didn’t notice her discomfort because he was busy retrieving his wallet. “Our future,” she muttered.
Ryske was going to get his way after all. Even in death he was manipulating her.
Rupert stood up. “Come on, we’ll go to the bank together.”
Go to the bank and retrieve the money she’d need to avenge her deceased lover. The money that would tie her to the ex who wanted her back.
Life was getting more complicated by the day. Harlow was tangled in a web of her own making. Yet, somehow, she felt relief. At least she wasn’t letting Ryske down. She was going through with the plan and making progress. Every day was progress.
Go It Alone (A Go Novel Book 2) Page 10
