A Tangled Web

by A. Claire Everward

  He nodded. This was purely his curiosity about her speaking, not the necessity of the matter at hand. Still, he thought he should be more perturbed than he was about what he was getting his client—what he was getting both these two—into.

  He wasn’t. She was perfect, perfect for the man who was, indeed, his client, but first and foremost his closest friend. And he knew now what it was about her that he hadn’t been able to put a finger on earlier. Yes, she was highly intelligent, like Ian Blackwell, and calculated, like Ian Blackwell. But she was also, where it counted, completely and entirely inaccessible.

  Just like Ian Blackwell.

  He thought she would need time. Not to absorb the proposal. That she already had, this was quite clear. But to decide. This was not an easy choice to make.

  Instead, she went straight to the point. “What if I refuse?”

  “I have your word that you will keep this conversation to yourself. It’s enough.” He found he didn’t even need to think about it, which only increased his hope that she would say yes.

  “And if I agree?”

  “I have the detailed contract here.”

  She nodded slowly, a slight furrow in her brow. He got up and took a laptop out of a briefcase that sat on the desk behind him, brought up the document and put the laptop on the table in front her, then went back to his seat. “If there are any changes you wish to make, mark them in there.” He thanked heavens he was professional enough to contain his excitement. Was that a yes?

  True, he had expected her to think about it. And he might have prodded her to do so himself. But this woman, his gut told him not to let her go.

  Chapter Four

  Tess parked at the curb in front of Jayden and Aisha’s house. The car would be taken away by the company InSyn had leased it from on Monday morning, by which time she would no longer be InSyn’s employee. From now on—from an hour earlier, to be exact—her life would be dictated by the arrangement the attorney had proposed.

  That was the deal. She had not signed the contract yet but had consented to do so. The attorney had answered all her questions enthusiastically and had made changes where these were required, where the contract now pertained specifically to her. The document itself was extremely well thought out, extremely thorough. It spelled out the next day of her life and onward. Her life, and that of the mystery man she would be marrying.

  The irony did not elude her. She was marrying an unknown man and walking into complete uncertainty. Her. Yes, the irony was certainly there. Even the attorney was still an unknown. He had begged off telling her his name until the next time they met, and she had agreed, thinking that the unknown she had already agreed to would not be reduced by her knowing who he was. And it didn’t really matter. Nothing did, not anymore. What she had done was, quite simply, the only course of action she could have taken to keep Jayden from harm. It was the perfect solution to avoid hurting the one man who had been protecting her all these years, and for her it was no worse than what she had already been through.

  It had to be done, and she would go through with it. The next morning, in fact, when she would be flying by private jet to wherever it was she would be living in from then on. The jet, the attorney had explained, was also where the final contract would be signed.

  She got out of the car and stood looking at the main house. After a long moment she took in a deep breath and went inside to speak to Jayden and Aisha. Her words were simple. She was leaving. They could contact her on her phone, which she would be taking with her. Whatever they would hear in the coming days, they should speak to her about it directly, ask her anything they would like to know. She didn’t have to ask them not to listen to rumors, she knew they wouldn’t, not when it came to her. Nor did she have to ask them not to speak about her, about what she was doing, to anyone, not even at InSyn.

  She said nothing else, not wanting them to have to lie. She wanted them to be able to say they knew nothing and for this to be the truth. She knew they would accept was she was saying and doing. They had never questioned her before, and never would. They cared about her for who she was, and she trusted them for a reason. At least, she thought with some relief, there was no longer need for her to cut them out of her life.

  After leaving them, she went to her apartment and packed one bag, a small suitcase she’d borrowed from Aisha. For weather that hadn’t been much different in the past days from the weather where she was now, that much the attorney had told her. Just enough for a few days, he had assured her all her needs would be taken care of within as short a time as possible. Anything else she wanted to take would be packed and shipped to her, with Jayden and Aisha’s help.

  As for the abrupt termination of her employment at InSyn, it would be dealt with, the attorney had not elaborated how. There was the matter of her bank account, but the attorney had assured her that it too would be taken care of. She lived modestly and had rather substantial savings, since she had been paid well by the company that appreciated her, and while the arrangement made sure she would not require that money, it was hers, well earned, and it would be transferred into her new account.

  With everything being taken care of for her, there was nothing else she needed to do. The last thing she did that day was decide what she would wear the next morning. She settled for simplicity—a pair of blue jeans, a simple shirt, an equally simple jacket. This was her they were getting, it would still be her no matter what.

  She barely slept that night. In the morning she was as ready as she could be, had only to take a last look around the apartment she had lived in for the past twelve years and say her goodbyes to the only two people she cared about.

  A black sedan with tinted windows and an impassive driver arrived at the assigned time to take her to the airport. Centennial Airport, the driver informed her when she asked, and she was relieved that it wasn’t Denver International. She didn’t think she could face the bustle of a large airport, not that day. The driver took her suitcase without another word and put it in the trunk of the car, then opened the back door and waited. She hesitated, and turned to look at Jayden and Aisha, who stood before their house, their arms around each other, concern for her on their faces.

  She got into the car.

  As it took her away, she turned back and looked at the place she had lived in for almost half her life as it grew smaller. Her gaze turned up to the open sunroof, to the sky passing overhead, fast, faster, as if in a hurry to have her gone.

  She closed her eyes.

  They made it to the airport in no time, then drove straight through to the hangars. Tess had never been there before, but she didn’t look around her, didn’t care to. Alone in the back seat, she tried to relax, failing miserably. Not surprising, considering that she was walking into a whole new dimension of unknowns.

  The car approached one of the hangars, drove around it and stopped in the back, near a door that opened to reveal the attorney. Tess heard him instructing the driver to put her luggage on the jet, and then he opened the car’s back door himself.

  “Ms. Andrews, good to see you again,” he greeted her with enthusiasm as she got out.

  “I think under the circumstances you can call me Tess,” she said, her voice quiet.

  “Very well. And under the circumstances, by the way, I am about to officially become your attorney, too. So I should probably finally introduce myself.” He smiled. “My name is Robert Ashton, but do call me Robert.”

  She gave no indication that she recognized his name, and his smile widened. “This way,” he said, and led her through the door into the hangar.

  She stopped in the doorway. In the middle of the hangar stood a large aircraft, silvery white with a black stripe curving smoothly along its side, shiny in the internal light of the vast closed space. Its door was open, the stairs down, but there was no one around it, they were alone. She stared. She had never seen a private jet before, not this close up.

  “This is my client’s personal jet,” Robert said, kindness in his
voice. He could understand the reaction. “He prefers to use it rather than his company’s jets, he likes his privacy. Much like you, I believe.” And he guided her to the aircraft.

  Inside, Ian glanced irritably at the time on his laptop. He wanted to be on his way. As it was he hadn’t planned to stay the extra night in Denver. He had concluded his business at InSyn the previous evening and could have been in his office by now. Robert could have flown her, whoever she was, in one of the company’s executive jets, and they would have met later in the day to conduct their . . . business. He didn’t like wasting time.

  Although he had spent at least part of the night working at his hotel suite and the past few hours working here, conducting a conference call with his London office. So time, a small voice in his head argued, was not really wasted. He refused to admit to himself that he was, quite simply, nervous because Robert had refused to tell him who the woman was whom he had chosen or to provide any details other than to say that she was perfect, or that it bothered him that Robert had made such an important decision so quickly. He had read the draft contract, and, yes, it was as good as he had expected the attorney to prepare. It also showed him that, not surprisingly, his friend had an accurate understanding of his needs and his reasoning. But to settle on a woman, a wife, this quickly?

  He shook his head and focused on his work again. Or at least tried to.

  Tess walked up the narrow stairs. Slowly, bracing herself. Robert followed a few steps behind her, giving her space.

  She walked in. The jet was empty, as Robert had requested it to be. Empty except for the man who sat on one of the plush seats just ahead and who now raised his eyes from the laptop he was working on.

  He stood up in surprise just as Tess froze in place.

  “Tess Andrews, Ian Blackwell,” Robert said earnestly.

  The two stared at each other. Then they both turned to Robert, who took a step back at the anger in their eyes, raising his hands with his palms outward.

  “Wait, just hold on. Hear me out.” He motioned Tess inside. “Please.”

  She hesitated, then finally took a few more steps into the cabin while Ian remained where he was.

  “I think . . . no, I’m sure, that the two of you together can pull this off perfectly—”

  “So you’re here to have another go at me?” Ian interjected icily, his words aimed at the woman who just wasn’t supposed to be there.

  “Why, are you planning to get all big and powerful again when you talk to a loyal employee? Any other companies you plan to destroy while you get your way?” Tess answered his ice with her own fire.

  “You have no right to interfere in what you don’t understand.”

  “I will interfere in what I damn well please, and it is you who had no understanding of the situation. Funny, I thought they said you’re a competent businessman. Or is running over others enough to build fancy conglomerates nowadays?”

  Ian laughed mirthlessly. “You’re who he chose? And I’m supposed to trust you by my side when we can’t even spend five seconds together?”

  The slap of a magazine on the table Ian had been working on made them both jump. The glossy affair was one of those print issues still popular even in the days of digital access, full of the type of gossip that would always have enough appeal to sell.

  They were on the cover. Both of them. Someone had taken an image of a moment they had stood close enough to each other and had manipulated it to look as if they were, in fact, standing together. Tess recognized the setting immediately. InSyn’s basement. With its spanning security camera coverage, of course.

  “Allow me,” Robert said with exaggerated politeness. He picked up the magazine again, every move deliberate, opened it, then cleared his throat with a dramatic flair and read, “And who is that with our yummy Pounce-For Bachelor this time? The mysterious beauty is undoubtedly his latest—”

  Ian raised his hand, indicating for him to stop. Tess could do nothing but stare.

  Robert put the magazine back down, open to the colorful double feature. “This is from the one time you met. One time. You met, you had a fight, you moved on, all in the basement of an obscure building well away from where you live your life, Ian. And yet this photo came to be, an entire piece in a gossip magazine came to be, and, I’ve got news for you two, it was already mentioned on two shows this morning and social media is having a ball. I’m guessing Davis was angry because you got rid of her instead of Tess here, Ian, but that’s just me.”

  Ian was seething. “I’ll deal with her.”

  “I have no doubt you will. But, Ian, this is exactly the type of thing your idea, this arrangement, was intended to stop. And Tess”—he turned to her—“I really don’t know anything about you. Despite the report I have on you, and you know that I do. I only know two things. One, there is a reason, and I’m not asking you what it is, nor will I, because, frankly, I trust you, but for that reason you’ve agreed to replace your life with a completely different one with a man whose identity you didn’t even know, and without so much as flinching. And two, you can do this, and you can do this like no one else can. She can, and I’m telling you she is the right person to,” he addressed Ian again, and the way he said it made Ian stop and focus on the friend he trusted like he trusted no one other than less than a handful of other people in the world.

  “Fine,” he said. “I’ll do this. We’ll work it out. Let’s sign the damn contract.”

  “Fine,” Tess said, thinking about her reasons for having to do this. The attorney was, quite simply, right.

  “Fine with me, too,” Robert said. “The magazine article will, I believe, add in this case to the facade you two will be putting up from now on.” He went over to his briefcase, which was sitting on a seat across the aisle, and took out three copies of the final contract. One for each of them, and the third for him, the official one. He placed the documents on the table. “Here,” he said, handing Ian his pen.

  “Right,” Ian grumbled. He took the pen from him and signed all copies.

  “This too.” Robert flipped to the last page of his own copy. A marriage certificate was attached to the contract, already filled in, signed by a judge and authorized, including Tess’s name change.

  Ian looked at him.

  “I arranged for it last night. I thought it would be more convenient than having a judge actually be present for this.” The things money could do. “Sign.”

  Ian did so with a finality to it that had a pang of regret go through his friend, and then handed the pen to Tess without looking at her.

  This is the only way, she said to herself one last time. The only way.

  And she signed.

  Robert witnessed the signatures. “One more detail,” he said, pushing away the last of his regret. It was done, there was no going back now. He took a small box out of his briefcase and held it open for them to see.

  They both stared.

  “It will do what you want it to do. That is, if the two of you behave as agreed. It will convince everyone around you that you are married. People still tend to think of this one small symbol that way, and regardless of what they think of this marriage, your wearing this will go a long way toward convincing them.”

  Neither moved.

  “Go on.” He took the rings out himself and handed each of them one. Without looking at each other, they put the simple gold bands on.

  “Simple, yes, devoid of emotion, I would think. But then so is this marriage ceremony, isn’t it?” he couldn’t help saying.

  They both shot him poisonous glances. He didn’t care. Marriage, to him, was sacred. He had fallen in love and had courted his wife for a year before she’d even agreed to date him. His marriage was his life. His wife and two kids, they were his life. The man and woman before him were giving that up far too easily.

  “And this one is also for you,” he said to Tess and handed her the third item he had in the box.

  This ring was different. Delicate, it boasted a series of sm
all stones. Tess frowned at it.

  “It’s your engagement ring. I chose it myself,” Robert said dryly.

  Not looking at either of them, she put it on.

  The jet took off shortly after Robert called the crew in. The silence in the cabin was deafening. Ian sat in his accustomed place, his wife in the seat opposite his, where Robert had insisted she sit. He himself had moved farther away after hammering into them the precise rules he had set for their marriage.

  “So InSyn will need to replace you after all.” It was easier for Ian to think about business.

  “Jayden can take care of things in the meantime, we’ve been working side by side for years and he knows what I did there, he knows everyone and everything at InSyn. If need be, he can call me.”

  “You’re no longer an InSyn employee.”

  “True, but I’m leaving, quite suddenly, a good company with good people, and I will do all I can to help them.”

  “I’m sure my company can do without you,” Ian said with sarcasm he did not really intend. But then she seemed to provoke something in him, something that made him react.

  “It can,” Tess retorted. “But I can make things easier for it. As it is the takeover has been far more difficult than it should have been.” The insinuation against him was clear, despite the quiet voice, or perhaps because of it.

  “My transition team knows how to do its job and Pythia Vision is by now experienced enough in its work with InSyn.”

  “Your previous transition team brought in Davis. You brought in Davis.” Maybe she didn’t feel like being subtle after all.

  She was right. Ian didn’t need her to tell him he had allowed a grave mistake to be made. “She may have done what she did, but she knew her job.”

  “She acted in a way that has impaired InSyn’s ability to function properly. And all she did the day before yesterday was react emotionally to a business situation and threaten to slow InSyn down to a crawl by getting rid of your two data experts just to impress you.” Tess’s eyes narrowed. “And you know what, forget that Jayden is the best person you can have working at InSyn. For him what he does there is his life’s work, he’s been with it from the very beginning and has put everything he is into it. He loves that company, and it needs him. InSyn, its people, they rely on him. Firing Jayden was the worst thing Davis could do.” Thinking about her friend only made her even more angry at this man who had allowed Davis to hurt him. “And then when you fired her she apparently turned on you, too, acted against you in the exact same way that got you into this marriage plan in the first place.”