“This isn’t helping,” he grumbled, then sighed reluctantly. “Fine. We’ll talk to whoever, then come back here and get some more of this.”
“Are you okay?” His arm was around her, and he felt her tense up as the Bentley cruised lazily through the San Francisco traffic to Blackwell Tower.
“I am,” she said, but inched closer to him. She needed to feel him. She stayed close to him as they went inside the building, and even more so in the elevator, the memory of what happened the last time she had been there too vivid.
“I had the security team that was here that night replaced,” Ian said quietly.
She raised her eyes to his. “You promised me they wouldn’t know.”
“They don’t. All the security guards in all of Ian Blackwell Holdings’ subsidiaries, and the guards in this building, work for IBH Internal Security, and Ira simply rotated them elsewhere. They will be fired at some point, so that no connection can be made to what happened here. They can’t be trusted to do their job.”
Tess nodded, distracted. “How . . . Do you know how he got in, how Brett got to your office without anyone knowing?”
“He used this elevator. He created a footage loop that continued long enough for him to get to the top floor, not from the lobby but from my private parking in the underground car park. The security guards weren’t watching the screens like they should have been, and they didn’t notice the passage to the loop and back to real-time monitoring. They didn’t make their rounds, so no one heard the elevator, and they never noticed Brett go back down—Ira found another loop after you left. He used the elevator again, but then he wouldn’t have expected . . .”
“He didn’t expect me to call for help, because of his threat.”
Ian’s arm tightened around her. After a while, she spoke again. “So Ira knows.”
“He’s a trusted friend, and he had to know because I wanted him to make sure Brett is watched and to oversee his eventual arrest.”
The frown remained on her face, and he added, “He knows, but he hasn’t seen what happened. All he’s seen is the CCTV footage from outside my office, the elevator and the lobby. And I’m the only one who has that footage now, everything from that night.” That, and the clothes she had worn then. She had never asked what happened to the clothes she had thrown in the corner of her bathroom.
Tess breathed in. Robert knew, he had to, and so did Muriel, she herself had agreed to that. Muriel was a good friend. But other than them, what happened to her would not be revealed to anyone, not even when Brett Sevele went to trial. And yet Ian had assured her it would be reflected in his punishment. Power goes a long way, he had said, and this was something he had no intention of letting go of.
Neither could she.
The worst of it, of the dread Tess had felt from the moment she had seen Blackwell Tower from the Bentley’s window, was when she finally walked into Ian’s office. She stopped just inside the door. Noticing she wasn’t beside him, Ian turned. And saw it. Understanding, he began to walk to her. But then he halted and watched her. Her gaze moved from the spot where she was attacked to him, focusing on him. Her expression changed from the memory to now, to herself here in this office with this man who wanted nothing but to stand by her, to protect her. To love her.
He walked to her and she met him midway.
When they came out of the office again, Tess found before her a graying man, her height, his face stern. The eyes that scrutinized her were dark brown and dead serious.
“Tess,” Ian said, putting a hand on her back, “this is Ira.”
Tess had known she would be meeting Ira Gold, it was one of the reasons she was here. But, finally meeting him face to face, she felt uncomfortable. This man knew what had happened to her here, in this building, on this floor. What he knew, and what he had seen, even though it was only a little of what had happened, was, for her, personal. And he was a stranger, a man she didn’t know.
She said nothing, but he stepped forward and offered his hand. A brief hesitation, and she shook it.
“A firm handshake. Of course. I wouldn’t expect any less.” He nodded once. “It’s an honor to finally meet you in person, Mrs. Blackwell.”
Tess was taken aback.
“Your discomfort, by the way, is unwarranted. I’m the one who should feel uncomfortable, I’m the one responsible for what happened to you. No one was there to stop him from getting to you that day, or to help you, and that’s on me. And, just so you know, I’ve changed the security protocol in this building. In all IBH sites, in fact. You’ll be safe in them now.” He frowned and stopped speaking.
“What happened to me is not your fault,” Tess said quietly.
“But it is my responsibility. This will never happen again.” His voice was low, and Tess tried to discern what it was she was hearing in it.
Anger, that was it. There was an undertone of anger there. And that’s what made her change her view of the encounter with him, or rather of her place in it. His respect, and his anger. What happened to her, it wasn’t her shame. In no one’s eyes, the few who knew, was it her shame. She wondered about her own perception. On her back, she felt the hand of the man who loved her. She remembered what he had told her, that day in her bedroom. You fought, he had said, and then you fought some more, and look what you’ve made of yourself.
Deep inside her, a weight she had carried for weeks, and that which she had carried for over a decade, finally eased.
“I expect you to stand by your word,” she answered Ira, “but not with regard to me. Anyone who sets foot anywhere in this company should be safe. And I also expect you to call me Tess, I think you and I are past the formalities.”
His brow furrowed. “You really are one hell of a lady, aren’t you? Well then, Tess, I have your back, that’s all I have to say.” He cleared his throat. “Right. I understand that while all that was happening, you also saved this company. I’d like to understand how, and what we can do to prevent what Sevele did from happening again.”
She nodded and led the way to the conference room. This time it was Ian who worked in his office, catching up after his time away, while Tess had the meeting about the breach into Ian Blackwell Holdings and what Brett Sevele had almost succeeded in doing to it. It was her, Ira and the head of his cybersecurity division in the conference room, after which Ian joined her for the meeting with Robert and two of the company’s legal experts.
Outside, Muriel stood watching Tess. She had come here thinking that she might have a chance to take her friend out to lunch. Other than speak to her on the phone, she hadn’t seen her since Tess and Ian had left for Sydney. She was dying to hear about their time alone. But all she’d managed to do so far was go to Tess after her first meeting and hug her tightly, something she’d wanted to do since she’d first learned of the attack. Tess had been glad to see her, but she was nowhere near able to leave and had then gone on to her next meeting, together with Robert.
She was sitting on the same side of the massive table as Ian, on his right. Just then, he leaned toward her and said something, and she smiled and looked at him, answering. Muriel couldn’t hear what she’d said, but Ian laughed. They stayed close together, and Muriel was struck by how much they had both changed.
Not inaccessible, nor untouchable. Not to each other, not anymore.
“What do I do with this?” Robert asked, following Tess and Ian into Ian’s Office, Muriel beside him, and making sure the door was closed behind them before he spoke. He had a folder in his hand.
“What is it?” Ian asked.
“Your contract.”
Ian exchanged a look with Tess. “We tore up our copies weeks ago.”
“You did?” Muriel beamed.
“We did,” Tess confirmed.
“When we had that fight,” Ian remarked with some amusement.
“Oh yes, we certainly did,” Tess confirmed again with a small smile.
“Unfortunately, I can't do the same,” Robert said. “It is a bind
ing, duly witnessed legal contract and it has to be properly voided. Since I absolutely and completely agree with your recent actions, I will happily draw up the necessary documents.”
Ian went to him, took the folder out of his hand and put it on the desk, then pulled a pen from his friend's inner jacket pocket and scribbled something on the contract. Then he offered the pen to Tess. Coming over, she read out loud what he wrote.
“This contract is hereby voided. I love my wife and consider this a true marriage. Ian Blackwell.”
Smiling, she took the pen from him and wrote, “Ditto. Tess Blackwell.”
“Poetic,” he said with a short laugh.
“Was that an objection?” She turned to him, giving Robert his pen back.
“Hell no.” And he pulled her into a kiss.
Robert raised an eyebrow. “Yes, well, I suppose this will also do.” And he witnessed their signatures with his, with Muriel as an additional witness.
“I would just like to say, for the record, Ian, I told you so,” Robert said, pleased that for once, finally, he'd outthought Ian Blackwell.
“Robert!” Muriel looked at him, appalled.
“No, he's right,” Ian said to her. “He did. He told me the day I came up with the idea of this marriage that I should give myself a chance, find the woman for me. He was right. And he found Tess.” His gaze turned to Tess. “He found me my wife.”
When Tess and Ian came out of Blackwell Tower that day, it was through the front entrance, with the Bentley waiting for them up ahead. No hiding, no avoiding the media that waited outside the building in anticipation after the unusually lengthy absence of Ian Blackwell and his wife. The questions they had, those that had to do with the Brett affair and those that had to do with simple curiosity, he answered, calmly, patiently, with Robert and the head of Ian Blackwell Holdings’ public relations department behind him, unneeded. He was Ian Blackwell, and he did what he’d been doing since the day he first started the company whose headquarters were in the towering structure behind him.
“Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell,” a reporter called out as he and Tess were about to continue to the car, Jackson already waiting with the back door open. “Is it really true that you’ve just returned from your honeymoon, or was this just a way to disappear and let things quiet down?”
“How about just telling us, while we’re at it,” another chipped in, “is your marriage real?”
Ian halted and looked at his wife. She smiled, and he drew her to him, held her close. Their kiss left no place for any doubt.
Ian and Tess Blackwell got into their car and drove away.
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Books by
A. Claire Everward
The First
Oracle’s Hunt
Oracle’s Diplomacy
Blackwell: A Tangled Web
A Tangled Web Page 29
