Guilty Pleasure

by Taryn Leigh Taylor

  “Sorry, this one’s full.”

  The doors slid shut on the man as he gaped at the two of them, alone in the twenty-eight-person-capacity elevator.

  Wes lifted a brow as he hit the button that would take them to the top floor.

  “What? These elevators are the worst when people are hopping on and off at every floor. Especially when you’re trying to get to the penthouse.” AJ reached into her leather jacket and retrieved her phone. Her thumbs flew over the screen, and then she looked up at the elevator control panel.

  Wes followed her line of sight in time to see a small light in the upper right-hand corner switch from green to red. Override complete.

  “There. Isn’t this better with no one bugging us?”

  Since he couldn’t disagree, he changed the subject entirely. “For the record, I wasn’t second-guessing you. I actually thought we worked pretty well together.”

  AJ frowned at the commendation. “Why does that sound so leading? It’s like you’re this close to offering me a fabulous opportunity that’s going to end with me hawking shady pyramid scheme products and drinking a lot of Kool-Aid.”

  “Because you’re very jaded and don’t know how to take a compliment. How do you feel about IPOs?”

  “Are you kidding?” She scoffed. “The whole reason I’m starting my own thing is because I don’t even want one boss, let alone a team of rabid shareholders pestering me about dividends and shit.”

  “We should talk after I’ve got this situation under control.”

  Her whole body grew wary. “Are you gonna try to convince me to work for you?”

  “Not exactly. I’d like to work with you.”

  AJ’s eyes widened at the prospect. “Like partners?”

  He shrugged, letting the possibility hang out there. He didn’t want to spook her.

  It took three more floors before her posture switched from cagey to contemplative. The second it did, Wes pounced. “We’ll talk after?”

  “It’s under consideration,” she hedged, just as the elevator drew to a stop.

  The doors slid open to reveal a gleaming modern lobby that offered spectacular views of Los Angeles thanks to its floor-to-ceiling windows, but neither of them spared a moment’s thought for the scenery. Heedless of the executive assistant’s protests, they strode across the white-tiled floor, directly to their destination.

  The office was brimming with hostility. Whitfield was on his feet the instant they breached the door, which caused the two men who sat in the visitor chairs facing him to whirl around to see who dared intrude on their meeting.

  Max’s voice was as cold and harsh as the arctic tundra. “What the fuck is he doing in my building, AJ?”

  Goddammit.

  Wes slanted her a glare. “Oh, good. They were definitely expecting us.”

  Her shrug was unrepentant. “They were expecting me,” she said, walking straight to Kearney. Wes didn’t miss the moment of silent communication between them, the way the man dialed it back from wanting to rip Wes’s throat out to casually speculative with nothing more than her slow nod.

  Jesse, on the other hand, had molten rage bubbling inside him. It glowed in his eyes.

  Wes unbuttoned his suit jacket. “You guys should really see your faces. You’d think I just got released from prison for betraying you all or something.”

  Slowly, purposefully, Jesse rose to his feet. With his gregarious facade ripped and torn, Wes could see the anger pulsing just below the surface. He barely recognized his partner. The man he’d considered his friend.

  And for the first time, Wes realized that what was in front of him now was the truth, and it was the rest of it that had been lies.

  In that moment, betrayal cut both ways.

  “Give me one reason I shouldn’t hit this button, Brennan.”

  Max’s voice startled him, snapped his attention back to the now.

  “It will have security here in under a minute.”

  Wes nodded, pointed at him. “Keep your finger on the trigger. I just wanted to talk to my buddy Jesse here in person, because it’s been hell trying to get a hold of him lately.”

  “I have nothing to say to you.”

  Wes’s chuckle held no mirth. “Great. Fewer interruptions. Since the charges were dropped, I’ve spent the last week poring over the evidence AJ used to put me away. Pretty damning stuff. I mean, think about it.”

  He shoved his left hand in his pocket, dragging the right one contemplatively down his beard. Max settled back into his chair, wary but intrigued, too.

  “First, Whitfield Industries gets hacked and thanks to some modifications I made, we catch the breach and ring the alarm. But when we get here, I’m the one who delivers the bad news to the client, and my outgoing, personable second-in-command goes to investigate the surveillance footage.”

  Jesse’s skin was mottled, his anger manifesting as red splotches against his tanned skin. “It was a massive security breach. I’m a stakeholder in the company. Of course I wanted to help figure out what went wrong. Whitfield Industries is our flagship client, and I’m the one who landed the account,” he added smugly.

  “Next up, the phone that I gave to Kaylee Whitfield after she broke hers starts misfiring. And when they crack it open, it turns out it was bugged—monitoring her location, logging her calls and transmitting her conversations.”

  “I’m sorry. Are we all supposed to stand here while you list off all the reasons you should be back in jail?” Jesse raked an agitated hand through his blond hair.

  “Hey, I get it, man. You’re the CEO of Soteria Security now. Shopping at Neiman’s to do, private medical records to hack.”

  Precise. Vindictive. Intensely personal.

  The attack straightened Jesse’s spine. “I don’t know what the fuck you—”

  “I thought we agreed, no interruptions. I don’t want you to miss anything. Especially since I think you’re really going to like the twist ending. And I don’t want Kearney here to feel left out.”

  The CEO of Cybercore stiffened up at the sound of his name, and AJ set a comforting hand on Liam’s shoulder.

  “He tests out Soteria’s commercial antivirus software. Coincidentally, counterfeit versions of his latest product start flooding the market not long after you show up to install some updates, on my behest.”

  Jesse slow-clapped, four loud cracks of sound in the otherwise silent office. “You’re really nailing this performance, Wes. You sure you don’t want me to get the FBI in here so they don’t miss the drama of this confession?”

  “Sounds like one, right? But that’s when I realized that I’m not the only one who looks bad here. Because you’re the one who volunteered to check the surveillance footage after Max got hacked, which gave you the opportunity to make it disappear. And Kaylee’s bugged phone? That was the new business phone that you configured for me. It was never meant for her. I screwed up your plan when I gave it away. And let’s just be honest, since we’re among friends here—I never sent you to update Liam’s test software like you told him I did.”

  “I’d like to see you prove any of it.”

  Wes’s smile was feral. “I already have. You got sloppy, and AJ found your fingerprints all over this case. She couldn’t figure out what that string of garbage code that linked all the attacks meant. But I did.”

  For the first time since he’d walked into the office, Wes saw fear in Jesse’s eyes. An involuntary confession.

  “I’m not going to stand here and listen to bullshit accusations.” Jesse turned to stalk from the office, but the second he drew even, Wes pounced, shoved him up against the frosted glass of Max’s office wall by the lapels.

  “I know what you did, you son of a bitch.” He angled his forearm across Jesse’s chest, his elbow dangerously close to the bastard’s windpipe. “I’ll bet if I look at her phone, I’
ll find the same goddamn bug that was on Kaylee’s phone. That’s how you found Viv at Neiman’s. That’s how you knew we got married. And that’s why you phoned me this morning, to threaten me. Because you have control of her phone, which means you can watch the feed whenever the mood strikes. And when you saw me on it, you were worried your little plot might unravel, since it only works if Viv and I aren’t sharing secrets.”

  Wes applied a little more pressure against Jesse’s trachea, and the bastard clawed at his arm.

  “You want to take me down, fine. But you should have left her out of it, because you might have gotten away with it if you hadn’t blackmailed her.”

  There was a dawning horror in Jesse’s eyes, and it was all the confirmation Wes needed.

  “Yeah, that’s right. She told me what happened after we broke up. In fact, she’s the reason you’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison. She kept a diary, one that proves she never told me about the pregnancy. Which absolves me from being the blackmailer. There’s also an entry in there about the day she was rushed into lifesaving surgery. A date that I think the feds are going find very interesting when they compare it to that garbage code AJ found. And then there’s my favorite—the story of how you went to visit her at Yale, shortly after she’d been released from the hospital. Did you already know what had happened before you went? Or was it the visit that made you curious enough to do some digging?”

  Jesse opened his mouth to reply, but Wes cut him off. “You know what? Don’t tell me. It’ll make the trial so much more compelling if I have some surprises to look forward to. But I’ll bet the FBI agents I gave it to this morning will get a kick out of it.

  “Viv kept it all in a box, with a pressed tiger lily and some framed photos from back in the day. You’re even in a couple of them. You know how sentimental she is.”

  Wes couldn’t help his mocking grin. “You poured the time and effort and the resources of an elite cybersecurity firm into screwing the two of us over, and she took you down with a diary entry and a hospital bracelet, you dumb fuck.”

  And courage, Wes added silently. So much damn courage that she’d quit her job to get him out of jail. Sparred with him. Driven him to unparalleled heights of frustration and desire. And despite their complicated history, she’d never given up on him.

  Jesse’s forced laugh was all bravado. “Tell me it hurt. Tell me it killed you when you found out what she’d done. The secrets she kept from you.”

  The dig had no power, and Wes’s muscles relaxed slightly at the realization.

  Because it had hurt. It had hurt them both. But it hadn’t killed them. In that moment, Wes recognized that they were stronger for it. Bad at communication, good at sex. That’s why they’d broken up the first time. But not this time. This time was different.

  Because it wasn’t his computer prowess that had solved this case. It was the fact that he and Vivienne had actually talked to each other. Laid the ghosts of their pasts to rest.

  He refocused on Jesse. “How the hell did I not know what a malicious son of a bitch you were?”

  “You’re like a goddamn cat, you know that? Always landing on your feet. You get all the credit for Soteria, even though you’d still be working out of your junkie mother’s basement if it wasn’t for me! For my connections and all the investors I brought in. But you’re the one the magazines write about! You’re the one they praise. Like I’m nothing. I just stand by and watch you get everything I want. More of the money. More of the fame. The only reason you even met Viv is because I took you to that party, and then you got her, too!”

  Jesse’s chest heaved with fury.

  “I knew the only thing that would hurt you more than losing your precious company would be to know that the love of your life betrayed you. Got to admit, I didn’t think Vivienne would crack. She’s usually such a cold hard bitch.”

  Wes increased the pressure of his arm. “You’re going to want to watch what you say to me right now.”

  Jesse’s smile was a little manic. “Keep it up, tough guy. You want to strangle me? Punch me? Put my head through the glass? Go for it! I’ll press charges so fast you’ll be back in the slammer faster than Vivienne dropped her panties for you the night of the frat party.”

  Wes’s muscles shook with the control it took not to take him up on the offer. He shoved Jesse back against the glass one last time, with enough force to make him feel it. But he’d made the wrong decision six years ago, when he’d chosen Soteria over her, and again the night before, when he’d walked out on Vivienne after she’d confessed her deepest, darkest secret to him. He wouldn’t do it a third time.

  “I thought I wanted revenge on the person who framed me more than anything in the world. You took my company from me, and I planned to savor every second of watching you get frog-marched out of here in cuffs as they hauled your ass to jail. But thanks to you, I’ve got more important things to do.”

  Because Jesse, and Soteria, were his past, but Vivienne? She was his future. She always had been.

  Somewhere behind him, Whitfield’s voice penetrated Wes’s consciousness.

  “Sherri, can you please send security to my office immediately. And then get Special Agent Behnsen on the phone. Tell her there’s been a break in the case.”

  “Guess he wasn’t kidding about that button, huh?” Wes pried his hands from Jesse’s suit and adjusted his own jacket, just as two burly security guards entered the office.

  “Looks like you’ll be in good hands after I leave. And Jesse?” He waited until the prick met his gaze with a seething glare. “When Max and Liam are done with you, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”

  He just had to find her first.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  VIVIENNE SAT ON THE porch swing, one foot tucked beneath her, the other skimming along the painted wooden deck planks as she swayed back and forth. The rhythm of the movement was slow and soothing for her frayed nerves. She stared contemplatively through the railing at a bed of tiger lilies on the edge of the gorgeously landscaped property.

  The first time she’d fled to the Phoenix Inn, she’d been young, and terrified, nursing a broken heart as she recovered from the emergency surgery that had both saved her life and changed it irreparably. Like a desperate philosopher, she’d spent hours on this very porch swing, convincing herself that a nonviable pregnancy was basically the same as not being pregnant at all. Which meant there was no real reason to tell Wes. Because there was nothing to tell.

  The irony that the decision she’d made then was the reason she was here now, and that she was on the precipice of jail time because of it, was not lost on her. She’d chosen to keep a secret, which had turned septic so quickly that she couldn’t remember what it was like before it had seeped into her bones and become part of her. One more experience in a long line of experiences she’d used to justify to herself that she was better off alone. That loving people hurt too much.

  But then she’d reconnected with Wes.

  And she’d finally accepted that, no matter how much it hurt, she couldn’t stop loving him.

  The burn of tears threatened, but through sheer force of will, she held them back. She’d given in to tears the last time, and they hadn’t helped. This time, she’d be stronger.

  The back door creaked open, and Vivienne kept her eyes stubbornly forward, not quite ready to give up her solitude, no matter how well-intentioned the innkeeper was.

  “I’m not really in the mood for company right now, Sally.”

  “She said you’d say that.”

  The sound of Wes’s voice brought Vivienne to her feet. But even though she recognized that he was standing with her on the porch where she’d spent so much time thinking about him, it still took everything she had to turn and face him. To make it real.

  He was gorgeous in a light gray suit, pristine white shirt and dark gray tie. His thick brown hair was
the perfect amount of mussed, and he’d trimmed his beard back from “verge of unkempt” to “dangerous bad boy.”

  It was too much, having him here with her, and she turned toward the yard, grabbing the railing and focusing on the tiger lilies instead of the nerves that jittered in her stomach.

  “What is this place?”

  She closed her eyes, letting his deep voice wash over her. “It’s where I came after...everything.” Lost pregnancy. Lost love. Lost self. “To heal. And clear my head.”

  “Serendipitous choice of flowers.”

  “Not really.”

  Wes joined her beside the railing, and she made herself look at him.

  “I planted them. When I came here the first time.” She turned back to the profusion of orange blooms. “Part of the healing I was talking about.”

  He was quiet for a long time. When he spoke again, his voice was solemn. “Thank you.”

  She looked up in surprise. “For what?”

  “For letting me be part of that piece of your life.”

  A poignant smile tipped the corner of her mouth up. She’d never thought of it like that. That planting tiger lilies had been a connection to Wes. That in some small way, he’d been here with her even as she’d been so desperately trying to push him away.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “So why are you here now?”

  “The threat of jail made me contemplative, I guess. And I can breathe when I come here. No matter how bad it gets.”

  “Well, it might not get as bad as you think.”

  She frowned at the riddle.

  “As of this morning, you’re no longer suspect number one. I’m sure Whitfield won’t press charges against you, and even if he does, you can dust off those kick-ass lawyer skills of yours, turn state’s evidence, and testify against Jesse.”

  The announcement blindsided her, dropping her heart into her stomach. “What?”

  “It was Jesse.” Wes’s voice was laced with a hint of rancor.

  Of course, it was. All of the evidence, so inextricably tied to Soteria...everything pointing just a little bit more toward Wes and letting Jesse off scot-free. Because Jesse had his finger on the scale of justice.