Trusting The Boss

by Mallory Crowe

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Emma! You’re finally back. We thought you’d be here hours ago.” Luke held the door to his apartment.

  Emma looked between Luke and Michael, who stood behind his brother. She couldn’t tell which one looked more annoyed. “I was doing some sightseeing.” She pushed between the two.

  “We had reservations at some amazing new restaurant and both of us left the office early.”

  She set her bags and purse down on the pristine white couch in the middle of Luke’s ultra-modern apartment that constantly reminded Emma how far away from home she was. “Oh no, the boss might get mad at you. Oh wait! You own the company. Besides, you never told me we had dinner plans tonight.”

  “You’re Luke’s guest,” said Michael. “And Luke takes care of his guests. It’s one of his rules.”

  She could do with a little less of him taking care of her. She knew she should’ve just stayed at a hotel like she’d originally planned. But when Luke learned Emma was coming to the city to tie up some of Joslyn’s personal affairs that she couldn’t handle from behind bars, he’d insisted Emma stay with him.

  But now that she was here and surrounded by cousinly love, and rules, she second-guessed herself. The hard lines combined with the whites and grays of the penthouse apartment were less homey than any hotel she could’ve stayed at. Add to that the scrutiny she was going to face when the guys found out where she’d been pre-sightseeing and she was half tempted to power up that tourist app and find another place to stay.

  “Luke, I really appreciate you making reservations for us, but I need to be told about these things ahead of time. Now, I’m sure there’s something we can get delivered for the three of us to eat and it will be just as much fun as going out.”

  “There’s a fantastic deli right around the corner,” said Michael. “I’m sure they can send something over in no time.” He looked to Luke. “Where do you keep your menus again?”

  “Top drawer to the left of the sink.” Luke slid off his suit jacket. “I guess I can get more comfortable if we’re staying in.”

  Emma smirked. Considering suits were pretty much the only thing she ever saw Michael and Luke wear, she couldn’t imagine a more comfortable outfit for them. But she could tell he was trying to hold back his annoyance at changing his plans. Luke was the type who once he made up his mind, there was no use convincing him otherwise. “I’m sorry for making you change your plans.” As soon as she said the words, she regretted them. She wasn’t sorry! They couldn’t make plans and not tell her and then have the nerve to get upset.

  She’d read in an article that women apologize almost twice as much as men do. If she was going to be digging around God knew where into Joslyn’s extracurricular activities, she really needed to grow a backbone.

  “It’s fine,” said Luke. “This place has some awesome sandwiches and we can reschedule the reservations for another night. I’m sure Michael can convince them to find a table for us later this week.”

  Emma slipped out of her shoes and breathed a sigh of relief as the cool air hit her feet. If she’d known how much walking she was going to be doing, she probably would’ve worn flats, but she’d wanted to make a good impression on Victoria.

  “I’m going to go get changed,” she said. “Just order me whatever you think is good, guys. I trust your judgment.” Truth be told, she didn’t think she’d ever ordered anything from a deli before. She’d made herself sandwiches plenty of times, but she had a feeling Michael and Luke would raise hell if she ordered a turkey on wheat with light mayo, no cheese, and avocado. But this was a New York deli. Those were practically sacred considering all the wonderful things she’d heard about them. If Michael and Luke thought she should try a mass of red meat, cheese, and mayonnaise between two hulking pieces of bread, she’d live on the wild side for a bit.

  “Will do.” Michael flipped through the menu.

  Emma set her shoes in the designated area in the entryway before she gathered up her bags and moved into what she dubbed the “guest wing” of Luke’s apartment. She was sure that most of the living spaces in New York were as small as she’d heard, but Luke spared no expense on his lavish living area.

  Not that he needed to. None of them were short on funds and, judging from the settlements they all got from their parents’ deaths, they would never be short on cash. The Devereaux family gift and curse. Blessed with money and cursed with early death. Or insanity, in Joslyn’s case.

  Emma precariously balanced her items on one arm to free up her hand to open the guest bedroom door. Once in, she set down her purchases and went through them. An Empire State snow globe for Barry, the groundskeeper back home, and a souvenir sweatshirt for herself. Sure, they were cheesy and touristy, but the bus tour really got her in the mood to be a bit silly. Everyone onboard had been so excited and into all the sights and sounds going on around them. It was hard not to get swept away.

  Much better than the afternoon she would’ve had by herself if Jace hadn’t recommended the little tour company down the street. She thought back to the tall, handsome Jace. She’d probably freaked him out with all her babbling, but he’d been polite enough to humor her. A guy like him was probably used to sophisticated city women slipping him their phone numbers and batting their eyelashes in just the right way.

  The one time Emma ever tried batting her eyelashes in the mirror, it had looked like a nervous twitch. Not exactly the kind of thing that would get a man like Jace’s attention. Emma might’ve lived a protected life, but she knew enough about people to know Jace’s type. His lean, strong build suggested an athlete, but his reserved smile and world-weary eyes told her exactly what he was: a bad boy.

  She’d seen his kind often enough. Usually they were the boys Joslyn brought home to meet their parents. During Emma’s long college career, she’d seen her fair share. In most cases, she kept her distance. She’d comforted Joslyn one too many times after she came home in tears and Emma wasn’t about to get herself wrapped up in that type of man.

  But in this case, Jace was exactly what she needed. Emma wasn’t stupid. Coming to town and looking into Joslyn’s life with a fine-tooth comb wasn’t something she was made for. Sure, she could hire someone to get access to her email or rifle through her bank accounts. But Emma wasn’t here for a distant analysis of what went wrong.

  She wanted to see Joslyn’s friends. Someone or something sent her flying off the deep end, and Emma wasn’t the type to inspire, or intimidate, the truth out of people. Jace, on the other hand, could probably walk into the seediest bar in all of New York and have answers within minutes.

  Emma slipped into her loose pair of jeans and her new t-shirt before she padded back into the living room. “Is food on the way?” She slid onto one of the three barstools against the stainless-steel island that separated the kitchen area from the living room.

  “Yep,” said Luke. “Should be here any minute. The owner knows us, so he makes sure our delivery is first priority.”

  “You’re just that personable?”

  Michael scoffed. “I think it has something to do with the tip we slip him whenever we order.”

  “That sounds more like it.” Maybe she should try tipping more. Every time she ordered delivery from one of the few places around home, it took at least an hour to get the food. But that’s what she got for being surrounded by hundreds of acres of unpopulated land. Of course, as a result of not being able to easily eat out, she did have a huge collection of recipes she’d perfected.

  “So I see you’re firmly in tourist mode.” Luke eyed her bright pink shirt.

  She beamed as she looked down at her shirt. “Isn’t it adorable? I got a sweater too. I figured I have to while I’m here.”

  “I can pull you a list of good places to hit up while you’re in town. I know I have a few meetings I can’t bail on this week, but over the weekend, Michael and I can show you all the great places.”

  Emma kept the smile on her face even as she tried to think of a
good out. She wanted to spend time with the cousins, she really did, but as far as they were concerned, Joslyn was no longer a member of the family.

  Professionally, they couldn’t stand as a united front with Joslyn. Even if they didn’t think she was guilty, it was bad PR for their company. Though Emma knew that DevX would be safe no matter what.

  Michael and Luke provided cyber protection software to some of the largest defense companies in the world. Even if they didn’t approve of the Devereaux family, as long as their corporate secrets were protected, they would still throw piles and piles of money at DevX.

  “I really don’t want to disrupt your lives any more than I already have. I don’t need my own personal tour guides, promise.”

  Michael took a seat on the stool on the other side of the island. “So where all did you go today? You said you got some sightseeing done.”

  “I actually stumbled on this little bus tour. They took me on a great uptown loop. I got to see Times Square, Broadway, and a bit of Central Park. Some place called Star Spangled Bus Tours.”

  Luke and Michael exchanged a quick glance and Emma tightened her lips. What had she said wrong?

  “How did you hear about the tour? Was it something you wanted to do when you got here?” asked Luke.

  This was a trap. She knew it. “I happened to walk by the ticket sales booth when I was out today.”

  “You mean the booth right outside Hunt Tower where Green & Sons corporate offices are located.” Michael handed a beer to Luke before he twisted the cap off his own.

  Yep. Trap. “You know what? I think the tour did point out Hunt Tower. That’s an astute observation, guys.”

  Luke slammed down his beer. “Damn it, Emma. What were you doing over there?”

  “I didn’t realize I needed your permission before I go out. Or is that another one of your rules, Luke?”

  “I’m not the bad guy here.” He leaned forward to rest his palms on the island and stared her down. “Victoria was almost killed by Joslyn. I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

  “I just need to ask her a few questions. She was closer to Joslyn before she went over the edge than anyone else. A few minutes of harmless questions.”

  “Harmless to you, maybe. But if you bother her, you’re going to have a lawsuit on your hands, if not a trespassing charge. Do you really want to be in jail the same time as Joslyn?”

  “Victoria Green isn’t going to send me to jail. She’s a reasonable woman,” said Emma patiently.

  “Victoria Green is reasonable, and any reasonable person would call the cops as soon as they see the family members of their attempted murderer.”

  Emma stared at Luke, refusing to back down. Of course he didn’t want her looking into Joslyn’s secrets. The whole thing was cut-and-dry to him. “You never liked Joslyn. You’re probably happy she’s going to prison for the rest of her life.”

  “No, she’s not going to prison for the rest of her life. She’d have to actually be convicted of murder for that one.”

  Emma stood and pushed away from the table. “I think I’ll take my dinner in my room, Luke.”

  “Damn it, Emma, wait.”

  But Emma didn’t want to hear his apology or excuse or whatever he was going to give her. Luke and she had been down this road before. He would warn her away from Joslyn, and she would accuse him of being a cold bastard.

  Even so, she had kept her distance from her sister. How many calls had Emma let go to voicemail? Or the times Emma knew Joslyn would be in town, she’d never gone the extra mile to see her or make sisterly plans.

  “Let me know when the food gets here,” she shouted before she shut the door to the guest room. Luke hadn’t followed her out of the kitchen, but she hadn’t expected him to. They’d had this fight before and it always ended the same way: with both of them pretending nothing happened.

  She was apparently being anti-social for the evening, so Emma decided to crack open her computer and try to get something accomplished.

  She dug the small business card out of her purse and looked over the small, simple black text. Jace Lance, Security Consultant. The only contact information was a phone number and it didn’t specify whether it was a cell or landline. Emma bit her bottom lip as she set the card aside and pulled out her laptop. Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t likely to get any information from what little she had. No way of telling whether Jace was just some crazy guy she’d met on the street who happened to be smoking hot or a qualified investigator who happened to be smoking hot.

  Emma shook her head and smiled at the turn of her thoughts. Sure, the logical part of her mind knew his physical looks had nothing to do with what she was doing, but it sure was fun to remember the way the sun hit his sculpted cheekbones and the wonderful way his muscles filled out his buttoned-down shirt.

  She knew that the city would be full of attractive men, but they’d really broken the mold with this one. And he was a bad boy! Emma never liked the ones with edge. Not that she liked Jace. She just thought he was nice enough and pretty to look at. No harm in thinking it at least…

  As she smiled to herself, she pulled up her web browser on the computer and typed in his name. Sure enough, all she got was a few social media profiles with photos that looked nothing like the man she’d met on the street.

  After another search that included the “security consultant” part, Emma let out a sigh of defeat. There went her brilliant stroke of luck. Of course she wouldn’t just run into the perfect investigator who could help her. Normally she would ask Luke or Michael for a recommendation of who she could hire, but neither of them would be too happy about her looking into Joslyn’s life.

  She’d have to do it the old-fashioned way and dig around until she found someone qualified enough and could drop everything to work on her case the week she was in the city. At least she knew Jace was between clients.

  Oh well. She needed to push the man from her mind and refocus on the real reason she was in town. Joslyn tried to kill Victoria Green. The papers gave the brief mention of money as the motive, but Emma wasn’t about to take their word for it. What if Victoria had done something horrible to Joslyn? Maybe she didn’t deserve to die, but Joslyn deserved someone taking her side.

  Even if she refused to let that someone visit her in jail. Ugh, this whole thing would be so much easier if Joslyn would just talk to her. But if she was a psychotic like everyone said, wouldn’t she be happy to brag? Emma thought back to the criminal justice class she’d taken at her first college but in the seven years since she’d been a freshman, she’d forgotten almost everything.

  Emma deleted everything she had in the search bar and typed in Victoria Green’s name instead. She’d done this search plenty of times in the past few weeks, but every day or so there would be another news article that talked about the upcoming case. Though most of the articles liked to focus on how depraved Joslyn was.

  Apparently Emma had a masochistic streak, because she could never stop herself from reading the newest story that rehashed the same old facts that had been repeated hundreds of times by now. The news outlets even had the same pictures. The back of Victoria Green’s head as she was ushered into her car, wrapped securely in a blanket. It was the only image of her from that night, but there were plenty of Joslyn in the back of the police car as she was hauled away.

  Emma wished there was at least one image of Victoria looking at the camera. Some way to judge her emotions after what just happened. Was she scarred for life because of Joslyn’s actions? Proud that she’d survived? Some sort of insight that would help Emma better understand what was going on in either woman’s head.

  But all she got was the one shot of the back of Victoria’s head. Emma scanned through the rest of the article, but there was nothing she didn’t already know.

  Not that she was expecting anything else. If Michael was there, he could have a wealth of information at her fingertips after only a few minutes at the keyboard. But he wasn’t here. Well, he was,
but he sure as hell wouldn’t help her. Resigned, Emma was just about to close out of the window when a familiar blond head behind Victoria caught her attention.

  She blinked a few times, making sure she wasn’t imagining things. No. Jace stood behind Victoria, looking sternly at the camera.

  Her heart beat faster in her chest as she zoomed in on the picture, which became exponentially more blurry with each zoom in. But there was no denying it. Jace was there the night her sister went off the deep end.

  And that made her decision easy. One way or another, he was going to help her.

  ###

  Luke grabbed another beer out of the fridge and slammed the door shut. The entire oversized appliance shook with the force.

  “Give her some time and she’ll be fine,” said Michael from his seat on the barstool.

  Luke took a deep swig of beer and wished it was something stronger. “No, she’s not going to be fine. She thinks it’s her fault for Joslyn being crazy.” For the first time, he wished Joslyn wasn’t in jail. That way he could tell her exactly what he thought of her and her manipulative antics that could tear his family apart even when she wasn’t around anymore.

  “Joslyn is a grown woman who made her own decisions. Emma knows that.”

  Luke knew that Emma was normally a logical and sensible woman. He trusted her more than just about anyone in the world. Hell, at times he trusted her more than Michael. But not when it came to Joslyn. Emma felt responsible for her older sister. As though they were supposed to stick together no matter what once their parents died.

  She just didn’t want to face facts that it was very likely Joslyn who killed them.

  “I don’t want her digging around Joslyn’s life,” said Luke. “That woman was poison, Michael.”

  “Hey, I know that more than anyone. I’m just saying that Emma needs a period to adjust. Give her some time, okay? She never wanted to believe Joslyn was beyond saving.”