“Some enviable LinkedIn profiles. Seems like everyone has moved on and is doing well. Upstanding citizens as far as I can tell. What about you?”
“Same with mine, but there are two people you missed from the list.”
I hesitated, waiting for him to continue.
“I’m assuming you know Landon was involved.”
I nodded silently.
“Okay, and then there was Brian Cooper.”
“He’s dead,” I said flatly, betraying what I already knew but had failed to share earlier.
He hesitated a second, no doubt registering that fact. “Right. Well, he was survived by his mother and his brother, Trevor.”
“Did you find something on them?”
“His mother lives about twenty minutes from here.”
“I doubt she’s spearheading a hacker group. What about his brother?”
“I can’t find anything on his brother.”
“How is that helpful?” I regretted the way that came out. I was tired and edgy, but taking it out on James when he was only trying to help was unnecessary.
“Don’t you think it’s a little odd that every other person on this list has a glowing resume and the twenty-five-year-old little brother of their former partner in crime has absolutely no professional associations, no Internet presence, no profiles, nothing?”
“Maybe he learned a hard lesson from his brother and decided not to waste his life online like the rest of us.”
He tilted his head, looking as unconvinced as I felt.
“Fine. So we have no idea where he is or what he’s up to.” I clicked my pen as I pondered my next move. A part of me worried about the road I was going down, but things couldn’t get more fucked up than they already were. Might as well go all the way down the rabbit hole. “Get me the mother’s address.”
“You going to see her?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Let me come with you. Could be totally harmless, but you shouldn’t go alone.”
The protective tone of his voice took me by surprise. I silently wondered if I had damsel in distress tattooed on my forehead, but in truth I wasn’t wild about going on this venture by myself either.
“It’s okay. I can handle this.”
He didn’t look any more comfortable with my solo plan, and I couldn’t help but give him points for caring. Still, I wasn’t getting him any more involved in this mess, especially if it meant outing Blake’s association with Cooper’s death.
“Don’t worry, James. I won’t be alone.”
* * *
I stepped out onto the street and came face to face with an imposing man standing guard by a black Escalade parked at the curb.
“Ms. Hathaway.”
He took a step in my direction and I resisted the urge to take a defensive step back. His sheer size took me aback. This man had been hired to protect me.
“Hi, Clay.” I shook his hand, which engulfed my own. He was well over six-feet tall, and his black T-shirt strained over his enormous muscular arms. He looked every bit the part of a bodyguard, except for the kind light gray eyes that contrasted beautifully with his dark skin.
“Mr. Landon has instructed me to escort you wherever you need to go.”
I suppressed the urge to take my irritation at Blake out on him. Not that I really could. “Perfect. I need a ride to Revere.”
He nodded and opened the back door for me. I hopped in and gave him the address, hoping against hope that Clay wasn’t under orders to report my whereabouts to Blake too.
A short while later, Clay pulled up to a large colonial-inspired home in an impressive new development. Unlike their well-kept neighbors though, whoever lived here didn’t spend much time maintaining appearances. The grass was tall and weeds thrived through the cracks in the path to the house. No flowers adorned the yard and the flag that hung was tattered to shame.
“Would you like me to come in with you, Miss Hathaway?” The depth of Clay’s voice startled me.
“No, I don’t think that would be a very good idea. Just wait here. I shouldn’t be long.”
I walked up to the front door, steeling myself for an awkward visit with the Cooper boys’ mother. I rang the bell and waited patiently. After ringing it again with no answer, I knocked loudly on the off chance the doorbell was broken.
Finally the door opened, and before me stood a young man with long black hair that fell over his eyes. He was ghostly pale and not much taller than I. My breath caught, but I kept my composure.
“Is Ms. Cooper home?”
“What do you want?”
“It’s a private matter. Would you mind if I came in?”
He eyed me cautiously before finally moving away from the door, leaving it open for me to enter. I followed him in, stepping into a dark living area. Every curtain was closed. Only the persistent sun peeking through the edges of the blinds lit the room. Other than the general clutter, the house seemed new.
The young man made a half turn toward a hallway at the end of the room before stopping to stare at me.
“What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.” Adrenaline rushed through me, giving me the courage to speak again. “You must be Trevor.”
His eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
“Erica Hathaway. You know, the one whose business you’re trying to destroy?” I had no proof that he had any such intention, but he was the best lead I had, and if he was involved, I probably wouldn’t be getting very far with a polite line of questioning. “But I have a feeling it’s not me you’re really interested in.”
“Get out.” He grimaced and walked toward me.
I stood my ground. Worst-case scenario, I was pretty confident I could hold my own. Plus, I had Clay. I held up my hand to stop him.
“Not so fast. We need to talk.”
He stopped short in front of me.
“I’ll call the cops,” he said through gritted teeth.
I laughed, genuinely amused by the threat. “Go ahead. I’m sure they’d be very interested in the contents of your computer.”
He didn’t blink.
“You’ve been terrorizing my site for weeks and you’ve made no demands.”
“What site?”
I frowned at his question. “Clozpin.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a satisfied smirk that solidified my suspicions. That little shit. I’d had no intention of coming face to face with the person hacking our site, but now that I was, anger rushed over me.
“What the fuck do you want?” I yelled, no longer able to control myself. I was the worst negotiator ever.
His smile disappeared, replaced by a haunted seriousness.
“Tell Landon I want my brother back.”
I stilled, uncertain where to go from here. I hadn’t expected this. I thought I’d be appealing to Brian’s mourning mother for information about Trevor. I hadn’t thought beyond that.
“You need to make peace with what happened,” I said in a more controlled tone.
“You need to leave.”
Fine. Maybe I couldn’t appeal to him on a personal level, but what he was doing was blatantly illegal.
“I can have you investigated. Everything you’re doing will be exposed.” I hesitated over what I’d say next. “You’ll end up just like your brother if you don’t stop this now.”
He sneered and took a step closer, bringing his face inches from mine when a voice called his name from the back of the house. Like a startled animal, he jumped back and looked in the direction of the noise.
“Get out.”
I dug in. “I’m not going anywhere until we figure this out.”
He rolled his eyes and disappeared at the sound of a crash in the hallway. “Ma. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Who th’ fuck is in there?”
Ma sounded like she’d swallowed a box of nails soaked in vodka. The loud rasp of her voice made me reconsider my decision not to leave.
I scanned the
room quickly, desperate to find something, anything, that could help me get to the bottom of this. The dining room table was covered with paperwork and mail. I pushed through some of it until I spied a piece that had been opened. A check in the amount of over ten thousand dollars made out to Trevor. The envelope below it showed it had been sent from an investment firm in Texas, a name I didn’t recognize.
I heard Ma stumbling through the hallway, their voices getting closer and louder.
“I don’t want no fuckin’ strangers in this house. How ma’y times I gotta tell ya?”
“I didn’t bring her. She just came in. She knows Blake.”
I froze for a second. Fucking Trevor had dimed me out to his crazy mom. I left the check on the table and stuffed the envelope into my pocket just as they emerged into the living area. Ma was a heavy-set woman in her forties dressed in a tracksuit. Her blond hair was dyed with grown out roots and matted slightly. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot as she jerked out of his grasp. I took a few steps back as she approached, shaking her fist at me.
“Lil’ bitch. You think you can come here, waltz right in. You tell Blake he can come here and face me!” Her eyes were glossy and crazed with emotion.
She lunged at me and I back away quickly. She lost her balance and stumbled. Trevor rushed to her and she cursed again, swinging her arm back at him.
I couldn’t talk to either of them. The situation was spiraling beyond my control so I slipped out the door and ran down the path toward the Escalade.
Clay jumped out and opened the door for me.
“Drive,” I ordered, glancing over to see Trevor’s mother making her way down the path, Trevor chasing behind her. She was hurling slurred expletives that I couldn’t make out as Clay pulled away, leaving them in the rearview.
* * *
“Do you want to tell me what the hell you’re doing?”
I could tell by the quality of the call that Blake was calling me from the plane. That he’d bother while he was still in the air was a testament to his hyper concern over my safety, but I bristled at the fact he was scolding me when he was the one who’d got us into this mess.
“Blake, for once in your life, shut up and let me talk.”
“I’ve only been in the air a few hours and Clay’s telling me you’re getting chased out of someone’s house.”
“I’m getting to the bottom of a situation that you have been ignoring for far too long,” I snapped. “You can hear me out before you start flipping out.”
I was still high on adrenaline, ready to fight with anyone who crossed me. If Clay hadn’t already dropped me off, I would have strongly considered giving him a piece of my mind for tattling on me to Blake. I’d be like a Chihuahua barking at a bullmastiff, I realized, and filed that scenario under never-going-to-happen.
“Brian Cooper’s brother, Trevor, is running M89.”
He paused. “How do you know that?”
“Before his bat-shit crazy mother came onto the scene, he basically admitted it to me. And that they’d both be eternally happy to witness your ruin. You might be right about the not negotiating with terrorists thing. He didn’t seem open to making peace.”
“So you’ve probably just pissed them off more is what I’m hearing.”
“What he’s doing is illegal. Can’t we just call the police and get his things confiscated?”
“He’s running a virtual operation. If you think he doesn’t have fail-safes in place to cover his ass, especially after what happened to Brian, you’re crazy. Now that he knows you’re onto him, I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the authorities resolving this for you.”
I muttered a curse under my breath before I remembered the envelope. I pulled it out of my pocket to study it again. “Have you heard of AcuTech Investments?”
“No, why?”
“He’s getting checks from them. Like, huge checks.”
“Send me the info. I’ll look into it while I’m out here.”
“Okay.” I calmed down a bit and immediately regretted that Blake was already hundreds of miles away. The past forty-eight hours had been intense in more ways than one, and we’d done nothing but bicker through most of it. “How long will you be gone?”
“Hopefully just a couple days. We’ll see how things go.”
“I miss you.” I worried my lip and fought to keep my voice even. Blake hearing me upset would only add to his frustration at being gone.
He sighed on the other end of the line. “I know, baby. I miss you too.” His voice was lower, softer. “Can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure,” I said quickly, anxious to occupy my thoughts with something other than missing him terribly.
“Can you check in with Heath while I’m gone? Maybe grab lunch or something. I’m sure he’ll be fine, but he hasn’t been back long. I want to make sure he stays on track.”
“Of course.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Okay.”
“No more crazy stunts either.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. I hung up, collapsed onto the bed, and gave myself over to sleep before the sun had even gone down.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Risa seemed confused when we climbed into the back of the Escalade. We both wore tailored black suits and heels, and for once I felt I’d put as much effort into pulling off a look this morning as she did.
“Who’s he?” she whispered as Clay settled in behind the steering wheel.
I had failed to mention that we’d be chauffeured by my security detail. “This is Clay. He’s my bodyguard slash babysitter.” I made sure he could hear me from the backseat. “He makes sure I stay out of trouble. Isn’t that right, Clay?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He pulled out smoothly onto the busy street and steered us toward our destination.
I caught the hint of a smile in the rearview mirror. I grinned in reply though I wasn’t sure if he saw it. That was as much of a scolding as he was going to get from me. Bryant’s office was out of the city, so I sat back and sifted through the emails on my phone to kill time.
“Oh, no.”
Risa stared down at her phone, her hand cupped over her mouth. My heart sank, hoping she didn’t have bad news about the site.
“What?”
“Breaking news. Mark MacLeod was found dead in his apartment this morning. He was the one you were dancing with at the gala, wasn’t he? Max’s friend?”
I stared at her blankly, my jaw agape and no words coming out. What could I say? I shut my mouth and made an effort to mask the panic. My mind spun, trying to make sense of the news.
“What happened?” My voice wavered. I swallowed hard, pressing my damp palms to the seat.
She scrolled through the article for a few more seconds. I wanted to rip the phone out of her hands to read it myself but refrained. “Apparent suicide but they aren’t saying how. Says a toxicology report is pending.”
Mark was dead. Dead. I silently repeated the fact over and over in my mind, willing myself to believe it.
The worst nightmare of my life was gone forever.
I stared out the window, trying to grasp the magnitude of the news Risa had just shared. I waded through the emotions that flooded me. The relief was unmistakable. No longer would I live in constant fear of the man, dreading how his presence would color every moment spent getting to know my father.
As these realities slowly dawned, a heaviness lifted. As if I’d been given a gift, a prayer answered. Tears welled, and I bit my lip to still its quivering.
“Did you know him really well?” Risa’s voice was quiet and laced with all the appropriate sympathy one should have in a moment like this.
What she didn’t know about the truth of the matter could fill volumes.
I cleared my throat and straightened. “No. I’d met him briefly before through Blake’s investment firm. I think he had a thing for me, but I barely knew him. It’s shocking… Sad.”
Was it? This wasn’t a tragic accident, and as r
elieved as I felt, I couldn’t shake my uneasiness. Mark had killed himself, but why? With everything he had going for him, I couldn’t understand it. Mark seemed to take special interest in tormenting me emotionally since he’d come back into my life. What else could be at play? I knew nothing about him except the personal hell he’d created for me.
Clay dropped us off at the building entrance a minute later. Risa and I made our way to the elevators as I tried to regroup emotionally.
“Are you okay? I think I could probably do this meeting on my own if you need some time.”
I punched the button to go up. “I’m fine. Let’s do this.”
She took a deep breath and smiled. Normally I would have been nervous, but nothing seemed as important next to the news I’d just heard.
Our meeting with Bryant’s marketing director was mercifully quick, which was good because I was having a really difficult time concentrating on anything the man said. He didn’t have a lot of time blocked out for us, so I let Risa take the lead presenting the details of our proposal. She was appropriately concise and delivered well. Whenever she hesitated or stumbled, I chimed in. Between the two of us, we made a pretty compelling pitch. The director seemed satisfied and said he’d run it by his team and get back to us as soon as he got approval.
On our way back, Risa released a heavy sigh in the car and relaxed back onto the headrest.
“Were you that nervous?”
She smiled. “Kind of. I’m really glad you came.”
“Me too. We made a good team.”
I held out my hand for a fist bump, which she met with a laugh. I was anxious to keep the mood light and our conversation focused on work. I couldn’t handle any more questions about Mark right now.
“Definitely. Whether this goes through or not, I think I can definitely use this as a stepping stone to connect with some other retailers. Maybe Max has some more connections.”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure about overusing Max’s resources, but he seemed willing. I had nothing to lose by letting Risa work her magic with him.
As soon as I got back to the office I slipped into Mocha. I pulled out my laptop and searched the news. Details of the story were slowly being released to the public. I got halfway through the article I was reading when my phone rang, Alli’s face lighting up the screen.
Hardpressed Page 10
