He doesn’t answer the question directly. “There’s no reason for anyone to want Alessandra Mirova dead. I’ve asked around, the Mirovs are clean. She works with you. Yuri works at the hospital. Everyone in their building likes them.”
“Okay.” If the detective has a point, he certainly doesn’t believe in getting straight to it.
“But then I did some digging around. Your company is going public. So I was going to ask you. If Alessandra Mirova gets hurt, will that affect you in any way?”
Oliver frowns. “It shouldn’t.” He glances at me. “Should it? Sachin’s project is on track again.”
“Because we hired a replacement,” I say slowly. I’m on the verge of figuring this out. “Miki worked on Kent’s stuff, and she spent a week helping the Shield team. If we hadn’t hired her—”
It hits both of us at the same time. “We lifted the hiring freeze because of Alessandra’s accident.”
Awareness dawns in Oliver’s eyes. “Kent told Miki he could get her in. How would he have known? Unless—” His voice trails off.
“Who’s Kent?” the detective asks sharply.
“Lawrence Kent,” I reply, my voice clipped. “Imperium’s CFO. He hired a hacker to access some of our files.”
“It might not be Lawrence,” Oliver says. “It could be Fitzgerald.” He looks at the detective. “Sebastian Fitzgerald. He’s the CEO of Kliedara, Imperium’s biggest competitor. He’d love for our IPO to fall through.”
The detective takes down our information and promises to investigate. I barely listen.
This isn’t about hacking and industrial espionage anymore. Fitzgerald or Kent—I don’t know which man yet—hired someone to ensure Alessandra was hurt badly enough that she couldn’t come back to work.
They’re willing to resort to violence.
Oliver told Gabby we’d leave Miki alone. I’d agreed with him, but everything’s changed now. Miki knows User0989 is Kent. If Lawrence gets a whiff that she knows his real identity, she could be in danger.
We have to warn her. Before it’s too late.
45
Miki
No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
Khalil Gibran
My phone rings Monday evening. I brace myself to tell my girlfriends that I’m not planning on joining them for drinks, but it’s neither Wendy nor Gabby. It’s my sister Leah.
“Are you busy?” she asks. “I want to talk to you.”
I’m watching the Day of the Doctor for the fifteenth time. “Not really,” I reply. “What’s up?”
“Not on the phone,” she says. “I’m in your neighborhood. I’ll be at your place in ten minutes. And Miki, please change out of your Hello Kitty PJs.”
“Not going to happen, Leah.” I grin despite myself. “Me and my pajamas are a package deal.”
Her voice is wry. “I was afraid of that.”
“You look dreadful.” Leah surveys me with a frown on her face. “You didn’t show up for high tea yesterday either. What’s going on?”
“Did you come here to nag, or did you come here to talk to me?”
“The latter,” she admits. “You have any wine?”
“There’s an open bottle on the counter,” I reply. “It’s not fancy enough for you though.”
“It’ll do.” She goes into the kitchen and comes back with the bottle and two glasses in her hands. Pouring the wine, she gives it a suspicious sniff before shrugging. “Ah well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
She takes a sip. I wait in silence, wondering what my sister’s doing here. “The last time you talked to me, you told me to see a counselor. Remember?”
“Did you?”
She nods. “Ben and I went twice last week.”
“And?”
She exhales. “The good news is, he’s not cheating on me.”
I sip my two-buck-chuck. “You don’t look happy, so I’m assuming there’s more?”
“He admitted he hid money from me,” she says, her voice small. “He said he had to otherwise I’d spend it all.” She fills her glass to the brim again and takes a long gulp from it. “He said he’s been unhappy with his job for a really long time, and the only reason he’s kept working there is that he thinks I care about the Upper East Side apartment, the fancy vacations, all that crap.”
“Can you blame him?” I ask her, my voice gentle. “You had orchids flown in from Ecuador for a dinner party.”
She frowns. “He hid money from me. You think that’s a healthy way to deal with our problems? Marriage is a partnership, Miki. I feel betrayed.”
I can’t argue with that. “I can understand,” I say quietly.
There’s a perceptive look on her face. “Because of Aaron, or because of someone else?”
“Someone else.” It’s been a week exactly since I found out that Oliver and Finn were really Lancelot and Merlin. I think I’m ready to talk about it. “Do you want to hear the story? It might shock you.”
“Do it. I have an almost-full glass of wine. I’m prepared for anything.”
“Let’s get the most shocking thing out of the way. It’s not one guy. It’s two.”
Her eyes go round. “A ménage?” she asks. “Like your friend Wendy?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow.” She gulps down nearly half her glass. “So, is it a fling?”
“There was a moment when I hoped it would become a real relationship.” It’s the first time I’ve said that out loud, admitted that I wanted to be with Finn and Oliver.
“So what happened?”
I tell her the whole, messy story. She listens, forgetting even to drink her wine. When I’m done, I give her a questioning look. “If you were me, what would you do?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Miki,” she says, “you’re obviously crazy about these guys. Your eyes shine when you talk about them. I can understand why you feel betrayed, but do you really believe everything they did was a lie?”
In the corner of Wendy’s living room are the desk and the Aeron chair Lancelot and Merlin bought me. All because I’d complained about my neck hurting when I typed.
Was that about Imperium? Not really.
So many nights, Lancelot confided in me about his divorce and how it had wrecked his trust in women. That wasn’t a lie.
They didn’t have to tell me that Lawrence Kent was User0989, but they had. They didn’t have to give me keys to their apartments, but they did.
“It sounds,” Leah says, “that they started out doing the wrong thing, regretted it almost immediately, and couldn’t figure a way out of the situation. Can you tell me that’s never happened to you?”
I look at my sister. “That’s exactly what I did at Imperium,” I murmur. “I started out doing the wrong thing. I shouldn’t have accepted the job offer, but I told myself I had to figure out what Ben was doing. Then I spent weeks trying to extricate myself from the situation.”
And they’d forgiven me. On the forum, they’d tried to help me. I remember Lancelot even suggesting I talk to Finn and Oliver. You’re just a tool in this, Mouse, he’d said. If they’re smart, they’ll try and figure out what User0989’s end game is.
“You can hold onto your anger,” Leah says gently. “Or you can let it go.”
“Are you going to forgive Ben?”
“Yes,” she replies at once. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. It won’t be. Our marriage has hit a rocky patch, and it’s going to take both of us trying really hard to get us through it.” She takes a deep breath. “But I love Ben, and our relationship is worth fighting for.”
My baby sister is right. Love is worth fighting for.
I need to talk to Oliver and Finn.
46
Oliver
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
Bryant H. McGill
I c
all Finn’s grandmother’s caregiver as Finn drives back to the city. Apart from the one woman that Mary recommended, Finn’s hired two more people so that his grandmother has someone to keep an eye on her around the clock.
The woman who answers the phone tells me that Nana had been in some pain earlier in the evening, but is sound asleep now. I warn her that Finn’s going to be late, and she takes it in stride.
The traffic is crazy, of course. It’s rush hour in New York, and it’s complete gridlock. The drive from Queens to Manhattan normally takes under an hour. Today, it’s half-past eight before we pull up in front of Miki’s temporary apartment.
We ring her doorbell, and her buzzer sounds immediately. Finn frowns. “So much for security,” he says, entering the elevator and punching in her floor. “Anyone can walk right up to her apartment door.”
I can’t disagree with him. “Let’s try not to open with that, shall we?”
His lips twitch. “Fair enough.”
He’s nervous, and I am too. Miki was the best thing that happened to us. Everything else pales by comparison. She was furious with us last Monday. What kind of reception will we get now?
I barely knock on the door when it’s flung open. “What did you forget this time, Leah?” Miki asks before she realizes it’s us. “You’re not my sister.”
“Can we come in?”
I brace myself for a ‘no,' but she nods and steps aside. Encouraged, I step into the room, Finn at my side. On the TV in the living room, Matt Smith and David Tennant are frozen on the screen. “The Day of the Doctor again?” I tease before I can catch myself. “How many times have you seen this episode, mouse?”
She grins, but her smile disappears almost instantly. “Why are you here?” she asks stiffly.
“Two reasons.” I explain what Detective Larson had revealed. “Until this is solved, we need to make sure you’re okay, Miki. I know you’re furious with us, but we have resources, and we can protect you.”
“What’s the other reason?”
Finn replies. “To tell you again that we’re sorry. You told me that Imperium was the only thing that mattered to me.”
“Was I wrong?”
“Yes.” Finn looks at her, serious and intent. “Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?”
I pull a pen out of my pocket and hand it to him. Miki, with a curious expression on her face, gives him a pink notebook, one I recognize from the plane. This is Miki’s book of lists. It’s perfect for what Finn and I are about to do. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you that I don’t care about Imperium,” Finn replies. He writes something on the sheet of paper and hands it to me. “You’re my witness, Oliver. I’ll get my lawyer to draw up proper documentation tomorrow.”
Before I can sign, Miki snatches the notebook from me and reads aloud. “I, Finn Sanders, transfer my ownership stake in Imperium to Mackenzie Cooper.” Her head snaps up, and she stares at Finn, shocked. “Are you crazy?”
47
Miki
They’ve lost their minds.
Oliver takes the notebook back from me. “Finn’s right,” he says. “He’s always been the smarter one. You think this is about Imperium, about money. It’s not. It hasn’t been for a really long time. We fell in love with you, Miki. You are the only person that matters. I will do whatever it takes to try and convince you of that.”
My heart stops. They said they loved me at the hospital, but lost in my shock and anger, I hadn’t listened. Now, happiness bubbles inside me. They love me.
Oliver’s writing something in my notebook too. I rip it away from him again. “Will you stop that? I don’t want a grand gesture, okay? Just listen to me.”
They look at me intently.
“I did some things I’m not proud of,” I say. “You didn’t make me accept User0989’s offer. That was all me.”
“What are you saying, Miki?” Oliver asks, his voice harsh. “Because if this is a really convoluted way to tell us to fuck off—”
Men. Do I have to write this on a billboard outside their office window before they get the message? I roll my eyes at the two of them. “It’s not, you idiot. I’m trying to tell you that I fell in love with you. Both of you.”
“You did?” Finn stares at me as if he can’t quite believe my words.
“I really did. And what you did wasn’t great, but neither was what I did.” I take a deep breath. “I’d like to get back together.”
“No.” Oliver shakes his head, and my mouth goes dry. Have I misjudged the situation? “I don’t want friends with benefits anymore. It’s not casual this time around. It’s the real thing.”
A smile breaks out over my face, and I hug them, my happiness overflowing in my heart. “I think I’m on board with that.”
This time, when we make love, it feels different. There’s hot sex, of course, but there’s tenderness too. When Oliver pinches my nipples between his thumb and forefinger, he follows it with gentle kisses. When Finn’s clever tongue swoops unerringly on my clitoris, his fingers lace in mine. When they shudder out their climaxes, they gasp out my name and cling to me as if they’re never going to let me go.
Eventually, we order pizza. Finn wants his usual ham and pineapple. Oliver gets sausage and mushrooms, and I go gourmet with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.
“So, what are we going to do about Kent?” I ask after I’ve wolfed down two slices. “We still don’t know what his plot is.”
Finn shrugs. “I don’t care about Kent.”
Oliver and Finn have worked far too hard to give up now. Besides, I don’t like the oily CFO, and I really don’t want to see him succeed. “I do,” I reply sternly.
Oliver gives me a wicked grin. “I forgot, it’s your company now. How can we help?”
“Stop calling it my company,” I tell him, my eyes narrowed. “I’m going to tear that piece of paper up.”
“Back to Kent,” Finn interrupts mildly. “The thing is, we can nail him now. He hired Miki to hack into our company.”
Oliver shakes his head. “User0989 hired Miki,” he says. “All we have linking User0989 to Kent is that an Imperium IP address was used to access User0989’s account. There were three people in the conference room at that time. I know it’s Kent, but Ambrose is going to want more definitive proof than that.”
Finn’s lips tighten in annoyance. “Fucking Ambrose,” he says under his breath. “Yeah, you’re right.”
I frown in puzzlement. “What I don’t understand is why he wants the list anyway. Lawrence stands to make money from the IPO. He even went to look at a fancy Upper East Side penthouse. So he can’t intend for Imperium to fail.”
“He did?” Oliver asks, his eyebrows raised.
I tell them what I heard at Leah’s party, and Finn nods, unsurprised. “Kent likes that kind of thing,” he says, reaching for another slice of pizza. One of mine. Hmm. Maybe I can cure this pineapple thing after all. “Let’s start with what we know,” he suggests. “Claudia threatens Oliver with naked photos. Why would she do that?”
“For the money,” Oliver replies promptly.
I shake my head. “No, if she wanted money, you’d have paid her off. She asked for Imperium stock. That wasn’t Claudia’s doing, that was Fitzgerald’s. Why does Fitzgerald want Imperium stock? Does he want to force a merger between the two companies?”
“I doubt that,” Finn replies. “Sebastian’s not that clever. He just wants Oliver to fail.”
“Why?”
Oliver rolls his eyes. “Evidently, back in freshman year, we were both at a party, and I left with the girl he wanted. I don’t even remember this incident.”
Finn leans back in his chair. “Okay. Sebastian wants Oliver to fail, so he gets Claudia to ask for Imperium stock, knowing that Oliver won’t pay up. That makes sense. But where does Kent come into this story?”
“Our technology gets leaked to Kliedara,” Oliver says. He gets up and fills a glass with water from the tap. “You think Kent’s doing it.�
�
I stare at the two men. “You do?”
Finn nods, a surprised expression on his face. “You didn’t know? No, of course not, how could you? Someone at Imperium has been leaking our technology to Kliedara for the past year. So far, we’ve been able to innovate and stay ahead of the game, and it hasn’t mattered too much.”
“But you think it’s Kent?” I probe.
“Just a gut feeling,” Finn replies. “I’ve personally gone over every file Lawrence has downloaded to a thumb drive, and there isn’t a connection there. I don’t see how he’s doing it.”
Something nags at the back of my mind and then it strikes me. “Janine,” I blurt out. “She was printing something for Kent. I remember her grumbling about being asked to do it.” I steal a piece of sausage from Oliver’s pizza and think out loud. “I’ve only been at Imperium for a month. In that time, Kent’s computer has been down twice. What if he’s faking it and getting people to print out documents for him? Nobody’s going to question the CFO.”
Finn’s eyes brighten. “That’s it, Miki,” he exclaims. “I bet you’re right. That’s exactly how he’s doing it. I’ve seen Sachin print out documents for Kent before.”
“And I’ve seen Chris Wilcox take him something,” Oliver says. There’s a grim expression on his face. “Son of a bitch. Right under our noses.”
“Okay, so we know that Kent and Fitzgerald are working together.” I chew on my lip, my thoughts all over the place.
“Kent wants to be the CEO,” Oliver says.
Finn frowns. “If Oliver’s discredited, the board won’t pick Kent to be the CEO. They’d pick me.”
Oliver lifts his head. “Unless,” he says, “you screw up.”
That’s it. The last piece of the puzzle clicks into place. “If that client list is leaked, Finn will take the blame. Kent hired me to clear his path to the top.”
Ménage in Manhattan: The Complete 5-Book Ménage Romance Collection Page 102
