by Mandy Harbin
“Wait, what?”
“Why does that surprise you? You just said Ward and Associates was on the paperwork.”
Fuck! “Not on the offer paperwork.” Which was true.
“Oh. Well then you stumbled upon the law firm of the man who apparently also owns the company trying to buy Blade’s family land. That or it was great investigative work.”
“Thank you.”
“Rick thought so, too.”
Double fuck! “You already told him,” she said quickly, not posing it as a question.
“Yes, and I think you should tell me why you sound panicked.”
No way. If she told him she happened across the law firm because she watched Blade walk into that building, he’d think Blade was behind the land purchase. Hell, she’d think it at first, too. Until she logically thought about it and realized that Blade already owned his family land. Of course, Carson could make the argument that maybe Blade wanted controlling interest or a part all to himself. No, she didn’t need anybody on her team looking into any connection between Blade and Mr. Ward, and not because of the land offer. If her theory was right, the link he did have was the one he didn’t want exposed, ever. Anna would be willing to bet her career on the fact that the murder Blade had been arrested for was for Jeremiah Ward’s disappearance. Not that it explained why Blade went to that law firm on a Sunday afternoon.
“Not panicked. I just thought you were going to tell me whatever you found first.”
“You were busy playing fake fiancée and planning a wedding.”
Anna shut her eyes. She knew it was her responsibility to report everything she’d learned, but she still needed time to get some answers. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask Carson to look into Blade’s sister’s death, but if she did, he’d be quick to make the same connection Anna had regarding Jeremiah Ward. “I was doing my job,” was all she said. Although, she’d have to admit, she was doing a crappy one at that.
“I don’t like the way you sound,” Carson said softly. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
“Nope. I just need to dig further.” That was true.
“Well, we’re trying to find Mr. Ward to do some prying ourselves, but we’ve been told he’s on vacation right now.”
“Hopefully, he’ll return soon then.” And hopefully, he was really out of town and not at the very bottom of a shallow grave.
“Maybe the call today will shed some light on what’s going on.”
She doubted it. Mason Showalter was the least of her worries.
Blade turned the last of the bacon over in the pan, browning it to perfection before removing it. “Breakfast is ready,” he called out.
“I don’t think it counts as breakfast at three o’clock in the afternoon,” Anna said coming up behind, giving his waist a gentle squeeze, and swiping a sizzling piece for herself.
“Hey, that’s stealing,” he teased.
“I need to feed my appetite,” she said with a wink. He chuckled and scooped a pile of eggs onto a plate for her.
“Good thing I have just what you need.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Blade wasn’t sure if it was lingering exhaustion from yesterday or what, but she seemed a little distant today once they’d finally gotten out of bed.
He placed her plate in front of her and took a bit of his own eggs when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and suppressed a curse. He didn’t want to deal with business stuff right now, but Mason was a stickler for schedules. His old friend had moved off a long time ago, and they’d lost touch over the years. Once Blade got to the point he needed help with his financial planning, he’d reached out to Mason. He talked to him once a month about the investments he handled for him.
“Sorry, babe, I gotta take this.”
She perked up slightly, but nodded before picking up another piece of bacon.
“Hello?”
“Hi, stranger. Long time, no talk.”
“Um, one month to be exact.”
Mason chuckled. “Well, one month since we talked about your financial holdings. But I think you’d be interested to know I received a phone call from Colton the other day.”
Blade glanced at Anna out of instinct, but she was busy eating her meal. “He didn’t say he was going to call you.”
“He found out something interesting about Bartholomew Acquired Development, and needed some unbiased advice.”
Blade didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m listening.”
“Colton did some digging into the company and found one of the members belonging to one of the many trusts that made up the company is Fletcher Ward.”
Fuck. Blade schooled his expression. He knew that Mr. Ward was a very rich man and hand his dirty little hands in many capital ventures, but this revelation threw a huge fucking monkey wrench into Anna’s operation. If Fletcher Ward was part owner of Bartholomew Acquired Development, the company who’d been trying to buy his family land, then that made things all kinds of fucked up. Fucked up because Blade knew Mr. Ward would have ulterior motives in purchasing that land. Very powerful reasons. And they all related to the fact that Mr. Ward never hid his suspicions that Blade was behind the disappearance of his son. When charges didn’t stick, Jeremiah’s father tried whatever he could to hurt Blade. It was his mission in life to ruin him one way or another, and swooping in and taking his family land was one way to do just that. Fuck! Truth was, Jeremiah had been out to the land many times before Brenna died. Without an actual body, any DNA found could be explained away, but Mr. Ward probably assumed there was evidence to be found that would definitively link Blade to what happened.
No way in hell was Blade giving that man a chance to find clues. Not that there were any. He made sure of it.
The gators made double for sure of that.
But he needed to stop this operation right fucking now. He couldn’t even pretend to let his family entertain the offer presented by Ward’s company.
“I take it you understand the gravity of what I just said.”
“Yes,” Blade said smoothly.
Mason sighed. “You don’t have to say anything. You never did. As far as I’m concerned, that fucking little bitch got what he deserved. Whatever it was. But the last thing you need is Fletcher Ward and his cronies on your ass.”
“Agreed.”
When Blade didn’t elaborate, Mason finally asked, “Is somebody with you? Your new fiancée, perhaps?”
Shit. Blade had to tell Colton he was engaged. It was a small town and if he hadn’t acted like the giddy groom, their story could be compromised. Obviously, Colton shared that little bit of news with Mason. “Yep, we’re just eating breakfast. Er, lunch.”
Mason laughed. “Try early dinner. I won’t keep you then. There hasn’t been much change in your portfolio since last month. Point two percent increase overall.”
“That’s good.”
“That’s below average. I’ll shift some stocks around and see if I can get that figure up.”
“Sounds good.”
“Tell the future wifey I said congrats.”
“Will do. Thanks, Mason.”
“Yep. Keep your nose clean. And whatever you have going on with Ward, put that shit to bed.”
“Already planning on it.”
They ended the call, and Blade stabbed a forkful of eggs. His mind was racing with this new information. He needed to figure out a way to get Anna to ditch the case and do it without telling her the real reason why. He got three bites in before she spoke.
“Mason?” The one-worded question was enough. Blade wasn’t sure how much he could or even should tell her.
“My financial advisor.” Another bite.
“Oil changes pay that much?”
His gaze darted to her, but she had a playful smile teasing her lips.
Blade scooped up more food and swallowed before answering. “I’m not just a mechanic. You know that.”
“You’re also a hired gun who dabbles in the gaming industry. I gu
ess that’s a lucrative way to diversify your assets.”
“That’s one way to put it.” Blade ate the last of his bacon and watched as unanswered questions danced across her gaze.
Finally, she said, “He makes weekend calls. You must be an important client.”
Blade sighed, pushing back from the table and crossing his arms. “We grew up together. He calls on the same date every month no matter the day of the week. He’s a little OCD, and I don’t mind indulging him. Half the time, I’m busy on an op anyway, and he leaves a message.”
“You grew up together? I don’t remember seeing that name in your file.” She smirked.
He chuckled, relaxing his arms. “You joke, but you’re also FBI. I’m sure you’ve had a very long interesting read at my expense.”
“You’d be surprised just how little the bureau knows about you,” she said almost too quickly.
He thought about it for several seconds, and said, “Not really surprised, I guess. Colonel torched any and everything there was in the system on all of us. You probably wouldn’t even know my eye color if you couldn’t see it for yourself.”
“That’s true. We don’t know anything about y’all.” The way she said that didn’t set well with him, not that he could pinpoint why. It still irked him, and he didn’t do well when riled up.
“You know just how much I love fucking you against the shower wall,” he snapped.
She gasped as if he slapped her, but he was too irritated to care. “You don’t have to be so crude.”
“And you don’t have to be so cold. You know more about me than anybody.” That was true. Not that she knew everything, but she still knew more than most. Yet, she was looking right at him and talking to him as if he was some stranger.
“Are you sitting there telling me your life has been an open book?” she asked incredulously. “Brax, don’t play me for a fool.” She got up and stormed off.
“Anna!”
The bedroom door slammed. How did that escalate so quickly? Technically, she was right. He wasn’t an open book, but that didn’t mean he was completely closed off. There was a middle ground he’d stayed in, a middle ground that was already greatly in her favor.
Blade stood up to go after her when his phone rang again. It was Mason.
“Two times in one day, that’s a record.”
“Just got off the phone with another client. This can’t wait.”
“Okay,” Blade said slowly. “What is it?”
“I have reason to believe you’re under federal investigation. I know you take contracts from the government, but you should probably be wary of the feds right now.”
“Come again?” he asked, his voice low. There could be any number of reasons the authorities would be looking into him. Had Fletcher Ward finally gotten the right people in his pocket? How would Mason even come across this information?
“They didn’t share too many details. Just mentioned a garage in Mayflower Arkansas being investigated. That’s a small town. Only one garage I know of there, and I only know about it because of your income. Said they tailed one guy who went out of town while another agent stayed on location to look for clues.
What?
No. Fucking. Way.
This couldn’t be right.
No way would Anna be here investigating him. Oh Jesus, did that mean the feds already knew about his connection to Jeremiah’s death? If so, she could be here building a case against him. Against him! But if that was true, then why would they be investigating the whole Bang Shift crew? What happened to Jeremiah went down years before Blade met the guys.
“I take it this information makes sense. Did you see any people following you?”
Anna walked back in the room, her face red as if she’d fought tears. Anger fueled within him. How could she do this? How could she play with his emotions and fucking use him?
“Only the one who was in plain sight.”
Chapter Eleven
Anna splashed water on her face as she fought back the tears. She’d told Blade not to play her for a fool, but in essence, that was all she had been doing. Oh, she loved him.
She freaking loved the man.
But what she was doing for her job happened all behind his back. How could she be angry with him for not opening up when all she was doing was lying? He had every reason not to be forthcoming with her. Reasons he wasn’t even aware of. Reasons that gave her the power to ruin his future. A future she’d give just about anything to be a part of.
Truth was she wasn’t angry with him. She was mad at herself.
She felt as if she were at a crossroads. Anna either needed to come clean with him, tell him everything, risk losing her job, or worse…get arrested for obstruction of justice.
Or she needed to leave now before she got in too deep.
A humorless laugh escaped her, and she gasped in a sob. In too deep? That happened over six months ago. The time for tough decisions had already passed, and she could no longer live on this borrowed time. She had to make a choice and stick with it. No matter which way she went, there would be consequences.
Another splash of water on her face, and she exited the bathroom. She had to do it now, whatever she was going to do. As she walked into the living room, she changed her mind a half a dozen times. There was no resolve. There was no way to win, and that devastated her.
She knew going in that when everything was said and done, when this mission was over, there’d be no future for them, but she hadn’t anticipated just how much this was going to hurt.
“Only the one who was in plain sight,” Blade said without any emotion, which felt much more weighted than his tone belied.
She stood at the edge of the room, locked in his steely gaze.
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
Blade tossed the phone onto the couch.
“Who was that?” she asked.
He just stared.
Her heart pounded as her training kicked in. She couldn’t help the fact that she instinctively tracked her gun in the room and other things she could use as weapons that lay between her and the pistol. She had to fight the urge to ball her fists to get ready for a physical fight. She didn’t believe for one second that Blade would harm her physically, but the daggers he shot her with his angry glare fired off a million warning signals.
“What’s wrong?”
And still they stood in a silent standoff.
After what felt like forever, she decided one of them had to make a move. It was dangerous, her relaxing from her stance, but maybe if she made herself less threatening, he’d speak. Anna forced her shoulders to lower, and she crossed her arms before leaning against the wall. It took a lot of effort to make herself appear at ease, and she wasn’t even sure if it was believable. Finally, Blade released a growling breath. Not really reassuring, but at least it was something.
“Want to tell me what has you in such a tizzy?” she asked, knowing she was poking the bear, but getting a little irritated anyway.
He laughed, and holy shit, that was the scariest chuckle she’d ever heard. Goosebumps exploded along her arms, and she fought the urge to rub them away.
“What was all that talk about me not opening up to you in Dallas?”
She frowned, not sure how to respond. “I don’t remember it like that,” She said slowly. “I remember me doing all the talking and later bringing up that I didn’t know much about you. Why?”
“Just trying to figure out when the lies started.”
He knew. Just how much, she had no idea, but he knew. Jesus, he knew.
Her lungs seized, but she did her best to hide her body’s reaction.
“What lies?”
“Stop the goddamn games!” he roared.
“Brax—”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare call me that. I want fucking answers, and I want them right goddamn now, Anna.”
“Maybe you should tell me what you’re talking about,” she barked. She knew she’d kept things from him, but the missi
on went so deep that she wasn’t sure what part he’d found out about.
“I’m talking about the investigation into the Bang Shift. The investigation into me.”
Shiiit.
“You already know we’re under new administration. What Rick said about contracts being analyzed is true. He cannot guarantee work for you guys.”
Blade narrowed his eyes. If Anna had to guess, he probably didn’t think she was going to say that. Maybe they’d blown off the threat as a formality, and now he understood how real it was. Not that that was the biggest part of this. Not by a long shot.
“Then why the pretense? Why not come right out and tell us we could lose government contracts? And why the hell ask for our help if you’re not planning on working with us in the future—oh Jesus Christ,” he breathed, apparently figuring that part out.
“Yeah, we weren’t really looking into the land development company. It was a cover to get your cooperation. We needed to get close and it was an in. I’m really hate this. I do. But this is business. You should at least understand that. You’ve earned a lot of money off the back of the U.S. government.”
“Fuck, Anna, the money is great, but we don’t have to have it. Fuck those government contracts. We know how to secure out own jobs.”
“Not matter how unsavory,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. This was dangerous territory, but they’d started down this road and there was no going back now.
“Yeah, no matter how shitty.”
“And just how far would you go, Blade, huh? Just what would you do in the name of justice?”
His face turned to stone before her. Any questions about her theories were just answered…and any suspicions he had about her knowing the truth were just confirmed.
“You know exactly how far I’ll go.”
“Oh my God,” she breathed. “What am I supposed to do with that?” Anna blinked back tears almost as fast as they formed. Thinking he was capable of murder and knowing it outright were two completely different things.
