Mira had thought her father was out of her life. She’d thought she could simply ignore his existence and move on. She’d been wrong.
Now that Clay was involved, so was she. It was her fault that her father even knew Clay existed. If not for his brave defense of her on the playground and her grateful invitation for him to come home and play with her, her father never would have met him.
At least some small part of what had happened to Clay rested on her shoulders. She had to find a way to make it righ
t. But how?
Her choices were limited. She could either charge in and confront her father directly, or she could take a more subtle approach and try to destroy him from the insidfropice of his computer networks out.
She was definitely better at the latter. The former scared her to death but was the faster alternative. And there was no way to know how much time Clay had before something really bad happened.
A lot of the men touched by her father had killed themselves. She remembered him ranting about it on the phone when he hadn’t known she could hear him.
That couldn’t happen to Clay. She wouldn’t let it happen. Even if that meant she went to see her father and killed him herself. He deserved to die. She wouldn’t miss him. She would only miss the kind of man he should have been.
With no other good ideas springing to mind, Mira got into her car and headed for the gun she kept locked in a safe at home. As soon as she had it, she’d find him at work and make sure he never hurt anyone else ever again.
Chapter Twenty-three
Leigh kept her head down, poring over the maze of photos and notes, which made even less sense than it had last night. She’d barely spoken ten words to Clay since she’d left his room to clean up in private and gather her wits.
Keeping her distance from him was harder than she’d thought it would be. She kept having to squelch the urge to reach for him or say something inane, just to break the awkward silence.
Every few minutes, she felt him look at her. As soon as the weight of his gaze was gone, she’d sneak a peek at him, soaking up the sight of his broad shoulders and those hands that could make her feel things she’d thought impossible.
She couldn’t help feeling cheated somehow. Clay’s ability to trust had been stripped from him—stolen. It wasn’t fair, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to fix him. It was best if she held herself at a distance, emotionally, refusing to be drawn in any further than she already had been.
Garrett needed her to focus, not stare like some lovesick schoolgirl.
She didn’t love Clay. Nor was she planning to. Falling for a man so inaccessible would be stupid, and Leigh was no idiot.
Clay’s head jerked up as if he’d heard something. He jumped from his chair and took off at a sprint, leaving her sitting at the table.
She wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but it was her job to make sure he didn’t lose control and hurt anyone—no matter how little he trusted her. The way he’d run out of here made her fear that something had just gone wrong. Maybe he’d hit his time limit and had gone running back to the doctor who’d done this to him.
The ever-present syringe of sedative was tucked into her pocket, ready to go if needed. She followed after him, hearing only his heavy footsteps pounding up the stairs at the end of the long hallway.
The massive vault door had been left open as Clay had demanded.himomthe l As she moved past it, up the stairs, she could hear Clay’s deep voice followed by that of a woman. She moved faster, slipping around the corner just in time to see Clay engulfing Mira in a hard hug.
A fist of jealousy punched Leigh hard, stopping her dead in her tracks. She knew they were friends, and she wasn’t some possessive harpy who staked a claim to every man she slept with. And she’d already decided to push Clay away. Still, she couldn’t quiet the sickening sense of loss she felt watching the two of them connect on such a deep level.
That closeness was something she’d never have with him, and for that, a small part of her wept.
Clay pulled away, holding Mira’s face in his hands. His expression was one of sheer relief. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Mira grabbed his hands and held on tight. “I’m the one who should be worried about you. Not the other way around.”
He smiled and pulled her to him for another hug. “I hate not being around to look out for you.”
“And I hate to break this up,” said Payton from the opposite doorway, “but it’s not safe for Mira to be here.” He looked freshly cleaned and shaved, in a pristine suit and tie.
Mira turned toward him. “I had to come, Payton. I couldn’t trust this to a phone call.”
“Trust what?” asked Clay, his body going tense.
Until now, Leigh hadn’t realized just how relaxed he’d been since sleeping with her, but now that the tension was back, it was painfully obvious.
Mira stepped away from him, looking at the floor. Guilt haunted her eyes. “It’s my dad, Clay. He’s the one who did this to you.”
“What?” asked Clay, his voice a whisper of thinly controlled violence.
She shook her head, making sudden tears spill down her cheeks. “It’s true. I found his phone number on all three of the phones Leigh sent me. He hired them to come after you. You, my best friend.” Betrayal made her words bitter shards of sound. “I just went to his work, and the place was abandoned. Everything was gone.”
“You went to confront him?” asked Payton, clearly horrified by the idea.
“I had a gun,” she said, as if that made it better.
Clay took her by the shoulders, looking like he was barely keeping himself from shaking her. “What the fuck were you thinking, Mira?”
“I was thinking that I was going to make him undo it. He’s killing you. Making you sick. I’m not going to sit by and watch it happen.”
Payton swept in, all cool and calm in the midst of too much fiery emotion. He took Mira by the hand and pulled her away from Clay to sit on the couch. He knelt down in front of her, his voice gentle. “Tell me exactly where you went and what you saw.”
“I went to the labs where he was working last year—where I thought he was stughh. Hill working. I haven’t spoken to him in months. The building was locked, so I looked in the windows and saw . . . nothing. No people, no furniture, no equipment. The place had been cleaned out. All that was left were compression marks in the carpet.”
Payton got a strange look on his face that Leigh didn’t understand. He hadn’t been surprised when Mira told them that her father was to blame, but he had been surprised to hear that the labs were empty.
“What does that mean?” asked Leigh, trying to make sense of all this.
Payton lifted his head toward Leigh. His expression was hard and cold. “It means we need to find him.”
Mira shook her head. “I tried locating him with his cell, but I couldn’t. It’s like his phone doesn’t exist. He didn’t answer when I called, and all I got was a beep. I didn’t leave a message. I was too furious. The landline is a disconnected number. So is his home number.”
Clay stalked toward Mira. “Where is the gun?”
“In my purse.”
He took her purse from her shoulder and removed the gun. He checked it with a few smooth, efficient movements and shoved it in the back of his waistband, next to his own weapon.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Keeping you from getting killed. There is no fucking way you’re going after your own father with a loaded weapon.”
“Someone has to make him stop hurting you.”
“I’ll do it myself.”
“No, you won’t,” said Payton. “A few words from him and you won’t even remember you wanted to kill him. I’m the one who needs to go.”
“You?” demanded Clay, incredulous. “What the hell are you going to do?”
“Question him. Get the information we need.”
“How?” asked Leigh.
Payton’s head ca
me up. The look on his face startled Leigh enough that she took a step back. The man standing before them wasn’t the suave, metrosexual bachelor she thought she knew. He was darker, frightening in his intensity. “Any way I can.”
“I’m going with you,” said Mira. “He’s been watching me. Listening to me. I found bugs in my house. That’s not something I can just let slide.”
“You found—” Clay’s words cut off as if he’d choked on them. Rage darkened his face and made his jaw bulge.
“What did you do with them?” asked Payton.
“Nothing. I just grabbed my gun and ran. I didn’t want him to know that I knew—it was like letting him win, somehow.”
“Good. We can work with that,” said Payton.
“What does that mean?” asked eanTimes TenClay.
“It means that Mira needs to go on as if she believes she’s not being watched. And the two of you,” said Payton, pointing at Clay and Leigh, “need to stay here and keep your heads down.”
Leigh shook her head. “But we were going to—”
Clay cut her off, talking over her. “Fine, but don’t be long. I’m not sitting around here forever.” He grabbed her wrist, giving her a slight squeeze.
She looked up at him, searching for meaning in his silent signal. All she saw was hard determination and furious contempt. Still, she trusted him enough to stay quiet, even if that trust wasn’t reciprocal.
“I’ll leave now,” said Payton. “It may take me a few hours to locate him if he’s not at home. I’ll call you as soon as I learn anything useful.” He offered Mira a hand up off the couch. “You should leave now, too. If your car is also bugged, you could be drawing your father or his people here right now.”
“What do I do?” asked Mira.
“Pretend everything is fine. Act normal. Go back to work.”
“I think my office is bugged, too.”
“Then go shopping or see a movie—just don’t go anywhere alone. It may not be safe.”
Mira slung her purse over her shoulder. She sniffed back her tears, casting one last shame-filled look at Clay. “I’m sorry. About everything. If you’d never met me, if I’d never brought you home that day, my father wouldn’t have even known you existed.”
Clay’s voice turned gentle. “This isn’t your fault, runt. Don’t ever think I blame you for even one second, okay?”
Mira nodded and shuffled out. Payton saw her to the door and returned a second later. His face was grim. “Stay here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Clay said nothing. Leigh watched him, sure he was hiding something. The moment she heard the sound of Payton’s engine starting, she said, “Why did you cut me off a minute ago?”
“Because I didn’t want him to know where we were going.”
“Why?”
“I don’t trust him. It’s only an hour before the appointed time on that note I left. Get your stuff. You and I are taking a little trip, and if Payton is the liar I think he is, we won’t be coming back.”
* * *
Leigh pulled into the parking area outside Wilson’s Cliffs Country Club. Clay scanned the area, searching for signs of why he’d written himself a note to come here.
The place was lavish, shining with money and prestige. The lawn was winter brown but still managed to appear lush. In the center of a wide circle drive was a ten-foot fountain with a curved stone bench around its perimeter.
“This is the right place,” said Leigh. “Guess we’ll see if it’s the right time, too.”
“We’ll sit here and watch for a minute. I still have no idea what I’m here to see or do.”
“Whatever you want.”
Leigh was treating Clay differently now. She was colder, more distant—all business. There had been a time when he would have welcomed that, but that time had passed. He liked the fiery side of her—the woman who came apart in his arms and made him feel like there was still a piece of his life that wasn’t all blood, confusion, and chaos.
Seeing Mira again—feeling terrified to be so close to her—had been a stark reminder of just how dangerous he was to be around and how Leigh was risking her life to help him. Yeah, she was doing it for her brother’s sake, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t appreciate what she was doing for him as well.
Leigh was making sure that the people he cared about—people like Mira—didn’t get hurt by him. The only problem was that now Clay cared about Leigh, too.
If he could have sent her away, he would have. He didn’t like putting her at risk. But he wasn’t that stupid. Like it or not, he needed her.
A man walked outside, huddled in a dressy wool coat. He flipped up the collar and looked around with glaring nervousness.
“What about Captain Obvious over there?” asked Leigh. “Does he look familiar?”
“I can’t tell. It’s too far away. I don’t suppose you have any binoculars in your car, do you?”
She reached behind her and pulled the camera from the backseat. “How about a zoom lens?”
Smart. Clay zoomed in on the man and snapped a few photos. He brought them up on the display and enlarged them, but there was nothing about the man that rang any bells. “Guess I need to go out there.”
“What? You can’t do that. You don’t even know why you’re here. What if you’re supposed to observe a meeting of some kind and not let them see you? What if you’re just here to take photos?”
More likely he was here to kill someone, but he didn’t want to admit that aloud. “And what if I’m supposed to be the one doing the meeting? This man could have information we need. Besides, it’s ten past three. He won’t wait out in the cold all day.”
“I don’t like it.”
Neither did Clay, but that was the story of his life these days. “I’ll be careful. If I get in trouble, drive away.”
She stared into his eyes for a moment, and he swore he saw a flicker of the woman he’d been naked with a few hours ago—all heat and fire—only now it was anger he saw rather than desire. “You really don’t know me at all, do you?”
He wanted to. He wanted to spend more time with her and learn what made her tick. He wanted to take her somewhere fun, hear her laugh. But mostly, he wanted her to live through having known him, and for thime time wihat reason, he ignored her question and stepped out into the cold.
Clay was normally good at shifting gears from personal life to work, but this time he kept missing his mark, making his brain grind and smoke in an effort to fall into place.
Leigh was back in the car, likely stung by his dismissal. He didn’t like thinking he’d hurt her in any way, but at least this time the damage hadn’t left a mark. It was the best he could offer, given the circumstances. If she was pissed at him, maybe she would leave if the shit hit the fan.
As he neared the man by the fountain, he could feel Leigh’s gaze on his back. He kept his eyes cast down, pretending he wasn’t looking, in case he wasn’t supposed to be here. If the man didn’t speak to him, he’d pass by and head into the lobby.
The distance between them closed. He saw the man’s feet shift, take a few steps, then come to a halt.
“You’re late,” he said.
Clay put on his best poker face and looked up. “You waited.”
“Yeah, well, my boss isn’t the kind of man who likes excuses. He wants this done.”
Clay wanted to ask who his boss was, but if he was already supposed to know, it would blow his cover. “Then let’s get it done.”
The man pulled something from his coat pocket and handed it to Clay. It was a plastic room key for a swanky hotel in downtown Dallas.
“Room two-fourteen. Information on your target will arrive there at midnight. Finish the job by dawn and we’ll make it worth your effort.”
That sounded a hell of a lot like he was asking Clay to kill someone. “Why the rush?”
“Why do you care?” snapped the man. “All you need to know is that you do the job and we’ll get you the files you want. End of
transaction.”
Files? That’s what this was about. Finally some answers, though not nearly as many as he would have liked.
The urge to ask about the files nearly choked Clay. He tried not to let his curiosity show on his face. “How do you want it done?”
“Quickly. And we don’t want anyone asking questions. Make it look like an accident.”
“No problem.”
“There’d better not be,” said the man. “Fail us and you won’t get another chance at that data. Your employer isn’t exactly the most forgiving man. If you don’t bring him what he wants, I doubt you’ll enjoy what happens next.”
Clay gave the man a long, hard stare. “I said no problem. You worry about your end, because if I do this and you don’t give me those files, you’re going to find out just how unforgiving I can be.”
The man’s mouth flattened in anger, but he looked away first. Clay had scared him.
Good. If he w>Go">Tas going to play the part of a hired assassin, he needed to sell it. And Mr. Fancy Pants here was clearly buying.
He turned around and walked casually back into the building. Clay waited until he was out of sight before going back to Leigh.
“Drive,” he said as he got in.
She did. “What happened?”
“I think I was just hired to kill a man.”
“You . . . what?”
A queasy sense of dread fell over him, chilling him. “Makes a hell of a lot of sense, don’t you think? I have all these blackouts and wake up with blood on my hands. I wasn’t out line dancing.”
“Who did he ask you to kill?”
“No idea. I have a room key for a hotel. I’m supposed to be there tonight for instructions.”
Leigh’s hands were tight around the wheel, her knuckles white with strain. “What are we going to do?”
“The man said he’d give me files. I’m not going to kill anyone to get them, but if I can find a way to stage someone’s death and get that information, I think that’s our best bet.”
Edge of Sanity: An Edge Novel Page 23
