by North,Leslie
“There’s a lot of paperwork that’s gone. Nothing damaging. Blueprints, contracts, background checks, that kind of thing. It’s easy for me to get more copies, but it’s odd to say the least. The work itinerary and shipment schedule is also missing,” he said uneasily.
Gabe closed his eyes. What had Daisy said? Jordon specifically pointed out that none of the blueprints was included in the pack of information that he had given her. The foreman wasn’t wrong. None of it was actually damaging, but it could be the starting point for someone who wanted to dig a little further into the company. And the loss of the shipment schedule was not a good thing. If someone wanted to hit a construction site the hardest, they’d make sure that bulk materials never made it to the site.
“How long have they been missing?” Gabe asked uneasily.
“I’m not sure. It’s not paperwork I check every day. I went to check the shipping files this morning, and I noticed the folder was gone. That’s when I started to look around to see what else might be missing.”
“Do you keep them in a locked drawer?” Gabe asked quickly.
“I do, but pretty much everyone on the site knows where I keep the key. I trust my men,” he added defensively. “If they wanted this information, all they had to do was ask.”
“Has anyone new been around? New hires that you haven’t vetted yet?” Gabe questioned.
The foreman was quiet for a minute. “I did hire a new bunch of guys last week, but they had great recommendations, and the woman that you brought around was listed as one of the contacts. I thought it was part of the program. They’re hard enough workers though. I have no reason to be unhappy with their work or to suspect them of anything.”
“Dammit,” Gabe said quietly. Did Restore Eden usually put men undercover at construction sites? That was definitely not part of the deal. “Send me their information. I’ll be out to the site tomorrow to look around. I want to talk to these men.”
“Yes, sir.” The foreman hung up, and Gabe stared at the computer. What if Restore Eden wasn’t trying to change their ways? What if they were actually working against his company?
And what if Daisy knew? In her desire to make Nathan happy, had Angie invited the enemy in?
9
Before heading out to the site the next day, Gabe met Nathan and Angie in Angie’s office. He told them about the information that was missing, and Nathan immediately jumped to Daisy’s side. “She’s not that person anymore. She’s turning things around, and you need to give her the benefit of the doubt before you go accusing her,” he argued.
Stephen, who was not in town but listening on the conference call, felt differently. “Nathan, you haven’t actually talked to Daisy in a while. When you were together, she was also trying to change. Then she went on a huge rampage and tried to convince you to turn on your own family. How do you know this isn’t retribution?”
“She was hurting and lashed out. Believe me, there aren’t any residual feelings between us anymore. She has no reason to attack Duncan Enterprises or anyone in this family,” Nathan insisted.
Gabe folded his arms “Really? Because what I saw at dinner the other night didn’t look like two platonic friends talking,” he pointed out, although he decided not to bring up the fact that Daisy had also kissed him.
“You’re seeing what you want to see. She’s not like that. When she takes on a project, all other feelings go by the wayside. I’m telling you, this has nothing to do with me. What we were talking about the other night was how cool we were with each other. You have to stop thinking of Daisy as my ex-girlfriend and start thinking of her as a consultant. What could she possibly gain from hurting Duncan Enterprises? This is her chance to be seen as a serious environmentalist.”
Stop seeing Daisy as Nathan’s ex-girlfriend? That would probably do more harm than good. Gabe shook his head in an attempt to push his lustful thoughts aside and tried to focus on the bigger picture. If Daisy was up to something, they needed to know about it.
“I don’t trust her,” Stephen said succinctly. “And I think if we stopped looking at her as Nathan’s ex, we would all feel the same way.”
“Not necessarily,” Angie said finally. “I’m with Nathan on this one. I don’t see what she has to gain by doing anything extreme.”
“Of course you’d agree with Nathan,” Stephen said grumpily.
Angie winked at Nathan. “Stephen, don’t start. Let’s look at the facts. She can’t do too much with the stolen paperwork except possibly mess up the shipment schedule. Now that we know the information is missing, we can track the materials ourselves. If anything happens to it, we can deal with the situation before it goes too far. Problem solved. Gabe, have you talked with Daisy about this? Maybe she took it and didn’t realize how it would look. We did give her open access to most of our files.”
“You gave her open access,” Gabe pointed out. “I’m here completely against my will.” He hesitated. “There is also the possibility that Restore Eden is working without Daisy’s knowledge. I’ve met the man under her. Jordan? He has a record as long as my arm. And he was stoned. I wouldn’t put it past him to do something like this.”
“Oh that’s not good.” Angie rubbed her eyes then took a deep breath in. “Okay then. What do we do now?” she asked.
“We can’t discount Daisy so soon, but we don’t have enough proof to outright accuse her of anything.” Gabe began. “There’s a charity event in a couple of nights that includes some big names. Let’s invite her and see how she reacts. If she can control herself, maybe we can trust that she has changed. But if she makes a scene, we have to conclude that she’s part of the problem. Restore Eden might not be making changes that we want to believe in.”
Angie’s eyes lit up with a huge smile. “Oh, I love that plan. Nathan can take her.”
Gabe immediately felt a jolt of anger, but Nathan shook his head. “I’m not going, and Stephen is out of town. Gabe will have to take her.”
She frowned as if she didn’t like the idea, but finally she nodded. “Fine. Gabe will take her. Anything else?”
“Are you kidding? We’re facing someone with the power to destroy us, and we’re going to take her to a very expensive charity event? What kind of crap is that?” Stephen grumbled.
“Go back to work, Honey. I’ll talk to you later, love you!” Angie said sweetly before hanging up on him. “He’s cranky because Maxfield Construction landed a huge job that’s keeping him away a little longer than he’d hoped. Gabe, if there is nothing else to report, go ahead and take Daisy back out again. Tell her about the theft and see what her reaction might be. And get the background check on those new hires. I want to believe that she’s innocent, but let’s not get taken for a ride over this.”
Gabe nodded and left the office. He couldn’t even look Nathan in the eye. His thoughts were pulling in a hundred different directions. More than anything, he wanted to believe that things were over between his brother and Daisy. He also wanted to believe that she didn’t have anything to do with the theft.
And he wanted Daisy naked with her legs wrapped around his waist.
“Dammit,” he muttered. Things were getting more and more complicated by the minute.
An hour later, he pulled up to the construction site to meet with the foreman. The man looked nervous as he fiddled with his hard hat. “Mr. Maxfield. I’m sorry you had to come all the way out here like this.”
“It’s not exactly on my list of things to do today,” Gabe said. “But I’m here. You’ve got the men in the trailer?” The foreman nodded, and Gabe sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”
Inside the trailer were four men. They were built for construction work, but there was something uneasy in their eyes. Gabe didn’t recognize any of them from the party that Daisy had dragged him to, which so far was the only good thing in all this. “Gentleman, you’re here because you listed Daisy Levine as a contact on your applications. I want to know your relationship with her.”
“Daisy?
She’s our boss,” one voice piped up.
“Your boss? You work for Duncan Enterprises now. How can she be your boss?”
The men exchanged looks. “We’re with Restore Eden. We were told that you guys wanted to hire some of our men to help with the project. We work for you and them.”
Gabe blinked. “There was nothing in the agreement about hiring anyone from Restore Eden. Who told you that?”
“Daisy told us that.”
Suddenly, the door to the trailer flew open, and Daisy stormed in. “What the hell is going on?” she demanded.
“Glad you could make it,” Gabe said coldly. “Can you explain why these men from Restore Eden are now working for Duncan Enterprises on this site?”
“Why do I have to explain that? You ordered it.”
“I sure as hell did not order it,” Gabe stated.
Confused, she stared at him. “I got a phone call two weeks ago from Restore Eden saying that you wanted men from the project to work directly on the job site. I thought it was some PR stunt, but I wasn’t about to turn it down. That kind of working relationship would be great for us. Even if you didn’t order it, I don’t know why you’d be pissed about it. Aren’t they good workers?”
Gabe nodded to the men. “Get back to work, guys. We’ll notify you if anything changes.” The men shot Daisy a strange look before leaving the trailer.
“Okay, what is going on? I know you didn’t call me in here because you think my Restore Eden section put spies to work on your site. That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? Daisy, there is a bunch of paperwork missing. Nothing too sensitive, but information that could possibly damage us. Information that a radical group like Restore Eden would love to get their hands on,” Gabe said quietly. “The theft didn’t occur until after these men started working here.”
She narrowed her eyes. “We’re going to get back to the part where you’re accusing me of theft. Right now, I want to focus on the missing paperwork. What do you mean by damaging? If there’s something that you’re hiding from me, you need to tell me. Because if I find it and go to the press with it, things are going to get ugly fast.”
“Not that kind of damaging. Background information on the other companies working with us. Shipment schedules. Blueprints. This is the kind of paperwork that radicals can use against us. I’m not talking about stuff we’re doing wrong. I’m talking about information that you can use against us illegally,’ Gabe said angrily. “And if you didn’t know about these men, then what kind of organization are you running? You are in charge, aren’t you?”
“Of course I’m in charge,” she snapped. “Restore Eden might have a reputation for radicalism, but we’re changing that, it’s all in the past. We didn’t steal anything, and I resent the accusation!”
“Then what’s your explanation for it? Because it looks like someone is talking to Restore Eden and they’re not going through you first.”
Daisy opened her mouth before clamping it shut. Her chest heaved, and Gabe suspected that she knew something she wasn’t telling him. “Is it your friend, Jordan? If you know something, you need to tell me,” he said carefully.
She lowered her arms and began to tap her fingers on her legs. Daisy was a horrible liar, and Gabe knew that whatever she said next wasn’t going to be the truth. “I trust Jordan. He wouldn’t do anything without my consent.”
Gabe’s heart sank. This whole mess was a big mistake. Jordan was obviously going to be a problem for them. He could simply terminate the contract and maybe that would be for the best, as he could get back to doing his job. Granted, Angie would be upset with him. What would Nathan think? He did say there was nothing between them anymore.
“You’re a terrible liar, Daisy Levine. Maybe it would be best if Duncan Enterprises terminated your contract.” Before he could say more, she interrupted him.
Tugging on her braid, Daisy shook her head. “Gabe, no. Technically, we aren’t in violation of the contract.”
“Yet.”
“Yet,” she agreed. “I realize that this doesn’t look good and yes, I am defending Restore Eden. Jordan has given me no indication that he’s deviating from our plan, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll go to our offices and look around. If I find your missing paperwork, I’ll let you know.”
“You’d better. If I think for one minute that you’re not being honest with me, the deal is off, Daisy. You break your end of the contract, and Duncan Enterprises will crucify you in the courts. Do you understand?”
She paled, and Gabe immediately regretted his words. If Nathan was right and Daisy didn’t have anything to do with it, he was lashing out at her for nothing. He was on the point of apologizing but she held up her hands to silence him.
“Fine, you don’t need to say anything else,” she said stiffly. “I’ll go look right now.”
Gabe walked past her and opened the door. He saw the sudden shadow hanging over him before he heard the shouts of the workmen. Looking up, he saw a load of lumber swinging above him. Before he could take a breath, there was a snap, and the wood began to fall.
With a muffled curse, he leaped back into the trailer, turning to shield Daisy with his body. A cloud of dirt and dust rose into the air, and immediately they were all hacking and coughing. “Are you okay?” he finally asked her.
There was fear in her eyes when she nodded. “Are you?” she asked in a trembling voice. Her hand was on his chest. He touched it briefly.
He wanted to lean down to kiss her and tell that everything was okay, but he couldn’t shake the suspicion in the back of his mind. Turning, he leaned out the door again. A group of men had circled the fallen lumber and were yelling angrily at each other. The foreman went out to calm them down and find out what happened.
“Something’s wrong with the crane,” he said finally when he came back to Gabe’s side. “Apparently, the trolley was jammed and refused to move causing the jib to tilt releasing the lumber.”
Gabe lifted an eyebrow understanding half of what the foreman said. “The equipment is checked regularly. If there was a problem with the crane, we would have known before it was brought to the job site.”
The crane operator climbed back into the cab and tried to get it to work, but it didn’t even sputter to life. “I don’t know what’s wrong!” he exclaimed.
The foreman ignored Gabe’s suspicious looks and went to check it out himself. Gabe took a deep breath. Had the lumber landed on the foreman, it would have set the work back by several weeks. Maybe even more. And that would have been bad enough. But if it had taken out Gabe, or anyone else working on the site, Restore Eden would have been able to make a powerful, highly damaging statement about the safety issues on the site and get construction halted pending investigation.
And if it had taken out Daisy, Jordan would have been able to step up and take her place. The thought of that made Gabe’s blood boil.
Gabe was about to pack everything up and head home for the day when there was a soft knock on the door. Looking up, he saw Daisy hesitating in the doorway.
“Did you find the paperwork?” he asked without preamble.
“No. I spoke to Restore Eden. They said you’d corresponded through some emails, but when I read them, I realized that there was a misunderstanding. Restore Eden thought you were proposing to have some men work on the site. It was a simple mistake, Gabe. There’s no conspiracy behind it.”
Leaning back, Gabe studied her. “The foreman said the lift had run out of gas. He said it happens all the time. The chain used to secure materials to move across the site was the wrong size, which caused it to jam. He’s investigating and someone is going to lose their job, but it seems like it was an accident.”
Relief was written all over her face. “Gabe, I know you don’t trust me or Restore Eden and I get it, I do. I’ve done some things in the past, and Restore Eden has done worse things. But if you don’t start trusting us, none of this is going to work. You have to get over me as Nathan’s ex-girlfriend, a
nd you’re going to have to trust me. Can we start over?”
Gabe ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “I can’t get over it, Daisy. I want to trust you, but believe me, if I forget that you’re Nathan ex-girlfriend, we’re really going to have problems”
“You’re talking about the kiss,” she said softly. “It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You’re a playboy. It’s sort of what you do.”
It wasn’t what he did, but he didn’t point that out. “I tell you what. We can try to put all this behind us and start over. Clean slate. No history or back story, but you have to do something for me.”
“What?”
“I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that you’re over Nathan. I need to believe it.”
She gave him a sad smile. “I can do that. I can tell you that Nathan and I were over long before we broke up. I can tell you that Nathan and I were never really in love with each other but were more in love with what we were doing together. But if you don’t want to believe it, nothing I say can ever make you believe it. I can tell you until I’m blue in the face, but the rest is up to you. We could do great things, Gabe. We could be good together. You have to believe that.”
Closing the door softly behind her, she left him to his thoughts. Gabe sat back and closed his eyes. When she said they could be good together, did she mean professionally?
Or did she mean something else entirely? Because maybe that was what he was afraid of.
10
“More, baby. More! Harder! Harder! Oh God!”
Daisy was so caught up with listening to her neighbors that she almost didn’t hear the knock on the door. “Daisy? Are you in there?”
Daisy practically fell off her couch. It was five o’clock in the afternoon. Most of her friends were probably waking up or getting over their hangover. Who the hell was this?
Peering through the peephole, she gasped. Angie Maxfield was on the other side. What was she doing here? Had she come by to tell Daisy they were about to kick her off the project? Had something happened?
