by Lexy Timms
As he took in the room, he tried to see it from his wife’s eyes: Gold and red brocade curtains, antique furniture, bookshelves lined with old leather-bound books, and genuine oil paintings on the walls that were covered with old-fashioned floral wallpaper. There was a stuffy sort of luxury to the suite. An old-fashioned elegance that was classically British.
“You know, I’ve never actually stayed here,” he murmured.
“Really? Your parents own it,” she said.
“I usually stay at one of my cousin’s luxury apartments, but he sold the place and moved to Paris.”
“Gosh, wouldn’t it be lovely to live in Paris? Or here in London?” Her face lit up.
“I’d thought about moving out of New York City and settling down somewhere else.” He chuckled, but it turned into something very tired and sad. “Back when our biggest problem was whether I wanted to stay on at Prescott.”
“You should still think of things like that.”
“You are my only concern,” he said. “Nothing else matters now.”
“I’ve ruined your life with this mess.” She sighed. “You shouldn’t have to worry about lawyers and jail sentences—”
“Neither should you,” he interrupted. “I’m the one who dragged you into this life. I wanted to shower all this wealth on you, but I didn’t see how dangerous all this could be.”
She sat up, tucking her legs under her. “You didn’t drag me, Dane. You’ve given me the most beautiful life a woman could ask for. These past six months have been the best months of my whole life.”
“And now that’s over,” he muttered.
“No.” She placed a hand on his cheek. The touch of her fingertips made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss away all her pain and fear. A single touch from her was all it took to turn him into a man he barely recognized. A focused, ruthless animal who would do anything to protect what was his. Her.
“No, it’s not over,” she continued. “I’d rather be fighting this right now with you than be free of this without you. Don’t you see? The worst day of my life with you will always be better than the best day without you.”
Damn, he loved her. Loved her so much it was going to destroy him. Because he would tear this whole city apart to save her. Tear it apart and crush whoever had caused this to happen to her. And if they didn’t figure out who had done this, he would go to prison in her place. Let her think that he was giving her the chance to clear her name. Let her think he’d accept her case going to trial. Let her think he’d allow her to risk thirty years in prison.
It was wrong to lie to his wife. Wrong to let her think he was accepting her stubborn desire for justice, but Dane didn’t give a damn. The only thing worse than lying to his wife was letting her spend the next thirty years of her life behind bars.
For now, he’d help her find evidence to clear her name. If that didn’t work, he was ready to go to prison in her place.
“That’s pretty grim, no matter how you slice it,” he said finally.
She pressed her mouth to his, the sensation of her soft lips on his making him groan.
When she pulled away, she said softly, “Every day with you is the best day.”
“You sure you’re going to be saying that tomorrow?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Allyson took a deep breath. “As bad as tomorrow is going to be, I’ll get through it if you’re with me.”
He lay back down on the bed, pulling her down with him. “As long as you’re ready to take on the Handels.”
~~*~~
There was something intimidating about the Prescott Tower in downtown London. It was dark, shooting straight up into the sky. The weather held an ominous feel to it, making the grey concrete of the tower even more menacing against the vintage buildings surrounding it.
Allyson let her husband help her out of their rented luxury car. She shivered. It was probably the gray autumn morning that was making her cold, but there was something foreboding about the tower. From where she stood in the shadow of the tower, it looked like it was made of black glass. Like the London Tower, where many innocent people were tortured, or killed. She shivered again. Bad comparison.
“Isn’t it magnificent?” Dane’s father, Alfred, asked as he stepped out of the car and walked over to her.
She frowned. “If you say so.”
“The building’s new,” Alfred said. “I remember it during the construction phase. Now look at it. One of the tallest buildings in London.”
Their New York office was taller, but this place still intimidated her. Reminded her that this wasn’t a gleaming, modern, hopeful-looking place like Prescott headquarters in New York City. This was the Handels’ turf, and the cold design of the building made that unmistakable.
Dane headed into the lobby and she followed him with Alfred, his assistant Fran, and her lawyer Lester Crane bringing up the rear. They were guided into a conference room, a huge dark table taking up the center of the room.
Her eyes fell on Nicholas Handel sitting at the head of the table, his sister Katherine standing guard behind the large chair.
“Ah, right on time.” The corners of Nicholas’ mouth curved upward in a smile that didn’t reach his dark eyes.
Allyson hated having to do this. Hated having to come to the Handels’ turf and ask for a favor. Luckily, her lawyer was here to soften the blow, but it still bothered her. Still felt as if, after she had defeated the Handel siblings, she now had to admit her own defeat.
Keeping her head held high, she forced herself to return Nicky’s smile.
Nicky gestured to the seats at the table. “Please, everyone have a seat. What can I get you all? Coffee? Tea?”
“Coffee and tea would be fine, thank you,” Fran piped up.
Nicholas grinned at Fran. “I see Prescott has hired another lovely assistant.”
Fran blushed, and eagerly took a seat by Nick’s side.
With a roll of her eyes, Allyson sat down between Dane and her lawyer. She had decided to let her assistant, Cameron, stay behind in New York; with Alfred still recovering from a heart attack, having an assistant like Fran around was for the best.
Ordinarily she wouldn’t have wanted her father-in-law to make such a long trip to London, but Alfred understood finances like nobody else. If the thief really was in London, they would need Alfred’s expertise.
Soon, refreshments were served. Lester started informing Nicholas and Katherine about the embezzlement case.
“And here I thought you had all come to London to gloat,” Nicholas said once Lester was finished.
“You’re both still working at Prescott,” Allyson pointed out. “That should be proof enough that there are no hard feelings on our end.”
“Oh, please,” Katherine snapped. “The only reason you kept us on was as a favor to my father.”
Katherine wasn’t exactly wrong. Her father, John Handel, had helped push his children out of the New York office months ago, but he still wanted Nicholas and Katherine to stay on at the London office. As much as John Handel had wanted to teach his children a lesson he just wasn’t the cutthroat type, and didn’t have the heart to cut them off completely.
Which meant trouble for Allyson’s plans. If the Handel siblings were angry enough to prevent her from looking at files in the London office, that would be one less chance at solving this mystery.
Allyson took a sip of her coffee to calm her nerves. “I admire your father and everything he’s done. It’s obvious that he still cares about both of you.”
“Shouldn’t you be behind bars anyway?” Katherine sniffed derisively.
“We’re here to clear my client’s name,” Lester cut in. “Access to some of your files would be valuable to our investigation.”
“And what’s in it for us?” Katherine demanded.
“We won’t accuse you of helping the embezzler,” Dane said coldly.
She cast her husband a warning glance. Even now, he couldn’t keep his disdain inside. When it came to p
rotecting her, Dane could never listen to reason. Could never just play along. The truth was, he wasn’t that type of man. He would never grovel or beg or play nice. It just wasn’t in his nature, but she hoped her warning glance got him to rein in some of his impulsiveness.
“You really think the thief is in this office?” Nicholas leaned forward, a pensive expression on his face.
“It makes sense,” Allyson said. “We know that Prescott’s money is being sent and probably laundered to London. The most logical place for that kind of activity would be Prescott’s London office.”
Katherine glared at Allyson. “So, if we help you clear your name, you won’t drag us down with you. I really underestimated you. I thought you were this simpering Yank but you’re an iron fist in a velvet glove, aren’t you?”
Her words reminded Allyson of her mother’s suspicion. Her own mother hadn’t trusted her. Had actually believed she was capable of stealing millions of dollars from Prescott Global. Called her cunning and ruthless.
Now it seemed Katherine believed that, too. Months ago, Allyson would have worn that with some amount of pride, but now it just made her sick to her stomach. The world actually believed that she was an unscrupulous thief, who deserved to go to prison.
“My client is merely trying to clear her name,” Lester said. “Do we have permission to access the files?”
Nicky scoffed. “We all know Dane has the power to overrule whatever we say. He’s the company CEO, after all.”
“We thought it was better to ask, rather than just muscle our way in,” Allyson said softly.
Rising to his feet, Nicholas gave her a hard stare. “You’re welcome to access our files, but first I thought we should give you a grand tour of our new offices.”
Katherine gasped. “You’re just going to hand over sensitive information like that?”
“We have nothing to hide,” Nicholas said to his sister.
Katherine scowled, but said nothing.
“I think taking a tour is a suitable exchange,” Lester murmured.
“Brilliant.” Nicholas grinned, and gestured to the door of the conference room. “Shall we start the tour?”
Allyson swallowed hard, knowing they had very little choice. Sure, they could force the Handels to hand over the files, but this was their territory. They knew the place inside and out, which meant the Handel siblings had the advantage.
She nodded, and they all followed Nicholas out of the conference room. Nicholas introduced them to senior staff members, and showed them art from upcoming advertising campaigns. Finally, he stopped to introduce them to the manager of the women’s department.
“This is Rebecca Greene,” Nicholas said, introducing a young woman sporting glasses and a designer pantsuit.
Allyson regarded Rebecca warily. The money was being funneled out of this division at company headquarters. It made sense for her counterpart at the London office to be a prime suspect. Making a mental note to look further into Rebecca’s work in the women’s department, Allyson reached out to briefly shake Rebecca’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Greene,” she said.
“Pleasure,” Rebecca said with a smile. “It’s an honor to meet you, Mrs. Prescott. After all, I wouldn’t have a job here if you hadn’t created a whole new division in New York.”
“Allyson, it would be really beneficial if you and Rebecca could work together on the new football line,” Nicholas interrupted. “We’ve been planning to get more girls into football across the country, and making sure the equipment is suitable for them. We’re talking American football here, not our English footy.”
“I’d seen some of the plans about that,” Allyson said, ignoring the comment on American vs. British football. She might not be athletic, but she worked for a sports company that was international; she knew the difference. It was her job to know it. “I’d love to work with Rebecca.”
“Wonderful,” Nicky said. “Listen, we’re having a work do at my flat later this week. You two could chat then and exchange ideas for the football initiative.”
“Oh, thank you for the invitation,” Allyson said.
“Absolutely. You’re all invited,” Nicholas replied. “I’ll ring you later with the details.”
After the tour ended, Nicholas retrieved some files and handed a box full of them over to Lester. “Here you are, old man.”
Lester raised an eyebrow. “Thank you. I’ll have these returned to you as soon as possible.”
With that, they said their goodbyes and headed back to their car for the drive back to the London Prescott Hotel.
Walking hand in hand with her husband, she headed up to their floor of the hotel. As scared as she was, having Dane so close made her feel stronger. Somehow, they had gotten some files from the Handels. She had no idea if they would be much help, but at least there was hopefully something they didn’t previously have.
Dane unlocked the door to their luxury suite and she stepped inside. A small white piece of paper on the carpet caught her eye. Bending over, she picked it up and stared at the handwriting. Her stomach lurched as she read the words scrawled on the paper:
Leave London and never come back.
Chapter 10
“What’s that?” Dane looked over her shoulder at the threatening note, anger already simmering inside him. “What the hell!”
His wife’s face had paled, and she rushed over to the sitting area to sit down. “I…I don’t know. It was on the floor. Do you think it’s a joke?”
He shook his head.
“Who could have written something like this?”
He headed over to the mini bar and poured out two glasses of scotch. When he walked over to the sitting area, he handed Allyson a glass and motioned for her to drink.
She emptied the glass of scotch so quickly he doubted she needed any prompting. “This is a nightmare,” she gasped out. She looked near tears, or like she was hitting a breaking point. It drove Dane mad; his wife had always been someone in control when he worked as his assistant. The past months had been too much. And now this… what were they going to do?
“I’ll call security,” he said, taking a seat across from her. He reached for his phone, got the hotel’s security chief on the line, and explained the situation.
“I’m looking through security footage from today, Mr. Prescott, and I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary,” the security chief said. “I see your father and your lawyer heading inside with an assistant. Then I see them coming outside with you and your wife a few minutes later.”
Dane narrowed his eyes. “And that’s all?”
“Well, there’s the cleaning staff as well. Shall I investigate this further with your room’s maid, sir?” the security officer asked.
“You think the cleaning staff is capable of leaving a note like this?” Dane asked. “Could they have been paid by someone to drop off the note?” Allyson’s hands shot up and she shook her head forcefully. “No, Dane. I don’t want to get anyone on the cleaning staff in trouble. Let’s just leave it alone. Whoever it was, it wouldn’t be them.”
He hated the idea of someone threatening them, but his wife would never forgive him if someone on staff lost their job. “Please just ask. If someone looks suspicious or guilty, please let us know. Otherwise, leave it. We’ll figure this out. It’s probably just a mistake anyway.” Dane hung up and focused his attention back on Allyson.
“It’s probably nothing,” she said. Despite her words, she looked shaken.
“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
She blew out a ragged breath. “It must be a prank. We’re around the right kind of people who would do something like this.”
“This sounds like the kind of petty, vindictive stunt Katherine Handel would make,” he muttered.
“That would explain why Nicholas was so ready to invite us to his apartment.” She rubbed her temples. “Katherine and Nicholas are probably toying with us by trying to scare us with the note. It wouldn’t surprise me if they invited us ove
r just to see our reaction.”
He frowned. “But how could they have gotten the note into the room?”
“You know Katherine,” she said. “She knew we were coming to her office today; she could have easily paid one of the maids to slip the note inside while we were out.”
Anger made him ball up his fists. The Handels were always up to something. They never played fair, and fought back when threatened. After Allyson managed to beat them at their own game and send them packing back to London, they were probably doing whatever they could to get their revenge. This note was likely the start of it. And if their past behavior was anything to go by, they had a hand in more than just sending threatening notes. “What if the Handels set up the embezzlement and are trying to scare us off their trail?”
“I can’t imagine them being thieves. How could they have been embezzling while they were in America? Wouldn’t they have said something? They’d have been stealing from their own company. That doesn’t make sense. But I guess we have to look at every possibility.” She sighed. “What on earth could their motive be?”
“Revenge,” he said. “Maybe this mess hasn’t been about money at all. Maybe it’s been a frame job to ruin you.”
“Dammit,” she breathed. “That does sound like something they would do. I doubt they’d ever have a reason to steal, but they’d probably do anything to try to destroy us and the company now.”
“We have the files they gave us,” he said. “If they’re trying to set us up, maybe the files won’t be as helpful as we’d like.”
She sighed. “I think we have to go talk to Lester.”
After sending a text to Lester, letting him know they were heading over to his suite, Dane escorted his wife to her lawyer’s room.
Lester showed them into the sitting area of his room. The table and chairs were already covered with documents and folders.
Quickly, Allyson filled Lester in on the note and their suspicions of the Handel siblings.
