Don’t Lie to Me

by Amber Bardan

  I took the seat on the other side of his desk. “How bad is it?”

  “Bad.” He lowered himself into his chair. And then I saw it—the way he gripped the arms.

  Yes, this was bad.

  “I’m assuming insurance will cover the rebuild?” I shifted in the chair. “They should even cover temporary accommodations, it won’t take that long to get back up and running if we—”

  “You won’t be back up and running, Emma.” His eyes flickered like two flints in his head. “I’m releasing you from your contract.”

  “What?” I froze.

  He slid paperwork across the desk toward me.

  “But...” I stared at the papers. “I’ve made such progress, surely you won’t just let me go—let all that work go?”

  “I’m afraid I have no choice in the matter.” His voice snapped harder than the flint in his eyes. “I’ve been given directives by the board.”

  “Then you haven’t made them understand how important this is.” I shook my head. “I mean, a little fire is no big deal. We have all the records on the servers, all it will take is a new location, new equipment, which insurance will cover—”

  “Stop.” Now his voice sparked, a shiver of rage entering his tone. “This was no accident. The fire was deliberate. Our servers were wiped. Everything is gone.”

  Gone.

  My body filled with excruciating pressure—my bones creaked with it.

  “Even if insurance covers building and equipment, new locations and all those little extras, they can’t help us fulfill all our existing contracts and deadlines. They won’t be able to salvage our reputation.”

  I gripped the scarf I’d wrapped around my neck, the sheer fabric now lynching.

  “I’m sorry, but we have to prioritize what we do next, and experimental research can’t come before paying contracts and obligations.”

  My heart sank further and further.

  Dread bore down to my marrow.

  “I really am sorry.”

  My tear ducts burned. I scrambled for a pen and flipped open the contract where the labels indicated. “Not as sorry as I am.”

  “Emma, this really isn’t how I wanted things to be.”

  I glanced up at Dean. We’d sort of become friends, but more than that he’d taken a chance on me. He’d even let me negotiate terms. And it was those negotiations that meant that now I could be freed from this contract and take my research elsewhere.

  I signed, then set down the pen. “Thanks for believing in me.”

  “I still do.” His mouth softened. “That’s why there’s something else I want to discuss with you. Can I get you something to drink?”

  My tongue snaked across the dry roof of my mouth. I’d waited in reception all day. I was practically dehydrated. “Some tea would be great.”

  “I’ll be right back.” He stood, and indicated to the more intimate sitting area. “Why don’t we sit by the fire.”

  I nodded, and took the wing back farthest from the flames. My mind rolled back and forth. What were my choices now?

  I could go to Angelina, she’d offered to fund me before... Or Avner.

  “Do this with me.” His voice repeated in my mind—a seductive lure.

  I could.

  Now I actually could.

  I’d already learned so much from working with Waldolf experts, I was sure I could replicate our results now on my own.

  No, not on my own, with Avner.

  As a team.

  Dean walked back into the room with a tray, and set it on a side table. Then poured steaming hot tea from the pot into a delicate china cup.

  “Milk and sugar?”

  “Neither.” I tried a smile and took the tea. I really hadn’t expected Dean to wait on me. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  I sipped the tea. The shivery feeling I’d had since this morning ebbed as the hot liquid reached my belly.

  “You left the lab quite late last night?”

  “Yeah, I was making great progress.” I took another gulp of tea as a wave of sadness hit me.

  “And I hear Avner Malfacini picked you up around midnight?”

  “Yes...” I looked up from the cup. “But he didn’t come in. I know that wouldn’t be appropriate.”

  “I believe you.” He sat back, his fingers drumming on the arms of his chair. “I know we agreed that we would no longer discuss your private life, but given what’s happened, I have to ask...”

  I gripped the cup tighter.

  “Did Avner remain with you all night last night?”

  “Yeah, I stayed at his—” The words caught as lightning filled my vision. He’d snuck out of bed last night. I’d woken up and found him gone, and he hadn’t been back when I’d left this morning.

  “Did he leave at some point, Emma?”

  I set the cup down, then looked at Dean. My blood trembled through my veins.

  “Are you aware Avner has several underworld connections?”

  My mouth opened. “No.”

  Bullshit. I knew whatever he did secretly outside of Guardian was shady. Maya’s vacant gaze filled my mind. There were reasons Avner did what he did, and whatever they were, I knew him well enough to trust his intentions would reflect the man he was—a good man.

  A protective and loyal man.

  “I need you to be honest with me.” The sharpness of his tone sent a flinch through me.

  He rose and collected something from his desk.

  I gulped more tea, but this time the chill stayed with me.

  He sat again. “Have you ever seen this man?”

  I looked at the photo and my stomach heaved. A face that haunted me. The face Avner had shown me.

  The man from the mall.

  I glanced at Dean. How much did he know about this situation? Why would he know about this?

  “Yes, he’s followed me.”

  “He was seen nearby the fire last night.” Dean handed me another photograph. “I’m really sorry, Emma. As much as I wanted to trust you, I couldn’t trust him. I’ve had to do some investigation or I couldn’t have you working for me.”

  I stared at the photo. “No.”

  Bile rose in my throat.

  Avner and my stalker at a table in what looked a bar—talking.

  Time went slow, so slow, like the air turned to syrup.

  “There will be those desperate to exploit your research.”

  Those. Like. Him.

  “Do this with me.” His words whispered in my mind. Every seductive manipulation. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

  I dropped the photograph.

  Dean moved forward. “Talk to me, Emma. Tell me about him.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t think straight. Dean’s words oozed into my head, like melting butter.

  “Risk, or no risk, I’ll do whatever I can to help you, regardless of who you’re working for.”

  My eyes snapped open and I tried to focus. More like margarine—the sensation was entirely unnatural.

  “No. You can’t trick me, Dean.” The words slipped from me, and the instant they left my lips, I wanted to suck them back. I’d given too much away.

  His lips curved.

  I should’ve played dumb. The ground seemed to rush toward me as it had the night in the bar. Blackness hit.

  Avner

  “What do you mean, lost her?” I staggered to my desk. “The woman’s wearing a fucking GPS on her wrist.”

  “She said she was using the bathroom.” Rohan’s words sounded clipped. “And I no longer have my phone to track her with.”

  “And you simply allowed her to throw it off a fucking bridge?”

  “She
surprised me.”

  Well, that for damned sure was something she was excellent at. Surprises. “You should’ve gone in that bathroom and carried her out the moment you spoke to me and I said get her home.” My chest pounded. Stubborn, stubborn woman, what had she gone and done now? “We had a rule—work, here or her home, and nowhere fucking else unless it’s cleared with me. What the fuck happened?”

  Rohan’s voice wavered. “I didn’t believe the Waldolf building wouldn’t be considered work. Her mind was set. You know what she’s like.”

  I slumped into my chair. Yes, yes I did.

  Determined, driven and not above a little sneaky deception.

  All things I loved about her but that made me crazy.

  “Also, she became distraught... It affected my judgement. I apologize.”

  Distraught. My heart sank. That was on me. Her lab was destroyed and I was wholly responsible. Waldolf systems proved harder to hack than the military. I’d had to break onto site...and then everything got out of hand.

  “No, it’s my fault. I should never have allowed her to dictate the terms of our communication.” When I made it back from the fire I’d barely escaped from, she’d already left with Rohan. Turned out there was quite a-fucking-lot Waldolf would do to protect its information. Including razing the place to the ground. “If you still had your earpiece and microphone, this would never have happened.”

  I switched the phone to speaker and brought up the app that controlled her watch. “As we thought, she’s at Dean Waldolf’s. Just head over there.”

  “What if they don’t allow me in?”

  “I’ll meet you there and rest assured, they’ll let me in.” I brought the phone back to my ear. “As long as Dean isn’t aware I was there last night, she should be safe.”

  And I’d make completely fucking sure she stayed that way.

  Perfectly safe.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Emma

  Water hit my face in a rush of icy suffocation. Drowning. Panic shot through me, jerking me into adrenaline-flooded consciousness.

  “Wakey, wakey.” Dean crouched in front of me, clutching an empty bucket.

  I spat a mouthful of water, and gasped. “Dean, what are you doing?”

  My arms jerked behind me where I sat tied in a wooden chair.

  “I really want to help you, Emma,” he said, looking at me. “But my hands are tied now.”

  Tied?

  No, I was the one with tied hands. He was the one drugging and kidnapping me. How could his hands be tied?

  I glanced around. Cement walls surrounded me, with a very freaking solid-looking door. Where the hell was I?

  “The only way for this to get better is if you are honest.”

  I nodded, letting my gaze flirt around for any possible weapon.

  There wasn’t any.

  The door scraped open. My gaze flew past Dean. Two men entered. My pulse went shot-full-of-drugs wild.

  Dean, I could handle. Three men though? I was a decent fighter, but I didn’t dare test how decent right now.

  My gaze settled on the last man.

  I tried not to react as the profile of the man from the mall came into view. I tried not to look at the tattoos bleeding out below his sleeve. Most of all, I tried not to meet his eyes.

  What had Dean done?

  “So this is our little scientist?”

  My attention snapped to the third man. Holy hell, his face flashed in my memory. The photo Avner showed me. As did his words for if I ever saw this man.

  “If you ever do, Emma, get yourself the fuck away.”

  He gave me the shrewd, assessing once-over of a man in complete control over all he surveyed. Wrinkles fanned his eyes. Lines crossed his forehead. Silver speckled his short black hair. Power etched into his every feature.

  My heart knocked in my chest.

  “This is my associate, Narek Vanlian,” Dean said, rather too formally for whatever the hell this was.

  Narek nodded, dragging a chair to opposite me.

  He smoothed over the front of his black shirt and smiled a smile that sent that little self-preserving part of my brain screaming, Bad man.

  Avner need not have worried, I had an unfortunately acquired radar for violent people. One look at this guy, and I’d have fled.

  If I weren’t tied to a freaking chair.

  “Hello.” I smiled back because if we were going to pretend to be polite, I sure as shit wasn’t going to be the one to suggest a more aggressive approach.

  “Mr. Vanlian was...” Dean paused. “Let’s call it a silent investor in your research.”

  “There will be those desperate to exploit your research.”

  I licked my cracking lips. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Vanlian.”

  My stalker shifted behind him. I twitched.

  “And I take it you recall his friend Arman?”

  My teeth set, but I stared only at that slimy lying bastard Dean.

  He smirked. I braced my feet on the ground.

  “I’m sorry about that—”

  “That will be all,” Narek said, not even bothering to glance behind him. “I’ll take it from here.”

  “But—” His neck colored.

  Poor Dean, overruled twice in a matter of days. At least there was some satisfaction to be taken in that.

  “Your assistance is no longer required.” Narek’s gaze never shifted from me, studying me as though I were a game of Battleship and he was determining the best vessel to sink first.

  Dean’s face flushed. Something told me we weren’t finished, but he left anyway.

  I didn’t know whether to be thrilled or more afraid for him to be gone.

  Narek took a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket.

  “Emma.” He tapped the packet on his knee. “Emma.”

  Tap.

  “Emma.”

  Tap.

  “Yeah?” I said, as if that was actually a question.

  “What am I to do with you?”

  The threat hit, then hit again. What indeed? He’d taken me for a reason. If I found that reason, I could exploit it—hopefully exploit it my merry way out of here.

  “Well you could start by helping me finish my research. Mr. Waldolf said his hands were tied, but I’m willing to bet you’re not a man who allows himself to be confined.”

  He flicked open the pack of cigarettes and lit one, drawing deeply.

  “So if that’s what you want, my research, you should know that despite what was lost in the fire, it’s all right in my head. I can do it.”

  “You can do it, you say?” He exhaled a pillow of smoke.

  “I know I can. We were so close.”

  He leaned forward, his attention as smothering as the secondhand fumes wafting around me. “And you wouldn’t have any objections to working with me?”

  “Nope,” I said. “I have no objection working with someone who has the means to help me get the job done.”

  He took another drag of the cigarette, watching me with dark, hooded eyes.

  “Waldolf said you took some convincing.” He exhaled casually, yet tension tightened my spine. “That you wouldn’t sign his contract until your ethical concerns were addressed and terms met. So forgive me if this seems like...” He tapped his cigarette onto the floor, then stared at me. “Like a conveniently sudden change of heart.”

  Change of heart...

  The answer hit me in mine, bitter and ironic.

  “I think you misunderstood my concerns.” I leaned forward as much as I could with my hands trapped, and looked him in the eyes. “I had to make sure I had access to the research. That it didn’t get taken out of my control.”

  His lids lowered slightly, but
he didn’t respond.

  “You don’t need to bribe, threaten or blackmail me. Work with me and you’ll have the most devoted employee you ever had, because nobody has a vested interest like I do.” I breathed in through the smoke without choking. “Frankly, I couldn’t care less if we do this off the books, because it’ll get done faster without the bureaucracy. Believe me when I say I need this done fast.”

  Ash collected at the end of his cigarette. He ignored it and rubbed his jaw. “So what’s this vested interest?”

  “My mother died of a degenerative heart condition. I have it too.” I swallowed. Oh, it’s so much easier to lie like this when so much of it was the honest-to-god truth. “I’m going to die on a fucking transplant list if I can’t cure myself.”

  His eyes opened further than they had from the slightly lazy droop they’d had since he walked in.

  “I need this to happen, and I don’t care what it takes as long as I get to be the first recipient.” I sat back, a little out of breath.

  “What about other applications?” He finally knocked the ash. “You have no objections to pursuing non-medical avenues.”

  Suddenly Avner’s warnings rang in my ears. Warnings that grew and expanded, making me more aware of every wicked possible application. Athletes who’d be able to perform like no other. Soldiers who could run faster, longer, whose hearts would continue to pump and pump under strain. Not to mention the heart was only a single organ that could be armored. What about lungs that could keep on breathing, and brains that couldn’t be damaged?

  I swallowed. “Whatever it takes, as long as I get to use it first.”

  “This is a shame.” He sighed.

  A tremor pinched the nerves up along my spine.

  “The prospect of your research was indeed intriguing, but do you know what makes a successful entrepreneur?” He lowered his voice, almost a whisper, as though this was his big business secret. “Diversity.” His face went hard. “Someone’s been messing with my business. Thanks to you, I have an idea who that might be. Have you ever heard the expression, it’s a small world?”

  I drew myself up.

  Fuck—Avner’s warnings blasted through me.

  “I’m known to Narek, and should he connect the dots between us, should he look too closely and discover more about me that he doesn’t already know, he’d want far worse from you than your research—he’d want you to get to me.”