by Leigh James
He took a deep breath. “Okay…”
“Li Na wants me to stop working on my launch to partner with her on a version of the patch.”
Gabe snorted. “That’s the upside of her being crazy—at least she’s never boring.”
“I want to say yes.”
There was stunned silence on the other end of the line. “Is there a punchline, here?” he asked, after a minute.
“Hopefully.” If it worked, the joke would be on Li Na.
“You’re going to have to walk me through this.”
“I’ll agree to work for her, right now, in exchange for an agreed-upon sum. With the underlying agreement that once she gets everything she wants, she’ll leave me and my company alone, once and for all.”
“Do you really want to do this? If you do, she’ll get to market first.”
“Not necessarily.”
“Babe.” Gabe still sounded confused. “You lost me.”
“Li Na thinks Paragon is incapable of launching the patch without me,” I said.
“And she’s right. Isn’t she?”
“No…not if you help. Not if you’re my silent partner.”
He didn’t say anything, so I explained. “When Li Na and I discussed the details via text, she said she wants me as soon as possible, twenty-four hours a day, until she has all the information she needs. She intends to beat Paragon to market, at least on Chinese soil—and anywhere else she can manage. I told her it was worth it to me, at this point. I told her I wanted her out of my life.”
“She wants you where?”
I took a deep breath, readying myself for the part of my plan that Gabe really wasn’t going to like. “In an office space somewhere close by. But not Paragon. She wants me off-premises and off-the-grid, somewhere where I can’t moonlight working on Paragon business.”
“You can’t go someplace and work for her,” Gabe said. “No fucking way.”
“Gabe,” I said patiently, “I’m trying to discuss this with you. I told her I wouldn’t go without security.”
“She could double-cross you. She could kill you—just like she killed Clive.”
“Timmy’s not going to let anything happen to me,” I persisted. “You know that. Also, I’m not worth anything to Li Na if I’m dead. That’s not what she wants. She can’t even hurt me too much, because I won’t be any use to her.” I hoped that last part was true.
“I’ll be your security. That’s non-negotiable, babe.”
I fought the intense urge to slam the cell phone against my head. “You can’t—I need you to help me, here at the lab. This is my chance—our chance—to be free of her, once and for all. I’ve thought it through. All I’m asking is that you do, too.”
There was a prolonged, excruciating silence. “I understand why you want to do it.”
“Does that mean you’ll help me?”
Gabe let out a sigh so long, it sounded like a hiss. “I’m going to support you—because I know you’ve analyzed all the angles and you believe it’s the right choice. But for the record, I hate this. I fucking hate it, and it’s my job to tell you that.”
“Okay.” My voice came out small.
“Okay,” Gabe said, but he didn’t sound at all like he meant it.
After more discussion, we agreed that if things were taking too long at my off-site location, Gabe would send back up and call the authorities. I hypothesized that he would also take matters into his own hands at that point, but I kept that conjecture to myself. I didn’t plan to let things go that far. I had people to love and a company to run. I would come back to him, no matter what.
So with Gabe’s reluctant blessing, Li Na and I entered into an agreement.
I was ready to move on with the first part of my plan. I’d carefully made myself up and wore an immaculate suit, which was quite unusual for me these days. I had called Gabe an hour before, on our regular cell phones, and asked him to meet me downtown for lunch. I hoped someone had wiretapped my phone or his. Otherwise, my plan could all be for nothing, a waste of time when I had none left to waste.
I took the additional step of having Hannah contact the columnist who wrote the Boldface Names column. She let the writer know that some juicy CEO gossip was about to take place at Mignon, a trendy downtown restaurant.
My driver pulled up outside the small French bistro, which Hannah had informed me was a hot spot for Silicon Valley’s ruling class. I cared nothing about that, but I desperately cared that my plan was going to work. I hoped against hope that someone from Jiàn Innovations was following me. Timmy helped me out of the car and ushered me silently inside.
I leaned toward him when we went through the door of the restaurant. “Do you think we were followed?” I asked quietly.
He nodded at me, his face grim. “There was a silver Hyundai that picked us up a few blocks back. They were three cars behind us the whole way.”
I swallowed hard, simultaneously scared and excited. “You’ve got my back, right?”
My bodyguard offered me a rare smile. “You know I do, Ms. Taylor.”
That gave me the confidence to approach the hostess. She led me to a table where I waited for Gabe, fidgeting nervously and sipping a forbidden midday glass of wine. It was Friday afternoon, and the restaurant was packed with casually but expensively dressed entrepreneurs. The majority of the other diners were wearing stylish glasses and tapping on the most up-to-date handheld devices. I looked woefully out of place in my dark suit and prim bun, but sticking out at that moment suited my purposes just fine.
Gabe strode in, and my heart stopped. He was wearing his typical T-shirt and dark jeans, his biceps on full display. His hair was a little wild, and he had what now appeared to be a full-blown beard. He looked sexy as hell. I hadn’t even known what the word “sexy” meant until I met him, and now there he was, striding toward me, every powerful muscle evident in all his male gloriousness.
I’d definitely been away from him for too long. I practically started panting just watching him walk through the restaurant toward me. All I wanted was to throw myself into his arms and run my hands along that beard.
And I couldn’t touch him. I didn’t know when, or if, I would touch him again.
I composed my feelings and proceeded to glare at him as he approached.
“It’s about time,” I said abruptly when he sat down.
He looked at me and scrubbed his hands across his face. I desperately wished my hands could be the ones touching him.
“Whatever,” he said.
“Whatever?” There was a sharp edge to my voice. The woman at the table next to me looked our direction, then quickly turned away.
“That’s what I said. Whatever.” He sat across from me, fidgeting, looking almost too big for the bistro’s delicate chair.
I tapped the table with my finger, looking down at the menu. “Does anything look good to you?” I asked.
I could feel Gabe watching me from across the table. “Not particularly.”
I looked up at him. “You’re not being very nice.” My voice was sharp again.
“You should talk, Lauren.” His voice was loud enough that I saw the people at the table next to us give each other a look.
I saw Timmy near the hostess stand, watching the room with a tense look on his face. I hoped that whoever had been driving that Hyundai had followed us in the restaurant, and that they were listening. But I also hoped they didn’t have Gabe or me within firing range.
I swallowed hard. I hated calling attention to myself, but I needed to do it. For us. For all of us.
I leaned across the table, glaring at him. “I’m tired of you being an asshole all the time.” My voice was too loud.
He leaned toward me too. “I’m tired of you being such a bitch. You think you’re the only one who’s under pressure? You think you’re the only one with a business to run?” His voice boomed through the tiny restaurant, causing silence to fall at the other tables. The customers nervously looked at each other and a
t us.
“I don’t think I’m the only one, but I still feel pretty alone.” My voice was shaking. “And if you can’t understand that I’m under a lot of pressure right now, I don’t think we have a lot left to say to each other.”
He stood up and glowered at me. “That’s been true for a while. Good-bye, Lauren. And good fucking luck.”
I stood up to say something back, but he had already turned to go. He stormed out of the restaurant, giving dirty looks to the silent patrons.
“Check, please,” I called shakily, then gathered my things.
“You made Boldface Names, at least,” Hannah said early the next morning. She placed a cup of coffee on my desk and sat down across from me.
“Good,” I said. “I just hope that Li Na can read English as well as she can text it.” I scrolled through the column and found our names in bold type, just as the title of the column promised.
Paragon CEO Lauren Taylor and CEO boyfriend Gabriel Betts of Dynamica treated fellow Mignon patrons to a shouting match during the lunch rush yesterday. Witnesses reported that the two fought loudly and finally stormed out separately. Hannah Taylor, Lauren’s sister and Paragon’s Director of Publicity, would only comment that the power couple “is taking a break.”
“Ugh,” I said. “But at least your name was mentioned.”
“I know,” Hannah said, grinning. “That was an unexpected upside.”
Now I had to convince her to help me with the rest. “You know what you need to do now, right?” I asked her.
The grin faded from her face. “I know what you told me to do. That doesn’t mean that I think any of this is a good idea.”
“It’s the only idea I’ve got.” I shrugged. “So let’s just hope that it’s good enough.”
My sister studied my face. “What did Gabe have to say about this?”
I pursed my lips. “You can ask him that yourself. He should be here later today.”
Her face softened. “I know you don’t like it when I argue with you, but you have to understand…I don’t want to lose you. You’re all I’ve got.”
I felt the tears threatening and blinked them back. The last thing my baby sister needed was to see my resolve crack. I forced myself to smile at her. “You’re not going to lose me, silly. I’ve got a plan, remember? And besides, I’m not all you’ve got. Wes has been following you around like a puppy dog since he was assigned to you. Seriously, it’s sort of disgusting.”
She reddened a little and laughed. “He’s sweet.”
“Good for him,” I said, my voice hardening. “He’s fired as soon as we launch.”
“Lauren!” She looked stricken. “You can’t do that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her. “You can’t be romantically involved with him. He works for me.”
She let out a bark of exasperated laughter, then glared right back. “Oh, please. You have no room to talk.”
“Gabe doesn’t work for me. He’s—oh Jesus. Just forget about it for now. I just want you to be safe.”
She threw up her hands. “That’s all I want. I just want you to be safe!”
“Then do what I ask you to do,” I said. “Please. Follow my instructions, keep up with the press releases, and don’t be so busy making goo-goo eyes at Wes that he fails to protect you. That’s all I’m asking.”
“You’re asking a lot, Lauren. And not the goo-goo eyes part. I’m talking about going along with your plan. You know you’re walking into a very dangerous situation, don’t you? Li Na Zhao and the people who work for her probably stabbed Clive Warren to death. In jail. And she started texting you before they’d even cleaned up the mess.”
Hannah leaned forward, her big blue eyes wide. “I can’t lose my sister like that. This is business, Lauren. It’s not worth risking your life for your work.”
I wanted to go to her and hug her, to rock her back and forth like I’d done when our parents died. But I didn’t want to make too big a deal out of the situation, and for the love of God, I didn’t want to start crying in front of her. “This is life or death, though. The patch is going to save people’s lives. I have to stop Li Na from ruining that. It’s worth the risk.”
Hannah slumped in her chair and rolled her eyes. “It’s really hard to argue with you when you pull that holier-than-thou shit.”
“I’m not ‘pulling’ anything. I believe that I’m doing this for the greater good.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s what makes it so annoying. But I don’t want my sister to die, even if it is for the greater good.”
“Have a little faith in me.” I mustered up a grin. “I lost my virginity this year. I’m about to finally launch my game-changing invention. Don’t give up on me just yet. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.”
She raised her eyebrows at me and got up to leave. “I freaking hope so, Lauren.”
“I freaking hope so too. Now get out of here before you give me too big of an ego. And no goo-goo eyes,” I called after her.
She rolled her eyes at me again, and I wondered if it was the last time I’d ever see her do that. “Hannah. Wait.”
I got up and went to her, pulling her in for a firm hug.
She was stiff against me. “Don’t do this,” she said, her voice quaking. “Don’t you say good-bye to me.”
“I’m not.” I held her tightly. “I just want you to know that I love you. And when this is all over, we’re going shopping. And out to lunch.”
I felt her relax a little. “And on a tropical vacation?” she asked hopefully. That was my little sister, taking a mile when I gave an inch.
“Whatever you want.” I pulled back, and although she was wiping her eyes, they had some of their sparkle back.
“Okay,” she said. “But we’re bringing men. And you’re wearing a bikini.”
“Huh?” I asked her in a panicked tone. “Did I actually already commit to this?”
“You said whatever I want.” She started to walk out, the bounce back in her step. “This is awesome. And I’m pulling Gabe in to plan the trip. He’ll probably want to rent an entire island.”
“The last thing I need is you two ganging up on me,” I said weakly.
She turned and gave me one last smile. “But that’s what people do when they love you, Lauren. They gang up on you and make you live life. So come back to me. You owe me that much. I’m so worried about you all the time, I’m starting to prematurely wrinkle. And if I’m going to have wrinkles, I may as well have a damn tan.”
Wes sprang up from the couch outside my office and followed my sister. I shook my head as I watched her sashay down the hall, her bodyguard close at her heels. Hannah had a sort of irrefutably vague logic that you couldn’t argue with. Not that I was going to argue with her right then. If I got back to Paragon in one piece, I could start arguing with her about staying in one when we went on our trip.
Chapter 28
Timmy drove me to Menlo Park, to an office located near Clive’s company, Warren Technologies. Li Na had instructed me to check in at the front desk, then head directly to my temporary office. She said that although the rest of the office was operating on a skeleton crew, someone would be waiting for me.
“Ms. Taylor,” Timmy said as we headed down the freeway, “it’s extremely important that we set some ground rules.”
I licked my lips nervously. “Okay.”
“First of all, we can’t let them separate us. We have to tell them that going in. If they try to, I will shoot them.” His tone was all business.
“I told Li Na that I was bringing a guard, and that you had to stay with me. I told her that was part of the deal. But one of her conditions was that I couldn’t involve the police or the FBI, so we’re flying solo.”
Timmy nodded, his eyes never leaving the road. “She’ll probably have me disarmed. If that happens, and if there’s an emergency, things are going to get messy. Just be prepared.”
I looked out the window. “I understand.”
/> “The second thing is, when I tell you it’s time to go, we have to go.”
I turned back to him. “I have to finish what I start here.”
He grunted his assent. “I understand, but I have a pretty decent grasp on when things are about to get out of control, and I need you to listen to me. If I tell you we have to leave, you need to wrap things up.”
That was one of Gabe’s conditions—I had to listen to Timmy.
I nodded. “Okay.”
A small smile broke out over Timmy’s face. “Besides, Mr. Betts told me that he’d have my balls if I don’t get you out of here safely. I promised him that I would. And I don’t break my promises.”
That was the first time Timmy had smiled at me while using a colloquial term such as “balls.” It annoyed me that it was because he and Gabe had been talking. I furrowed my brow.
Timmy coughed. “Sorry, Ms. Taylor. I was just quoting him, but that was still inappropriate.”
I frowned at my guard. “You know you still work for me and not for Mr. Betts, don’t you?”
Timmy gave me a sideways glance. “He wants to keep you safe. It’s my job to keep you safe. Sometimes, you give me instructions that don’t keep you safe. But yes, I know I work for you.”
“Well, as long as that’s settled.” I went back to staring out the window and tried not to think of Gabe. I missed him so much. I tried not to think about Clive either as we pulled into Menlo Park. I shivered, remembering the last conversation we’d had.
Then, less than a week later, he’d been murdered.
We pulled into the parking lot of the office park. It was mostly empty. I tried to take steadying breaths as we headed into the lobby. After we went through the revolving door, our steps echoed in the marble entryway. The enormous, opulent building was eerily quiet. A lone security guard was waiting at the counter. I hustled to him and gave him my name.
“Right this way,” he said. “They’re expecting you.”
They. I held my breath as he brought us up on the elevator. We followed him out onto the fifth floor and to an office at the end of the hall.
