by Nana Malone
Sure, she was letting me touch her now, but last night she'd been distracted. It had taken her longer than usual to come, and then she'd wrapped herself around me and held on tight as if she was terrified I was going somewhere.
I knew that the earlier conversation with Willa was playing in her head, or Willa made it seem like I was going to get bored with her and run. Although I'd done everything in my power to show her that that wasn't me, that I wasn't the guy who was going to run. Still, she was off. I could tell. I just wished I knew exactly what it was that was bothering her so I could assuage her worry.
Or did she see you? I’d made it clear in no uncertain terms last night that I wasn’t going to touch Willa ever. But had Neela seen her friend come on to me?
If she had, why hadn’t she said anything? By now she should have said something. At least I hoped she would.
It could be work. She'd been locked in on the sat phone with Bex and Adam earlier in the day, speaking in hushed tones that I couldn't really decipher or make out from the door. I knew her company had been in trouble after the breakup. I didn't know how much trouble she was in, especially now with Willa back. And the infusion of cash she'd had or been able to save by living at Willa’s was probably up in the air now. That might be it, but instinct told me it was something different. It might be the ledger too.
Willa was convinced that there was something in it that would save her, and she kept pressing Neela to work harder to try and decipher it. Maybe that was it. Either way, I had to figure it out. Out on the balcony, I made my check-in call at the pre-arranged time with Ariel.
Her answer was brusque. "All good?"
"Yeah. All good. Do we have any verification on Willa MacKenzie's story?"
"No. She didn't use a single credit card, obviously. No major cash withdrawals, but she might have had some on her. She might have gotten paid in cash for more of her sculptures or something. She clearly needed money to run."
"What about Satorini?"
"What about him?"
"Willa said that the two of them stole the ledger from Vanhorn together. And she said the relationship was volatile. He'd gotten violent, so she ghosted and came here to get her daughter, but that's not tracking. Do we have eyes on him?"
"No. He's dark as well. Although he didn't fake a death. The moment he surfaces, I'll let you know."
"Yeah, okay."
"And how is Neela?"
"A mess. She is... I don't know... tense about something. She's not talking."
Ariel was quiet for a bit. "I know I gave you a hard set of rules. I know how difficult undercover can be."
"I'm handling it." We were not having some long drawn out conversation about my love life.
Notice you said love life and not someone you're shagging.
I shoved aside the thought.
But Ariel wasn’t finished yet. "Look, I know you care about that little girl, and I'm not an idiot. I know you care about Neela Wellbrook."
"You have a rule, I know."
"Rules you basically broke right away."
I bit back my chuckle. "Does this whole conversation have a point?"
"My point is I don't know if this is going how it's supposed to go. And while I think it's unwise for you to be banging the client, I know this is hard on you because you're close to it."
"I can do my job, Ariel."
"I know you can. Roone told me you were the best, and I trust him. I trust that you will bring the client home safe. I'm just saying, you don't have to be on your own. I can send someone else out there to help. I know what it's like when you get personally invested."
"Oh, the great Ariel Scott got too close to a client once?"
"More along the lines of I got too close to someone I had no business getting close to. It's why I get it. If you need help, just give a shout."
"Yeah, I hear you. But listen, something tells me Neela is tense for a reason. She has been hunched over her notebooks since we got here. She said she hasn't figured out the ledger yet, but something tells me all of this is about what's in that ledger. You said you have some of your programs trying to decipher it. Any luck?"
"No. I was just checking with Adam and Bex too. They're coming up empty."
"So what, Vanhorn is just a fucking genius? He’s managed to create an uncrackable code, a code a skilled cryptanalyst cannot decipher?"
"I'm pretty sure they can decipher it, but it'll take time."
"We don't have time. Willa MacKenzie is alive, and she's applying pressure, which means that she's got a deadline for something, so our time is running out."
"I hear you. Maybe it's time for me to take a little look-see in Neela's hard drives. Cryptanalysts are used to secrets. Maybe Neela has been keeping some of her own."
The idea of Neela keeping secrets tasted like bile on my tongue. But it was entirely possible she and her team had already cracked the code.
Then why hasn’t she told you?
I had no idea, but we needed to know what they knew.
Fifteen
Jax…
When I found Neela, she was pacing back and forth across the balcony, muttering to herself, and then she'd write something in a notebook that she had. Then she'd go right back to muttering and frown, and then pull something up on her computer. She was working on the ledger. I knew it. But why was she hiding it?
I could have kept watching her, but it was easier to deal with it head on. "So, are we going to talk about it?"
Her head snapped up and her eyes went wide. "Jesus, Jax, you're like a ninja."
"I wasn't even being quiet. You're just so engrossed in thought."
"Sorry. Is Mayzie okay?"
I nodded. "She's taking a nap."
"Okay, good." She frowned then. "Has, um, you know, Willa spent any time with her? I've been so busy with work the last couple of days, I haven't been paying attention. I want Mayzie to know that her mom loves her."
I studied her for a moment. "I know what you’d like. I’m just not sure whether or not it’s true."
She frowned as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Jax, just give it a rest, okay? Regardless of how you feel about Willa, she's Mayzie’s mom."
There was a hint of bite to the way she said ‘you’ and she refused to meet my gaze. She knew. Watching her warily, I asked, "So, you saw?"
She frowned at me. "Saw what?"
"Willa the other day. Rubbing all over me like a cat in heat."
Her face flushed a slight hint of pink under her tanned skin. "You don't have to explain anything to me. You're not tied down to me in any way."
Was she out of her mind? That’s what the problem was. "Have you fucking lost the plot?"
Her brows snapped down. "Excuse me?"
Oh, she’d heard me. To make sure, I enunciated for her. "The plot, have you lost it? You and I. I told you from the very beginning… You, me, that we were happening."
"Well, what am I supposed to think? After all, you would just be the next in a very long line of men who prefer Willa MacKenzie to me."
I stepped forward into her space until I was crowding her. But I needed her to hear me, to feel me. "Willa came on strong. I imagine that’s what she does. I turned her down, and she got defensive."
She continued holding her shoulders stiff. "You don't need to explain anything to me."
"Well, obviously, I do." I clenched my jaw. "I know trust between us is fragile. I broke it before we even began. And I can't go back and fix that. I can't do anything to mend it, except give you my word that every day that we are together, I am all-in with you. I have zero interest in Willa, and she knew it. She still gave it a go, but she knew. I can't get you out of my bloody head. You are the one I dream about. You are the one who's scent I can't get off my tongue. You. No one else. So, I don't want Willa MacKenzie. She's obvious. She tries too hard. And she's desperate. You are none of those things. And you are so much more."
Her lips parted, and her gaze skittered downward. "You don't have to say all of th
is. It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does. Because I think maybe no one has ever said it to you before. You are not my bloody second choice. From the moment I saw you, you were the first choice. Honestly, the only choice. I didn't touch her. And I know that you don't necessarily need to hear that, but I need to tell you. I would never."
She blinked her eyes rapidly and gave me a small nod. "I just—I saw you two, and it was like my whole life all over again."
"I really wish you'd said something last night. For you and I, trust isn't going to come easy. But we need to work on it."
"I know. It's just that we're new, and this would not be the first time someone has, you know, seen Willa and decided they got the short end of the stick with me."
"I don't know who the hell these people were, but I'll kill them. Every last one."
"Not necessary."
"We have to trust each other. I know it's easy to say that, but we do. With everything going on right now, it's you and me and Mayzie. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, I was just—It wasn't easy seeing you like that."
"If I'd seen some guy on you, I might have killed him. Since we're being honest."
"Well, okay, that's good to know."
"It took everything in my power not to kill your stupid ex."
"I might have liked to watch that."
"Bloodthirsty." I dropped my forehead to hers and met her gaze, letting her scent whirl around us and lock me into place. "Now, tell me what the hell is going on because I know something is up. Something more than Willa. Something important. Is it the ledger?"
I saw it in her eyes. The moment when she decided to tell me some of it, if not all. She was still holding something back. But I'd take the small victory today.
"I don't want to say anything yet, but we have almost decoded it, the ledger. Dates, times, when it was done. The last thing I want is for Willa to know. I don't trust her. And so far, what I'm seeing in that ledger doesn't make her the victim. It makes her the perpetrator in all of this."
I clenched my jaw. "You need to tell me things like that."
"I can't. I don't have the full picture yet. The ledger is not done."
I sighed. "If you have any proof at all that she's bad news, we'll drop her like a bad habit."
Neela chewed her lip. "Or we keep her around so at least we have our eyes on her. Until I have the whole ledger decoded, we can't do anything. And until it's all decoded, she still needs me. The problem is that the piece that Willa has, the additional cipher she's been talking about, it only works with the physical book at hand, so I won't get all the final names in that ledger until I actually have the book."
I cursed under my breath. "Right now, that book is under lock and key."
"I know. I have the copies that we made, and Willa's cipher might do the trick. I don't know. But something tells me we're going to need the originals. There is some kind of stamp embossed on some of the pages. It's like a hidden text, I guess. I need Willa's cipher to be able to crack it. And I need the original fucking ledger."
I cursed under my breath. "Ariel has got it for safekeeping."
"I know. And something tells me it's probably a bad idea if I actually decode it, because then I won't be necessary anymore. Then I'll just be an obstacle."
I clenched my jaw. "I would kill her before I let anything happen to you."
She frowned and shook her head. "No. No one is going to die for me. But we need to keep a close eye on Willa because she is in this up to her eyeballs.”
Her hands shook, and I tugged her close, encapsulating them in my far bigger ones. “Look, you and I will figure this out. We’re not going to let anything happen to Mayzie.”
“I wish I’d never gotten that damned ledger. All I want to do is give it back. I want my life back. I want Mayzie’s life back.”
All I could do was hold her tight. “I know. I swear to you, we’ll figure this out.” I just prayed I wasn’t lying to her.
Jax...
The day out was both necessary and good for us. Given the conversation Neela and I had about Willa, I couldn't leave Neela at home. I certainly wouldn't leave Mayzie with Willa without any coverage. So that meant Neela and Mayzie had to come with me, which left Willa all on her own.
I'd bugged the place, but she was still there alone. Free to set us up or do God knew what.
"You think this is a bad idea?" Neela asked as I pushed Mayzie in the spare stroller we’d borrowed from the hotel. Our shopping bags were laden with food as we walked back.
"You know, I'm not sure yet. It could be fine. Maybe Willa had been bad news, got mixed up with the wrong people, and had a change of heart. There is a slim chance she could be telling the truth."
"Okay, then is there a reason you won't leave me alone with her?"
"I couldn't guarantee you wouldn't kill her."
Her lips quirked. "You know what, that's entirely accurate. She was all over you. I didn't like it."
"My, my, you are possessive."
"What, and you aren't?"
I shrugged. "I never said that. I feel like I made it perfectly clear. I'd kill anyone who had his hands on you."
"Kill is such a strong word."
I shrugged. "Maybe it's strong, but it's accurate."
As we passed the streets along Queen’s Way, something caught my eye in the reflection of a window. A blue sedan. Had I seen it before? Was I being paranoid? Better safe than sorry. I maneuvered us around until we made a left further into the cluster of shops and cafes.
For a moment, Neela didn't even seem to notice. She just walked along as if she had not a care in the world, enjoying the sunshine, relaxing. It was only after we made another turn heading back toward the beach that she frowned. "Are we walking in a circle?" I noticed a Volkswagen Beetle make the same two turns that we did. They had us in a two-car follow pattern. It didn't matter. I was going to end that now.
"Are you partial to the stroller?"
Neela frowned at me. "What?"
"The stroller, do we really need it?"
"No. I guess not. I mean, we have the carriers."
I stopped the stroller and unlatched the baby. Mayzie laughed because she thought we were playing a game. She was less than thrilled though when I put her in the carrier we had brought and strapped her in, tight. She preferred to have a better range of motion. But it couldn't be helped. Neela didn't even ask any questions. Instead, she just grabbed the diaper bag and the shopping bags and looked to me. "Lead the way."
If I wasn't already half in love with the woman, that would have sealed the deal. She brooked no arguments, asked no questions, just did whatever she needed to do to get the job done. I took them to the older part of the city, where the restaurants were more closely packed together. Once we hit an alleyway behind one of the buildings, I cupped my hand around Mayzie's head, and we sprinted up above the embankment, over and up into the residential area. I scrambled over the wall first, Mayzie in tow, careful to project her as I climbed and when I landed. Neela came next. When I took her hand, she squeezed gently to let me know she trusted me, and then we were running again through the cobbled streets, through the pedestrians, the tourists, and the street vendors.
I ran a route parallel to the street we would have taken, except it was more hidden. I’d been so fucking daft. It was my bright idea to not take the car because I wanted us to walk and get some exercise. Who did that? I bloody knew better. Finally, we hit the back of the hotel. I made a foothold for Neela and I hoisted her up over the back fence. It was far too high for me to climb with Mayzie, so I unstrapped her and handed her back over to Neela. Then I climbed up myself.
When I landed in the sand, I breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, at least no one had seen us come back here. Either way, we needed to leave. But at least we were safe for the moment, and we'd have some breathing room.
We marched back into the suite. Willa glanced up from her magazine. "Back so soon?"
I didn’t b
other with niceties. I’d bloody had it. "Pack your things. We need to leave. We've been compromised."
Sixteen
Jax…
Willa MacKenzie had to go.
I was more than convinced she’d signaled someone. I just didn't know how yet. She had no phone, and I’d checked her for bugs and trackers. I hadn't found anything.
But it didn’t matter, I knew what had happened. Now I had to find a way to get her the hell away from Neela and Mayzie. I just had to figure out how to keep Neela from having something to say about it.
Good luck with that.
Yeah, Neela was definitely going to have something to say. She didn't trust Willa either, but she wanted Mayzie to get to know her mum. Even though she knew Willa well, she would always err on the side of what was good for the baby.
Didn’t matter. I had to find a way to separate us from the problem. Next chance I had, I’d need to call home base and have one of the team come and collect Willa. I was done dicking around.
Our next stop was a little small for three adults and a baby. Willa glanced around. "Where am I supposed to sleep?"
I glowered at her. "There is the couch."
"I don't understand why we just can't stay in a hotel."
I leveled a gaze on her. “We tried that already. And then your friends showed up. We need to keep a low profile."
Her eyes went wide. “Are you suggesting I had something to do with them finding us? How? You had my phone. You took the clothes I arrived in. I couldn’t possibly have signaled anyone.”
“There are still ways.”
Neela rocked the baby in her arms as she paced the entrance of the tiny kitchenette. “Would you both stop? Please. It’s not helping.”
Willa sighed. "Whoever is coming, is coming for me. I recognize I fucked up. I never should have sent you the ledger, Neela. But if I just volunteer to hand over the ledger, at least Vanhorn’s men will go away. Michael will be another matter, but I’ll deal with him when I deal with him. Or I’ll go to the authorities. I mean, I’ve seen a lot. Certainly enough to put him away."
