Chapter 22

The smell of coffee roused me from my sleep. Jay wasn’t in bed. I climbed out of bed to go find him and the coffee.

“Morning,” I said, tying the belt of my robe.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Jay jumped out of his dining chair and rushed to my side. He put his hand on the small of my back and kissed my cheek.

My body warmed all over again at his attention. Jay could do nothing but make me feel amazing.

“I need coffee,” I said, moving to the dining table. Room service had brought another huge spread of food with coffee and orange juice.

I busied myself stuffing my face with pastries and exotic fruits while Jay tapped away on his computer.

“We’ll fly home around five,” he said. I pulled the danish away from my mouth.

“Will I have time to see Jenny tonight?”

“No, we’ll arrive too late.”

“I’m going to have them to our house for dinner next weekend. Is that okay with you?” Why was I asking his permission?

“Sure. Just tell the cook what you want him to make.”

“Does this cook have a name?”

Jay looked up at me, his eyebrow raised.

“It’s just, I’ve never met him, and you’ve never told me his name or anything.”

“It’s Cole.”

“Cole the cook?” I giggled.

“He’ll do whatever you want.”

I was more likely to do whatever Cole the cook wants, otherwise I’d only be able to tell him lasagna or chicken parmesan.

Jay’s computer chimed and he turned his attention to it. I chewed on my danish, watching him. His eyes flicked over the screen, like he was reading the same thing again and again.

“What’s wrong? You look worried.”

His eyes flicked up to mine then back down to the screen.

“Nothing.” His voice didn’t sound like nothing. I chewed my pastry, keeping watch on his face. I thought back over the past few weeks, my mind immediately springing to the boat.

I swallowed and cleared my throat. “It doesn’t look like nothing. You look upset.”

He pushed his eyes into mine, glaring. “I said it’s nothing.”

“And I said I don’t believe you. I know you. I’m your wife, remember. Stop keeping stuff from me. Maybe I can help you.”

His eyes shifted back to the screen.

“No.”

“Why, Jay? What are you hiding from me?” I’d meant it as a joke. A half joke.

“I’d never hide anything from you.”

“Then what are you holding back? I can tell, you know.”

“Okay, you want to know? I’ll tell you.” He hadn’t looked back up, didn’t look at me.

He still didn’t move, so I went around the table and stood behind him. Jay shut his laptop. I hugged him, draping my body over his back. I rubbed his arms, trying to comfort him. To make him understand that he could tell me anything.

I could feel his heart thumping through the back of his ribcage and into mine. He ruffled his hair. This was unlike Jay.

“Is it the boat?” I asked, thinking of the severed fuel line.

“Yeah.”

“You can tell me anything. Stop keeping it bundled up inside. You’ll feel better to get it off your chest.”

He straightened and pulled me around to the front of his body. He studied my face, as if I were the one who couldn’t be trusted.

I smooth his hair from where his hands had messed it up. He looked so vulnerable.

“I love you,” I said, my voice dripping with emotion.

Jay closed his eyes and swallowed. “Beautiful, I love you.”

“You can tell me.” My eyes pleaded with him.

“I’m being blackmailed.”

My brow furrowed as my mind raced. I hadn’t expected that. “Blackmailed? By Calvin?”

“Yeah. He’d been embezzling money into offshore accounts, and used bad reporting to cover it up.”

“But how is he blackmailing you?”

“When he was fired, he lost access to the accounts. Now he wants the money and more.”

“What do the police say?” This was far more serious than I’d expected. I sat down on the chair next to him.

“I haven’t told them.”

“But why?”

“Because they set it up in a way that implicates me. If I go to the police, they will investigate me for it.” They?

“Who are they? It’s more than just Calvin?” It had to be, Calvin was too stupid to set up that on his own. I thought. That was probably why he hated me, because I might have uncovered his little scam.

“A friend of his.”

“Another colleague?”

“Ex-colleague.”

“Jay, you’ve got to go to the police.”

His head shot up, his eyes locked onto mine. “That’s not an option.”

“Okay. Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m negotiating that. But in the meantime, don’t let him anywhere near you.”

I leaned into my chair back and rested my head along top of it. I stared blankly at the ceiling, working through the new information in my head. Calvin. Evil Calvin. Was that why he sent the email of the sex photo at the lake? Because Jay didn’t pay enough? If he’d never sent the email, would I ever have found out who Jay was? The idea sent a shiver down my spine.

Did he have anything else on me? I hated being included in this whole thing.

But Jay had confided in me and that warmed my heart. It felt like a new level of understanding in our relationship. A new level of trust to start our married life with.

* * *

“You must be able to close the off-shore accounts.”

“I’ve already done that. But they’re still demanding the money.”

“How much money are we talking about?”

Jay looked at me as if to say mind your own business.

“I’m your wife now, remember.”

He let out a long, slow exhale. “Several hundred million.”

I coughed. “Excuse me?”

“Yes, it’s that much.”

“You have to stop them. You can’t let them get away with it!”

“Beautiful, I’m doing what I can.”

“Is it only the two of them?”

“As far as I know.”

“Who’s the other guy?”

He retracted his head, looking at me sideways. “I told you, it’s an ex-worker at Force McAllister.”

“Did I ever work with him?”

“No, he left before you joined.” Jay knew when I joined? He must have read through all my employee files. I wonder what he thought of Calvin’s nasty comments about me.

“How senior was he?”

“Pretty senior. He had a unique role, more like an in-house consultant.”

“An in-house consultant?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re sure there’s no way you can go to the police? Have you spoken with a lawyer?”

“No, I don’t need their advice.”

“But it’s so much money. How do you not want all the advice you can get?”

“Abbie, I don’t care about the money.”

“Then why were you so upset at the email?” My brow creased, this wasn’t making sense.

Jay didn’t say anything, instead standing and leaving the room. He strode down the hall and I heard the bathroom door shut. My hands trembled at his reaction.

Why didn’t he answer? What was he hiding? How many more of those envelopes did Calvin have for me?

The noise of the shower flooded down the hall. I looked over my shoulder and pulled the laptop in front of me. Should I be doing this? I had to know. I opened the lid. The chance to find out more about this ‘consultant’ was too big to pass up.

Enter Password

Damn. I tried AbbieWhite. AbigailWhite. Beautiful. AbbieWhite1. AbigailWhite1. What could it be? My index finger tapped on the J key. Out of desperation, I tried JamesMcAllisterlovesAbbieWhite. I rolled my eyes at it being too silly to be the actual password but I hit enter anyway.

Locked out due to failed password attempts. You have tried to log in six times. Contact the IT department.

My heart froze.

What would I do now?

I slammed shut the lid and ran into the bedroom. After pulling on the second thing I saw, I ran out the door.

I didn’t even wait for the elevator, instead running down the hall until I found a stairwell. I skipped down the stairs, taking two steps at a time until I’d gone down about four floors from our own. My heart pounding, I ran down the hall to the elevators and pushed the button, my chest heaving from running so fast.

As I waited, I tried to tame my messy bed head hair in the mirror opposite the elevators. What if Jay was on the elevator when the doors opened? I could only hope I got here before he realized I’d left. And that I’d locked him out of the computer.

The door opened, revealing an empty interior. I hit the button for the ground floor and tried to calm myself. Where was I going? What was I doing? I didn’t even bring my purse.

How was Jay going to react when he saw the computer message? And what was he going to think about my absence? I had to think up a plausible excuse.

I stepped out onto the casino level. Maybe I could hide amongst the slot machines.

This was stupid. Was I going to hide from him forever? He was my husband, it was not like I was never going to see him again. I had to go back before it was time to leave for our flight. Was I making it better or worse by not being there when he opened the computer?

I sat on a padded stool in front of a slot machine, letting the blinking lights mesmerize me while I thought over the problem.

It all came down to one question. How angry was Jay going to be with me for trying to access his computer?