“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 over 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.

“I’ve read up on this Nicholas Handel,” Lester said, sitting down and gesturing for them to sit down as well. “He’s brilliant. Very good at what he does, but a real nasty piece of work. His sister is probably even more brilliant and even nastier than he is.”

“Have you discovered anything in the files they handed over?” Dane took a seat beside his wife.

“I might have,” Lester said. “But it might also be insignificant.”

“What is it?” Allyson asked.

“I’ve gone over some of the files, and there’s one very large sum of money that stood out to me,” Lester replied. “It’s a trust fund that holds the exact amount of money that has gone missing from Prescott. And the fund has been set up for one of Nicholas Handel’s heirs.”

Dane scratched his jaw. “I don’t remember Nicholas Handel having any heirs.”

“Unless his sister Katherine counts as an heir,” his wife suggested.

“That’s just it,” Lester said. “This kind of trust only gets set up by a certain type of kin. A wife or a child, for instance. People who are considered dependents. Katherine couldn’t be his heir. Neither could his parents.”

She scoffed. “Nicholas definitely isn’t married, and I doubt he has a kid.”

“Are you sure about that?” Lester asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m pretty sure the tabloids would have gotten wind of something like that,” she said. “The London press is obsessed with the Handels, especially now that they’re back in England.”

“Well, regardless of what the tabloids say, Nicholas Handel has an heir,” Lester said. “And that heir has a trust that’s the exact amount that has gone missing from Prescott Global.”

“Why would Nicholas give you a document like that if he was trying to hide it?” Dane asked.

“He isn’t. Not really. Nicholas might be trying to hide the fact that he has an heir, but there’s no way he knows about this trust fund,” Lester said. “If he did, he never would have handed over such a document.”

“So, if his heir is the thief, and the thief has set up an independent trust fund with stolen money, Nicholas has no idea,” Allyson said, sounding amazed.

“Katherine Handel might know, though,” Dane said.

“It’s possible, since she wasn’t the one who gave me the box of documents. Nicholas did that,” Lester said.

“Not to mention Katherine wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to hand over the files to us,” his wife reminded them. 

No, she hadn’t been. And if Dane was remembering correctly, Katherine had been downright hostile. The idea of her brother handing over all those documents had really riled her up. At the time he had thought it was Katherine’s typically combative nature, but there was also a chance that she was up to something.

Dane leaned forward in his seat. “What’s the plan now, Crane?”

Lester reached for a folder and started looking through it. “The only way to figure this out is to talk to the heir.”

His wife chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. “Is there any clue in that file about who Nicky’s heir could be?”

“No clues at all, unfortunately,” Lester said grimly. “At this point it looks like the heir’s existence and identity are a closely-guarded secret. There’s proof of some kind lying around, but we don’t have that kind of access. Not without a warrant. And we can’t get a warrant with so little to go on.”

“Don’t tell me this is a dead end,” Dane said. He hated that his wife seemed hell-bent on clearing her name rather than allowing him to go to prison for her, but the idea of admitting defeat to the Handels didn’t sit well with him.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Allyson said. “If we went to the police and they got a warrant…where would we want them to search?”

Lester furrowed his brow. “The Prescott Tower and any Handel residences, I’d imagine.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said softly. “We’ve been invited to Nicky’s apartment later this week.”

He didn’t like that determined look in her eyes. “No. I forbid it,” Dane said flatly.

“You haven’t even heard my idea yet,” she countered defiantly.

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you sneak around that man’s house,” Dane forced out. “That’s just asking for trouble.” She’d been in enough trouble. He wasn’t about to let her risk being arrested in another country. He couldn’t pull strings back in New York; it was going to be even worse here.

“I have to agree with your husband, Mrs. Prescott,” Lester said. “Sneaking around and stealing documents would be highly unethical. Not to mention illegal.”

“Who said anything about stealing?” she asked. “I could just take photos of whatever evidence I find. It’s not a crime to take photos in a apartment you’ve been invited to.”

Dane stared at his wife, totally stunned. “You’ve been working in corporate America for too long.”

“Oh, come on,” she said. “We came to London to clear my name. So, let’s clear it.”

He crossed his arms. “What happens if you get caught sneaking around and you end up getting arrested again?” 

“I’ll have you to help me so that doesn’t happen,” she said breezily.

It irked him that she didn’t seem to be taking the consequences of her insane idea seriously. “How exactly do you expect me to help you with this mad scheme?”

“You and Mr. Crane can distract everyone while I look through the house,” she replied. “Nicholas is bound to have a study or a home office. I bet that’s where he keeps his important documents.”

“As potentially dangerous as that sounds, it could help with our case,” Lester said.

Dane narrowed his eyes at the lawyer. “Are you kidding me? A second ago you were talking about how unethical all this was.”

“That’s when I thought Mrs. Prescott would be stealing evidence,” Lester said. “Taking photos really isn’t all that criminal.”

He glanced at his wife and their eyes met. The determination hadn’t left her face. “There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”

She shook her head. “No. My own mother believes I’m a thief. This isn’t just about clearing my name. It’s about getting my family to trust and believe in me again. I need this, Dane. I need us to at least try.”

With a heavy sigh, he said, “Fine. We’ll do this. But you have to promise you won’t tell my father or drag him into this plan.”

“I promise I won’t,” she assured him.

The determined expression on her face shifted to one of relief. A relief he didn’t share. Because if there was one thing Dane trusted it was his gut. And his gut told him the worst was yet to come.

 

~~*~~

 

Buckingham Palace loomed in front of them. Allyson squeezed her way through the crowd and pressed up right against the black front gate. Her phone was out, and she held it up to take some shots.

There was a slight chill in the autumn air, but she didn’t mind. Seeing all the London sights today had been totally worth it. The expansive palace was stately, full of windows that the public couldn’t see into. But the flag wasn’t flying at full mast, so the queen wasn’t in residence; still, she felt a jolt of excitement.

When she finally got the shots she wanted, she squeezed back through the crowd and found Dane.

“Ready to go to the park?” he asked.

She nodded excitedly, and together they walked arm in arm to St. James’s Park. The park was beautiful now that the leaves had changed color. The autumn foliage had turned into brilliant shades of vivid red and stunning gold.

After they walked lazily through the park they made their way to a nearby fish and chip shop, with Allyson settling into a booth and Dane going up front to make their order.

Finally, he arrived with their orders

“It’s so warm and cozy here.” She popped a warm fried potato chip into her mouth.

“Did you enjoy the tour of the city?” Dane asked, cutting into his fish.

She nodded excitedly. In addition to seeing Buckingham Palace, they had visited the wax museum and visited Big Ben. It was all very cheesy tourist stuff rather than the fancy things she was still adjusting to, but with the stress of everything she needed to do something fun. Something that took her mind off the fact that later tonight they’d be sneaking around Nicholas Handel’s London apartment.

Which was easier said than done. Right now, her lawyer was probably on a video conference call with the prosecutor of her embezzlement case. She didn’t like it since there might be a plea deal involved, but she could easily shoot it down. If they got enough evidence to clear her name tonight, they wouldn’t need a plea deal.

The thoughts going around her head didn’t exactly help to steady her nerves.

Dane reached across the table to squeeze her hand gently. “Your lawyer knows what he’s doing.”

“I know that,” she said. “Crane is a great attorney, but I don’t like the idea of a plea deal.”

He sighed. “Neither do I. Which is why I still want to take the fall for all of this.”

She groaned inwardly. Her husband still hadn’t let that go. Dane really thought the best way to deal with all this was to admit to something he didn’t do. The only thing worse than everyone thinking she was a thief was Dane going to prison in her place for something he didn’t do. “I’m not discussing this again.”

“Tough, because we are going to discuss it,” he said. “There’s no way in hell you’re going to talk me out of this. It’s the best plan and you know it.”

Before she could come up with a retort, her phone rang loudly. She fished into her handbag and retrieved it. Seeing that it was Lester, she quickly answered it. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mrs. Prescott,” Lester said. “I’ve just wrapped things up with the prosecution.”

Apprehension made her heart hammer wildly. “Yes? What did they say?”

“Well, I think it’s good news, though you might not see it that way,” Lester replied. “The prosecution is willing to give you a plea deal. You plead guilty and get three years, instead of risking a trial.”

She bit her lip. “I see.”

“Here’s the thing, though—we don’t have long to decide. The plea deal is only on the table for a short amount of time,” he went on.

“How long do we have?” she asked.

Her lawyer’s next words filled her with dread. “We have to get back to the States as soon as possible. The plea deal is only on the table for the next four days.”