Her eyes looked haunted. Like she had seen a ghost and heard the worst news of her life all at the same time. He wished he could take her away from all this and head down to the Bahamas. To their villa where they’d gotten married. Where everything had been safe, and perfect. He wanted the light back in her eyes. This was all his fault.

When Allyson hung up her phone, he asked, “What is it?”

“That was Lester,” she replied softly.

He clenched his jaw, bracing himself for the bad news. “Has he finished speaking with the prosecutor?”

She nodded. “He’s negotiated a plea deal. But I have to decide and get back to the States within four days.”

“You’re not going to take it,” he said firmly. “We’re going to call Lester back right now and make him pin this on me. We’ll say I put you up to taking the fall, but I changed my mind and have decided to turn myself in.”

“No. You’re not going to jail for me,” she said.

Crossing his arms, he narrowed his eyes at his wife. Damn her stubbornness. Damn her unwillingness to listen to reason. “Stop being noble. Put Lester back on the phone.”

“No.”

“That’s not a suggestion, Allyson,” he said flatly. “If you won’t call him back, I will.”

“I’m not letting you sit in prison for three years for something you didn’t do,” she said.

“Ditto,” he said.

“I’m the one who’s been accused,” she said. “Not you.”

“So, you’re taking the deal?” he asked.

“No, I’m not,” she said. “We’ve been over this. I’m not admitting to something I didn’t do. I’m not going to disgrace my family like this. I refuse to let the world go on thinking I’m this dishonest person.”

“Better to be free with everyone thinking you’re guilty than to be locked up and everyone thinking you’re innocent,” he said harshly. “Listen to reason. You won’t let me go in your place. You refuse to take a plea deal with a reduced sentence. This insanity has gone on long enough.”

She inhaled sharply, her eyes shining with tears. “You have no idea what this is like. To have your own mother look at you like she doesn’t know you. I can’t live with that. I won’t.”

“I beg you,” he ground out, “don’t do this. Don’t force me to go on without you for thirty years. I can’t do that. If you go away, Allyson, you might as well kill me. Because I can’t live without you.”

Allyson covered her face with her hands, but he could hear her softly sobbing. Her shoulders heaved like the weight of the world was breaking her apart.

The sight of his wife in so much distress tore at his heart. Filled him with an agony he couldn’t begin to describe. The desperation that gripped him now was driving him so insane he couldn’t breathe. His chest constricted painfully. The thought of losing her. Of watching her go to prison for decades. It was almost like finding out she was dying.

“Give me tonight,” she said, her voice hitching.

“What?”

“Let me look for the evidence at Nicky’s apartment.” She lowered her hands, revealing a wan face streaked with tears. The sight tore at his heart all over again. “Let me try to find evidence that clears my name. Who knows? If I find something good enough, maybe things won’t even have to go to trial. Maybe they’ll drop these charges entirely and get the real thief.”

“If I give you tonight, will you promise to let me go to prison in your place if you don’t find anything?” he asked.

She nodded solemnly. “I promise. I’ll let you go ahead with your plan.”

He slumped back in his chair, relief coursing through him. But the relief suddenly gave way to another worry. Allyson’s promise made tonight even more dangerous than he had anticipated.

The prospect of him going to jail in her place could make his wife do something reckless and dangerous just to keep him out of jail. Because, as different as they were from each other, they were both alike in one way. There was nothing either of them wouldn’t do to protect the other. And if Dane was willing to give his life to protect his wife, there was no telling what Allyson might to do save him.

“Just don’t do anything crazy tonight,” he said. “Don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

Allyson was always honest with him, so somehow his wife’s word was going to have to be enough.

 

~~*~~

 

She hadn’t had jitters about getting dressed since her wedding day. Yet Allyson was a bundle of nerves as slipped into the short blue cocktail dress.

“You look beautiful,” Dane said behind her. He whistled. “Damn sexy. Maybe we should just stay here.”

Turning away from the mirror to look at him, she forced a smile. Her husband looked so handsome in the light gray suit he was wearing. He wasn’t wearing a tie, making his formal outfit look less formal and slightly dangerous. “Thank you. You look very handsome.”

He walked up to her and took her hands in his. “You remember what we discussed?”

She nodded, remembering the plan they had gone over in the fish and chip shop earlier today. Dane would distract Katherine and Nicholas by suggesting some business venture that they couldn’t resist.

Meanwhile she would talk business with Rebecca Greene, and then slip away from the conversation long enough to snoop around.

“Yes, I do,” she breathed.

Suddenly Dane cupped her face in his hands. His touch made her body tingle all over. What she wouldn’t give to forget about their troubles and spend the rest of the night in bed with her husband. His blue eyes burned into hers, reminding her that she was his.

Desperate for more contact she leaned forward, grabbed the lapels of his jacket, and pressed her mouth to his. Heat unfurled in her stomach, spreading through her entire body. All she was now was wanton longing.

His hands slid away from her face and he grasped the nape of her neck possessively. She already had her lipstick on, but she didn’t care. Let him kiss it off. Let him kiss away all the pain and fear and torment.

He pried open her mouth with his tongue and she took him in, her tongue meeting his. As their tongues collided she clung to him even more tightly, not wanting this moment with the man she loved to ever end. She needed this. Needed him. Needed his touch. His body.

Better to get lost in the sensation their bodies gave each other than to let him see the truth in her eyes. She had lied to him. Made a promise she had no intention of keeping. If he knew what she was planning, her husband would never forgive her. But at least he would be free.

Free to live. To work. To find love again if he wanted it. That thought made her pull away abruptly. She couldn’t kiss him with the thought of him moving on to another woman flashing in her head.

He rested his forehead on hers. “Be careful tonight.”

“I will.” That was another lie. Tonight, she had no intention of being careful.

Pulling away from him, she turned her attention back to the mirror. She reapplied her makeup and slipped into her cashmere coat.

Then, she and Dane stepped out of their suite and met up with Lester, Alfred, and Alfred’s assistant to take the rented luxury car to Nicholas Handel’s apartment.

Nicholas greeted them at the door and offered to take them on a tour of the luxury apartment. The space was expansive, pristine. There were scores of guests, Prescott’s London staff as well as London’s elite mingling, sipping drinks, and eating oysters. It was all very decadent, a show of Nicky’s power and influence despite the fact that Alfred, Prescott’s founder, and Dane, Prescott’s CEO, were senior to him.

Just as Allyson had suspected there was an office, and she knew that she was going to have to sneak back there unnoticed sometime during the night.

After the tour, Dane started talking to Nicholas and Katherine. Allyson made sure to keep them in her sights as she approached Rebecca Greene on the far side of the living room.

“You look lovely, Rebecca,” Allyson said.

Rebecca beamed. She was sporting a black lace knee-length dress that fit her beautifully. “Thank you, Mrs. Prescott. So do you. You look very elegant tonight.”

“Thank you.” Allyson smiled. She hated wondering if a perfectly nice woman like Rebecca was the one responsible for the embezzlement. It seemed so unlikely, but anything was possible now.

As they talked about work and the girl’s football line that Nicholas had suggested, Allyson felt her insides knot up. The moment of truth was approaching, and she was on edge.

“I hate to ask, but do you would you happen to have a tampon or anything?” Allyson interrupted, her face turning bright red. She could feel the burn on her cheeks and all the way down her neck. It was the perfect cover- up.

“Oh, you’re in luck.” Rebecca reached into her tiny clutch and discreetly handed a tampon to Allyson. “I’ve got some painkillers as well if you need any.”

“That’s all right, thank you,” Allyson said. “I’ll just head over to the bathroom.”

She hurried away from Rebecca and stepped out of the living room. Making her way down the hall, she looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was around. She rushed by the bathroom and slipped into Nicky’s office, gently closing the door behind her.

The office was dark except for the light of the moon streaming in through the window. Turning on the light would probably make her search easier, but she didn’t want to risk anyone seeing the glow of the light from outside.

Her heart hammered in her chest. Sweat formed on her brow. Steeling herself, she walked over to the large desk in front of the bookcase and opened the top drawer. She retrieved her phone from her purse to use it as a flashlight while she rifled through the documents in the drawer.

There were financial statements, memos, business plans. Nothing that seemed helpful. Frustrated, she turned her attention to the other drawers. There were more documents. Contracts, business letters, legal filings. A manila folder that was stamped with the word ‘Confidential’ caught her attention. With her hands shaking, she reached into the folder and pulled out the contents.

She gasped as she held her phone over the words to read. Nicholas Handel’s will. A will that bequeathed most of his fortune to charities, but with one small exception.

Suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps made her jerk in surprise. Her heart jumped into her throat. As fast as she could, she shoved her phone back into her purse. 

The doorknob on the office door rattled.

Oh shit. Someone was trying to get in. If it was Nicholas, she was done for. She had no way of explaining her presence in his office. Realizing there was no time to put the documents back properly, her eyes darted around the room for a hiding place.

She was having a hard time adjusting to the near darkness of the room. Ducking under the table seemed like a bad idea, but then, in the light of the moon, she spotted the huge velvet curtain that had been pulled back from the window.

The door began to creak open. With her heart slamming against her ribs she scurried behind the heavy curtain, hoping to God that nobody found her.

Footsteps sounded as someone stepped into the room.

Please don’t turn on the light. Please don’t turn on the light.

She held her breath, her hands still gripping the documents in her hand. The terror of making a sound that gave her away was almost unbearable.

Another set of footsteps.

“Nicholas.” Dane’s voice. He sounded agitated. “Forget about the book. My father wants to talk to you about this investment I was telling you about.”

“Suit yourself,” Nicholas said. “But then I win the bet. I have the book here.”

“Fine.” Dane gave out an exasperated breath. “You know how it is with fathers.”

Nicholas snorted. “Tell me about it.”

The sound of door creaking shut made her exhale, desperate to catch her breath. The sound of the footsteps began to fade, and she slipped out from behind the curtain.

She knew Nicholas Handel’s secret now. Knew what he was hiding. And if there was time, there could very well be a chance to solve the mystery. Figure out who the embezzler was. But there was no time. Dane had given her a firm demand.

He’d given her the chance to sneak around Nicky’s home with the assurance that, if she didn’t get enough evidence to clear her name, he’d go to jail in her place. She had promised to let him go ahead with that plan. But she had no intention of keeping that promise.

Allyson folded the documents in her hand and shoved them into her purse. Stealing something this valuable was a huge risk, but she needed to have a backup plan in case things went awry.

With the documents now in her purse, she raced out of the office and locked herself in the bathroom. Tears stung her eyes. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. The face staring back at her looked exhausted. Ghostly pale.

“Get it together,” she hissed at her reflection.

Fighting back tears, she squared her shoulders. She had no intention of letting her husband go to jail in her place. The only way to save Dane was to agree to the terms of the plea deal. Admit to a crime she didn’t commit and face three years in prison. The thought of the whole world thinking she was a thief made her heart ache. But the thought of Dane in prison because of her was something she could never live with. Ever.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the bathroom, ready to lie to her husband for the second time since they had gotten married.