Hayden

Landon had tracked down the guy in the photographs. Why the bloody hell he wouldn’t meet us in London, I had no idea. I was paying him enough. It had been a nearly two-hour drive out to Essex. I hoped it would be worth it. I bowed my head as I entered the dark, old-fashioned pub. An inglenook fireplace that had horse brasses pinned to its breast stood at one end and a bar at the other. This place hadn’t seen a paintbrush in a thousand years.

I scanned the room and caught sight of my brother. I paused and slid my eyes to his companion sitting opposite him. The familiar stranger’s hair didn’t look so ginger in the dim light of the small-windowed room.

“Hello,” I said as I pulled out a chair.

“Good, you’re here,” my brother said, stating the obvious. “I’ve got you a beer.” I glanced at the three pint glasses on the table filled with different shades of brown liquid. I hadn’t had a beer since I’d left university. I preferred a good whiskey, but alcohol wasn’t the thing I was focused on. “You’ll recognize Phil from the photographs. As I said to you on the phone, he was a hired hand for Cannon, not an employee.”

“I work for the highest bidder, simple as that,” Phil said. His accent was non-distinct, and he matched the tone, looked as if he would blend into a crowd.

Phil seemed ready to launch into an explanation of his life story, but my brother interrupted him. “It seems he doesn’t know a hell of a lot, so I’m not sure what use he’s going to be.”

When we’d uncovered Gerald’s treachery, I’d ordered a full security check on all senior members of my staff. I was satisfied there would be no more leaks, but for me, it wasn’t over. Not yet. And not because Cannon wasn’t going to be held to account. I’d been clear I didn’t want to press charges against them or Gerald. I wanted the rot cut out and the focus back on being the best at what I did. I’d claimed my power back, kept my investors happy and bought Phoenix. I wasn’t out for revenge. The best way I could get my own back was by being successful despite Cannon’s best efforts to ruin me as they had my father.

But it wasn’t over. Not quite. We’d not managed to trace the payments into Avery’s—or any of her family’s—bank account. And if that money never showed up, I would always have a doubt in the back of my mind. I was sure I would replay our conversation where I confronted her about the phone and the photographs again and again and again. It had been three months, but the memory was fresh as if it were yesterday. I was fighting an internal war, where I changed sides every time I thought back to that conversation. Should I have believed her? I needed certainty to shut down any memory I ever had of Avery Walker.

As the money hadn’t shown up, unless I confronted Cannon’s board, who would simply deny the entire mess, then the only person who could confirm Avery’s guilt was Phil. I needed closure, because thoughts of Avery Walker were haunting me. I’d tried everything I could to bleach my mind of her, but despite the long hours, the booze and training as if I was trying to make the Olympic team, I still yearned for her. I’d assumed being with other women would help, but for some reason I couldn’t do it. Since leaving the yacht, I’d made do with my fist and some bad porn.

I nodded. “Let’s see,” I told Landon. I wanted to hear exactly what had happened from the horse’s mouth. I had nothing to lose at this point. “Phil, I’m going to pay you a lot of money and in return, I want to hear about all your dealings with Cannon, directly or indirectly, and from the beginning. If I find out you’ve lied to me or spared me the truth or misled me in any way . . . Well,” I said, glancing at my brother. “I know some very dangerous men. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?” I’d never resorted to physical violence or even threats of physical violence before. Even at school, I always left that to my brother, but I’d never been so serious. Up until now the evidence had been compelling but circumstantial. I wanted certainty when it came to Avery Walker.

Phil shrugged. “Like I said, I’m a gun for hire. And like you said, you’re paying me a lot of money.”

“Okay, go on,” I said.

“I’ve been working for the firm that put me on the Cannon job on and off since I left MI5. I’d done a few jobs for Cannon. They were good clients. It was easy work. Just surveillance and information gathering mainly.”

“And they learned to trust you?” Landon asked.

“I guess. Then this job came along and they were offering good money to spend some time in the sun. What’s not to like? They said it was surveillance and questioning. Nothing big.” He paused as if he were trying to recall the details.

“Did they give you a list of people to surveil?”

He shook his head. “No. They told me to find your boat and report back to them. That was it at first. That took a few days because you weren’t in the marina. And then I called in a few favors, got details of the crew on board. Avery Walker was the easiest target.”

I winced as his thin lips curled around her name. I hated the sound of it coming from his mouth.

“She wasn’t working for Cannon?” I asked.

He took a sip of his drink and the few seconds delay in his answer felt as if it lasted hours. “No, it was my job to get her to talk. I thought it would be easy. I knew her family needed the money and that she sent most of her salary and tips home. I thought five thousand dollars would be enough. But not a chance.”

Five thousand dollars hadn’t bought her. At least she’d tried to resist. “So you didn’t approach any other crew members at all? No deck crew? It was just Avery?”

“No, I was convinced she’d break. Especially for so much money.” He picked up his pint and took a sip as if we were discussing the latest Six Nations match. “I can’t believe she turned down that money. I’ve never offered so much to a source for so little. I mean, it was just the name of the company you were buying and how much you were going to pay.”

“You were surprised she didn’t take the five thousand?”

“No, the hundred and fifty thousand. That’s what I got told to offer her.” He shook his head. “It was a lot of money she walked away from just for a few bits of information. I wasn’t asking her to plant listening devices or really do anything that would put her in danger.”

She’d turned it down? I knew how much her family needed the money, how much it would have meant for her to have that amount of cash for her brother. She probably could have skipped a season or at least got a job back in Sacramento. Guilt churned in my stomach. What had I done?

“They were stunned when she didn’t bite,” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “I was surprised. Especially as it kept getting better for us. Cannon pulled a few strings and had her brother’s insurance coverage reassessed. Her brother’s entitlements were cut. We thought she would have been desperate for the cash. I thought it was a perfect moment to make that final, big offer. But she said no.”

I leaned back and tried to take in what I’d just heard. Avery’s brother—the person she worked so hard for, had given up her own dreams and aspirations to provide for—had had his health insurance cut? Because of me. Her brother, her guilt about the accident and her need for redemption were Avery’s Achilles’ heel and she’d still not sold me out?

“But she still didn’t take the money?” My heart began to thunder through my chest. I’d been right about her the first time. She’d not betrayed me. She’d protected me. I’d always known Cannon were lowlifes, and I’d been content to walk away from the immoral, illegal things they’d done in order to try to bury me. I’d been determined to take the high road, clear in my mind that my revenge would come with my success despite them. What this guy was saying changed things. Now I wanted to bury them. I might not like it, but I understood that her telling some guy Phoenix’s name in return for her brother’s wellbeing would be a small price to pay. It had been an impossible situation for her.

“Nope. Not a penny. When she called me from the satellite phone, I thought I had her. I really did.” He shook his head in disbelief. “But she wanted to know who else I’d approached on the crew. Didn’t even ask for more money. Just a flat-out no.”

Could she really be that good? Would she sacrifice her brother . . . for me? Everything he was saying rang true to me. The Avery he was describing was exactly the woman I knew. The woman I’d kissed on the upper deck while watching the fireworks, the woman who’d worked tirelessly to keep me happy, even when it wasn’t her job, because that was her nature. She was kind and sweet and loyal just as I’d always thought. She really was that good.

And I’d thrown her away, assumed the worst, accused her of betraying me when really, I’d been the one who betrayed her. I’d not believed in her. I’d not trusted myself.

I was an idiot.

“And that’s it? There’s nothing else?”

Phil shrugged. “A couple of days later Cannon cancelled the job.”

That must have been when my acquisition of Phoenix had been announced.

“I want to hear from you if you ever get another job offer from Cannon. I’ll make it worth your while.”

Phil tipped back the last of his pint and pushed out his chair, leaving me heavy with guilt and unsure of my next move.

“What was all that about?” Landon asked when Phil left.

“All what?” I asked. He’d known why we were here.

“This whole conversation was about Avery. Are you still hung up on her or something? Surely she was just a convenient fuck.”

I leaned back, staring out the window into the black, and let the dark wave of guilt wash over me. What had I done? “We weren’t just fucking.”

“What does that mean?”

I wasn’t sure what it meant. I just knew that between us, it had been different. The connection we had was inexorable. We’d proven that. I’d been drawn to her despite it being the most demanding time in my life, when all I’d worked for, all I’d become was on the line. And she . . . she’d risked her job, her redemption for me.

And it had all worked out for me. I’d bought Phoenix, defeated Cannon. But our relationship had brought her only misery. I’d believed her guilty of a betrayal she wasn’t capable of. Her being with me had ruined everything for her, yet I’d walked away with a bruised ego and an aching heart and I’d thought I was the one badly off. “It means I fucked up.”

“There was plenty of evidence,” Landon said. “You were well within your rights to think she was selling secrets.”

He was wrong. Avery had never shown herself to be the kind of person who would betray me. “I had no right whatsoever. She’d put her career on the line for me. If people had found out about us, she wouldn’t have been able to get another job. Why would I think that after that, she’d betray me? I must have lost my mind.” I thrust my hands through my hair, my body hot with panic. What had I done?

“Jesus, you sound like this woman was really important to you.”

I sighed, sliding down in my chair. “She was.”

“Then go apologize.”

I scoffed. “Oh yeah, because it’s that easy. Integrity and loyalty are at her very core and I accused her of having neither.”

Landon winced. “We all make mistakes. Even you, Hayden Wolf.”

“You saying you do too?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course not. But if I did and I had a way of setting things right, I’d like to think that I would try.”

I groaned, remembering our last conversation. “She’ll never forgive me. I was nasty. Spiteful. I just felt so . . .” Betrayed wasn’t a strong enough word. Vulnerable was how I’d felt, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud. Landon wouldn’t understand. “I’d just thought things were different with her. I mean, we talked. Shared stuff. I thought I knew her and I wanted her to know me.”

Landon nodded, and spared me the shit I’d assumed he’d give me. “Sounds a little out of character for a guy who divided women into two categories: those he worked with and those he shagged.”

I cringed at his accurate reflection of my relationships with women before Avery. Avery had felt like a friend, a partner, a soulmate. She wasn’t anyone to put in a category. “Yeah, Avery was different.”

I had to do something, make it up to her. She’d turned down that money from Cannon only to have me turn on her. And now, because of me, her brother’s insurance was fucked. “I’m going to need you to help me with some stuff. I don’t know how Cannon managed to get to the insurance company, but I need to find a way of setting it straight.”

“I have her address in Sacramento,” he said. “It’s just a private jet away.”

“Why would you want me to chase after this girl? I thought you didn’t understand monogamy?”

“I don’t, but it sounds to me like you have to have this girl.”

He was right. My pull toward Avery was as strong as ever. It had never wavered, even when I suspected the worst of her. But I couldn’t just turn up on her doorstep. I didn’t even know if she’d be there, let alone if she’d agree to see me.

“No, this is about paperwork. She suffered, her brother suffered, and all because Avery was part of the crew on the yacht I chartered. I can’t let that stand. She’s done nothing wrong, and yet her family is bearing the brunt of being associated with me. This isn’t about me getting what I want—even if I do want her. This is about me making things right for her and her family.”

Landon grinned around his pint glass and after taking a sip, set it down. “If you tell anyone I said this, I’ll deny it, but you’re a decent guy, Hayden. I’m kinda proud you’re my brother.”

Landon was a war hero. He’d fought and sacrificed for his country. For him to be proud of me was beyond anything I could hope for. “I won’t tell a soul,” I replied and clinked my glass against his. I might be terrible at relationships with women and I might have become a paranoid control freak, but my brother and I had something in common: we were men of action and we didn’t stop until we’d got what we wanted. I’d make things right with Avery. It was the least I could do.