Chapter 26

Jessibelle

I didn’t want to be the one to tell him about his real estate conglomerate, but there was no choice. He’d turned up in my PI’s office, out of nowhere, not exactly giving me time to prepare. I’d broken the news of his brother’s backstabbing actions, and Zach seemed to accept that. Now, I had to follow that up with more bad news? Great, just what I wanted to deliver to the man who had my heart in a vice. A one-two punch. I hated this job sometimes.

“The justice department has found improprieties with the real estate segment of the business.” I spoke in an even tone and explained as gently as I could. “The one you still have control over. They’re launching a full investigation next week.”

“What the fuck?” He exploded again. I couldn’t blame him. If I had to deal with even half of the things he’d just found out, I would’ve been tossing furniture around by now.

“When did this come through?” he demanded. I glanced at the papers on the desk in front of me.

“Day before yesterday,” I said. “I wanted to get some kind of lead on the investigation before we dropped that on you.”

“Oh, so you wanted to take my brother and what’s left of my business from me in one fell swoop, then?”

“That’s not what this was about.” I tried to reassure him, but I was so exhausted from everything that had happened over the last few days, I barely had it in me to boost his ego. I’d headed to my mother’s, but before I got there, I hired the PI for the case, knowing my job had to come first, even if my heart was wrecked.

Perhaps one reason I’d made the detour was that there was a good chance my creepy-ass stepfather would be hanging out at Mom’s home. The last thing I needed was to deal with his overly touchy-feely attempts to father me. Even now, the thought of the peck on the lips he’d delivered to me when he’d gotten me the job at his firm was enough to make me shudder with disgust.

Once I’d started working with Jacob, we’d found so much that went back so far and so deep that I knew I’d been looking down the right rabbit holes all along. There was no doubt in my mind that Zach’s brother was behind the rebellion taking place at the company. That wasn’t enough, though. We needed proof and it had to be ironclad. A defense that Aston’s former firm couldn’t shake.

I’d hoped to have it all tied up in a neat bow before Zach turned up. If I didn’t have the whole package I’d at least have settled for something to prove without a doubt that I was telling the truth and not just speculating wildly or trying to throw a wrench into the family dynamics. But then, Zach showed up out of nowhere, despite my specific instructions not to let anyone know where I was or what I was doing. I guessed being the boss meant he could get anything out of anyone whenever he wanted, whether I liked it or not. Now here he was, in front of me, demanding answers I didn’t have.

Yet.

“Jesus Christ, this investigation,” he mumbled, pressing his head into his hands and letting out a deep sigh.

“I know.” I wanted to reach over and take his hand, but we were already pushing the boundaries of what we should be doing in this office as it was. I didn’t want to take things any further. “I know it’s tough, but you—”

“—You believe me, don’t you?” He looked up at me, his eyes meeting mine, and I jolted slightly in my seat, taken aback.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you believe all this stuff they’re accusing me of is a lie, don’t you?” His eyes widened with something not far from mania. I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him so badly, but after everything I’d seen, I wasn’t convinced the investigation by Justice Department wasn’t on to something. After all, his brother couldn’t have had so much influence over what they chose to do with their time. This investigation, despite everything else that surrounded it, had to be based on something real. I just couldn’t shake that knowledge. I closed my mouth again, and Zach raised his eyebrows at me.

He snapped at me accusingly. “You don’t believe me, do you?” I shook my head.

“That investigation has nothing to do with our case. What the board is accusing you of,” I pointed out. “You know we’ll do everything we can to make sure everything goes according to plan, to get you back in charge of your business again . . .”

He cut me off. “You’re talking about the whole firm, right?”

“What?”

“You’re talking like ‘we’re’ going to do this, ‘we’ want the best for you,” he pointed out, never one to miss a trick. “Are you still as invested as you were in the beginning?”

I shifted in my seat. I supposed I had lost sight of some of the reasons I was doing this in the first place. But then, I needed to keep this man at arm’s length, needed to keep him out of my head, because letting him snake into my brain was a recipe for disaster, and I had to keep my eyes on the case.

“Of course, I am,” I responded smoothly after a long beat. “I just meant all of us are behind you on proving you’re in the right with this court case, that’s all.”

“You better be,” he muttered, and I could see something brewing behind his eyes, something new, different. As though he was just beginning to put the pieces together himself.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, but he shook his head, holding his hand up to silence me. I would’ve been pissed at the rudeness of his gesture, but it seemed like he was finally coming to terms with something. He stayed silent, staring at a spot just behind my head. His intensity made me a little uncomfortable. Zach was someone who was totally all-or-nothing, one-hundred-percent in, or he was out. Nothing in between. Why would this be any different?

“It’s just all coming together,” he muttered, more to himself than to me, and my eyes widened.

“What’s coming together?” I demanded, grabbing for a notebook and a pen. “Can you clue me in? Does it have to do with the case?”

He shook his head and then nodded, and I wasn’t sure which one to take as the answer. I waited for an explanation, but he didn’t offer one.

“Zachary,” I snapped at him, waving my hand in front of his face and hoping his full name might draw his attention. “If there’s something you think would be relevant, then you need to tell me. We need to build the strongest case we can, so you have the best chance of holding on to your business.”

But it was as if my words flowed off his back, like they didn’t even break the surface of his concentration. He lifted his eyes slowly and blinked as though trying to put something together in his head. His eyes on mine were enough to make my stomach curl. It was heating something primal beneath my skin. I should’ve been firmly over whatever it was this man had to offer me, but his gaze was still strong enough to send something sparking along my body, a sensation that had been dormant since we’d fucked back in my apartment.

“It’s about my father,” he muttered to himself, and before I could stop him, he was on his feet and heading out the door. I went after him, trying to stop him, but I knew once he had this in his head, there was no getting in his way.

“What’s about your father?” I demanded, exasperated. He paused on the staircase. Jacob waited nearby, glancing between us as though he could feel the importance of the moment hanging in the air.

“He’s trying to live up to a ghost.” He shook his head, continuing down the stairs. The pause was nothing more than Zach solidifying his thoughts into a cohesive whole, not an attempt to explain it to either of us. I glanced at Jacob apologetically and ran down the stairs, hurrying to catch up with Zach as he made his way outside and onto the street.

“Zach, please tell me what the hell you’re talking about,” I pleaded, hoping I was conveying how important this was to me.

“Something’s rotten down there,” he shook his head. “I need to—”

He pulled his car keys from his pocket, and I could see him slipping away from me. I didn’t know what I could do to stop him. He stalked over to his car on the opposite side of the street, and I rushed over to it, putting myself between him and the door, and planted my hands on my hips.

“Zach, please catch me up on what’s going through your head right now,” I demanded, but it was in vain. His eyes were distant, and it was clear his mind was racing in a direction out of my reach. I didn’t have any right to demand an explanation, but surely, by now, he knew telling me what was going on was the best course of action.

“I can’t,” he replied at last, finally looking me in the eye. “I need to get out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I replied, lifting my chin and daring him to physically move me out of his way. Well, I should’ve known he wouldn’t hold back, and sure enough, he tucked his hands beneath my arms and lifted me away from his car, placing me carefully on the sidewalk next to it. I gasped. He had seriously just done that? I stood there in shock, letting the man I needed more than anything get away.

He slid into his car and glanced up at me, a flicker of apology passing across his face.

“I’m sorry about all of this,” he remarked, but I held up my hand. I didn’t want to hear it.

“You can make it up to me by telling me the truth,” I replied, my voice sharper than ever.

“I’ll see you, Jessibelle.” He pulled the car door shut, and launched off into the distance, the car engine roaring as he left me standing on the sidewalk outside Jacob’s office, wondering what the hell had just happened. With a sigh, I headed back into the office. Back to work. At least it was something to keep my mind off Zach for a while.