Breaching the Billionaire: Alethea's Redemption (Book 6) (Legacy Collection) (17 page)

When he stepped back, Alethea stood immobile for a moment, unable to disguise her longing for what she was determined to refuse. She shook her head to clear it and said, “Let’s get out of here then.”

Now, before I forget this isn’t real.

Before I throw myself in your arms and beg you to take me back to your underwater bed.

She checked her phone log simply to give herself something to look at. Lil had called. Repeatedly through the night. Alethea had never ignored her, but the sting of their last encounter was still fresh. If her time off the grid had made Lil regret not trusting her, perhaps it was not a bad thing.

She looked up to see Marc watching her closely. He said, “Our time here is over, but we’re not. Far from it.” He turned and walked out the door of his underground house, leaving her with little choice but to follow behind him. Each door they passed through required a passcode of some sort. The level of security was as impressive on the way out as it had been on the way in.

Inside the elevator, Alethea stood beside Marc and stole a glance at him. He was firmly back in work mode. Gone was the man who frolicked, hilarious in his state of undress, and teased her. Just like her, he had a face he showed the world, and it was firmly back in place.

What had he meant they were far from over? Did he imagine because she’d slept with him once—okay, three times—that he had some sort of weekend pass to her? If so, he was in for a harsh letdown.

They went all the way to the top floor where very few were allowed. Jake’s secretary announced them through her intercom and instructed them to go straight to Jake’s office.

Jake stood when they entered and crossed to greet them. He didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He waved them to take a seat. Neither of them did. There was an energy in the air that wouldn’t allow even a pretense of relaxation. “Jeremy should be here in a couple hours. I’m flying him in. He spent the night retracing Whitman’s findings and he’s come to the same conclusion. All paths lead back to Stephan.”

Marc swore. “Does Dominic know?”

Jake ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I haven’t told him the latest bad news, but I spoke to him yesterday. I was hoping we’d find something to clear Stephan. Nothing. I don’t get it. Dominic is not going to sit back and wait for us to solve this. I’ve asked my parents to help Jeremy with this.”

With the Waltons’ involvement, Alethea didn’t doubt that the culprit would be found. However, Jake was right that Dominic was the time bomb in this scenario. Could they uncover the truth before Dominic went after Stephan and the entire situation flew out of control?

“You’re that sure he’s innocent?” Marc asked.

“I’m that sure we need him to be,” Jake answered. “You don’t want to see what Dominic is capable of if Stephan is using his sister as a cover. He won’t care if he goes to jail over it.”

At least Jake wasn’t in denial when it came to the nature of his best friend. Nor was Marc, judging by how he seemed to silently agree.

“What do you need me to do?” Marc asked.

Unable to stop herself, Alethea cut into their conversation. “If we work backward from the assumption that Stephan isn’t guilty, then we have to conclude that whoever is setting him up is better than Jeremy.”

Jake stopped pacing to look at Alethea. “I’ve never met anyone better than him.”

“Yes, you have. Sliver.”

The mention of the man whom they had thwarted less than a year ago brought a frown to Marc’s face. “I thought he’d been dealt with. Isn’t he underground somewhere, licking his wounds and reduced to repairing DVRs or something?”

Alethea started pacing the room. Her mind raced with possibilities. “What if we weren’t as successful as we thought and this is all connected? What if Sliver is taking another swipe at Dominic, this time using Stephan? We don’t know the man Stephan gave Dominic’s Chinese server access codes to. What if it was Sliver? Someone like that wouldn’t have
rubbed shoulders with Stephan without planting some sort of backdoor entry into his system. And he would be smart enough to use Stephan’s history against him.”

Jake rubbed his chin. “It sounds a bit far-fetched. Not impossible, but improbable. Stephan knew his hacker. He worked for him.”

Alethea’s eyebrows shot up. “Exactly. The ones who can hurt you the most are the ones you’ve let closest.”

Although Marc didn’t look happy with her comment, he nodded in agreement. “Stephan is either a villain or an unsuspecting player in someone else’s game. Sliver’s real name was Stanley, wasn’t it? Jake, have you ever crossed paths with someone by that name?”

“No, not that I know of.”

Tossing up a hand in frustration, Alethea said, “If Sliver was methodically coming after Dominic, and smart enough to use a decoy perpetrator, I’m pretty sure Stanley could be an alias.”

Jake and Marc exchanged a look. Jake said, “Alethea, your theory is based on too much conjecture and not enough fact. That’s a lot of effort to put into what is currently presenting as little more than coding errors. Easy enough to find and fix. Hardly worth the trouble your conspiracy theory requires. Do you have any evidence linking Stephan and Sliver?”

Alethea shook her head and conceded, “No.”

Marc stepped closer to Alethea and asked, “Then what makes you think you’re right?”

He wasn’t being sarcastic; he was interested, so Alethea answered honestly. “It’s a hunch I have. Just a gut feeling.”

Marc looked down at her and nodded slowly. “If you’re right, this security breach goes beyond what Jeremy can patch. I’ll increase my men around Dominic and his family, but the players in this game may already be planted deeply.”

He believes me.

What if . . .

No, don’t read more into this than there is.

Jake went to stand beside his large office window and said, “Dominic gave me twenty-four hours to handle this. You have much less than that. He’s meeting me here in”—he glanced at his watch—“seven hours. Bring me something before then.”

Without another word, Alethea and Marc headed out of the office together. “Come on, I know where we need to start.”

Alethea fell into step beside him. “Where?”

“We need to talk to Stephan.”

Oh really?
As they headed down in the elevator to the parking garage, Alethea asked, “What happened to that idea being explosive and there being other, better ways, to deal with this?”

“This is different.”

“Really? How?”
Because now it’s your idea?

“We’ll be talking to him together.”

Together.

A word that was every bit as terrifying as it was meant to be reassuring.

As the elevator stopped and opened out onto the parking garage, Mark held his arm in front of the door and motioned for her to step out. “Ask him what you had planned to. Let’s see what his answers reveal.”

Somewhat bemused, Alethea stepped into the garage. Marc fell into step beside her. “And what are you going to do?” she asked as they reached his car.

He opened the passenger door for her. “Make sure he doesn’t kill you.”

See what sex gains you? No threatened truck ride for me today.

Alethea shook her head.
Now is not the time for quirky inner dialogue. Focus.
She slid into the passenger seat and watched Marc quickly cross in front of the car, open the door, and join her. They were out of the bunker and still together.

Well, sort of together.

Once again, an outside force postponed what she knew was coming: the awkward promise to call that neither of them would follow through with. Last night hadn’t changed the fact that they had no business being together.

Her phone rang. It was Abby.

Abby?

Had Lil tried to call her all night because something had happened to her?
Oh, God, my best friend is dead and I was too busy screwing Mr. “I’m Back in My Suit So I’m All Business” to answer my phone.

No, wait. If Lil was dead, Jake would know.

Breathe.

She swiped her phone to answer. Marc looked at her for confirmation that they could pull out. Alethea waved for him to go and mouthed, “It’s probably nothing.”

“Abby,” Alethea said in a tone she hoped sounded welcoming.

“Alethea, I wasn’t sure you’d answer a call from me.”

I live my life on the edge.
“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Lil said you’re not answering hers.”

Alethea looked across at Marc and said, “I lost my phone for part of yesterday, but I have it now.”

“I’ve been there. There’s nothing worse than losing your phone.”

As they left the garage, the bright daylight blinded Alethea momentarily.
If you only knew where I’m headed.
“Yeah, nothing.”

They were awkwardly, uncomfortably silent for a few minutes, and then Abby said, “I’m calling to invite you to my house for tea tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tea?” Alethea choked on the word in surprise.

“Yes. Listen, I’m just going to be blunt here. Lil told me about the fight the two of you had and even about your latest—let’s call it—
concerns
with someone we both know would never do what you think he did.”

With an impatient sigh, Alethea was instantly defensive. “I never said he did it. In fact—”

Marc laid a hand on hers. She met his eyes. With a shake of his head and a slicing motion of his hand near his neck, he told her to keep her next words to herself.

Maybe he’s right.
Involving Abby could blow their chance to confront Stephan alone. Gritting her teeth, Alethea said, “I don’t see how tea with you would help this particular situation, Abby.”

“It won’t be just me, Alethea. I’ve invited Marie, Nicole, and Lil. Let’s talk this out and put it behind us.”

Oh, hell no.

“Wow, tempting,” Alethea said slowly. “Still, I have to decline. My schedule right now is . . . hectic.”

“This is important, Alethea. You’re the one who always says that your friendship with Lil is a priority to you. Show her you mean it. Come for tea tomorrow. I promised her I would be in your corner, and I will be. But you have to want to make this work, too. I can’t fix this for you. And unless we all find a way to get along, I can’t see things getting better. I, for one, am ready to forgive and start fresh.”

Alethea held up the phone and, with her hands wrapped around it, made a motion like she was strangling it.
Saint Abby is ready to start fresh? And what? Forgive me—for which crimes exactly?

“So, will you come tomorrow around two?”

“Sounds wonderful,” Alethea said. And highly unlikely to ever happen since by then, there was a chance that Dominic and Abby would be frantically trying to bury a body. “See you then.”

When she hung up, Alethea directed some heated expletives at the dark screen. “Who the hell does she think she is? ‘Come for tea.’ ‘Let’s fix this.’ I don’t need her approval or her help. I’m not even sure I need Lil anymore.”

Marc pulled the car over to the sidewalk. “Then walk away. Get out, call a taxi, and fly off to some international job. Why meet with Stephan and remain involved if you have no investment in the outcome of the situation?”

Alethea spun in her seat and snarled, “I should. They never thank me. They treat me like I’ve wronged them in some way when all I’ve ever tried to do was be a good friend to Lil.”

“And keep her safe.” Marc said softly.

“Exactly,” Alethea said.

“And to be safe, she shouldn’t trust anyone you don’t. She shouldn’t let others close enough to hurt her.”

“You’re twisting this around.” She reached to unbuckle her seat belt, but he blocked the move by grabbing her hand. “The last thing I need is for you starting to judge me.”

“Hey,” he said, “I’m on your side.”

“Really?” she growled. “It doesn’t sound that way.”

“You love Lil. For whatever reason, she has become your family. You’re close to losing her over this and it scares you. If you want to be alone, really alone, then go. I won’t try to stop you. But it’s a choice you’re making, not something Abby is doing to you. If you can walk away and watch this family implode from a distance, then Abby is right—you don’t deserve to be part of it.”

Alethea glared at him. “You’re probably the only person in the world who could make staying involved and risking my life sound like the right thing to do.”

“Because it is. They need you.”

“And if I’m wrong? If this all blows up in my face and we discover that Stephan is a sociopath who wasn’t smart enough to take Dominic down when he had his best opportunity?”

“Then you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go have some fucking tea, because your friend Lil is going to need you even more when her sister loses control of the husband she thinks she has tamed.”

“I really do hate you,” Alethea said, but a corner of her mouth curled in a suggestion of a smile.

He pulled back into traffic. “I don’t mind that,” he said. “It makes me imagine all the ways I could win you over again, slowly—all night, if that’s what it takes.” He shifted in his seat and smiled at her. “Don’t distract me. We have to stay focused.” He put his hand on her thigh and gave it a sensual caress. “At least until tonight.”