Seduced by a Dangerous Man (23 page)

This cost him nothing, to take Henry’s life.
 

Yet… Corbin’s words came back to me. After finding me, he realized he didn’t want to kill. It was the reason he’d fought to get free of his organization. It was a quiet promise he’d made to me, to become a man he could be proud of.

And it was for Corbin that I found myself walking forward. I touched his shoulder, and he looked at me.

It was like he was gone. If he had been angry, I could have accepted that. But he was cold. Shut down.
 

No, this was costing him everything.
 

“Stop,” I said. My voice was but a whisper, and I was sure Corbin heard how conflicted I was. “Please, stop,” I said, more decisively this time. It wasn’t about sparing Henry’s life. It was about saving Corbin. “Please!” I grabbed onto one of his massive arms with both my hands and tried to pull, but he was like a wall.

“Corbin!” The unhealthy color of Henry’s face told me there wasn’t much time. And there was only one thing I could think of to get through to Corbin. “Snowstorm!”

Those cold eyes swung toward me in surprise, then he released Henry, who had gone still.
 

I knelt, pressed my ear to Henry’s chest. I heard Corbin take a step away.
 

Henry suddenly wheezed, a thin, reedy gasp that wasn’t at all promising.
 

I looked up, now worried for Corbin, and found myself staring into an expressionless face. I wondered what he was thinking, if he hated me for using my safe word to save Henry’s life.
 

He suddenly knelt beside me. I rocked back on my heels, thinking Corbin wanted to administer first aid. Instead, he began digging in Henry’s pockets.

I turned and ran back upstairs. I grabbed my phone and saw I had a text from Rob… letting me know he’d heard a rumor that Henry had gotten released somehow. Why was it that whenever I ignored a phone call or a text, it turned out to be important? Not that knowing those details would have changed much. I never would have predicted Henry’s first objective would be revenge. Not with Corbin by my side. It was irrational.

I dialed 911 and asked for police and an ambulance. The operator wanted me to give her information on Henry’s vital signs. I grabbed Corbin’s jeans and hurried back downstairs.
 

Corbin was leaned up against a wall. He only glanced briefly at me, so I threw his clothes at him, then knelt next to Henry.

“I’m with him now,” I told the operator.
 

“Good,” she said. She was so calm that I had to wonder if anything could shake her. I guessed not. In the scheme of things, reporting a home break-in and altercation would only be a blip on her radar.

She had me check his breathing and his pulse. They were both detectable but faint.

“Hang up,” Corbin said, so I did. “You’ll want to get dressed. We need to talk about what I found on Henry’s phone, too.”

My gaze darted to Henry’s prone form, then back at Corbin. Now that I’d called for help, it wouldn’t be a good thing if the cops showed up and discovered Henry dead.

“Come on.” Corbin escorted me upstairs. He put on his shirt while I pulled on a shirt and jeans without bothering with underthings. I grabbed socks and jammed them onto my feet, not even caring that the seams were crooked, the heels skewed.

“This is something I would prefer not to tell you, but you don’t want secrets between us,” Corbin said.

I nodded, but I felt a twinge of misgiving.
 

“Henry planned to have us killed.”

For a moment I just looked at him, then I suddenly felt nauseated. At that moment, I decided I would never ask what had happened to Zachary’s body. Maybe some secrets were a good thing.

I was trembling lightly. Corbin pulled me close. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s over.”

“How did you know he was here—”
 

Flashing blue and red lights interrupted my sentence. Corbin held his hand out to me. “Come on,” he said. “It’s going to be a long night.”

~~~

I had thought Corbin was telling me that the cops would be hanging around for some time, but the condo was empty and quiet about an hour later.
 

Corbin didn’t hand over Henry’s phone, and I didn’t know why until he sat me down at Rob’s kitchen table. “Henry was planning to skip the country tonight,” Corbin said. He stood over me and massaged my shoulders.
 

I looked up at him. “How did he get out?” It had been driving me crazy.

“He used his connections. He’s a networker. He got a friend to change the schedule for the guards. He stacked the night shift with people who could be bought.”

“And what’s to stop that from happening again?”

Corbin inhaled. “He’ll be monitored by someone I trust until he’s transferred to the prison.”
 

I accepted that. And now I understood a bit better why Corbin had once said he’d never be able to completely walk away from his past. There would always be the potential for danger.
 

“So what happened tonight? How did you know he was here?” Corbin had told the cops that he came downstairs because he heard a noise, and Henry had jumped him, so he defended himself. The officers had seemed more impressed by Corbin’s “quick reflexes” than anything else. But I suspected there was more to it.

“He didn’t come in right away.” Corbin smiled. “You’re going to love this.”

Despite my frazzled nerves, I couldn’t help but return his smile.
 

“I woke up when you left. I was waiting for you, figuring I’d make some trouble when you returned, but then I heard the shower start up. I noticed that silly little sound amplifier on the dresser, so I started playing with it. Figured if I could fix it…”

“No!” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “My eavesdropper? You fixed it and that’s how you heard him?” I paused. “How did you fix it?”

“Very high tech. I banged it against my palm a few times.”

“Talented man.”

“That thing’s a piece of crap, you know. I’ll help you get something better. Anyway, Henry wasn’t loud, but it was the pattern that caught my attention. I could tell someone was outside. He didn’t sound like someone walking a dog or going for a late-night stroll. He came up to the door, then left. He was hanging out across the street. And I wasn’t sure your, uh, eavesdropper, wasn’t malfunctioning, so I looked out the window.”

I frowned. “Why was Henry acting weird?”

Corbin sighed. “He was waiting for help. After looking at his phone, I know why he moved forward alone. His buddies bailed on him. Every single one. So he decided to come in himself. By that point I had already gone downstairs and had unlocked the door for him. Figured we might as well force this to a head.”

“You could have put some pants on before letting him in,” I said. “What, were you trying to intimidate him?”

“That a statement about my manhood?”

“Maybe.”

“I didn’t let him in. I made it easy for him to walk in. When he came up the steps, I was waiting.”

My smile faltered. “You were going to kill him.”

Corbin sighed. “I don’t know.”

I wondered if he truly believed that. It didn’t matter. I accepted Corbin the way he was, and I was hardly an angel. “So now what?”

“Now nothing. He won’t be offered bail. I saw to that. He’s done. He will never get out of prison.”

I shivered, rubbed my upper arms with my palms. Now I was wide awake. I looked over at Corbin, standing there. He always had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Apparently they were broad enough to bear it.

“You saved my life. Again.”
 

“We don’t know that,” he said. “The locks on Rob’s doors are pretty solid. Henry might not have been able to overcome them.”

I stood. Henry was too motivated, too dedicated to have been turned back by a few locks. He would have found his way inside. There was always a way inside.
 

I put my arms around Corbin and squeezed him. After a moment, he drew me in close. “I think you’ll sleep better at my place,” he said. “I’ll bring you back for work tomorrow.”

“I think I can wait a day before starting. What’s Dad going to do? Fire me?”

~~~

I leaned forward in my squeaky chair and adjusted the monitor again. Rob swore it was the same one I’d always had, but I couldn’t seem to get the angle right.

“Sure you don’t want to come along?” Rob stood by the door, light spring jacket in one hand, a file in the other. He’d been trying to get me out of the office all week, but I wasn’t feeling up to field work. Somehow, trying to outsmart two-bit criminals had lost whatever dubious appeal it had once held.
 

“Nah,” I said.
 

Rob hesitated. “You’re not rethinking your decision to stay, are you? Is it about the rubber band ball? I offered to give it back.” Despite his playful words and tone, anxiety pinched his features.

“I’m not leaving,” I insisted. “Why would I? Dad gave us everything we wanted.”

“Except the private investigator stuff,” Rob said.

“He made a good point that we need to be focused. I’ll do it on the side.”

Rob took two steps back into the office. “On the side might become full time.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a strategy, ok? I’ll get this experience, and in a few years we’ll integrate it. You should be happy. I’m the one who has to endure the learning curve. If you ask me one more time, I swear I’m going to quit on principle.”

“Pinky swear?”

“Yes, idiot.”
 

Rob leaned over and extended his pinky solemnly. “This is a serious oath, Audrey.”

“Cross my heart and all that. I’m not going to desert you.”
 

We linked fingers, then Rob straightened, relieved. I shook my head. “Who knew that’s all it took to convince you?”

He smiled and headed out. I turned back to the mountain of files on my desk.

Mountain? This was Everest and K2 put together. For two weeks I’d been trying to fix Henry’s disaster. It was weird to admit it, but Henry had implemented some changes that would be useful once the kinks were worked out. And I definitely appreciated that he’d bought company phones and two company vehicles.

And according to the lawyers, we’d get to keep them. Henry’s personal problems—of which there were
many
—weren’t going to hurt Stroop Finders. Though there were people who weren’t thrilled about being fired, we’d kept on a few new employees as well.
 

All in all, Stroop Finders was going to come out of this stronger than ever.

I found my attention wandering to a black-and-white printout that poked out seductively halfway down the stack. I recognized the footer at the bottom as I tugged it free.

The Most Wanted list. It was an old one, with my favorite person gracing the top.

The door opened.
 

“What’d you forget this time?” I asked without looking up.
 

“I lost something,” a deep voice said. My heart skipped a beat as I looked up into Corbin’s electric blue-green eyes.
 

“Your mind?” I guessed.

“You could say that,” he said with a smile. “I need help finding my girlfriend.”

“Sorry, but we don’t handle private investigation,” I said. “I can refer you to a really sexy guy. He’s pretty good at finding things.”

“But this is serious. My girlfriend was supposed to meet me for lunch…”

I bolted upright. “Crap. I’m so sorry. I hadn’t noticed the time.” I slumped. “No, it’s tomorrow that we’re having lunch.”

Corbin’s eyes went wide, and the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. “I have to say, Ms. Stroop, you’re one hell of an investigator. That was fast turnaround.”

“Wait until you get my bill,” I said, grinning.

“Worth every cent.” He looked down at the paper I had just found. “Most Wanted list? I can help you with those.”

I shook my head. “Can’t do it. The partners vote on stuff like this. Anyway, this list isn’t current.”

“Obviously.” He tilted his head. “Are you saving it out of nostalgia?”

“Did you actually want something, or are you just here to distract me?”

“Yes,” he said.
 

I shook my head. “It wasn’t a yes or no question.”

“Sure it was. It’s lunchtime.”
 

I looked at the cases piled up on the desk. “Sorry,” I said.

Corbin nodded. “Ok. I’ll see you at your new place tonight. I’ll bring champagne so we can christen it in style.” He leaned over and brushed a quick kiss on my lips, then walked away.
 

“Wait,” I said, standing. I grabbed my sweater and keys. “I don’t know for sure that the list is old. Maybe they put you back on it. Think I’d better keep an eye on you, just in case.”

Corbin’s gaze swept up my body and came to rest on my lips. “You should keep more than that on me.” He held his arm out and I slipped against his body, the position already so familiar and comfortable, but still more than enough to get my heart pumping fast.

I decided we should make it a long lunch. A very long one.

Just in case.

~ ~ ~

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