Chapter 25
I held Liz to me and savored the feel of her in my arms. Yes, she’d told me not to come, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her—I couldn’t stay away. She’d been understandably upset after the ball, so upset I’d hardly been able to do anything all day. I’d been distracted and grumpy and not fit for any sort of company.
Gigi had asked me over and over if I was okay. When Richard and I’d gone to the Chelsea Piers driving range, I’d sent a horrible chip shot right at my cousin’s head. That was when we’d called it a day, loaded our clubs into the car, and gone to a quiet bar for a drink. As much as Richard had tried to make me unload what was going on, I’d avoided telling him. I was a horrible liar. He asked me more than once about Liz. I’d changed the subject every time.
When I arrived at the apartment entrance and rang the buzzer, Mrs. Hill had let me in. “ She needs you right now, ” was all she’d said before pointing me in the direction of the library. Liz had been dozing in a chair near the windows of the library, a blanket over her lap, and a tumbler in her hand that was about to spill whatever was left in the bottom. Atticus was perched on the arm of the chair, likely peeved he couldn’t take the place of the drink in her lap.
She hadn’t awakened but instead, had burrowed into me as I carried her into the elevator, which was the quickest way upstairs, and let’s face it, the easiest.
Now, I lay here with her in my embrace, my hands not straying as they’d love to do. My erection begged for relief, but Liz had more important problems to solve, and sex wasn’t the answer, no matter what my dick wanted.
Liz groaned and rolled in my arms, nuzzled her nose into my chest like a kitten before blinking and looking up at me.
I tightened my arms around her. “Good morning.” I almost held my breath at her response to my being with her in bed.
“I’d thought you were a dream.”
My lips pressed to her hair while I inhaled that familiar scent of her. “A good dream or a bad dream?”
She sighed. “A forbidden one, if you must know. Please don’t think that I want you to go, but you need to stay away from me for a while.”
“Tell me what’s going on.”
She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. When she removed them, her eyes were shiny, as though she’d break down and cry at the drop of a pin. “My father has been embezzling from Longbourn, from his clients, for some time now. Your aunt mentioned it at the ball.”
My chin hitched back. “I don’t care about what your father has done. You’ve mentioned him before. You don’t have any kind of relationship with him, do you?”
“No, I don’t, but he’s somehow implicated me as the one who stole the money. From what I understand, Jane helped him with it.”
As insane as it sounded, her expression told me without question that she spoke the absolute truth.
“That’s crazy,” I said. “Have you ever worked for his company?”
“I haven’t even set foot in the building since I was sixteen. I called my attorney yesterday, and he contacted the FBI. I had agents in the library yesterday going over pictures and audio my sister Mary took in the house before my parents kicked her out. Her eighteenth birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and she was staying longer to try to help me.”
“That was incredibly brave of her.”
She pressed her palm to my chest. “It was. I’m grateful to her for doing it, even if I wish she’d gotten out earlier. They’re miserable to live with.”
“And you’re sure Jane is in on it?” I couldn’t ignore that she was involved with one of my corporate attorneys.”
“Mary has them talking about it on video. There’s a return air in the back stairwell of the house that connects to the one in my father’s study. She recorded them talking about their plans on her phone. I had to provide the FBI with a copy of my signature as well as flash drives of my finances and those of Novel Books and the café’s.
“In the meantime, if this goes public, anyone I’m linked to could be brought up in the news. This could ruin Novel Books and the café, and I don’t want you and Pemberley Books raked over the coals with me.” What a frigging mess! “You need to do what’s best for Gigi, yourself, and your own company. Once this is over, we can consider us and what comes next, but I don’t want your reputation to suffer. I’m begging you; please don’t make this harder than it already is.”
“Liz, I love you. Don’t you understand? I can help you.”
“I’m doing this for you. Don’t you understand? Everything I’ve worked so hard to build could be taken away.” She wiped tears from her cheek. “What if I’m forced to sell everything off to pay back whatever my father has done? My reputation would be in the toilet.”
“We don’t know that yet. Plus, if you’re in trouble, let me help you. If it comes down to it, I can buy Novel Books and the café separate from Pemberley Books—with my own money. I’d ensure you retain full control of everything. We’d sign legal forms. I’d own it, but it’d still be your baby. Then, when everything is back to normal, we can talk about you regaining full ownership.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking.” I held her gaze. She had to understand that I’d do anything for her.
Her hands cradled my face. “Since Mary told me what she knows, I’ve realized that I love you so much.”
My breath hitched in my chest.
“And I’d do anything to protect you from this. As much as I want to say ‘fuck it all’ and keep you with me, that’s the most selfish thing I could do right now.”
I took her hands in mine. “Then let me help you! Let me go to the attorneys with you tomorrow. Fuck, let my attorneys help yours. We’ll make sure to nail your father to the wall for this.”
She shook her head. “Let me deal with this. I want you so far away no one could question whether you were a part of it. If I need you to take care of Novel Books and the Beanery for me, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’m going to do what I can to protect you and Gigi, which means you need to respect my wishes and stay away.”
“Liz—”
“This is killing me, Will. If you push me too hard, I’ll cave, and I can’t cave. I need you to go.”
I hated this! My hand slipped around her, and I pulled her in for a long kiss, my lips attempting to convey how much I wanted to stay with her—to be the rock she’d need through this mess.
“I love you,” I said when I pulled back.
She kissed her fingers and pressed them to my lips. “I love you too.”
As much as my entire body protested, I drew away and threw my legs over the side of the bed. After putting back on my socks and sneakers, I pulled on my t-shirt.
“I never thought I’d see Will Darcy in baggy jeans.”
I could barely manage a smile before I kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I hope so.”
My feet had bags of sand pulling them back as I trudged to the foyer and down the elevator. I hailed a taxi when I made it outside. Once I’d given the driver the address, I pulled out my phone and called Richard.
“Hey, Darce. You never call me this early unless you need something, so what’s up?”
“I have a problem, and I need your help.” Richard knew me well enough not to question when I asked.
“Okay, when I come into the office—”
“No, come to the penthouse. I don’t want anyone overhearing.”
“Do you want me to call Bingley?”
“No! He has to stay out of this. I have a gut feeling.” Charlie was too close to Jane right now, and I couldn’t afford him running off at the mouth to her.
Richard was quiet for a moment. I’d been friends with Charlie for a long time, but he’d been different in some ways for a while. What if he wasn’t what he seemed anymore?
“I’m already on my way,” said my cousin.
“Thanks.”
When the taxi pulled up to the curb, I paid the driver in cash and walked into the building. The doorman greeted me, as did security. I smiled and did my best to behave as though this was a normal day.
My foot tapped in a furious rhythm on the tile of the entrance while I waited for the elevator to make its way down to me. A familiar voice greeting the doorman made me turn.
“You didn’t take long.”
Richard waved to security. It wasn’t like they needed to get his name. Most of the building employees down here knew my cousin since they logged him in so often. They just didn’t need to ring him up since I was down here.
“I was heading for the subway when you called, so I turned around and came straight here. It’s only a few blocks.”
The elevator opened, and we stepped inside. As soon as the doors closed, Richard turned and leaned against the wall. “That’s the most casual I’ve seen you in a while—at least outside of the house.”
“I went to Liz’s last night.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do you say it like that?”
I furrowed my brow. “Like what?”
“Like it was a death knell. Has something happened with the two of you?”
I exhaled and tipped my head back and forth. “Yes and no.”
Richard’s chin hitched back. “That’s cryptic, even for you.”
When the doors opened, we entered the penthouse, and I led Richard straight to my office and shut the door. School was out for Christmas break, so Gi wouldn’t come down before ten. We had all the privacy we’d need for some time.
“What’s going on?” asked Richard.
“So, you probably don’t know this, but Liz isn’t close with her family.”
He laughed. “I could guess by the chilly atmosphere in a room when both she and her sister are in it. What’s your point?”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. Good Lord, give me strength! “Liz has another sister named Mary. Mary is a little like Gigi and is younger. She turned eighteen last month, but even though she doesn’t get along with her parents and wants a different life than they envision, she stayed until they kicked her out.
“Mary, during that time, was apparently spying on her father. You see, he’s been embezzling money from his company for some time now and apparently, has some idea he’s about to be raked over the coals for it. Mary discovered this at some point, and stayed because she overheard him and Jane cooking some plan to frame Liz for it.”
“What the actual fuck?” Richard ran his hand over his mouth. “And now Liz knows.”
“Yes, and she’s insisting I stay away until everything’s fixed. She doesn’t want me getting dragged through the mud with her if the worst happens.”
Richard began to pace as he usually did when thinking. “What happens to Novel Books and the bakery if that occurs?”
“I’ve offered to purchase them with my private funds while signing a contract that ensures she remains in control. She’d also be able to purchase the businesses back from me when she’s in a position to do so.”
One side of my cousins’ mouth quirked up. “So, she’s the one, huh?”
I nodded. “Yes, she is. But I need us to brainstorm this. I know she and her attorney have spoken to the FBI. She’s handed over everything financial on her end as well as her signature.”
“They would’ve had to forge it to implicate her.” He wagged a finger. “But what doesn’t make sense to me is why steal a bunch of money just to screw over his daughter?”
I sat on the sofa and rested my forearms on my knees. “Perhaps he’s hiding a certain amount in an offshore account while he manipulates his books. He might be showing payouts to Liz somehow to make it appear as though she was involved.”
“I know someone who might be able to help,” said Richard. “He was in the FBI for a while before he branched out doing security and investigation for big companies and celebrities. His staff are former military and law enforcement. He may be able to figure out what we’re missing.”
“Call him.” I ensured there was no hesitation in my voice. If it was up to me, Liz would lose nothing to this. “I’m going to call my personal attorneys. I want them to reach out to Liz’s and offer their services.”
Richard held his phone out ready to dial. “I doubt she’ll take it.”
“Then no one will tell her.”
He laughed. “Good luck getting that one past her attorney.”
“I can try.”
Richard sighed. “Yeah, you can. But it doesn’t mean it’ll work. Especially if she’s bound and determined to keep you out of it.”
“As I said before, I can try.”