Dirty Money (Everett Brothers #3)

Chapter 1

WREN

Goddamnit, Wren, I mentally scold myself. My foot taps anxiously against the marble lobby floor. I look around the building. Everything looks…insanely expensive. Service people everywhere. Marble and crystal mixed with some more modern features…and this is just the lobby.

I can’t even take it all in right now, though, because I’m too busy mentally beating myself up.

I can’t believe I volunteered for this. Who do I think I am? Some sort of badass vigilante? I mean, outwardly, yes. But the real me is in bed by nine with a romance novel and a cup of tea.

But no. I had to go and open my big mouth.

I had to do it for the glory—that may never come.

My therapist is going to have a field day with this one.

My mind flashes back to the conversation I just had with two of the richest men on the planet.

“I’ll do it,” I had stupidly offered. All their heads whipped around to me.

“What?” Keaton, the middle brother, had asked me.

“Absolutely not,” Julian, the brooding oldest, had said.

“No fucking way,” Sawyer, Julian’s fiancée, had added. But I thought about it.

“I don’t know that we really have a choice,” I told them. “If we do nothing, then some other unsuspecting woman gets hired and goes through this same shit. It can’t be one of you two,” I had said, motioning to their women, “because they know you. It has to be me.”

Now, I want to go back in time and kick myself.

What experience do I have taking down an evil billionaire mastermind?

Exactly zero.

But how badly do I need this to go right so I can have my breakout story?

Pretty much everything I got riding on it.

The ding of the elevator zaps me out of my internal panic, and I step on. I let out a long breath. Living in New York City and having severe claustrophobia is not a good match. Scared of elevators? New York may not be the place for you.

Yet, here I am.

The doors close, and I am locked in a tiny box. Like a little coffin where all my worst nightmares and thoughts are coming back to life.

I try not to focus on how slow it feels like the elevator is moving and, instead, try to think of something a little less anxiety inducing.

Like, you know, meeting with the billionaire brothers who I will be working with to take down their father in what could become one of the most insane stories in history.

The fall of one of America’s madmen.

A man who has preyed on women for God knows how long and who could finally get what’s coming to him.

And I could be the one to tell the story.

The problem is, I have sort of offered myself up as bait in order to get said story.

But Julian and Keaton seemed to be confident that they could equip me with all knowledge necessary to get what we need. They also said they could provide protection.

Well, they said their brother, Brooks, could provide protection.

Which I found funny, considering he has been a no-show to every meeting I’ve had with his brothers so far, despite the S.O.S. communications they sent him. And each time, I got some sort of newsflash on Instagram about some yacht he was on with some international supermodel.

Definitely seemed more important than his family’s impending doom.

Asshole.

But Julian and Keaton seem to have their shit together.

And what’s more, they seem to want the whole story as much as I do.

The numbers on the screen tick by painfully slow until, finally, I reach the eighty-seventh floor. I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding when the doors finally open, and I follow Julian’s instructions.

Take a left out of the elevator and follow signs for suite 114. Knock when you get to the door.

I do as I’m told, making my way down the maze of a hallway until I get to the door. I raise my hand to knock, but the door opens abruptly, and I see Keaton standing inside. He smiles, but it feels forced, and for a moment, I realize how stupid I am for doing this.

Hey, Wren. Go to this unmarked building alone.

Find this unmarked suite where three men you don’t know are waiting for you.

Oh, and don’t tell anyone.

And here I am.

Zero survival skills.

But it’s too late now. Keaton opens the door wider for me, but before we can speak, I can hear the rumbling of two deep voices arguing back and forth.

Keaton presses his lips together and raises his eyebrows.

“It gets a bit bumpy when all three of us are together,” he says, taking my coat and laying it on a chair.

“Three? You mean the other brother finally showed?” I ask. He chuckles.

“Yeah, he fit us in between Tahiti or Fiji or wherever the fuck he was going this week,” he says. “Follow me.”

He leads me farther into the suite, which can only be described as an office graveyard.

Old office furniture is piled up in a corner, and nothing but a water cooler remains in the room.

Everything is old and musty. I can’t imagine that anything that has to do with Everett Enterprises ever happened here.

There is a single conference room in the back, and when we walk in, the voices quiet.

“Wren,” Julian says, walking toward me and outstretching his hand. I shake it with a curt smile. “Thank you so much for coming. This is Brooks,” he says, giving his younger brother an eye. He scoots to the side, and that’s when I see him for the first time.

He’s sitting in an office chair at the conference table, one ankle resting on the other knee.

His chocolate-colored waves sit perfectly disheveled on his head, with tan skin and thick dark eyebrows to boot.

He’s wearing a suit jacket with a white shirt underneath, but no tie, and his top few buttons are undone.

He and Julian resemble each other, but Brooks has a sharper nose and bright hazel eyes.

Eyes that happen to be boring holes into me at the moment.

He narrows them on me, but I refuse to crumble.

This is the man who has left his brothers out to dry for the last few weeks.

Who couldn’t be bothered to share the family burden.

Who didn’t care to learn about the atrocities being carried out under the guise of his family name.

No, there will be no crumbling today. Unless it’s by him.

“Well, well, well,” he says, pushing to his feet and walking around the table slowly as he sizes me up. “If it isn’t Lois Lane.”

I grit my teeth as he makes his way to me, sticking out a hand.

“Well, well, well,” I retort, “if it isn’t the mythical third Everett brother. I was beginning to think you didn’t actually exist.”

Keaton snorts out a laugh behind me, and I watch as Brooks’s eyebrows jump ever the slightest bit. I take his hand firmly and shake it, not letting my eyes shift from his. He will break before I do.

He lets go but keeps his eyes trained on me as Julian holds his hands out, inviting us all to sit.

I smooth out my skirt and take a seat, crossing one leg over the other.

I’m sitting to Julian’s left with Keaton across from me.

Brooks is at the other end of the table, sitting down again, leaned back in his chair, with this pompous look on his stupid pretty face.

I roll my eyes and turn my attention to Julian and Keaton—the grown-ups in the room.

“Thank you again, Wren,” Julian starts, “for coming to meet us today.”

“Of course,” I say. “Although, I’ll admit, when I got to the building, I was a little suspicious. This place doesn’t exactly scream Everett Enterprises.”

“Is that why you’re doing this?” Brooks asks. I whip my head to him.

“Shut up, Brooks,” Keaton groans. “Jesus Christ.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

“Doing what, exactly?” I challenge him, crossing my arms over my chest. He holds his arms out, smug confidence oozing out of him. And somehow, it makes me want to deck him…and also turns me on at the same time.

Fucker.

“You know, covering this story. Covering us. Hoping to see some of the interworkings of the Everetts?” he asks, his eyes narrowing back on me. There is a heat behind them that is totally making me sweat, but I refuse to let him see it.

“Brooks, would you shut the—”

“Yes, Brooks. That’s exactly what I did.

I sought out the girl who disclosed to me how your father essentially pimped her out to his colleagues in exchange for business deals.

And then the next one. And the forty women after that.

All because I was hoping to get the inside scoop on your fucked-up family. ”

Julian’s mouth slams shut, and I can feel his and Keaton’s eyes widen at me then move to their little brother. He sits stunned at the other end, his lips partly opened.

“Any other dumbass questions?” I ask him, my eyebrows raised. “Or shall we actually figure out what the fuck to do here?”

The room is dead silent for a moment, and then I hear Julian clear his throat.

“Well, little brother,” he says, “I was going to tell you to shut the fuck up, but it seems our friend here has stunned you into silence.”

“And it’s fucking glorious,” Keaton adds with a chuckle.

My eyes are still trained on Brooks’s from across the table. He purses his lips together, then one corner of them pulls up into this devilish smile that I really wish wasn’t so goddamn delicious.

“She sure did,” he says, leaning back in his seat once more and folding his hands on his lap.

“Wren, we apologize on behalf of our idiot brother,” Keaton says, “but like Julian said, thank you so much for being here. We just wanted to rehash our conversation from the other week.”

“Yes,” Julian says. “I know that you offered to be the bait, so to speak, but we…we have some concerns.”

I nod.

“I appreciate that. I definitely have my own,” I say honestly, “but I’m not sure how else we can make this work without sacrificing some other unsuspecting woman who has no idea what she’s walking into.”

Julian nods.

“I agree,” he says. “I’ve been mulling it over all week, and I can’t figure it out either. We have to catch them in this. My father is too powerful for a he-said-she-said kind of fight. We have to have proof. We have to have help.”

I nod.

“And unfortunately, we have to move quickly. They are planning to open that new assistant position,” Keaton adds. “You need to apply if you’re going to apply.”

There’s a snicker from the other end of the table, and we all twist our heads to give him very similar glares.

“I’m sorry,” Brooks says, “but what do you think is gonna happen here? She’s just gonna show up and automatically get picked? And then what? Dad’s just gonna bare his soul to her? Tell her everything that’s been going on?”

We all wait a beat for Brooks to catch up. The smirk slowly disappears from his face when he realizes the extent of the plan.

If all goes right, I apply for the job. I get the job. And then I let it run its course until we get the evidence we need. And judging by the look on Brooks’s face, he just realized what that means.

“Wait…what?” he asks. “You’re joking, right?” He looks from me, to his brothers, then back. “If everything that these women have said is true…”

“It’s not if,” Julian growls. “It happened, Brooks.”

“If you bothered to show up before now, you would have heard the firsthand account that we heard last week. You should have fucking been here,” Keaton says.

I see a shift in Brooks’s eyes as he nestles back into his chair. His eyes jump back and forth, like he’s trying to keep up with the racing thoughts in his head. And for a moment, I feel a little sorry for him. Julian softens a bit and leans over the table slightly.

“Brooks, I know this sucks. I know this changes everything as we know it. And I know for you especially, with Dad…I know this is a lot. But it’s real. It happened, and it’s happening. And we are the only ones who can stop it.”

Brooks looks at his big brother from across the table. He brushes his hand over his face, looking up at the ceiling like he’s searching for some clarity. Finally, he nods and leans forward.

“Alright,” he says. “What can I do?”

Julian clears his throat.

“You are the only one who has worked closely on Dad’s end of the businesses in the last ten years. There are some key players that are in this with him, and we need to know what makes them tick. We need to know how to get Wren hired. And we need to know what the process looks like.”

Brooks looks at him, then his eyes move back to me. He nods slowly.

“Give me the names. I’ll figure it out,” he says.

“We need answers quickly,” Keaton reminds him. “She needs to apply.” Brooks nods and stands up.

“I’ll get back to the office today,” he says.

He starts walking toward the door, but he stops just feet from me.

“I believe these stories,” he says. “But you…there is something about you that I don’t trust. I will do everything I can to help these women.

But if there is any other reason that you are doing this besides getting to the truth, I will find out what it is. ”

“Brooks—” Keaton starts to warn him, but I scoff as I roll my chair back and stand.

“No need to worry, Brooks,” I say with a condescending spin on his name.

“I don’t trust you either. So the feeling is very mutual.

” I turn back to Keaton and Julian. “I hope you will both understand that I don’t feel one hundred percent confident in my chances—or my safety—resting in his hands.

We will need to all discuss everything together. ”

They both nod.

“Of course,” they say in unison. I nod back. I turn back to Brooks, but he is on his way out the door.

“We will call you as soon as Brooks has some info,” Julian says. “And Wren?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t write him off yet,” Julian says. “He’s different, but he’s still our brother. He has a good heart. This is just a lot, but we can count on him.”

I nod slowly. “Okay,” I say. “Talk to you both soon.”

But as I make my way out of the weird little secret suite, I feel anything but reassured.