Chapter 38 #2
“Wyatt works in private security, and he’s here for work.”
“Wyatt.” The way Gwen said his name, it was as if she were testing it out, seeing if it was legit and not another lie. “And why are you here for work?”
This would be the hard part. “I’m tracking down a hacker, someone who hurts people.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “And you think he’s in the competition?”
“No, but he’s in Montreal,” he answered as honestly as he could without giving too much away.
“The only real arsehole I know here is Felix Ward.” Gwen turned her back and went to the mini bar and grabbed a Corona. He did his best not to act like an overbearing father and snatch the beer from her hand.
“Gwen explained to me the real reason she entered the competition,” Charlotte said. “I still don’t like it, and God forbid anyone back home hear about this, but—”
“Mum.” Gwen popped open the beer and strode back to stand in front of Wyatt where he remained awkward and stiff, still in shock he was even there, and still surprised Arthur had kept a photo of the two of them locked in his desk.
He’d spent his life thinking Arthur hated him—the picture was a curveball.
“What happened with Felix?” And if it was bad, so help him, there’d be two men he planned on killing. Felix Ward and Alexander Balan.
Gwen took a sip of her beer, then let it hang by her jeaned leg. “I applied for an internship at Cyber X Security, and when I went for the interview, he decided to handle it personally.” She shook her head. “The prick said I could have the job if I slept with him.”
His pulse spiked at her words, and his hand bunched at his side.
“After I kneed him in the nuts, he threatened to report me for assault. Can you believe that?” She drank more beer.
Pride at her ability to stand up for herself cut through, but not long enough to kill his anger for Felix.
“I couldn’t help but wonder how many other women he did that to. How many more would he proposition after me?” Her free hand went to her chest. “I couldn’t let it go.”
Charlotte moved to stand in front of the telly, then sat and braced her thighs. She didn’t seem as troubled by Wyatt at the news, but maybe she’d had more time to process. Maybe this type of behavior by dickhead men in power was far too regular for women in general?
“So, I entered the competition. He called me shortly after and threatened to ruin my reputation if I didn’t drop out.
He said no one would ever hire me.” Her jaw tightened almost the same way Wyatt’s did when pissed.
And he was pretty sure he was doing it now, too.
Grinding down on his back teeth as well.
“But screw him, I wasn’t about to cower in fear and bow out.
The night he issued that Twitter challenge to show up at the salsa club, I decided that’d be my chance to get some proof he’s a scumbag. ”
Felix had been pissed she showed, but damn, Wyatt had misconstrued things.
“Felix blocked his number after he’d called me that one time, but I managed to find it out. I texted him after I left the salsa club and told him to pick me up. I said we could talk things out.”
Damn. She’d set a trap. More pride surged inside him. She really could handle herself, couldn’t she?
Gwen set her beer on the coffee table and crossed her arms over her chest. “I tried to record our conversation at his condo, but when I got back to my hotel, the recording was scrambled.”
“What are you planning to do?” And did she need his gun?
“Win the competition tomorrow, then announce to everyone what kind of man he is,” she said, confidence returning to her voice.
Shit. “Felix will be dealt with, I promise you.”
“What are you planning to do?” Charlotte eyed Wyatt warily, a look of fear momentarily crossing her face as she stood and approached him. “You’re not going to kill him, are you?”
“Why would he care enough to want to kill him?” Gwen looked back at her mother. “It’s not like he’s my . . .” She let go of her words and slowly turned back toward Wyatt.
Fuck.
She’d pieced it together in a matter of seconds.
Two tentative steps closer brought her directly in front of him.
“Same eyes. Similar cheekbones.” She slapped a hand to her mouth and blinked rapidly in shock.
“You,” she practically breathed out. “You’re him.
” Her eyes fell to the floor. “Why didn’t you want me?
” Gwen’s gaze slowly lifted, her bluish-gray irises becoming glossy.
His heart broke. It fucking shattered. “I, um.”
If she knew the truth, Gwen would hate her mum. He’d plant a wedge between them, and there may not be any going back from that. She’d hate Arthur for keeping the truth from both her and Wyatt, too.
“I need you to lose the competition tomorrow,” he said instead, not sure how to answer her question without destroying everything she’d ever known and believed about her life.
“What?” she cried, her shoulders trembling as she fought to keep her tears trapped inside of her like a Montgomery was taught to do.
Charlotte sought his gaze, pleading with him not to reveal the truth. To keep his mouth shut, but . . .
He took a calming breath and focused on what he could control—the mission.
“I need you to stay away from the convention hall tomorrow. Jasper Kenyon will die if he loses to you. And believe me when I say I wouldn’t mind if he died, but the person who wants him dead is dangerous. Very, very dangerous.”
“How can you ask me that?” Gwen wiped a few tears from beneath her eyes and stared at him, a mix of anger and pain competing for attention.
“You’re my dad, and the only reason you’ve decided to come into my life now is to try and save some guy?
” Her voice broke, and he nearly fell to his damn knees and told her everything.
“You don’t even care about me. You weren’t going to tell me the truth if Mum hadn’t shown up.
” She turned and started for her bedroom, marching with fierce steps before shooting one last glare over her shoulder his way.
“Get the hell out of my life. You didn’t want me, and I sure as fuck don’t want you.
” The door rattled as it slammed shut, and he bowed his head the moment she was out of sight.
“I’m sorry.” Charlotte grabbed hold of his bicep. “But thank you,” she whispered.
He slowly brought his eyes to her. “You said Arthur wanted me to step in for him. How do you expect me to do that when she hates me? When there’s a lie between all of us?
” When she didn’t respond, he shook his head.
“I have to go. Please, talk some sense into her. Get her to drop out of the competition.”
She released him. “She’s as stubborn as you.”
“Just do it.” He went for the door and swung it open. “If you want to keep Gwen safe, keep her in this room, okay?”
“And if I can’t, will you keep her safe?”
“I’ll die before I let anything happen to her.” He squeezed the emotion down his throat. “You have my word.”
Wyatt punched the wall inside the lift, connecting his fist with the metal. He needed to alleviate some of the pain in his chest and direct it elsewhere. Pain in his knuckles would be a vast improvement.
“She hates me,” he announced the second Natasha answered his call when he was standing out on the street.
“I couldn’t tell her the truth. I let her walk away from me believing I abandoned her, that I didn’t want her.
” He brought his back to the brick exterior of a shoe store down the street from the hotel.
“You let her hate you instead of Charlotte and Arthur.” She hadn’t asked why. She understood him. “Oh, Wyatt.”
He hit the back of his head against the brick, enjoying the dull ache it caused in his skull because it gave him a second to transfer the pain away from his heart. “Are you with Harper?”
Stupid question. Of course, she was with Harper. She wouldn’t have answered if she’d been in their hotel room with The Knight listening to their call. He wasn’t thinking straight, which was dangerous.
“Yeah, Jessica just called, though. And you were right. Balan did hire help. The two guys Bravo Team is following—they’re not alone. She thinks Balan has four people here, but we don’t know where the other two are.”
Work-talk. This he could do. He needed a distraction from what had gone down at the hotel.
“We got a break, though. The two men trailing Jasper split up. One stayed at the hotel, and the other left in the Range Rover, so Liam followed him.”
“Where to?” He observed the starless sky. A blanket of darkness overhead.
“The mill where Balan led me to when I first got here,” she said, her voice shaky. “No one else was there. But the thing is, Liam saw the guy rigging the place to blow up.”
“Why would he blow up an abandoned factory?”
“My guess?” She paused. “He’s going to kill Jasper and the Wards. Burn them alive the way his brother died. He wants to watch them suffer.”
Four guys hired. Three people to keep an eye on each target to ensure they didn’t flee Montreal. The fourth man to rig the explosives.
“Maybe that was his plan all along,” she said. “The challenges between him, Kate, and Jasper were merely a ploy. He had no intention of allowing them to prove they were better. In his mind, he’s the best.”
“He just wanted them to think they had a chance.” Wyatt removed his ball cap and slapped it against his leg. “He’s going to bring them to the factory and burn it down.”
“Everyone will be at the convention hall tomorrow. I bet he’s planning on taking them from there directly to the abandoned mill.
” At least Gwen would be safe if Balan was only targeting people directly connected to the op in Romania.
“We’ll have our guys at the mill waiting.
We’ll take the son of a bitch down then.
He’ll be there since he’ll want to watch. ”
She was quiet before saying, “But why am I here? I’m still not sure exactly how I fit in.”
“You’re most likely the only one he views as a true opponent.
” His breath floated in the cool air in front of him.
“Maybe the last game he wants to play is against you.” His stomach tightened.
“But I won’t let that happen. This ends tomorrow, and if Felix happens to get killed in the crossfire, then so fucking be it. ”
“I’m guessing Gwen talked to you about him?”
He started walking as he shared with Natasha what Gwen had told him.
“We’ll make this right. We have to.” She was talking about Balan. Felix and Kate. Jasper, too. But with a heart the size of Natasha’s, he also knew she was talking about Gwen.
And as much as he wished he could make things right, he knew the only person who could set the record straight was Charlotte, and he wouldn’t hold his breath.
He couldn’t destroy Gwen’s love for Arthur, have her hate the man who raised her, a man who was no longer there to defend himself, could he?
After ending the call, Wyatt picked up his pace and hurried back to his hotel and to Harper’s suite. The moment he saw Natasha, he halted in place with her sympathetic eyes pinned his way, and Harper and A.J. quickly went to the bedroom and left them alone.
“Wyatt.” Natasha’s soft voice stamped out his muddled thoughts.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said while striding closer to him, “but you can’t let Gwen hate you.
You think you’re doing the right thing for her parents, but you’re her father.
” Her lower lip trembled, her eyes welling with liquid. “She needs you just as much as I do.”
His chest hurt. Absolutely every part of him hurt. “I, um . . .” His voice broke, and he stumbled back like a drunk despite his soberness, then dropped to the floor and covered his face.
It was only when Natasha wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly to her, that he finally let his guard down.
. . . And he gave in and cried.