21. Maddison #2
That just makes me all the more determined to find something, and I’m so absorbed in my search that I’m only vaguely aware when the others start to arrive. Or maybe I just want to make a point that I’m committed and capable. I don’t look up when someone puts a cup of coffee on my desk.
“Thanks, Reid.”
Another dark suit floats in my periphery. “Still chasing dead ends?” Mace asks.
“Sorry if I don’t trust your little bot army. AI hasn’t replaced instinct just yet.”
He sighs. “Well, my instinct says Morgan isn’t stupid enough to keep anything incriminating in his work files.”
I continue scrolling through pages of emails. “Not stupid, but arrogant enough to think we wouldn’t spot anything amiss.”
“Whatever,” Mace mumbles as he places a plate of toast next to my coffee. “Connie made me bring it.”
“Well, thank you for being a sweetie,” I say in a sing-song voice, which is far removed from the professional persona I’m trying to portray. And naturally, that’s the moment another figure appears at my desk. And it’s not Hunter, who’s probably still fast asleep.
“Good morning, Maddison,” Ash says. Sleep has done nothing to soften his attitude towards me. Hunter’s older brother can seemingly suck the light from the room without even trying.
I sit back in my chair. “Hello, Asher. You seem so much brighter this morning.”
He must surely pick up on the sarcasm, but he gives nothing away. “Maddison, I do believe you’re sitting at my desk.”
Shit. I’d forgotten about that. “Oops, my bad,” I say. I’m not brave enough to fight him for it so I close my laptop and stand. “It’s all yours,” I say, taking a step away.
“You should find somewhere else in the house to work,” he says as he circles his desk. “There are conversations that need to take place in here that have no relevance to you. I hope you understand.”
I give him a non-committal grunt as he takes the seat I’ve warmed for him “I’ll bear that in mind for the future.”
Ignoring his glare, I reach across him to pick up a slice of toast from the plate I leave on his desk. With no intention of respecting the exclusion zone he’s trying to create, I perch on the edge of the desk next to him.
“I was actually thinking we should spend some time together,” I say before taking a bite of my toast. I chew thoughtfully. “We can’t build trust if we’re never in the same room.”
Ash shoves my laptop to one side and sets down his own. “We’ll be seeing more than enough of each other.”
I take another bite of toast as I scrutinize his face. His beard helps mask his features, but I note how his cheekbones are more pronounced than Hunter’s, and his jaw not as wide. There are other differences too. “You’re the only brother with hazel eyes.”
Those eyes flicker with something dangerous. “All the better to see you with,” says the wolf.
I return his gaze with a curious look of my own. “Do you ever smile?”
“I’m here to work, Maddison. And you’re disturbing me.”
The way he keeps calling me by my full name grates on my nerves, but I don’t correct him. I don’t want to give away a weakness. “I can see that, Asher ,” I reply, using his full name too. It’s a small victory, if only in my mind.
Ash continues to scowl.
“I rarely get a smile from Mace either,” I note, glancing over at one of the less troublesome brothers.
Mace’s attention is fixed on one of his screens, but I know he’s paying close attention.
It’s what he does best. I turn back to Ash.
“Personally, I think there’s a sensitive soul beneath that mask of his.
But I’m yet to work out what you’re hiding. ”
“It’s best you never find out,” Ash warns.
I finish my toast. “Challenge accepted.”
I’m about to jump off his desk when he puts a hand on my knee. I’m wearing a light summer dress and although his hand remains on the fabric, I feel the heat of his touch. My heart stutters, but it’s not the kind of jolt that Hunter’s touch provokes. This feels predatory.
“Is there a particular way you have in mind for getting to know me better?”
I forget to breathe. I’ve got the situation all wrong. I’d been working on the theory that Ash either dislikes, or is afraid of women. I’d presumed I was exploiting a weakness, but what if he’s as soulless as he appears. What if he thinks he can punish Hunter’s disobedience by hurting me?
It doesn’t make sense. There has to be more to Ash than he wants me to see. His brothers admire and respect him. He can’t be a monster. He’s trying to intimidate me. Or else…
I peel his fingers away from my knee, and remove his hand as if I’m picking up something nasty from the floor. “Nice try, Asher,” I say before looking over my shoulder towards the door. “Morning, husband.”
Hunter has adopted the Griffin stony face. Maybe he’s slow to react because he’s tired, but I think he’s just leaving it to me to deal with his brother.
I scoot off the desk, and as I go to pick up my laptop, I catch sight of the sweat marks I’ve left on the polished wood where my ass had been.
Old me would have cringed with embarrassment, but I’m not about to apologize for being human.
“Sorry about that,” I say, using the hem of my dress to wipe at the mark.
“It must be all the cum your brother filled me with this morning.”
“Jesus,” Ash curses under his breath as a chuckle comes from Hunter’s direction.
I’m not surprised that Reid is also sniggering, but to make my victory complete, I catch Mace grinning too.
Treating Ash’s suggestion that I leave their office with the contempt it deserves, I set myself up at the conference table.
I’m going to be surrounded by all four brothers, so I opt for a position closest to Hunter, but facing Ash.
I want to keep him in my sights, and for him not to forget I’m here.
“Are you going to be OK there?” asks Hunter.
“I can always desk hop when there’s one free,” I say as I return to Ash’s desk to pick up my coffee and the rest of my toast.
I’m about to leave Ash in peace when I spot one of my yellow pencils. It’s not the one Hunter stole, but it holds certain associations and I’d rather not see it in Ash’s hand. “I’ll just take this too. It’s one I’ve been playing with. ”
Hunter’s laughing again, which makes Ash scowl as he watches me take up my position directly opposite him. “Couldn’t you go and work at the paper mill? Isn’t that where you should be anyway?”
“No, she can’t,” Hunter answers for me. “She doesn’t go anywhere without me.”
Ash shakes his head and absorbs himself in his work.
We all do, and I pretend not to eavesdrop on the conversations that pass between the brothers.
I know most of what they discuss, even the things that relate to their other businesses because I’ve been helping Hunter organize the mess of files on his laptop.
I have to bite my tongue when he claims not to have seen the accounts for one of their distilleries, but when it breaks out into an argument with Ash, I scribble a note telling him where to look.
I turn in my seat to slide the note across Hunter’s desk. “Stop arguing,” I say under my breath.
He looks at the note, then at Ash. “Maybe I’ll just take another look at my files.”
When I turn back, Ash eyes me with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. I don’t imagine my apparent control of his brother improves his opinion of me, so I put my head down and continue raking through Morgan’s emails.
The morning ticks by, and I’m preparing to admit defeat when my hand stills. The latest email I’m reviewing is a seemingly innocuous conversation thread between Morgan and a customer I’ve never heard of, but there’s something about the exchange that makes me stop and read it again.
Needing a second pair of eyes, I forward it to Mace, then sit back in my seat, stretching my back.
“Mace, I’ve just sent you an email.”
He slides his gaze towards me while his head continues to face the screen he didn’t want his attention drawn from. “ If only we had the technology to notify us when someone sends an email,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
I fold my arms and stare at him. “Could you look at it.” I almost say please, but stop myself. Mace wouldn’t respect me for it.
Mace opts wisely to do as I ask rather than have me staring at him for any longer than he’s comfortable with.
He stretches across his desk, almost sliding out of his chair as he checks another screen.
His brow furrows and he wheels his chair closer, giving what I’ve just sent him his full attention.
“It’s odd, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Give me a minute,” he says. As I wait, his frown deepens. “The actual thread of the conversation is nonsensical.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Which means it’s some kind of code between them.”
“Between who?” Hunter asks from behind me.
“Morgan and someone with an email address that’s just a random collection of letters and numbers,” I explain. To Mace, I ask, “Is there any way we can trace who it is?”
Mace taps away at his keyboard. “I’m doing it now. And…” I have a side view, but I see enough to know it’s a map that flashes up. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Ash asks, involving himself in the conversation now.
“Whoever Morgan was communicating with is in Lancelyn Heights. And if I overlay it with the tracers I have out in the field…” He taps a button and dots appear on the map. “It’s Ray Forsyth.”
My stomach hollows. “It could have been Morgan and Ray negotiating the terms of my marriage to Barrett,” I say. “But the conversation continued right up to this week. It doesn’t make sense. What would they still have to talk about? ”
“Mace, can you work out what they’ve been saying to each other?” asks Reid.
“I’m not sure. It doesn’t look like any cipher I’ve ever seen,” his brother says.
“They just quote items on an invoice. My guess is the numbers are references to a standard set of responses, but I can’t unlock their meaning without a key.
I’ll run more diagnostics through Morgan’s files, but given that the conversation’s on his work email, he’d want to keep the key elsewhere. ”
Hunter circles his desk to stand next to me. “If Morgan’s involved, Hugo will be too,” he says, resting a hand on my back just at the mention of my brother’s name. “And whatever they’re planning, it’s going to involve Barrett.”
“It’s time we closed the deal on the paper mill,” Ash says.
The news fills me with equal amounts of relief and dread. Ash isn’t going to make his brothers abandon their plans, and me along with it. But when the deal does go through, my divorce will quickly follow.
Ash’s gaze bounces between me and Hunter. He must see the hesitation in my features, and maybe in Hunter’s too. “Assuming all parties agree?” He poses it as a question. “Remind me, which of you two has the final say in selling your half of the company? I keep losing track of who’s in charge.”
“Maddie lost her veto when we married, but it’s a moot point,” Hunter replies. “We’re both in full agreement that the takeover needs to happen.”
“And I would never backtrack on my promise,” I say for Ash’s benefit. “The only one who can stop it now is Hugo.”
“Then it’s time to meet the brother,” Ash says. “Can we set up a meeting for tomorrow? ”
“Hugo has our offer on the table, but we haven’t had a reply yet,” Reid says. “I can send a request for a meeting.”
“No, I don’t want to give him the chance to push it back,” Hunter says. “Ash and I will pay him a surprise visit. We’ll just need Mace to confirm that he’s home.”
“I want to come too,” Mace says. “If you two can keep him occupied, I might be able to sneak away and hack into his home computer. If he’s involved in this little conspiracy with Ray and Morgan, he might have the key to their code.”
“Then I should go too,” I say.
“I don’t think so,” Hunter says quickly.
When I turn in my seat, his expression is almost as stony as Ash’s resting face.
“Given the conversation Mace overheard after the board meeting, Hugo still thinks of you as his property despite my threats. And it’s not a matter of whether you’re comfortable being in the same room as him. I’m not.”
I look between Hunter and Mace. “Are you going to tell me what Hugo said after the board meeting?”
There’s a flicker of guilt as Hunter realizes this is what he’d been trying to keep from me. “He’s figured out that our marriage is a temporary arrangement, and he plans to bring you home and take control of your assets once we’ve gone.”
“You didn’t think I should know this?”
“I told you not to worry about him, Maddie. I’m sorting it.”
I’m caught between being annoyed at Hunter for not telling me, and relieved that my husband remains determined to make damn sure Hugo doesn’t hurt me ever again.
“You’re protecting me, I get it,” I say.
“And you can protect me tomorrow too because I am coming with you,” I don’t give him the chance to refuse me a second time.
I turn to Mace. “If I make an excuse to fetch more things from my room, I can take you to Hugo’s study, assuming that’s not the room he invites us all into. ”
“We can make it so he doesn’t,” Ash promises.
“Thank you,” I say. It’s almost as if Ash has forgotten he was trying to exclude me from their business dealings.
I take it as another victory, but winning Ash over feels like a minor skirmish compared to the battle that lies ahead with my brother.