Chapter 24
Ash
After the seismic shift in my life yesterday, I still wake up alone on Wednesday morning. It’s a small comfort to know that when Belle drove back to Barrett’s estate, it was my cum dripping between her legs. She’s mine now. And Barrett’s going to pay for keeping us apart.
He won’t be back in Poulton Springs until Friday, which gives me enough time to get all my plans in place, including a secure location for Belle and Piper to stay while I sort out the Katarina problem.
It’s all doable, and if I’m anxious about anything, it’s that sometime soon I get to meet my daughter.
I can’t decide what I should say, or how I should act. Should I get Piper a gift?
I make a note to ask Belle what toys she might like. Ethan got her a bike. Maybe I could get her an electric car. A pink one. But what if she’s not into girly colors? Another question to ask Belle.
I’m hunched over my desk, resting my chin in my palm as I stare out across the Chicago skyline. I’m two hours away from my girls. It’s nothing when you think of the long years we’ve waited.
“Who in their right mind calls their child Marmaduke?” Katarina complains.
I have her on speakerphone so Hunter and Mace can listen to the conversation, which is more than I’m doing.
Hunter clears his throat, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Katarina, does it matter what his first name is?” I ask. “He’s a Moncrief, and he’s willing to play along with our little charade. I’d say from the photos in the papers this morning, you two hit it off.”
She tuts. “He’s an upgrade from Barrett, that’s for sure,” she says. “But he’s even more severe than you. Why do men who look like gods have to be sculpted out of granite? And that picture of me on his lap? I’ve sat on warmer ice blocks.”
“Do you make a habit of sitting on ice blocks?”
“No, Ash, darling. I make a habit of sitting on men’s faces,” she purrs. “See what you’re missing?”
There’s only one person’s thighs I want to bury my head between.
My thoughts must be written across my face because Hunter and Mace are both smirking, like they’re welcoming me into their stupid little club of love-struck Griffins. I don’t hate the idea.
“Katarina, I’m devastated at the loss,” I say, smiling as I open the message I’d sent to Vasili ten minutes ago.
“Which is what I’ve just told your uncle.
I’ve also told him, and I quote, I’m deeply offended and humiliated by the turn of events that mean I can no longer entertain the possibility of marrying Katarina.
I feel betrayed that the rumors of our engagement had already been leaked to the press, and I will be issuing a statement to make it clear that there never was, nor could be a relationship between us. ”
“I can imagine the steam coming out of his ears as we speak. It’s going to get very interesting in the next few days,” says Katarina. “Marmaduke is going to disappear to some mountain lodge, and my private flight to Scotland is scheduled for Friday.”
“The non-existent flight is due to take off at midday,” Mace calls over. “Don’t be late. Your New Zealand flight is thirty minutes later.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve already packed my bags.”
“Pack something warm,” I say. “Don’t forget it’s winter at the moment in the southern hemisphere,”
“Oh, Ash. It sounds like you care, but you forget I’m Russian. We’re used to the cold.”
I lean back in my chair. “Believe me, Katarina. I never forget you’re a Barkov.”
“Speaking of Barkovs,” Katarina replies, suddenly serious. “My uncle is trying to call me. I suppose I’d better talk to him.”
When the call ends, Hunter scribbles something on his notepad. “That’s one thing off our list.”
“I’m still going through the final email account Belle sent through,” Mace says from behind the four screens arranged in front of him. I don’t know if he actually needs that many screens on his desk, or if it’s just his way of hiding from prying eyes. I’d bet on the latter.
“Anything useful?”
“It looks like he set up the account while he was still in the fire service. He used it mostly to keep up with gossip and accusations about the fire chief taking bribes from businesses who breached safety regs. But he was still using the account up until he died, and I’m just getting into some really interesting exchanges about fire precautions at the Poulton Springs factory.
He’d noticed some issues he thought needed addressing while he was on patrol. ”
“Exchanges with who?” asks Hunter.
“He’d written to management asking if they’d like him to carry out an informal assessment.”
I roll my shoulders. “Was he just looking to make a few extra bucks?”
“That’s what management seemed to think when they rejected his offer,” says Mace. “Two weeks before the fire. I’ll have to double check, but I’m pretty sure Ethan’s concerns were never picked up in the investigation afterwards.”
“Belle might be able to make a claim for negligence,” Hunter says. “When Reid gets back from Quinn’s prenatal checkup, we could get him to look into it.”
“So she can sue Barrett?” I ask. “I don’t think she’ll want to get into a legal battle that isn’t the divorce kind.”
“I think it’s still worth us exploring, if only to prove that Barrett was behind the sabotage,” says Mace.
“It could be that the safety equipment was deliberately tampered with, and that’s why Ethan’s offer was rejected.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the state of the equipment was something else the investigation missed.
It’s looking entirely plausible that Barrett had the Poulton Springs’ fire chief in his back pocket. ”
“I might give Ray a call,” I say, thinking out loud. “We’ve never pressed him on the details of the factory fire. And if anyone knows how Barrett arranged it, it’ll be him.”
I’m picking up my phone when Hunter stops me. “Before you do that, are we agreed that Belle and Piper go to Brimstage? Maddie’s only just agreed terms for selling the house to Rory, and he’ll want to know if we need to keep hold of it a little longer.”
I’ve visited the Corbyn mansion a few times, and it has far more history and class than Barrett’s newly constructed home. It’s where I’d first met Maddie’s little niece, Becks, and it could be where I meet Piper for the first time too. Just the thought of it has my eyes tearing up like an idiot.
“It won’t be for that long,” I say, clearing my throat. “Once Katarina’s vanished into thin air, and Vasili gets over his hissy fit, there’ll be no reason to hide Belle and Piper away. I want them both with me within days, if not weeks.”
“What about Barrett’s hissy fit?” asks Mace with a wicked glint in his eye.
“That’s going to be my pleasure,” I say, picking up my phone to call Ray. “I’ve convinced Belle to leave before he gets home on Friday, and she’s happy for me to break the news to him. Getting divorced will be the least of Barrett’s problems when I’ve finished with him.”
Ray answers on the second ring. We’ve kept him on a short leash ever since he tried to abduct Maddie on Barrett’s behalf.
I’d expected him to be pushing back by now, but the guy hates his boss almost as much as we do.
It comes as no surprise that Barrett isn’t the kind of leader who instils respect and loyalty in his men.
“I hear you’ve been visiting Poulton Springs,” Ray says without preamble. “I don’t suppose it was a coincidence that the Griffin helicopter was flying around at the same time Belle left the estate yesterday.”
I don’t like that the news has spread. I know we weren’t particularly discrete, but it’s not as if Barrett has access to the same level of monitoring as we do. He doesn’t have someone like Mace. “Does Barrett know?”
“I heard it from him.”
My pulse kicks up a beat. “Where is he?”
“Here in New York. I saw him this morning, and he’s not in a very good mood.”
Mace has been listening in. “His jet’s still on the ground, and there’s no order to prep it.”
I force myself to relax, but I don’t like that Barrett has reached the right conclusion about Belle and I.
When I’d spoken to her this morning, she said she’d swapped some perfunctory messages with Barrett and he’d confirmed he’d be home on Friday evening.
It should be reassurance enough, but Barrett had been quick enough to ask Belle who Piper had been waving to at the gate.
Why not question her about where she went yesterday?
“Was there a reason you called?” Ray asks, pulling me back into the conversation.
“Yeah, I want you to tell me everything you know about the factory fire.”
When Ray doesn’t immediately answer, Hunter’s expression is a mirror of my own. Suspicion.
“Ray, you have my word I won’t call in any more favors after this. You can consider your debt to us repaid,” I say patiently. “But you will tell me about the fire.”
Air hisses through Ray’s clenched teeth. “I wasn’t involved. And I absolutely didn’t agree with it.”
“Ray, do I need to jump on a plane so I can come over there and punch you again?” Mace calls out. “For fuck’s sake, tell us what you know. We’re not the Feds.”
“Yeah, but you are recording this conversation, asshole.”
I don’t need to ask Mace to confirm if Ray’s assumption is correct. “You have my word that we aren’t recording. As of now,” I say, shooting my brother a warning glare.
Mace taps loudly on his keyboard. “Fine, you’re in discrete mode.”
There’s the sound of a drink being poured. “What do you know so far?” he asks.
“Fuck off, Ray,” Hunter says. “Start talking.”
He takes a slug of his drink. “Barrett bought the factory with the same intention as always, to strip the business of its assets and move on. But when we visited the site, he took along an architect who drew up plans for the house that’s there now.
His intention was to build on the land from the outset. ”
“When did he find out John McConkey was using one of the warehouses?” I ask.
“It was after the sale. And when shutting the operation down didn’t get rid of them, he came up with the idea of a fire to kill two birds with one stone – or as it turned out – three,” he adds.
“The factory gets burned to the ground so he can build his mansion, the distribution hub gets destroyed,” Hunter says, counting them out on his fingers. “And the third?”
Ray takes a moment to refill his glass. “I didn’t know how far Barrett was willing to go at the time, I swear,” he says by way of an answer. “He gave his orders, and I made things happen.”
I grind my teeth. Ray is too fucking slow with his confession. “What kind of things?”
“I don’t know,” he huffs. “Like how I got Ethan Kelly the job with the security firm.”
“Did you know who he was?”
“I knew he was married to the woman Barrett had kept very close tabs on,” Ray replies. “And before you ask, I didn’t know about Belle’s involvement with you until he ran the DNA test on Piper a couple of years ago. For my sins, I helped with that.”
Color floods my cheeks. I hate how everyone else knew I had a daughter before I did. But I don’t hate Belle for it, no matter how much she thinks I should.
“But the job for Ethan,” Mace says. “That was last year, right? And it would have been around the same time that Barrett was sniffing around Maddie.” He gives Hunter an apologetic shrug for bringing her name into it. “Why was Belle still on his radar?”
“Have you seen Maddie next to Belle?”
“Watch your mouth, Ray,” Hunter warns.
“What I mean is, have you noticed how similar they are in looks? They’re both tall, blond and… Yeah, well, maybe I’ll leave it there before Hunter turns purple with rage.”
“Too late,” Hunter mutters.
“Was he keeping both options open?” I ask to stop Ray saying something that will make Hunter explode. “Didn’t he care which of them he married as long as he got one of them?”
“Do you honestly think Barrett was going to give up the chance of parading around with the woman you lost, and your daughter?” Ray asks.
Reid slips into the office. He has a beaming smile on his face, which means Quinn’s latest checkup went well, but his face falls when he’s met with three grim expressions. He doesn’t say a word as he takes a seat at his desk while Ray continues.
“He was never interested in Maddie. He just wanted a damsel in distress that you would rush in to save,” Ray says.
His tongue is looser now that he’s had a drink.
“He was relying on you to storm into the chapel and disrupt his wedding, and by that, I don’t mean the Griffins.
I mean you, Ash. You were supposed to take one look at Maddie, remember your lost love, and take her as your own. ”
I shake my head in disbelief. Barrett has been playing us for the best part of a year, and we never noticed.
“He wanted you tied to someone else so that when Belle’s marriage collapsed, he wouldn’t have any competition,” Ray is saying. “But as we know, it was Hunter who took the bait while you were out of the country.”
Hunter grinds his teeth at the suggestion Maddie was bait, but he doesn’t interrupt.
“That’s when things really hit the fan,” Ray continues.
“Barrett couldn’t delay sabotaging the factory because it was losing him too much money, and the illegal activity on the site was making him nervous.
I found a mercenary who’d do the job, and it was all set.
Then Ethan calls to tell Barrett that the fire safety measures at the factory weren’t up to scratch.
Damn right they weren’t. That was part of the prep. ”
“For fuck’s sake, Ray. Why are you only telling us this now?” Hunter demands.
“Because Barrett is more unstable than you realize.” He releases a heavy sigh.
“That guy who struck the match… He got a hefty bonus afterwards that I hadn’t authorized.
And there you have your three birds and one stone.
Barrett got rid of the factory, the McConkeys and Ethan in one fell swoop.
None of that was by accident. It was by design. ”
I sink my head into my hands. I don’t know how I’m going to break this to Belle, or how we find justice for Ethan. He was murdered. He was murdered at Barrett’s behest. I’ve been so wrong about that motherfucker, and I need to get Belle and Piper away from him right now.
I snap my head up, ready to spring into action, only to find Mace standing in front of my desk. It has to be bad for him to come out from behind his barrier of computer screens.
“A privately chartered jet has just touched down on Barrett’s estate. Jake’s at the gates. There’s no insignia on the tail. We don’t know who’s on the plane.”