Chapter 34 #2
He smiles again, like he’s proud of me. And that’s Alex: possessive and proprietary, flaws and merits both.
“How have you been getting on investigating that construction company?”
His segue takes me by surprise, and in my weakened state, I’m not fast enough to hide my reaction. But then I realize I don’t need to; somehow, he already knows.
“I’m not. I wasn’t. It was…”
“…A lie,” he finishes for me, and ‘that’s a spanking’ hangs in the air from his tone alone.
It makes me shiver, and not in a bad way.
And crap. He didn’t even say it; it’s all on me for thinking it.
Oh, whatever. I can’t worry about that right now. I’ll wait until he… ties me up again.
It takes a moment to refocus, but Alex is patient. “I’m sorry. You… caught me off guard when you asked me what I was investigating.”
“And were you investigating Northbridge?”
“Not really, no.”
“Van Wyk?”
“Yes, I was. A client asked me to look into Amelia.”
He nods. “He had an alert on the divorce docket. At least, I assume that’s what ‘Van Wyk v. Van Wyk’ referred to.” He tilts his head. “He’s divorcing Amelia?”
“It was Juliette, his late wife,” I say bitterly. “The one that killed herself four months after that divorce was discontinued. By stabbing herself in the throat.”
“Ah.” Alex takes that with characteristic calm, but I know he’s joined the same dots I have.
And then his words sink in. “Wait… an alert?”
“Yes. He knew you were digging into him.” Alex shifts in his seat. “I was asked to ensure you didn’t… uh…”
“Go too far?” My anger rises. “Disclose anything important? Find out anything awkward that Van Wyk didn’t want aired? Like a murder?” I take my hand back from his. “You were spying on me?”
Alex raises the hand I just freed, trying to placate me. “I was already thinking of leaving before then. You mean more to me than the Company ever did.”
I do? I did? Even back then?
“You have a funny way of showing it,” I mutter, but it’s quelled my anger.
“I broke into DeLuca’s files this evening,” he says. “Among other things, I found an email alert on that docket, and knew they were coming for you.”
It takes me a moment to process that. “How did you find me, by the way? Was that in his files too?”
Alex hisses in a breath. “No. I… uh… I’ve been tracking you.”
I blink at him. “Pardon?”
“I put an app on your phone. After Miami.” He winces. “I didn’t want to risk losing you again.”
“You tracked me?” My voice is cold.
“If I hadn’t, you’d still be in that warehouse.”
Not the point. Not the point at all.
Slightly the point.
“You were tracking me, and it took you all damn day to get there?”
He flinches at my tone. “I was out. I spent the day preparing for this.”
“You were fucking late.”
“I’m sorry, Vicky. More sorry than you can know. I thought you were safe at Carol’s. If I’d been aware…”
There’s raw hurt in that admission, and it almost negates the breach of trust.
Almost.
But he did come for me, and I’ve never been more grateful to see him.
And he was tracking me because he didn’t want to lose me.
This is Alexander Reyes in love.
It’s twisted, it’s toxic, it’s wrong.
But I’m his, and he’s mine. It’s too late to get a refund.
“I don’t forgive you,” I tell him. “But… thank you for saving me.”
I probably should’ve led with that.
“And I’m sorry.”
“You know that means you won’t do it again, right?”
He tilts his head, holding my gaze. “Then I’m not sorry.”
Figures.
“Points for honesty,” I mutter. Maybe, secretly, I quite like that. “So you already had this planned?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Montana.”
That made sense. “Was Fournier really going to claim me for a night if you hadn’t…” Been prepared to lose a finger. I can’t bring myself to say it.
“Yes.” Alex bites off the word, eyes flashing at the memory. “You wouldn’t have been the first. Not by a long shot.”
I shudder. “That’s sick. The Company thing… it’s twisted.”
His mouth curls in distaste. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“Go on,” I say with trepidation.
“They had cameras in our house.”
His delivery is so flat it takes me a moment to process his words. “What?”
“In my apartment, too.”
“What? Which rooms?”
His jaw tightens. “All of them.”
Oh, shit. No, no, no.
“Not only that, they had photos of you from before we met. At the arbitration.”
“What?” I can’t take any more shocks.
“Vicky…” he continues, with the inevitability of a car crash in slow-motion, “…they had cameras in Carol’s apartment.”
“I…” I shake my head. “I can’t believe it.” But I could. How else did Haynes know where I was?
“I saw the footage myself. On DeLuca’s computer.”
I trigger that alert, and Haynes turns up… what… thirty-six hours later?
Carol’s dead because of me.
I knew it already, but the confirmation grinds it in.
My stomach clenches on all the water I’ve drunk, and the aircraft cabin shifts. It’s too much, on top of everything else today. I swallow down a wave of nausea, my skin clammy, my headache returning with a vengeance.
Alex reaches across and takes my hand, and I grip his back, his touch the only thing grounding me.
Memories assail me of what we did in his apartment, all of it on DeLuca’s computer. On Fournier’s, on Van Wyk’s—they’ll all have seen it, I just know. I danced with that son-of-a-bitch, he had his hands on me.
Fournier would’ve had a lot more than that on me.
But that’s not the worst of it.
“It’s all my fault,” I say. “It was me they were after, not you. I’ve cost you your job… Carol’s life… our home, our safety, all because I investigated Northbridge. And then Van Wyk.”
“No, Vicky. That’s not true.”
Hollow words. “It is. I’m responsible—”
“DeLuca sent me to that arbitration,” Alex says. “He put me there to meet you.” He waves a hand dismissively. “Oh, I’m sure they didn’t expect us to form a relationship, but he wanted you in my orbit. He must’ve guessed there’d be something between us.”
It’s strange to think I owe DeLuca for anything, but if he gave me Alex…
“Still my fault,” I say. “Still me they wanted to watch.”
“Except it was me they wanted to control. Through you.”
I stare at him and swallow hard.
That actually… made sense.
Fournier’s claim on me. Alex’s resistance. Prepared to do anything, in his possessive, obsessive way. Me, the perfect device for controlling him… and him, to monitor my investigations.
Almost elegant, in a twisted way.
All to protect their illegal enterprise, and the billions that pass through it.
“I hate them,” I say bitterly. “All of them. DeLuca. Fournier. Van Wyk.” I point a finger at him. “Your precious PA that kissed you at the dance.”
“Chief of staff,” he corrects mildly. “Rita.”
“Yes, her. Salacious little… floozie.”
His lips twitch in amusement. “We owe our freedom to Rita.”
“What?” I’ve been saying that a lot on this flight, and I’m not even sure we’ve reached the Atlantic yet.
“She got me into DeLuca’s files.”
“For her own gain, no doubt.”
“And then she resigned.”
I bite down hard before another ‘What?’ escapes.
Alex shrugs. “Smart woman. Very capable.” He smiles. “And yes… maybe a bit of a floozie.”
I have to know, even if I don’t want to know. “Tell me honestly. Did you sleep with her?”
He looks down at where our hands join. My right, his left. “I swear to you, on your soul and this ring, I did not. There was nothing more than that one kiss, which she instigated.”
Because she saw me there at the dance. I realize that now.
I nod jerkily. “I believe you. I’m sorry I asked.”
“Is that everything?” Alex asks. “If so, should you get some sleep?”
“Just one minute more.”
He inclines his head in agreement, waiting.
I grip the arm of my chair with one hand, and hold tightly to his with my other. “You know they’re going to come for us, don’t you? You know this isn’t over. You know Spain isn’t far enough away.”
“I do.”
“Then…”
He leans forward, out of his chair, close to mine. “I’ll keep you safe, Vicky. I promise you, whatever it takes, I’ll keep you safe.”
I want to believe him. But how does a man like Alex keep off a man like Van Wyk? Like Haynes? Like Fournier?
“Thank you,” I begin guardedly, “but—”
He pats my hand. “Give me forty-eight hours, please. If you’re not feeling safe then, we’ll rethink. We’ll do what you want, go where you want.”
We. It’s all we.
I stare into his golden-flecked hazel eyes, and give him the only answer there is to give.
“I love you.”
“I know you do.”
Yeah, that figures. Even after all this—
Alex smiles. “…And I love you, too.”