Chapter 38
JORDAN
Within a couple hours, Agent Porter and his team have put together a plan to lure Bryce in, and I’m at the center of it.
It starts with a call to Mitchell. Agent Porter’s team of half a dozen agents all don headphones to listen in. Caleb pauses his typing. He’s been working on proving that Bryce is behind Baylee’s involvement.
“Got another excuse?” Mitchell asks dryly when he picks up.
“I’ve got the money—in cash,” I add. “But if you want it, I have a demand of my own.”
Agent Porter gives an approving nod at my words.
Mitchell scoffs. “You have a demand? Not sure you’re in the position to make those.”
“If you want the money, you’ll listen. Or you can hang up and watch $500,000 go down the drain. Your choice.” I keep my voice calm. Hockey was good training for situations like this. I spent eight years of my life keeping my cool while being surrounded by chaos.
Mitchell pauses for a long time. We all share looks as I wait him out. He wants me to cave.
“What?” he finally barks.
“Tell Bryce I’ll hand over the cash to him in person. Otherwise, I’m not paying anything.”
Everyone in the room holds their breath together, waiting for Mitchell’s answer.
“Bryce?” Mitchell sounds surprised, but it’s probably only because I’m not supposed to know about that part. “He’s the guy who scammed me in the first place. Why would I want you to give the money to him?” His voice keeps rising, and I don’t think that’s in anger. He sounds stressed.
“Come on, Mitch.” My turn to scoff. “You really believe I’m that dumb? My wife is a billionaire. I’ve got resources. Did you guys think I’d give you half a million dollars because a picture of me having dinner with Daria Cane is on Instagram?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mitchell says stonily.
“Tell Bryce I’m happy to give him the money to keep the feds off Baylee. I just want to face him after what he did to my sister and my hometown.” I let out a little of the growl I’ve been keeping in. Agent Porter told me sounding a little angry is good for the act.
Mitchell stays silent again, and I can practically hear him grinding his teeth.
“How about this, Mitch?” I catch a grunt of frustration at the nickname and can’t help my grin. “I’ll throw in an extra hundred thousand just for you if you get Bryce to do this. I won’t say anything to him about it, and you can still take your cut from the five-hundred-thousand.”
Still he doesn’t say anything. I wait. Seconds tick by.
I gotta get him over the edge on this. “Okay, fine,” I say.
I let a little frustration leak into my tone.
I glance around at the silent room around me.
Agent Porter nods at me to try one more thing.
“Tell Bryce to release his proof that Baylee was in on this. I definitely won’t be giving him anything once he does that.
Too bad you’re not getting anything either now, Mitch. ”
I hit the button to hang up, and we all hold our breath.
A full minute goes by before I get a text.
Mitchell
I’ll talk to Bryce.
Caleb and the rest of Agent Porter’s team stay on top of Mitchell’s phone and the one that Caleb already identified as Bryce’s.
Mitchell starts sending texts as soon as we hang up, relaying to Bryce the conversation he had with me.
They go undelivered for a while. Long enough that I leave to take a walk and call Libby.
She’ll want an update about what’s going on, and to be honest, I want to hear her voice.
I wish I could have given in and told her to come with me, but after that kiss earlier today, I think we both need a little space.
Just not too much space.
I’m not going to let anything like that happen again until Libby is ready for it—a lot more ready than the bewildered but kiss-drunk expression she gave me when I pulled away. But I’m also not giving up on us.
I want to see her face, so I make a video call. Her eyes are bright with excitement when she answers. “Jordan!”
I love the joy in her voice, like we’ve been apart for days and not just hours. “Hey there. You’re at Ellie’s?” I ask, noting the room around her as she gets up to move somewhere more private.
“Our apartment was too lonely.” She grimaces as she says it.
“I miss you too.”
She flops down onto the couch in the guest room that I shared with her when we stayed there. “Are you coming home soon?” she asks.
I tell her about my conversation with Mitchell. “Waiting now to hear if Bryce is going to go for it.”
“If he wants the money as desperately as the FBI thinks, he will,” she says confidently.
We chat about the hockey team and the fact that she has to film Being Libby Bennet without me tomorrow and her worry about what people will think.
She chews on her lip and then tells me, “Ellie says it’s clear in our faces how we feel about each other and no one will question me saying a family emergency took you away for a few days.
She’s sure the new viewers will be too busy being ecstatic about us being married and running off the way we did. ”
“Is it clear?” I can’t help asking. My face definitely says it every time I look at her. Does hers?
“I want to talk when you get home. Really talk.” She nods at me with firmness, and my heart rate doubles like it used to right before I hit the ice at a game. The light in her eyes says this will be a good talk.
“I can’t wait.” My voice comes out husky.
“That kiss…” Libby says, and pink rises to her cheeks. I wish I could reach through the phone and run a finger over them. “That kiss made some things really clear to me—”
“Jordan?” Caleb pokes his head into the hallway. “Sorry to interrupt. We have a location on Bryce.”
I nod and hold up a finger. “I have to go,” I tell Libby reluctantly. “Pray that we get Bryce tonight so I can come home ASAP.”
“Done,” she says. She blows a kiss at the screen, then laughs at herself and hangs up.
I’m so tempted to tell the pilot of the Bennets’ jet to keep the engine running. As soon as the FBI has Bryce, I’m out of here.
I head back into the room. A couple agents from the team have already left, off to check the location they have from when Bryce texted Mitchell a couple minutes ago.
“Downtown,” Caleb tells me. “Near the Hyatt.”
I grunt. “He must have enough left for a nice hotel while he’s in town.”
“Or it’s another wild goose chase,” Caleb shrugs.
“What did he tell Mitchell?” If the agents can’t track him down from this, there’s still a hope that Bryce is desperate enough to meet with me to get the cash.
He points to his computer, where I can see the texts coming in. At least this means Bryce has to keep his phone on while he talks about it with Mitchell. Not surprisingly, he refused right off.
Mitchell
He knows about the account you created.
Bryce
And he’s still refusing to pay you?
Mitchell
Says he wants to face you.
I think he’s willing to take his chances with the feds if you don’t do it.
Probably got a good chance of getting them on his side.
Several seconds go by with no answer from Bryce.
Caleb calls out a new location so Agent Porter can update the agents headed toward him.
Bryce is on the move, maybe in a car, because it’s several blocks away from his last location.
Another agent is scanning cameras in the area where his phone is, hoping to catch a glimpse.
Mitchell
You want the money?
This is our only chance.
A few seconds after that text goes out, Bryce’s phone turns off. Caleb growls in frustration.
Until a text pops up on my phone from an unknown number, and it’s not Mitchell.
Unknown Number
You really got the cash?
“I think it’s Bryce,” I say, showing Caleb my phone.
“That’s a different number than the one he was using with Mitchell.” Caleb taps away at his computer some more. “Tricky,” he mutters.
Jordan
I got the cash.
Unknown Number
If I see anyone in the FBI, I’m gone.
Caleb tells Agent Porter another new location, not far from the last one.
Jordan
Why would I tell the feds? They’d stop me from punching you in the face. And the whole point is to keep the feds from arresting her.
Bryce texts a time and a place, and then that phone turns off.
Caleb gives the last known location to Agent Porter, but his agents call ten minutes later saying they can’t find him.
The agents here will keep scanning the cameras, looking for anything, but this isn’t a TV show.
The pictures are grainy and few and far between.
And we have no idea what kind of car Bryce is driving or riding in or what.
Hopefully he’s desperate enough to show up tomorrow morning to get his money.