Chapter 3
Three
Harmony was ready to get the hell away from Grant Pickens. The check was nice, but everything about the entire thing was wrong. She felt like she’d stepped into something she wasn’t supposed to be involved in, and accepting the money was agreeing to something she wasn’t agreeing to.
“I think this was a mistake,” Harmony said as soon as the cameras were off. “I never should have accepted this.” She gripped the edges of the check that was printed on a massive piece of foam board.
“But you agreed. It’s yours. The entire city just witnessed you say you were taking this. Why would you turn it down?” Grant Pickens wasn’t asking as much as snarling at her.
Harmony tried to hand the check to him. “I didn’t really do anything, Mr. Pickens. I made a phone call. I didn’t know what those men wanted, but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. It’s not right that you give me this much money for something that really wasn’t a big deal.”
“But it was, Ms. Gibbs. It was a very big deal.”
His tone was definitely not pleasant and friendly. “Mr. Pickens?”
“I don’t know what the man who came into my building wanted. I don’t know why he was here. But I do know if you hadn’t called the police, I might not be standing here.”
“I’m sure—”
“We have an audience, Ms. Gibbs. I highly recommend you take that check and stop arguing with me about it or people are going to start to wonder what is holding you back from such wealth. Most people would be thrilled to be indebted to me. To know I am not only giving them a substantial sum but also declared live on air that I would do anything to help you if you ever needed it.”
“I don’t need anything.”
“We all need something, Ms. Gibbs.”
Again, she shivered.
“Mr. Pickens?” Jasmin said, raising her eyebrows.
He nodded to her, then focused on Harmony once more. “I’d hoped this meeting would be more enlightening, but I’m sure we will see each other again soon, Ms. Gibbs.”
Harmony took a step back when he reached to shake her hand.
One eyebrow spiked, and a smirk lifted the edge of his lips. “I was simply offering my hand, Ms. Gibbs.”
Harmony slid her hand into his.
“I wouldn’t dream of hurting you with so many witnesses.”
Harmony yanked her hand back, staring at the man as he turned and followed his assistant to the elevators and out of sight.
“That went well,” a man said from right next to Harmony.
She jumped, searching for the source of the voice. “Captain.”
Captain Marcus Patrick didn’t miss much, and the panicked look Harmony was sure she wore was obvious to anyone who bothered to look at her. “Are you okay?”
Harmony swallowed roughly and nodded. “Fine. Just… overwhelmed.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Captain Patrick looked where Grant Pickens had disappeared. “Did he say something to you?”
“I… No. It’s just been a lot for me. I’m not used to so much attention.”
Captain Patrick narrowed his eyes, but he either decided to let it drop or believed her lie. “I imagine not. What do you plan to do with that?”
Harmony looked at the check she still held. Blood money. That’s how it felt. A weight settled on her shoulders. “I don’t know. Donate it maybe?”
Captain Patrick’s eyebrows shot up. “All of it?”
Harmony shrugged. “I didn’t do anything to really earn it. I feel like it should go to help people.”
“Well, until you figure that out, you should probably put it somewhere safe. Do you have a bank you use? I can escort you there since you’re holding on to a pretty big check.”
“Do I actually hand this over?” Harmony thought the foam board was a symbol, not the actual check.
Captain Patrick chuckled. “No. The actual check is attached to the back.”
Harmony looked and saw the envelope that blended into the white board. “Oh. I feel silly.”
“No reason for that. Do you want to keep the board?”
“I don’t really know what to do with it.”
“No one ever does. Ready to go to the bank?”
Harmony nodded and followed the police captain outside. He shielded her from the casual observers who were hoping to get her attention. Captain Patrick led her to his vehicle and secured her inside before driving her to the bank.
“What would you do with this kind of money?” Harmony asked him as he eased away from the crowds.
He hesitated for a moment, glancing at her before he focused on the road. “I would help people.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “I would. My wife owns a women’s shelter, so I know very well how hard it can be to find funding in the nonprofit sector.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“It’s not something I advertise, although it’s not a secret either. We live on the property, but the only men allowed on site are employees or there to interview someone. I’m usually surrounded by women.”
Harmony chuckled with him. “It doesn’t sound like that bothers you.”
“Not at all. We do our best to make it feel like a home for the women and children who stay with us. We want them to feel like guests, not prisoners. Usually they are escaping a situation where they felt like prisoners, and we don’t want that.
But there’s a balance between safety and total freedom in a place like Shelter in the Storm. ”
“Your wife owns Shelter in the Storm?” Harmony asked.
“She does. Do you know it?”
“Not personally, but it’s been on the news a few times in the last few years.”
Captain Patrick’s face pinched. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
He shook his head. “It’s been a rough few years. Frannie lost a friend and guest, and we almost lost many more.”
“I’m so sorry.”
He glanced in her direction. “Thanks.”
Harmony was quiet the rest of the drive to the bank. Captain Patrick escorted her inside, giving her space when she spoke to the banker, but staying close so she knew she was safe.
When they walked out, he asked if there was anywhere else she needed to go.
“You’ve been more than helpful. Thank you. I should probably get back to work, though.”
“Do you have your car at Pickens Systems Inc.?”
“I do.”
Captain Patrick sang the praises of Grant Pickens on the drive back and unknowingly put Harmony at ease.
By the time she got her car and made it to work, she’d convinced herself the weird interaction with Grant Pickens was her overreacting to a man who didn’t spend much time with the general public.
That had to be it. He was a good man who gave back to the city. There was no way he was actually threatening her.
“Nice show,” Kiernan said with a smirk.
Grant flipped off his brother. “Fucking bitch. She almost ruined everything.”
“Unfortunately, she’s not the only one who might ruin everything.”
“What does that mean?” Grant growled.
“Roger said Paul’s threatening to talk.”
Grant didn’t reply for a minute. He stalked across his office and claimed his seat behind his desk. The desk he’d worked hard to sit behind. The office he’d sacrificed everything in his life to get. Every day, every moment, he’d worked to get to where he was.
No one was going to ruin what he’d built.
“Did you hear me?” Kiernan asked.
“Yeah,” Grant replied.
“What do you want to do?”
Grant looked up at his little brother. He still saw the scared kid who cried at night when the snow made them so cold their blankets and jackets didn’t help.
The kid who didn’t like stealing, even though they had to eat.
The kid who turned into a man who understood all those lessons they learned as teenagers.
Kiernan’s gaze was sharp. He had the same brown eyes Grant did, but Kiernan had lighter skin and hair that bordered on blond.
Neither of them knew who their father was, and Grant always assumed they didn’t share a father since their mother had darker features and olive skin like Grant.
Whether Kiernan was his biological sibling or not never mattered to Grant.
They were brothers, and the only family each other had after their mother died.
“I’m thinking,” Grant said after a minute.
Kiernan settled onto the chair across from Grant. “Maybe it’s time to cut our losses.”
“What?”
Kiernan sighed. “I know that’s not what you want to do, but—”
“It’s more than that. You know that.”
Kiernan held Grant’s gaze for a long moment. “Is it ever going to be enough?”
Grant’s eyebrows shot up. He exhaled a mirthless laugh. “I just gave away a million dollars. A million dollars I wouldn’t have had to give up if things had gone to plan.”
“Staging a break-in to get your clients to pay up isn’t a great way to do business.”
“Since when did you grow a fucking conscience? And those assholes were trying to steal from me. Cheating me out of my share. We had just as much to lose as they did, but instead of one-fifth of six-hundred-eighty-nine million, they gave me five. That’s not what we agreed to.”
Kiernan gripped the arms of the chair, looking like he was going to say something else.
Grant waited. The break-in was only part of the plan. The blackmail was going to bring in double, enough to increase his other investments. The ones that were going to set Grant and Kiernan up for life.
The world had gone soft, choosing things that didn’t matter and deciding they were important.
Grant knew what really mattered was power, and the way to get power was money.
He’d invested in the largest diamond mine in the world, but when his profits were slashed, he found a way to make up the difference.
And get his revenge at the same time.
The clients who were stupid enough to cut him out of their diamond business were also stupid enough not to realize he was the owner of the company that held all their secrets.
He held all the cards, and all the loose diamonds.
The ones his former partners were scrambling to find after they went missing.
“I’m just saying all of this is getting bigger than we planned for. Stealing the diamonds was one thing…”
“But?”
Kiernan looked up at Grant and sighed. “But… Paul could make things messy. And Roger isn’t exactly known for his intelligence.”