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A chill zipped through her. She clicked on the first photo, and the room turned even colder.
Everly recognized the apartment building immediately because it was hers. A man stood outside, pressing his finger against the intercom door. Maddox. He’d come to see her that night.
Evidence. Instinct told her she was looking at evidence, but she wasn’t sure of what.
She moved down to the second photo. The photographer must have been in the building across the street because he’d captured a shot of her through her open living room window. She’d opened it that night because the evening had been cool and she’d wanted the breeze.
A knock sounded on her office door, startling her out of her memories.
Everly looked up in time to see Scott poke his head in. “Hey, you’re needed in a meeting. Something about a breach in our retail sector.”
She nodded stiffly. Because backing up to the external drive was taking up CPU cycles, she couldn’t save the pictures on the SD card anywhere else. Damn it. She’d have to come back to this later.
“Of course.” She released the SD card and shut her laptop. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
Scott gave her a little salute, then ducked out again.
Before she could make a clean exit, her phone chimed with a text. She glanced at the screen. Naturally, it was from an unknown number again.
Meet me on Thursday to discuss your trip down the rabbit hole. Tell no one, sweet Alice, or I’ll disappear and you’ll never know the truth about what happened to our poor Mad Hatter.
Shit. This was all about Maddox, and she couldn’t tell anyone.
Everly thought briefly about taking everything she’d received to the police, but whoever had found this evidence wanted her to have it, not the cops. If she did give it to the authorities, would the source disappear, along with the truth about what happened to Maddox?
She locked up the SD card and the camera in her safe. She would have to think about the best course to take later. For now, she had a job to do.
SIX
So Mad dumped Sara to nail a woman who worked for him? Fucking bastard. I knew he’d found someone else.” The following morning, Gabe sat in Mad’s chair at Mad’s desk. In Mad’s corner office. In Mad’s building. He took a deep breath, trying to quell his anger. Mad had bequeathed him everything—including his problems.
“It’s only a rumor.” Connor sank into the chair across from him. “I heard it from several of the employees I talked to, but there’s no solid proof.”
His friend was dressed for business in a tailored suit and tie, his Italian loafers finishing off the ensemble. With dark blond hair that had just started to gray at the temples, Connor looked like any of the thousands of wealthy, successful executives who walked the streets of Manhattan every day. Gabe knew that was a mask. Connor possessed a ruthlessness under his facade. He’d always been far too serious, but that focus had turned darker in the last few years. Sometimes Gabe wondered if the boy who had taught him to play lacrosse had been wiped out completely by the spy.
Gabe snorted. “Rumors usually have some kernel of truth to them.”
The kernel of truth would be that Mad had spent time with this woman. Gabe only knew one way Mad had ever spent time with any woman, and that was between her legs. While Sara had been pining and dealing with morning sickness, Mad had moved on to the next bed.
Connor nodded, conceding the point.
“Who is she?” Gabe wanted to know so he could put her severance package together. The one good thing that could come from knowing was the pleasure of firing the woman Maddox had left his sister for.
Connor’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because I’m letting her go. I can’t have her here.” Surely Connor would understand that. “And while we’re at it, I want to hire an investigator to pull up any and all dirt on this woman.”
“Then I won’t tell you her name. Even if it’s more than a rumor, you have no idea what this woman’s situation is. She might not have even been aware of Mad’s relationship with Sara. You know how persuasive Mad could be when he wanted something . . .” Connor shot him a cynical glance. “Give the bastard points for one thing: he kept Sara out of the press, unlike that pretty redhead you took to bed over the weekend.”
Gabe had seen the pictures. Eve’s hair had been blowing in her face, obscuring most everything except her big hazel-green eyes and the intriguing tilt of her chin. Guilt sat in his gut. He should have told her to leave out the back. Hell, he should have escorted her home. He should have protected her. Eve didn’t understand his world.
He hadn’t called her yet for two reasons: he wasn’t sure what to say and he wasn’t sure if he had anything to offer her right now except a whole lot of trouble. So he’d forced himself to stop dialing her number about a hundred times. She’d already been punished for spending the night with him. He couldn’t imagine what the press would write about her for actually dating him.
“They’ll leave her alone if I walk away now. I’ll go to dinner with some vapid model tonight and the press will forget.”
He maintained acquaintances with a few women who made their living in front of a camera. They were casual, mutually beneficial dates. The women were guaranteed to be photographed for stepping out with one of Manhattan’s most eligible bachelors. And he was guaranteed casual sex.
But he wouldn’t sleep with his date tonight, not when he wanted Eve so much.
“Agreed. I’ll have your assistant give Ashton a call and find a date for Roman, too. If the two of you are seen with a couple of models, the press will likely forget about Eve.” Connor sat back casually. “Do you want me to dig for her last name? As far as I know the press is still scrambling to find it, but I’m sure I could figure it out.”
Gabe didn’t doubt Connor could find out everything from her last name to what she ate for breakfast, but it wouldn’t change the problems in his life. “Not now. Maybe if things die down in a couple of weeks . . .” He winced with regret. “Even then, she’s probably better off without me.” He had to focus on the clusterfuck he’d inherited, not his love life. “Now tell me the name of Mad’s mistress.”
“Mistress sounds nice, considering I expected you to call her a whore.”
He’d thought it. “Tell me. I’ll find out anyway. I’m serious about the PI. I have to find out every bit of dirt I can use against her. We don’t know who she is or what she’s capable of. I’d rather be prepared if she tries to come after Mad’s fortune or decides to use the press to make a name for herself. I don’t want Sara to have to read whatever interviews this woman gives.”
“Fine. I’ve mostly talked to entry-level employees and various worker bees, since they’re the most likely to answer honestly. I didn’t bother with the executives. They’re too worried about their jobs to talk about anything else. You should know that we’ve managed to keep the news about Mad’s will out of the press. If you work fast, the employees’ first word about their new CEO will come from you.”
“I snuck in this morning at five. I didn’t want any questions.” Gabe was already tired. He didn’t admit to Connor that he’d come in so early because he couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think. He wanted Eve and he couldn’t have her.
“Good thinking.”
“I’ll meet with the four VPs before lunch. The minute we’re through, I’ll release a company-wide announcement so they don’t have time to gossip.” He sent Connor an impatient glare. “Now stop stalling. Who was Mad’s last mistress?”
“Come on, Gabe. You can’t fire this woman. The last thing you need is a lawsuit, and if you let her go based on gossip, that’s what you’ll get. If we believe all the watercooler fodder, Mad slept with at leas
t one of his VPs, several department directors, and a good portion of the secretarial pool. You know how Mad was. His dick did not discriminate. He had a very egalitarian sex drive.”
“I don’t give a crap who he slept with before Sara,” Gabe admitted. “I want to know who he dumped her for. I won’t do anything stupid.”
With a frustrated groan, Connor shook his head. “Yes, you will. No matter what I do, you’ll probably hear her name anyway. According to the rumors, he was spending a lot of time with his VP of information security. Her name is Everly Parker. I haven’t had
