Page 18 of High Reward

He pulls me into his arms and kisses me tenderly. “I’m the one who should be thanking you, sweet girl.”

A knock on the door interrupts us, and Victor opens it to find Owen standing there, looking anxious. “We have a problem, mate.”

“What is it?”

Owen looks past Victor at me and shakes his head. “I need to talk to you alone.”

Victor looks at me and then back to Owen. “Is it about Grace’s phone?”

“Just come to my office, please. Or send Grace away, and we can talk here.”

Something’s not right. Owen’s expression is cold. As if he doesn’t trust me. But that doesn’t make sense.

“I’ll step out.”

I squeeze Victor’s arm and slip past Owen into the small foyer that leads into the main play space of The High Card. Owen says nothing as he shuts the door. I start to walk away, but curiosity gets the better of me, and I press my ear to the door instead.

The voices are muffled, but I can just make out what they are saying.

“How well do you know and trust Grace?”

Victor’s response is a mirthless laugh. “What the fuck kind of question is that? You’ve heard the stories. I’ve trusted her since high school.”

“It’s possible I’m reading this wrong, but I found something disturbing on her phone.”

My heart jumps into overdrive, and I want to bang on the door and demand he tell me what he found. He has to be misreading whatever it is.

But I stay where I’m at.

“Just spit it out, Owen.”

“She’s been emailing back and forth with someone about our business.”

What? I have fucking not. Please don’t believe it, Victor.

“It has to be a plant. A hack. Something. She isn’t familiar enough with our business to be talking to anyone.”

“Except that she did bookkeeping for us for the three months Bellamy was in London for the wedding that didn’t happen. She knows more than you think, mate. I know you’re sleeping with her, but you have to use your head.”

My hand flies to my mouth to stifle a cry.

“Grace? What’s wrong?”

I whirl around to find Lili and Zara standing there watching me.

“Owen thinks I’m betraying everyone. He’s in there telling Victor not to trust me.”

Zara’s brows draw together. “That makes no sense.”

Lili stomps forward and knocks on the office door before I can stop her.

“Go away,” Owen shouts.

“Open the goddamn door, Victor. I know you’re in there,” Lili replies.

The door flies open and Victor glares. “Eavesdropping again, Grace? Haven’t I already punished you for that?”

“I’m sorry, Master. But Owen was scaring me the way he was looking at me. And now I hear he thinks I’m betraying you. It’s not right that I’m not here to defend myself.”