Page 28 of He Had It Coming

Right on time. Five minutes early, actually. “Consider this my insurance policy.”

Maeve spun back around to face me. “What?”

She still didn’t get it, but I knew she would soon because the plan was clear and she had a very large role left to play. “You’re welcome.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

The speedboat flew through the water. Sleek and fast but with enough control so as not to draw attention. It drew close to the swim platform at the yacht’s stern. The windscreen at the boat’s helm blocked the operator’s face on arrival. Then she stood up.

“Willa?” Maeve entered a new level of confusion with that one.

I didn’t confirm. I didn’t need to. Willa might not be in her usual business gear with a skirt and heels, but she was tough to miss. Pretty and athletic. She wore shorts and a navy half-zip hoodie.

Without saying a word, Willa tied the boats together. To anyone passing by it would look like we were rafting up to socialize. In a way, we were.

She walked up the steps into the kitchen, smelling like ocean air. “Is it done?”

Maeve hadn’t recovered. “What the hell is going on?”

Loose ends but I was the one tying them up. “You know Willa.”

Maeve slid farther into the banquette, tight against the wall as her gaze darted around. She looked small and vulnerable and unsure. “I don’t understand.”

“When you contacted me, I was understandably skeptical.” I leaned against the refrigerator. “You’d always towed the family line. Gave great soundbites to the press. Stuck up for your disgusting brother.”

Willa peeked downstairs. From this angle, Jerek’s legs were visible but not the rest of him. “That blood is going to be a bitch to clean up,” she said.

I winced because she wasn’t wrong. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

Maeve held up both hands in what looked like surrender. “Hold on. Willa works for me.”

“Not really.” Willa winced. “Well, technically, but not really.”

“She has a vested interest in seeing Jerek pay.” An understatement, but I went with it.

“Because he touched you at work?” Maeve’s words came out slowly, as if she questioned them as she said them.

Willa slipped into the seat across from Maeve. “You contacted Sabrina. Sabrina contacted me because we knew we needed an inside person for this to work. It took me two tries but I got the job at the company and then made sure Jerek saw me. A little flirting on my part helped.”

“No.” Maeve still struggled but now her expression had switched from panicked to assessing. “You reported his behavior to me in confidence. I had you switched to my office to protect you from him.”

Willa smiled. “Convenient and thank you for sticking up for me. Not necessary but it gave me hope about you.”

I wouldn’t go that far but I understood what Willa was saying. Maeve providing Willa with a place to go was less about girl code and more about being a decent boss, which was nice to see. It would have been even better if she’d removed Jerek from the office right then, but I always assumed Maeve didn’t have that level of power in the family or the company. Which was why she came to me.

“So, he didn’t do anything to you?” Maeve asked.

Willa snorted. “He did. Don’t make him into a saint.”

I hated this part. Willa took it in stride. I didn’t. “He did touch her and was his usual despicable self, but Willa says she knew that would happen going in and she controlled it.”

“Hoped it would, actually.” Willa sent me a look that said, It’s fine. “See, I needed him to trust me so I could do his secret tasks, like working with him on finding a yacht to buy and keeping the meeting about the sale off his calendar so you wouldn’t find it too early and get angry.”

“You set him up.” Maeve’s voice returned to its usual stern tone.

Willa laughed. “Weren’t you doing the same thing to Sabrina?”

Maeve leaned her elbows on the table. Inched closer to Willa. “Who are you?”