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“Better than good.” In a couple seconds, he had the information in front of him and skimmed the email as Mike talked. “Quinn got a tip from one of his Denver contacts that Brady’s name came up in a tax evasion investigation run by the FBI white collar division. Apparently, he’s done a little creative accounting over the years.”
Over the years. Tension knotted in his gut. Contrary to Mike’s declaration, this was not good at all. How long had Jack been up to that shit? Did he now have to worry about being implicated in a felony from back when they were still business partners? Maybe even set up as the fall guy?
Back then, he’d trusted his partner to handle the business side when he obviously shouldn’t have. Now, even though he’d jokingly told Gina that Mike handled all the things he didn’t want to deal with, it didn’t mean that as the sole owner and CEO he didn’t keep discrete tabs on all aspects of his company. Or try to. That’s part of what made not knowing for sure who was currently betraying him so damn frustrating.
Gina had been right on the money when she’d said Jack could be whoever he needed to be to get what he wanted. He was also an expert at sucking others in to do his bidding. Frickin’ bastard just didn’t let up.
How many damn years? How many, he wondered, his mind turning back to the new information in front of him. He skimmed the missive for something that would quell the building nausea churning in his gut. About mid-way through the second paragraph, he read the investigation was specifically focused on the past two years and managed a breath of relief.
“With any luck, he’ll be arrested before the rest of this shit goes down,” Mike concluded.
“Except Quinn’s source says the investigation’s been in play for almost six months. If that’s the case, I’m not betting on luck to help us out.”
“Then do you mind if we continue this conversation tomorrow so I can capitalize on my own luck tonight?”
Dean hung up without telling his VP about the reason he’d called in the first place. He just wasn’t in a betting mood right now as he wondered if Gina keeping her mouth shut had anything to do with this new information. It certainly made a hell of a lot more sense.
Chapter 15
Gina finished emptying her suitcase as Britt entered the ranch’s main floor guest room Saturday evening. Her long, blond curls were pinned up with a few softening strands near her face and neck, and her emerald green dress deepened the color of her eyes. No doubt Joel was going to drool over the sexy, gold high heels gracing her feet.
“Wow. Horse trainer by day, bombshell by night. You clean up good.”
“Thanks. You should see my man,” Britt bragged.
She grinned. She had seen him a few minutes ago, and yeah, her man defined tall, dark, and damn handsome. “You guys about ready to go?”
“Joel is just changing Cody now. He’ll be down in a few minutes.” The bed creaked as she sat on the edge. “Everything working out all right in here?”
“It’s great. Thank you again for letting me stay.”
“Anytime, for as long as you need.”
Exactly what her other host had said.
“And you could’ve come over last night, you know. We were up late.”
“Like I said, Dean was pretty good about it.”
/> He’d been amazing, actually, which made her feel bad leaving with nothing more than a note of thanks this morning. But when he hadn’t been in his office, no way was she going upstairs to check in the master bedroom. She’d had a hard enough time walking away from him last night. If she’d found him in his bed, all sleep-rumpled and sexy…
She flipped her empty suitcase shut and stashed it in the closet as she added, “Besides, I wanted to talk to him about Jackson anyway.”
Britt made a disgruntled sound. “I can’t even stand to hear that man’s name.”
Despite the situation, Gina smiled in appreciation of her friends. Britt and Joel had both gone into over-protective mode this morning from the moment she’d called on the way back to her apartment and explained what had happened. Well, most of what happened. They’d met her to help pack, and with Joel’s furious reaction to the bruise that’d darkened overnight and refused to be hidden under any amount of cover-up, it was a good thing she hadn’t mentioned how far Jackson had tried to take the incident.
Dean had been the same way. He’d controlled his reaction well, done his best to hide it, probably because he didn’t want to scare her, but she’d noticed his clenched fists and the wrath simmering in his eyes.
He and Joel were the good guys, and she was lucky to have them. And Britt. Which is exactly why she didn’t reveal all the demeaning details. If a few bruises made them look ready to do murder, the words ‘tried to force himself on me’ would probably send them straight to Jackson’s house to commit the act.
“What goes around, comes around,” Gina predicted. Never had she wished more for that statement to be true. “Karma can be a real bitch.”
“Sooner rather than later, I hope.”
She wholeheartedly agreed with her friend.
A few minutes later, Gina waved goodbye to the departing couple, closed the back door, and gazed down at the beautiful baby in her arms. The three month old had his mother’s fair hair versus Joel’s dark, but with his father’s golden brown eyes and Britt’s green, what color the little ones eyes would be was anyone’s guess for another month or two.
