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Kira would laugh if she didn’t want to cry. She huffed out a sigh. “Who’s the preempt buyer?”
“Your old bosses at Gardner Holdings.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Chris sat in the grocery store parking lot, reading the text from Freya on his burner phone. They’d found a loophole in the deal between the Gardners and the auction house and were bringing in an appraiser to go in and look at the documents.
They probably wouldn’t be able to stop the sale, but it would rattle the Gardners. He tucked away the phone, feeling a rush of relief.
Diana wasn’t alone. The Valkyries would protect her.
He climbed from his SUV and headed into the store, grabbing a cart on his way. He’d spent half the night worrying about what he’d do if this wasn’t settled before he had to report for duty in eleven days. But Freya and Morgan would protect her, and he’d just be down in Little Creek. She could return with him and stay at his house while Freya untangled the web the Gardners had woven.
They’d finish decorating for the holidays. Maybe he’d have a chance to impress her with his cooking. He’d seen her kitchen—from her quality knives to her French cookware—and guessed meal prep was important to her. Except for the scrambled eggs he made yesterday, they’d eaten nothing but takeout.
He considered the knives and cookware in the vacation rental and pushed the cart to the frozen food section. Impressing her with his skill on the grill would have to wait for an actual grill, and his sauté prowess would remain under wraps until he had pans and knives that weren’t vacation-rental quality. In the meantime, he’d get basics to tide them over.
After giving Kira approximately fifteen seconds to digest the fact that Freya wanted Kira to wave a red cape in front of her bull of an old boss, Freya dropped another bombshell.
“We think that in the time you were employed by Gardner Holdings, they made several questionable deals for their Historie stores with your name attached as approving the acquisition.”
Kira jolted in her seat, bile climbing up her esophagus. As the collections manager for the family, she’d had influence over the purchasing that was done for the store—high and low end—but her primary work had been overseeing the family’s personal acquisition of more recent art. The Gardners couldn’t legally make replicas of most of the items they purchased for their enjoyment at their estate. She’d had little involvement with Historie.
“Do you believe I would sign off on a fraudulent purchase?”
“Of course not.” Freya opened a file on the table before her. “But you are listed as acquisitions manager for Gardner Holdings on several recorded sales.”
“What? I never had that role.”
Freya nodded. “I know, but we found a total of a dozen transactions with your name on them in that capacity during the years you worked for the family. There was another commonality in those transactions. The brokers on the foreign end always included a man named Harun Taha.”
“I’ve never heard that name.” Kira didn’t know if she should be relieved or not.
“That will work in your favor when you sue Gardner, then.”
That triggered a bitter laugh. “Right. I can’t wait to sue those assholes. Wait. I can’t. NDA.”
“There are ways around the NDA.”
She rose from her seat. “Listen. I’ve appreciated the work you’ve thrown my way, but I can’t spend the rest of my life in court, unable to do the only job I’m good at. And what you’re proposing will place me in that exact position.”
“Kira, we can help you.” This was said by Morgan, the less scary of the two Valkyries.
“Right. You can outspend a billionaire in court. That’s how the system works. The person with the biggest moneybag wins. You’re government contractors. You can’t compete with Mason Gardner.”
“Mason? Not Dennis?”
She shrugged. What did it even matter at this point? “They’re two sides of the same coin.”
The far-too-handsome Ian Boyd shifted in his seat. “Kira, this is the first I’ve heard about the NDA and understand that’s a problem for you, but before you walk out this door, you should know that Harun Taha is a key player in the terrorist Islamic State. Mason Gardner purchased artifacts from him, showing approval from you as the Gardner Holdings acquisitions manager. That’s also a problem for you.”
Well now, wasn’t that a pretty pickle. She was caught between the NDA that was her only escape from a nightmare family and…aiding and abetting terrorism.
“If you do this for us,” Morgan said, “we’ll do everything we can to help you get out of the NDA and clear your name of all association with those transactions.”
There was a knock on the door.
“That will be Rand,” Morgan said as she rose and crossed to the door.
