Wright with Benefits (Wright Series #8) - K.A. Linde Page 0,86

then I needed to get out of there. Being stuck upstairs with him was not high on my priority list.

“I’m going,” I said, pushing past him toward the door.

He grabbed my shoulder. His eyes full of alarm. “What’s the rush? What’s going on? Just talk to me, Annie.”

“You sabotaged the winery,” I snapped at him.

Confusion remained on his face. “I’m sorry, what?”

“The winery!” I said, my anger getting the better of me. “You and your family tried to ruin the new winery venture by the Wrights.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Someone tried to sabotage the winery?”

“Just go look at the paperwork,” I said, throwing my hand toward the papers on the floor.

“Okay,” he said uncertainly. “Don’t leave yet.”

He stepped over to the paperwork and read through everything that I’d found. His confusion turned to dismay. Then he shook his head and looked back up at me. “I had nothing to do with any of this. I had no idea, Annie. I was in Houston for most of when this went down, judging by the dates.”

Which made sense, of course, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been playing me all along.

“And you just happened to come home in the middle of this?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “I guess. I don’t do any work with my father’s real estate ventures. It’s Ashleigh who handles this kind of thing for him.”

I froze there in the doorway to the office as the words hit me.

Ashleigh.

“Say that again.”

He picked up a paper off of the ground and brought it over to me. “Ashleigh handles this kind of thing. My dad doesn’t involve himself with small, technical work.”

“But it’s all signed by him.”

“No,” he said, handing me the paperwork. “See.”

I stared down at the paper. The signature there that said Arnold Sinclair. “I don’t see.”

“That’s her forge. She got really good at it in high school. I could recognize it anywhere.”

I stumbled back a step at the news. “Forged.”

Now, that was damning.

The rest of it had been legal. Despite how frustrating it had been—the second offer, the permit, the health inspection—all of that had been perfectly legal. But if Arnold Sinclair hadn’t actually been doing any of this…and Ashleigh had been forging his name … well, that was criminal.

“Why…why would she do this?” I asked him. My shock registered on my face.

He shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Why does my sister do anything?”

That I definitely didn’t have an answer to.

But Ashleigh of all people?

She was dating Julian. They’d been together for two years. She had to want him to succeed. It was illogical.

Fuck. Julian!

I dashed out of the office without a word to Chase. He called my name as I sprinted down the stairs at a pace that would have normally been terrifying in four-inch heels, but adrenaline propelled me forward. My eyes darted around the living room, but there was no sign of Julian.

I texted him.

Where are you?

Out by the pool. Why?

Don’t move.

I braced against the cold as I darted toward the back exit. Chase caught up with me as I raced outside.

“Annie, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Righting a wrong.”

“You’re going to freeze.”

He stripped out of his jacket and offered it to me. I deliberated and then decided to take it. It was too cold not to.

“Fine,” I said, pulling it around my shoulders.

I found Julian standing with Ashleigh next to an outdoor heater. With a deep breath, I sent him the pictures I’d taken and then approached. He was peering down at his phone when I stopped in front of him.

His brow was furrowed as he read.

“Annie!” Ashleigh gushed. “Where have you and Chase been?”

She asked it in that cutesy voice of hers. And of course, it probably did look bad that we’d disappeared at his party, and I showed back up in his jacket, but I was so beyond caring.

“Why did you do it?” I asked her. I still clutched her forged signature in my hand.

“Do what?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

“What is this that you sent me, Annie?” Julian said. He glanced up at me. His eyes were wide. He knew exactly what I’d sent him.

“I stumbled across that in the Sinclair’s study.”

Julian’s face paled. “Really?”

“What is it, baby?” Ashleigh asked.

She leaned against him to try to see his phone, but he turned it away from her.

Oh yeah, he knew now.

“Why did you do it?” I repeated to Ashleigh.

“I still don’t understand.”

“Wait…how is Ashleigh involved?” Julian asked.

“Ashleigh handles her father’s affairs, don’t you?” I held up the