his true identity. He’s left a string of shattered lives behind while taking the money and disappearing into darkness.”
Liam stared at me until I wanted to fidget.
His hand cupped my shoulder. Such a simple, innocent touch, but I felt it everywhere.
“This sounds personal,” he said quietly.
I dropped my gaze. “I’m doing my job.”
“Has this Doyle hurt you?”
I tried to pull away. “No.”
“No secrets, Aspen. Who is he?”
“Liam—”
“Tell me.” His face was close to mine.
“I don’t know him, but people like him destroyed my family.” The words burst out of me like poison.
Both Liam’s hands curled around my shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
I heard the sympathy in his quiet words. “I was fourteen. My father owned a small finance company. He invested other people’s money. Some people dragged him into a Ponzi scheme.”
“Shit,” Liam muttered.
“The scandal broke. People, a lot of them our friends and neighbors, lost their life savings.” I thought of the young boy next door, Anthony. He’d been a friend, until his father had committed suicide during all this mess. Anthony had looked at me with such hatred afterward. “My father went down, but the people who’d worked with him disappeared. My mother disintegrated under the strain. Instead of the nice life in her big house with the support of a well-off husband, she found herself a single mom of three girls, reviled by the community, and with no way to support herself. My mother couldn’t cope, and I had two little sisters who needed raising.”
“How did you cope, Aspen?”
“I did what I had to do. Helped care for my sisters, and studied harder. I had to leave my private school, and the kids at the new school loved having a juicy, new target.”
The bullying had been relentless.
“I get it,” he said quietly. “My parents’ marriage disintegrated slowly, publicly, and spectacularly. My father had numerous affairs, before being caught with an actress half his age, having sex in a car. My mother didn’t cope well. She lost it, and loved spewing her rage at my father in interviews. And the bullies sniff out any blood in the water, as do the press.”
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “It’s all in the past.”
“Is it?” His gaze was piercing. “I sense you became an investigator because you wanted to stop things like this.”
“I just want to help people.”
“Do you?”
“Quit with the psychoanalysis. We need to stop Nexus and save Jake, that’s our focus.”
“Well, I think we need to take a look at the warehouse.”
“Agreed.” I turned all the facts over in my head. “And I need to buy some time with Doyle. Let him think I’m working you, and if he gives me a few days, I can convince you to give him what he wants.”
Liam frowned. “Will he go for it?”
I straightened. “I’ll make him.”
“I have an idea.” He stepped closer, and fingered my hair.
“Hey, hands off.” I slapped his hands away.
“Tell Doyle we’re sleeping together.”
My heart tripped. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re sleeping with the woman who’s blackmailing you?”
Liam smiled. “A good lie always has an element of truth, doesn’t it, Aspen? Tell him that I’m bored with models and socialites. Tired of the glittering, shiny partygoers. Tell him that I’m hopelessly in lust with you because you’re different and you intrigue me.”
I wasn’t sure exactly which part of that was real and which was a lie.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I said.
“Do you have a better one?”
Aspen
I sat on the couch in Liam’s office, the phone to my ear, waiting for Doyle to pick up.
My belly was full of nerves.
This was a bad idea.
I needed to buy time by convincing Doyle that Liam and I were sleeping together.
Liam paced nearby. He had his hands in his pockets, a scowl on his face.
“Did he sign the deed?” Doyle’s raspy voice said in my ear.
“No. But he will.”
“Channing—”
“Listen. I’ve got this. I just need a few more days and I’ll have him doing anything I want.”
Liam glanced over at me. His blue gaze hit me, and I felt a zing.
“Explain,” Doyle demanded.
I swallowed. “The guy’s hot for me. Obsessed.”
Liam sat beside me.
I heard a sound of surprise from Doyle.
That’s it. Take the bait.
“You’re sleeping with him?” Doyle asked.
“Yes.” I laughed, putting as much sultry into it as I could. “Believe me, it’s no hardship to tear up the sheets with a man who looks like Liam Kensington.”
Liam gripped my knee and squeezed. I shot him a look, and pushed his hand away.
“I’d rock your world,” he murmured.
I rolled my eyes.
“He’s