Counting On Cole (Wilde Ways #8) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,81
I hit my fist against that door over and over again, but I couldn’t get out.
She ran for the door. Grabbed the knob. Twisted it.
Locked.
She kicked at the lock, hoping she could break it or—
Fuck me! She hopped back. She’d almost broken her damn foot. That kicking trick had not worked. Cole did it all the freaking time, like it was nothing, but it was obviously way harder than it appeared. She stumbled back. Her gaze flew around desperately as she searched for something that she could use to force open that door. “Just hold on!” Evie cried out. “I’ll find a way to open the door—”
The door opened. From the inside.
“Don’t worry,” Stephen Lowe told her with a smirk. “I’ve got it.”
“Stephen?” She could only shake her head. “What are you doing?”
But, jeez, wasn’t it obvious? He was at the ransom drop site. He was all smirky and smug. Cole and the Wilde agents had been convinced Robert was the perp they wanted, yet it was—
“What am I doing? I’m taking what’s owed to me.” He sauntered toward her. She realized that he hadn’t been in a closet but, rather, he’d been waiting inside a smaller room.
She backed up.
He grabbed the duffel bag.
It was Stephen. Him all along. He unzipped the bag and peered inside. “You think it will look like more.”
Her hands fisted at her sides.
“Because five million sounds like a lot, am I right?” Stephen glanced up at her. “But when it’s all bundled into stacks, when you have piles of hundreds, it doesn’t look like so much.”
“It’s all there,” she assured him quickly. “Every single bit. I’m not trying to screw you over.”
“Aren’t you?” He zipped the bag. “What do you call your friend in the delivery truck? I told you to come alone, but you tried to bring a tail.”
“He’s not here.”
“That’s because Tommy took care of him. But since I have my money, I’ll play nicely.” He rose. The bag stayed at his feet. “This is your brother’s warehouse. Did you know that? One of the many pieces of property that he stole from someone else.”
She didn’t move.
“He’s paying the light bills.” He glanced up at the faint lighting. “And he’s paying for his own temporary jail cell.”
That meant… “Harrison is here?”
A slow nod. “Go back down the stairs. You’ll find your brother on the first floor of the warehouse. He’s in a closet on the east side.”
She whirled to go after him—
“I didn’t want to hurt you, Evie. That was never part of my plan.”
She caught sight of someone just beyond the doorway. The faintest of movements, the faintest glimpse of…
Cole.
Cole was there. Plan C was in effect.
She stopped and turned back to face Stephen. “If you didn’t mean to hurt me, then why did you have someone attempt to kidnap me?”
Stephen rubbed his cheek. “I tried to talk to you at the gala. Did your boyfriend tell you that?”
“No.”
“I was worried about you. I’ve noticed that you have a tendency to trust the wrong people.”
No, she didn’t. She trusted the perfect people.
“Like your brother, for example. He’s a total douche, in case you didn’t know. The guy sent a corporate spy to destroy my business. Like father, like son.” He shook his head in disgust. “Good thing a friend had my back and told me the truth.”
A friend?
“It’s the same shit Harrison’s dad used to do back in the day. Play corporate spy. Lie to allies. Trick people. Steal them blind. I mean, look what he did to Robert Demakis.”
She rocked forward onto the balls of her feet. “Where is Robert?”
“How the hell would I know?” But…he smiled.
Her gaze darted around the room.
“I didn’t try to kidnap you, Evie. I didn’t want you involved in this mess at all. I know you’re not like Harrison. You’re not guilty of anything.”
She took a slow step back, moving her body toward the doorway. Toward Cole. She knew he was out there. Waiting. Listening. She kept talking because she wanted Stephen’s attention on her. “I’m supposed to believe you?”
“Why would I lie now?”
“Fine. If you didn’t try to kidnap me, then who did?”
“Your boyfriend.”
She laughed. It was just so ridiculous that Evie laughed.
Stephen’s face hardened. “I’m trying to help you.”
“You abducted my brother. You just forced me to bring you five million dollars—”
“And I have never hurt you. I won’t. I really am trying to help.” He nodded. Then he motioned toward a desk on the far side of the room. “There are pictures on