“Paisley snuck around with Landon and it went to hell from there. They kicked the shit out of Jaxon at Christmas when they found out about him and Lily.”
“Wow,” I whisper, then something occurs to me. “They were married on New Year. How long were they together?”
Wyatt grins. “Not long. Jaxon has been in love with her since high school though.”
“That’s sweet. No wonder he’s overprotective.”
Wyatt’s pupils dilate and he grits his teeth. “He’s being more protective because he’s worried Black will go after her to get to him. He nearly killed her during that fire.”
“But she has you guys to look after her,” I reply, my stomach turning. I’d love to have that kind of love surrounding me.
“You can’t tell anyone this. I only know because I overheard them talking before the fire started, and I’m not sure if they’ve told anyone else yet… Lily is pregnant.”
The blood drains from my face and I stagger back. The significance of what Andrew nearly accomplished threatens to take me to my knees. Even with no physical injuries, the smoke inhalation could have caused her to miscarriage. No wonder he’s been calling her every five minutes.
“She’s okay though, right? I mean, after the fire.”
The frown lines soften, and he gives me a small smile. “Yeah, she’s good. But that’s why he’s been a nightmare lately. He doesn’t know what Black will do next and it has us on edge. We want him out of our lives but he’s adamant on being there.”
My alarm blares in my bag and I groan. “I need to go. That’s my reminder going off. I won’t tell anyone what you told me. I swear.”
“I didn’t think you would,” he tells me, leaning down to capture my lips in a kiss. I kiss him back, my body flush against his. “Are you still okay for later?”
Butterflies flutter in my stomach. I can’t wait for him to come to mine later. After Rebecca left last night, I cleaned the place up. Most of the furniture belongs to my mum and is old-fashioned, but since she was taken into care, I have worked to make it my own.
After making sure everything was in order, I popped to the shop to grab ingredients for dinner. Then I put the beef stew in the slow cooker before leaving for work this morning.
“I am. Message me when you’re on your way.”
“Why, you going to wear something sexy?”
I laugh, shaking my head at his teasing. “Maybe.”
“Go. I’ll see you later,” he orders, chuckling.
I kiss him one more time before getting in the car. Now more than ever I’m determined to get something on Andrew. All of them are innocent in my eyes, but with the pregnancy news, there is more at risk than a business. And after everything I have learned about the man to blame for all of this, he will definitely use her to get to Jaxon.
I can’t let that happen.
*** *** ***
“Right, so I’ll distract the receptionist while you go look for paperwork,” Rebecca declares, her hands gripping the steering wheel.
“Why can’t I distract her while you go into the office?” I groan.
“Because you’re his daughter. She knows you.”
“She doesn’t,” I tell her, eyeing her up and down. “And with your clothes and looks, she’ll believe you’re his daughter more than she will me telling her I am.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll get a read on her. Maybe I can get her to distract herself and then I can come help you.”
I inhale, running my sweaty palms down my jeans. “Let’s do this.”
We get out of the car, and I can’t help but scan the area, searching for Andrew’s car, but I don’t see it in the small carpark. The noise from inside the warehouse echoes with machinery and men chatting or yelling to one another.
“Do you have the memory stick I gave you?” Rebecca whispers, leaning in close when men stop to watch us walk up to the reception building. We ignore the catcalls and keep going.
I push my hand into my pocket, gripping the stick between my fingers. After I told her about Jaxon mentioning the memory stick being encrypted, she came up with the plan to plant a fake one. We are hoping Andrew will think it’s a glitch since he must have a simple way to access the original memory stick. It might buy us a day or two, depending on how good his tech guy is. I just hope we get the information we need before