Filthy Rich Alpha - Virna DePaul Page 0,45
his expression became inscrutable.
Was he hiding something behind that mask that had so easily slipped into place? But if so, what?
Branden leaned forward and clasped his hands between his knees, boring into her with an intense gaze. “Davies taught me a lot. He married my mother when I was in my late teens, and took me under his wing. Taught me about money—not how to earn it, but how to grow it. How to take capital and make more. He saw what he called ‘genius’ in me, and started to groom me to join him in his misadventures. Turned out I had an ethical streak he couldn’t break, though, and when he dumped my mom, I dumped him. I had no interest in getting involved with the shady side of the law where he seemed to operate.”
She scoffed. “What he did to my father was hardly on the shady side—it was full-on evil.”
He nodded. “Your father never should have been blamed for losing your town’s investments, Cara. That was all on Davies. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am for your family and what my stepfather put you all through.”
“My father died because of the scandal,” she said simply.
“I know,” was his quiet response.
She sucked in a shuddering breath. “And now you think Davies might be after you because…”
“I have no real answers for you right now, except that this feels personal. Unfortunately, you just happened into my life at the wrong time.”
Cara thought about that. “Am I in your life, Branden? I mean, other than at work…”
He reached out and touched her face. His fingers grazing her skin were like being touched by a live wire. She both loved and hated it at the same time.
“I’d like to think so,” he said.
He bent down toward her and she knew she should turn away. If she let this go on…
His lips touched hers just as his doorbell buzzed.
Branden closed his eyes. “The man has the worst timing.”
“Who is it?” she asked.
“It’s Alex. He’s working for me as an investigator. I asked him to come take a look at the pictures of us. You brought the envelope, right?”
She took it out of her bag and handed it to him.
The buzzer rang again. He stood and strode to the intercom, then pressed the button. “Yeah, Nolan, is it Alex?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go ahead and send him up. Thanks, Nolan.”
A few minutes later, Alex, the guy with all the tattoos Cara had seen that morning, strode through the front door.
“Alex, thanks for coming,” Branden told him. “This is Cara Michal. Cara, Alex Samuels.”
“A pleasure,” Alex said, shaking her hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Cara responded. “Though I wish it was under different circumstances.”
“Me, too. I should have introduced myself this morning before you snuck out.”
Her face flamed. So she had been noticed.
“Knock it off.” Branden held the manila envelope, but there was a strip of clear plastic between it and his skin. “This was delivered to Cara’s door.”
Alex retrieved a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and slipped them on before dumping the envelope’s contents onto the table in front of them. He used an unsharpened pencil to shuffle through them. When he got to the last two photos of Branden and Cara he said, “This is last night and this morning?”
“Yes.”
Alex scrutinized them, then walked back over to the doorway and looked out into the hall. “Can you both come over here and stand exactly where you’re standing in the photo?”
Cara wasn’t sure what he was after, but stepped out into the hall as Branden positioned himself in the doorway. Alex had the photo in his hand as he stepped across the hall and backed up against the wall. He slid along the wall in one direction, and then back in the other until he seemed satisfied he was in the right spot. He looked up and down, and then to Cara’s surprise, he began tapping on the wall. He tapped up and then down slowly, finally pausing in one particular spot. He kept his hand on the wall and said, “What’s on the other side of this wall?”
“As far as I know, nothing,” Branden said.
“Can you get the super or someone up here for me?” Alex asked.
“Of course.”
Alex and Cara went back inside, where Cara made tea and Alex wandered through the entire penthouse with some strange device, sweeping for bugs, he explained when Branden got on the phone with Nolan. Once Alex finished his sweep—he assured her there