Filthy Rich Alpha - Virna DePaul Page 0,92
will call.” She stood, turned on the lights in the kitchen, and took out her frying pan. “Did I ever tell you I make a mean batch of pancakes?”
He smiled. “I didn’t know that about you.”
“There’s probably a whole lot you don’t know about me. Why don’t we use this time together to fix that? Ask me anything you want.”
He cocked a brow. “Anything, huh?”
“Yep.” She pulled a box of pancake mix from a cabinet, and eggs and milk from the fridge. She started prepping and mixing, and Branden moved to the counter and sat on one of the bar stools, facing her.
“Okay. When did you—”
His phone rang and when he looked at it, he tensed. “It’s Lee.”
She swallowed hard and turned off the burner on the stove.
“Talk to me,” Branden said.
As Lee spoke, Branden’s expression morphed from concentration to understanding to disbelief. “Right. Is Deena there?” He nodded. “Okay, I’ll be there right away.”
He disconnected the call and locked eyes with Cara. “Larry Gills. Do you know him?”
“I’ve met him. He’s a trader. Older… Oh, God. Is it him?”
Branden’s jaw ticked. “Deanna suspected that Rafe Sampson was using him to orchestrate some shady deals. Setting him up to take the fall. We’ve been waiting, trying to find what we needed to take down Sampson and possibly clear Gills. Lee said about ten minutes ago Gills lost it. Started shouting and throwing things around in his office. He’s barricaded himself inside and he keeps screaming, ‘It’s not supposed to be this way,’ over and over again.”
“What about Sampson?”
“He never showed up to work today. Mike is trying to track him down even as we speak, and he’s got the help of NYC’s finest at his disposal.”
“So, Gills… Do you think our plan worked? That he was watching us? That he’s the one that’s been doing all this? Why?”
“He probably suspected he was being investigated. Thought to use you as a bargaining tool, which is why he’s asking for me now. To bargain. The police are there, but Gills says he has a gun.”
“A gun? What about the others in the office—are they safe?” Gail and Tammie’s faces charged into Cara’s mind. What if something had happened to them? She’d resisted getting too close to the women for so long, thinking only to protect her own emotional vulnerability. How wrong she’d been.
“Everyone’s safe—no one’s been hurt. And Gills swears all he wants is to talk to me.”
“And you’re just going to go? No. It doesn’t even make sense. He has to know there’s nothing you can do to help him. He broke laws!”
“The guy’s obviously not thinking straight, but I need to get over there, Cara.”
“Branden, he has a gun—”
“And I won’t do anything stupid. I’ll be careful. Listen to the police. But if I can diffuse the situation by talking to him, I have to try.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Branden shook his head. “I don’t want you to be part of that ugly scene, and if Gills knows you’re there, it might just agitate him further. He might demand to see you. There’s no way I’m letting that happen. I want you safe. In my penthouse. Howe will stay with you, but the security in my building is a hundred times better than your place.”
“Okay. But, Branden…” She grabbed his arms. “I—I—”
He covered her mouth with his. When he pulled back, he ran his knuckles down her cheek. “No worries, Cara. I’m wealthy, but I wasn’t truly rich until I found you. No way am I letting anything get in the way of you cooking me those pancakes and telling me more about yourself. Then we’re going on that beach vacation. Understood?”
“Understood,” she whispered.
After taking Cara to his penthouse apartment and making sure she was secure there, Branden made his way to D&M. All employees had been sent home and the floors had been evacuated. The only people on site were the police, Lee and four of his men, Deena, and now Branden.
“Any news on Sampson?” Branden asked Deena.
“Not yet. Something must have tipped him off. Mike’s tracking him down now. I’m wondering if he called Gills. Warned him and that’s what set him off.”
Branden didn’t say anything about the trap he and Cara had laid for their stalker. Hopefully, there was no physical evidence of it and no one would ever have to find out.
He jerked his head at Gills’s office door. “It’s quiet.”
“He hasn’t responded for the past ten minutes. The police have been strategizing about forced entry. I