Taming the Carefree Billionaire - Marie Higgins Page 0,75
she detected voices. She stopped, listening closer. The voices seem to be coming from another door leading out of the kitchen. Slowly, Morgan turned in that direction and crept toward the door. As she reached her destination, the voices were louder.
The door was ajar, so she tried pushing it open just a little further. The voices still sounded as if they were in the next room, so she peeked her head inside. It was the dining room, but it was a winding staircase going up to the next level that had her curious. That must be where they were at.
The closer she came to the stairs, the clearer the voices were. It was definitely Joslyn, and Morgan was willing to bet the man’s voice came from Garth. Slowly, she reached into her pants’ pocked and withdrew her phone. It didn’t take her long before starting the voice recorder app.
“Are you sure she doesn’t know?” the man asked.
“Ha!” Joslyn’s voice came out quickly in irritation. “That silly photographer only thinks of two things in her life – her precious motorcycle, and her camera. Nothing else matters to her.”
Morgan’s fingers tightened around the crowbar. How dare Joslyn say that about her? That woman knew better, so why was she acting like Morgan was the one who was self-absorbed when it had been the reporter this whole time?
Her heart ached, feeling the stab or betrayal. How long had Joslyn thought this way about Morgan? But it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t associate herself with a criminal ever again.
“What did your boss say about the photos you took?” the man asked.
Joslyn’s laugh was like hearing fingernails scratch a chalkboard, and Morgan shivered.
“My boss loved them. He was very impressed how close I was to the fire. And of course, I told him that they were my photos, not Morgan’s.”
“Good. Then maybe there won’t be any questions that come up.”
“Why would there be?” Joslyn’s voice lifted. “After all, my boss trusts me.”
“That’s good to know. But I don’t want anything stopping our plans now. Sun Winery’s new brand will be perfect. People will know these grapes were not treated with harsh chemicals, and Powers’ specialty vines – combined with the vines we collected from the other vineyards before they were torched – will put Sun Winery on the map. These wines will be in every restaurant and in every store all over the world.”
“You are so clever.” Joslyn sighed. “I’m so glad you included me in on this.”
“You, my dear reporter, are very important. With your articles, our name will become a household word.”
Joslyn’s giggle made Morgan physically ill. These people needed to be stopped. They couldn’t get away with this. She might not have the proof, but she had the recording, which was enough to get a search warrant.
Slowly, she stepped down from the stair and prepared to leave, but the man standing in front of her, pointing a gun in her face, made her stop. She sucked in a panicked breath as shock poured over her. Garth! How long had he been standing there? If he had been down here all this time, who was the man upstairs with Joslyn?
His evil grin widened. “Lookie what we have here.” He motioned his gun. “Go upstairs, now!”
Nodding, she turned to do what he asked. Her legs trembled as she finished climbing the stairs, but at the same time, she slowly slipped her phone into the pocket of her leather jacket, praying that he didn’t notice. Hopefully, he didn’t know she had been recording the conversation between the two people upstairs.
“And I’ll take that, if you don’t mind.”
She held her breath, but when the crowbar slipped from her other hand, she breathed a relieved sigh that he hadn’t noticed her phone. Of course, she was still caught, which wasn’t good at all. She’d watched enough television crime shows to know that criminals killed witnesses.
Oh, Lord... please send help quickly!
THOMAS TAPPED HIS FINGERS impatiently on the steering wheel as he sat in the Ferrari, peering at the building where Morgan worked. They were idiots – all of them. How could they not know where their top photographer was? They didn’t even know where their top reporter was, for that matter. But what bothered Thomas even more was that Morgan wasn’t answering her phone. The only way she’d ignore his calls was if she was so busy taking pictures for another article for the tabloid, that she couldn’t answer the phone. He highly doubted that. So, where had she