David(43)

“Ricki—”

“I was selfish. I could have shared all this with her and maybe things would have turned out different from her. I don’t know how happy she truly would have been going legit, but maybe she could have lived with it. Lived the dream that she’d had so long ago. But I didn’t give her that chance.”

“You can’t know that had anything to do with what she did.”

“I’m giving it up,” I said, turning around and sinking into my office chair, not really looking at him, but staring at my hands where they rested limply in my lap. “I have more money than I’ll ever know what to do with. So I’m giving it up. I’m selling off the company a little at a time.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “I took the employee compensation packages away because most of the buyers I’ve spoken to won’t keep them up when they take over. So I’ve found another way to give back to my loyal employees.”

“How?”

“I’ve bought up the stock they had and I’ve put it into a portfolio with other stocks, mutual funds that are doing quite well, and placed them all in a trust for all the employees who’ve been with me since the beginning. They will, with a little luck and good advice, never want for anything from the point of sale on. In fact, they’ll be majority stock holders in the corporation, much to the chagrin of the new owner when he figures it out.”

“That’s generous.”

I shrugged. “It borders on illegal, the way I’ve gone about it. But my lawyers assure me it’s just enough on the side of legal to make it okay, and no one really needs to know how or who or why.”

“Your employees won’t know you did this for them?”

“As far as they’re concerned, I’m the Ice Queen who took their compensation away. They’ll think this is just part of the new owner’s retirement package for them. And that’s the way I want it to be.”

“When does the sale go through?”

“At the end of next month.”

David shook his head. “And the security breach?”

I smiled as I looked at him. “That’s was cute, wasn’t it? Hiding that cache of information in my own code.”

“Why would you do that?”

“To lower the price. As I said, I’ve already got more money than I know what to do with. What do I need with that much more?”

“And Gray Wolf?”

I lifted my hair off of my neck one more time.

“Gray Wolf…Gray Man. It seemed like too much coincidence to me. And then I met you and realized how much you knew about me, about my code. I knew you were GrayMan58, the FBI agent who took down Arabelle.”

“Then why…?”

“Why sleep with you?” I shook my head. “I told myself I didn’t know for sure until after that night. But I did. I knew. I knew the moment you told me what you knew about me from a simple background check. But there was just something about you.”

He rolled himself closer to the front of the desk and stared at me.

“When you called yourself broken, it really bothered me. But maybe you were right. We’ve both done all kinds of stupid things out of guilt.”

I smiled even though there were tears ready to fall from my eyes.

“We are broken, David. I couldn’t even hate you for what you did to Arabelle. But the thing is, even after everything, I know we were all pawns in someone else’s game. You were just a new FBI agent trying to prove yourself, and I was a stupid kid who didn’t believe her friend when she said someone was out to get her. I thought she was being paranoid up until the moment I saw her arrest on television.”

“It does seem like they targeted her on purpose.”

I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hands. “So, anyway, you know everything now.”

“I guess so.”

“Are you going to tell Ash? I think he already thinks pretty poorly of me.”

“No. I don’t see any reason for that.”

I just nodded.

He studied me a moment longer, then sighed as he turned himself around and said, “Don’t be late tonight. I’m making linguini and clams.”

He didn’t look back to make sure I heard. He just kept going, taking for granted that I would be at his cottage on time, that I wanted to be at his cottage on time.

And that was like a balm on a blistered sunburn.





Chapter 22




David

Clams in cream sauce must be one of the best things on earth. The only thing that’s better is the taste of the woman in my arms.

Ricki came out of the bedroom in nothing but a wispy pair of panties and a push-up bra a few minutes ago, making me forget about the second helpings of food sitting on the plate in front of me. I put it down and held my hand out to her, welcoming her into my lap like that was where she belonged.