“Don’t threaten me,” Mitch hissed, walking farther away from the door so Phoebe wouldn’t hear him. “I can bury you anytime I want to. And I will. If I go down for this shit, you’re going down with me. Along with your other accomplice. You need me, don’t forget that. Otherwise, Ms. Baron here is going to be the one standing in front of a jury, showing them all just how despicable a man you really are.”
“She won’t be if you do your damn job.”
“I am doing my job. I’m trying to keep her going in the right direction.”
“Look, you only have to keep this up until he folds, understand? Don’t get attached in case things turn ugly.”
Mitch’s hand curled into a fist. He wanted to punch the man in the face, but the wall sufficed for now. “I’m not getting attached,” he lied. “Don’t worry about me. As long as you hold up your end of the deal. That’s what I care about. I’m the one possibly throwing my life away here.”
“Not if you get rid of her.”
“That costs extra, and you can’t afford that. Not yet, anyway.”
“But when I can, the option will be open to you. Now, if there’s nothing else, I have business to attend to. I expect you both to clear out in the next hour. Distract her. That is, after all, your job.” There was a loud click as the man hung up, and Mitch was left holding his phone to his ear, fuming. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. She wasn’t supposed to find the files this quickly.
A couple weeks back, he’d been called in to keep an eye on any potential threats within the company. Ms. Baron had popped up right after she started to ask questions about the wrong files. It didn’t take long to find a way into her life, and Mitch had set himself up on the dating website the second he saw her do the same. He was very thorough with those he watched, and she was easy enough to track through the e-mail she’d signed up with. It was the only way to get close to her without flat out stalking her. He was meant to be a distraction, keep her on her toes and away from the files.
But the man who’d hired Mitch had been sloppy. That damn man thought he could get away with everything, and it made him sloppy. Now, Mitch was going to have to clean up the pieces somehow. He had to find a way to distract Phoebe again, get her mind off pursuing these documents, but she had to keep trusting him. He glanced down the hall and saw a fire alarm on the wall. He went to it quickly and pulled it.
A few seconds later, he rushed back to the room just as Phoebe burst out with her purse and coat. “There’s a fire?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “the alarms just went off. Come on.”
He took her hand and together, they ran up the steps and out the front doors just as sirens sounded in the distance.
Chapter 14
Riley walked Into his office with Ben right behind him. “Listen, I don’t care what Yancey is saying. He stole research from us and I want to know how,” Riley snapped. “This is ridiculous! Two clients in one week? He has to be up to something, Ben, and I need something to throw at him.”
“We’re working on it, but there’s no trail to follow yet. We haven’t found any sources of hacking or break-ins.”
“So you’re saying it’s an inside job?”
Ben sat down in front of Riley’s desk and stared at the papers in his hand. “I don’t want to doubt anyone who works for you, Riley, but it might be the only explanation. How else would he get the information?”
“It’s that Chandler woman,” Riley said, plopping down in his chair. “It has to be. None of this shit started until my grandfather died and she showed up at the damn reading of the will.” It all came back to her. He wasn’t sure how, but it did. His grandfather never would’ve divulged company secrets to anyone, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t found a way in. And her relationship with Yancey—that worried him more than anything else. They were close, anyone could tell that.
Had she been with him when she’d been with his grandfather?
It couldn’t have something to do with the ranch…he picked up the phone and called the ranch. His great aunts were there, or at least he hoped they were. Maybe his grandfather had something there that could explain this.
“What are you doing?” Ben whispered, but Riley held up a finger, indicating for him to wait.
After four rings, it went to an answering machine, and he left a quick message for Bethany and Darcie to get back to him as soon as they could. “The ranch. She seemed a bit upset at the reading of the will when he gave the ranch to his sisters.”