“I’ve heard a little about it, but I’ve been too busy dealing with the mess my father left to pay much attention to the news.”
His sudden bark of laughter felt inappropriate for the situation.
“What’s so funny? What am I missing?” She frowned at him, not liking the feeling that he was laughing at her.
He studied her for a long moment. “I’m not sure we should have this conversation here.”
Portia looked around the alley. While it was creepy and dirty, it was also empty. She was pretty sure. “This is possibly the most private place we can talk. No meetings, no phone calls, no drones. And we certainly aren’t going to get carried away doing anything else.” Her skin crawled at the thought. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He looked at her long and hard. She thought she saw resignation in his gaze as well as... was that pity? She didn’t need anyone’s pity.
Portia drew herself to her full height and stared back.
“All this?” Aleks gestured at the glass on the ground. “Vyne? It’s Tremaine Corporation’s fault. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
The words struck like blows. Before she could ask any questions, like why was he blaming her company for this, he continued.
“You talk about cleaning up your father’s messes—well, this is another one. The Tremaine Corporation created Vyne. Congratulations. Good job.” He gave a mocking little clap.
Portia was going to be sick.Thiswas another Tremaine-caused problem? Her stomach turned. “How do you know?” How she managed to keep her tone steady, she had no idea.
“I did my research. Followed the whispers and the rumors. Maybe if you came down from your penthouse office and paid attention to the people in ‘your’ city, this wouldn’t be such a surprise.”
Every accusation he flung at her hurt, but she still needed more information. “Why were you looking into this? Is this another method of destroying my company?”
“It’s better than you being destroyed!” His impassioned answer rang out in the narrow space.
Both of them froze. Aleks winced and looked away from her.
“Is that a threat?” Portia asked carefully.
Aleks ran his free hand through his hair, leaving the blond strands mussed. “The Solveigs want you out of the picture.”
“They want me dead? That seems a little extreme.”
Aleks ignored her question. “I thought if I gave them another option, they might be satisfied with just destroying the company. Not you.” The look he gave her pleaded with her to understand.
Understand? No way in hell. “So, you were what? Going to give them the Vyne info? Or were you going to leak it yourself?”
Ignoring the crunch of glass under her boots, she stalked toward him. “You can tell your employers that they’re not getting their hands on my company. And they sure as hell aren’t getting rid of me.”
With that she snatched the bakery bag out of his hands and stomped toward the other end of the alley. Glass crunched with each step, amping up her anger. He called out after her and she ignored him.
Damn her father for leaving her yet another mess to clean up. And damn Aleks for trying to use it against her.
Chapter22
“Did you know?”
The office door had barely closed behind Ash and the other hacker before Portia started demanding answers.
The bomb Aleks had dropped about Vyne being a Tremaine product had sent shockwaves through her. She didn’tnotbelieve him. With every damn day that she spent in the CEO role—one that she’d once coveted—she learned how deep the corruption in the company ran. Her father had left a number of messes to clean up, but the thought of one being a highly addictive and deadly drug was especially egregious.
After leaving Aleks in the alley, she’d fired off messages demanding to see Ash and Mendez in her office.
“Hello, Portia, good to see you too,” Ash drawled.
He sounded just the same as when he had worked for the corporation. The clothes were different—much less corporate—and he seemed happier and more relaxed. She wondered what that was like and ignored the twinge of jealousy.
