I’d spent money on plenty of things in my life. Things that meant something. Things that meant nothing.
Spending money to have those pictures taken down was money well spent. I loomed in the open doorway of Bradley’s cramped apartment, a twisted smile so distinct and cruel that the man blanched. “Remember what we said. If those pictures ever resurface, we’ll come back for you.”
“They won’t. I swear it.” Bradley, a thin man with greasy hair and eyes too wide for his narrow face, trembled where he sat at his computer. “I’ve deleted everything. Everything.”
“Good.” I backed up a step and closed his door with a soft click.
Julian and Alexander stood in the hallway watching me.
Julian shook his head, a dark laugh matching the dank hallway where his tattoos blended in with our surroundings. “You’re one scary son of a bitch, you know that?”
“That’s the point.” I strode past him. “Let’s go. I want to get the stink of this place out of my nose.”
“Heard that.” Julian fell into step behind me.
Alexander was slower to join us, but he kept a steady pace at our backs. “When all else fails, money and intimidation still win the day.”
“Money talks when nothing else will.” And we’d offered him a king’s ransom. He’d be a fool to try and sell the pictures now. If he’d been lying about destroying all of them.
Alexander had done a sweep using one of his computer programs, and it all seemed squared away when the screen came up empty.
“Now what?” Julian rubbed his hands together. “The photos are down. No more risk of them going viral and ruining our reputation or hurting Harper.”
“Now we talk to Harper.” I dreaded the confrontation but it had to be done. She deserved to hear from us that the problem had been taken care of.
Alexander rounded the car to slide into the driver’s seat. We could have had one of our men bring us, but the fewer who knew about this adventure the less likely anyone blabbed.
Julian waited until the car doors closed and Alex pulled into traffic to speak. “Any idea how we were found out at the cabin?”
“There’s a good chance that camera was there long before we booked the cabin.” Alex checked his side mirror, then merged onto the exit that took us to the office. “I like to think it’s just a coincidence, but it’s unlikely.”
“I booked under a false name and paid in cash. No one should have known we would be there.Ifand that’s a big if, the camera has always been there, seems like a damned convenientcoincidence.” Julian fisted his hands in his lap and leaned into the space between the seats. “We failed Harper. I should have done a sweep of the cabin before she arrived.”
“We were all too confident. We all knew better than to assume a place was clean just because we used an alias.” Alexander had been beating himself up about this since Harper ran away from his office.
We all had.
A yellow cab blew past us, horn blaring.
Alexander cursed but maintained his cool and guided the car into the underground garage.
“We talked Harper into giving us another chance.” I stopped as emotion threatened to overwhelm me. She’d trusted us. Years of being so careful we barely stepped foot outside unless we were perfect, and we’d gotten cocky during the one time we needed to keep our wits about us. “We swore we could keep it a secret. Clearly we have a leak.”
Julian leaned back with a grunt. “You think so?”
“Nothing else explains it.” I opened the door when Alexander parked and buttoned my jacket on my way to the private elevator.
Julian and Alexander fell in step on either side of me. The powerhouse trio. That’s what we’d been called when we opened Elevate. We’d made national headlines. Those headlines continued to grow with our wealth and fame. I’d become callused to the thrill of it, and I’d become cold and aloof to anyone except the men beside me.
Harper broke down those walls, and I had failed to protect her. Fuck my life. None of it meant anything without her.
We stepped into the elevator at the same time and Alexander pressed the button. It scanned his thumbprint, then the doors closed and we ascended. “Who knew we would be at the cabin?” Alexander removed his jacket and draped it over his arm.
Julian began rolling his sleeves down to cover his tattoos. He stopped halfway down his forearms, frowned, and rolled them back up. “I’m done with these shit games. If people don’t want to do business with us because of a little ink, they can go fuck themselves.”
“I wondered how much longer it would take.” I smirked at him before circling back to Alexander’s question. “I never mentioned it. It wasn’t on my calendar, and other than the conversation we had in the office, we never spoke about it again.”
Julian finished rolling up his sleeves and set his hands on his hips. “I used my phone to make the reservation, but I was on a VPN and blocked all information. What I did use was fake.”
