The luscious greenery from the Bells’ care forms a weaving path throughout the vegetable plants. On a bench in the center, Kate is sitting with Tommy. Their heads are leaning close together. She pulls away, tossing her blonde hair back in a laugh. Her smile is blinding, even from here. A tiny white furball is curled up in her hands.
My chest squeezes as I watch them interact. Tommy’s story is tragic. Walter found him cowering in the barn during a thunderstorm a few years ago. He was bruised and bloodied with rope burns around his wrists and ankles. He sees a therapist once a week, but they haven’t made much headway in getting his story. Jackson came out for months, searching for where he had come from, but he never found anything, not even records of his birth.
Kate’s laughter drifts toward the balcony, and her eyes catch mine as she looks up. Her smile fades as she sees my shirtless torso. I cross my arms, staring right back at her.
If the attack was staged and she is with Tycos, I’ll have to sell the farm.
I bought this house and land immediately after I made my first billion. No one knows about it, and it’s been my safety net for a while. I’m thankful I never told Fallon now that she’s with Garrison. My jaw clenches at the thought of losing it.
I’ll find out soon if she’s innocent. I have no choice.
I turn away from the balcony, finding a T-shirt to wear before I walk through the winding hallways and narrow staircases built in the 1800s.
“You’ve looked better,” Walter greets me as I enter the kitchen.
His back is bent over the built-in breakfast nook by the massive bay window facing the gardens. White hair and a worn blue gingham shirt are all I can see. His face is buried in a thick book, most likely about the Vietnam War.
“Looked worse too,” he tacks on.
I step up to the coffeemaker, pouring myself a cup of the thick sludge he always makes. He pours in double the grounds any barista would normally use.
“Farm looks good.” I turn back around while sipping the hot liquid. I try not to wince at the intense flavor.
His head tilts up, surveying me. “Who’s the girl?”
Right to it, I guess.
“Trying to figure that out.”
“Hmm,” is all I get in response.
If there was a person on this earth I could confide in, it would be Walter. Aside from Kate, my instincts are usually spot-on, and I’ve always known I could trust him.
“I met her in a bar, and I took her home. Two days later, she miraculously became my new assistant.”
He barks out a laugh at that.
“I did a sweep through of my penthouse and found out it was bugged the same day she started working for me.”
His smile fades. He knows the FBI and the Russian Mafia have been watching me after what happened with Steelhart in Dubai.
“What else?”
Walter was a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He was forced to land in enemy territory after losing one engine to a blast.
“Background checks out. No links to anything concerning. She’s underqualified for the position. She shouldn’t have gotten it. I was on my way to look into my chief of staff when I was sidetracked and found Kate being attacked in her apartment. She... plays the part well.”
My mind travels back to the fear in her eyes and how she lost consciousness.Could that really have been faked? Was the stabbing not a part of the plan, and it just happened?
“Women are harder to read than a coded message in the back of a newspaper. If she’s making you think with your dick, you’ll never be able to figure her out.”
So, basically, I could be very off here . . .
“I haven’t, not since that night.”
He narrows his pale grey eyes at me. “I saw her. I doubt that.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.”
