She nodded. “It was a mistake. I’m still not sure how he found out.”
Simon looked like he had more to say on that subject, but Derek jumped in. “And you think Goodwin will answer your questions because he’s your godfather?”
“Yes,” she said. “He moved to Australia years ago, but before that he and my father were close. I don’t think he would do anything to harm me.”
“Even if the truth puts him at risk?” asked Max. “I don’t know, Marianna. If Goodwin is smuggling, too, his first priority might be staying out of jail.”
A low grumble came from Simon, and he shook his head. Marianna looked down at the table, willing herself not to stare. It still took her breath away to see Simon Rodriguez across from her, as if all those years apart didn’t exist.
But they did. She couldn’t let herself forget it.
He leveled his gaze on her. “How closely does William watch you?”
Marianna swallowed. Simon wasn’t going to like the answer. “Very closely. He always seems to know where I’ve been and where I’m going.”
Simon’s eyes widened. “Which means he already knows you’re here.”
She said nothing. His face darkened, and a flush tinted his cheeks.
“You knew that, and you want to go through with this plan anyway?” he asked, his voice dangerously soft. He closed his eyes. “Now I get it. You’re setting him up.”
“Yes, but that’s why I want to show up hours before the meeting is scheduled,” she said quickly. “I’ll talk to Goodwin in the morning, find out what I need to know about Ruiz Imports. Then William shows up in the afternoon, along with one of the shipments we sent from Florida.” Okay, so the plan wasn’t exactly worthy of James Bond, but it was the best she could do in the time she had. That car chase had scared her. She’d gone home shaken up, and when she’d found calm the next day, she’d contacted Goodwin and Cameron Blackmore. Sheneededthis to work out.
“Look, I get that it’s risky. We can be in and out of Goodwin’s office before William and shipment arrive and things get too dangerous. I just need proof about what’s going on.” Marianna glanced around the table again. Derek’s brow was furrowed, and even Max was frowning a little. And then there was Simon. He blew out a breath and massaged his temples. The conference room was silent as his shoulders rose and fell. Finally, he looked at Marianna.
“You and I need to talk,” he said, his voice hard. “Alone.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Not her favorite option at this moment, but Simon’s look suggested this was nonnegotiable.
Marianna stood up, and Simon led the way out of the conference room and down the hall. He opened the door and stood aside as she entered what seemed to be his office. Stark, minimally furnished, with enormous windows that covered the far wall. She started forward, taking in the view of the Sydney Harbour.
This was Simon’s life now. Every day he walked down these halls and sat in this room and nodded at the attentive receptionist out front. Here in his sleek office on the top floor of one of Sydney’s flashiest buildings, he was probably happy.
But right now he wasn’t happy at all. Simon slammed his office door shut. His hard gaze was impossible to ignore.
“You’re using yourself as bait, right? You wanted him to follow you here.” Now that they were out of the conference room, his voice was leaking emotion. Anger? Incredulity? Probably a bunch of other things she didn’t want to know about.
“It’s better this way, Simon,” she said quickly. “What was I supposed to do? Wait for him to run me off the road again? Surround myself with guards for the foreseeable future? I can’t live like that.”
Simon’s pulse was ticking, double-time, at the base of his neck. He shook his head. “You know what happens to bait? Whether or not the fish gets hooked, the bait never survives.”
“Then that’s a bad analogy.” She put her hands on her hips. “I’m just luring him.”
“That’s fishing, too, society girl,” he grumbled.
Marianna huffed out a breath. How could she make him see this from her perspective? Maybe just the flat-out truth? There was no reason to hold back at this point.
“I set this in motion in Miami, and I need to find a way out of it now. Before anything else goes wrong,” she said quickly. “William doesn’t have the kind of influence here that he has in Miami. If he follows me all the way to Australia for my meeting at Goodwin Enterprises, he’s really worried. Meaning there’s a good chance there’s something shady going on. If he’s at Goodwin Enterprises when the shipment arrives, he can’t claim innocence.”
Simon gave her a dark look.
“Let’s just pretend that this is a reasonable plan for a moment,” he said slowly. “If William’s into smuggling, taking him down means taking Goodwin down, too. Your godfather. You’re willing to do that?”
“Yes,” she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
