As I reveled in the stillness of the vineyard, I considered how right Juliet had felt in my arms as I carried her back to the house last night. I knew there and then I wanted to take our relationship further, but nothing would have induced me to act on my desires when she was incapable of consenting. I was not that kind of man.
My thoughts about Juliet were disturbed by a sudden harsh buzzing. It took me a moment to realize a call was coming through on my cellphone. Picking it up from the table next to me, I saw it was Scott calling and answered.
"Talk to me," I said, foregoing the usual pleasantries.
"I'm sending you a file." Scott was as uninterested in making small talk as I was, which was one of the reasons I liked him. "Don't open it where someone else can see."
That meant he'd found incriminating material.
"Okay." Ending the call, I headed inside and went straight to my study. I closed the door behind me and locked it. After last night's revelry, it was unlikely anyone would surface before midday, but I wasn't prepared to risk Eileen or Juliet wandering in.
I opened my laptop and logged into my email to find the message from Scott. When I clicked on the folder he'd attached I was instantly reminded of why I paid my security team so much money. There were dozens of documents, encrypted as usual. I opened the one labelledsummaryand began to read.
By the time I reached the third page, I was numb. If this was what Scott had uncovered already, there had to be so much more incriminating information out there. It scarcely mattered. We already had enough to bury Kane, but I wanted to know if there was more. I picked up the phone again.
"How solid is this?" I asked the second Scott answered.
"It's solid." Scott's voice held its usual professional detachment, but there was an undercurrent that told me he was as angry as I was about what he'd uncovered. "The first two women took pretty large payoffs. The third woman, the one from Chicago, hasn't accepted any money from him yet."
"Is she willing to go on record?"
"She'll take some convincing. She's been frightened for a long time, but I offered her protection. I assume that's what you'd want."
"Of course." I wouldn't allow any innocent party to get hurt when I moved to take Garrett Kane down.
"Nate, what he did to these women, it was bad, but…" Scott paused and drew in a breath. "They may have been the lucky ones. There are rumors of disappearances. I'll need to dig into it more, but this guy is sick."
I pressed two fingers to the bridge of my nose. "Yeah." I'd read enough. The details made my stomach churn. "And the financial misconduct you uncovered?"
"His media group has been running cash through several shell companies in the Caymans for at least four years. It's linked to all sorts of tax evasion and insider trading schemes. The SEC would have a field day. I have a contact we can use if we decide to go that route."
"No. I don't want him to go down for his financial crimes. He needs to pay for what he's done to these women."
"Understood. There's one more thing you should know."
He paused again as if steeling himself to break bad news.
"Go on."
"Kane has had eyes on Juliet Caldwell for a long time. I found correspondence from a source I can't disclose, but it seems he's been engineering situations to get close to her for more than three years. He's been tracking her movements and pressuring her mother to push Juliet toward him."
"Shit." His interest was obviously deeper than Juliet had told me. "Why hasn't he made a move?"
"Because Juliet's in the public eye. Her family is wealthy and influential. She can't be disappeared like some other women. If he wants her, he has to obtain her through more conventional means."
"Conventional means?" His wording struck me as odd. There was nothing normal about the way Kane was pursuing Juliet.
"I meant through marriage."
"Right." If he married her, he could present their relationship as some sort of love story, then slowly remove her from the public eye. Then he could do whatever he wanted with her. If that was what he planned, it made him more dangerous than I'd realized. If he had that much patience, he wouldn't give up on her easily.
"How is she doing out there?" Scott asked.
"She's good." In the short time she'd been here, I'd seen another side to her, one that was relaxed and carefree. "I think she's enjoying being out of the spotlight."
"Glad to hear it." Scott hummed, a sign he was thinking. "I hate to do this to you both, but I'm sending four additional team members down today. You're going to have to tell Juliet why they're there. She needs to understand the seriousness of the situation so she's vigilant."
"Yeah." I ended the call and sat for a long time, staring at the wall.
