Page 74 of Wicked Rush

“What does he have to do with you besides you working for him?” he asked, pressing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He lifted his lids, pinning her with his stare. “You know him, don’t you? What is he to you, Brae? A lover?”

“No. He’s my uncle,” she whispered, having not admitted the lie to anyone.

“What?” Lars shook his head. “No, don’t tell me this. Garrett has had his ass in congress, been trying to take him down for over two years.”

“He’s my mom’s brother. I have a different last name. I think…I have no proof. I think he may have killed her or had her killed. My dad is missing. It’s been five years. But before I went to work at Emerson, before they made me work at Bart-Aqua, I had nothing to do with him.”

“So Garrett found out and accused you of stealing for your uncle?”

“Yes. But I swear to God, I’ve had nothing to do with that man since my mother’s funeral. You saw what he did to my cat. He’s been like that forever and I just…”

“This is what he had on you, how he got you to steal it back? And he scrubbed any records of you being related to him in case anyone started poking their nose around?”

“Yes, but Lars, he had no proof my uncle took it.”

“So he sent you in to find out?”

“My uncle was suspicious of me at first, because I hadn’t talked to him in years. But I managed to convince him that I hated working at Emerson. I have no other family, and I think he thought he could use me against Garrett. But you know…he’s dangerous.”

“Well, yeah, you were shot at. We all were shot at.”

“Those men who shot at us? I’d overheard him talking about HWB614. It was late in the day, and I followed them.”

“They caught you,” Seth surmised.

“They saw me tailing them. Chased me. Shot at me. But at the hospital…I lied to my uncle. I told him it was a coincidence. That I was going to visit a friend. They couldn’t prove anything.”

“You refused to see me.”

“I had to protect you. If you’d stayed, they could have killed you.”

“But we didn’t know each other.”

“I knew you,” she confessed, a rosy flush rising in her cheeks.

“I don’t work at Emerson. We’d never met.”

“You gave the employee speech once. Do you remember?”

“Everest.” He gave a small laugh. “So there was no friend, was there?”

“Every girl in the office knew who you were. But that day, everything about your speech, your eyes, your lips…I just…I…” she stammered, embarrassment coursing through her. “I recognized you…your blue eyes…that day on the beach.”

“You said my name.”

“Yes. I was afraid they’d kill you too.”

“And the key? What does it open?”

“There’s a duplicate chip. A prototype. It failed. It only has partial files on it. I hid it in the sea caves. It’s nearly impossible to find. But the key opens its lockbox. Garrett was so angry I’d lost the key but I don’t know what I’m doing. They sent me to retrieve it, told me you’d be out of the house. And I wanted it back. I didn’t want any evidence. The keychain has my initials on it.”

“You were expendable.”

“Yes. No,” she said, confused. “I was the only one with clearances who even knew about the research besides Garrett and Chase. And Garrett, and you can’t blame him for this, he felt that the fewer people who found out about it, the better.”

“Who are the people who shot at us on the beach?” Lars asked, blowing out a breath.

“I don’t know who they are. I just know they were talking about it with my uncle. I haven’t seen them in the office since that day. When I followed them, it looked as though they were headed to the border.”