Page 80 of The Secret Holiday Kiss

‘Avery.’ She put her arms around his neck, pulled him into her, kissing the taste of chocolate off his lips, not caring that people might be watching. It was Christmas and this was the man she lo— liked very much. Avery returned her kiss, his hands digging into her hips, both of them a little desperate. ‘Maybe Kyle or Omari would …’ Her words trailed off as a memory resurfaced.

‘That was unexpected,’ he murmured, ‘but very welcome.’

‘Hang on a moment,’ she said. ‘I think I … I might …’ She fumbled in her bag, took out her phone and scrolled to a familiar number. ‘I remember Mo saying something …’

Avery gave her a confused look. ‘Mo? Isn’t he working on your flat?’

‘He is. I’m sure I remember him mentioning something like this. Can I tell him?’

Avery nodded, his lips pressed together.

Mo answered on the second ring. ‘Daisy! I don’t have much of an update—’

‘Do you remember telling me about a scam?’ she rushed out. ‘Scammers hiring small construction firms, planting evidence of bad work?’

‘Yeah,’ he said slowly. ‘Yeah, I remember. Why?’

Daisy glanced at Avery, and he nodded again. ‘It’s happening to my friend. It’s awful, Mo. This guy is faking all these official-looking documents, demanding he pay damages, and his solicitor is struggling to fight back.’

‘They know what they’re doing,’ Mo said. ‘They target small firms, often one-man or -woman bands who are used to smaller projects, who would never expect to end up in this situation: people they can easily isolate and intimidate.’

‘Exactly.’ Daisy couldn’t help the tears springing into her eyes. Avery put his hand over hers, squeezing. But she couldn’t look at him right now or the floodgates would well and truly open. ‘So what do we do about it?’

‘Anti-fraud,’ Mo said immediately. ‘There’s a specific team who deal with setups like this. They know exactly how these scams operate, and they have the wider picture. If he’s doing it to your friend, he’s doing it to other people too. They might already be looking into this guy, or have an ongoing investigation.’

‘OK,’ Daisy said. ‘OK, that sounds good. Can you talk to him? He can explain and then I … I took this video.’ She had almost forgotten, after listening to Avery’s confession.

‘Video?’ Mo said, at the same time as Avery said, ‘What video?’

‘I recorded their conversation.’ She was speaking to them both now. ‘I followed Avery into this building, and I could hear voices, and it sounded so awful so I recorded it.’

Avery sat back on the sofa, looking pale.

‘Great.’ Mo sounded determined. ‘Your man with you right now?’

Daisy held Avery’s gaze, feeling the first glimmer of hope. ‘Yes, my man is with me right now.’

‘Let me speak to him, then when we’re done, send over the video. I can send it to my contact in anti-fraud, find out who heads up your local division. Chances are they already know about this guy, all the fuckery he’s up to.’

‘Mo,’ Daisy said, then had to swallow the lump in her throat. ‘You are amazing.’

He laughed. ‘I’ve not done anything yet.’

‘You’ve given us hope. Thank you.’ She pressed the phone to her chest. ‘Mo has a contact in anti-fraud. He can help.’

‘You took a video?’ Avery murmured.

She shrugged. ‘I don’t really know what I was doing. Will you talk to Mo?’

‘Sure, of course.’ He shook his head, seemed to snap out of his trance, and took Daisy’s phone when she handed it to him.

She sat next to him, biting off pieces of brownie, listening to him explain everything to Mo, to the long pauses while Mo told him what he knew. Avery’s demeanour shifted as they talked. He put his hand over Daisy’s, and at one point he even laughed.

‘All right,’ he said, ‘that’s … that’s brilliant, Mo. I don’t know how I can ever thank you.’ Daisy couldn’t hear Mo’s reply, but Avery turned to look at her, a smile lifting his features. ‘Yeah, I will. I know.’ A short pause. ‘She’s incredible. I’ll send the video now. Bye, Mo. Thank you again.’ He hung up.

‘Did it go OK?’ Daisy asked tentatively.

‘It did.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Better than I could have hoped for. You took a video?’