Page 45 of Beautiful Betrayal

“I run at five. I leave my house at seven.” My eyes go wide. “I have no clothes for work tomorrow.”

“We can handle that,” Adam says. “What do you need? I’ll have it here in the morning.”

“Everything,” Grayson says. “Anyway you can make that happen, make it happen.”

“We can do that,” Adam says. “For the morning, though, let’s keep the items limited and discreet.” I give him a list that he writes down before he adds, “I’ll be here at six in the morning. And that’s all I need. I’ll turn this over to Blake and Asher, who as I said, are expert hackers.”

“Blake makes me look like an amateur,” Asher says. “And I’m not amateur.”

“Asher’s damn good,” Blake says. “But hacking is like a second skin to me. Asher is heading up the dive into your electronics, looking for those betraying you. I’m dealing with Ri.”

“And?” Eric prods. “What do we know so far?”

“The electronic trail is too clean,” Blake says. “Someone is wiping it, someone good.”

“Which confirms that this is a well thought out, calculated hit,” Grayson assumes.

“Exactly,” Blake says. “But they’ve made mistakes and when I have more than two hours, as I just had, to find the problems, I’ll find them.”

“Mitch is a problem,” I say. “He’s one of Grayson’s employees.”

“We have eyes on him,” Adam says.

“Physically and electronically,” Asher adds.

“But you have nothing yet,” I say.

Blake’s piercing brown stare meets mine. “We will.”

“You can’t know that,” I say. “I need to know what I can get from Ri that ends this for Grayson.”

Grayson’s hand comes down on my knee and he squeezes. “Answer that knowing that she is all that matters to me.”

Blake’s eyes meet Grayson’s. “As is my wife, and she is an ex-FBI agent who works for Walker. I understand where you’re coming from.” He looks between us. “We’ll wire Mia. Adam filled me in on what happened. I doubt that you will get Ri to admit to setting up Grayson. A sudden change of attitude on your part, Mia, will be suspicious, but getting him to talk trash about Grayson is helpful.”

“That’s not going to do much of anything,” I argue. “I’m a criminal attorney, remember?”

“I’m going to give you a couple of bugs to plant in his office and around the offices in general,” Blake says, eyeing Grayson. “We’re going inside your offices and bugging them as well. We’re starting here locally and we’ll expand based on where our initial research takes us.” He refocuses on me. “Things you can get that help us: electronic devices and documents.”

“I don’t like this,” Grayson says. “Mia could be placed in danger.” He looks at me. “Just go. Convince Ri everything is fine. Let him talk you into staying and then just work, close the case you’re on because that’s the right move for your client. Leave the rest to the professionals.”

“I’ll be careful,” I promise. “But I can easily place a few bugs. I can do this, Grayson. Let me do this for you, for us. For your staff.”

“I’m going to be a stone’s throw away,” Asher says. “There won’t be a moment that we aren’t within her reach if she needs us.”

Grayson starts tapping the table and then he stands, leaving everyone at the table. I glance over my shoulder to find him crossing the living room, toward the wall of windows. He’s effectively told our audience he’s done with everyone but me. Blake fixes me in an unaffected stare. “We’ll leave you two to hash this out. Adam will be here in the morning. I’ll call personally if we find out anything new. I plan to work all night.”

“As do we all,” Asher chimes in.

“I have a few questions,” Eric says. “Can we continue this elsewhere?”

“Yes,” Davis says. “Agreed. I have questions as well.”

Blake nods and we all stand up. I walk them all to the door and Eric holds back to talk to me. “You okay?”

“Only when I know he’s free of this.”

“Agreed. Call me if you need me.” He leaves and I lock the door.

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