Page 55 of Beautiful Betrayal

A few minutes later, Kara’s made the process quick and painless, and I’m fully dressed, working on makeup and hair in the bathroom with the supplies she’s brought me. “Okay,” she says, standing at the sink close to me while I work, “I need your phone. I’m going to put a collection of numbers in it. I’m first and Adam’s second because we’re closest in the building with you. I’m setting up a group message on your phone. Use it if you’re in trouble so we all know at once.”

They’re worried. I’m worried. “How likely is it that Ri knows I was with Grayson this weekend?” I ask, turning to face her with Grayson’s concerns on my mind.

“If he had you followed when you first split with Grayson I wouldn’t assume that would continue. You stayed away from Grayson too long for him to think that you’d suddenly return.However, he’s trying to take down Grayson. He could be paranoid.”

The part about me staying away from Grayson feels pretty crappy. God. Why did I stay away? “Let’s assume he knows and he confronts me. I don’t have a story or an excuse. I need one.” I press fingers to my temple. “Think, Mia.” I look at her. “I have nothing.”

“Tell him you invested money through Grayson but he wouldn’t pay you out without seeing you and it was a packaged deal with a set end date. That way he can’t check it. An agreement between you and Grayson. Be angry about it. That’s your chance to be on team Ri.”

“That’s brilliant.”

“We used it in another case so I’m not thinking on the fly. A group of us came up with it in a similar situation. That’s the benefit of experience. Last thing. If you end up in trouble, go to the most public place and wait on me. The reception area. The lobby. Even an elevator instead of the stairs, but the elevator can be unpredictable for a fast escape. If you need fast, take fast, but remember there are cameras in the elevator that we’ve tapped into. There are no cameras in the stairwells and that’s a hard area to place hidden cameras that matter. It’s too many spaces in one path.”

I take it all in and in a few minutes, I have my purse and briefcase on my shoulder as Kara and I walk out to the dining room where Eric, Blake, Adam, and Grayson wait. They all stand at our approach. “I’m headed to the building now,” Adam says. “I just wanted to make sure you know I’m there. I wanted to make contact with you before you leave.”

“Thank you,” I say, and he nods and takes off for the door.

“Asher and one of our other men are in a surveillance van by the building,” Blake says. “They’ll be tapped into every camerain the building and any recording device Kara places will feed to them.” He eyes Kara. “You need to go now.”

She turns to me and her hands go to my shoulders. “Be you. Try to tune out what’s going on. That’s the best thing you can do. If you would normally get mad at him, get mad. Don’t suddenly change with him. I’ll be close.”

“Thank you,” I say.

“I want to be in the surveillance van,” Grayson says.

“If you aren’t at work today,” Blake says, “that’s going to be a red flag if he had her followed.”

“If he had her followed, she’ll be in trouble,” Grayson says. “I need to be in that van.”

“We came up with a story,” I say. “You made me come visit you to get a payout on an investment. I’m angry about it. I’m team Ri.”

Grayson’s eyes narrow. He doesn’t like this answer. He looks at Blake. “You better fucking protect her or I don’t care how many skills you have. You will feel the pain.”

“Grayson,” I hiss. “Stop.”

Blake looks at me. “If it were me with Kara I’d say the same thing.” He looks at Grayson. “I’ll protect her with my life.”

“You better,” he says, looking at me. “Because I don’t have one without her. I can’t lose her again.”

It’s then, in his intensity, that I know he knows something I don’t know but there isn’t time for me to ask. I have to get to the office and into the snake’s den. I have to get to my meeting with Ri.

Chapter thirty-six

Grayson

The past, two years ago

Ipull the Porsche to the front of the gallery where the annual children’s hospital charity event is taking place with Mia in the seat next to me. “Oh my God, I’m nervous,” she murmurs.

I grab her hand and kiss it. “You have no reason to be nervous.”

“It’s our first public outing,” she argues. “And your father is going to be here. He wasn’t supposed to be here.”

The valets try to open the doors but I leave them locked, focused on Mia. “My father loves you.”

“He and I had the coffee shop encounter. That’s all. He went out of the country right after he talked to me that day. And he wasn’t supposed to be here tonight,” she repeats.

“You’re here and on my arm. We’re doing what he suggested. Owning our relationship. He was motivated to show up.”

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