Page 2 of Winning Bid

I sit there and shake and try to figure out how to make words again. I have a job to do. Ruminating on my past mistakes is not going to fix anything. I take a deep breath and follow it with another, trying to center myself.

No matter what happens, I know a few things.

One, I love Anderson.

Two, he loves me.

Three, we are in this together. I will not let Neil or anyone else come between us ever again.

2

ANDERSON

Fuck.

I’m on the thirtieth floor of my family’s corporate headquarters when all I want to do is run to a country without extradition. I've always wanted to go to the Maldives. I imagine it's nice every time of the year. But instead, I'm here to take a meeting. My father reinstated my position, and now I have to pretend that everything is normal.

It is so far from fucking normal.

Back when Dad had assigned me to work with Moss, I thought that I was being punished. But he has explained that it was more for training than for punishment. I'm of the opinion it was for both. He hated that I was with June, and he wanted to punish me for it. I have never gotten along with my old man. He uses money and power to control everyone around him, but I never thought that he would use blackmail against his own son.

Until recently, I didn't know that my father was active in the Boston underworld. If he had a title, I didn't know it. But my father had powerful friends and powerful enemies. I didn't know how powerful until my assignment with Moss.

Moss is my father's wet work guy. He's also his collections guy. So when people owe him a debt, he sends Moss. When we first started, I thought that it was just going to be roughing some people up at worst. But after my first trip ended in the deaths of three people, I realized I didn't have any idea what my father was up to. That day, he made me Moss's accomplice. He collected the security footage of what happened, and he used that to blackmail me and control me. For months, I was stuck on ride-alongs with Moss. We formed an uneasy friendship over that time. That's how I got in the worst trouble of my life. Well, second worst.

The night that Neil attacked June, I called on Moss. Out of everyone I knew, he was the only one I knew who could get rid of a body. I thought that he was my savior. And for a time, he was. Not much later, when we were on another ride along, I took a bullet for the man. I didn't even think about it. There was no hesitation. I saw what was coming, and I jumped in the line of fire. It feels like a lifetime ago.

After I saved him, he swore his loyalty to me over my father. I know that Moss didn't screw this up on purpose. He wouldn't do that. This is just an honest mistake. And it's an honest mistake that may ruin my life and June’s. I can't let that happen.

For the time being, I have to pretend everything is normal. That I'm not going out of my mind trying to figure out what in the hell to do. That I am just another lawyer that people pay too much money in order to take care of their problems. I have to be that guy again. I haven't been that guy in months, so Dad gave me an easy case to get my feet wet again. Some starlet who got caught with her top off. It's my job to get those pictures removed from the Internet. Five months ago, I could have done this in my sleep.

Now when I close my eyes, all I see is the bloated corpse of a guy who tried to rape the woman I love.

I have no regrets about killing that asshole. He more than had it coming. My regrets center on what happened afterward. I had been the one to talk June out of calling the police then and there. This is all my fault. That makes it my responsibility, and I have no fucking clue what to do about it.

No, wait. This is my father’s fault. Had he not driven a wedge between me and June, she never would have taken Neil back to her apartment building. If my father hadn’t spent months blackmailing the man he calls his heir, none of this would have happened in the first place. I want to get the revenge I swore against him for all of this. I need to make him pay. Every bad thing in my life is his fucking fault.

Though, for that matter, if Neil hadn’t been a sociopath, none of this would have happened, either.

The starlet’s handler waves at me from down the hall for me to join the meeting in the conference room. It’s a nice corner room with pale gray carpeting and views of the city. Nothing too over the top, but with furniture nice enough to be comfortable.

I roll in, flash my smile, and charm my way through the conversation. She’s less poised than I’d hoped, but I can work with her. I’ve already called my tech guys, so this meeting is more of a courtesy than anything else. Even still, I can hardly keep my head in the meeting. My own problems are far worse than a pair of tits sunning on a yacht going viral.

So many ifs and not enough answers. This is beyond frustrating. The air is heavy around me. Like the noose is tightening around my neck. It won’t be difficult for the police to track Neil’s last known location. With them flashing his stupid picture on the news, a bar patron is sure to call with a tip about that night.

Plenty of people saw June leave the bar with Neil. He walked her home. I’m sure that’s on plenty of cameras between the bar and her apartment building. She will be questioned, and they won’t go easy on her. I don’t know what she’ll do or say. I don’t think she’ll crack. She’s harder than people give her credit. But anyone can crack under the right pressure.

I just don’t see a way out of this. If?—

“But I thought you could handle anything,” the starlet says suddenly.

I blink at her. “What was that?”

“You said you had it handled, and then you said you don’t see a way out of this. I?—"

Fuck, I said that out loud. “Apologies. I need more coffee. What I meant was that the only way out of this is to take the pictures off the internet and either never go topless outdoors again or do it and accept the fact that things like this will happen, Trina. You’re in the big time now. The paparazzi will not handle you with kid gloves.” God, I hope she buys that.

“You’re right, you’re right. It was stupid. I know. I’m just tired of being hounded all the time, you know? How would you like it if everyone was looking for you everywhere you went? Tracking your every move? Hunting you down like an animal?”

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