Page 69 of Business or Pleasure

I couldn’t disagree with him there.

“I should have believed you, even if I didna understand what happened,” he continued. “I could make an excuse, blame what happened with my…it doesna matter. You’re not like any woman I’ve ever known before, and you should have had my support from moment one.”

I swallowed hard around the lump that formed in my throat. “Thank you.”

“To make it worse, Alec didna believe it for a moment.” A pained look crossed Baylen’s face. “I told him everything I saw in that envelope and his first response was that it didna make sense. Which I would’ve seen if I hadn’t been so bloody stupid.”

My chest tightened, my emotions making it difficult to breathe. Alec believed me. He barely knew me, but he believed me.

“I was scared,” Baylen said. “Scared that I’d made another terrible mistake. That I’d been fooled again.” He shook his head, his eyes haunted. “When I think of what could have happened to you because I was behaving like a right bastard…” His voice trailed off, as if he couldn’t put into words everything that was going through his mind.

“I’m okay.” I reached across the table and put my hand on his. “And we all do stupid shit.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up into an almost smile. “Aye, but my shit was stupider than most.”

“I’ll agree with that.” I squeezed his hand. “But I also forgive you.”

“You do?” He turned his hand over, fingers closing around mine in a grip that was almost painful. “I don’t deserve it.”

“Then it’s a good thing forgiveness doesn’t depend on whether or not we deserve it,” I said. I pulled my hand back as the waitress returned with our food, waiting until she left again to change the subject. “Now, how about you tell me how in the world you knew where I was and what I was doing. I know my dad’s involved somehow, since that’s the only way you could’ve known about the dead man’s hand con, but I have questions.”

“Aye.” Baylen nodded.

As I ate, he told me about his conversation with Alec, how Alec’s argument for my innocence started to make sense, and then Franklin showed up. He explained that Franklin gave them the envelope with the papers in it and how Alec saw they were fakes because the information was wrong.

“I knew something was off about them,” I said. “I just couldn’t put my finger on it.” Then something else hit me. “Franklin was telling the truth. He didn’t hire anyone else to steal from MIRI.”

“Aye. And it was the article from that magazine that really solidified that Franklin didn’t have anything to do with it at all.” Baylen’s face flooded with color, piquing my curiosity. “It was Brigh.”

It took me a moment for it to click. Brigh. Ms. Flitton, Baylen’s assistant.

“Fuck.” I sat back in my seat, torn between shock and the realization that it actually made sense. “How’d you figure it out?”

Baylen rubbed the back of his neck, his embarrassed expression growing. “The article was printed from an online version of the magazine. The kind you need to create an account to access. If I had just looked closer…” he shook his head. “It was right there. Brigh F. Top corner of the page.”

I felt a flare of anger at his words, realizing that this all could have been avoided. And then I remembered that I looked at that page too, and I didn’t see the name. Even if I hadn’t recognized it as her name, I would have had a point to start.

The raw emotion on Baylen’s face told me how much he was beating himself up over what happened and that melted away the last of any negative feelings I had.

“We both could’ve looked harder.” Hope lit up Baylen’s eyes. “I meant what I said about forgiving you. No more blame, all right?”

“Aye.” He looked like a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

“Now,” I said, “back to my father and how you ended up at Pulse tonight.”

“Right.” He took a drink and ate a few of the fries on his plate. “Franklin told us about the money he owed and that you decided to win the money in a poker game with a mob boss.” The look Baylen gave me said exactly what he thought of my plan, but he didn’t comment directly on it. “He said you were good enough to win, but that he was worried your skill wouldn’t be enough. He wanted you to have back-up.”

“Which he couldn’t do because Alesini knows what he looks like,” I said. When Baylen shifted in his seat, unable to meet my eyes, I knew that wasn’t all. I opened my mouth to ask, but then realized I didn’t need to. “And because he left.”

“Aye.” Baylen’s gaze met mine. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t surprise me.” And it didn’t. Though it did still sting. After all, the entire reason I was in there was to save his ass.

“He left your car at Alec’s place, by the way.”

That explained how he had the envelope. I should’ve been annoyed about my car, but he didn’t still have it, so I just let it go. I learned a long time ago I couldn’t hold onto shit when it came to Franklin. Not without making myself bitter and angry. Back then, I decided that I wasn’t going to make myself miserable over him, and that was still true now.

“Good. I would’ve hated to have to buy a new one.” I didn’t think for a moment Baylen believed it was that simple, but he didn’t call me on it. Then another question popped into my mind, and I brought the subject back to something I actually wanted to talk about. “Do you know why Franklin came to Alec’s house? I mean, why would he go to Alec instead of Jin? As far as I know, she’s the only one in my life he knows about.”

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