Page 27 of Ben

She rolled her eyes, and then they widened when Inis walked in with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

“This just arrived for you.” And then she sported a guilty, flushed look on her face.

“Sorry, I read the card.” And then she hurried out of the room after handing Ambra the flowers of pink orchids.

Ambra read the card, and then her mouth made an ‘O’ shape, her eyes flashed to his, and then she cleared her throat.

He was now curious as to what his brother had written on the note to make Inis flush red and bolt, not to mention the reaction Ambra had after reading it.

But he didn’t; he glanced down at his watch instead and noted the time. He closed his laptop and grabbed his iPad, taking it to show the new client their promotional marketing and some samples of the software that Ambra and he had created.

“Ready to go?”

She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it and nodded, gathering her things.

He paused, giving her a hard look. “Are we good?”

She stiffened. “Business we are good; personally, no. You crossed a line, Ben, that affected my sister and our family; therewill be consequences, and I won’t stop trying to get answers and find out who is behind all this.” She warned.

He dipped his head; he would not expect anything less from Ambra and knew Diamond’s parents were going to give him hell, especially their father.

He was prepared to face them over his marrying their daughter. He just wanted to have more time with her before everyone descended on them and the year was up.

That night before he’d come home, Ben had made the decision to offer her a year together after what happened after they’d gotten married. He’d done some reflection and hoped that if he did that, then maybe she’d be open to giving it a try until then, and in that time, he would show her that he wasn’t a total monster. That would give her some power back in the fact that she was free to leave him with no repercussions after the year was up, but after hearing her say that to Ambra, especially after he’d been thinking it, hurt him more than he thought possible, and he began to close down again.

He knew he was distant with her after overhearing what she said, even though they made passionate love again later that night and the following nights after that. He could not stay away from his wife and knew when she left after her year, he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

He pushed past his gloomy thoughts and headed to the door with Ambra matching him stride for stride. She was very tall as opposed to her sister, but even Diamond, short, she carried herself like she was the tallest person on the planet, and he smiled.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He said before opening the door for them and waiting for her to exit before following behind her.

The meeting was a long one and wasn’t what he expected, but he didn’t know if Ambra and he would take it on. Even though the potential client offered a lot of money to help him secure his business here in New York.

He’d been so distracted with what was going on between him and Diamond that he didn’t do his due diligence properly. The man that contacted him was not the person that he and Ambra sat across from at the table. They were contacted by a Luke Shelby, a lawyer that needed their expertise and software to safeguard his client’s information and his cases.

But the man sitting across from them, who called himself Silas, said that his lawyer Luke had set up this meeting for him. Ben knew he was not a businessman but someone in the criminal world, a mob boss more than likely. The man wore an expensive business suit, his dark hair slightly marred by a white patch of hair running along in a solid block at the front of his short haircut. His eyes a dark amber color, his face gaunt and clean-shaven. He looked like he had just gone through hell and was now returning for revenge. His voice had sounded gravelly, and Ben had wondered if it was always like that or if it was because he carried a scar across his throat that he’d tried to hide with an ascot, but when he’d leaned forward to eat the piece of steak, it had shifted to show it.

When they’d sat down, Silas had greeted them, and Ambra rose from her chair, ready to leave when she found out he was Luke, but he didn’t move, curious as to what the man wanted.

The man had stared coldly at Ambra while attempting to smile. The smile didn’t come off as being friendly as he intended. It just seemed as if it was a mechanical movement to Ben.

“Please sit and just hear me out as to why I need your services, and if you decide not to help me with my business, then I will look elsewhere. I just thought that given your business is new, you would want the opportunity to bring in more clients. We can discuss things after we eat.” He gave them another smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t know about you, but I am parched and hungry and feel a discussion would be better after a meal.”

He reached out and touched Ambra on her side, and she sat back down, both now curious as to what he wanted. They ate and talked, the conversation light and informal; his phone buzzed a specific way, letting him know that his wife had left the house. He didn’t check because, if you took your eyes off a poisonous snake for a second, it could strike, and he needed to keep his attention on him for both his and Ambra’s sake.

As they ordered and their meals showed up, the man chatted like they were close friends, learning he’d been away for a while and was now back in the business, whatever that was. Ben didn’t know if that was family business or something else entirely. Silas was very cryptic.

Once coffee had been served to them, Silas sat back in his chair. “I’m from the west coast but looking to establish my business here in New York. What I want from you is to create and maintain IT security on my company and the transactions on my accounts.”

Ambra spoke up, her voice curious. “If you have an established business already, then why don’t you use the IT security team you have for your business currently for the East Coast?”

His gaze focused on her, and for a second Ben saw rage darken his eyes before he nodded and responded. “Well, theperson that took care of my company’s software security sold me out and left me for dead.”

They both stiffened and glanced at each other.What the hell did they just get into?“Which leads me to my other need for your services. I need you to find the person that sold me out.”

Ambra and Ben glanced at each other, and then his eyebrows rose in surprise.

Silas took a sip of his wine and then calmly said, “My wife.”

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