Page 105 of Worth Every Penny

His agitation bleeds across the space between us. Of all the people to be Kate’s point of contact, Martin Brooks is far from ideal. His rage on discovering Gerard’s dodgy dealings was extreme; if Gerard hadn’t died soon after, I reckon Martin would’ve killed him.

“Calm down.”

“Calm down?” Jack’s eyes turn wild and his voice is a raw whisper, as though his attempt to control himself makes the words scrape his throat. “He’s wrangled his way onto this project deliberately. This is Kate’s project. It means a lot to her. I’d put money on it Martin wants to fuck it up for her. He was supposedto retire. To stay retired.” He scrunches his face, then releases the tension. “Fuck. I have a lot wrapped up in this.”

“So does Hawkston. It’ll be all right.”

I don’t know that it will be, but I can’t stand Jack looking at me like he’s begging me to save him. Again. I haven’t had dealings with Martin Brooks since the original deal to buy Lansen fell through. Since I paid Martin off to keep his mouth shut, and he scurried away like a rat.

He got everything he was owed and more. So why do I have a bad feeling about this?

Jack’s eyes search mine. “What do we do?”

It’s raining heavily now, but neither of us has an umbrella. Nor do we have a destination, so we’re walking aimlessly through driving rain.

“Nothing, yet. He’ll make his demands known if he has any.” My voice is calm, but inside I’m unnerved. “Do you want to tell Kate?” My stomach flips as I say her name. If we’re ever going to tell her what really happened, this is the moment. I hope to God Jack says yes, because I don’t want to lie to her anymore, especially not after everything that’s happened between us.

“Not unless we have to,” Jack answers, his frown so deep his brows almost meet in the middle. “Dad didn’t want her to know—”

“He’s dead.” Jack looks at me aghast, but I continue, regardless. “Maybe honesty is more important than keeping a promise to a dead man.”

“We can’t behonest,” Jack pleads. “None of this is fucking honest. We buried the crime. We papered over the cracks with cash.”

“My cash.”

“And I’m grateful. I’ve paid you back, haven’t I? Worked all hours of the day to return every penny.”

“I know.”

Jack’s agitation shows no signs of slowing. “Then why the fuck is Martin back? We gave him more than Dad stole from him.”

“It’s the spa project,” I tell him. “And the fact I finally bought Lansen. We did the deal he’d wanted to do back then. It must be painful to watch from the sidelines, knowing it ought to have been him.” I place a hand on Jack’s arm and he stills, the two of us standing face-to-face in the rain. “Relax. There’s no paper trail. No evidence. Only a series of loans that were paid back in full. Business is dirty sometimes. But this is clean. We’re clean.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Any concerns on that front, you can put out of mind right now. Money’s a curse and blessing, but if you have enough, you can clean up any mess.”

Jack exhales so heavily that he shrinks a couple of inches. “Fine. Then we don’t have to tell Kate. Don’t breathe a fucking word to her. If there’s one last thing I can do for my father, it’s protect his memory. His legacy.”

I flinch as images of Gerard Lansen in the hospital flash before me. Tubes and needles protruding from his body as he begged me not to tell his daughter what he’d done.

She doesn’t need to know. She never needs to know.

He was a broken shell of a man by the end; he’d been covering his tracks for months, siphoning money from the company to cover his debts. He’d gambled away vast sums on the stock markets, throwing good money after bad until there was nothing left but what he could steal. The house was mortgaged to the hilt, and the bank was going to call in the loan and force the sale.

The whole thing was a mess, and Debbie Lansen was completely oblivious. Too self-centred to notice what her husband was up to. That, combined with the fact that Gerard was a skilled addict who’d hidden his vice away like a precious jewel, meant no one knew until it was too late.

“Take Kate off the project.” Jack’s anxious voice tears me from my memories. “Take her off the spa project. She can’t be dealing with Martin Brooks. I don’t know what he’s up to, but I don’t want him talking to her.”

“I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”

His eyes narrow. “Why not?”

I search for a reason that isn’tbecause I’m sleeping with her and she’s completely bewitched me and I won’t do anything that’s going to hurt her.

“Because she deserves to be on the project. You know that. I’m not going to rearrange everything to keep a promise we made to a man who’s been dead for nearly a decade, even if that man is your father. If she finds out, she finds out.”

Jack’s eyes go wide, his eyebrows quirk upwards. “You have to do something.”

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