Page 16 of Provoke You

“Don’t you mean who?”

“It doesn’t matter who.”

For all his hotness, Matt wasn’t someone I could trust. If I told him about Old Ben, he’d go running off to Dad to tell him I had some dubious plan to stop his big-shot deal with whoever the hell Dad was in bed with these days. I had to play it smart.

“I’m calling a friend who I thought might want to know the Baroness is being sold off. I promise no social media from here on out. Or until I’m free again.”

His features and stance relaxed, as if my words had disarmed him somehow. The softness in his eyes for sure disarmed me. He raked his hand through his hair, and a rush of heat ran through me. Jeez. This guy.

“Ela, please listen to me. Over the years, I’ve learned to trust my instincts. I’m never wrong.”

“Okay.” I stepped back. He was scaring me now.

“Something doesn’t feel right.” He blew out air. “I can’t explain it. I just know it’ll be safer for you if you leave the city for a little while, like Jennifer said. And I’m not saying that because of the job she offered me.”

“See what I mean?” I blinked a few times to make his face less blurry. “Nothing about this deal feels right. I never needed this much security before.”

“I’m not telling you this so you can find a way to intervene.”

“I know, but hear me out.” I had to trust Matt. “My grandmother’s lawyer was with our family since Grans took over the business. He retired a few days after Dad took control of the company. I have no idea where he is. He didn’t even make it to Grans’s funeral. But I’m thinking if he passed, his family would’ve reached out to us. Right?”

“I suppose.” He took a hesitant step toward me. Maybe he didn’t like where I was going with this, but at least he wasn’t dismissing me.

“There’s no harm if I give him a quick call and ask him about my choices. Is there? He’s the only one that can help me.”

“Ela.”

“It’s just a phone call.”

His gaze moved from my face down to my mobile, then back up again. “Fine. But be careful what you say. You don’t want to get him mixed up in this.”

“A good marine would offer to help.”

“That’s not my job.” He turned on his heel and went back to his spot in the living room. Fine. I didn’t need his help anyway.

Out of habit, I did a quick search on Insta. It was a long shot since I didn’t remember Old Ben’s last name, and the chances of him being on social media were zero percent. I could ask Jennifer but that would tell her I was up to something and the chances of her getting Dad involved were one hundred percent.

I sat at the table and fired up my laptop. Ben had always been nice to me. I could always count on him to have a lollipop in his pocket when I visited the office. Where was he now? If I were a better person, I would know that.

I stared at my screen. Directly behind it, Matt typed something on his phone while he shuffled papers around. He was the real deal. No doubt he could punch in a few texts and get me the location of Old Ben.

“How’s the strategizing going?”

He smiled at his phone before he turned his attention to me. “You have no idea where to find this lawyer friend of yours, do you?”

“No.”

He sat back. The Cheshire Cat grin on his face told me he was enjoying this because now I needed a favor from him. What he’d ask for in return was the one thing I couldn’t give him right now. I couldn’t go with him.

“What’s his name?”

“Old Ben.”

He chuckled. “It’s hard to care when things are just given to you.”

“Don’t be a jerk. He wanted me to call him that. He was like a great uncle to me. In my defense, I was twelve when I found out Grans’s real name.” It wasn’t for lack of caring.

“He always talked about his lake house in upstate New York.” He’d grown up there. Every time he needed to get away, he’d go there, sometimes for weeks. “I want to say Utica. Is that a place? I’ll Google it. Mom and I visited him a couple of times, but I don’t know how to get there. All I remember is that it was a beautiful place with a shimmering lake.”

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