Page 90 of Wilde and Deadly

A sharp, bitter laugh escaped before he could stop it. “Not exactly reassuring.”

Cade sighed. “Look, you want answers or not?”

More silence.

Then, he finally relented. “Okay. Where?”

Cade gave an address that he committed to memory before muttering, “I’ll be there.”

The line went dead.

When he lowered the phone, everyone was watching him.

“Absolutely not,” Rowan said immediately.

Davey pocketed the phone. “It’s happening.”

“He refuses to meet at WSW, demands his own location—and you’re just going to walk into that? Alone? It’s suicide.”

Sabin whistled softly. “Yeah, I gotta say, sounds like a pretty shit plan,mon ami. If Cade’s innocent, why all the cloak-and-dagger bullshit?”

Liam, quiet until now, finally spoke. He nodded toward Daphne’s laptop. “I don’t doubt Cade is capable of all this, but…”

“But what?” Davey demanded when he trailed off. “Yesterday, you all but accused Cade of mutiny.”

“Yeah, and after thinking it over, I changed my mind.” Liam met his gaze steadily. “Whatever else Cade is, he’s a father first, and he would never do anything to put Nova at risk. You said you don’t want to throw a grenade into our family over a grudge? Well, neither would he. If he put a hit out on you and succeeded, Uncle Cam and Aunt Eva would disown him. Tessa and Weston would never forgive him. He’d lose his entire immediate family, including Nova, because no way would his parents let him keep custody after he goes to prison for solicitation of murder. You really think he’d risk all that for achanceat getting the company when there’s no guarantee he’s next in line?”

Silence descended on the room.

“All valid points,” Daphne said finally and motioned to her computer. “But those credentials don’t lie. Someone accessed our systems using Cade’s login. Whether it was him or not, he’s compromised somehow.”

Davey ran a hand through his hair, frustration and uncertainty warring inside him.

Liam had a point. Cade adored his daughter. Would he really jeopardize her future just to get back at him?

But Daphne was right, too. Cade’s company login wasn’t something he would just share with anyone, so if it wasn’t him accessing secure files he had no business being in, then who? And how did they get his information?

“All the more reason I have to go talk to him.” Davey kept his voice firm, cutting off any further debate. “If there’s even a chance this is all some misunderstanding, I need to hear him out.”

Rowan took a step closer, her eyes dark with worry, and for a second, he nearly reached for her. But she crossed her arms, tucking her hands under her elbows like she was physically holding herself back—from him, from this fight, from the fear neither of them wanted to name.

Her voice was quieter now but no less sharp. “And what if it’s a trap?”

His pulse ticked up. Yeah, there was no denying it could be a trap. But he forced himself to hold her gaze, tried to convey with his eyes that he wasn’t worried. “Then I’ll handle it.”

Frustration tightened her features. “Fine.” Her fingers curled against her arms, knuckles going white, and she exhaled in a rush. “If you’re doing this, we go in with a plan.”

Davey shook his head. “Weare not going anywhere. I go in alone.”

“Like hell you do!”

He knew that mulish expression, and he heard the warning bells clanging in the back of his mind:Danger! Danger!But he still stepped closer and lowered his voice for her ears alone. “You’re a target, Ro.”

“So are you.”

She finally touched him, her fingers curling around his forearms, holding on tight as if she could physically anchor him in place. The anger in her eyes still burned, but it was the fear barely veiled behind it that nearly undid him.

She was terrified of losing him.

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