Page 4 of Two Steps Ahead

Gwendolyn knocked on the study door and opened it. Leo Delacruz stood, smiling, then walked around the desk to shake Weston’s hand. “Weston. Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for the invite.” Weston shook his hand, marveling silently over how intimidating the billionaire had seemed when he’d been young. Then again, most everyone had seemed big and intimidating to an abused nine-year-old. “I’m a little surprised you remember me at all.”

“Oh, I do.”

Weston waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. A broad-shouldered man stood a few paces from the desk, posture stiff, eyes taking in everything. Leo turned his attention that way. “This is Jasper Eeley, my head of security. Dean McClintock, my head counsel. And you met Gwendolyn.”

The older woman and the lawyer inclined their heads with a small smile, but Jasper clearly had no intention of exchanging pleasantries.

Leo turned to his employees. “I need to speak with Mr. Patterson alone.”

Gwendolyn immediately shook her head and informed Leo to let her know if they needed anything.

Jasper’s posture stiffened further. “Do you think that’s a good idea, Mr. Delacruz? I’d feel better if I stayed in here also.”

The head of security looked to Dean to garner support for his argument. The lawyer nodded. “Jasper might be right.”

Leo returned to his chair. “Mr. Patterson has been thoroughly vetted. I think I’m safe. If he kills me in cold blood, you two have my permission to have ‘They told me not to do it’ engraved on my tombstone.”

Jasper didn’t appreciate the joke. He left without another word, not concealing his glare at Weston as he went.

The lawyer gathered his papers and put them in his briefcase. “Are you sure, Leo? How you’re handling this merger...it’s not sitting well with me.”

Weston didn’t know what that meant, but he wasn’t going to ask.

“I’m fine, Dean. This is all going to work out. Just wait and see.”

Dean nodded and left with a great deal more grace than Jasper had.

Leo gestured to the seat across from his desk. “Is this place similar to what you remember when you visited as a child?”

Weston took the seat, studying Leo as he did so. His brown hair had gone gray over the years. But he seemed to be in decent shape, physically. Older, but fit. “I didn’t spend a lot of time inside the big house, but yes, very similar. Still very impressive, Mr. Delacruz.”

“Please call me Leo. I imagine you’re wondering why you’re here, exactly.”

“It seems like you’ve already got decent security in place. I’m not sure what San Antonio Security can do for you that Jasper’s team isn’t already providing.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said you’ve been thoroughly vetted. Your agency comes highly recommended for personal security.I was looking for someone outside of Jasper’s inner circle for a special assignment. When I saw your picture, I recognized you as Henry’s kid. But your last name isn’t Bogle.”

“Henry was my temporary foster father, so I never took his name. After he died, I was placed in another home.”

Actually, a group home. And then another one. The foster care system sometimes wasn’t particularly friendly to older kids.

Leo frowned slightly. “I suppose April didn’t have it in her to continue fostering you after losing Henry.”

“No. Losing him was hard for her. She decided to move to be closer to family. Because I was a foster child, I couldn’t be taken out of the state.”

“I tried to help her financially. But I had my own difficult time just after Henry’s death.”

Weston nodded. He honestly had no idea what had been going on with the adults during that time. All he’d known was that his life had changed immediately and irrevocably when Henry died. No more home. No more safe place. No more working here on the grounds with plants he was learning to love so much.

No more friend Kayleigh who liked to talk to him all the time.

“I’ll get right to it then.” Leo leaned back in his chair. “I’ve spent my life making money through mergers and business sales—decisions that destroyed companies and even some people’s lives. I’ve made a lot of enemies in the past twenty years. That is why I have Jasper and his team around at all times.”

“Understandable.”

“I have a merger coming up in two weeks—it’s actually two sets of separate mergers. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that there are people on every side who don’t want these mergers to happen.”

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