Page 68 of Two Steps Ahead

Weston heaved a dubious sigh. “Won’t Kesler be making a ton of money from this merger, even if it’s a hostile takeover? Why would he want it to fall through?”

“Revenge maybe? Leo tore apart his father’s company and Kesler doesn’t want him doing it again. Kesler’s going to make money on the merger, but it’s Leo who will gain the most. Kesler doesn’t want that.”

Weston grunted. Revenge would make sense. “Kesler would have firsthand knowledge of the contract too, including Leo’s conditions for the merger to go through and Kayleigh’s ability to stop it.”

“Exactly. So we’re digging into Kesler more, seeing if we can find anything concrete to back our thoughts up. For now, like you said...ten hours.”

“Do we have a plan to get everyone to the office this afternoon?” Weston asked. “If I was going to make one last move against Kayleigh, it would be on the way in. And they’ve already proven they’re willing to kill, so that takes it to the next level.”

Weston needed to know the safest routes to the office, entry points, blind spots in the cameras, everything. He wasn’t taking a chance on Kayleigh’s safety.

“Agreed. Luke and Claire are on routes and office safety to figure out what’s best. Our surest bet is probably to change the location at the last minute. We’ll still have to notify Beau Kesler, but he won’t have the chance to plan anything ahead of time.”

“And, unfortunately, until we have proof, he’ll be able to waltz right into and out of wherever we hold the merger.” Weston rubbed the back of his neck. “We’ll worry about proving he’s a murderer, attempted murderer, attempted kidnapper and the laundry list of other criminal activity after the merger. Today, we just keep everyone alive.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll be waiting for an update from you guys.”

“You got it.”

“Hey, Chance,” Weston said before they could hang up. “Thank you. You guys have gone well above and beyond for a situation where we’re not even getting paid.”

Chance chuckled. “Brothers, man. You know what Mom says.”

“Family is forever,” they both said at the same time.

KAYLEIGHWOKEUPto the sound of Weston entering the building. “Everything okay?”

“No.”

She shot out of bed. “Oh my gosh. Dad?”

Weston rushed to her. “No, he’s fine. I’m sorry. There’s been no change.”

Her heart was still crashing against her ribs. “Okay. What happened?”

“There was an attack on Dean McClintock.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, although one of Jasper’s men was killed helping save him. Jasper was shot too.”

She lowered herself slowly back down on the bed as he told her what happened. “Oh my gosh. So, Jasper really isn’t behind any of this.”

“No. It looks like Beau Kesler is though. One of the men who attacked Dean has ties to Kesler.”

She couldn’t wrap her head around what all this meant. “I just want this to be over.”

“It will be in a little over nine hours.” He tugged her to standing and wrapped his arms around her.

She snuggled into him for a moment. He was right. Soon this would all be over.

She pulled back and lifted her phone from the chair serving as their bedside table. “I’m going to call and check on Dad.”

“Okay. And after the merger today, we can go straight back to the hos—” He broke off when her phone rang in her hand.

Her breath caught until she realized it wasn’t the hospital. “It’s Gwendolyn. She probably wants an update about Dad. The hospital isn’t giving her any info.”

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