Page 41 of Baby Daddy SEAL

“Of course, you would. You want to make a big splash at your new job. I suspected it, but I let myself trust you. I knew better than to ever trust a fed, but I have to say, I’ve never met one as desperate as you to uncover dirt where there isn’t any.”

“You’re really going to blame me for one of your men stealing seventy thousand dollars?”

“None of my men would do anything like that. I know these people.”

“Well, you don’t know Petty Officer Jack Richards as well as you think you do.”

I barked out a laugh—the audacity of her. “You’re trying to frame Officer Richards? He’s one of the most upstanding men serving under me. I’d never believe this of him. You’re insane.”

“Check the computer system,” she suggested.

“And what’s that going to tell me, exactly?”

“I think you’ll find he’s put up a firewall to prevent any investigation into this file.” She tapped it. “It never occurred to him that the power would go out, and I’d be stuck looking at paper files. It didn’t occur to him to keep this out of my hands. But I’m betting it’s protected six ways from Sunday in the computer system.”

“I’m not going to investigate my men like they’re criminals.”

“Well, nobody is asking you to. But if you’re not willing to conduct your investigation, you’re going to have to put your faith in the results of mine.”

“Like hell.”

Alison sighed. “Think whatever you want, Brian, but I came here to tell you about this as a kindness because I’m going to file a report tomorrow morning, and then you’re going tohaveto deal with it, whether you want to or not.

“Unbelievable,” I scoffed. “When I think about the fact that I tried to help you—but you were always going to find a way to twist this situation to your advantage, weren’t you? No matter what I did for you, you would play me.”

“I don’t know how you can think that.” She looked genuinely upset, but she wasn’t going to trick me into feeling sorry for her. “I don’t like this any more than you do. Do you know what my father will say when he finds out?”

“Don’t expect me to believe you care what your father thinks about you,” I barked. “You weren’t too worried about his opinion when you begged for my dick the other night, were you?”

“For God’s sake—” She grabbed the folder and stuffed it back into her briefcase. “I thought you were better than this, Brian.”

“You thought just because you’re Henry’s daughter; I would look the other way while you manipulated the system? Or did you think you could fuck me into submission?”

“You know what?” Alison snapped. “You’re an asshole. I shouldn’t have even bothered trying to talk to you about this. I should have turned in the information I found without giving you the benefit of a conversation about it. I’ll know better next time.”

“Oh, there’s not going to be a next time. This is the last time you will be allowed in this building.”

“You’re not going to even look at the papers?”

“Why should I? You took them out of the building, Alison. You gave yourself every chance in the world to doctor them up. I have no reason to trust that those numbers haven’t been modified. All you’d have needed to do would be to draw a few extra lines on the page. And then you turn around and come right back—you’ve only been gone for an hour. You didn’t have time to find anything real.”

“I found it before I left! And I’m telling you, your computers will corroborate everything I’m telling you. I didn’t make any changes.”

“Except you were in the computer system, too,” I said. “It was Jack who let you in. The poor kid had no idea you would turn around and use his generosity against him. None of us knew. You played him as you played me. I was right to think you were using your looks and your body to get ahead.” I shook my head. “I’m sure I’ll find exactly what you said I would in the computer system. I’m sure you left it there while you were fucking around when you thought I wouldn’t catch you.”

“All right,” Alison said. “I tried. I’ve had enough of this. If you don’t want to hear me, I can do nothing about that. And I’ve given you fair warning. I’m going to start my report now. Look into what I’ve said or don’t, but my superiors at the FBI will have this by tomorrow. You need to be prepared for that. You’re going to have to answer to someone you haven’t fucked. I don’t know if you’re capable of that or not.”

She grabbed her things and marched out of the room.

I watched her go, my head spinning.

It had to be a lie. It had to be. I knew Jack, and he would never be a party to what she was talking about.

But I had thought I knew Alison too.

Well, I’d been wrong about her. It was as simple as that. She had never been the person I had thought she was, and now I was glad she was leaving.

Her bosses would get to the bottom of what she had done. No one was going to believe this shit.

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