Page 9 of Vicious Seduction

“I’ve always been stubbornly independent. I started cooking for myself at an early age.” If you could call microwaving ramen cooking. It took me a while to acquirethe tools and skills, but eleven years after leaving home, I was more than a little competent in the kitchen.

Hannah hadn’t answered my question, but it seemed out of place to push, so I let it go.

“We had a housekeeper who taught me a few things. Once I moved out on my own, I put those lessons to the test.”

“It never hurts for a young person to learn self-sufficiency.” Her tone grew matronly, and I got the sense it was an argument she’d raised more than once in her employment.

“Agreed. You never know what the world will throw at you.” I knew that hard truth all too well.

An echo of male voices carried down the hall.

“Sounds like they’re done talking. I better get back out there.”

“Thanks for the visit. It’s nice having a little female company around here,” she said conspiratorially.

“Absolutely. Hopefully, I’ll see you again soon.” I smiled warmly, then returned to the foyer where Lawrence was closing the door behind Oran.

“How did it go?” I asked with a smile.

“Hard to say,” he murmured distractedly, then looked me up and down. “You’re still in those wet clothes. Come on, I’ll run you home. I need to go into the office now anyway.”

My shoulders sagged a fraction. I’d hoped to get a glimpse of his home office—what I imagined would be his inner sanctum.

“I’d appreciate that.” I forced a smile.

Even if I didn’t have anything tangible to work with, the morning had still been a success. I’d gotten a look around the Wellington mansion and talked to his housekeeper. It was a big step in the right direction.

As for Oran, he’d proven just how dangerous a distraction he could be. I could only hope I never saw the man again.

CHAPTER 6

ORAN

“My son has been missingfor months, and the woman he was dating is nowmarriedto a Byrne. Do you really expect me to believe those two facts are unrelated?” Wellington stared icily at me from across his desk.

I was struck by how dispassionate he was on the subject. He believed my family was responsible for his son’s disappearance, yet he didn’t show an ounce of outrage or resentment or even the tiniest bit of pain. If my child had gone missing, I would have been an inconsolable ball of fury shredding the very fabric of the city until my child was back home.

Wellington acted like it was a car that had beenstolen, not his son.

“I expect you to be a man of business capable of using logic. My cousin was married to his wife well before your son went missing. If I was going to look for a culprit, I might be more interested in a certain Russian you’ve been doing business with. Did he tell you how he miraculously ended up with our stolen guns, then came after us when we confronted him?”

Wellington studied me intently. I knew very well that he didn’t know anything about our business with the Russian and that he certainly wouldn’t know I’d muddied the truth. All I needed was to nurture the uncertainty he was already facing about his son’s disappearance. The truth was, my familyhadkilled his son, but Wellington had a shit ton of enemies. Figuring out which one of us was to blame would be a monumental task. How likely was it that the man sitting across from him putting forth a business proposition had been responsible?

Oh, the irony.

“What is it you’re here to say?” he demanded gruffly. He hated for me to be right, but he couldn’t deny I had a point.

I took the win graciously and reserved my gloating for a later date. “As I mentioned, we’ve had an issue with stolen shipments recently. We need to make new arrangements.”

“And what could possibly entice me into helping you?”

This was it. The lynchpin.

I’d thought long and hard about this question because having the right answer was crucial.

“Aside from the fact that we own half the police force in the city, which makes life a hell of a lot easier, my cousin is now married into the Moretti family. Conner Byrne recently married Renzo Donati’s niece.” I let the information sink in.

As the owner of one of the largest shipping companies in the world, Wellington would be familiar with the Italianfamily who controlled the docks throughout New York via the dock workers union. Wellington and all other shipping companies were in never-ending negotiations with the dock workers. Having an inside connection would be priceless for him.

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