I started to lie and say yes but then I decided I'd had just about enough of keeping secrets. "Kelly is on his way, and we're going to have an argument over my brother."
"I see." Winn pushed off the sofa. "I suppose I'll make myself busy in the kitchen then." As he passed, he gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Whatever it is, you two will work it out."
I wished I had a tenth of Winn's confidence in us right now. I honestly didn't know how Kelly would react once it was all out. I cringed at the thought of what Trevor must have told him or showed him. To see Jeb in those sordid photos? It sickened and saddened me to think Kelly's memories of my brother and his best friend were now tainted with doubt and confusion.
When Kelly stepped through the front door a few minutes later, he froze and simply stared at me. The pained expression on his face made me ache. Regret twisted my gut. I thought of all the times I could have come clean about Jeb. If I'd only been brave enough to say something, we could have avoided this.
Squeezing my hands together, I whispered, "I'm so sorry, Kelly."
His tense expression went lax. "You're sorry?"
Holding my breath, I watched him cross the distance between us. His unreadable face left my stomach in knots. Was he upset with me for lying?
He tossed his gym bag onto the couch before cupping my face in his big hands. He gazed down in my eyes and brushed his thumbs across my cheeks. "Don't apologize for protecting your brother."
I gulped nervously at his unexpectedly gentle voice. "You're not mad at me?"
"I'm not mad at you. I'm angry at the situation and I'm pissed off at Jeb for keeping something like that from me." He nuzzled his mouth against mine, rubbing our noses together as he sought a sweet kiss. "But I'm not mad at you, Bee."
Closing my eyes, I murmured, "We need to talk but not here. Let's go to the master suite. There's a lot that I need to explain."
"Yes, there is," he agreed. "I need to—"
The shrill ring of the main penthouse phone interrupted us. Someone picked it up in another room. I assumed it was Winn.
"It's probably just maintenance," Kelly guessed. He made a face and rubbed at his knuckles. The movement drew my gaze and I gasped. Grabbing his hand, I tugged it closer for a better look. Blood stained his skin. Because I'd seen him wearing sparring gloves when training, I knew this wasn't from the gym. "Kelly, did you hit someone?"
Before he could answer, Winn came into the living room with a stormy expression on his handsome face. "The police are on their way up."
"The police?" I repeated, shocked. "Why are the police here?"
"They've come to arrest Kelly."
"What?" I jerked on Kelly's hand and forced him to meet my questioning gaze. "What did you do?"
Somewhat reluctantly, he admitted, "I hit Trevor. Twice."
Aghast, I dropped his hand and backed up a few steps. "Why would you do that?"
"He said awful things about—"
"So what?" I hated that my voice had climbed an octave as panic gripped me. "People say awful things all the time. That doesn’t mean you hit them, Kelly. You sure as hell don’t hit them when they're threatening to unleash photos and video of your brother and his married lover who is now a high-ranking officer in the damn Marine Corps!"
Kelly's head snapped back as if I'd struck him. "The man in the photos is an officer?"
"Yes."
"And he's married?"
"Yes." I didn't want to get into the specifics of the arrangement Peter had with his wife right now, not with Winn watching us. "It's not just that man either. There are other men in those photos that could be identified."
"Why didn't you destroy them?" Kelly demanded angrily. "We could have avoided this entire mess if you'd just been more careful!"
"Don't you dare try to turn this around on me!"
A knock at the door interrupted our argument. My stomach dropped when Winn welcomed two Houston police officers into the penthouse. One of the cops stepped forward and asked, "Kelly Connolly?"
"That's me."
The officer pulled out his cuffs. I instantly put my hand on Kelly's chest. Brows furrowed, he peered down at me. "What?"
"Don't say a word, Kelly. I'll have a lawyer meet us at the police station. He'll take care of you."
Hardness glinted in his bright green eyes. "I don't need you to rescue me, Bee."
Annoyed at his refusal of my help, I simply remarked, "I wasn't asking your permission."
Though he clearly didn't enjoy being the one who needed protection, Kelly didn't argue with me. He bent down and kissed me lovingly before allowing the police officers to cuff and read him his rights. Watching the cops perp-walk him out of the penthouse cut deeply but there was nothing I could do right now.
Spurred into action, I rushed into the bedroom to change. While I tugged on jeans, I called the law firm I kept on retainer. They immediately promised to send someone from their criminal defense division over. As I slipped on socks and shoes, I dialed Finn and quickly filled him in on the situation.
By the time I returned to the living room, Sully had joined Winn. Both wore grim expressions but neither said anything derisive about Kelly. Something told me they, too, would have punched Trevor if they had been in Kelly's position.
On the ride to the police station, I stared out the window and tried to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do now. The carefully planned overture toward Trevor that I had strategized with Ty no longer seemed possible. After Kelly humiliated him by crunching his face, Trevor would never accept the modest sum I'd been willing to offer.
So what to do?
It occurred to me that this was one of those moments in my life where I had to make hard decisions, but I needed to be smart about them. Remembering the way I had bluffed my way through my interaction with Richard Hawkins in that parking lot, I wondered if I had it in me to do it again—but this time with Trevor.
When we reached the police station, I was a bit taken aback to see Lena and Yuri already waiting for me. Judging by the way they were dressed, they had been enjoying a night out together. I hurriedly apologized for dragging them out for something so sordid. "I'm so, so sorry about this."
"Hush," Lena said gently and gave me a hug. "I'm not here because you're paying me to manage the crisis with your firm. I'm here because I care about you and Kelly." She glanced over at Yuri who looked very troubled. "We both care about you."
"What happened, Bee?" Yuri seemed totally stunned by Kelly's arrest.
I explained the situation as we entered the police station and waited in line at the reception area. Yuri sighed heavily but kept his opinions to himself. I was pretty sure Kelly would be getting an earful later from his former client.
The lawyer finally arrived and was taken back to the area where Kelly was being held and questioned. Lena guided me to a corner of the waiting room while Yuri went in search of coffee. As Lena tried to reassure me, I spotted Trevor exiting the main area of the station. His bruised and battered face made me wince. He ducked into the men's restroom and I popped out of my seat.
Lena grasped my hand. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know," I admitted, shaking off her hand. "But I have a feeling it's going to get me into trouble."
With Sully shadowing me and shooting me incredulous looks, I crossed the waiting area and entered the men's restroom without hesitation. A quick glance confirmed Trevor was the only man in there. He stood at the sink, washing his hands and inspecting his broken face. Shooting only a cursory glance my way, he said, "I'm pretty sure this is sexual harassment."
"Well, you are the expert on that."
He frowned at me. "I've never come onto you. Anyway, you can't intimidate me."
"Maybe I should take a page out of your playbook and try extortion," I retorted tightly. "Of course, I hear that's a federal crime, especially when you use the internet to do it."
Trevor turned away from the mirror to look at me. "It seems we've reached an impasse, Bee."
"Drop the charges against Kelly."
"In exchange for?"
"Come to my office in the morning. Let's say ten o'clock. We'll finish this."
Trevor looked almost relieved that I was backing down and agreeing to pay him off. He tossed the sodden, dirty paper towels he'd been using to dab at his face into the trash. "Let's make it eleven. I'm going to need my beauty sleep."
As he strode by me, I gripped the front of his shirt. His dark eyes narrowed but he didn't try to tug free from my grip. "Trevor, I'll only tell you this once. Don't try to fuck me over again. I screwed up with Jeb's email accounts and I'll pay for that—but I'll only pay for it one time. I will not allow you to drag the other people in his photos through the mud."
"And how the hell do you plan to stop me?"
I released his shirt. "You really shouldn't underestimate me, Trevor. I have friends in some very low places."
My connections to anything even remotely related to the underbelly of Houston ended with Kelly and Yuri but Trevor didn't know that. I watched his Adam's apple slide up and down. Was he finally understanding how far I would go to protect the innocent people he wanted to harm?
I followed Trevor out of the bathroom—and collided with Jack Connolly. Kelly's oldest brother steadied me. His brow creased as he glanced between my face, the back of Trevor's head and the bathroom. Finally, he asked, "Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not," I said softly. "Is there any news?"
"The lawyer popped out to let us know that Kelly will have his bail set and be out of here in a few hours."
Totally at a loss in this situation, I asked, "Where do I go to pay his bail?"
Jack seemed taken aback. "I'll take care of it."
I shook my head. "This is my fault. I'm responsible for this."
"Your fault?" Jack scoffed. "Kelly is a grown man. No one made him assault Trevor. He did that on his own."
"But he did it because I lied to him and allowed Trevor to blindside him," I insisted. "If I'd only—"
"If you'd only done what, Bee? Spilled your brother's deepest, darkest secrets after his death?" Jack shook his head. "I know what it's like. I've been there. Kelly has been there. He knows why you did this."
"I just wish I had been able to explain everything before the police arrived."
"There's plenty of time for that." He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "That hardheaded brother of mine is lucky to have you in his corner."
But as Jack led me back to Lena and Yuri, I couldn't help but wonder if that was true. The consequences of dragging Kelly into my personal disaster were staring me right in the face and I highly suspected the blowback from this mess was far from over for him.
Chapter Thirteen
Sitting at my desk way a few hours later, I rested my aching head in both hands and massaged my temples. I had sneaked in a quick nap after we had gotten Kelly home but I'd actually woken up feeling more tired. How that was possible I didn't even know.
The tension between Kelly and me hadn't eased any since paying his bail and getting him out of police custody. The moment we'd stepped inside the penthouse he had locked himself inside the office to return phone calls to Dimitri and Lev. When he had finally sought me out, he had rather coldly informed me that he had been suspended from the Lone Star Group until further notice.
The guilt of Kelly losing his job gnawed at my gut. I grimaced as my empty stomach pitched painfully. I didn't know what to do anymore. Feeling lost and adrift, I suddenly wished that Jeb was still alive. He'd always steered me straight. Today I needed him more than anything.
"You look like you could use two of these."
The sound of Ron's voice drew my gaze toward the door of my office. He smiled warmly and held up a huge cup of my favorite coffee. Waving one of those slices of his shop's coffee cake in a plastic container, he asked, "May I come in?"
I gestured to the chairs in front of my desk. "Please."
He handed over the coffee and cake before sinking down into one of the chairs. He regarded me for a moment. "So—I heard about your friend."
"What did you hear?" I sipped the soothingly hot coffee and leaned back in my chair.
"That he got into a fistfight with one of your former employees," Ron said. Rubbing his thumb, he remarked, "After seeing how tightly wound the guy is, I'm not surprised."
"You don't know anything about Kelly." My cheeks grew hot after I snapped at my friend. Sitting forward, I hastily apologized. "I'm sorry, Ron. I didn't mean to be so rude to you. I'm running on no sleep and there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that has me stressed to the max."
Reminding me why he'd always been such a good friend, Ron happily accepted my apology. "It's okay, Bee. I've been there myself a time or two. Is there anything I can do to help?"
I sipped my coffee. "Unless you sell some sort of special coffee that makes stalkers and blackmailers go away, I think I'm on my own on this one."
"You're not alone, Bee." Ron's expression seemed so sad. "Please don't ever think that you're in this alone. You have so many friends who want to help and protect you. You've got Kelly and Coby and Hadley—"
"And you," I added with a smile. "Who would have thought that getting lost downtown and stumbling into a coffee shop because of the free Wi-Fi sign would have led me to such a great friend?"
Ron laughed. "Maybe it was fate."
"Maybe," I agreed, grinning at him. As I sipped my coffee, I spotted Trevor and his lawyers stepping off the elevator.
Ron must have noticed the grim set to my mouth. He immediately stood up and spun toward the door. "What's wrong? Is it your stalker?"
With a heavy sigh, I pushed out of my chair and came around to stand beside him. "No, Ron, that's my blackmailer."
"What's he doing here?"
"He's getting what he always wanted."
"And what about what you want?"
"I'm trying to protect my family. That's all I want."
Ron hesitated before patting my shoulder. "I wish you didn't have to go through this, Bee."
I clapped my hand over his. "Thanks."
The elevator opened again but this time it held Yuri and my team of legal counsel. He'd promised to be here with me while I negotiated the end to the hostilities with Trevor. The Russian billionaire was proving to be the greatest mentor in the whole wide world. Sometimes I wondered how I'd been so damn lucky to gain him as a supporter.
"I need to go, Ron. Thanks for coming by this morning."
"It was my pleasure. Good luck, Bee."
With Ron's smile of encouragement, I gathered up my notepad and pen and made the trek across the office space to the conference room. Along the way, my employees and friends rose up out of their chairs to watch me, most of them curious but some of them saddened. Though the exact details of my problems with Trevor weren't public knowledge, the gossip mill was running full steam and had filled in many of the blanks.
Yuri waited for me outside the closed door of the conference room. The devastatingly handsome Russian narrowed his pale eyes and asked, "Why are we here, Beatrice?"
Certain he wasn't asking about the legal team waiting to draw up papers that would silence Trevor, I answered honestly, "We're here because I made a mistake."
"Yes, you did. What has this mistake taught us?"
I considered all the questions and what-ifs that had been tormenting me all night and morning. "It's taught me that I can't survive in business if I'm soft and sentimental. I have to…I have to be more decisive. I have to always be aware that others will exploit my weaknesses."
Yuri didn't look happy to be leading me through this lesson. "There's a time for being soft and sentimental, Bee, but it's not here in the boardroom. Leave that to Kelly and to your friends and your family. Here? In this place? You have to be a shark. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to protect what you've built and the people who rely on you for their paychecks."
"I understand."
Yuri touched my face in a
gentle, almost fatherly way. "Yes, I think you do." Glancing toward the conference room, he said, "I want you to go in there and slay this man. Do you understand me? If he refuses to give you what you want, you get up and you walk out."
"But what about Kelly and Jeb and—"
"Trevor knows what pain feels like now. He's going to take one look at me and think about my ties with certain people. I'm sure that taste of discomfort Kelly caused him last night was enough for him."
Though it felt dirty to exploit Trevor's pain, I wasn't about to toss out the option. After what he'd put me through, he didn't deserve any kindness from me.
I entered the conference room with Yuri and took a seat across from Trevor. All the irritation and anguish he had caused hit me like a ton of bricks. Sick of the whole thing, I tossed my notepad across the table. "This is the deal I'm offering. Take it or leave it, Trevor."
Trevor's cheek twitched as he picked up the notepad and scanned my terms. His gaze flitted to Yuri who sat on my left and then back down to the notepad in front of him. "I want more—"
"No," I cut him off and rose from my chair. "We're done." With a shrug, I stepped away from my chair and headed toward the door. Looking back at him, I remarked, "Maybe we'll find another way to settle this out of court."
"Fine. Fine!" Anger filled his shaky voice. "I'll take it. I'll take this deal."
Relief washed over me. Keeping my expression hard, I returned to my seat and placed my hands on the table. "Then let's finish this…"
* * *
Upstairs in the penthouse, Kelly paced the living room like a caged animal. The restraining order Trevor and his lawyer had filed required him to stay away from the bastard. Just thinking of Bee sitting across from that asshole and paying him her hard-earned money to keep him quiet sickened Kelly.
He rubbed both hands over his head and scratched at his scalp. How the hell had he let this happen? He had sworn to protect her but it was his fault she was in this mess. Knowing that she had paid his bail made it even worse. Having the damsel in distress ride to his rescue? That wasn’t the way this was supposed to work.