Maximum Risk

  It was, however, where he was told he’d find the New Holmes agency. And Tara.

  Max had spent the earlier part of the week telling himself he didn’t care if he ever saw her again. He’d flown out to meet Dale and gone through the motions of evaluating possible alternative sites for his next hotel. Midweek, he’d flown to Vegas, hoping the entertainment and companionship out there would put him in a better mood. It hadn’t. None of the women, not even the ones he’d been with previously, piqued his interest in the slightest.

  There was only one woman he wanted, and he hadn’t even tried to convince her to stay. He wasn’t proud of how he’d treated her or how accurately she’d called him out on his shortcomings. He was used to assessing himself in terms of his achievements and not by the amount of emotion or trust he was willing to invest in anyone. He’d never thought of himself as a negative person, and in business he wasn’t, but now he saw he was in his personal life. He could blame it on the way he was raised. He could cite how many countless ways he’d been punished for caring, but Tara was right—how he lived his life today was his choice.

  The memory of how hurt Tara had looked when he’d told her she was nothing to him haunted him. In that moment, he’d been as hateful as his mother, and it wasn’t a comparison he was proud of. When he looked at himself through Tara’s eyes, he didn’t like what he saw.

  As much as he wanted to see her again, he also needed to apologize. He couldn’t sleep at night, remembering she’d said he was better than the man he’d shown her. He needed a second chance to prove he was.

  He had just stepped inside the building when he saw her lock the door to her office and step away from it. “Tara.”

  She turned slowly in the dim hallway. “Max?”

  He closed the distance between them in a few long strides. “I’m glad I caught you.”

  She looked down at something in her hand and stuffed it into her purse. “I was just heading out.”

  He took his time looking her over. She was every bit as beautiful in jeans and a loose shirt as she’d been in the expensive clothing he’d always seen her in. “We need to talk.”

  She looked like she considered it for a moment then shook her head. “I can’t right now. I have somewhere I need to go.” She gave him a sad smile and moved to step around him. “You’re welcome to call me later.”

  He blocked her path. “Where are you going?”

  A funny expression filled her eyes. She looked like she was inwardly debating something important. “Do you care? And I don’t mean are you curious. I mean, if I told you I was about to do something important, would you allow yourself to get involved even it could potentially be dangerous? Or would you rather not know?”

  “What are you talking about, Tara?” he demanded. “What are you involved in?”

  “Answer the question first. Because I promised I wouldn’t lie to you again, so that only leaves me with two options: I can either tell you the truth or tell you nothing. Don’t ask me for the truth if you don’t want to get involved.”

  A thousand possible scenarios rushed through his head—everything from her being wanted by the police to her being pregnant with another man’s baby. None of them was enough to make him walk away. “Whatever trouble you’re in, tell me. We’ll figure it out.”

  “I’m not the one who’s in trouble.” She looked up and down the hallway to make sure they were alone. “We should go back into my office for a minute. No one else can hear what I’m about to say.”

  He followed her into her office. He was fairly confident she was overdramatizing what was likely a small issue that could easily be resolved—at least by someone with his financial resources. If helping one of her friends would prove to her he cared about her, then he was prepared to do just that.

  His eyes lingered on her jean-clad ass, and his thoughts flew back to the weekend they’d shared on the island. There was a slim chance she wanted to be alone in her office with him for all the same reasons he would want to be, but when she glanced over her shoulder at him, she looked nervous instead of excited. He’d help her first, then he’d coax her back into his bed.

  Once inside her office, she asked him for his phone then proceeded to remove the battery and place it on her desk. He couldn’t help but smile at how seriously she took her private investigator role. It was adorable.

  She told him to sit. He did. She reached into her purse and took out a flash drive. “Do you remember I told you something was bothering Gio? Well, I figured it out. Your brother is being blackmailed, and he needs the information on this drive to stop the man who is doing it.” She took out a business card that only had a phone number on it and handed it to Max. “And this woman is willing to help him remove every shred of evidence the blackmailer could use against him. We have to get this to him but in a way that no one knows what we did. The blackmailer can’t find out we know. First we remove the evidence. Then we go after the blackmailer.”

  Max was glad he was sitting because he felt like the floor dropped out from beneath him. “You’re serious?”

  “Very.”

  “Evidence of what? What are you suggesting Gio is guilty of?”

  “Trying to cover up the fact that someone has been embezzling money from Cogent.”

  “That’s a serious accusation.”

  “It’s not an accusation. It’s a felony. One we need to make sure no one else can prove he was involved in.”

  “If any of this were true, how did you find out about it?”

  Tara sat down in the chair next to Max. “I can’t reveal my sources.”

  Max stood and started pacing. “Can’t reveal your sources? What is that? You expect me to believe this wild story without knowing how you even came up with it?”

  Tara turned her earnest dark brown eyes on him. “Yes, I do. I expect you to trust me.”

  “How do I know what’s on that drive?”

  “Because I told you what’s there.”

  Max thought about the countless times he’d trusted something his family said only to find out they’d lied. Tara had admitted to lying to him while working for Madison. He looked into her eyes and asked himself if he could trust her. On the island she’d told him he needed to believe in something—anything. Could she be that something? “Where were you headed when I walked in?”

  “To give this to Gio.”

  “Let’s go then. He’s probably still at his office.” Max didn’t know if he’d regret the decision, but he followed his instincts and picked up his phone. He almost replaced his battery, but looked at her first. “Is there a reason I can’t use my phone?”

  Tara walked past him and opened her office door. “Someone might be listening in. You should have your phone checked for spyware.”

  He looked down at his phone and then at the very serious expression on her face. He put his phone, still disassembled, into his coat pocket. “I can honestly say I’ve never thought of that.”

  “Me, either, before today,” Tara said, locking her office door again. “But, trust me, it happens more than you’d think.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  A few hours later Tara’s head was spinning from the turn of events. Just as she and Max had discussed during the drive over to Cogent, they had walked into the building holding hands, pretending to be a couple. It was a good cover, even if Tara painfully wished it were true. They met with Gio and said they’d love to have dinner with Julia and him that night—at his place, if it worked for both of them. Gio had spoken to Julia briefly, then beamed a smile at them.

  Gio was so happy about Max being there and wanting to visit with him that Tara hadn’t been able to look him in the eye. She exchanged a meaningful look with Max. He’d nodded. They both felt awful in the face of Gio’s enthusiasm. Tara reminded herself he might be disappointed to hear why they wanted to meet with him, but eventually he’d be grateful for the information.

  As Tara took her seat at Gio and Julia’s dining room table, she looked at Max, who was taking
the seat beside her. It still felt unreal to have him at her side, helping her break the news to Gio. Tara was half waiting to hear her alarm clock go off and realize all of this—from Alethea’s visit to Max’s show of support—was nothing but a dream. She gulped the first glass of wine Gio poured for her to prove to herself it wasn’t.

  Once they were all seated, Tara said, “Cell phones are so great, aren’t they? I carry mine wherever I go. Do you have yours with you, Gio?”

  Gio gave her an odd look then shook his head. “Julia has a rule about cell phones not coming to the dinner table. I leave mine in my coat.”

  Tara swallowed hard. “Sounds like a good rule.”

  Max didn’t say anything, but Tara guessed he knew why she didn’t want Gio to have his phone on him. “Gio, Tara and I have something we need to talk to you about.”

  Tara and I.

  Tara met Max’s eyes and smiled. She wondered if he knew how much that simple statement meant to her.

  Gio put his glass of wine down and said, “It’s fast, but I’m happy for you.”

  A huge smile spread across Julia’s face, and she clapped her hands. “Are you engaged?”

  “No,” Tara and Max said emphatically at the same time.

  Gio frowned. “Pregnant?”

  “No,” they both said in unison again, then looked at each other and smiled.

  Julia put a hand on Gio’s arm and said softly, “Maybe we should let them tell us.”

  Tara reached into her purse and took out the flash drive, along with the card. She laid them on the table near her plate of food. She didn’t know where to start.

  Max took her hand in his. He looked across the table at Gio and said, “We know what’s going on at Cogent. Tara believes she has information that can help you resolve the situation.”

  Tara shot Max a grateful smile. “I do. It’s on this flash drive. And if you call this number I’m confident the person you speak to will know how to make the rest of it go away.”

  Julia’s mouth fell open. “Make what go away? Gio, what are they talking about? You said there wasn’t a problem.”

  Gio looked down at his worried fiancée. “I can’t involve you in this, Julia. The less you know, the better.”

  Julia put her hand on Gio’s cheek. “We’re a team, Gio. You don’t have to protect me. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t care what you did. I know you. You’re a good man. You wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t have a really good reason to. So, if you’re in trouble, we’re both in trouble. Let me in, Gio.”

  Gio turned his face and kissed Julia’s hand. “I’m being blackmailed.” He outlined essentially what Alethea had told Tara, except his version came with the rationale for why he’d done it. When he’d first taken over his father’s company he’d thought his father had been the one siphoning money out of the company and had covered it up by falsifying documents and pouring his trust fund into the company. Recently money was disappearing again, and his people couldn’t figure out how.

  Tara pushed the flash drive across the table to Gio. “Your answers are on there.”

  Gio picked up the drive and frowned. “Who are you, Tara? You’re obviously not just Maddy’s friend.”

  “Maddy hired me to uncover what she thought was a big secret that was keeping you and your brothers from reconciling.”

  Gio’s voice rose and he sat forward. “Maddy knows?”

  Tara hastened to reassure him. “No. She knows nothing about this.”

  “Thank God,” Gio said, and relaxed back into his seat.

  Max shook his head as he processed the scene before him. “So, this is all true. Why didn’t you come to me, Gio? I would have—” Max stopped, slammed his hand on the table in front of him, and said, “It doesn’t matter what I would or wouldn’t have done. I’m here now. We’re going to make this go away, and we’re going to do it together.”

  Tara had to blink several times to stop tears from spilling over. This was the man she’d told herself was hiding beneath his supposed indifference. She wanted to tell him she was proud of him, but he and Gio were already walking toward the other end of the apartment.

  Max paused before walking out of the living room and turned back to look at Tara. There was a question in his eyes. She nodded. She’d wait for him. He was where he needed to be, doing what needed to be done. She’d wait an eternity for a man like that.

  Julia moved to sit beside Tara. Her eyes were round with worry, but she had a tentative smile on her face. “You were really here only because you were working for Maddy?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, no long friendship with her? No breakup you needed cheering up after?”

  Tara found it difficult to meet Julia’s eyes, but she forced herself to. “That was my cover story.”

  “And Max?”

  Tara shrugged sadly. “I don’t know. Does any relationship work out when it starts with a lie?”

  Julia moved closer. “I don’t care how we met, Tara. Thank you for helping us.”

  Tara folded and unfolded the cloth napkin on her lap. “I’m merely the messenger.”

  “I doubt that,” Julia said gently. “I told you I was worried, and you came back with a solution. That’s not a messenger, that’s a friend.”

  Nick and Rena arrived a few minutes later. They spoke to Gio first, then Rena joined Tara and Julia. Nick walked off with Gio and Max.

  Rena greeted Julia with a hug and sat across from Tara—not saying anything, just studying her. Finally she asked, “You’re really a private investigator?”

  “Yes,” Tara said with a sigh. She had a feeling she would be having that conversation several more times that evening.

  Julia brought Rena a cup of coffee. Rena accepted it without taking her eyes off Tara. “Who are you working with? Besides Maddy. Gio said there are files on that drive no one could access unless they’d hacked into his server.”

  “I can’t disclose my source.”

  “You’ll have to. You can’t give someone sensitive information like that and not expect them to demand to know how you got it,” Rena said.

  Tara squared her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter who demands what. I made a promise, and I take those seriously.”

  Julia intervened, “Rena, stop grilling Tara, she’s on our side.”

  Rena frowned. “I hope so.”

  ***

  In Gio’s office, Max, Gio, and Nick were seated around a laptop. Max had originally been surprised when Gio had called Nick and told him to come over, but it quickly became apparent their relationship had changed since they’d been working together. There was a mutual respect between them Max hadn’t thought possible.

  Gio had made a few phone calls after quickly viewing some of the documents on the drive. Everything that could be verified without revealing the reason for an inquiry checked out. Paul Morriseau had started working in the finance department of Cogent before monies had gone missing the first time. He had access to the computers that would have allowed him to mark bills paid that were still outstanding. Gio’s team had looked into Paul already and dismissed him as being involved. His team had missed one very incriminating fact—Paul had several sizeable offshore bank accounts. The largest deposits into those accounts had been during the time money had first gone missing and then right about the same time money started to disappear again. He was definitely siphoning money out of Cogent. He had to be the blackmailer.

  Max held up the card Tara had given him, the one with only a phone number on it. “Who do you think this is?”

  Nick sat back and crossed his legs. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to help you uncover Paul. What did Tara say they would do if you called them?”

  Gio rubbed his temples. “She said they’d make it all go away.”

  Nick made a face. “Am I the only one who is concerned by what that means?”

  Max handed the card to Gio. “It has to be one of your friends. Who do you know with the kind of hacking skills to handle somethi
ng this complex?”

  Gio turned the card over in his hand and studied it. “Stephan, maybe. But why wouldn’t he want us to know it’s him?”

  “Did Tara say anything about where she got this flash drive?” Gio asked Max for the second time that night.

  Max answered calmly, “Nothing more than I’ve already told you. She won’t disclose her source.”

  “I’m not willing to accept that,” Nick said firmly.

  “You’re welcome to ask her yourself,” Max said and stood. “But do it while I’m there and do it respectfully.”

  Nick waved a hand in the direction of the door. “Tara could be working with anyone on this. How do we know if she’s telling us the truth or that this isn’t another setup? We have to consider the possibility that the person who is offering to help us may have an agenda of their own.”

  “Tara wouldn’t be involved in anything like that.”

  Nick countered, “Didn’t you just tell me she lied about who she was? How do we know she’s not lying about more?”

  “She’s not,” Max said, his jaw tightening as his frustration grew.

  “And you know that because?” Nick looked at Max then shook his head in disbelief. “Just because you’re sleeping with her doesn’t mean we can trust her.”

  Trust didn’t come easily to Max. Part of him wavered in the face of Nick’s cynicism. Not just Cogent was riding on how this all played out. If Gio’s actions were exposed, he could go to prison for what he’d done. Was Max willing to put that amount of faith in Tara?

  Max took a deep breath and did something he’d never done: He trusted his heart. Tara was a good person. Max didn’t believe in much, but he believed that. “I trust her,” Max said simply.

  Gio looked at Max for a long moment, then nodded. “Okay, so, assuming Tara is exactly who she says she is, she didn’t know any of us before Maddy contacted her. That means she would have made this contact through her or one of us. Who have we seen her with?”