Page 66 of Wicked and Claimed

“Hey.” She tried to sound casual, not like she was freaking out. Not like she was eager to lay eyes—and anything else she could—on him. Definitely not like she was on the verge of blurtingI love you. “What’s up?”

“Did you get the chance to talk to Benedict this afternoon?”

So he didn’t want to see her. Yes, she’d asked for professionalism…but she still felt let down.

“No. He was in another shitty mood. About four, he tore out of his office, marched down the hall, and yelled at Mila. Then he screamed some more at a few of the accounting folks. He kept tearing through the office like a tornado before he unloaded his temper on me about negative press from some independent journalist on YouTube before he slammed out of the office. Mila crept out a few minutes later, looking shaken, and left, too. I doubt she went home.” At least Haisley wouldn’t have if she’d been Benedict’s wife.

“Any chance anyone is still at the office?”

“There’s always a chance, but I doubt it. Most of those people… When five o’clock rolls around, they blaze a path to the parking lot. What’s going on?”

“I need to search your boss’s office.”

“Tonight?”

“I don’t think this can wait. Ethan intercepted a new communication on the laptop he swiped. Apparently, someone wasn’t aware that Yuslav quit his job because they sent him an urgent message. It’s encoded, but between Ethan and my brother, they figured out the cipher. Whoever reached out says they have another buyer, and they need fresh product—fast. The request was for someone younger than usual.”

“Younger than sixteen?” That made Haisley sick. “Ugh. You’re right; we can’t waste a moment.”

“My bosses will be pissed that I’m going behind their backs, but I have to take the investigation where it leads me. I’ll fill them in once I’m sure this is the right path, but I think we have to give Benedict a hard look.”

“He’s looking awfully suspicious.”

“It’s possible he’s guilty. Plausible, even. You said yourself this is an inside job. He personally hired Yuslav to manage the mall. His sudden resignation seems to have pissed your boss way the hell off and sent him scrambling to find a replacement.”

“But we have to acknowledge that he could be scrambling simply because replacing any employee with mall-management experience will be difficult, not to mention time-consuming and costly.” She wasn’t defending Benedict as much as she was playing devil’s advocate.

“True, but he could also be worried that his partner in crime got exposed and is now hanging in the wind with his dick flapping around.”

“You’re right. So…let’s try to figure out what’s up with my boss.”

“There’s no ‘we.’ You’re not going.”

Is that what he thought? “How are you going to get into the office without me?”

“You’re going to give me your key.”

“And send you to rifle through Benedict’s things alone? That’s what you think?”

“I’m not bringing you, Haisley. That’s final. This could be dangerous.”

“Life is dangerous. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow.”

“There aren’t that many buses in Lafayette,” he pointed out.

“You know what I mean. Besides, if we’re caught, I’m your get-out-of-jail-free card. I can say that I needed something I’d left in the office, but I was too afraid to come alone after dark… If you’re caught without me, no one will ask questions. They’ll just haul you off to jail.”

“I won’t get caught.”

“You don’t know that. Besides, I’ve been in Benedict’s lair a few times. I have a sense of his organization system and where he might hide things. It will take me less time to find anything implicating, which means less time to get caught. You’re taking me with you.”

Nash sighed in defeat. “You’re a pain in my ass, Rowe.”

“Does logic hurt your posterior, Scott?”

“No. But you clearly need yours spanked red.”

Haisley clenched, memories of all the pleasurable times he’d warmed her cheeks with his bare palm—slowly, steadily, inexorably heating her up and making her drip with need for him. But that was a long time ago. “Don’t change the subject.”

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