Page 56 of Sunburned

“I said I’m paying you to—”

“I heard you,” I snapped. The champagne and hash that had lifted my spirits minutes ago now stoked the fires of my fury, loosening my tongue. “But who I choose to fuck is none of your business. And a newspaper clipping is not blackmail.”

“What’s this?” he asked, pulling a folded envelope from his back pocket and shoving it into my hand.

I sat next to him with a sigh. He smelled like a nauseating combination of patchouli and garlic, and I leaned away from him to unfold the envelope. Inside was a single sheet of plain printer paper with a short paragraph printed in Times New Roman. I pulled my phone from my purse and activated my flashlight to read:

E500K in unmarked bills in exchange for what I know. Tomorrow. 5pm. Amis in Grand Cul-de-Sac. Come alone.

“Keep it,” Tyson said. “I have it memorized.”

I was nearly certain it was Allison who’d leaked the environmental report, but I couldn’t see how blackmailing her business partner for half a million euros could help her cause, when she was in the hole eighty million. Unless maybe her next payment was five hundred thousand? Regardless, I was not prepared to have that conversation right now at two in the morning after drinking all night. I folded the note into my purse.

“Where did you find it?” I asked.

“It was left under the windshield of my car while I was at the gym today.”

“And you’re just now mentioning it?”

His jaw clenched. “I have other things on my plate, Audrey.”

“There were no cameras in the area?”

He shook his head.

“Well, now you know it’s not me,” I said. “And once we review thefootage from the house, we can eliminate anyone else that was there while you were at the gym.”

“You were the only one at Le Rêve at the time the note was left. Asleep, by the pool.” He crossed his arms. “Remind me again what I’m paying you for.”

I rounded on him. “So don’t fucking pay me, Tyson!” This abuse simply wasn’t worth it. “Now that you know I’m not involved, let me go home.”

“No,” he said flatly. “I don’t trust you.”

“We’re on the same side! Stop being so fucking paranoid!”

The moment the word came out of my mouth, I wanted to take it back, but it was too late.

“Paranoid?” he demanded.

I held my ground. “Are you not?”

His eyes bored holes in me. “Paranoia is unjustified. I run a multi-billion-dollar company that everyone either wants a piece of or wants to fail. I’m being blackmailed, and someone inside my company is leaking confidential documents. Would you call my concern unjustified?”

I felt suddenly queasy. I was in no position to go toe-to-toe with Tyson tonight. I hadn’t even expected to see him. If I’d known he’d be here, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to let loose the way I had. But I should have known. I should’ve been smarter.

I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to shut out the booming bass and rotating lights. The world tilted, and my eyes flew open as I felt a wave of nausea.

He shook his head. “You’re trashed.”

“I’m not,” I protested, focusing on the corner of the table to keep the nausea at bay. I was definitely trashed, and his acrid scent wasn’t helping. “But yes, I was having fun. Until you showed up.”

“By all means, don’t let me interrupt your all-expenses-paid vacation,” he spat, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You smell like shit,” I said as I stood, shouldering my purse, and walked away from him before I could say anything else I would regret.

Tyson had always been sharp-tongued, had always had a temper. But he’d never been spiteful before, never malicious. Now it was as though he believed the whole world was conspiring against him, and he wanted to make everyone bleed. Especially me.

I threaded my way through the throng, scanning the room for Laurent. I didn’t see him, but it was just as well.

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