Page 2 of Blackmailing the Bad Girl

He gave a mental shrug and waved at the seat next to his father. Harry sat down. Nik’s hands twitched with the need to flip the file open—to see if it was really her—but he kept them firmly by his side. He didn’t want to appear too pathetic.

Why did it matter so much? After his disastrous marriage, he’d finally accepted that the only thing women wanted from him was his money. Then Sarah had made him think that just maybe, he’d been wrong, that there were women out there who weren’t gold diggers. Nice women, sweet women. Sarah had been like no one he’d ever met. She’d appeared totally uninterested in his financial status…right up to the moment she’d hacked into his financial systems, stolen his money, and run.

And he needed to know why.

He was a fool who should have learned his lesson. But deep down, he still believed there was a rational explanation for her actions. He wanted her to be good. The muscles of his gut tightened. Fear? “Tell me.”

“Well, for a start, her name isn’t Sarah Daniels.”

That wasn’t anything he was expecting. Though perhaps he should have—she’d vanished so completely. “It’s not?” Maybe she was in more trouble than he’d anticipated.

“No, it’s Summer Delaney.”

Summer Delaney—it suited her. “Where is she?”

“Right now, she’s residing in Her Majesty’s Prison Holloway.”

“What?”

Hell, she was a thief—she’d stolen his money—so why was he so surprised?

“Who is this woman?” his father asked. When Nik didn’t answer—he was still trying to process the information—he turned to Harry. “Well?”

Harry looked at Nik, raising an eyebrow seeking permission. Nik shrugged.

“She worked in the accounts department around the time Nik took over,” Harry said. “Embezzled a tidy sum from the company and did a vanishing act. We’ve been looking for her ever since.”

“Police?”

“We didn’t involve them,” Harry replied.

One eyebrow rose. Nik’s father glanced between the two of them. “Why not?”

“None of your business,” Nik said. “You don’t work here anymore.” Yeah, like that was going to have any effect.

“Humph,” his father said, then turned to Harry. “Do you have a picture?”

Harry slid a photo out of the file and handed it to his dad. Nik balled his hands into fists to stop himself from snatching it from him.

“Pretty girl. Considering it’s a mug shot.” He waved the picture in Nik’s direction. “I’m guessing that was one of the reasons you didn’t go to the police. You always were a sucker for a pretty face. Look at that wife of yours.”

“Do not bring up Jocelyn,” he snarled. His marriage and subsequent—very expensive—divorce had not been one of his finer moments. He’d loved Jocelyn and believed she loved him, when in fact, all she’d loved was his bank account. He should have learned his lesson back then. Instead, history was repeating itself.

His father shrugged and handed the picture to Nik. He had to force himself to look down. Maybe it was a different girl. But he recognized her straightaway. A head-and-shoulder shot, probably taken just after her arrest. Her face showed a mixture of terror and resignation as she stared straight at the camera.

“Give me the details,” he said to Harry. “What’s she in for?”

Harry cast him a look as if to say “what the fuck do you think she’s in for?” “Attempted embezzlement.”

“From someone else?” He could hear the outrage in his voice. It poured through him like an icy deluge. He’d presumed he was a one-off. Special. Not one in a long line of tawdry thefts.

“Shipping company in Glasgow. Same MO—fake identity, got a job as an accounts clerk, hacked into the system, overrode the protocols. But she got careless. Someone picked up on the activity, and they got her before she made the final transfer.”

“How much?”

“A million.”

The same amount. He closed his eyes for a moment. His brain wasn’t functioning, and he had to force himself to concentrate. “How did you find her?” he asked. “We’ve been looking for over two years.”

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