Page 78 of Blackmailing the Bad Girl

Harry grinned. “Maybe not. My point is, your girl might be a thief and a con artist, but that doesn’t stop you from loving her.”

“No.” Life was a goddamn bitch. “But it does stop her from sticking around for me to love. She decided being in prison would probably put too much strain on the relationship.”

“Then make sure she doesn’t go to prison. Because the fact is that she might be a thief and a con artist, but for totally justifiable reasons.”

Okay, now hewasinterested. “What did you find?”

“Yeah, well, you were right about one thing. She gave the money she stole from you to all your favorite charities. A million in total. Never kept a penny.”

“But why?”

“That’s the interesting part. Has she spoken to you about her mother?”

He could feel a frown pulling at his brows. “Not much. Just that Elizabeth Delaney was in an accident when Summer was fourteen. That’s how she ended up in the foster system. I thought she was dead.”

“No, the woman is very much alive. She was working in a factory when one of the machines exploded. The accident broke her spine, left her in a wheelchair. The company she worked for claimed negligence on her part and refused to pay out on the insurance. The CEO even had people swear she was drunk at the time, and said they wouldn’t sue out of mercy for her circumstances.”

“Bastards.”

“You want to take a guess at the company?”

It was all making a weird sort of sense now. “Trenton Industries?”

“Spot on.”

Trenton was a bastard, with a bad reputation, and a number of legal cases against both him and his company. Nik had no problem believing he could have done a worker out of compensation and not blinked an eye.

“So Summer decided to take the law into her own hands?”

“Looks that way. She got her mother the compensation she was owed. It took some digging, but in the end, we looked from the other side and found the trail. She bought a house, had it pretty much rebuilt to suit a wheelchair, and the rest I presume went into a trust fund. I haven’t traced it yet, but her mother is getting income from somewhere. She has a live-in housekeeper.”

“All down to Summer,” Nik said. “Clever girl.”

“Not so clever. She got caught.”

“She told me she was distracted.”

“I wonder by what?”

Me.But he didn’t say it.

“What are you going to do?” Harry asked.

“I’m going to make sure that bastard Trenton never even looks in Summer’s direction. I’m going to make sure he knows if he says anything, he’s going down. I’ll dig until I get every bit of dirt on him. Then I’ll tear his company down with my bare hands.”

“I don’t think it will come to that. I’ve pulled up enough on him to ensure he stays quiet.”

“And steps down.” He put his glass on the bar.

“Maybe you’d better go tell your girlfriend the good news.”

“Oh shit.” Summer was running away. He had to catch her, tell her she didn’t have to be afraid anymore. She didn’t have to pay anymore just for righting an injustice.

He jumped to his feet, headed to the door and into a taxi, Harry close behind him.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked.

“Euston station.”

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