Page 66 of Six
Silence fell in the room for a beat—a short one—before Austin laughed. It was a forced laugh, and though he’d likely meant it to come across as arrogant, he sounded nervous. “This is all very interesting, but you can’t possibly believe you’ll win this suit. You have no evidence that we’ve ever been anything other than what we claim to be and certainly no evidence of any wrongdoing.”
Heather looked at her watch, then glanced at Six, who nodded. “We have some,” Heather said. “Enough to file the complaint, and you can be sure we’re working to obtain more.”
Austin, who appeared to be the smarter of the two brothers, noted Heather’s movement and sat up straight. “You can’t possibly think you’ll obtain evidence from anyone working here.”
Heather averted her eyes and gathered her briefcase but didn’t answer.
“Julia, call security,” Austin barked, rising from his seat.
“That’s not necessary,” Heather said. “We’ll be leaving.” She started toward the door, but Austin stepped in front of her.
“What are you planning to do?” he hissed.
Heather glanced at Six again, then dragged her gaze to Austin. Visibly taking a deep breath, she straightened her spine. Behind Six, Julia started speaking into the phone, no doubt following Austin’s directive.
“Nothing you can stop,” Heather retorted.
“You’re playing with fire. You know that, don’t you?”
“I don’tplayat anything,” Heather said. “You’ll learn that soon enough.”
Austin remained in front of her, blocking their path to the exit.
In her mind, Six noted the fact that this was one of those moments that Gavin had been worried about. It could go wrong, right here, right now. And if it did, they wouldn’t walk away with nothing, but they wouldn’t have what they truly wanted.
Kaden moved away from the window and came to stand beside Julia’s desk. She and Heather weren’t fully flanked by the brothers, but it would be easy enough for Kaden to move behind Six were he inclined to do so.
Without taking his eyes from Heather, Austin spoke. “Julia, have security check all the cameras in the building. I’m getting a feeling that this little meeting wasn’t the main event.”
“What?” she asked.
“Just do it,” he snapped. A split second passed, then Six once again heard Julia speaking into her phone. Six didn’t bother to listen as she kept her focus on Austin.
“What do you think they’ve done?” Kaden asked, taking a step closer to Six. He wasn’t in arm’s—or leg’s—reach, but he was close enough that she could smell his cloying aftershave.
“I think they’re here to fish. I wouldn’t put it past them to be sniffing around our employees and records as we speak,” Austin said, his words deliberate and clear.
“If they have someone who broke in, they couldn’t use anything they stole anyway,” Kaden said. Six wasn’t going to get into an argument with the man; besides, it helped them to let him think what he was thinking.
“There was a new cleaning crew,” Julia said. “Scott called in and complained about them not following protocols. I have security searching for them now.”
Heather’s head whipped around, and she looked at Six. Six gave a small shake of her head and Austin laughed. “Nice try, Ms. Wheaton,” he said. “Not only will we be filing to have your complaint dismissed, I’ll be making my own complaint to the bar association. I hope you have a good retirement plan because I can assure you, you’ll never work as a lawyer again.”
Six reached out and touched Heather’s arm in what she hoped was a gesture of comfort and confidence. But Heather was spared from answering when Holly walked into the room after a single knock.
The assistant paused in the doorway, her eyes glittering with triumph. “Ms. Newcross, I understand you called security?” She stepped to the side and a guard moved forward and into view.
“I did, Holly. Thank you,” Julia said, rising from her seat for the first time. Looking at the guard, she gestured to Six and Heather. “Please take them to your office and detain them there. We’ll be calling the police and pressing charges.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Heather lookedat Six over her shoulder as they followed the guard out. With her back to Julia and the Fogartys, she winked at the younger woman and mouthed, “We got this.”
Heather didn’t look convinced, but she said nothing as she turned around. In silence, they walked around the corner toward the back hallways and the freight elevator that would take them to the guards’ room in the basement. Well, it would take Heather. And Gavin.
“Nicely done, ladies. Right on schedule,” Gavin murmured as he held the door for them. Six couldn’t help herself, and she reached down and gave his ass a little swat. He looked adorable in the guard’s uniform. He arched a brow at her, then tossed her his own wink. “No ‘I told you so?’” he asked as she passed.
“That’s beneath me, babe,” she said. “Or at the moment, it is. We’ll see how I feel later tonight.”
