Page 30 of The Revenge Plan

I wanted to believe her. And honestly, if it weren’t that I had seen her here, I wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with this place. Their books were in order. I turned away from her kissable lips and looked around. “Is this where you were going to work every day?”

She nodded.

“Why here?”

“I enjoy it.”

“The truth.”

She took a deep breath as she clearly assessed her options. Was she weighing between the truth and lies? “I took the job because they were helping the people who were affected by the sweatshop that closed when Lyndell’s relationship with it was unearthed. They mostly help the children with schooling and some of the adults with getting comfortable and consistent work.”

Of course. Even though this had been the last response I had expected, it made sense. What was shocking was that the party socialite was actually here, doing the grunt work and not doing glamourous fund-raising. I asked her that.

“I’m horrible at it,” she responded. She was underestimating herself and skills and thought about telling her, but I let it go. This new Hailey was different and going against a lot of what I knew about her. But I shouldn’t be quick to give her the Nobel Peace prize. After all, she was still a Lyndell.

“I won’t withdraw the funding or shut down your charity.”

She gave me the biggest, brightest smile. It was as if I had saved her from some great tragedy.

“But that’s not all. You lied to me.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Repay me.”

“Whatever you want.”

I stepped closer to her until she was mere inches away from me. “Are you sure about that?”

Her tone was breathless, “I’ll do anything.” I could feel her chest rising against mine. A little closer and I would have her lips on mine and kissing her senseless. Is she as affected as I am? Or did she know what she was doing to me and did it deliberately? I pushed down the thought, even when it was getting harder.

“I want you to betray your family.”

16

Itried not to give away any emotion. He was so close to me. I could smell the sandalwood cologne he loved so much that it had become a part of him. My chest was brushing against his suit. He was staring down at me with piercing eyes that were making it difficult to concentrate. “What do you mean betray?”

He stepped back. His absence felt like falling into a crater. He strode over to the desk, picked up a pen and began twirling it on the tops of his fingers, “I want you to steal something from me from your father.”

“What?” I was silently praying that it would be something innocuous and easy. It didn’t escape me that the men in my life were both trying to use me to steal things from each other.

“The deed to a mine.”

He spoke so casually one would think he was asking for candy. I shook my head, “A mine? How am I supposed to find something like that? Where am I supposed to find it? Isn’t that stealing?”

He closed the space between us. “It’s stealing what was originally stolen. The deed is a property of Celeste. It didn’t come with the company when I bought it back. I need it. Technically, it’s mine, anyway.”

“Bought back?”

He cocked his head and smiled, “You didn’t know about this, didn’t you?”

I shook my head.

“Your daddy, back when he forced Shep to sell Celeste to him, he also bought a mine attached to it. The deeds were part of the agreement back then as they were the last time I bought it. That mine was why I bought it actually, but when asked to produce the deed, your father has been cagey.”

All this, was because of some old people drama? I knew the vendetta between KMVH and Lyndell went back decades, but why was Caiden involved? He wasn’t related to Shepard in any way. “Why do you care?” I asked.

“First off, it’s wrong and your father is practically engaging in slave labor on that Island. Secondly, Shep was my mentor. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

---