He might not want to know, but he damn sure needed to, even if the news didn’t come from me. I’d have to find another way for him to figure this out.
“Fine,” I acquiesced.
Grant smiled. “She gets me. You’ll have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
He had no idea what type of person Jenny was, but soon he would. I just hoped it was before he was broke and left destitute.
I followed Grant into his office. Phillip Campbell was pacing the room, and he wasn’t dressed for the party. He was wearing his typical attire of jeans, a black leather jacket, and a baseball hat.
Normally Campbell attended Grant’s events, using them to hand out business cards and gain more clients. After hearing Jenny’s thoughts, Campbell probably screwed some of those clients over the same way he was screwing Grant.
Campbell handled most of Grant’s background checks and detective work. He was good at his job, and I’d liked the guy, until now.
I’d need to see the background check he’d done on Jenny just to be sure, but from what I’d heard in Jenny’s mind, Campbell had found some dirt and was using it for blackmail and keeping it from Grant. It took a special kind of scum to double-dip into the till, but I’d take care of him soon enough. It was the least I could do.
Campbell’s pacing stopped, and he regarded us with his bloodshot eyes as he rubbed the stubble on his jaw.
He’s going to kill me, but I can spin this in my favor.
2
“Phillip, I hope you have a good reason for interrupting my party,” Grant said.
Phillip lifted his hat and ran his hands through his hair before replacing the baseball cap back on his head. “This couldn’t wait. I did what you asked, and you aren’t going to like what I found.”
What had Grant asked? Maybe for more background on Jenny? I could only be so lucky. If so, then maybe Grant was right and he did have his affairs under control.
Grant moved behind his mahogany desk and dropped his six-foot-two frame into the oversized leather seat. He was an imposing man, one most people knew not to screw over. He was used to getting his way with and without flashing his money.
Campbell gestured to the manilla envelope sitting front and center on the desk. “It’s all there.”
Grant’s eyes clouded with unease as his lips set in a fine line, indicating he hadn’t been expecting bad news about whatever might be in that envelope.
Grant opened the envelope and pulled out a file. He flipped it open and frowned.
The photo sitting front and center tightened my chest with unease. Grant’s sister, Stella, was sitting at a bench with four other people. Each had paint on their hands and was wearing a smock.
Why in the hell had Grant sent Campbell to spy on Stella?
Grant handed me the picture and moved to the next. Three more pictures behind it were of Stella.
All the pictures showed that she was oblivious to Campbell following her. She looked preoccupied. She was one of the few people I could never read. My family thought that maybe it was because Stella’s mind could never settle on any one thought. It was like an unbreakable code I’d never be able to crack.
Well, not by invading her mind.
Now her eyes… I could read her eyes. We’d grown up so close together that there were times when she looked at me with desire and something much stronger. The heat and spark between us had been like a live wire. I’d crossed the line growing up, hiding what we had from those we cared about to the point I had to walk away. It was better for her, better for me.
I saved myself a fight I knew would be coming. Grant would have kicked my ass if he’d ever figured it out. Good thing he’d never be able to read my mind where his sister was concerned, Grant most definitely wouldn’t approve of those thoughts.
“You took these?” I asked.
“Yeah, but the next one is the real reason I’m here,” Campbell said before he visibly swallowed. His hands trembled before he shoved them into his pockets.
In the next picture, Stella was standing outside her brownstone, talking to a cop. The door was ajar, and a cop was walking inside. With the open curtains, another could be seen standing in the living room.
What the hell is going on? This wasn’t what I expected. Not at all. I’d expected pictures of her going to her doctor’s appointments, not this. I should have demanded she move to a building with better security. Hell, I should have hired a bodyguard, one that would have stayed out of sight.
Doctor’s office? Security? Grant’s thoughts were hinged on debating how he was going to drag her home when I interrupted his thinking.
