Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) (18 page)

“Yeah?”

Lissa bristled at the skepticism she heard in his tone. “They may not be ideal parents, but I love them. Both of them. I love Stazzi too. Her parents and Alexandre also matter to me. They’ve always been more like my family than my own parents ever were.”

He glanced at her between narrowed lids. “What about men? Did any of them
matter
to you?”

The warmth deepened in her cheeks. “There really haven’t been that many.” Adam five years ago. Now Asher.

“Did any of the few matter to you?” he persisted.

Asher had, from the very first night they met at the restaurant a year ago. The phone call from the other woman the following morning was the only thing that had stopped her from seeing him again. And again. And again. In fact, she suspected she would never have wanted to leave his side again.

Had it been because of the phone call? Or had she used that as an excuse to walk away? Hadn’t it been easier to tell herself Asher was as untrustworthy as Adam, than it was to admit her emotions were already involved?

Here,
this,
was the truth Lissa had been denying to herself all this time.

She had fallen in love with Asher when she met him a year ago.

And she had never fallen out of love with him.

The realization had terrified her then.

It terrified her still.

How could it be any other way when she was a product of the years of her parents’ dysfunctional relationship, where emotions were guarded or nonexistent. She had tried to overcome that once. With Adam. Until he let her down in the worst way possible. Since then, she had avoided any and all emotional entanglements. Including trying to push Asher away when he got too close.

“I was engaged once— Asher!” she gasped as the SUV veered across the white lines in the middle of the country road before Asher quickly brought it back under his control. But instead of continuing to drive, he flicked the indicator switch and slowed the vehicle down before braking to a stop in what looked to be a bus stop.

Asher put the SUV in Park, then turned off the engine and unfastened his seat belt before turning in his seat to look at her fully. “You were getting married?”

“Years ago, yes. I… He… We were planning the wedding when I discovered he was being unfaithful to me. Seems to be a habit men have where I’m concerned,” she added challengingly.

A frown appeared between his eyes at the realization that last remark was obviously directed at him. “When was I unfaithful to you?”

“Last year.”

He looked completely dumbfounded. “How the hell could I be unfaithful to you? We spent one night together, and the only time I left you was when I went to the bathroom to take a shower.”

“Strictly speaking, it was your girlfriend you were two-timing.
With
me.” She winced. “After Adam let me down so badly, there was no way I was going to hurt someone else by becoming the other woman in anyone’s love triangle.”

Ash dropped his head back on the headrest to stare up at the ceiling of the SUV. He had absolutely no idea what Lissa was talking about. Who Lissa was talking about. He hadn’t been involved with anyone else when the two of them met a year ago, and he wasn’t involved with anyone else now. He hadn’t been involved with anyone, period. He didn’t do involved.

Until this hellcat came back into his life and started screwing with his head and his emotions.
Now
he was most definitely involved. Up to Lissa’s beautiful neck.

What Ash had to try to remember was that Lissa’s lack of trust in him wasn’t personal. That it stemmed from a vulnerability she had lived with all her life, added to by her fiancé being unfaithful to her.
Her fiancé.
Why did the thought of Lissa in love with the other man make him feel like hitting someone?

“Okay.” He sat up and replaced his seat belt before turning the key in the ignition. “I’m not having this conversation on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. But, for the record, whatever you thought or think you know about me, I’ve never two-timed any woman, with you or without you.”

“But—”

“There are no buts, ands, or maybes on this subject, Lissa,” he insisted. “It didn’t happen. Ever. And when we get to Jonas’s place you’re going to tell me exactly why you thought, and still think, it did. You—” He broke off as his cell phone rang in its cradle, the caller ID identifying it as being Gabriel. “I have to take this.” He grabbed the cell and pressed it against his ear. “Ash.”

“We have a problem.” Gabriel wasted no time on the niceties of actually saying hello.

Neither did Ash. “What sort of problem?”

“I finally managed to persuade Declan—unofficially—to release a copy of the hospital security discs to me.” He sighed. “Thing is, they don’t show anyone else but Jacob and Arnold entering or leaving the bathroom during the period of the attack.”

“How the hell could someone have even known Arnold would go to the bathroom, let alone be waiting for him? Jacob would have checked in there before allowing Arnold to go in.” All Knight Security operatives were highly trained, some from years in the military, others civilians with more than a working knowledge of one or several of the martial arts.

“I said no one entered
or left
the bathroom after the attack,” Gabriel repeated.

Ash stilled. “But that has to mean…”

Gabriel confirmed what Ash was thinking. “That we’ve been looking in all the wrong places, when we should have been looking much closer to home. The only explanation is that Arnold knocked Jacob out from behind and then stabbed himself.”
 

“Jesus…”

“I need you to come back to town ASAP, Ash. Is Zander still with you?”

Ash glanced in the rearview mirror where the second SUV was parked behind them. “Yes.”

“Leave Lissa there with him. I’m taking half a dozen men over to Claudia Reynolds’s apartment now, meet us there.”

“What about the police?”

“What about them?”

“Declan is not going to be happy if you don’t tell him what we’re going to do.”

“For the moment all we’re doing is visiting a client,” Gabriel spoke briskly.

Ash could find no argument with that logic.

Although he had a feeling Lissa would fight tooth and nail not to be left anywhere with Zander, and insist on accompanying him to her mother’s apartment.

Chapter 13

“Stop being such a bad loser.”

Ash continued to scowl as he kept his eyes and attention on the busy flow of traffic heading into London. “I can’t lose something I didn’t even try to win.” As predicted, as soon as he told Lissa they suspected Arnold of being responsible for Harvey Stein’s death, shooting Jack Forsythe, attacking Jacob, and then stabbing himself to cover up the crimes, she had flatly refused to go anywhere but back to London with him.

“No, you didn’t, did you?” She sounded puzzled by that omission.

He shrugged. “There was no point in wasting my time and energy on the conversation when I already knew the outcome.” He was a trained negotiator, but negotiating skills didn’t work on a woman as stubbornly determined as Lissa.

Which was probably why Ash never won any of their disagreements.

Not that he tried very hard. Lissa’s independence of spirit was one of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place.

Besides which, this situation with Malcolm Arnold was too close to Lissa for Ash even to know where to start dissuading her from returning to London with him. Gabriel wasn’t going to like her being there, but like Ash, his big brother would just have to live with it.

Lissa gave a shake of her head. “I still can’t believe Malcolm could be responsible for doing any of those things. What possible reason could he have for sending those threatening e-mails and texts to Claudia in the first place? The two of them have been lovers for months now.”

“The threats to Claudia could have been a smoke screen. To make it look as if Claudia was the one in danger, and so all the attention was focused on her, allowing him to pick off the people around her.”

“That still doesn’t explain why he would do it.”

“Maybe he’s insecure in their relationship?”

“With good reason.” Lissa nodded. “Claudia’s affairs rarely last longer than a few months.”

“And they’ve been together how long?”

“About six months.”

“Arnold is probably aware, having worked for Claudia before their affair began, that his sell-by date is fast approaching. Who the hell knows how his mind is working. Maybe he thinks if he eliminates everyone close to Claudia, then she’s left with no one but him to turn to? He is up in her apartment right now, no doubt being fussed over.”

Lissa shot Ash a skeptical glance. “Claudia doesn’t do fussing. Over anyone. For any reason.”

Ash could tell she spoke from personal experience. At least he’d had twenty-three years of his parents’ unconditional love. Lissa hadn’t been so lucky. Something else they were going to talk about once this situation was over. “We won’t know the answer to any of these questions until we’ve had a chance to speak to Arnold.”

“
If
he’s the one responsible.”

“Yes.”

“You’re all going to look pretty stupid going to Claudia’s apartment if he isn’t.”

“Stupid I can live with,” Ash dismissed. “What I can’t and won’t live with is someone being killed when I could have prevented it.” It was only another five minutes or so until they reached Felton Tower, Gabriel having agreed to wait for Ash’s arrival before anyone attempted to go up to Claudia Reynolds’s apartment.

“Status?” Ash prompted as soon as he and Lissa joined Gabriel and the half-dozen other Knight employees gathered in the marble lobby of the apartment building. All of them were wearing varying degrees of body armor, ready for entering Claudia’s apartment. “Don’t even go there,” he advised as Gabriel’s narrowed gaze remained fixed on Lissa when she stopped to talk to his two brothers and Jacob. Liam and Ian were here too. Jonas and Zander stood a short distance away.

Gabriel gave Lissa one last disapproving glance before turning his attention to answering Ash’s question. “We’ve had confirmation that Malcolm Arnold was captain of the shooting team when he was at school, and was almost chosen for the US Olympic team while at college.”

Well, that answered the question as to whether or not Arnold had the ability to fire the shots that had killed Harvey Stein and wounded Jack Forsythe.

“Claudia Reynolds and Arnold are both still up in her apartment,” Gabriel continued. “I intended phoning Claudia and saying there’s something we need to discuss with her, and we’re coming right over. But now that Lissa is here…” He nodded in her direction as she walked toward them. “It might be less threatening to Arnold if she—”

“No.” Ash shook his head firmly. “Absolutely not.”

“Yes.” Lissa stepped up, having heard the last part of the conversation between Asher and his brother. “Tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it.” She spoke directly to Gabriel, deliberately not looking at Asher and the scowl she knew would be on his face. “Should Jacob be here when he’s injured?”

“Try keeping him away,” Gabriel drawled. “He wants this bastard even more than we do.”

She was still slightly in shock from Asher telling her they believed Malcolm was responsible for killing Harvey, shooting her father, and knocking out Jacob. Most of all, she found it hard to accept the idea of Malcolm stabbing
himself
as a way of allaying any suspicion he might be responsible. It must have hurt like hell. And who did something like that?

Besides which, Malcolm was just so…so bland and…and obliging all the time. Lissa had never understood what her mother saw in him. Except, of course, that he
was
so bland and obliging, he was unlikely to cause any complications in Claudia’s life. When Claudia considered the affair over, she would end it and go back to being just Malcolm’s employer, with no thought as to what effect that breakup might have on him.

Maybe Malcolm did have motive after all…

“Your only involvement will be a phone call to your mother telling her you want to come over,” Gabriel explained, also ignoring Asher’s scowl. “Maybe use the excuse the two of you parted badly earlier?”

Lissa snorted. “We always part badly. I’m sure it can’t have escaped your notice that Claudia and I don’t get on.”

“No,” Gabriel acknowledged dryly, but made no further comment on the subject. “Do you think she’ll agree to you coming over now? It’s a way of ensuring she’s expecting company while hopefully ensuring Arnold doesn’t realize we’re on to him.”

“I’ll make sure she believes me.” Lissa nodded.

Gabriel nodded. “When you speak to your mother, I don’t want you to tell her anything else. If she knows we suspect Arnold, then she might decide to challenge him on it before we get up there.”

“Claudia is a quick study, huh.”

“She’s…forceful and a little arrogant, yes.” He shrugged. “But if Arnold is responsible, then Claudia challenging him is going to make him feel cornered, as if he has nothing left to lose. We don’t want him to start shooting and ask questions later.”

“I’ll make sure Claudia thinks this is just one of those mother-daughter chats she feels compelled to have with me from time to time,” she said dryly as she took her cell phone from her shoulder bag.