Rough Edges (25 page)

B
ella felt like she'd been turned inside out and used to clean a hot charcoal grill. Her whole body ached, and someone must have shoved a dirty toilet brush down her throat a few times to make it so raw and swollen.

She shifted in her bed just enough to wish she hadn't.

“Easy,” came Victor's low voice.

She opened her eyes. He was right beside her, standing over her bed. Light from above glowed around his head like a halo. “Pretty as an angel,” she croaked.

His hand pinned her shoulder to the bed so she couldn't sit up. “You're still very much of the living, sweetheart. And I'm no angel.”

“Need to sit up.”

Rather than move his hand so she could, he did something to make the head of the bed rise up slowly. “Water?”

She nodded, and was blessed with a cool cup of liquid pressed to her lips. It slid down her throat, easing the burn.

“That's enough for now. Doc said not to push it.”

Doc? “What happened?”

He paused for so long she forced herself to look back up at him, squinting at the light.

“We'll get to that in a minute. How do you feel?”

“Shitty.”

“Are you in a lot of pain?” he asked.

“Not enough for drugs, if that's what you mean. Now tell me what happened.”

“What do you remember?”

“I was working on sorting through files we've collected on Stynger. After that, things went a little sideways with a visit from my dead husband and a few of his crooked cop buddies. I'm guessing that didn't actually happen.”

“Fortunately, no. You did, however, get a not-so-healthy dose of something Stynger cooked up.”

“Drugs?”

Victor nodded as he stroked the back of her hand. “Everything seem clear now?”

“I could use a nap or three, but yeah, no more ghosts.”

He was pondering something. She could see it in his clear blue eyes.

“Want to tell me what's going on?” she asked. “Any idea who tried to kill me?”

He pulled up a chair and sat down close enough he could still touch her. She knew they were in one of the medical rooms at the Edge, and that anyone could walk in at any time, but damn it, his touch felt good. After the day she'd had, she deserved a little something nice.

Victor took her hand in his and held it tight. He looked right in her eyes with an expression of apology so thick, she could almost feel the bad news before it reached her. “We don't think anyone was trying to kill you. We think the drug you were given was meant to screw with your head. Leigh is having a friend of hers analyze a sample, but the effects were pretty . . . convincing.”

“It was Stynger, wasn't it? Anyone else would just kill me and get it over with. That crazy bitch likes fucking with people's brains way too much to let her keep breathing free air.”

“About that we agree. But there's something else you need to know. And it's not going to be easy to hear.”

“What?”

“You were drugged by one of our own, Bella.”

“Payton. That bastard! I'll—” She threw off the covers so she could go find him and confront him, but Victor stopped her cold.

“No, Bella. It wasn't Payton. It was Lila,” he said. “She was the one who drugged you.”

Lila? No way. Bella had taken her in. Bought her clothes. Found her an apartment and helped her furnish it. Given her a job. She'd picked the woman up from the depths of her despair and made sure she was on the path to a new life. There was no way Lila would do that to her. Was there?

“I'm sorry, honey.” Victor stroked her arm, staving off some of the chill her shock had brought down on her.

“Are you sure it was Lila?” Bella asked, her voice small and weak.

He nodded, sorrow drawing his mouth down. “She confessed. Stynger has her son. She felt she had no choice. It doesn't excuse what she did, but it does explain it.”

“Lila has a son?” How could Bella not have known? How could Lila not have so much as mentioned him in all the months they'd worked together?

“Apparently so.”

“I didn't know.”

“None of us knew. Stynger has had him all this time, using him as a lever to gain Lila's cooperation. It's why Lila applied for the job—Stynger forced her to find a way into your life.”

Pieces clicked together in Bella's head. “She was the one who drugged Sophie, too, wasn't she?”

Victor nodded. “She's done a lot more than that, but we'll worry about that later. You need to rest now.”

“Fuck rest. Tell me. You have interrogated her, haven't you? We need to know what she's done.”

“Payton and I both questioned her. And if it's any consolation, she never wanted to hurt anyone. I believe that.”

“Tell me what she's done.”

He sighed, but didn't try to dodge her question. “She planted bugs in your office. She fed information about our efforts to find Stynger to her allies. She planted misleading information in our files to throw us off Stynger's scent. She let that man who attacked you into your office the other day without a background check. And she gave someone else a key to your house so he could plant that bomb. He also put a drug in your hot water tank so you got a dose of it every time you took a shower.”

The pain of Lila's betrayal nearly drove the breath from Bella's body. She still couldn't wrap her mind around how blind she'd been. How foolish she'd been to trust someone she barely knew. It shouldn't have mattered that Lila tugged at Bella's heartstrings. She should have questioned her more carefully, screened her better—something to uncover the truth.

“Stynger knew your history, Bella. She knew you'd be drawn to Lila's story of abuse—that your shared past would connect you and make you sympathetic. Stynger threw Lila in front of you so she could get someone in the door here.”

“It was all lies?”

Victor shook his head. “Not all of it. Lila was running from a nasty ex. Stynger used that weakness to gain Lila's trust and steal her baby away. I know she did bad things, but I can't honestly say I would have done anything differently if it had been my son at stake. Can you?”

Fury blazed through Bella's system, helping her shed every last bit of remaining lethargy. “I would have killed Stynger.”

“Can you really see that as an option open to Lila? She's not as strong as you—either physically or mentally.”

“Stop making excuses for her. I know she was up against a wall, but she could have come to me and told me the truth. I would have moved heaven and earth to find her baby and take him back.”

“Lila has seen the kind of destruction you leave in your wake. It's not fair of you to ask a distraught woman to put her child at risk like that.”

“I never would have let anything happen to him.”

Victor got right in her face, forcing her to look him in the eye. “You can't make guarantees like that. You know as well as I do that bad shit happens. Even to babies. It doesn't matter what Lila should have done at this point. All we should worry about is where we go from here.”

“You say that like you already have a plan.”

“We do.”

“We?”

“Payton and I have discussed our options. We need an edge, Bella, and you're not going to like where we get it.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

He took her hands in his and held them tight. She wasn't sure if it was for comfort, or if he was trying to keep her from striking out at him.

“We need you to play dead,” he said. “Let Payton take over the operation. And the company.”

“Not only no, but
hell
no. You can't ask that of me.”

“We have no choice. If Stynger is to believe you're dead, it has to look real.”

“I'm not going to sit on my hands while everyone else is out there working. Have you forgotten that one of my best friends is still a prisoner of that psychotic bitch?”

“You have to let us handle it. We can consult with you in secret, keep you hidden, but nothing we do can have your signature on it.”

“My plans are solid, Temple. They've gotten you out of more than one messy situation alive.”

“I'm not questioning your ability to lead, Bella.”

“Then what? Why do I have to play dead?”

“Because it's the only way you're going to survive this mission. Stynger wants you out of her way, and if we're spending precious resources watching your back, then we're not using them to take her down.”

Bella let her head fall back against the pillows. She'd never considered she might be slowing them down, making it harder to find Gage. But now that she saw it from Victor's viewpoint, she could see just how much effort was going into keeping her sorry ass alive. All the manpower to keep her house safe. All of Leigh's efforts to patch up Bella after she was injured.

“You're right,” she said. “There's far too much manpower going into guarding my back. If I'm out of the way, you'll be able to work faster.” She pulled in a long breath, hating what she was about to do next. “But I'll chop off my own hands before I'll give my share of the Edge to Payton.”

“Now, Bella, you need to look at this—”

She cut him off before he could piss her off more. “I will, however, give it to you. Draw up the papers if you want. I'll sign them before I ‘die.'”

Victor rocked back on his heels. “Are you sure? Payton's a better choice.”

“Payton is not an option. Anyone who knows me would see right through that. And when you have the papers drawn up, you'd better make sure they're legit. Stynger probably has an army of lawyers working for her. She'll spot a scam in five seconds flat.”

“You realize that if something really does happen to you, the deal will be binding.”

“I'm aware, Temple. Now go and get your fancy lawyers to work their magic before I change my mind.”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead with such tender sweetness it made her eyes prickle with tears. “I know how hard this is for you. The only consolation I can give you is that it will all be over soon and you'll be back behind the wheel, steering the ship.”

She grabbed his shirt and held him close. “Just be sure you don't crash it on the rocks, honey. I need her back in one piece.”

“I swear on my life that I won't betray you.”

She almost laughed at the ridiculous nature of his vow. She apparently invited betrayal. Her father betrayed her. Her husband. Payton. Even sweet Lila. Trusting that Victor would be different was simply asking for pain. “I'm satisfied with you knowing my true nature. You've seen what I'm capable of. That should be motivation enough to be smart about how you behave. I still have that C4, you know.”

He grinned. “Such a violent creature.”

“Aww, sweetie. You say the nicest things. Now go and take Stynger down like a good boy.”

He winked at her and hurried out the door to take away the thing she'd worked for her whole adult life. All her blood, sweat and tears were in this company, and she was about to sign it over to a man who might betray her as easily as Lila did.

At least with Lila, Bella only got her feelings hurt. With Victor the stakes were much, much higher. The man had the power to break her heart in a way she wasn't sure she'd survive. She'd promised herself she'd never again give a man that kind of power over her, but as she listened to Victor's heavy steps echo down the hall, she knew that was one promise completely shattered.

She'd gone and fallen for the man, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do to catch herself.

N
orma Stynger watched her daughter snuggle up against Gage Dallas. It was strange that she'd created such a close bond with the man in the little time they'd had together.

As Norma made notes in her journal about the odd observation, she wondered if there was some instinct that drove Jordyn to bond with the man whose offspring she was carrying. It was an interesting question—one that bore further research.

Next time Norma bred her daughter, perhaps she'd pick a different man to lend his DNA, just to see if the effect moved from one man to the next. Of course there was only one more man alive that Norma knew had the right genetics to be worth nine months of waiting: Gage's brother Adam.

Once Bella was out of the way and the Edge crumbled, perhaps Adam would reconsider his employment with Norma. She'd be safely out of the country by then and able to spend less time and money on evading notice and more on actual research. A man as skilled as Adam could come in handy.

“Do you want me to separate them?” asked the guard on duty.

“No, my daughter needs to rest before we relocate. I don't want her falling ill.”

The guard looked at Norma like he didn't recognize her. “Yes, ma'am.”

“Don't let him leave this room,” she ordered.

“No, ma'am.”

“And when Jordyn wakes, let me know. We still have to discuss her punishment.”

The beefy guard paled and swallowed hard. “Yes, ma'am. Would you like me to escort her to the White Room?”

“That won't be necessary. I have something else in mind.” Something far worse than the physical pain of the White Room—a punishment her tenderhearted daughter would never forget.

*   *   *

Payton had lied to a lot of people over the years, but this lie was going to be hard. There was no telling how many people Stynger had working for her. Or where. Lila was proof of that. The fact that Payton hadn't seen through the lies and known what she was proved he was rusty, because a sobbing mess like Lila simply wasn't that skilled.

She was, however, highly motivated.

Norwood picked up the phone after about ten rings. “Norwood here.”

“Bella is dead,” Payton said, letting his voice catch with emotion.

Silence echoed on the other end of the line for a long minute. “Confirm that. Bella Bayne is dead?”

“Yes.”

“When? How?”

“A few minutes ago. She was poisoned. We tried to save her, but . . .” He trailed off, remembering how she'd looked in that bed, pale and lifeless. It wasn't much of a stretch for him to get choked up.

“I'm sorry, Payton. I know she was like a daughter to you.”

Payton cleared his throat. “We're postponing the funeral for a few days so her employees have time to complete their jobs and come back to the States.”

“I'll be there,” promised Norwood.

“No. It's too dangerous. Stynger could use it as an opportunity to reach you. We can't forget that both of us are high-risk targets right now.”

“I don't care. I'll still be there. But I'll be careful. Tell me you will, too.”

“I will. But there's so much to do. No one knows yet.”

“Are you keeping it under wraps?”

“You can tell your staff, but let's not spread the news too far until I have time to let our people here all know. I want them to hear it from me.” Which, while true, was not what would happen. Word would spread fast. Payton was counting on it.

“Understood.”

Payton didn't have to lie about this next part. “I don't know what to do now. We still can't find Stynger. Gage is still missing.”

“Do you have any leads?”

“Bella was working on something when this all happened. I'm going to sort through her work and see if it sparks anything.”

“What about the person who poisoned her?”

Payton hesitated. He really didn't want anyone to know that they were still holding Lila in a locked room at the Edge. Once she was toted away to the secure facility, then it would be safe to mention her name. Until then, it was better to keep that part to himself. “We're working on it.”

“Let me know if I can help, okay?”

“This doesn't change anything with Temple's assignment, does it?”

“It will, but I can hold off on that for now. With Bella gone, there's no one there leading the charge except you. And unfortunately, the higher-ups here don't trust you.”

Payton grunted in mock amusement. “I can't say I blame them.”

“My suggestion is to do what you can as fast as you can. I know it's hard to carry on with a man down, but you've got to try. We're both running out of time and options, old friend.”

“What have you heard?”

“Nothing directly. But we both know how it works around here. Results speak loudly, and right now, you guys are barely a whisper. That needs to change. Fast.”

They were going to lose their funding and support. That's what Norwood was trying to warn him about without saying it directly. “How fast?”

“Red tape is thick, but someone's got a machete.”

“Stynger's influence?”

“Suggesting something like that could get a man like me in hot water up to my neck.”

That wasn't a no. “I see. I'll stop trying to scald you, then.”

“Let me know about the funeral arrangements as soon as they're made. I will be there.”

“Will do. Until then, watch out for yourself. You don't want to be the next victim of poison.”

“Neither do you. Seems like a good time to go on a diet to me.”

“I was just thinking I needed to lose a few pounds myself. Talk soon.”

Norwood hung up, leaving Payton feeling queasy. He hated lying to his oldest friend, but he knew there was no other choice. Bella's life depended on them selling this lie, so Payton would use every ounce of experience he had to make sure everyone he knew believed it. Even if they never forgave him.

After everything he'd done to Bella, it was the least he owed her.