Scandal Exposed (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #4) (3 page)

“Thanks, brother.” Kaidan’s shoulders sag, like he’s holding the whole world on them.

“No problem. How many times you bailed me out?”

Kaidan gives him a half-hearted smile. “Too many to count.”

As he finishes the paperwork, I’m just frozen on the bench. Did Kaidan steal my money? Is he the reason it’s gone, or did my dad really just make bad investments? I have to know before the cops arrest me for
my
crime. Because unlike Devon, my brother doesn’t have the money to bail me out.

“Someone’s here to see you,” Devon says.

Kaidan turns toward me, and his brows come together when he sees me sitting there.

“Hayley?” He’s decidedly
not
happy to see me.

“I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

Kaidan shakes his head. “Not now… I need to get out of here. Come with me.”

“No. Now.”

“In the car.”

“No.”

Kaidan shoots Devon an annoyed look, and Devon shrugs and walks over to the glass doors to wait. I step away from the bench and close to the wall so no one can overhear what I’m going to ask.

Kaidan steps close to me. I can smell the scent of him, his cologne from this morning still strong, and my skin tingles, remembering how it felt to lie naked in his arms.

But the veiled look on his face now makes my heart beat faster with dread.

“Hayley, we can talk about this—”

“My money’s gone.”

Shock and alarm appear on his face, and hope blossoms in me. He’s surprised. That’s good.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean my entire inheritance is gone. They said my dad made bad investments. But… I need to know. Do you… do you know anything about this?”

Kaidan flinches like my words hurt him, but he swipes a hand through his hair and glances back toward the police desk. “Your lawyer. Who’s your lawyer again?”

“James Nordstrom.”

Kaidan’s eyes light up, like he’s just made some connection. He grabs my hand urgently. “We need to get to the law office. Now.”

“I can’t.”

“Do you want your money back?” he asks, his voice low. “If this is what I think it is… I need you to come with me now.”

If I can get my money back, I can pay the dealers. I don’t have to go to jail.

“I don’t understand. How are you going to get it back?”

“Please. Just come with me.”

Kaidan’s looking at the police desk, and I glance over again, too. The FBI agents are eyeballing us. If I get Luis his money, he’ll give me the diamond back, and I can return it to Serena. I was so sure turning myself in was the right thing to do, but I’ve been drowning, and Kaidan has just held out a life line.

I want to cry when I meet Kaidan’s brown, gold-flecked eyes. Am I coward if I don’t turn myself in now?

“Fine,” I say. “I’ll come.”

He grabs my hand, and we walk out the door with Devon. I put my glasses back on, but the paparazzi are snapping away, shouting our names. I’m dizzy, sick. The only redeeming detail of this morning is the fact that Kaidan looked shocked when I told him my money was gone… and he said maybe we can get it back. That has to mean he had nothing to do with it. Right?

We hurry down the street to where Devon parked and pile into his vintage Camaro. Kaidan slides into the backseat with me, and I text Rowan to tell him I have something to do and not to go to the station until I call him.

Devon pulls onto the road and engages in a few minutes of speedy cat and mouse to lose the paps who try to follow. When the madness is over, Kaidan grabs my hand in his.

“Why were you arrested?” I ask.

Kaidan swallows and seems to be choosing his words carefully. “About two months ago, our clients started to report missing money. Not a lot, just discrepancies. My father and I quietly looked into it, but we couldn’t track it back to any one person at the law firm. We thought it might be linked to the investment firm we work with. Then we got tipped off the FBI was involved. And Peyton…”

Kaidan takes a deep breath. “The reason I was meeting up with Peyton is because some of her money went missing, too, while
I
was still her lawyer. After I ended it with her, she threatened to go to the FBI and say I had something to do with it. I was trying to help her get the money back and find out if there was any foul play… without involving the FBI. But every clue I found implicated the law firm, my father… and me. But I did
not
steal that money!” Kaidan’s voice rises, and he squeezes my hand, then lets go.

I just nod, stunned, and wait for him to finish. It’s all starting to make sense. Everything with Peyton… the phone calls… all the late nights and how distracted Kaidan was by his job….

“My father didn’t steal the money either,” Kaidan continues, his voice even again. “We don’t
need
to. I thought we were being framed. I was trying to solve this before the FBI got too close. This scandal could ruin everything… the reputation of the law firm and Stone Records.”

I sink back into the seat. “I… had no idea. What evidence did the FBI have to justify arresting you?”

Kaidan’s face darkens. “The FBI was building a case against me and my father. Peyton went to them and accused me of stealing the money. She showed them records I showed
her
in confidence and left out the part about how I was trying to track the money down. I didn’t even realize she’d made copies. This is my fault.”

Devon clears his throat from the front seat. “You should have told me
all
of this.”

“Dad wanted to keep it quiet.”

“Of course he did.”

Kaidan leans forward to grip Devon’s shoulder. “I didn’t want you implicated in this, either.”

“Man… I really hope you guys figure this out.”

“I’m going to.” Kaidan sounds confident, which amazes me considering the FBI has built a case against
him
.

We pull onto the road adjacent to the law firm, and even from here it’s evident the road is packed with paps. Even more than before.

“I’ll drop you at the back,” Devon says. He heads down the back street and pulls up next to the gate. Then he lets us out of the backseat.

Once we’re out, Devon leans into the car to grab a duffel bag, which he hands to Kaidan. “Change of clothes and your house keys. Do you need me to hang around? I have this thing I gotta get to today.”

“I’ll call Charles to pick us up,” Kaidan says. “Thanks again.”

Devon and Kaidan exchange meaningful looks that only they can probably understand.

“Good luck, guys.” Devon nods to me, gets back in the car, and takes off.

As we enter the back gate, I’m suddenly aware of the nervous energy radiating off of Kaidan. I’ve rarely felt that from him, but whatever we’re about to look for has him worried.

“So… my money?”

“James had a few other clients who had small amounts of money go missing,” Kaidan says tersely. “He was helping us investigate this. When’s the last time you talked to him?”

“A couple days ago when I called him… But when I came in today, Jillian was the one who told me my money was gone.”

Kaidan goes pale and rifles around in the bag Devon gave him until he pulls out a set of keys.

“Kaidan. Wait. I need to tell you something.”

He turns to me and surprises me with a gentle kiss. Then he searches my face. “Just let me handle this. Then we can talk about whatever you need to talk about.”

“Okay.”

Kaidan fumbles with his keys and unlocks the back door to the law firm.

Whatever happens next determines my entire future
and
Kaidan’s. I grab his hand, and he leads us through the doorway.

The FBI agents are still in the hallway where I saw them last, and marked boxes are stacked against the walls. Kaidan grabs my hand and leads me past them without even sparing them a glance. The shock on their faces is priceless as they scramble to make phone calls.

The lawyer who helped me this morning, Jillian, turns the corner. “Kaidan?”

Kaidan lets go of my hand. “James Nordstrom. Get him on the phone.”

“I can’t. I’ve already tried.” The woman’s eyes dart to me and back to Kaidan. She looks like she really wants to ask him what the hell is going on, but she doesn’t.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” he asks harshly.

“I mean he called in sick on Thursday and hasn’t answered his phone since then. He didn’t pick up when I called today either.”

Kaidan curses under his breath and hurries down the hall to James Nordstrom’s office. Jillian and I follow him into the room.

He’s a cyclone of energy as he tears open the filing cabinets, removing handfuls of files at a time.

Jillian and I watch, mouths gaping. He pulls out a folder and throws it on the desk. My name’s on it. I’ve seen it plenty of times, but now it’s much thinner than the last time I saw it.

My heart clenches.
The will. The One Condition.
Is
that
still in there? Kaidan lifts another armful of folders out of the cabinet and opens them one by one. He tosses them all to the desk, then pounds it with his fist. Jillian jumps beside me.

“He cleaned them out,” Kaidan says with disgust. “Every one of the clients who lost money. He took the files with him. It’s him.
He
did this.”

He sits down at the desk and turns on the PC just as the FBI agents push past me and Jillian. “You’re not allowed in here while we’re conducting our investigation.”

Kaidan glares at them and slowly stands. “Then I suggest you start right here. James Nordstrom missed work on Thursday and Friday, isn’t answering his phone, and cleaned out his files ahead of your
raid
.”

Everyone’s crowding Kaidan and looking at him or the computer, so now’s my chance. I stealthily slide my file off the desk and cover it with my purse.

The agents exchange tense looks over Kaidan’s accusation, and then one of them nods. “We’re done in your office, Mr. Stone. You can wait there. We’ll need to ask you some more questions.”

Kaidan moves around the desk to leave, and I scurry out of the room. I can’t let Kaidan see the will before I tell him the truth. I have to confess first. Because the game is up. My money’s gone, he’s going to see my will, and he sure as hell will hear about Serena’s diamond going missing. There’s no way out now.

Jillian stays behind as Kaidan walks with me back to his office. We step around the boxes against the walls—filled with papers seized from Kaidan’s office. An FBI agent guarding the boxes shoots Kaidan a distrustful look as he and I pass by and get into the now empty room. It’s just a desk and some chairs, all the shelves stripped.

I stand next to one of the chairs, clutching my file to my chest as Kaidan closes the door behind us and locks it. He comes over to stand near me and sags against his bare desk, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I’m such an idiot. I
trusted
him.”

God, this is horrible timing, but it’s now or never. “I need to tell you something.” The words spill out in a rush, and Kaidan looks up. His brows furrow as he notices the folder in my arms.

I hold my breath as he plucks it from my grasp. “You shouldn’t have taken that out of there,” he says, but he sounds like he doesn’t really care.

He tosses it on the nearby empty chair, and I watch, horrified, as some of the contents slide sideways, exposed. But he’s not looking at it. He’s looking off into the distance, pensive. The expression of betrayal on his face is awful. And it’s only going to get worse from here.

“Kaidan.”

He meets my eyes and draws me closer without a word.

“Listen, I—”

He presses his lips to mine, kissing me with such intensity my body responds without my permission. His hand slides down my back, aggressively kneading the sensitive depressions in my lower back, and longing awakens within me, making my whole body hot. I’m positively buzzing as his tongue finds mine, and his hands sneak up my shirt. He squeezes my breast roughly, and I moan a little into his mouth.

I should stop this, but my body wants it too bad.
I
want it. And once I tell him the truth, he’ll probably never touch me like this again. It’ll all be over. I kiss him with a sort of desperation, matching his intensity, and he unhooks my bra and helps me pull my shirt over my head.

He whirls me around so the backs of my thighs are up against the edge of the desk and takes one of my breasts in his mouth hungrily, sucking on my nipple. I bite back a gasp and remember there’s an FBI agent on guard just outside the door. We shouldn’t be doing this.

But Kaidan twists my other nipple with his fingers and then returns his mouth to mine, seeking my tongue. My hand moves to his pants, and he’s hard already, bulging against the fabric. As he kisses me, my bare breasts rub against the smooth fabric of his shirt, nipples hard in the drafty air.

Electricity dances between us, trapping us in a haze of lust, the heat of this moment. There’s only us and this need that has to be taken care of. I unbuckle his pants and unzip them to give his cock some freedom. His lips move to my ear, and his tongue trails down my neck as he unbuttons my jeans.

He lets me go and steps back. His eyes are dark, heavy with lust. I slide my pants down my hips, letting them drop to the floor. Then I step out of them, wearing only my panties. He stares down at me, drinking me in, his face flushed, and the way he’s looking at me makes me even wetter.