“You slept for a long time,” her father commented as Avery walked into his study a little past six in the evening. It was already dark outside, and the warm light from the desk lamp lit the room.
“I didn’t intend to,” she said, giving him a still tired smile. “I guess everything just caught up to me.”
After leaving Nova Star, they’d stopped at Tommy’s Burgers on the way to Calabasas and then eaten their chili cheeseburgers and fries by the pool. Then she’d gone upstairs to freshen up in one of the guestrooms. After changing out of her work clothes, she’d put on comfy leggings and a long-sleeve T-shirt, stretched out on the bed for a second and had fallen asleep. That had been hours ago.
“Are you writing?” she asked, taking a seat in the chair in front of his desk. He had his monitor on, and she could see text on the screen.
“Playing around with my next book idea.”
“What’s it going to be about?”
“Not sure yet.”
“You never like to talk about your books while you’re writing them.”
“Because they can always change.”
“But you discuss them with Whitney. She was going on about your new project at dinner the other night.”
“She only knows the general topic. She brags too much about me.”
She smiled at that self-deprecating comment. “Come on, you like it.”
He returned her smile. “Well, perhaps a little bit.” He sat back in his chair, pressing his fingers together as he gave her a thoughtful glance. “You look better. Coming here was a good idea, wasn’t it? Sometimes you can let your dear old dad take care of you.”
She could have said it had never been her choice for him to stop taking care of her, but she didn’t want to mess up the peace between them. Plus, he was right. She did feel better. But now that her brain was starting to work again, she realized she’d disappeared on Bree and she hadn’t checked her phone since she’d left Nova Star.
“I should get my phone,” she said. “I must have left it upstairs.”
“Hang on,” her dad said, before she could get up. “Talk to me, Avery. Tell me what’s happening. I only have bits and pieces, and I think there is a lot going on I don’t know about.”
“There’s probably a lot going on neither one of us knows about.”
“Like what?”
“I think Noelle was involved in some sort of conspiracy at Nova Star. I’m not sure what her role was or who else is involved.”
“And this conspiracy is about what?”
“Secrets, technology, proprietary information. It’s possible someone is trying to sabotage the launch or the satellite itself.”
“Then why hasn’t Hamilton shut down the launch?”
“Because he thinks he has the situation under control. Or at least he thought that yesterday. I don’t know what he thinks now since Wyatt was arrested. Have you spoken to him?”
“Not since I saw him earlier. I have talked to Whitney. She said her father is livid, that he thinks Wyatt betrayed him, that he came into the company under the guise of helping to find a traitor when he was there to steal from the inside.”
She wondered if Hamilton had figured out that Wyatt was FBI or if he just believed he was a spy.
“I have to say, Avery,” her father continued. “The FBI must have had some damning evidence on Wyatt to arrest him the day before the launch. He’s Nova Star’s top security guy. They left the company scrambling.”
“I know. I’ve been thinking the same thing, but Wyatt isn’t guilty. He’s not a thief or a traitor.”
“How do you know?”
It was a simple question, and, in reality, there was a simple answer. “Because I know what kind of person he is. I trust him.” She realized how true the words were as soon as they came out of her mouth.
“Do you also love him?”
She hesitated at the blunt question. “Does love feel terrifying and wonderful at the same time?”
He gave her a faint smile. “That’s a good description of it.”
“I’ve always been a little afraid to love. When it ends, it hurts so much. I’ve wondered if it’s worth the pain.”
Shadows crossed his face. “That’s because of me. I let you down. I hurt you.”
“You did,” she agreed, too tired not to be honest. “But it wasn’t just that you left. It was that you and Mom were so happy together and then you weren’t. I didn’t know how you went from love to hate so quickly. How could I trust that my feelings about someone or their feelings for me wouldn’t change just as fast?”
“Love and hate are two sides of the same coin,” he said quietly. “Sometimes the love you have for someone doesn’t last forever. That’s not the fairy tale, but it’s real life.”
“Do you love Whitney? Will she last forever?”
He sucked in a breath. “I don’t know, Avery. I don’t have a crystal ball.”
“But you have experience, and you know how you feel.”
“I do love Whitney. She’s more like me than anyone I’ve ever met. We understand each other.”
She tilted her head, wondering about the odd note in his voice. “It sounds like there’s a but coming…”
“But,” he said with a smile. “I’m a lot older than her. She might wake up and wonder what she’s doing with an old man when she could have a young stud.”
“The age difference doesn’t seem to bother her.”
“I just hope she isn’t using me to fill the hole in her heart.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, surprised by his words.
“She adored her mother and her loss a year ago still haunts Whitney. She’s not as close with her dad as she was with her mother. I think she often feels like the odd man out in the family, because she doesn’t work at the company, isn’t caught up in the space race as her father and brothers are. She only went to her dad’s house tonight, because it’s a celebration of her mother’s life. She couldn’t care less about the launch tomorrow.”
“I guess I can understand that.”
“I want to give Whitney what she needs. I’m happy to fill the empty places in her heart; I just don’t want to heal her and then watch her walk away.”
“It’s a risk,” she agreed, thinking that even when her dad was being open and honest, his ego still showed through. He had spoken of healing Whitney, as if he alone had that power, but that wasn’t the way it worked. “I don’t think you can give Whitney the peace she needs. Ultimately, that has to come from herself. Isn’t that what you teach in your books and your seminars?”
“Some version of that,” he admitted. “Have you read any of my books?”
“I might have skimmed through one,” she admitted.
He smiled. “Good to know. I like that you wrote a book, too. I like to believe you got something from me.”
“I guess I did.”
His expression changed, his eyes turning somber. He looked like he wanted to say something else but couldn’t quite get the words out.
“What?” she asked. “What are you thinking?”
“That I wish I hadn’t waited so long to come back into your life.”
“Me, too,” she said. “But as you said earlier, we can’t change the past.”
“I’m glad we’re speaking freely now. I know that you don’t love that I’m involved with Whitney and the Tremaines. This was your world, and I broke right into the middle of it.”
“It has been awkward.”
“I probably should have backed off in the beginning.”
“But you didn’t, because you wanted in with the Tremaines.”
He looked a little surprised by her candor. “Is that what you think?”
“Yes,” she said, not backing down. “I sometimes wonder if you reconnected with me just because you realized I could get you into their world.”
“You think I’m a gold-digger, Avery? I have made quite a bit of my own money.”
“I know that, but you like to live in luxury. Maybe you didn’t come to see me with any kind of hidden motive, but when you saw an opportunity to get in with the Tremaines, you took it.”
“Well, I guess I know what you really think now,” he said, disappointment in his voice.
“I guess you do,” she said wearily. “This wasn’t a good idea. I’m going to leave. I’ll get my things and call a cab.” She got to her feet. She had no idea where she was going to go, but anywhere else seemed like a good idea. Maybe she’d call Bree and see what she knew.
“You don’t have to leave, Avery,” her father said, as he rose. “Let’s keep talking. Let’s hash it all out.”
“It’s pretty much all out, Dad.”
“Is it? Are you sure?”
As he came around the desk, he knocked over a framed photo. She instinctively reached for it. It was a photo of her father in front of a Chinese temple, another reminder that her dad had had a life she didn’t really know much about. But her father wasn’t hiding the fact that he’d been in China. Was that because he was clever or because his trips there were completely innocent of what was going on at Nova Star?
“Thanks,” he said, as she handed him the frame, and he set it on his desk. “Now, are you sure there isn’t something else you want to talk about? Believe it or not, I want to have a relationship with you, Avery.”
She looked into his warm, familiar brown eyes and wanted more than anything to believe him. “We’ve said enough for now.”
“Well, I don’t want you to leave. Stay and have some birthday cake. We have a lot left over from last night, and Whitney won’t be home for hours.”
She brushed her hair off her face, feeling incredibly weary despite her long nap. The constant stress and uncertainty about everyone in her life was starting to get to her. “I suppose I could have a piece of cake, but I’m going to get my things together. I can’t spend the night here.”
“I understand. I’ll drive you wherever you want to go. But I don’t want you to be alone. Can I take you to a friend’s house?”
“I’ll figure it out. First, I’m going to take a shower and change clothes. Then we can have some cake.”
“Sounds good,” he said, relief in his eyes. “Take your time.”
As she left the study, she walked toward the stairs. She had only gone up a few steps when she heard her father’s voice. That gave her pause. Her dad was on the phone.
“Yes, Avery is here,” he said, then fell silent. “Sure, no problem.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Who was her dad talking to? Why had he said she was at the house?
She tried not to jump to conclusions. He could just be talking to Whitney.
But what if he was talking to someone else?
She suddenly didn’t feel safe at all anymore. She jogged up the stairs and ran into the guest room. She took her phone out of her bag and saw a bunch of texts from Bree, asking her to call her. She would call her back, but right now she needed to get out of the house.
Forget the shower. Forget the cake. She needed to find some place to hide where no one, not even her father, knew where she was. She might be completely paranoid, but every instinct she had was telling her to run.
She put on her shoes and grabbed her open suitcase from the floor, so she could put her work clothes in it. As she did so, her gaze caught on the sleeve of her short black leather coat, the one still stained with Noelle’s blood.
So much had happened since Noelle had been killed, and yet she still didn’t know who had murdered her best friend.
When she pulled the coat from the case, something fell out of the pocket. She leaned down to pick it up from the bed, realizing it was the charm bracelet she’d taken from Noelle’s apartment.
An uneasy shiver ran down her spine.
She’d completely forgotten about the bracelet.
She’d stuffed it in her pocket when she’d seen the autographed book on the floor, and from then on it had been a race to stay ahead of Noelle’s killer.
But was the bracelet important? It didn’t seem like it could be.
Noelle’s last words rang through her head: Left something… apartment…you’ll recognize it from when we were young. So innocent then.
She held it up to the light, the charms dangling in front of her. They were the charms of a young girl: a silver heart, a starfish, a guitar and a book. Her pulse beat faster.
She flipped open the corner of the book, remembering when they used to hide candy hearts inside the space. There was no candy heart today, but a tiny silver rectangle. She pulled it out with shaky fingers. A tiny button flipped open a flash drive.
“Oh, God!” she whispered. Her breath came fast as her fingers closed around the drive. This has to be what everyone was looking for. She’d had it all along.
“Avery.”
She jumped as her father walked into the room.
His gaze narrowed as he looked at her. “What’s wrong? You’re white as a sheet.”
“I—I…” She didn’t know what to say.
“Honey, talk to me. You can say anything to me. Trust me.”
Noelle’s words rang through her head again…I trusted the wrong person.
Her fingers tightened around the drive. “I have to go.”
“Not like this. You’re upset. What changed? You weren’t this distraught a few minutes ago.” His gaze dropped to her closed hand. “What do you have in your hand?”
When she didn’t answer, he looked disappointed. “You really don’t trust me, do you?”
“I don’t. I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you were just on the phone telling someone I was here. And last night you had a cryptic conversation with Kyle about asking him to do something for you. Then Wyatt and I were followed when we left here, almost run off the road and later we were shot at…” The words poured out of her.
Her father looked at her in stunned amazement. “I have no idea what you’re talking about Avery. Whitney called just now, and I told her you were here, and she didn’t have to hurry home. We were catching up with each other. As for Kyle last night, I had asked him to help Whitney get into a country club she’s on the waiting list for, but he keeps stalling. I was annoyed with him. I reminded him that Whitney does a lot for him.”
“But someone tried to get into Kyle’s email from this house. Was that you? Whitney?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t me. It was probably Kyle. Did you say you were shot at?”
“Yes. Wyatt saved my life—not just once, but three times.”
He stared back at her. “You need protection, Avery. I need to hire you a bodyguard or two.”
“I wouldn’t be able to trust whoever you hired. The danger is coming from someone close to me. The only person I know I can count on is Wyatt.”
“You can count on me.”
Before she could reply, she heard a noise from outside the room. “Who’s here?”
“No one is here,” he said with a frown. “It’s just the two of us.”
Her heart started pounding as she heard another subtle noise. This time her father heard it, too, his gaze moving toward the open door.
“He’s here,” she whispered, knowing in her gut that time had just run out.
“Who?”
“Whoever killed Noelle. Whoever wants me dead.”
His face paled, but his eyes filled with determination. “We have to get out of here. Come on. We’ll go down the back stairs.”
She was afraid to leave the room and terrified to stay. They had no weapons, nothing with which to defend themselves, so they might as well try to make a run for it. Luckily, the room she’d chosen was closer to the back stairs than the front.
Her dad went out the door first, checking the landing, then motioning her forward. She came into the hall and her father gently pushed her toward the back staircase, staying behind her, as they crept down the hall. Despite their efforts to remain quiet, they were making too much noise, she realized, as hard footsteps came after them.
She picked up the pace. It was now or never. They couldn’t stop. They hit the ground-floor hallway, and she saw the front door wide open. She made a run for it, her dad on her heels.
And then she heard her father yell out. She whirled around as he crumpled to the floor, grabbing his left arm in pain. A stone-cold, dark-haired Asian man in a black T-shirt and black jeans pointed his gun at her.
“Where is it?” he demanded.
She realized she had the drive still clasped in her hand. If she handed it over, he’d kill her. If she didn’t hand it over, he’d kill her.
She looked at her dad, saw anguish written across his face.
The man saw her indecision and pointed his weapon at her father. “Him or the drive.”
“You’re going to kill us anyway.”
“I just want the drive.”
She didn’t believe him for a second, but what choice did she have? “All right.”
Before she could open her hand, a blast rang out from behind her, deafening her, terrifying her. She dropped to her knees as the Asian fell backward, a bullet hole ripping through his chest.
And then, miraculously, Wyatt was there.
“Avery, are you all right?” He came towards her, gun in hand, fear in his eyes.
“I’m okay. But Dad—” She moved toward her father. “We’ll get help,” she promised him. “Hang in there.”
Wyatt took off his belt and strapped it around her father’s arms as he propped her dad up against the wall. “That should stop the bleeding.”
“Don’t worry about me. Get Avery out of here in case there are more coming,” her dad said.
“I’m not leaving you,” she said, realizing he’d saved her life by making her go down the stairs first.
“My phone is in my pocket,” her dad said, trying to reach into his pocket with his good hand. “I’ll call 911 after you’re gone.”
“Here it is,” Wyatt said, helping her father get his phone out.
“Get her out of here, Wyatt. I expect you to protect her with your life.”
The two men exchanged a pointed look.
“I will,” Wyatt promised.
Despite their agreement, she shook her head when he motioned her toward the door. “Not until I know help is here. I have to wait. He’s defenseless.”
“Give me the guy’s gun,” her dad said, as he got off the phone with 911. “I can take care of myself.”
Wyatt walked over and picked up the gun. He also took a moment to go through the man’s pockets, pulling out a cell phone and a wallet. He glanced at the ID, then he returned to her father and handed him the weapon, putting the other items in his pocket.
“Get the hell out of here, Avery,” her father commanded. “Now.”
With both men adamant on her leaving, she gave in, and followed Wyatt out the kitchen door. He grabbed her hand and took her through the backyard, past the pool and the gardens, and down a long hill that led to a tall fence and a secondary gate to the property. The gate was propped open with a stick. Clearly Wyatt had used the gate to come in without anyone seeing him.
When they came through the gate, they jogged down another street and another. Wyatt seemed to have a clear-minded vision of where they were going, but she didn’t understand why he had parked so far away.
She heard sirens in the distance and was relieved that help was coming. But along with that relief came fear.
“Are you still in trouble?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, his fingers squeezing hers. “But I’m not guilty.”
She met his gaze. “I know.”
His eyes brightened. “I’m glad. I had to park outside the development. Couldn’t risk the guard turning me in.”
“I understand.”
They didn’t speak again for several more minutes as Wyatt took her down a side yard, over a low fence and down another more rugged hillside to a parked car.
Her pulse was still racing, as he turned on the engine and pulled away from the curb. She was afraid to go through the canyon roads again, but Wyatt turned away at the last minute, heading onto the crowded freeway.
There was a lot of traffic, which slowed their escape, but she also felt more hidden amidst all the cars.
A few exits later, Wyatt pulled off the freeway and turned into a crowded parking lot by a fashion center mall. While the lot was well-lit, he picked a spot in the shadows, then turned off engine and lights and then shifted in his seat to look at her.
“Are you all right, Avery?”
“You saved my life—again.”
“Third time was the charm.”
“That was actually the fourth time.”
“But who’s counting,” he said lightly.
She shook her head, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. “God, Wyatt, how are you always there when I need you?”
“I was afraid I wouldn’t get there in time.”
“But you did.”
“And that guy won’t be coming after you again.”
“I just hope my dad—”
“He’s going to be all right, Avery.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
It was ironic that the one person who had lied to her the most was the one person she absolutely trusted to tell her the truth now.
“I’m sorry I was gone all day, Avery,” he continued. “I wish you hadn’t had to go through that. I’ve been trying to get back to you for hours.”
“What happened?”
“Someone set me up to look like a double agent.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Bree broke me out of there.”
“What?” she asked in astonishment. “Bree broke you out of jail?”
“Not jail, just a holding room at the FBI field office. She knew I needed to fight for you, and I needed to be able to defend myself against the bogus charges. I wasn’t going to be able to do that from the office.”
She was amazed by Bree’s actions. “Won’t Bree be in a lot of trouble?”
“She could lose everything,” he said tightly. “But that’s what we do for each other.”
“I can’t imagine that kind of loyalty. Actually, that’s not true. I can imagine it. Because you’ve shown it to me.”
His gaze met hers. “There are a lot of things I want to say to you.”
“I know, but now isn’t the time. Who was that man in the house?”
“Ran Ding, a hired gun, tied to the Chinese PLA. He shot Carter before he got to you.”
“Is Carter dead?”
“No, he’s going to live. Carter told me Bickmore was using him to make drops at the funhouse. He was the go-between.”
“Are you serious? He admitted that?”
“He thought he was dying. He said Noelle must have caught on to what he was doing. She apparently stole the flash drive he was supposed to deliver and set up her own meet. He thought she wanted the money to help her mom. But he said she didn’t hand over the drive. She told the person at the meet that the game was over, that everything on the drive had been handed over to Hamilton, that she’d come to tell them it was done.”
“And they stabbed her. Why would she do that? Why didn’t she just turn the drive over and not show up?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully, we can fill in a few more blanks when Carter gets medical attention. At any rate, they didn’t believe she’d given the drive to Hamilton, because Bickmore knew that Hamilton didn’t have it and was going about his business as usual. So, they went looking for the drive. Carter told them that you had to have it, because he didn’t. Or it was lost in the fire.”
“I do have it.” She opened her left palm.
Wyatt’s eyes widened in surprise. “Where did you get that?”
“It was in the charm bracelet I took from Noelle’s place the morning after her murder.”
“You never said you took a bracelet.”
“I honestly forgot all about it. When I got to her apartment that day, everything was such a mess. I was just wandering around, looking for some clue to jump out at me. I saw the bracelet and a heart necklace in her jewelry box, and I wanted to keep them to remember her by. I picked them up and put them in the pocket of my coat.” She paused, trying to remember her exact movements. “And then I saw the book on the floor, and I grabbed it. After that, everything went crazy. When we got back to my place, I put the coat in the suitcase when I packed my bag, and I haven’t worn it since then because there is blood on the sleeve.”
“But tonight…”
“I was repacking my clothes and I pulled out the coat, and the bracelet fell out. This was hidden inside the book charm.” She held up the drive. “What do you think is on it?”
“Hell if I know, but we’re going to find out.”
“I left my computer at my dad’s house. Should we go to Bree’s?”
“No time.” He glanced at the front door of the mall. “Looks like I picked the right place to park. I’m betting there’s an electronics store inside.”
“I’ll go. You need to stay out of sight.”
He didn’t look like he wanted to agree, but what choice did he have. He was a wanted man. “All right.” He took out his wallet. “You can use this card.”
She took it out of his hand. “I won’t be long.”
He put a hand on her leg. “Avery…I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said, feeling a rush of love that wanted to bring tears to her eyes.
Wyatt leaned over and kissed her, a warm, tender, promising kiss that she wished she could savor and revel in and keep on going forever. For just a moment, she closed her eyes and breathed him in, feeling warmth and pleasure wash over her. There were still so many questions, so much fear, but for this moment, everything felt—perfect.
Wyatt finally pulled away, as if it was the most difficult thing he’d ever had to do. “We’ll talk more later.”
She smiled at the word talk. “Sure. I can’t wait for more talking.”
He smiled back. “I can’t believe you can joke right now. You’re a lot tougher than you think, Avery.”
“I’m actually beginning to think I’m pretty tough, too. I’ll be right back.”