Over the Edge (Bridge #3)(19)

“Call me after. If I can’t feel you, I want to hear you.” He brought his mouth over mine, kissing me tenderly. “How can I want you this badly already?”

I kissed him back, the same question echoing in my mind…

WILL



“So what do you say?”

“Huh?” I lifted my gaze from my picked-over lunch and focused on the man seated across from me.

I’d agreed to this meeting with my father, but as soon as the conversation turned to the fund he wanted me to take over, my thoughts had drifted.

To Olivia. I shouldn’t have let her stay over. I’d planned to break her down, shatter her until she was screaming my name. I wasn’t expecting to ravage her all goddamn night. I couldn’t leave her alone. And this morning, seeing her with Ian… Jealousy wasn’t a word in our shared dictionary when it came to feelings associated with the women we f*cked. But something had tightened in my gut when I saw her in his arms.

All the more reason to let him seduce her. Once he’d had her, that feeling would surely go away. Getting possessive over Olivia wouldn’t serve anyone. I’d promised her nothing but pleasure. Either of us could deliver on that. And the arrangement between Ian and me had been set months ago. Why renege and screw up a good thing?

He could have a taste, but I wasn’t letting her go. In fact, not knowing when I’d see her again was proving a constant distraction. In my youth of privilege, I’d managed to stay away from the hard drugs that I could easily afford, but I imagined this might be what it was like to come off a really good hit of heroin. I was tired and restless, and I wanted to crawl inside of this woman next chance I had. Lose myself there and hide away from the problem that was currently looking me in the face.

Bill Donovan was aging before my eyes. The investigation had been underway for months and clearly had taken a physical toll on my father. More of his hair had turned from brown to white, and his eyes seemed tired. The stress was eating at him. I almost felt sorry for him.

“You look terrible,” I finally said.

He exhaled and rubbed along the deep grooves on his forehead. “I guess that’ll happen when you’re facing jail time.”

“You sound so certain.”

His expression didn’t change, but his shoulders hunched slightly.

“Was it worth it?”

He shook his head. “I ask myself every day. It’s easy to cut corners when you’re flying high. Christ, people do it every day.”

“So you don’t regret it.”

“Obviously,” he snapped. “I f*cking regret it now.”

I clenched my teeth. Bastard. His only remorse was getting caught. “I’m afraid I can’t help you, Dad.”

He dropped his fist on the table loudly enough for the silverware to rattle. “Goddamnit, Will. I need you to step up. I let you f*ck around long enough. Didn’t I? I gave you fun money, whatever you needed to get the girls, get your little ventures going. Playtime is over. We’re talking about real money here. The kind of money that ensures the next four or five generations of our family are taken care of.”

“I can’t do this. I’m not like you.”

“Despite being raised with a silver spoon in your f*cking mouth, you are. You’re money wise. You’re good with people. You can wheel and deal and make people feel safe writing you checks. You were born for this. If I thought for one second you’d f*ck it up, trust me, I wouldn’t have wasted my time grooming you to take things over. I just didn’t think it would have to be so soon.”

“You understand that I’ve never wanted any part in it?” I’d wanted to tell him for so long, and somehow, now that his ruin seemed imminent, the words could finally come.

“This isn’t a life sentence, Will. If Reilly or I get indicted, the investors will bail, without a doubt. We need you to come in and instill confidence. Become the figurehead for a while until the dust settles and one of us can take over again.”

I laughed and shook my head. “This guy—your business partner—skimmed millions from his friends so people like you could get fat kickbacks. You really think there’s anything I can say that’s going to convince investors to let you continue playing with their money?”

“There’s a six-month lock-up on the investments. That gives us time to repair the damage. But I can’t do it alone.”

“You mean you can’t do it from behind bars.”

The grooves between his brows deepened. “Nothing is certain right now. I told you. We need to plan for contingencies.”

He was right about one thing. Nothing was certain. Nothing about his tone or demeanor was confidence inspiring, and the way the news was spreading around, Bill Donovan and the future of Reilly Donovan Capital was heading south. The suggestion that I could do anything to unf*ck the situation seemed unlikely.

The instinct to help my father, even as I disagreed with it in principal, still nagged at me. Was the fund really clean? I couldn’t imagine being part of the company. If the money was tainted at all, I had no choice. I wouldn’t go down the way my father was going down. That much I knew.





Chapter Six





OLIVIA



“Oh, good, you’re here. You have to tell me everything.” Maya pushed a glass of wine into my hand as I entered her kitchen.