The Ruthless Gentleman(29)

It had been over all too quickly, and we’d both returned to our respective pressures—although she was far too professional to give away that her long hours were a problem. But she’d clearly not had the break between seasons she normally did, and that was down to me. While I couldn’t relieve that pressure again so easily for me, I could do it for Avery. Giving her and the rest of the crew the night off meant I could reimagine her and that easy manner she had when she wasn’t on duty. Even if I wasn’t there to witness it, it was reward enough to know she’d leave her hair loose and wear that warm generous smile somewhere ashore.

Avery Walker deserved the night off. And it felt good to be the one who could make that happen for her.





Fourteen





Hayden


“How’s paradise?” Landon asked as he answered my call.

I pushed my chair away from my desk and rested my right leg on my left knee.

“It’s fine.” Why did we have to go through this rigmarole of Landon trying to point out that I lived a charmed life? I rolled my eyes, desperate to get down to business. “I’ve asked the captain to take us down the Italian coast over the next week or so.”

Landon cleared his throat as he stopped giving me shit and became the focused professional he was with others. “Not a problem. I have contacts all over that area who can make drops if you need them and I have a mobile team following you. I’m glad you called, actually.”

“Why? Your bear-baiting skills need sharpening?”

I could almost hear his grin at the other end of the line. “Well, yes, as it happens. But I also wanted to let you know that I finished tracing the finances of your senior team.”

“And?” I asked, gripping the phone a little more tightly.

“There’s a few things that we need to follow up. One with Anita and one with your finance director.”

“Anita? There’s no way she’s the leak.”

“We need to do some investigating. But she opened a bank account just over a year ago and there have been chunky payments into that account that total just shy of a hundred grand.”

My heart began to knock against my ribcage. Anita was the one I trusted over everyone. It couldn’t be her. She’d worked for me for ten years and been part of the team before we had seven figures on our balance sheet. But what Landon had found didn’t sound good. Anita and I didn’t share anything personal, but I assumed she and her husband didn’t have a lot of money. From what I’d heard when my office door was open, she was putting two kids through university and was finding it tough. I’d given her a ten percent pay rise when I’d heard that, although she’d never asked for a raise in the whole time she’d worked for me. Perhaps her kids’ education had been her Achilles’ heel. Had Cannon found her weak spot?

“You’re talking about my assistant, Anita? Fenton?” I asked. Perhaps Landon had mixed up the names.

“Yes, Anita Fenton. The bank account activity is unusual. But I need to trace where it’s coming from. We’re on it.”

“Okay, well let me know as soon as you can, please. I can’t imagine it’s her, but if it is . . .” The woman had access to everything I’d ever touched. I kept nothing from her; I trusted her implicitly. If she wanted to, she could cause chaos back at Wolf Enterprises.

“We’ll find out what’s going on.”

“I might call her. Check in.” I’d not spoken to her for a few days, and I could tell she was uncomfortable with me being away from the office. She’d tried to be respectful and not ask too many questions, but I could tell she wanted to know more about what I was doing.

“Don’t set off any alarm bells. Don’t try to question her.”

“I’m not an idiot.” That wasn’t conclusive right now. And if Anita was the source of the leak, I was pretty sure I’d be up for Idiot of the Year. “Did you say something about my finance director?”

“Actually it’s not the director. It’s his reports. The controller and the treasurer.”

“What’s the deal there?” Jesus, it sounded like Landon was investigating the entire company. Perhaps Cannon had more than one person on their payroll. It was clear they were coming for me, just like they’d come for my dad all those years ago.

“I’m not sure. A couple of calls to unregistered mobiles. An account in the Cayman Islands that one of them holds.”

“An offshore account? Why would anyone working for me need an account in the Cayman Islands?”

“It’s actually not that unusual for finance professionals. I see it all the time, especially if they’ve spent part of their career abroad. But it makes my job harder.”

I swallowed. Landon never admitted he found things difficult. It wasn’t his style.

“Also, I don’t think I asked you, but who’s the newest member of your team?”

I’d poached all five of my executive team from positions in other companies—I’d handpicked them—none of them had applied for the job. “My strategy director was the last person I recruited.” Sally’d been on the other side of a negotiation and she’d done her best to kick my arse. I’d decided I’d rather have her inside my tent pissing out than the other way around. “But that was over two years ago.”