The Ruthless Gentleman(78)

Five thousand dollars hadn’t bought her. At least she’d tried to resist. “So you didn’t approach any other crew members at all? No deck crew? It was just Avery?”

“No, I was convinced she’d break. Especially for so much money.” He picked up his pint and took a sip as if we were discussing the latest Six Nations match. “I can’t believe she turned down that money. I’ve never offered so much to a source for so little. I mean, it was just the name of the company you were buying and how much you were going to pay.”

“You were surprised she didn’t take the five thousand?”

“No, the hundred and fifty thousand. That’s what I got told to offer her.” He shook his head. “It was a lot of money she walked away from just for a few bits of information. I wasn’t asking her to plant listening devices or really do anything that would put her in danger.”

She’d turned it down? I knew how much her family needed the money, how much it would have meant for her to have that amount of cash for her brother. She probably could have skipped a season or at least got a job back in Sacramento. Guilt churned in my stomach. What had I done?

“They were stunned when she didn’t bite,” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “I was surprised. Especially as it kept getting better for us. Cannon pulled a few strings and had her brother’s insurance coverage reassessed. Her brother’s entitlements were cut. We thought she would have been desperate for the cash. I thought it was a perfect moment to make that final, big offer. But she said no.”

I leaned back and tried to take in what I’d just heard. Avery’s brother—the person she worked so hard for, had given up her own dreams and aspirations to provide for—had had his health insurance cut? Because of me. Her brother, her guilt about the accident and her need for redemption were Avery’s Achilles’ heel and she’d still not sold me out?

“But she still didn’t take the money?” My heart began to thunder through my chest. I’d been right about her the first time. She’d not betrayed me. She’d protected me. I’d always known Cannon were lowlifes, and I’d been content to walk away from the immoral, illegal things they’d done in order to try to bury me. I’d been determined to take the high road, clear in my mind that my revenge would come with my success despite them. What this guy was saying changed things. Now I wanted to bury them. I might not like it, but I understood that her telling some guy Phoenix’s name in return for her brother’s wellbeing would be a small price to pay. It had been an impossible situation for her.

“Nope. Not a penny. When she called me from the satellite phone, I thought I had her. I really did.” He shook his head in disbelief. “But she wanted to know who else I’d approached on the crew. Didn’t even ask for more money. Just a flat-out no.”

Could she really be that good? Would she sacrifice her brother . . . for me? Everything he was saying rang true to me. The Avery he was describing was exactly the woman I knew. The woman I’d kissed on the upper deck while watching the fireworks, the woman who’d worked tirelessly to keep me happy, even when it wasn’t her job, because that was her nature. She was kind and sweet and loyal just as I’d always thought. She really was that good.

And I’d thrown her away, assumed the worst, accused her of betraying me when really, I’d been the one who betrayed her. I’d not believed in her. I’d not trusted myself.

I was an idiot.

“And that’s it? There’s nothing else?”

Phil shrugged. “A couple of days later Cannon cancelled the job.”

That must have been when my acquisition of Phoenix had been announced.

“I want to hear from you if you ever get another job offer from Cannon. I’ll make it worth your while.”

Phil tipped back the last of his pint and pushed out his chair, leaving me heavy with guilt and unsure of my next move.

“What was all that about?” Landon asked when Phil left.

“All what?” I asked. He’d known why we were here.

“This whole conversation was about Avery. Are you still hung up on her or something? Surely she was just a convenient fuck.”

I leaned back, staring out the window into the black, and let the dark wave of guilt wash over me. What had I done? “We weren’t just fucking.”

“What does that mean?”

I wasn’t sure what it meant. I just knew that between us, it had been different. The connection we had was inexorable. We’d proven that. I’d been drawn to her despite it being the most demanding time in my life, when all I’d worked for, all I’d become was on the line. And she . . . she’d risked her job, her redemption for me.

And it had all worked out for me. I’d bought Phoenix, defeated Cannon. But our relationship had brought her only misery. I’d believed her guilty of a betrayal she wasn’t capable of. Her being with me had ruined everything for her, yet I’d walked away with a bruised ego and an aching heart and I’d thought I was the one badly off. “It means I fucked up.”

“There was plenty of evidence,” Landon said. “You were well within your rights to think she was selling secrets.”

He was wrong. Avery had never shown herself to be the kind of person who would betray me. “I had no right whatsoever. She’d put her career on the line for me. If people had found out about us, she wouldn’t have been able to get another job. Why would I think that after that, she’d betray me? I must have lost my mind.” I thrust my hands through my hair, my body hot with panic. What had I done?