Wilde at Heart (Wilde Security, #3)(71)

Yep. She loved that man.

As she fixed herself a mug, she called Jason and told him she needed him to stop by. He was reluctant to be seen anywhere near the apartment until she mentioned that Reece wasn’t home, and she had important new information for him. Which was true. She did have new information—it just wasn’t going to be the kind of information he wanted to hear.

She. Was. Done.

The doorbell sounded forty minutes later just as she finished straightening up the living room. She checked the peep and, yes, it was Jason. For once, he was dressed in a suit and tie. Must be he was done with his latest undercover operation.

She opened the door for him…

And her heart dropped like a stone as, down the hall, Reece stepped off the elevator.

A bald man Reece recognized stood in front of his door. Dressed in a suit and tie now, but there was no doubt in his mind this was same man who had chased him and Shelby with a gun in Vegas.

And Shelby was inviting him inside. At least, she’d been about to until she spotted Reece. Now she stood frozen, every drop of color fleeing her complexion. She sucked in a sharp breath. “Reece, it’s not what—”

“Not what I think?”

“Yes. I mean, no, it’s not.”

“Then what the hell is it? Because from where I’m standing, this doesn’t look good. This guy was chasing us with a f*cking gun in Vegas, and now you’re inviting him into our home?”

The bald man stared at Shelby for a long moment, contempt in his eyes. Then he turned and held out a hand. “Maybe I can explain. My name is Jason Mallory. I’m an agent with the ATF, and I’m Shelby’s handler.”

“Handler?” He looked from Mallory to her, but she was bent double, hugging her middle, her hair obscuring her face. She wouldn’t meet his gaze.

Mallory nodded and motioned toward the apartment. “Come inside and we’ll talk.”

The guy had some balls, inviting him into his own f*cking home. For that alone, he wanted to remain in the hallway, but he had a feeling this was going to be a long story, one that could potentially rip his heart out of his chest. More so even than Eva’s bombshell had. And if that was the case, he needed to be seated when it happened. He walked past the two of them and found the living room had been straightened. Shelby cleaned it despite his note telling her not to worry about it.

He sat down in a chair and waved his hand in a get-on-with-it gesture.

Shelby sank to the couch, still refusing to look at him.

Mallory chose the spot next to her. “Six years ago, I busted Shelby for possession of around a quarter million dollars’ worth of cocaine.”

“It wasn’t mine,” she said softly. Almost too softly to hear.

“No, none of it was actually hers. Upon investigating, we discovered she was holding the merchandise for her father, Alec Hudson, the leader of The Headhunters motorcycle gang. My superiors and I realized we had a golden opportunity to get eyes and ears inside the club, so we made a deal to keep her out of prison. Nobody would suspect her. And it worked like a charm. She gave us enough evidence to put dear old dad away for life.”

From behind her curtain of red hair, she made a faint sound, something like a whimper.

Reece couldn’t look at her without his blood boiling, so he focused all of his attention on Mallory. “I assume you have a point for telling me all of this. Get to it.”

Mallory nodded. “We’ve been working our way up The Headhunters’ chain of command to find their supplier. They have weapons they shouldn’t, military-grade stuff they couldn’t possibly have access to without the help of someone who has high level security clearances. At first, we suspected you were that someone. Shelby was told to get close to you and find out what she could.”

This time he did look at Shelby, and the hot edge of betrayal flayed open his chest. “When did it start?”

She finally drew in a breath and sat up straight, pushing her hair back. “I told them you weren’t involved from the very beginning. You have to believe me, I never doubted you, but—”

“But the trail ends with DMW Systems,” Mallory finished. “Someone with a measure of power and military connections is working with The Headhunters. You have both, and we were able to trace the money to your doorstep through an anonymous tip. Not to mention, you have access to all kinds of weapons through your brother—”

“Which brother?” He finally turned away from Shelby and saw Mallory’s brows lift in surprise.

“Greer.”

“How would Greer give me access to military-grade weaponry? He’s been out of that world for a long time now.”

Mallory was silent for a beat, then shook his head. “Ah, that’s something you’ll have to ask him. Suffice it to say, you had the means and opportunity. Shelby was supposed to discover whether you had a motive as well.”

“And did you find one?” he asked Shelby directly.

“No,” Mallory said before she could speak. “But we think you do have employees involved in this. Like I said, the money trail stops with your company. We’ll need access to investigate further.”

“You should have saved yourself a lot of trouble and come to me first.” Reece stood. “I’ll talk to my lawyers, and we’ll cooperate with your investigation in every way we can.” After he did some digging of his own. If someone he’d hired—someone he put his trust in—had been using his company as a front, he was damn well going to find out about it. “But for now, you need to leave.”