The Seduction Game

And with that she practically pushed Jen out, slamming the listing door shut, finding it far easier than she’d imagined it would be to ignore the look of shock and hurt stamped on the other woman’s face. What did she have to be hurt about? Finding out her brother was a liar? That he’d spent the past few weeks using someone to get his own way? That he’d taken her heart and fucking trampled all over it?

The lump swelled to alarming proportions. Kate pressed her fist to her mouth, desperate to keep the sobs inside. Jen would tell him everything that had happened, tell him how heartbroken she was. How she’d cried. No. Unacceptable.

For one wild moment, Kate was tempted to grab the contract back. To refuse to ever sign the thing and to keep Will hanging forever. But then she imagined seeing him again. Seeing his lying smile, and his deceitful eyes, the body that she’d lain under, clutched at, begged for. And she thought of how he and Chris must be laughing now. How easily she’d let it all happen. And she knew that she’d rather sign over everything she owned than face him ever again. Maybe that made her a wimp and a pushover, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t care. There was nothing left to care with.

She circled the store, broken glass and plastic crunching under her feet, not even sure what she was doing, where she was going. Almost absently she collected the troll heads and held them close to her throbbing chest.

Where was there to go? Unlike Will, she had no family. No mom, no dad, no brothers or sisters to give her a hug and tell her everything would be okay.

She was on her own.

She’d been on her own for so fucking long. No wonder she’d fallen for the first man who had shown an interest. She’d been easy pickings, practically guaranteed to fall into his lap…into his bed.

Kate slumped against the wall. She might have stayed there forever, sinking onto the ruined floor and just sobbing it all out, but a moment later her phone vibrated across the room, still tucked away in her bag, and it didn’t take but a moment for Kate to realize who it had to be.

The only person who ever called her. Meg. And of course, that was where she could go. To the only person she’d ever been able to rely on. The only person who’d ever given a damn.

There was no one else. And there never would be.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Will hadn’t wanted to leave Chris free to make a run for it, something he strongly suspected was going to happen, but the moment his cell started to ring, panic had lodged in his gut. Had Kate gone home? Had she seen the results of Chris’s work? He answered it immediately, only to realize it was Jen, and was about to hang up, to promise to call later, but then she’d started talking and the panic expanded into full-on horror.

Five minutes later he pulled up outside Kate’s building, his stomach dropping at the sight in front of him. Jen was sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for him, the small tablet and a sheaf of papers, in her hands, a stricken expression on her face.

“Where’s Kate?” he demanded, jumping out of his car. “Where the fuck is she?”

“Gone,” Jen whispered. “I couldn’t stop her. She wouldn’t listen. She gave me this. Said to pass it on to you.”

Will took the crumpled wad of paper Jen held and smoothed it out. “What the fuck?” It was the contract. That damn contract. “Why did she give you this? What did she say?”

Jen shook her head and pointed to K.I.T. “It was like I told you on the phone. She thinks you did this.”

“Why? Why would she even imagine…” He walked into the room, not believing the devastation. Someone, Chris’s someone, had done a number on Kate’s place. Broken machinery, broken parts, it was a complete mess, much, if not all of it, unsalvageable.

“Why would she think that?” he demanded. “Why?”

“She said she heard you talking. To Chris.”

His stomach dropped—the noises he’d heard, the weird feeling he’d had, and then the conversation with Chris—Will shook his head. Dear God, no. Had it been Kate? Had she come to see him—he looked down at the contract—only to run a few moments later? Had it been to finally sign her building over? No, no, no! Because she would’ve heard only what he’d wanted Chris to think. That he’d used her. Lied to her. That the ridiculous plan he had in the beginning had been given free rein. A seduction game…

She would have no idea that he…Will swallowed, the hollow feeling in his stomach growing by the second…that he was fucking falling for her. That she was there with him, every minute of every day.

Dear God….

“She’s confused, isn’t she, Will?” Jen’s hesitant voice intruded on his frantic thoughts. “You didn’t plan this? You didn’t plot anything with Chris? She said you’d seduced her, lied to get what you wanted, but she’s wrong, right? You’d never do that.”

“How the hell did she get here so quickly?” He groaned, barely even hearing his sister’s words. “She doesn’t drive.”

“Probably a taxi,” Jen whispered. “She took one a few minutes ago.”

“I need to find her.”

“Will, talk to me,” Jen cried. “Explain what the hell’s going on.”

“Where is she, Jen? Did she say where she was going? She must have said something. I have to find her.”

“You have to tell me what’s happening. You didn’t see her, Will. She was…she was a mess. She’d been crying, her face was all red and she was, like, in shock or something. Something was seriously wrong. And she was so angry. She practically pushed me out of here the moment she realized who I was.”

“I can’t get into this with you now,” he said. “She’s wrong. She mistook what she heard. I have to explain.”

“Explain what?”

He paused, aware all of a sudden that this concerned Jen as much as it did Kate. His loyalties pulled at him, dragging him in both directions, and he ran a hand through his hair, to try and work it all out in his mind. “I found out something today. Something about Chris.”

“What?”

“Ah, Jen, you do not want to hear this now.” Will groaned. “Let me get everything sorted out and I’ll explain. I promise.”

“You’ll fucking explain now,” she demanded. “If you know something about my husband, your nieces’ father, then you better tell me. Now!”

Will shook his head, even though he knew she was right. Jen had to be told. She deserved to know and there was no way to sugarcoat it. “This was him.” The words fell between them and Jen gasped.

“What?”

“He did this to try and force Kate out. Apparently it was supposed to happen weeks ago. Before I came home from London.”

“But…but why would he do that?” Jen spluttered. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Jen, I don’t even know how to say this. I didn’t want to tell you like this. I wanted to fix everything first.”

“You can’t fix everything, Will. Just fucking say it.”

“He’s been stealing from the company.”

She blanched.

“We’re talking a significant amount of cash.”

“But why?” Jen demanded. “Why would he do that?”

Will shook his head, because even he didn’t understand Chris’s reasons. “He seems to think it was owed to him. That he was instrumental in the company’s success and wasn’t being rewarded enough.”