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.”
The agent stood. “I’ll be in touch, Mr. Wilde.”
Yeah, he had no doubt.
“You did good, Shelby,” Mallory added, squeezing her shoulder.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Just…go.”
Mallory’s features tightened as his eyes tracked back and forth between the two of them. He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something more, but then must have thought better of it because he closed it again without making a sound and left.
For a long moment after the door closed, neither of them spoke. Reece didn’t think he could with the hard lump lodged in his throat.
“I’m sorry,” Shelby finally whispered.
“Yeah, that’s not going to cut it.”
“I didn’t want any of this. They’ve had me under their thumb since I was twenty-three years old and—I just wanted out. Buying The Bean Gallery was an attempt to escape that world, but then it burned down and—and I realized I’d never escape. Not really. Not until ATF lets me go. Jason promised this was the last thing I had to do for them, then they’d erase all of my records, and that would be it. I’d be free.”
“And you believed him?”
She swallowed. “I wanted to. I don’t want that life anymore. All I want is to make my sister proud of me. And to make you happy. I love seeing you happy and the sex is amazing and I love living with you and having you write me a note every day and…” She paused to take a breath and stayed silent for so long he turned to face her again. Tears poured down her cheeks.
His throat was tight and he could barely squeeze any words out. “And what?”
When she said nothing more, he asked, “How long have you been spying on me? Since we first met?”
“No!”
“That night at The Bean Gallery?”
She shook her head. “It was that night, but Jason approached me after you left.”
“He was there?”
“I had no idea. I swear. They already had surveillance on you, and when they saw us together…” She trailed off. “I thought they were done with me until then because I’d cut ties with The Headhunters after my father went to prison. But Jason just keeps finding ways to drag me back.”
He grunted. “So everything in Vegas was staged?”
“Not everything. I just…wasn’t ever in any danger.”
Rage boiled in the center of his chest. He honestly couldn’t remember a time he was this pissed off. “You’re an excellent actress, I’ll give you that much.”
Her gaze dropped to her hands knotted in her lap. “I’ve had to be to survive.”
He pressed his lips together to keep from saying something he’d regret. He wished he had Vaughn’s ability to freeze out all emotion, because he didn’t want to feel for her, couldn’t let himself feel for her anymore. She’d brought this on herself, just as Eva had warned him she would. Should have listened, should have used the head on his shoulders rather than the one between his legs.
He stalked toward the door. “I’m staying with Dylan tonight.” He couldn’t face his brothers yet. “Tomorrow, I have to leave town for a few days, but first thing Monday morning, I will be at the courthouse applying to have this marriage annulled.”
That lit a fire under her ass and she sprang to her feet, capturing his arm before he reached the door. “You said you wanted to see if we can make it work.”
“That was before I knew you were lying about everything.”