Page 23 of Fallen Dane

I follow Harrison through the restaurant to a private alcove near the back. The noise from the main dining room fades to a distant hum.

“It has been quite difficult to get you away from that asshole. I can only imagine what he’s been doing to you.”

“What do you want, Harrison?”

“Right to the point.” He pulls out his phone and taps the screen. There's a picture of me purchasing arsenic. He presses play on a recording. “I received your payment, Mrs. Marsh. I will omit the toxicology report and the fact that your husband was already dead when his car hit the tree from the autopsy report.”

Then I hear my own voice thanking the man.

I stop breathing. I look around to see if anyone is within earshot.

“You were recording me?”

Harrison pockets his phone. “A bit of insurance.”

He leans back against the wall, a wide smile on his face.

“This was your plan. I can’t help it that Dane outbid you at the auction. I still don’t understand what you wanted with me to begin with. I can still share my connections with you and get you into the circles you need. You don’t need to be married to me.”

Harrison’s smile shifts to a scowl. “You really thought that this was about you? Or stupid connections? Your husband settled one hundred million into a trust for Sloane. We happen to use the same lawyer, so I ensured that there was a clause that the trust could be controlled by her new guardian. As your husband, that would be me. And now I’m out one hundred million dollars.”

I gasp. I knew nothing about the money. Gerald hardly spoke to me and certainly never about money, unless he thought I was spending too much. I can’t help but wonder if Dane knew about it.

“I needed that fucking money.” Harrison steps closer, his face red. “I had to sell a property to scrape together enough to buy you at auction. My situation is precarious, and these fucks will always keep me on the outside without a proper fortune.”

“None of that is my fault. I don’t know what you expect me to do about any of this.”

“Actually, I have been considering a new approach.” Harrison leans forward to brush a stray hair away from my face, but I slap his hand away. “I could marry Sloane myself. She’ll be eighteen soon. I could pay her some special attention. Surely she’s got enough daddy issues that a good fuck from a mature older man would win her over.”

I slap him across the face this time. “Stay the fuck away from my daughter.”

“Then you will do exactly as I say.” His voice drops. “You are going to provide me with information about Dane Sinclair. His business dealings, his Council activities, his vulnerabilities. Anything I can use for leverage to get him to pay.”

“I can’t do that.”

Dane is far too intelligent and observant for me to be able to spy on him. Harrison has to fucking know that.

“Figure it out. Because if you don’t, your secret is no longer safe.” He pauses. “They will not execute you quickly, Whitney. The Council will want to make an example of a widow who poisoned her husband. They will make it slow. They will make it public. They will invite every Raven to watch you suffer. And then where would that leave Sloane? Do you think your husband will still protect her if the Ravens tell him to marry her off? To me, perhaps?”

I scan the area to see if there is some sort of knife nearby. I could just slit Harrison’s throat right now and be done with it. But how would I explain attacking him? Fuck.

“And do you think your pussy is good enough that Dane Sinclair will go against an order from the Council?”

Dane chose to follow orders over me before. Fuck these men in my life.

“I believe you understand the gravity of your situation now.” Harrison straightens his jacket. “So you will spy on your husband, Whitney. You will report everything to me. And if you do a good job, maybe you and your daughter can come out of this unscathed.”

He walks away and leaves me in the alcove with every inch of my body trembling with the desire to tackle him and use one of the expensive metal planters to bash his skull in.

I take several deep breaths and then force myself to return to the table. The women are all staring at me expectantly.

“What did Harrison want?” Caroline asks.

“Nothing important.” I pick up my wine glass and drain it.

“He looked intense,” Margo says.

My phone buzzes. I go to unlock it and realize that my hand is shaking.