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In a flash, Lawrence’s eyes went from meek to malevolent. “You will not speak a word of this to anyone, young lady. You won’t print one either. Not if you want that newspaper of yours to stay in business. Be a shame to put all those people out on the streets.”
“Like you’re doing to all the people who invested in EnKor?” She growled and took a step forward, only to be stopped by the thugs grabbing her arms.
“What’s happening with my nephew’s energy company is unfortunate, I admit. It tears me up inside to think about all those poor constituents losing their life savings. But I assure you that the short term losses will be worth the long term gains I’ll be able to achieve as President.”
Aileen snorted. “What a load of crap!”
Senator Lawrence ignored her and instead focused on Heath. He tossed a folder on the coffee table between them and scowled. “My bigger concern right now is why Heathcliff Goldwin is poking into my personal affairs.” He glared at Heath. “Believe me, a man does not get to be as wealthy as your father without a few skeletons of his own. Tell him to leave me alone or I won’t hesitate to parade all his sordid little secrets through every tabloid in town.”
“You think that will scare off a Goldwin?” Heath chuckled. “We’ve already been dragged through the muck by every paper in town.”
“Yes.” The senator flashed an unpleasant, mirthless smile. “Too bad about your wreck of a love life. Even worse when it plays out on Page One. But there are far worse scandals in your family’s past. Your own too, isn’t there Heath? All those black ops missions in the Middle East. All those gray areas where being an operative could cross the line into espionage, even treason.”
Aileen felt Heath stiffen beside her, the color draining from his handsome face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, come on now, boy. I can tell from your expression that isn’t true.” Senator Lawrence took a seat on the sofa where his wife had been moments earlier, and poured himself a healthy portion of bourbon into a tumbler. “Now that I have the attention of both of you, let me explain to you how this is all going to play out. Miss Coen here is going to hand over any and all research she’s gathered on myself and EnKor Energy.”
“Like hell I am,” Aileen said.
Continuing on as if she hadn’t spoken, Milford said, “After all, the head of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee can’t be seen to be approving grants to companies with whom he has a personal connection. Very unseemly.” His crooked grin was cold enough to freeze ice. “Once you’ve done that, then you can go back to your miserable, hum-drum life, Miss Coen.”
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Aileen flipped him off.
“What about me?” Heath ground out, a small muscle ticking near his tight jaw. “What’s my role in all this?”
“Well, since you asked.” Senator Lawrence stretched his arms out along the back of the sofa as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “You are going to tell that nosy father of yours to mind his own business and stay out of mine. If he does, then you and your family won’t end up under Federal Investigation.”
“What about all the investors? All those poor people who stand to lose everything because of your fraudulent deal with EnKor?” Aileen tried to keep the malice from her tone and failed miserably. She couldn’t turn her back on the MacLeans. Not after everything they’d done for her. She wouldn’t.
“Once I’m President, I’ll see to it that every single one of them gets their money back. You have my word.”
“Your word isn’t worth shit.” Aileen all but spat the words, too angry to care at that point. “If I—”
“Wait!” Heath said, giving her some serious side-eye. “I think we should trust him.”
“Excuse me?” Disbelief poured out of her. “You what?”
“Yeah.” Heath pulled out his cell phone and set it on the coffee table. “The links to our cloud files are on there, passwords pre-loaded. All her research, all of mine too. You can check it to be sure.”
“You can’t just give him that. And how the hell did you access my files…” Aileen gaped at Heath. “You played me. You hacked my computer while we were at the brownstone, didn’t you? That night before we went to the auction. My instincts told me you weren’t checking your emails like you said, but I trusted you. I thought we were a team. All this time I thought you cared, I thought we were working together, but you played me.” She remembered his friend Daveed, the one Murphy always bragged could hack into anything, anywhere, showing up at Heath’s offices. “You hacked into my computer, all my accounts. You rotten son of a bitch. I trusted you.”
Heath swallowed hard, his gorgeous face unreadable as he met her gaze. “I know.”
“Fine.” The senator gave a dismissive wave toward his thug guards as Aileen blinked back the unwanted sting of tears. To think she’d given her heart to this man, her body, her soul. Traitor wasn’t a strong enough word for scum like Heath Goldwin. “Get them out of my sight. And believe me, I will be checking all of this data. If I think anything’s missing, things won’t go well for either of you.”
9
Heath walked into his condo two days later to meet with the guys, fully prepared to face the full extent of Murphy’s wrath. Since leaving Senator Lawrence’s hotel room on Christmas afternoon, things had changed rapidly. Aileen had cleared out of the brownstone and moved back into her apartment down the hall from the MacLeans. She’d barely said two words to him as she’d left, wearing only the original Santa suit she’d arrived in and taking only her company laptop with her. He’d not spoken to her since.
Honestly, Heath couldn’t blame her for hating him. The way he’d handled the situation with Lawrence hadn’t been ideal, but at the time he’d only been concerned about keeping her safe and getting them out of that place in one piece. It wasn’t until later that the full magnitude of what he’d done hit him like a brick upside the head. She’d trusted him and he’d betrayed that trust. Yes, he’d done it to keep her safe, but that didn’t seem to matter to his aching heart.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” Murphy snarled at first sight of Heath. He was on his feet and halfway across the living room, his fists clenched and his expression murderous, before Daveed restrained him. Struggling against the other man’s hold, he yelled at Heath, his black eyes blazing with fury. “You knew how worried I was, knew I was going nuts over Aileen’s disappearance, and you knew she was alive and well. You fucking knew and you never said a goddamned word!”
Heath didn’t argue. What was the point? It was true. It was all true. He should’ve done better by his friend. Should’ve done better by a lot of people—most importantly, Aileen. Her top priority in all of this was protecting those she loved and cared for and he’d all but destroyed any chance she’d have now of stopping the fraudulent government grants from going to EnKor and effectively bankrupting millions of poor and disadvantaged investors who’d poured their life savings into the sham company. There was only one saving grace, one chance to turn this shitstorm around and salvage something from the wreckage…
“Did you access the files?” Heath asked Daveed, who was currently glowering at him over Murphy’s shoulder. “Please, God. Tell me you copied them before she changed the passwords.”
