Finding Katie

Chapter 14

Katie

"Got something for me?"

The sneered words came from right behind me as I turned the corner of the building I had just left, but I didn't glance over my shoulder. I already knew who was speaking, and I refused to recoil at the rough demand. Or flinch when a strong hand gripped my arm, the fingers digging into my skin right above my elbow.

My steps didn't falter, and I kept my gaze straight ahead when Dave Herbert fell in beside me. Though what I really wanted to do was shake off his hold, knee him in the balls, and run away as fast as I could.

"Not yet," I replied, keeping all infliction from my voice.

His sweaty grip tightened and he yanked me to a halt, pushing me up against the wall of the building. The back of my head hit the bricks as he stepped into my space. "You do remember our agreement, don't you, Vanessa?"

"Yes, Dave. I do."

His eyes narrowed to slits. "Are you being a smartarse to me?"

Lips pressed into a tight line, I returned his stare. I refused to wince at the pain in my head or from his grip. This was not a man you wanted to show weakness to. He would only exploit that weakness while drawing immense pleasure from doing so.

A woman in a plaid skirt and a pearl necklace slowed down as she walked past us, frowning at the hostile spectacle we made. Her lips parted, but Dave sneered at her, and the woman quickly moved on. Only then did he relax his grip and straightened a little. "I didn't think so."

I didn't reply. I only stared at the man before me. My nemesis. Then man I truly, deeply hated. At least now I knew what name he went by these days.

As with my own, Dave's current name was not the one he'd had sixteen years ago. In my earlier life I had only ever known him as David Feltham. That had been his name when he'd been my father's legal advisor, it was the name all my father's employees had known him by.

I had no idea how, but somehow he too had managed to avoid the authorities the night my father had died and his business collapsed, and had managed to find a way to resurrect himself under a new name. Clearly with an excellently constructed backstory to get a job at a firm such as the one I had just visited.

"If you were giving me sass," Dave snarled close to my face, "I'd have to remind you of the consequences of you not keeping to our agreement. And we can't have that pretty face of yours all over the evening news, now can we?"

I still kept quiet. Just held his gaze, and bit my tongue over the thrashing I so desperately longed to give him. It wasn't our agreement. It was Dave blackmailing me into doing his bidding, into deceiving a man who did not deserve that and who I really liked.

He suddenly smirked. "I have to say I'm impressed you've managed to get that close to Ben already." He gestured to the building behind us. "He's usually hysterically phobic about having people in his office."

I supressed a snort. It had been quite obvious that Dave hadn't expected to find me in Ben's office, and to my immense relief, Ben just as obviously didn't think too highly of his colleague, probably as highly as I did. My nemesis hadn't managed to worm his way into Ben's good graces.

Which was why he needed me.

The thought struck with the clarity of a lightning. I only just managed to not gasp out loud, though the struggle to keep my expression neutral at the epiphany all but robbed my breath away.

Dave needed me.

He wasn't the sort of man who would willingly depend on others. He would have tried to get hold of what he needed before I had become a part of his twisted, little game. But he would have failed.

Despite him working so closely with Ben and having a much easier access to Ben's office than I did, Dave hadn't been able to do this by himself.

He needed me.

My only outward reaction was my hands curling at my sides, but I was surprised that Dave couldn't hear how hard my heart was beating. As he'd tried to do it himself, he would know it wasn't possible for me to waltz into Ben's office and take what he wanted. He would recognize that I too would find it a difficult task.

However impatient Dave was, even he would agree that I couldn't magically make Ben trust me so much that he would just tell me if he was the one who had made a mistake with one of their biggest clients. That it would take time for me to find evidence of any misconduct.

If there had been any misconduct at all. I highly doubted that. At least, not from Ben. He was too meticulous to allow that.

But I could use Dave's failed attempt to keep him at bay. String him along. At least for a little while. Until he accepted that it wasn't possible for me to find the proof he wanted. Until it didn't matter anymore.

He needn't know whether I had actually looked for that proof or not. Or if I had simply spent the time with Ben.

I firmly stomped down the breathless smile that threatened to bloom into full glory. It would mean lying to Dave and holding him off with misinformation. But doing so was infinitely better than lying to Ben.

Even though I would still be lying to Ben. About who and what I was, but at least I wouldn't be trying to ruin his career.

But best of all – and this was what was making me want to laugh out loud – it would mean I could be with Ben because I liked him, because I wanted to be with him. To explore whatever was between us and maybe, just maybe, if this thing between us truly was something, I could consider letting Ben be the first person I told the truth.

My heart slammed into my chest and my palms were suddenly clammy.

If I was going to do that I couldn't do it now. Not yet. I needed to trust him one hundred and ten percent. And Ben needed to trust me and be able to forgive me for lying.

"But," Dave added, crowding me against the wall again, "you'd best work quickly before I lose my patience."

I focused on the man before me again before he noticed my distraction and forcibly removed all signs of the relief that was flooding me. Right now I needed him to believe that I was still willing to do his bidding. Luckily, Dave was too self-centred to even suspect that I wasn't.

I met his gaze straight on and fabricated a weary sigh. "Look, I'm trying, okay? Why do you think I even showed up here?" I copied his gesture and waved at the building. "I was in Ben's office alone while I waited for him, but I didn't find anything. As far as I could make out in the short time I had, there was nothing on his desk that had anything to do with Aimtree."

Dave's face contorted in a grimace and he moved back a little. Enough that I could breathe without inhaling his smoker's odour. "I suppose you're not entirely useless. But I warn you, I can't wait forever while you work your wiles on poor Benny. I want that proof as soon as possible."

"I know."

He held up a finger in front of my face. "Before the senior partners make their decision about who gets the promotion."

"I know," I reiterated firmly. That was my time limit. That was how long I had to keep the charade going for Dave. Once Ben had earned the promotion, I would be free.

I let my shoulders slump on another weary sigh to hide the enthusiasm bubbling inside me. "Ben asked me over to his flat tonight. He must have an office or some other space there he uses to work from home. I'll try to search it while I'm there."

Dave's gaze slithered down my body, lingered for a moment on my breasts, and it took all the resolution I had to not cross my arms over them or shudder when he leered at me.

"Just fuck Benny hard enough to wear him out. Then you can roam his place all night and he'll be none the wiser." One of his hands slid up my arm and he leaned in, his smoker's breath warm on my jaw as he closed a hand over my breast and squeezed. Hard. "I'm almost jealous."

I shoved him back, sorry to see he didn't fall on his arse. Then stalked away as my hands brushed frantically over my front to remove any imprint of his touch.

Dave's laughter followed me down the street. "Fuck him hard, Vanessa. For me. Fuck him hard."