‘You run good and far.’
Turning away from the night, he stalked back into the house. ‘Leonard?’ he roared.
The ceramic shards in front of the fireplace were gone as if they’d never been. The decorative pieces on the sofa table had been rearranged so no gaps appeared. His manservant floated around this house like a ghost, but he heard things and knew more than anyone suspected.
Anyone but Alex.
‘Yes, Master Wolfe?’
The butler appeared from the hallway behind him, making Ax turn. His eyes narrowed. He’d become sensitive to having people at his back. ‘When did we start renting out the lake house?’
‘We haven’t, sir.’
He let one eyebrow lift. ‘There’s a woman staying down there. She was just doing yoga out on the dock.’
The butler glanced at the watch on his wrist and nodded. ‘Yes, that is her routine. She finds the exercise challenging to the body and soothing to the mind.’
Alex cocked his head. ‘You seem to know her very well.’
‘We’re friendly.’
Friendly. It wasn’t the first word that came to mind when Alex looked at her.
He reached up to rub his stiff neck. He trusted Leonard, but the man was being deliberately evasive. ‘Who is she?’
‘Her name is Elena.’
Elena. He rolled it around on his tongue. It fit her. Elegant yet exotic. ‘I gave you specific instructions to protect the house during my absence. By whose authority is she here?’
The Feds and the Securities and Exchange Commission regulators were still on his ass. They wanted access to his home, his businesses, his charities and his financial dealings. He’d already given them a pound of flesh, but the hungry zombies wanted more. He’d be damned if he’d give it to them.
Leonard cleared his throat. ‘By my authority, sir.’
That gave Ax pause. ‘Is she family?’
‘Not quite, sir. She’s the daughter of a previous employer. Miss Elena arrived needing shelter and a place where she could work on her studies. I didn’t realise you would be returning so soon. Your … timeframe … was moved up so quickly.’
So quickly? A year and a half? Alex felt frustration bubbling up inside him. Apparently not even his butler was immune to a pretty face and a shapely ass. What did they really know about this woman? She used an old connection and they just let her inside the gates? She could be a reporter working undercover. She could be a wronged investor looking for revenge. Hell, she could be a gold-digging tramp who’d set herself up at the right time and place, hoping to latch onto the family’s remaining fortune in a time of weakness.
He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘Get her out of here. Tomorrow at the latest. I want the woman gone.’
‘But Master Wolfe, I –’
‘In the morning, Leonard. That’s all the time I’ll give her.’
The butler schooled his face and bowed stiffly from the waist. ‘As you wish. I’ll deliver the message to Ms Bardot personally.’
He was practically out of the room before the words sank in. Alex turned on his heel, away from the window. ‘Bardot?’
He moved towards the kitchen when Leonard didn’t return and they nearly collided in the hallway. ‘Did you say “Bardot”?’
The butler gave a concise nod. ‘Yes, sir. She’s Randolph Bardot’s daughter.’
Alex rocked back on his heels. Randolph Bardot, his grandfather’s business partner. Son of a bitch.
He quickly backtracked. ‘That can’t be. I’ve met his wife and kids. They’re only teenagers.’
And that seductress down the hill was a woman in every sense of the word.
‘That would be his second wife, I believe. I was employed by Mr Bardot when Miss Elena was a young girl, before your grandfather hired me away.’
Alex stepped back to look through the picture window. The lake house was still locked up tight, but light glowed, warm and inviting. He wandered closer. Randolph Bardot’s daughter. If he needed any more reasons to stay away from her, that one went to the top of the list. How much did she know?
Leonard followed quietly at his side. ‘She’s had a difficult time of it, too, since … the event. When she came asking for help, I couldn’t turn her away. I thought you’d understand.’
Oh, Alex understood all right.
It was hell when you discovered the depths to which the people closest to you could sink, and her father and his grandfather had been hand in hand on their way into the gutter. He thought of her sweet face and her delicate form.
He scanned the lake again. The glittering jewels were gone, and the surface had turned dark and impenetrable. ‘It’s not good that she’s here, Leonard,’ he said quietly.
‘I realise that now, sir.’
‘I’ll need to look into this.’
‘Of course, but in the meantime?’
Ax didn’t waver, but he decided to give an inch.
‘She can stay.’ Until he figured her out, she could stay.
* * *
Elena’s breaths were short as she braced her hand flat above the lock on the door. Darkness peeked through the window panes and she yanked the short curtains into place. She backed away until she found herself in the bedroom. She tossed the yoga mat into the corner and began to pace about the room.
Alex Wolfe. The Ax. He was back. He was here. How could that be?
She dove for the bed, opened her laptop and quickly fired it up. It didn’t take long to find the story. It was the lead on every news site she opened. ‘Alex Wolfe Freed’ read the headline.
‘Good behaviour?’ she coughed. ‘Good behaviour?’
The man had been at the heart of the biggest Ponzi scheme in the past century. He and his grandfather – and her father – had lied to people, wiped out life savings and driven businesses into the ground. Hundreds of millions of dollars were gone. She pushed the laptop aside so hard it slid across the bed. She dove to catch it before it could tip over the edge.
‘That’s all you need,’ she reprimanded herself. That laptop held all the work for her dissertation, the doctoral degree that would help her support herself and her mother and get them out of this mess. Neither of them had the funds to buy a new one now.
She rolled off the bed and began pacing again but finally stopped and leaned against the doorjamb. She wasn’t a pacer; she did her best thinking when all was still. She needed to slow down and consider what this change in her situation meant.
