Captain Moss hesitated. “That is more than generous. Rest assured I will be on board at all times along with one of my engineers.”
“As you wish.” I shook his hand.
“I’ll get us moving as soon as I can.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
I’d been selfish by insisting I deal only with Avery, and I hadn’t even realized until I’d seen her with her hair down watching the sunrise this morning, trying to steal a few moments for herself. I wanted to be the one who gave her those moments. She’d earned it—talking through the issues I had with Phoenix had genuinely helped. I could get stuck in the numbers, but she’d been right—this deal was all about people. Watching the sunrise with her, where she’d let joy replace her professional veneer, had been breathtaking and infectious. I was pretty sure I’d enjoy watching a traffic jam if I was watching it with her.
For a few moments, as we’d faced the new day together, we’d been just two people enjoying the dawn. I’d remembered what it was like to feel free from the pressure of my whole world on the brink of collapse.
It had been over all too quickly, and we’d both returned to our respective pressures—although she was far too professional to give away that her long hours were a problem. But she’d clearly not had the break between seasons she normally did, and that was down to me. While I couldn’t relieve that pressure again so easily for me, I could do it for Avery. Giving her and the rest of the crew the night off meant I could reimagine her and that easy manner she had when she wasn’t on duty. Even if I wasn’t there to witness it, it was reward enough to know she’d leave her hair loose and wear that warm generous smile somewhere ashore.
Avery Walker deserved the night off. And it felt good to be the one who could make that happen for her.
Fourteen
Hayden
“How’s paradise?” Landon asked as he answered my call.
I pushed my chair away from my desk and rested my right leg on my left knee.
“It’s fine.” Why did we have to go through this rigmarole of Landon trying to point out that I lived a charmed life? I rolled my eyes, desperate to get down to business. “I’ve asked the captain to take us down the Italian coast over the next week or so.”
Landon cleared his throat as he stopped giving me shit and became the focused professional he was with others. “Not a problem. I have contacts all over that area who can make drops if you need them and I have a mobile team following you. I’m glad you called, actually.”
“Why? Your bear-baiting skills need sharpening?”
I could almost hear his grin at the other end of the line. “Well, yes, as it happens. But I also wanted to let you know that I finished tracing the finances of your senior team.”
“And?” I asked, gripping the phone a little more tightly.
“There’s a few things that we need to follow up. One with Anita and one with your finance director.”
“Anita? There’s no way she’s the leak.”
“We need to do some investigating. But she opened a bank account just over a year ago and there have been chunky payments into that account that total just shy of a hundred grand.”
My heart began to knock against my ribcage. Anita was the one I trusted over everyone. It couldn’t be her. She’d worked for me for ten years and been part of the team before we had seven figures on our balance sheet. But what Landon had found didn’t sound good. Anita and I didn’t share anything personal, but I assumed she and her husband didn’t have a lot of money. From what I’d heard when my office door was open, she was putting two kids through university and was finding it tough. I’d given her a ten percent pay rise when I’d heard that, although she’d never asked for a raise in the whole time she’d worked for me. Perhaps her kids’ education had been her Achilles’ heel. Had Cannon found her weak spot?
“You’re talking about my assistant, Anita? Fenton?” I asked. Perhaps Landon had mixed up the names.
“Yes, Anita Fenton. The bank account activity is unusual. But I need to trace where it’s coming from. We’re on it.”
“Okay, well let me know as soon as you can, please. I can’t imagine it’s her, but if it is . . .” The woman had access to everything I’d ever touched. I kept nothing from her; I trusted her implicitly. If she wanted to, she could cause chaos back at Wolf Enterprises.
“We’ll find out what’s going on.”
“I might call her. Check in.” I’d not spoken to her for a few days, and I could tell she was uncomfortable with me being away from the office. She’d tried to be respectful and not ask too many questions, but I could tell she wanted to know more about what I was doing.