Chapter 41

CHAPTER41

She was fucking lying, Nathan told himself as he paced his living room, wondering why he didn’t turn her over when he had the chance and-

Fuck!

“Start talking,” Nathan said as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and moved to text Bailey, only to decide against it. She had enough to worry about right now and didn’t need this bullshit added to the mix. After a slight hesitation, he shifted his attention to the small woman who refused to tell him anything.

God, she was a pain in the ass, Nathan thought as he ran his eyes over her, taking in brown hair that was several shades darker than Bailey’s, the long curls that looked incredibly soft, the bright blue eyes narrowed on him, an adorable nose that looked familiar, a bottom lip fuller than the top, and the incredibly fucking generous curves that had him wondering what it would be like to-

There was something seriously fucking wrong with him.

“You should have let me get the letter back,” Casey bit out, looking absolutely fucking lost at the moment.

“He had a fucking gun,” Nathan bit out, still furious with himself.

He could have fucking ended this.

As soon as he heard the footsteps, he should have shoved her in the closet and did whatever it took to end this tonight, but…

The idea of something happening to her had him staying in that closet and waiting until after the asshole got what he came for to leave. He fucking hated standing there, knowing just how fucking close he was to putting an end to this bullshit, and made sure that the woman that wouldn’t stop fucking trembling didn’t do anything stupid.

As soon as the asshole left the bedroom, Nathan moved his ass, making it into the living room just in time to see the asshole make his way down the fire escape. Before he could go after him, the little pain in the ass was there, determined to get the letter and necklace back, forcing him to grab her before she did something to get herself killed and-

“Why didn’t you turn me over?” Casey asked the one question that he’d been asking himself since Quinn’s men stormed into the apartment.

He should have turned her over and made sure that she never set foot inside Haven Technologies again, but…

Christ, what if she really was Bailey’s sister?

“What was in that letter?” Nathan asked, needing to know what was in that letter so that he could protect his sister.

“I already told you,” Casey said, sighing heavily as she slowly took in his living room while he stood there watching her as her gaze briefly hesitated on the doors and windows before focusing back on him.

“And you’re going to tell me again. What was in that letter?” Nathan asked, dropping down on the chair across from her as he waited for an answer while he tried to figure out how that asshole got past security.

With the new security system, guards, and cameras, there was no way that he should have been able to get into the building, never mind make it to Bailey’s apartment. Then again, since someone hacked into their system and bypassed all the security points that he’d paid a fortune for, he should probably be more concerned that he’d made his way past Tristan’s men.

He’d known Tristan for ten years and he’d been the first one that Nathan turned to when he realized that Bailey was in trouble, but now, the thought of his sister in Tristan’s care…

He needed to come up with another fucking plan.

But first…

“The letter,” Nathan prompted when Casey didn’t say anything.

“Is none of your business,” Casey said with a stubborn tilt of her chin, a move that reminded him so much of Bailey.

Nodding, Nathan considered his next words as he sat there, watching her and found himself wondering who the real Casey was. For months, he’d barely noticed her, never really thought about her and when he did, he wondered why his sister hired her. She was beyond fucking incompetent, scared of her own fucking shadow, and-

“Was it all a lie?” Nathan found himself asking her.

“Was what all a lie?” Casey murmured absently as her gaze once again shifted to his apartment door and landed on the deadbolt.

“The act,” Nathan said before adding, “Pam.”

“Meaning?” Casey asked, shifting her gaze once again to the windows.

“Acting like you couldn’t walk and breathe at the same time,” Nathan said, watching as her lips twitched.

Clearing her throat, Casey said, “I may have overdone it a bit there.”

“Meaning?” Nathan murmured, shifting to get more comfortable as he watched her.

“That Bailey and I share more than just a mother,” Casey said, making him wonder about that.

“Were you mentioned in the letter?” Nathan asked as he ran several possibilities through his head.

“Yes,” Casey said as she pulled her phone out of her bag, only to sigh when he reached over and plucked the phone out of her hand.

“By name?” Nathan asked, turning her phone off before slipping it into his pocket.

“Yes,” Casey said as she held her hand out, but he simply ignored her and continued.

“Does anyone know who you really are?” Nathan asked before something occurred to him. “Does Bailey know?”

“No one knows,” Casey said, shaking her head as she gave up waiting for him to give her back her phone and dropped back against the couch with a sigh.

“Why is that?” Nathan murmured.

“Because she didn’t need to know,” Casey said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Then, why go through so much bullshit to get into her life?” Nathan asked, watching as she looked away while she mumbled, “I just wanted to make sure that she was okay.”

“And when you realized that she wasn’t…”

When she didn’t respond, Nathan slowly nodded to himself as he said, “You decided to stay.”

Jaw clenching, she bit out, “I didn’t mean to hurt her,” making him frown until he remembered the incident with the bat.

“You expect me to believe that?” Nathan asked, even though he honestly had no fucking idea what he believed at the moment.

For all he knew, she had a partner and that whole scene in Bailey’s bedroom had been a show to get him to relax his guard around her. It wasn’t a risk that he was willing to take, especially when it came to his sister’s safety. There was too much bullshit going on and he had no fucking clue who he was supposed to trust right now. He just-

“I don’t care what you believe. I wouldn’t hurt her,” Casey snapped, looking adorably pissed and god, did she fucking remind him of Bailey.

“But you’d lie to her,” Nathan drawled, watching as her shoulders suddenly dropped in defeat as she mumbled, “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then, what was it like?”

When it became obvious that she had no plans of telling him anything else, Nathan pulled his phone out of his pocket and-

“You can’t do that,” Casey said, sighing heavily as she plucked the phone out of his hand.

“Is there a reason why you don’t want Quinn to know?” Nathan asked, moving to take his phone back only to have the little brat walk away as she focused her attention on his phone and began tapping away.

“Because I don’t trust him,” Casey mumbled absently as she dropped back down on the couch, still tapping away.

Sighing heavily, Nathan got to his feet and moved to grab his phone back when she took him by surprise. “Your phone has been cloned,” making him frown.

“That’s impossible,” Nathan said, moving to grab his phone back when she shifted it out of his reach, her gaze never leaving his phone as she did whatever the hell it was that she was doing.

“And yet, it is,” Casey murmured, frowning down at whatever she was looking at.

“I had Kelly check it. It’s fine,” he said, once again reaching for his phone.

“Then, she screwed up because this phone has definitely been cloned,” Casey said, shaking her head in disgust as she turned his phone over and took out the SIM card.

“You really expect me to believe that?” Nathan asked as she tossed his phone back to him.

“I honestly don’t care what you believe, but I’m not about to let you do anything that would put Bailey in danger,” Casey said as she got up and made her way to his kitchen.

“I would never do anything to put my sister in danger,” Nathan bit out as he watched her toss the SIM card down the drain and turn the garbage disposal on.

“Then, we’re on the same page,” Casey mumbled absently as she made her way back into the living room and straight for his laptop.

“I already had that checked,” Nathan said as he watched her break into his computer a hell of a lot faster than Bailey ever did, letting him know that he’d underestimated her.

“By…” Casey said, letting the word trail off as she focused on whatever she was doing.

“Kelly,” Nathan said, watching as she slowly nodded at whatever she was looking at.

“What else did she check?” Casey asked, throwing him a questioning look.

“Why?” Nathan asked, wondering what else he didn’t know about her.

“Because someone’s been watching your every move,” she said, pointing at the small green light on his laptop and-

Aw, fuck.