Free Partners (Fire & Lies - One) by Lilliana Anderson Page A

this.”
    She nods her
head and wipes her palms on her thighs. I can see through her thin
shirt. I shouldn’t even be thinking that but I can’t fucking help
it. I force my eyes to meet hers.
    “Well, as you
know, my father is in a coma,” she starts. “And it wasn’t a suicide
attempt. I’m convinced someone was trying to kill him.”
    “If this is
about finding out who tried to kill him, Chloe, you’re on your own.
The list of people who want your father dead is so long that it
would wrap around the world a few times.”
    “No. I know
who did it. It’s the why that’s the problem.”
    “The why? This
is the part where you tell me why you’re so sure he’s innocent,
even though all the evidence is pointed right at him like a
blinking arrow.”
    “Yes. But
doesn’t that make you question things? I mean, you were close with
my father. He was a smart man. Does it really make sense to you
that he would steal that much money and leave a trail leading right
to his door–a door that when opened would ruin his company–his
pride and joy? I don’t think you understand what he went through to
make that company the shining star it was. You don’t know what he
gave up–what I gave up. He had his faults, but he’d never do that
to his workers. He’d never do that to me . The company was
everything.”
    “Chloe, from
where I sat, it looked like you knew exactly what he was doing. You
bailed on the company just at the right time and conveniently
happened to marry into the family of the very company that came in
and bought up all of the tiny pieces at a rock bottom price. If it
had have worked out, it was the perfect plan. Your father would
have ended up filthy rich and your father in law’s company would
take on the market share and become more powerful than any one man
could have hoped to be. But it didn’t work out did it? Somewhere
along the line, daddy fucked up and your loving husband and father
in law decided to cut you loose so they didn’t look guilty too.
Just how did you escape going to prison yourself, Chloe? You seemed
like you had quite the part in all of this.”
    “If that’s
what you think then why did you even come here?”
    “Because I
thought that you’d at least have a better story than, ‘Daddy was a
smart guy–it makes no sense’. I thought you’d have some sort of
evidence that would at least have made the time I wasted coming
here worth it. But you’ve got nothing, do you?”
    Narrowing her
eyes, she quickly stands, giving me a pretty sweet view of her arse
as she spins around and storms out of the room without adjusting
the back of her oversized sleep shirt. I get a nice look at her
little black panties that ride high on her right arse cheek.
    I avert my
gaze though, as I feel a renewed stirring down below, reminding
myself that I’m here out of curiosity. Chloe needs to stay firmly
in that ‘don’t be an idiot’ box where she belonged all along.
    When she
stomps back, she’s pulled on a pair of jeans and a fitted black
singlet. She still isn’t wearing a bra, but I can’t actually see
anything anymore, which is a little disappointing.
    In her hands,
she carries one of those brown archive boxes that’s so full of
paper that the lid won’t close.
    “You wanted
evidence. I have a fuckload of evidence,” she says, as she drops
the heavy box on the coffee table between us. “In this box is all
of the evidence my father and I had been collecting to try and
clear his name. This was all a set up, Aiden. It was orchestrated
by Michael Goldsmith the day he approached my father with the idea
of the merger.”
    I pick up some
of the papers and glance fleetingly at the list of dates, phone
numbers and appointments in my hands.
    “Ok, let’s say
this is true,” I say, putting the papers on the coffee table. “How
did a man who had his own company just as big and protected as your
father’s to run, manage to falsify all of that evidence and gain
access to the company