“Greedy SOB.” Sloane clenched his fists as the anger rose inside him.
“And desperate,” Danvers inserted. “Somehow she found out that he was up to his ears in debts from a real estate investment gone bad. He was about to lose his house.” The big man chuckled. “That gal did her homework, I tell you. She found the perfect pigeon, high enough in the company for his decision to be accepted with minimal questions, and desperate enough to grab what she had to offer.”
“My God, would she go to such lengths…” Sloane’s voice trailed off as his thoughts ran wild. Just how long had Zena been planning this coup?
“Hey, you know her?” Danvers regarded him through narrowed eyes. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Quest?”
“Yeah, but I’m just realizing the connection.” He paused again and did a quick rewind of his conversation with Zena. She’d said Melanie was her target, that the deed was already done, so all that was happening at Parker Broadcasting was her doing.
His eyes snapped back to the P.I. “When did she first make contact with Palmer?”
“Five months ago. May twenty-eight, to be exact.”
Sloane sucked in his breath. “Two weeks after news of the engagement appeared in the papers. She moved damn fast.” He looked at Danvers, who was regarding him with a puzzled expression. “I was in a relationship with Zena and it ended badly. But that was over ten years ago. Looks like she’s the kind who can hold a grudge for a very long time.”
The P.I. grunted. “You must have hurt her real bad.”
“That’s the crazy thing,” Sloane said, still bemused. “The whole break-up was her fault.”
Danvers lifted his eyebrows then he chuckled, obviously amused. “Isn’t that what they all say?”
“This time it’s true and that’s what makes the situation so insane.” Sloane shook his head. “I’m done trying to figure her out. The fact is, she saw announcements of my engagement, came up with a plan of revenge, and moved on it immediately. She attacked Melanie months before she even became my wife. How evil is that?”
In response, Danvers snorted. “The woman is a pro. Now let’s teach her not to mess with the big boys.”
By the time the private investigator left that afternoon they had a solid plan of action, one that would require that they now involve Melanie. So far Sloane had been shielding her from the investigation, not wanting her reaction to Palmer to tip him off in any way. Now that they had solid information she would have to be involved.
He picked up the phone and dialed her number.
***
As Sloane’s executive assistant led her down the hallway toward his private suite, Melanie looked around and the memories came rushing back. Only five and a half months earlier she had walked down this hallway, intent on one thing – to secure Sloane’s promise to give her a baby. It had been an audacious plan, a shocking one, but she was the one who had ended up with the greater shock when the notorious bad boy had presented her with an outrageous proposal of his own – marriage in three months.
She’d come away from the negotiations with a heck of a lot – his wedding ring and his name – but the key thing she craved was still not hers – a child to call her own.
Melanie blinked. She would not fret. A baby would come soon enough, hopefully earlier rather than later. Right now she needed to focus on the issue at hand. Sloane had said they needed to talk, not tonight at home, but before the work day ended. It was critical if they were to save her film division. That got her immediate attention and she cancelled her ad agency meeting and sped over to his office. The meeting with Sloane took priority over everything else.
Melanie was not surprised when she walked into her husband’s office and he waved her over to the couch and began to pace the room. She’d come to know by now that this was how he did his best thinking.
“We’ve got the evidence we need,” he said, “but we have to move cautiously. There’s no way I want this guy to disappear before the police can slap handcuffs on him. Where’s Palmer now?”
“I left him in a financial planning meeting. Those things go on for hours. He’s not going anywhere for a while.”
“Good. Here is what I have in mind…”
By the time Sloane finished speaking they had a plan in place, one in which Melanie would have to employ shock tactics to get Trent Palmer to confess. She was to call him into her private office and confront him with her knowledge of the scheme. Hopefully, he would become so flustered that he would quake under her questioning and divulge incriminating information about himself and his dealings with Zena, the mastermind. Unbeknownst to him, she would be recording the entire conversation.
“But what if he doesn’t crack?” Melanie asked. Sloane seemed so confident that the plan would work. She, however, wasn’t so sure.
“Offer him something he can’t refuse,” he countered. “He seems like the kind you can bait with a good carrot.”
“Meaning?”
“Tell him if he comes clean you won’t press charges.”
“Won’t press…that doesn’t even make any sense. The man let that…Zena bitch…practically ruin a whole division of my company.” Melanie shot Sloane a look that said he’d really messed up on that one. There was no way in hell she was going to let Trent Palmer go scot-free.
Sloane tightened his lips, nodding, as his eyes grew thoughtful. “You’re right. I guess I was so intent on bringing Zena down that I lost sight of the enormity of the situation and this guy's role in it.” For a moment he looked away then his eyes honed in on her. “Let Trent Palmer know that if he doesn’t come clean we won’t even consider a plea bargain. And trust me, his lawyer will come knocking.” He folded his arms across his chest. “If he talks we can consider leniency for cooperation.”
“Well, maybe.” She spoke the words grudgingly but she was willing to consider that…but not for Zena. That one was going down.
Sloane put a hand on her shoulder. “Ready?” he asked, his gray eyes concerned as they skimmed her face.