“Jesus, Ria, I could hardly ask you for money, you’re in as bad a place as I am.”
“But I don’t understand. You could have moved in with me, stopped paying rent, you know that.”
“I know. But then you’d want to know what I needed the money for.”
“Is it gambling? Drinking? Drugs?” Connor asked her.
She licked her dry lips. “No. It’s blackmail.”
Okay, now that wasn’t something he’d expected. And he wasn’t sure he believed it.
“Why would anyone blackmail you?” he asked.
“What?” Sophie looked at him in confusion.
“Hon, you have nothing,” Ria explained gently. “Normally a blackmailer is going to go for someone who has some money.”
“Yeah, but I got the money, didn’t I?”
“By stealing from the club,” Ajax said in a low voice. He had turned from the window.
“Yes,” Sophie said quietly. “By stealing. I couldn’t see any other way.”
“Bullshit,” Ria called it, surprising him. From what he’d seen, she treated her friend far more gently than anyone else. “You had other options, Sophie. I would have helped you.”
“You couldn’t have paid the blackmailer any more than I could.”
Ria started pacing up and down the room. “You don’t pay a blackmailer; you find him and then you obliterate him. Like a nasty, ugly bug.”
“And how would you find him?” Connor asked calmly.
“A trap,” she said simply.
“Have to have bait for a trap,” he told her.
“Yep. Me. I’d give him some material for blackmail, set up a place to leave the money then I’d rein hell down on his ass for threatening Sophie.”
Everything in Connor wanted to tell her that there was no way in hell he’d ever allow her to set herself up as bait. But he knew that was a surefire way to get her back up.
“What is he threatening you with?” Ria asked the question that Connor should have. “What could you have possibly done to be blackmailed for?”
“He found out about Jerry,” she whispered. “Told me that if I didn’t pay him, he would tell Jerry where I was. Seems like that wasn’t a false threat. Since he did just that.”
5
“But if you were paying him why did he tell Jerry where you were?” Connor asked calmly.
Ria felt on edge. How had someone found out about Jerry? She’d helped Sophie escape him. She hadn’t been able to afford a fake identity for Sophie like she’d gotten for herself, so she’d put Sophie’s apartment in her name. If Jerry had been smart enough he still could have tracked her down. But he wasn’t smart and he didn’t have the money to hire an investigator.
She’d messed up somewhere. Stupid.
She looked over at Connor. Seemed her instincts had been right about him. He was a private investigator. He’d lied. And she’d promised herself she’d never let anyone deceive her again.
He’s not Martin, though. What Martin did to her was much worse. Connor had just kissed her. He hadn’t promised her anything. Martin had torn her into pieces with his betrayal. Connor meant nothing to her.
You kneeled for him.
Yeah, that had been a huge mistake. Obviously, there were instincts or some old reflexes she didn’t have tight enough control over. It had nothing to do with him. After all she used to kneel for Martin, and he was a complete douche.