Page 40 of Dangerous Temptation

‘Not appropriate. I’d say that’s what most people are thinking about your relationship. The two of you have been seen all about town. Does Mr Wolfe feel no remorse? Have you no shame, eating at Jean-Georges while the common man is out there trying to rebuild his retirement portfolio?’

The common man. Elena didn’t know what to say.

Technically, the majority of people affected by the Ponzi scheme had been high-end earners.

She knew. She’d analysed the numbers. Bartholomew and her father hadn’t gone after chump change, but there was no way she could make that statement without seeming haughty and condescending.

After all, her own mother had been a victim.

‘No comment?’ Caroline said saucily. ‘OK, what can you tell us about Bartholomew Wolfe? Has The Ax spoken about him at all? Are you aware of the man’s whereabouts?’

‘No, I don’t know anything about that.’

‘You haven’t asked?’ The cameraman panned to his partner and she gave an overly dramatic look of miscomprehension. ‘Do you think that the elder Wolfe is even alive?’

‘I –’ Elena’s brain froze. It was a low blow, and it took the wind right out of her.

Holding up her notebook, the reporter read off the facts.

‘Authorities have never found a flight manifest with Bartholomew Wolfe’s name in the days surrounding his disappearance.

There hasn’t been any activity on his accounts.

Do you give any credence to the long-held suspicion that he did not leave the country?

And perhaps met the same fate as your father? ’

Elena reached back to the wall for support. Revulsion was making her stomach churn.

The over-aggressive news reporter stepped into her space. Elena held up her hand to protect herself from the camera, but she couldn’t keep them both at bay.

‘Alex Wolfe has a reputed black temper,’ Caroline said salaciously. ‘Is there –’

‘Yes, he does,’ Alex said, stepping into the middle of the confrontation. ‘Caroline.’

The way he said the woman’s name made Elena shiver. She reached for his hand, but he pushed her behind him, blocking both the camera and the reporter’s view. Rage radiated from him. The air resonated with the violence of his mood, practically humming.

The reporter’s eyes widened and the reaction was magnified by her lenses. She licked her lips. ‘Mr Wolfe, what would you like to say about your grandfather?’

‘Absolutely nothing,’ he growled.

Seeing she’d tweaked a nerve, the reporter smirked. ‘Back to your relationship with Ms Bardot, then. Did you seduce her, knowing the public would consider her a sympathetic figure? Were you trying to rehabilitate your reputation?’

He took a threatening step forward and Elena reached out. Settling her hand upon his, she wove their fingers together and clamped down tight. His fist bunched, but he gathered himself. She could feel him reining his temper in.

He let out a sharp whistle. ‘Security.’

The reporter’s energy turned frenzied. She knew her exclusive interview was coming to an end.

‘Or perhaps your relationship with Ms Bardot goes back further than that. We’ve learned from classmates that she’s followed in her father’s footsteps and is somewhat of an economics savant. Was she complicit in the Ponzi scheme?’

Vasquez and Hanson converged on the scene.

One went for the reporter and the other went for the camera.

Vasquez planted himself like a wall in front of the video guy, and the man lost coverage.

He tried to come from another angle, but everywhere he turned, he was hindered.

Vasquez wasn’t that much bigger, but he was stronger and he was faster.

‘Back away from my client,’ Hanson ordered. Using a move that was deceptively simple and amazingly effective, he used his mass to bully the reporter away.

‘Don’t you touch me!’ she snapped.

He held up his hands. He hadn’t put a finger on her, but it was clear he would if she didn’t stand down.

The bulldog reporter went up on her toes. ‘Elena! Do you know where those hundreds of millions of dollars went?’

Elena hung her head. She was about to make a break for the bathroom again, because she felt sick.

Such a wonderful event had been ruined. People were starting to come around the corner to stare.

She’d learned to be oblivious to the whispers and finger-pointing they received at the restaurants they visited, but this was entirely different.

Their supposed crimes were being shouted out so everyone could hear, but none of it was true.

‘Do you really want to talk scandals, Caroline? Underhanded schemes?’

Alex stepped forward, dropping Elena’s hand. She reached for him, but the tables had turned. Hanson was now keeping his client away from the reporter. He’d planted his heels into the ground and was pressing his shoulders back into Alex’s chest to keep him off the nasty little journalist.

‘Is it true that you slept with the sixty-year-old station manager in Buffalo to get an anchor spot?’

The look of glee on the reporter’s face froze.

Vasquez had his cellphone out and was making his own documentation of the confrontation.

‘Alex,’ Elena breathed. She didn’t want to go down this road. They had to take the higher ground. She’d been dragged through the muck for too long. They both had. She hated what this was going to do to him. She knew how reporters twisted things around.

His voice dropped to a cutting tone. Ax, indeed. ‘I have it on good authority that you’re doing the same here. Is that how you plan to get to the top, Caroline?’

‘Cut,’ the woman hissed at her cameraman. She made a slashing motion across her throat. ‘Stop filming.’

The man merely stood there, gaping at her. Anger flooded his face and his brow crumpled. From his response, there might be some truth to Alex’s angry words.

Elena caught Vasquez by the back of his jacket. They didn’t need to stick around to see any more. ‘Go,’ she ordered. ‘Get us out of here. Now!’