Page 15

They dragged their kitchen chairs outside, where Craig rested his leg on his beer cooler. He’d always liked this spot on the back verandah, because it gave him the best view of the land behind the house. Izzy’s presence just made it perfect, as she joined him, carrying her wineglass.

He had hoped to be celebrating his new job, not dealing with whatever this was. ‘So, are you ready to spill?’

‘Not really. But I can see you won’t let this go.’

Not for all the rodeo championships in the world would he give her up. Craig had accepted that their marriage was never perfect, but it worked for them because there was only one woman who was perfect for him, and it had always been Izzy.

The day he’d first seen Izzy, she was struggling to open the fuel cap of her work car, while they stood on opposite sides of a fuel bowser at an outback roadhouse. Craig was on his way to do a muster near Matakana. Izzy was going the other way, back to Darwin.

After helping her, she’d been so appreciative that she’d bought him lunch. Hours later Craig bought her dinner, and then they’d talked all night at the back of the roadhouse, eventually watching the sunrise over the outback.

He’d driven hours to visit her in Darwin for their second date, where he got to kiss her. And what a kiss. It had rendered them both speechless, that they’d smiled at each other, only to lean in and kiss some more.

Izzy had been special. She was the first women Craig truly respected, and he’d been more than happy to take things at Izzy’s pace, never rushing her. He’d been quite content to just be near her, to hear her voice, or feel her small hand squirrel under the edge of his T-shirt to rest across his flat stomach. He liked that. It was like she was taking possession of him, and he was fine with that.

He knew, from that very first date, watching the outback sky change from day to night, then from night to light again, that Izzy was the woman for him.

They’d been dating for a few months when Izzy begged him to sleep with her. He’d wanted it to be special for her, in fact he’d been quite happy to wait until they were married. Yes, he’d proposed to her after the first month—but it took eleven months before Izzy finally said yes.

It was Izzy who held back in their relationship, until she finally explained her disorders.

To Craig, Izzy’s quirks and her habits were what made her so unique. Without hesitation, he’d proudly stood beside her, helping her overcome those challenges. Such as the many times he sat patiently outside the specialist’s office waiting for her, because it had been a privilege for him to be there in the first place.

And when she’d allowed him to go inside the office and meet her specialist, who explained some new trick, some new routine to help her cope, it was the beginning of a journey they’d shared to finally get her off her medication and to see her true radiant smile. It was the greatest reward he could ever want from her. It was like she’d truly blossomed to spread her wings and fly.

How could he not love her more when every single day with her was a gift.

Sure, he understood relationships were something that you worked on, that grew and adapted over time. Yet, Izzy’s changes may have seemed miraculous to others, but it had always been Izzy and who she was underneath. All she did was learn to shine brighter, and he was the lucky guy who had the privilege of standing beside her, holding her hand.

It’s why he’d never hold her back, encouraging her to take that job in Sydney.

But now she was back home with him, where she belonged, he was going to fight for her to stay. ‘How about we start with why you were in Darwin and going to Bali? I’m guessing it was to hide.’

‘I’d ditched my original flight plan and rerouted through Bali—an extra stop before Europe. I was using it as a chance to disappear in the crowds of holidaymakers, just in case I was being followed.’

Buck me! His heart dropped so hard, realising how close he’d come to losing her. ‘Why?’

‘It was because of my job.’ Izzy looked down at her hands.

He gathered her hands into his and gave them a tender squeeze. ‘I’m right here, babe. Tell me. What happened to your job?’

‘It was supposed to be a simple job.’

‘A criminal case?’

‘No. Civil. I was doing a simple title search on some property. We were supposed to be working for the good guys. This poor farmer had lost his land to a developer, a farm that had been in their family for generations.’ She nodded at their property.

The place that Craig hoped would be in their family for generations, with a family he wanted to share with Izzy. It was the dream they’d both shared, once. ‘What happened?’

‘It was a favour for my boss, conducting some simple company name searches on this developer. It started with a dummy company, except the closer I looked the worse it got…’

‘How bad?’

‘I had to dive through archives, public company records, the tax office, and search through assorted government registry offices following the paper trail of ownership.’

‘Because your mind wouldn’t let you stop searching, it became an obsession.’ Knowing her, Izzy would have worked all hours, constantly thinking about the case. ‘And your boss knew it, too.’ Craig scowled, chugging back hard on his beer. It was that, or he’d start bitching about her boss being a total dick for taking advantage of Izzy like that. ‘What did you find?’

‘A whole trail of company names, that led to bankrupt companies that weren’t even allowed to trade legally. Although, technically, there was nothing to trade—they were just cashing in on the federal funding for these so-called clean energy projects.’

‘I don’t get it. What sort of energy?’

She chewed on her bottom lip.

‘Izzy.’ He brushed his thumb over her chin, gently tugging her mouth open to make her speak.

‘Solar farms.’

He sat higher in his seat. ‘That’s why you got scared in Finn’s office. Is it the same company they were talking about?’ He clicked his fingers to remember the conversation. ‘The developer that bought Dane Carter’s place.’

‘Everlight Energy Solutions.’

He wasn’t going to forget that name in a hurry. ‘What did Everlight do to make you run?’

She clutched her wineglass in two hands and started gulping her wine down with a vengeance.

‘Slow down. You’ll give yourself a headache.’ He took away her glass and swapped it for a water bottle that he had stashed in his cooler. ‘What did they do, Izzy?’

‘My assistant, Meghan, and I…’ Her eyes became glassy. She looked so scared.

But he had to know. ‘What happened?’

‘We were coming back from collecting these maps I’d ordered from the land titles office.’

‘Maps of what?’

‘All the properties that Everlight had registered in New South Wales and Victoria. I hadn’t even started on the other properties they had in other states, because I had to be sure, before going national.’

‘And…’

She cleared her throat, while shuffling in her seat with discomfort. ‘We were on the second floor, in this multi-story public car park. When this car screeched to a stop beside us as we were loading up the work car with files.’

Craig just held her hand, facing her with their knees just touching, and listened.

‘This guy ripped the files right out of Meghan’s arms, throwing them into the back of his car.’ Her words dropped to a whisper. ‘Meghan turned to run, but he grabbed her and slit her throat.’

‘No way…’ Craig squeezed both of her hands tighter. ‘What did you do?’

‘I threw my files at him, bolted for the nearest stairwell and raced up two flights of stairs to the fourth floor. I’d never been more grateful for wearing slacks, or all that time I’d spent on my stair-master. The bad guy couldn’t keep up, not on the stairs.’

‘Where did you go then?’

‘I hiked over the ledge and used an outside drainpipe to shimmy down to the third floor, then I ran across to the far side of the car park.’

‘You did what!’

‘I had no other way out. They would’ve had the exits covered.’

‘So how did you get to the ground floor?’

‘I use another drainpipe to the alley, then ran into a cafe, hid in the back, and called my boss.’

‘Why not the police?’

‘In my line of work, people call their lawyers first before they call the police. And I didn’t want it twisted against me…’ She shrugged. ‘My boss called one of our contacts in the police, Detective Alistair Mancini, who got assigned to the murder case. Alistair confirmed that Meghan had bled out from multiple knife wounds.’ She swallowed hard.

Craig said nothing, just holding her hands hoping to give her the strength to continue.

‘Where we were ambushed, I searched for cameras. It’s just habit—part of the job—to always check the security, because camera evidence makes the best witnesses. So, I gave the police details on the other buildings watching me shimmy down the drainpipe. Thank goodness for that, because one of them had a clear shot of a man holding a hunting knife...’

Izzy paused, frowning. ‘Strangely enough, the cameras in the car park where Meghan died weren’t working that day.’ She sighed so sadly that he felt the weight of her sorrow. ‘Poor Meghan. She was so nice. I felt awful leaving her like that.’

Craig bundled her close to his chest, to console her from the horrors of what she’d been through. ‘I’m so sorry you had to go through that.’ But ever so grateful she was here, alive, and with him today.

‘They trashed my apartment, too. I have nothing to go back to.’

‘Good. Your home is here, with me.’

She pushed against his chest. ‘Don’t you get it? You’re not safe with me, and not with Everlight setting up in the Territory.’

‘Aren’t they set up on a national scale?’

‘They were trying to.’

‘Until you found out they were illegally trading?’

‘Well, technically, no one knows but me.’ She winced, lifting her shoulders to her ears, as if knowing Craig wasn’t going to like what she had to share. ‘Everlight looked legitimate that even Alistair’s struggling to find proof. He knows they’re dodgy, but his focus is on the murder case. He can’t pin them on fraud—not yet.’

‘Why not?’

‘Alistair doesn’t want them to run, not when he wants them to pay for Meghan’s murder like I do. So, as insurance, we agreed I’d keep the fraud evidence on a simple thumbnail hard drive.’

Craig inhaled deeply, his nostrils pinching as his back straightened. ‘What is it?’

‘Documents. Legal filings, tax records, company registrations, grant applications, and bank statements. I even found an insider who leaked internal memos, fake project plans, and inflated costs for work that never existed—proof of Everlight’s fraud. I mapped it all out in a timeline that once covered my entire office wall, linking shell companies, fake directors, and missing funds.’

Knowing Izzy, like he did, it sounded like this investigation took over her life.

‘Everlight took millions in federal money. Millions, Craig. For solar farms they never built—they only charged for them.’ Izzy rubbed her temple, as if the exhaustion was creeping in. ‘And no one even questioned it.’

‘Why not? Surely someone would have noticed.’

‘Everlight claimed they were making the equipment for their solar farms off-site, while waiting on permits to clear the land. They had legitimate excuses not to start. I suspect they even stirred up those environmentalist groups to protest, to help them stall on the building phases.’

‘But why? Wouldn’t they have to account for the money at some stage?’

‘You’d think all that federal funding they’d accumulated was earning them daily interest—but it was also being used for something else. What? I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘But someone messed up on Everlight’s paperwork. I tracked through all these other shell companies, learning that they were using fake company names, who were trading illegally, and I could prove they were funnelling their money into offshore accounts. If it ever went public, politicians would look like fools, for losing millions of taxpayer dollars. It’s a politician’s nightmare that could kill careers.’

‘Oh no…’ He sat back heavily, having learned to read between the lines of what she was saying. ‘You brought that proof with you.’

‘I couldn’t risk leaving it anywhere. And I didn’t mean to find all this dirt they had. I thought it was just a simple property search about a developer’s assets and their plans. But it was much bigger than that. We never found out who owned the mother company, and I stopped looking after Meghan was murdered—when we did nothing wrong. I was just doing confirmational company searches. Public company records.’

‘You were trying to solve a puzzle, but you uncovered a secret somebody didn’t want you to find. Did you tell the police? Show them your research?’

‘Not all of it.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well, Allistair was only interested in the murder. And my boss told me not to. He said to keep it as insurance.’

‘Do you trust your boss?’

‘I have so far. I don’t think he had any idea the can of worms I was digging into, or how Everlight was so dodgy—that farmer had the right to fight for his land.’

‘Wait up. This farmer you mentioned, it doesn’t sound right. Not when we both know who your boss normally represents—the clients who can afford to hire your boss’s firm.’ Which wasn’t cheap. ‘I can’t see a farmer who'd lost their land to a developer having the money to pay those fees.’

Her face fell with her eyes widening. ‘You think he lied to me?’

Craig was convinced Izzy had been played, making his blood boil with rage, that was soon swapped for his fierce need to protect her. ‘Who else knows you’re here?’

‘Just the detective, Alistair Mancini. Who I owe a big wheel of parmesan cheese for keeping me safe, and for listening to my theories.’

‘How so?’

‘My boss was freaking out on the phone, while clearing out my office, telling me we should leave the country. Instead, Alistair got me a new phone and sent me to a safe house in Darwin. He told me not to use my credit card, or my old phone, and to use a VPN so my emails couldn’t be traced.’

‘That’s why you haven’t been working on your laptop.’ Normally she’d be on it all the time. ‘How soon after all that happened did you get the call about me?’

‘Well…’ She inhaled then exhaled heavily. ‘I was on the verge of getting on a flight to Bali when Bree called me.’

‘Bree?’

‘Bree was the only other person I’d given the new number to. Thank goodness I did, because when she called me about you getting hurt, I had to be here, Craig. I had to come. But I couldn’t hire a car without showing my licence and credit cards, as I didn’t want to leave a trail they could trace to Elsie Creek. It was Bree who suggested I come in on the mail plane and arranged a seat for me.’

Her shoulders slumped, her fingers clutching the hem of her shirt as if to hold herself together. Her glassy eyes flickered to stop the tears, before meeting his with her voice soft and unsteady, her vulnerability exposed. ‘I don’t want to do that kind of work anymore, Craig.’

‘What do you want to do, baby?’

‘I enjoy being a lawyer, and I’ve always enjoyed helping people in my own weird way, but in the end, it feels like I mostly helped the rich get richer or keep their butts out of prison. What you said to Ginny today, about me being able to help her, and her bull—I’d never do that in my normal job. Yet, I think that’s something I would actually enjoy doing.’ She lifted her chin, showing she was serious about her career change, even if it was a big step backwards.

He could see it: she was finally done taking on the world.

It was time for Izzy to come home.

‘Are you ready to step away from all that?’ He held his breath in hope of the right answer.

She shyly nodded, wiping at the stray tear that nearly broke his heart. ‘It’s why I worked so hard to find out who owned Everlight. I did if for the good guys, the farmer.’ She then sighed so heavily. ‘My boss lied, huh? The farmer never existed.’

He barely nodded, hating how she’d been conned like that. ‘Why would your boss want those company names in the first place?’

‘A lot of my work is doing searches, looking for patterns, to see if I can unearth any dirt before the opposition or the police do. It’s so we can do damage control to protect our client.’

‘Except you uncovered something they didn’t want anyone to know.’

‘And now you know, too.’ Her eyes flew open with pure unbridled panic, as she stood. ‘We should go. Leave. Now.’

‘And go where?’ He struggled to his feet but held her arm to stop her in case she ran.

‘My name is on the trust as co-director for this land. My bank records would show I’ve been regularly paying my share of the trust’s mortgage. If they were to look for me—’

‘They would have been here by now. I know you would have done something to get them off your trail.’

She paused her panic to share a coy grin, as if proud of what she’d done. He loved watching that spark of mischievousness flaring in her eyes.

‘What did you do?’ His wife was clever enough to play the housemate from hell in her devilish tricks against him, so nothing would surprise him.

‘I made fake bookings to various places with my company card.’

‘Like what?’

‘A boat cruise to New Zealand to join an ice cave expedition. There was a paddleboarding session in the Whitsundays, where I also booked a villa at a five-star resort. Perth, it was for a meditation retreat for a week. Tasmania for a hiking retreat over a long weekend. Hmm…’ She tapped her chin thoughtfully. ‘Maybe on some unconscious level I didn’t trust my boss, to use my corporate credit card like that.’ She huffed, burying her face in her hands. ‘I feel so stupid. How could I not see this sooner.’

He pulled her fingers away, to expose her face, giving her hand a tender squeeze. ‘No, sweetheart, you’re the smartest woman I know. But with you being so obsessed with helping that farmer, you didn’t take the time to see the bigger picture. I think your boss knew you’d be like that.’

‘And I thought he liked me.’

‘If he didn’t, I don’t think he would have suggested you go off to Europe.’

She sighed heavily, the silence just as heavy.

‘Did you book some fake trips here, in the Northern Territory?’

‘A week’s stay at a resort in Kakadu National Park.’

‘That’s my clever girl.’ He kissed her temple. ‘So really, they have no clue where you are.’

‘All they need to do is run a title search and they’ll find this place.’

‘But you set up our trust in a way to protect us and Dustfire.’ They’d created it as a business from the beginning, for the tax breaks, planning it from the start the smart way.

‘My name is on that trust, Craig, right next to yours. Even if it’s buried, they don’t need to dig very deep to find it.’

‘That’s why you wanted to sell Dustfire.’ Like hell he’d let that happen, not now, when they’d bought this place together to share as their home. But then he realised the main reason why. ‘You were selling Dustfire to protect me.’

She barely nodded.

But it spoke volumes of how much she cared. She was doing this for him.

His wife was trying to protect him.

‘Oh, sweetheart.’ He cupped her cheek, making her look at him.

‘I’d hate for anyone to hurt you.’

‘That’s why you came here. It wasn’t to hide. You were genuinely worried about me.’ Didn’t that make him grin, as his chest filled with warmth.

She dropped her head and said nothing for the longest time. ‘Will you hold it against me?’

With one fingertip, he tilted her chin up to stare into her beautiful eyes. ‘Baby, I’m just glad you finally showed up.’ He gently pressed his lips against hers to kiss her softly, just a quick kiss so he didn’t scare her off, when he’d been wanting to kiss her all day. Aw hell, if he was honest with himself, he’d been wanting to kiss her from the moment he woke up in the hospital—before he got mad at her.

‘You kissed me.’ She brushed her fingertips over her perfectly kissable lips. ‘But I thought you hated me?’

‘No. I was mad at you for taking this long to come home. I might have told you to take that job so you could achieve your dreams, but it was never because I wanted to be apart from you. But you’re here now, so there is no way I’ll let anyone hurt my wife.’

‘But—’

‘Will you stop looking for excuses? Don’t you see? Fate has finally said this is our time to be together.’ His teeth started to grind, just to control the emotions that were about to overwhelm him. ‘If I lose you,’ he said gruffly, much harsher than intended, ‘I have nothing.’

‘Without you, there is nothing—except a pot plant named Brian.’

‘Come here, beautiful.’ Pulling her against his chest, with his arms wrapped around her, he just held her for an astonishingly long time.

‘Is this the part where we get to fool around?’ he murmured, brushing his cheek against her soft hair.

‘Don’t you have injuries?’

‘I don’t mind a bit of pain for the pleasure.’

‘After all the women you’ve been through, I may have to rethink my position on this argument.’ She pushed away from him and headed inside.

He struggled to give chase, using the doorframe to step inside. ‘Is that going to be an issue for you? What about you and your men?’

‘There were none, okay? Except Brian. He never judged me for my list of disorders.’

‘The pot plant.’ He chuckled.

Izzy dropped her head to her chest in a huff as if to regroup, while standing on the other side of the kitchen counter that she was cleverly using as a barrier. ‘I need a refill.’ She opened the fridge and stared at the shelves.

You’re not getting away from me that easily, my ever-tempting Bee Queen.

He hobbled across the kitchen, while she opened another bottle of wine. Stopping beside her, he slowly dragged his eyes up her delicate neck that was outlined by loose wisps of hair that had fallen from her high ponytail. A light shimmer of perspiration glistened over her collarbone just on the edge of her shirt. A faint frown marked her brow, but it never went near her full, pouty lips. Lips worn by the only woman he wanted to kiss. And now.

He took the wine bottle and gently put it on the counter.

‘Are you hungry? I could cook dinner?’ She nervously nibbled on her bottom lip.

‘Not for food, that’s for sure.’ His fingertips brushed the outline of her face, as he admired the different shades of brown that blended in her eyes.

This was the moment he’d been dreaming of for so long, he wasn’t going to waste another precious second.

He leaned towards her as she sucked in her breath and held it, making his lips curve into a grin, stopping millimetres from her face, their noses barely touching. ‘I won’t hurt you, Izzy.’

‘I know. I just don’t want to hurt you.’

He gently pushed her against the fridge door and pressed his lips to hers. One hand smoothly cradled her head, to then wrap that silky length of hair around his wrist to kiss her harder. Oh lord, she tasted like honey and wine, and her lips were like soft pillows of pleasure he couldn’t stop tasting.

Her lips moved frantically against his, not the way he’d expected, but it caused such a friction it was burning him in a way that he didn’t think a single kiss would cut it.

With his chest against hers, their lips danced in a new war with the nipping, sucking and sparring. Until his tongue swooped onto hers, upping the pace that was going to suffocate him, hopefully doing the job of silencing her busy brain.

When she pushed against him, their lips parted, leaving hers so incredibly shiny and swollen, showing how hard he’d kissed her.

Oh, brother, didn’t that make him want to kiss her harder. Longer. For a breathtakingly long time. And they had a lot of missed time to make up for.

But then he stopped, catching her expression.

‘What?’ Was he rushing her?