Double Vision by Fiona Brand Read Free Book Online

process was initiated, Xavier would be in control and she would merely be a passenger. The thought made her mouth go dry and her heart pump so hard that for a moment she couldn’t breathe. Xavier would have her cold. He could steal the money himself or expose her.
    Either way, she reminded herself, it didn’t matter. All she was doing was improving her and Rina’s odds of physical survival. Lopez was a killer, le Clerc was a thief who lived by his own code; the choice was literally the lesser of two evils. “Okay. The name he uses is Alex Lopez. His real name is Alejandro Chavez. He’s the only son of Marco Chavez, and he’s banking with RCS. I have an account number, and not much else.”
    â€œChavez. You do like to walk on the wild side.”
    â€œNot by choice.”
    â€œIf it’s not your choice then it must be Cesar’s.” There was a brief silence. “You should never have married him.”
    For a split second the knowledge of what could have been, and almost had been, hung between them, and with it an unexpected cocktail of emotions she thought she had dealt with years ago. Her options had been cut by Xavier’s choices. He had chosen his path; she had chosen hers. As it turned out, they had both ended up in exactly the same place: on the wrong side of the law. “Will you help me?” Instinctively, she used the personal plea, not one that included Cesar.
    There was a pause. She could hear the faint rhythm of his breathing and somewhere farther away the cry of gulls, which meant he lived close to the sea. That fitted with what she remembered about him. Xavier had come from a well-heeled family. His father had been a banker. He had always liked the good things in life, particularly fine art and yachts.
    â€œI’ll think it over. If I decide to take the job, I’ll be in touch.”
    â€œWait. I need to—” The phone clicked in her ear, followed by the sharp sound of the dial tone.
    Hand shaking, Esther put the receiver back in its cradle. She had no idea where Xavier had been calling from. He could be anywhere in the Mediterranean, or even South America. He could be sitting in the Florida Keys or out in San Francisco Bay.
    He would be in touch with her.
    Her heart was pounding again, her stomach tight. She had to calm down. If Xavier didn’t want the job, he would have said so. The fact that he had contacted her at all and was now taking the time to think over her proposition meant he was considering helping her.
    Despite needing his help, hooking up with Xavier in any capacity carried almost as much risk as dealing with Lopez. She had worked with him, dated him, then investigated him. She assumed that he had been attracted to her all those years ago. She also had to consider that he had known all along what her bank had employed her to do and that his interest had been a way of getting an inside track on any investigation. By the time she had reported the anomalies it had been too late, the damage had been done. Still, she couldn’t help thinking that if Xavier had a hankering for revenge, now would be the perfect time to exact it.
    Â 
    An hour later the phone rang again.
    â€œI’ll take the job, but I’m going to need help from you. RCS isn’t top-of-the-line, but they do have dual controls, which means I’m going to have to bring someone else on board.”
    Esther’s stomach sank. Most banks operated on a dual-controls system, where one person instigated the transaction, and another authorized and confirmed it. There was also the problem of transferring the funds out of one bank and into another. That transaction would have to go through a clearing bank, which would require more signatures. “Can you do it?”
    â€œAt a cost.”
    Esther went still inside. He couldn’t have any idea of the enormity of the sum Lopez had in the bank. Then again, if he already had a contact in RCS, maybe he did.