Read Building Ties (Military Romantic Suspense) (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 4) for Free Online

hesitated and bit her lip. She scanned the desks closest to her. Seth Maxwell, another reporter, sat close by. “May I speak to you in your office?”
    Taylor’s bushy brows hiked up. “Certainly.”
    She gathered the material she’d printed out, slipped it in a folder, and followed him.
    Taylor settled into his chair and she took a seat across from him. Nearly a year had passed since he’d switched her from the entertainment-lifestyles section to the news page and the crime beat. Her series about SEALs—and her subsequent coverage of a terrorist hostage situation involving SEAL Captain and Mrs. Jackson and their son Alex, and Brett’s heroic rescue of the family—had gotten her there.
    But she’d gotten even more than a promotion from the experience, as dangerous as it had been. She’d gotten Brett.
    “A woman contacted me about a story yesterday. It’s about the Brittain Development Corporation accident. Most of what she told me was supposition, so I’m doing research to ascertain if what she thinks might have happened could be true.”
    “What does she think happened?”
    Tess took a breath. “She believes that Jonathan Frye may have blackmailed Jason Hamilton, the CEO of Hamilton Construction and forced him to drop out of the bidding for the Ellison Project. He was having an affair with one of the girls in his office and Frye’s P.I., Henry Sullivan, found out about it. She also believes that Frye may have been responsible for the accident at the Brittain Development site.”
    Taylor stared at her, his expression avid. “Who is this woman?”
    “Someone close to Frye. An employee. She gave me copies of the P.I.’s reports on both men, as well as reports on all the other people competing against them for the contract.” Tess scooted to the edge of her chair. “I’ve been doing a background search this morning on Frye, Sullivan, and some of Chanter Construction’s other employees, as well as following up on the info Sullivan gathered on the others. The man is good. But some of what he’s gotten, he had to have an in with several different agencies or a really good hacker. It’s very personal information.”
    “Why hasn’t she gone to the police?”
    “She’s afraid. If she’s right and Frye learns it was her….” Tess let that hang. “At the moment it’s a collection of suspicious coincidences.”
    “I don’t believe in coincidence,” Taylor said leaning forward in his chair. “Why would he target Brittain and Hamilton?”
    “They’re the only two companies whose bids were even close to competing with his.”
    “How did he know that?”
    “Someone from the city Planning Commission office emailed him a list of the bids.”
    Taylor straightened from his normal slouch. “That alone would be enough to get his company thrown out of the competition. Whoever emailed him the list could be fired. Why hasn’t she contacted someone from the Planning office?”
    “And what if the person she contacts happens to be the one who sent the list to begin with? She really is afraid to reach out to anyone .”
    “But you,” Taylor deadpanned.
    “When readers see your name all the time in the paper, they get the idea you’re trustworthy,” Tess replied. They also thought she was bulletproof.
    “As much as I’d like to recommend you sit on this and do some more research, I think you need to send the info you have to the police.”
    “If I do, and the police launch an inquiry, Frye will know it was Mary who passed the info on to me. It could put her in danger.”
    “Or it could just cost her the job.”
    True. But Tess got an anxious vibe every time she thought about Mary Stubben. “Let me do more research and see where it leads first. If I think her suspicions might be true, I’ll send everything I have to the police right away. If I find it’s just a crazy conspiracy theory, I’ll back off.”
    She leaned further forward. “We’re talking about releasing information about three of the