The reporters have run with this story in all different directions. It’s worked more in our favor than we had hoped.
“And what about your business partners? Jeff and Jerrold?”
The town knows Jerrold is dead. They said his death was accidental. But they’ll never find Jeff’s body. Austin took care of that for us. The town just speculates that Jeff’s embezzlement of JJ’s Properties has caused him to run off.
Still sitting in the windowsill, I bow my head and run my hands through my hair. I’m exhausted. You don’t get any sleep in hospitals. Austin still hasn’t woken up, and Shelby quit giving me updates. They come and wheel her out for tests periodically, but no matter how many questions I ask, she just responds with, “These things take time.”
“Have you been to see your daughter?” one reporter asks Bruce as the officer places a hand on his head and puts him in the back of a police car. “I hear the cops want to question her …”
“Turn it off,” I order roughly, and then silence comes over the room.
I look up when the door opens, and I shoot to my feet when my father enters her room. His shoulders are pulled back, and his nose is in the air. Shelby follows behind him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demand. He hasn’t tried to contact me once since he pulled me out of the interrogation room. And neither have the police.
He straightens his tie. He wears his usual expensive Armani suit and a scowl on his face. They go hand in hand.
“Cole, I’m sorry—”
“For what?” I interrupt Shelby and ask again. “What the fuck are you doing?” Why is he here? He doesn’t care about Austin. Hell, he doesn’t even care about me.
He looks over at Austin lying in her bed still hooked up to the machines that help her stay alive. “I just wanted to check on her …”
“Bullshit!” I snap, making my way over to the end of her bed and blocking his view of her.
He reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out a folded piece of paper and hands it to Shelby. She swallows nervously. My heart begins to beat rapidly.
“Since Bruce Lowes has been arrested, he has made me power of attorney over Austin.”
My heart stops completely at his words. “That’s illegal.” It has to be. “She’s over eighteen and not a relative of yours.” I’m not an attorney, but I know enough to know he’s a lying piece of shit. “And he’s in jail, not dead.” If anything, the doctors would decide her care. Not her father’s best friend.
He smirks and rips the paper from her hands. “Leave us,” he orders, and Shelby all but runs out of the room. Bennett stays, waiting for my instructions. I nod to him, and he follows, leaving us alone.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
He calmly walks over to the only chair that was once by her bed but has been moved up against the wall. He sits down in it and places his right ankle on his left knee. “I spoke to Bruce earlier before he was arrested. He informed me that she may not make it.”
“You expect me to believe that he cares enough about her health to call up here and check on her status?” I don’t let him answer. “And he’s wrong. She’s going to be fine.” I lie because I need it to be true. More than anything in this world.
He smiles. “His friends aren’t limited to the police force of Collins, son.”
I hate when he calls me son. Who the hell does Bruce know in this hospital? Are they a threat to her? Will he pay them to hurt her further? To fuck up her care and make it look like an accident?
“Just like you. You’re very lucky you have Shelby here, or you wouldn’t know shit about her care. Or be allowed in this room.”
I grind my teeth, hating to hear the truth. “What is it that you want? Did Bruce send you?”
Who knows what that bastard is up to now. He must know that the laptop came from me. I was arrested, and then three days later, Bruce was arrested due to evidence on a laptop that he knew was stolen. I think he was onto us all along. Writing Austin a check from one of the accounts we had drained wasn’t a subtle hint. The question is why didn’t he act faster? Or maybe this was his plan. Hell, for all we know, the bastard was paying Kellan to take out his wife and daughter.
Liam looks back at her lying in bed. “For a while, I thought she was mine.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, rubbing my temples. I need some fucking sleep. Or some laps in a pool. They always help me relax.
“Austin.”
My eyes snap to his, and I snort, not surprised to hear he slept with that druggie. I always knew he was never faithful to my mother.
When he smiles up at me, it’s full of appreciation. And it makes me tense. “You are so much like me, Cole.”
“I’m nothing like you,” I growl.
He stands and adjusts his suit jacket. “I used your mother too. Just like you used Austin.” My heart begins to pound, and my breathing picks up. “I must admit it took her longer to fall in love with you, though.”
“You don’t know anything about Austin and me,” I decide to say. I don’t even know how she feels about me. I never told her I loved her. I never even treated her like I loved her. All I did was control her and then push her away. She should hate me. I deserve that.
He gives a soft laugh. “You can’t possibly think that I don’t know what you and your friends were doing? You weren’t secretive about your plans for her. Hell, even Bruce saw it.”
My chest tightens. No one even tried to stop me. No one tried to intervene and save her.
He sighs. “But then you went and fell in love with her too. Disappointing me once again.”
I smile at that. “Like father, like son.”
Instead of showing his anger, he looks over my swollen and busted knuckles. Shelby has tried to care for them several times, saying I need stitches, but I keep blowing her off. They’ll heal over time. They always do.
He leans in to whisper, “I imagine her mother will never be found. Like Kellan. And Jeff.” My jaw clenches, and he laughs. “You guys think you own this town? That you were the only sharks in these waters?” He shakes his head. “Who do you think taught you how to kill? How to hunt?” He gives me a threatening smile, and it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of you, son. You’ve done well for yourself. And you did me a favor by getting rid of Bruce.”
I bet I did. “I’m sure he knows all your secrets.”
He nods. “He knew enough.”
I take a step forward, closing the small space between us. We both stand eye to eye at six feet two. “And what about his secrets, Dad? Did you know this whole time that he paid to have me killed?” I have to ask. “See, I thought that you fought to keep me out of prison because you were afraid that having a son in jail would lose you multimillion-dollar deals. But maybe it was because you didn’t want them to investigate and get your best friend in trouble.”
He knew I wasn’t at fault, but he never tried to get me to confess. Or even bothered to ask who was really driving.
“What were you thinking?” my father snaps at me while we stand in his office.