“Don’t you have work?”
“Nice try. Tomorrow’s Saturday. Though I’ve been gone so much this week, I’m sure I could find something to do at the office.”
“Do that, then.”
“Why don’t you want me to be there? This is a proud moment for me. It would be for your brothers, as well.”
I huffed. “Fine. I don’t want you there because I don’t want you to see me fail.”
“What makes you think you’ll fail?”
“I don’t think I’ll fail. But I won’t be good at it at first.”
He kissed my cheek. “You’re adorable. All proud and indignant.”
“I am who I am,” I said.
“And that’s who I love. All right. Go with Ruby. You’re certainly safe with her.”
“I’m safe at a shooting range,” I said. “Everyone will be armed.”
He removed his pants and rolled back on top of me. “I’m armed right now.”
Chapter Forty-One
Bryce
Watching Marjorie leave to go shooting with Ruby wasn’t easy for me, but I did it. I had other things to attend to, like figuring out what to do about Brad Steel.
Why didn’t he want his children to know he was alive?
Because they’d be mad as hell, and I was pretty damned angry myself.
I kept silent for one reason, and one reason only.
If Marjorie’s safety was at stake, I’d keep silent about her father being alive. I’d do anything for her protection.
Absolutely anything.
In the meantime, I had to get back in touch with Dominic and get more information. Somehow, we had to find Cade Booker and find out what he was up to.
Marjorie felt sorry for Cade, and I understood her reasoning. Cade might have been taken against his will as a child, sold for cash by his own father, but he was not innocent in this. We had no proof that he’d killed his father and his mother, but if it was out there, I’d find it.
I also had to uncover the connection between him and Ted Morse. Knowing Ted, I figured it was probably money.
I swallowed the acidic taste in my mouth.
Keeping Brad’s secret didn’t feel right.
It didn’t feel right at all.
Heading back to my father’s cabin had happened on autopilot. I’d gotten in my car, determined to drive into Grand Junction and trade it in for another, something I’d been meaning to do since my father died.
Somehow, though, I’d ended up at the cabin.
Most of the furniture was still outside the cabin. Joe and I hadn’t bothered moving it back in when we’d put it outside to lift up the floorboards. Oddly, the only stuff we found had been buried in the bedroom Joe and I had shared.
Typical of my father.
Hide in plain sight.
Where would we look if we thought he was hiding something? Certainly not in his son’s room.
He was brilliantly psychopathic.
Yeah, the acidic taste was still on my tongue.
Brilliantly psychopathic.
Fuck.
I looked around the bare rooms, walking along the joists. It was daylight, so I could see clearly without turning on any lights.
Ghosts lived here. That eerie feeling I couldn’t shake. Something was still hidden here.
I knew it.
I could feel it, like an ooze of evil crawling over my flesh.
Perhaps some memories are better left buried.
The thought speared into my head in my father’s voice.
“Fuck you,” I said aloud.
I forced him out of my head. It felt good. Damned good.
This cabin wasn’t even in my father’s name. It belonged to a company called Tamajor Corporation. Not a name I’d heard of, though I’d looked it up. Tamajor was a village development committee in a small district of Nepal. What was a village development committee? I still had no clear idea after reading up on it.
Not that it mattered. It wasn’t incorporated in Colorado. It was a Delaware corporation, and its registered agent was a woman named Laura Clarke, who had recently passed away from colon cancer. Nothing else was available, so I’d given the information to Joe to give to Mills and Johnson.
Nothing so far.
Joe checked in with the PIs once every day, and so far, the best PIs in the business hadn’t uncovered anything we didn’t already know.
Which was strange.
Because they were the best PIs in the business.
“Damn it, Dad,” I said aloud. “What are you hiding here? What the hell are you hiding?”
I didn’t expect an answer.
So I jerked in surprise, nearly jumping out of my boots and falling through the joists, when I got one.
Chapter Forty-Two
Marjorie
“You did well,” Ruby said, after swallowing a bite of her hamburger. “You’re a natural, which doesn’t surprise me, given your brothers are all excellent shots.”
“Thanks. Bryce wanted to come today, but I asked him not to.”
“Why?”
I laughed. “It’s really silly. I didn’t want him to see me screw it up.”
She joined in my laughter. “I never would have guessed. You seem so put together all the time. So full of self-esteem.”
Wow. What a crock. My scar itched. So put together? So full of self-esteem? Right.
“I’m just used to being judged by my father and brothers,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth. “They’re harsh critics, so I’ve learned to be good at anything I try before I make it known.”
“I can understand that. Ryan’s quite the perfectionist, especially where his wines are concerned. I’ve seen him chuck an entire barrel if it’s not perfect. I’m learning, but I swear, the barrel he most recently tossed tasted delicious to me.”
“All of his wines are great,” I said. “He’s the most creative of all of us.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Cooking is another form of creativity.”
Hmm. I’d never thought of myself as creative. I didn’t draw, didn’t write, didn’t do any crafts. Cooking? I almost never followed a recipe as written. Yeah, it was creative.
I’d always assumed Ryan’s creativity came from his mother, since Talon, Joe, and I hadn’t inherited it. But maybe we had some creativity as well.
“How long until I qualify for a concealed carry?” I asked.
“You need to complete the required training. As an ex-cop, I’m a qualified instructor, so I’ll sign off when you’re ready. It won’t be too long. Like I said, you’re a natural.”
I smiled. “Cool. It’s very important to me that I’m able to take care of myself. I can’t always depend on my brothers and Bryce to be there for me.”
“Every one of them will always be there for you, but I get it. I like being able to take care of myself.”
Ruby had the most fit body I’d ever seen on a woman in real life. Even Jade’s mother, ex-supermodel Brooke Bailey, couldn’t compare. Feminine, but lean and muscular and strong. She’d been on her own since she escaped her father’s rape attempt at fifteen. There was a lot to admire about my pretty sister-in-law.