Lloyd nodded. “I always suspected it must’ve been someone in the household or a neighbor, but they all checked out.”
“One level removed. I’m sorry, Lloyd,” Adam continued. “If my uncle’s initial investigation had been more thorough, they might have turned it up.”
Hmmm… His uncle screwed it up?
“Water under the bridge,” Lloyd assured him. “Nothing we can do about that now except give her all the love and support we can.”
Un-fucking-believable. I wouldn’t be as understanding as her uncle if asshole Adam told me something like that and it was one of my relatives who’d been taken decades ago.
I pretended to sip my wine and tipped my glass to Debbie when she looked my way.
She smiled back, and that made everything worthwhile.
“And what about this Luke character?” Lloyd asked as I turned my attention back to the duo across the room.
“That’s the bad news. He’s an ex-con on parole,” Adam told him. It was beginning already—the suspicion. “Felonious assault, and with a very violent record in prison.”
From my peripheral vision, I caught Lloyd turning in my direction for a moment.
“And that’s not all,” Adam continued. “He’s a triple threat. His father, Nathan Carver, is currently in Florence supermax with a violent rap sheet a mile long.” He omitted the detail that one of my father’s victims had been my mother.
That had always been the reputation that preceded me. Being the son of a famous criminal made me suspect by birthright. That was the prejudice I could never duck. Triple threat. Those FBI creeps were the worst.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” the elder Benson said. “We’d better keep an eye on him, then, and keep him away from Deborah.”
“I agree.”
There it was. I’d been found guilty of having a bad record, a bad history, and sentenced without trial to be forever suspected as my father’s clone.
Trapped in the middle is where I stood. I couldn’t wait to get away from this crowd, but interrupting Debbie’s joyous family reunion was out of the question.
She deserved all the time she wanted with her real family—one that clearly cared for her.
I was by her side a half hour later, listening to Kelly and Adam tell us about how they’d met, when the inevitable happened.
Lloyd walked up with his wife. “Debbie,” he interjected. “Robin and I would like you to join us downtown at the Grand Hyatt this evening. We’ve got a suite for you and Luke already arranged.”
The distancing had begun. Adam had probably told Lloyd I couldn’t stay the night outside of Virginia as a condition of my parole.
Adam added, “It will be more practical for the interviews over the next few days, which will all be downtown.”
Debbie looked to me.
I nodded. “Sounds like a good idea for you.” It wasn’t a fight I would win in the long run.
“It’s settled then,” Lloyd announced with a grin. “We’ll leave in just a bit so we can catch dinner in town.”
“But I’ll need some things,” Debbie said.
“I’ll gather them up and bring them along,” I offered.
When they turned to go, only then did I clench my teeth.
Some battles couldn’t be won.
As I gathered Debbie’s things together back at the house—all of them, not just a few days’ worth—I wished for once it could be different. But it never could be. My past and her family were as incompatible as oil and water.
Her uncle was obviously a man with a strong will, and he and his FBI son-in-law would make it a miserable fight that would only hurt Debbie in the end.
She deserved happiness after all that had happened to her. So I packed everything into her car and drove toward DC.
Debbie
I looked around the suite Uncle Lloyd and Auntie Robin, as she’d requested I call her, had gotten me, and I’d never seen anything so luxurious. It had a living room, a separate dining space, and a huge bedroom off the common area. The only thing it lacked was my man.
Luke hadn’t answered my earlier call, but a text had come.
LUKE: On the way
Uncle Lloyd opened the door after the knock to let Auntie Robin back in.
She held up three beautiful dresses on hangers. “I had the concierge get these for you. I had to guess your size after seeing you at the party.”
Each of the dresses was gorgeous. I shook my head. “But I can’t,” I told her.
“If none of these are acceptable, I’m sure we can find one that suits your taste downstairs,” she said.
The dresses tempted me. “It’s very nice of you, but I can’t.”
“Nonsense,” Lloyd said. “We want you to look your best for dinner tonight with the family. Your only responsibility is to choose.”
If this was how the rich lived, I had a lot to learn. I looked between them and made my choice. “The black.” It was elegant, and less flashy than the other two.
“Luke is coming along, I hope,” my auntie said.
Just hearing his name warmed me and put a smile on my face. “He’s on the way.”
“We’ll leave you to get ready then,” my uncle said. “Our room is twelve-oh-three, if you need anything. Dinner will be at seven.”
I nodded. “Twelve-oh-three.”
After they left, I leaned against the door and sighed. I had a beautiful dress to wear, but I was still missing the most important thing: my man. And the clock was ticking.
I looked out over the city from the twelfth floor—ten floors higher than I’d been in any place I’d stayed before. This was opulence like I hadn’t imagined. A formal dress, a special family, and a special dinner—how much better could it get?
After slipping the dress on, I added mascara and lip gloss, which is all the makeup I had in my purse.
Turning in front of the mirror, I decided I looked good enough to knock Luke’s socks off.
I ran to the phone when it rang.
“A Mr. Carver is in the lobby for you, if you can come down,” the desk clerk said.
“I’ll be right there.” I grabbed the keycard and ran for the elevator.
I shifted from foot to foot with excitement as the floors dinged by and the numbers rolled down toward the lobby level. With my real family all around, the prospect of jail for the bank robbery over, and Luke about to join me in this unbelievable hotel, life couldn’t get any better. Uncle Lloyd had told me on the drive in that Dom and Sylvia had been arrested, which meant I didn’t have anything left to fear.
After what seemed like the longest elevator ride ever, the doors opened to the lobby.
There he was, my Luke, standing with a porter next to a trolley full of suitcases and bags.
His mouth dropped. Exactly the response I’d hoped for: socks knocked off.
“You look very nice,” he said. Not exactly the words I’d hoped for. “Ready for a high-class social event, I see.”
I turned for him. “My aunt and uncle got me this to wear to dinner. What do you think?”
He nodded. “I think they have good taste.” He handed me a paper chit. “The valet ticket for your car.” He nodded toward the porter. “Gerald here will help you with your things.”