Paget bolted from her seat. “You are not welcome here anymore.”
“Paget. Stop being ridiculous,” her father scolded.
“How do we know he won’t sabotage them or something,” she said with a long breath, letting the words trail off. She could hear how absurd it sounded. William Bone had taken a beating by the press and everyone in his field. His reputation had been brutalized, and he’d done nothing to defend himself.
Though he did run off as if he were guilty, but now that she thought about it more closely, it was his ex-wife who went around talking smack about Boone to the media, and it was Rylee who made it sound as if Boone was behaving like a guilty man.
“I’ll go with you.” She might as well take the time to set some new boundaries and get the answer to one final question. Without glancing over her shoulder, she made her way down the hallway and into the master bedroom. Quickly, she found the shoebox. “So, tell me. Are you Maverick T. Jett LLC?”
“You know I am.” He leaned his shoulder against the wall and folded his arms. The fan over the king-size bed whopped overhead.
“What does that stand for?”
“Jett was Ariana’s little brother’s name. He died of muscular dystrophy when she was fifteen. Maverick was Phil’s father’s name. He died of dementia a few years ago. The T stands for Tina. My mother’s name.”
“That makes it hard to hate you.”
“I’m sorry that I’ve hurt you. That was never my intention. I care about you, Paget. More than I ever thought I could. I’ve wanted to tell you and I planned on it. I’ve just been searching for the right time.”
“The second we kissed you should have told me the truth.” She pulled out the pill bottle and handed it to him. “I can forgive you for lying to me about your identity. I can actually understand why you’d do that. But I will never forgive you for buying my cabin the way you did, knowing how I would feel about that.”
“I take it you’re not going to let me just give it back to you?”
Tears burned the corners of her eyes. She’d worked hard for the small piece of land, and it had been home. It killed her to let it go, but it would forever be tainted now.
“No. I’m not. And I’m not even going to try to buy it back.” She held his gaze for a long tense moment. She loved him without a doubt and that would make this so much harder. “If what you say is true, and you can prove that Rylee willingly and knowingly put a harmful compound in those pills, we will be grateful. And my father will thank you. I will thank you, and I will ask you to leave because I never want to see you again.”
He inched forward. “You don’t mean that. We can work this out.”
She held up her hand. “There is nothing to work out. You destroyed my trust, and I can’t and won’t have anything to do with you ever again. So, either you leave town, or I leave. It’s your call.”
He held up his hands. “I’ll leave tomorrow.”
She arched a brow. “That’s quick.”
He shrugged. “I need to go work on finding out exactly what is in these pills, and for every person that was taking them and died, I need to research what else they were taking and what underlying conditions they had. I’ll have to come back to tie up loose ends, but if you want me gone, I can give that to you.”
She snapped her fingers. “Wow. I don’t know; I expected you to at least fight for us a little.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t play that game, Paget, and you know it. I care about you. A lot. Hell, I’m falling in love with you, but if you don’t feel the same way and you’re not going to be able to get past this, then I’m not going to sit around here and beg, especially when I can finally do the right thing.” He waved the pill bottle. “I’m sorry. I know I fucked up.” He stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “I’ll sell the bar and grill, but I’m not selling the cabin. Not to anyone but you. I’ll hire someone to take care of it, or you can take care of it. I’ll leave those details in your hands. I’ll be in touch with what I find out and just so you know, Ariana has spoken to the lawyer who tried to take your mom’s case to the courts. If what I suspect is true, you might be able to sue for wrongful death against my old company and my ex-wife. I will do whatever it takes if it comes down to that in order to make sure you get your justice.” He turned and marched down the hallway.
Actually, he more or less ran.
She plopped herself down on her father’s bed and covered her eyes with her hands. The tears came hot and fast. She wouldn’t chase him. It didn’t matter if he did love her.
It wasn’t enough.
Not when he could lie so easily and manipulate with money as if the green bills could solve all their problems.
When in reality, it only created more, especially when it came to her and Boone.
9
Paget adjusted her hat, blocking the glaring rays from the setting sun. It had been four weeks since Boone had gotten on a plane to fly to LA. Four weeks since she’d had a decent whiskey sour and four weeks since she’d heard his sexy voice.
He called her father almost every day, but not once had he reached out to her.
Not once.
That spoke volumes.
She swirled her peach-colored drink and stared at the empty house next door.
The sound of the back door crashing closed caught her attention. She glanced over her shoulder. “Do you need help?”
“No. I’ve got it,” her father said as he pushed his walker across the grass and headed in her direction. “I’ve got some really great news.”
“The doctors have a cure for your cancer?”
He laughed, though it wasn’t funny. Not at all. The more she learned about her dad’s illness, the more she understood how little time she had left with him, and she was going to spend every second she could with him. She had even swallowed her pride and decided she’d keep her cabin and the money Boone had offered from the sale.
But she’d done so reluctantly and only because her father had begged her to take Boone’s offer to let him pay off all their debt, giving her the chance to start fresh.
To start over.
And it would allow her father to live out his days without worrying about her future.
Only he still had one big concern, and it was making her batshit crazy.
“It’s not that good, but it’s the next best thing.” He squeezed her shoulder before sitting on one of the big wooden patio chairs. “I just got off the phone with Boone.”
She sat up a little taller. “And?” The last major talk they’d had with Boone, he’d been able to recreate everything in the original pill, and he’d all but proved his chemical compound, which could cause a heart attack in certain people, had been used in his ex-wife’s supplement. Two days ago, he’d been in the process of getting the necessary information to the authorities so they could do whatever they needed to do to take down Rylee White.
“I’m taping the evening news, but in a nutshell, the grand jury has indicted Rylee.” Her father took her hand and kissed the palm. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but everything happens for a reason.”