She wasn’t, but after reading up on his actions, she believed Levi knew the Legacy Group better than anyone, and losing his knowledge and experience would hurt the company. Somehow, she’d have to find a way to work with her cousin. If she could get him to let go of the frustration of her grandmother leaving everything to her and not him, then maybe they could work together.
That was a big maybe.
“I’m not being naive. Figuring out Levi is going to be hard, but it’s not impossible,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “That’s why we’re going to his birthday party this weekend.”
Russell sat up straight. “What?”
Ashiya had considered the idea soon after Brianna was asked to help her Aunt Gertrude plan for the event. Since coming to Hilton Head, she’d spent most of her time reviewing Legacy Group information and preparing for the upcoming board meeting. She hadn’t spent time with her family since the funeral.
“Levi’s party is the perfect chance for me to learn more about Levi and the rest of my family. If I can build a bridge with Levi, maybe the two of us can work together to run the company.”
Russell raised a brow and gave her a skeptical, you’re-better-than-me look. “I think that’s asking a lot. Don’t forget there is still the question of the embezzled funds.”
“I haven’t forgotten about that. Going to his party also gives me the chance to question him about that. If he is involved, then I won’t hesitate to fire him.”
No matter how much she wanted to work with her cousin, she wouldn’t keep him if he was doing anything to harm the Legacy Group. She might not have wanted her inheritance, but she’d agreed to accept the responsibility. She wouldn’t let it be destroyed under her watch.
Russell nodded. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“As much as I want to get closer to my dad’s family, I won’t play the fool.” She leaned forward, rested her arms on her knees and smiled at Russell. “So, will you come with me?”
He broke eye contact and crossed his right ankle over his knee. “If it’s a family thing, I don’t need to go.”
“But you’re my business consultant. You’ll also need to learn more about the family and maybe even talk to Levi without it being in the middle of a shouting match. I’ll feel better if you’re there with me.”
He hesitated before saying, “Fine. I’ll go.”
She straightened and clapped her hands. “Thank you.”
Russell shook his head, and his lips lifted in a half smile. Ashiya’s heart swelled. If he’d looked at her like that three years ago, she would have sat on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He’d cup the back of her head with one hand and run the other over her hip and thigh. Then she’d wiggle just enough to feel the rise of his dick against her ass.
The half smile on Russell’s face drifted away. Ashiya stopped clapping and pressed her clasped hands over her racing heart. Tension sucked the air from the room as memories from the night before, rushed in and took advantage of their moment of weakness.
She wanted his lips on hers again. So much so she was on the verge of saying to hell with moving slow and hopping on his lap for old times’ sake. But she couldn’t push. Not if she wanted Russell to admit how he felt for her.
Ashiya cleared her throat and stood. “I’ll go review more of the meeting minutes.”
Russell held up a hand. “Why were you in the pantry last night?”
Ashiya froze, and her lips parted. She hadn’t expected him to broach the subject of the night before. Not this soon. She’d assumed he would want to forget everything and pretend it never happened. At least until it happened again. The spark in his eye the moment before was a sure bet it would happen again.
She lowered back to the edge of the chair. “I was getting a snack.”
“That late?”
The question in his voice made her chuckle. She hadn’t been there to lure him into her arms. “Is there something wrong with getting a late-night snack?”
He shook his head. “No. You just...you weren’t typically a nighttime snacker.”
Fair enough. She was adamant about not eating after eight. Whenever she ate late, either she couldn’t fall asleep because of acid reflux or she’d toss and turn with weird dreams.
“I need something in my stomach when I take a sleeping pill,” she said with a shoulder shrug.
“You’re taking sleeping pills?” His questioning tone seemed to not be about her taking the pills but for the reason.
She nodded. “Only since I’ve been here. It’s hard for me to rest in a strange place. That combined with the stress of taking over the company, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep without them.”
“That’s why you’re sleeping in. You were always an early riser.” He nodded, and he spoke the words as if he’d just solved a mystery. Had he worried about her sleeping in instead of being the perky morning person he used to know?
“I don’t take them until later in the night, and then I struggle to get up in the morning.” She held up a hand when he opened his mouth to respond. “I know I can’t keep this up. I can’t skip morning board meetings because I’m groggy from a sleeping pill.”
He cocked his head to the side. “That isn’t what I was going to say.”
“Oh, what was it?”
“You’re up this morning. Did you not take one last night?”
Ashiya dropped her eyes to the items on her desk. “No.”
She should have, but she’d been afraid that sleep, even a chemically induced one, would bring back the nightmares. Though logically she’d known she wouldn’t be left there for too long. Russell was the only person who could have closed the door, and even though she wasn’t his favorite person in the world, she knew he wouldn’t leave her locked in the pantry all night. In the moment, memories of being locked away for two days with no one coming no matter how loud she screamed had risen to the surface and chased away all logic.
She hated the fear. Tossing and turning, reliving the memory of being in Russell’s arms, was better than the potential of having nightmares. She’d take being groggy because of fantasies of the way he’d looked at her, how his lips had come within centimeters of touching hers, any day. Surprisingly, she’d eventually fallen asleep at four and snatched a few hours of sleep.
She tugged on her ear and avoided eye contact. “I guess I was worn out after overreacting about the pantry.”
“I’m sorry about that.” Regret filled his voice.
She waved away his apology. She’d overreacted and was embarrassed to have him see her like that. “It’s fine. I know it wasn’t on purpose.”
“Why did you—”
Ashiya’s cell phone rang. She let out a relieved breath and snatched it up from the table. “It’s Brianna. I should take this.”
Russell hesitated a second before nodding. “I’ve got some things to check out.”
“You do that. I’ll find out the details on Levi’s party and let you know.” She accepted the call and put the phone to her ear before he could reply. “Hello?”
She ignored Russell’s stare and focused on Brianna’s update about her meetings with the board members. She was thankful for the interruption. If he asked her why she’d panicked, then she’d have to tell him some reason. She didn’t want to lie to Russell again, but she couldn’t tell him the truth.
It was her fault she’d gotten locked away for two days. Anyone who knew the story would understand, but revealing her weakness would only make her vulnerable. She’d kept the secret for so long, she could almost pretend as if it never happened. That, and she never wanted anyone to judge her parents for what happened.
What would the good people of Jackson Falls say if they knew George and Elizabeth Waters had accidentally left their daughter locked in a basement in a strange home over a weekend? In true Robidoux fashion, she and
her family kept that little mistake, as her mom called it, to themselves.
Russell finally stood and walked to the door. He stopped before leaving and looked back at her. Ashiya smiled and waved him out, but the smile felt brittle. His eyes narrowed before he turned and left. Leaving her with the impression that the conversation they’d started wasn’t over.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
RUSSELL LEFT ASHIYA to her call with Brianna and decided to use the time for his other reason for being in Hilton Head. Besides the visit with the detective at the start of the week, he hadn’t had the chance to do much else in his search for Rodrick. He couldn’t blame Ashiya—he was here to help her—but that didn’t stop guilt from twining through his midsection because he’d let his incessant attraction for her widen the cracks of his defenses.
He’d braced himself for her to bring up what happened the night before. Braced himself for her to force him to confront what he already knew: that he still wanted her. Ashiya had tried to get him to talk to her and admit that they could try again so many times since they’d split, and each time he’d shut her down quickly. Almost kissing her the night before would have been the perfect opportunity for her to prove her point. Instead, she’d focused on work and kept things professional until he’d been the one to broach the subject. Only to have her thrown off guard again.
There was so much he didn’t know or understand about her. She’d held so much of herself back when he’d fallen in love that now he wanted to discover all of her secrets. Right now, learning everything about her, held more pull than staying away from her.
He turned past the sign offering newly constructed homes into a neighborhood of beautiful houses with perfectly manicured lawns. He leaned forward and read the gold numbers on the matching mailboxes before finding the number 264. He pulled up to the curb in front of the two-story, Craftsman-style home.
A blue Range Rover sat in the open two-car garage. A young white boy who looked to be between the ages of six and eight played with several toy trucks on the walkway in front of the house. He stopped playing and glanced at Russell with wide, curious eyes.
Russell cut the engine and got out of the car. He smiled and walked around the car to his passenger side, though he didn’t go into the yard. “Hi, is this were Melissa Chandler lives?”
The boy nodded so hard his blond curls bounced. “That’s my mom. I’ll get her.” He jumped up from his mountain of toys and ran up the brick stairs and into the house. “Mom! There’s a guy out here.”
Russell left his car and walked to the bottom of the stairs. The sun shone brightly down on this little slice of suburbia. A small part of him felt guilty for coming unexpectedly like this. A bigger part of him knew the element of surprise could work in his favor.
Melissa Chandler was one of the people to last see his brother. She’d attended the same party that Rodrick had, and his brother had mentioned meeting a girl named Melissa and hanging out with her and her friends. Russell had never met her before, just heard her name as someone the police had investigated who didn’t have answers. Since he was in the area for a long time, he’d decided that visiting some of the people himself who’d seen Rodrick last might jog memories more than the same round of questions from an uninterested detective.
The boy came back to the door, a short blonde woman on his heels. The woman smiled warily as she caught sight of Russell. She opened the glass door but didn’t step out on the porch.
“May I help you?” she asked in a Southern belle drawl.
Russell nodded. “Are you Melissa Chandler?”
“I am. Do I know you?”
Russell shook his head. “No, but you did know my brother, Rodrick. My name is Russell Gilchrist. My brother Rodrick attended a spring break party with you about fifteen years ago and never came home. I was hoping you would give me a few minutes and let me know if you remember anything about that night.”
Her mouth parted with a silent inhale. After a quick blink of her blue eyes, she nodded and came out of the house onto the porch. “Oh, yes, Russell Gilchrist. Detective Mitchell mentioned you.”
Russell was surprised that she expected him. “He did?”
“Yes. He called me a few days ago. Every few years the department assigns a new detective, and they call and ask me questions about that night.” She lifted her shoulder in a what-you-gonna-do fashion.
Russell waited a beat for her to continue. When she just continued to smile a sweet, innocent smile, he continued. “And what do you tell them?”
“The same thing. I don’t remember much. They keep saying I went to the party with your brother, but it wasn’t like that. Me and several friends met up with a group of other college students in town for spring break. We all went together. I didn’t know half of the people in the group.”
“You don’t remember Rodrick?” Russell asked.
Rodrick hadn’t called to check in every day when he’d been partying during spring break, but Russell remembered a quick call with Rodrick when he mentioned meeting up with a girl named Melissa later that night. He’d told that to every detective, and every detective came back with the same story: the only Melissa they could find at the party didn’t remember his brother.
Russell slid his cell phone out of the pocket of his slacks and pulled up a picture of his brother. He held up the phone face forward and walked closer to the steps so she could see it better.
“This is Rodrick. It was taken right before he came down here for spring break. Are you sure you don’t remember seeing him that night?”
Melissa’s eyes dropped to his cell phone and her body froze. The edges of her smile wilted, and something flashed in her eyes. A second later she glanced at him and shook her head. “I’m so sorry. He looks vaguely familiar, but that could also be because the detectives have shown me his picture so many times. You really have no idea what happened to him after all these years?”
Russell pulled his phone back. Disappointment weighed heavily on him. From her initial reaction he’d thought she’d remembered something. He wanted to demand she look at the picture longer. Beg her to study it and go through everything that happened that night. He couldn’t do either. He was a strange man who’d shown up at her house unannounced. If he pushed and she got upset, this entire visit could go sideways.
“No, we don’t. My parents and I are still trying to find answers.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Her words rang hollow. As if she were giving the condolences out of politeness and not because she truly felt that way.
“It’s been really hard on my mom. Having her son disappear without a trace or a word.”
Melissa’s gaze slid from him over to her son playing with the trucks. A line formed between her brows, and she pressed a hand to her heart. “I can only imagine how she must feel.” That time she sounded more sincere.
“Which is why if you remember anything or know of anyone else I can talk to, I’d appreciate it. All I want is to find out what happened to my brother.”
She let out a shaky breath and met his eyes again. “I wish I could help you, but I really don’t know what happened to your brother. It was such a long time ago.”
“What about other people at the party? The detective mentioned a Bryce Viognier. Would he know any—”
“Bryce, no!” Melissa held out a hand and shook her head. “He wouldn’t know anything.”
Russell frowned. “But he was also at the party.”
“Yeah, and Bryce was drunk as a skunk at that party. He’s always had a drinking problem, and it’s only gotten worse as the years have gone on,” Melissa said, sounding disgusted. “If you do talk to him, good luck with him remembering what happened the day before, much less fifteen years ago.”
Once again, disappointment dipped Russell’s shoulders. The idea of talking to a man so drunk he couldn’t remember the previous day wasn’t very encouraging. Still, he
would try to find Bryce and talk to him. Detective Mitchell mentioned Bryce lived in a houseboat at the pier and was rarely in town because he often took his boat up and down the coast. Russell hoped to talk to him before he left town again.
“Anyone else you can think of?” he asked. “Any bit of information a person could have would help.”
Melissa gave him an apologetic smile that didn’t make Russell feel any better about making this impromptu trip. “Sorry. Most of the kids moved away or were from out of town.”
“But you decided to stay? Are you from this area?”
She nodded. “I am. I planned to move away, but I was lucky and got a job with the Legacy Group. There’s no place like home.”
“The Legacy Group? Then maybe I’ll see you around. I’m working with the new chairwoman.”
Melissa’s smile fell. “You are?”
“I am. I’ll be in town for a while. If you do happen to remember anything, you’ll be able to reach me easily.”
Melissa toyed with the edge of her blouse. “Good to know.” Once again the sincerity had left her voice.
He forced his lips up into a smile. “I won’t take any more of your time. See you around, Melissa.”
She stayed on the porch and watched him as he walked away. He couldn’t tell if she were lying or not. Remembering what happened at a spring break party fifteen years ago would be hard for anyone. He wished he had something more concrete than a quick call with Rodrick about meeting a girl named Melissa to go on. She might not even be the Melissa Rodrick mentioned.
He lifted his hand and waved as he drove off. Melissa waved back but didn’t smile. The disappointment of another cold lead sat heavily across his chest. He wouldn’t let the disappointment discourage him. As long as he kept looking, then he had to believe that one day he’d find out what happened to his brother.
CHAPTER TWELVE
AFTER SPENDING THE next day and a half tap-dancing around the almost-kiss with Russell, Ashiya was ready to let off a little steam at Levi’s birthday party. Though when she arrived and noticed Levi’s party was almost as elaborate as a Robidoux party, she wasn’t sure how much steam she’d realistically be able to let off.
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