With this in mind, he was already shaking his head. “I don’t like that idea.”
“Oh, I forgot the other part of the turning yourself in,” Kylie said hurriedly. “You have to show them this note. It can be used as evidence to get the judge to put a gag order on Hilary. But it can also be used to prove you’re just trying to get around an attempt at blackmail.”
That was an interesting notion. Titus thought about it for a moment or two. It could certainly be considered stacking the deck in his favor. Blackmail was illegal, and even though this was a very strange kind of blackmail and Hilary would argue she was only pressuring a criminal to do the right thing, it was still wrong. And that’s how the law was going to see it.
“And if I decide to go through with this hairbrained scheme of yours?” Titus prompted Kylie. “What then? Are you going to go back to treating me like the worst person in the world?”
“What?” She looked confused. At least for a second. And then it was like the last twenty-four hours came rushing back in and a guarded expression replaced her bewilderment. “Look, you’re the one who had a previous relationship with Caroline Fry that you’ve not really finished with. That wasn’t anything to do with me.”
“Seriously?” Titus shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was pretty sure he was getting ready to rip her head off now. “You honestly believe I had a relationship with Caroline?” Titus got to his feet. He felt disgust that she could actually think he was that sort of person. “Yes, I slept with her. It was a long time ago and it was a mistake. I thought we were both consenting adults having some fun. I’m not a relationship guy. Not normally. And I sure as hell didn’t make her any promises. Ask anyone, Kylie. I’m not the sort of person to make promises that I don’t intend to keep. That’s not how I’m wired.”
“But that’s not what…”
“And you believe her?” Titus scoffed and exhaled as he tried to be rational and realistic about what was happening. This was not going to work if she could be so swayed by someone like Caroline. “That’s the part that gets me, Kylie. You already know what Caroline is capable of.”
“But you’re not human. You’re a shifter or a wolf or whatever. Maybe that’s just your nature.” She did not miss a beat when she said that to him.
Titus gave a slow nod of his head. “You’re right. I am. And if you believe the shifter part of my nature is somehow less than what I would or could be with a human heart and human nature, then that’s your problem.” He turned and started to walk out of the office. “And it’s your loss too. You can keep the letter, but I’m not turning myself in. I’ll deal with Hilary for myself since that’s the only person it would appear I have to worry about.”
Titus could tell Kylie was stung by his comment. But what else could he do? This wasn’t going to work if Kylie was so determined to think of him as the big bad wolf. He wasn’t. More like a puppy really. And not the sort likely to bite your hand off either.
Walking out of that office was the hardest thing Titus had ever done. He felt as though he was leaving his heart behind on the doorstep. He kept thinking she would come after him, chase him down at some point before he made it out of the building. Then he was sure she was going to come out to the parking lot and tell him not to go, tell him they needed to discuss things before he made a big mistake. Leaving being the mistake of course.
But she didn’t. She let him go. And Titus exited the parking lot onto the relief route still wondering if he had made the right decision. But at the end of the day, he could not be with someone who believed his wolf nature made him evil.
Maybe that was why shifters rarely took humans to mate. Humans couldn’t grasp what it was like to be a shifter and shifters couldn’t understand human frailties. That meant it would be a long and lonely road for Titus.
He was perhaps a half a mile away from the winery when he spotted the nondescript white SUV behind him. It normally wouldn’t have meant much to him, yet in the rearview mirror of his truck, he could see the driver had bright red hair behind her enormous dark sunglasses.
Titus turned right at the next intersection and headed back up toward the Route 76 strip. The white SUV turned right. He turned left into a big and crowded parking lot. There was a lot of stopping and starting again in order to make one big circuit of the parking lot. Pedestrian traffic and other cars created a lot of barriers between Titus and his pursuer. But soon enough, Titus emerged from the lot and headed right out of the parking lot exactly the way he’d entered.
As he’d expected, the SUV also circled the parking lot, albeit in a more confused sort of pattern that seemed to involve a lot of slamming on the brakes and gunning the engine to try to get around the people walking through the lot. Of course, then the white SUV turned right out onto the street and wound up two cars behind Titus. There was no doubt in his mind the SUV was following him and it was probably Hilary behind the wheel. She had sent the message. So, what did she want now?
At some point, Titus decided he’d had enough. He pulled off the road into the parking lot of a deserted amusement park and parked. He only had to wait a short period of time before the SUV roared into the lot. But Hilary didn’t actually park and get out. She just sat there in her truck waiting for something or someone.
Titus watched the SUV and wondered if this was the moment the red-headed bimbo actually tried to go through with murdering Titus. But she didn’t do anything at all. She just sat there. Finally, as if her time was up, she swung a wide U-turn and headed back out to the street without stopping to say a word to Titus. It was like she just wanted him to know she was watching him.
He almost felt disappointed. It would have been really nice to have a conversation about what was happening so he actually understood it. Not that Titus really believed Hilary could provide that sort of insight into her behavior. The more he dealt with her, the more Titus believed Hilary Allenwood wasn’t quite right in the head. She had a fixation with her sister’s death that bordered on the fanatical.
If Titus hadn’t known better, he might have thought Hilary somehow held herself responsible for what had happened.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Well now,” Douglas Thalman murmured as he stared down at the even lines of writing on the thick cream-colored page of stationary. “And you said Hilary delivered this to Titus Holbrook’s office?”
“That’s what he told me.” Kylie felt as though her face was frozen in this mask of neutrality she was currently wearing. “And Titus isn’t one to say anything without first establishing some kind of provenance.”
“That’s true enough,” Doug agreed. He turned the note over once and looked at the back and then turned it right face up and stared at the words again. “And she handwrote it. That’s just so foolish I don’t even know what else to say about it.”
Kylie had to admit the silliness of putting those words to paper in Hilary’s own handwriting had already occurred to her. “Maybe she had someone else write it for her?”
“I would suppose it possible.” Doug picked up his pen and began furiously scribbling on a piece of paper. “However, there were plenty of witnesses to the fact Hilary has an unhealthy obsession with Titus Holbrook and trying to get him to admit to some kind of crime. I’ve already spoken to Caroline Fry. She answered the subpoena almost immediately. Of course, she tried to tell me she wanted to be paid for her testimony.”
Kylie sucked back a quick breath of surprise. Then she began to have worries about getting some huge bribery bill from her lawyer. These are the people we had to pay to testify today. “No way! Is that even done?”
“No, of course not. That would rather negate the idea of willing and honest testimony. People might not be all that willing, but they have to comply and they have to tell what they know when compelled by the court. Anyone can pay a witness. The only people who get paid are expert witnesses and we don’t need any of those just yet.” Doug offered what he probably hoped was a reassuring smile, but Kylie wasn’t nec
essary assured.
Maybe it was this whole thing with Titus. That’s what was making Kylie twitchy. She had already decided to put him out of her mind, but she couldn’t. She’d gotten all wrapped up in this Hilary Allenwood thing with him. There was no getting around that fact. They were in this together somehow. End of story. So, why did she feel as though she was having such difficulty seeing Titus as merely a fellow sufferer of Hilary’s mean streak?
“What’s wrong, my dear?” Doug set the note down for a moment and folded his hands on his desktop. Kylie recognized the gesture. He was giving her his full attention. “You look as though you have something else on your mind.”
Kylie realized Doug might at least have some insight to offer on one topic that was consuming her. “You deal with a lot of liars in your profession, correct?”
“Of course.” Doug shrugged his shoulders and made it seem inevitable. “I deal with the law. The law doesn’t care about people’s emotional needs or their emotional baggage. It only has time for the absolute truth. That’s it. A good deal of the time that means people wind up lying to protect themselves. It’s the basis of all legal torts, don’t you think? If we were all honest, there would be no need to do anything more than mediation.”
What a thought. Kylie pursed her lips and wondered what it was she was actually trying to say. “I thought I knew someone. I thought this person was good. I thought he was honest and kind. And then I caught him—” Kylie stopped suddenly as she searched for an appropriate word. “Canoodling with another woman after he had already professed certain things to me.”
Doug’s expression grew soft. “Can we please just speak plainly, Kylie?”
“Yes.”
“So, you thought you’d met the perfect man and then you caught him stepping out on you?”
“Well, not exactly.” Kylie felt the strongest urge to be precisely correct here. She could not exaggerate. That would make her worse than Titus in this whole situation. “I walked into the living room and found Caroline Fry kneeling over him in a very—uh—compromising position. She stated there had been a previous relationship and after she left, I confronted Titus about it and he stated that was true! He slept with an employee, Doug. That’s not right!”
Something in Doug’s expression suggested he was thinking this through in a very thorough manner. He lightly tapped his pen on the blotter and gazed for a long moment at Kylie. Then he sighed and stopped tapping the pen in order to point it at her. “I think you’re missing the most important part of assessing the man’s character.” Doug waved the pen dismissively in the air and nearly flung it across the room. “And that is not based upon any of my personal interactions with Titus, of which there have been more than a few.”
“The most important part?” Kylie frowned. “What’s the most important part? Isn’t it the fact that he slept with a woman who works for him and obviously he needs to continue that liaison in order to get enough satisfaction in—ah—certain aspects of his life. You can’t…”
“Kylie, stop,” Doug chided. He pursed his lips and shook his head at her. “Titus is not a stupid man. He’s highly intelligent. I think we can both agree on that. Yes?”
Kylie nodded dumbly. She felt as though she wasn’t really getting her main point across.
“So, if we accept that Titus is not a stupid man, then we cannot just assume he engages in stupid behavior. When this incident occurred, you were in the room right next door. Correct?”
“Sleeping, yes.” Kylie took a breath to say more, but she was sort of getting an idea of what it was like to be a witness on the stand with Douglas Thalman rapidly firing questions during a hearing. He wasn’t giving her room to say any more than he wanted.
“All right. If we continue to believe that Titus is not stupid because he has never given us any reason to believe otherwise, then we can also assume he would not engage in sexual behavior with a woman from a previous relationship in a room where you could walk in at any second. It just doesn’t make any sense.” Doug paused for a brief moment to let his point sink in.
Kylie hurried to speak. “But maybe he’s into that! There are people who enjoy the risk, Doug. You know there are. Lots of them. People who would really get off on the idea of being with an old lover with a new lover in the next room. The excitement of potential discovery and all that.”
Doug did not even respond to that. He just tilted his head sideways and gave Kylie a look.
Kylie swallowed. “Okay. I can kind of see what you’re driving at. I would have never thought Titus Holbrook was that sort of risk taker. Not that kind anyway. But maybe his nature just says he needs that sort of dangerous stimulation.”
“To a more basic question then,” Doug continued. He steepled his fingers in front of him and that was when Kylie realized Doug was enjoying himself. He loved to banter and argue back and forth. No wonder he was a lawyer. “When you came upon the two people in question, one of them being Titus and the other being Caroline Fry, did it actually look as though Titus was the aggressor?”
“What?”
“Did he look as though he had instigated that situation? Or did it look as though something else had happened?” Doug demanded.
Kylie’s brain was spinning around in circles. She’d had such a graphic view of Caroline’s nether parts from her spot in the bedroom doorway that it was difficult to think about anything else. But the truth was Titus had been passively sitting on the couch. In fact, Titus had looked a lot like one of those scenes you see in a movie where the guy is sitting in a strip club getting a lap dance and he can’t touch the woman. Titus’s hands had been notably absent.
“He wasn’t touching her,” Kylie whispered, her breath catching in her throat. “He was sitting on the couch, but he wasn’t touching her. At all.”
“Ah.” Doug actually sounded triumphant. “So, you were assuming he was either enjoying or at least welcoming what Caroline was doing because he wasn’t pushing her violently away from him as you wanted him to.”
“Wait. What?” Kylie rocked back in her chair and stared at Doug. “No! That’s not—well I suppose I—no. That’s not it at all.”
Now there was a tiny smile in the corner of Doug’s mouth that made Kylie feel like she’d just been caught in a lie. She hadn’t been though. She hadn’t been lying. She didn’t want Titus to violently shove Caroline away. That would be over the top.
“My, my, my!” Doug crowed. “You are a rare woman—person actually—indeed to not have any strong feelings about the way your current lover rejects a past lover in your favor.”
“Excuse me?” Kylie was starting to really regret opening this topic of conversation with Doug at all. She would keep that in mind for future reference.
Then Doug seemed to soften again. His courtroom demeanor melted beneath what was almost a grandfatherly concern. “Kylie, any woman would want to see her lover give an immediate and decisive put down to a woman like Caroline who came sniffing around, especially if the relationship was new, which I’m assuming it likely was. You wanted Titus to reject Caroline and make a point of telling her he was with you and nothing and nobody else mattered to him. That’s human nature. Far more than your whole excitement of getting caught idea.”
“You’re making fun of me,” Kylie whispered. “That’s not fair.”
“I’m not making fun.” Doug sighed. He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as though seeking divine help. “I’ve known you for a very long time, Kylie. I knew your parents. We were friends. You lost them a long time ago when you were far too young to be alone in the world and you have been struggling ever since. That is also human nature—the desire to protect ourselves from potential heartache.”
Kylie was having trouble breathing. She tried to stand up, but her feet wouldn’t cooperate. She wound up flopping back to her seat and simply shaking her head. She wasn’t buying this. This was not about her. It was not about being afraid of loving someone.
Yet, Kylie could not deny the fear was there. The
apprehension of what would happen if she fell hard for someone who didn’t return her feelings. Someone who had other motives. What was worse really? Being rejected because the person you love just isn’t into you? Or not being rejected? Being strung along like a kite over months and maybe even years when the person you thought you knew wasn’t really the person who loved and cherished you at all.
“You don’t do close relationships,” Doug told her gently. “Think about it. Do you have any close girlfriends? Do you have friends you’re not really sure of because you know you need companionship, but are willing to half-ass it because that’s easier and far less frightening than true intimacy?”
Kylie frowned. She wasn’t in the mood to listen to this. “I have lots of friends.”
“Oh? If I told you right now that you needed to make sure you were with a friend this afternoon for some reason,” Doug seemed to be casting about for a reason, “let’s say for an alibi, who would you call?”
“My neighbor.”
“Titus Holbrook?”
“No. Ursuline Wankenfurter.”
Doug made a low noise that Kylie wasn’t entirely certain how to interpret. He sounded as though he was growling at her. “Really, Kylie? That’s your answer? You realize I’ve been reviewing notes and files and things for your case and I’ve got a dossier on Ms. Wankenfurter. Are you telling me a seventy-year-old woman is your first choice for an alibi?”
“She’s practical,” Kylie said defensively. She didn’t want to admit he was right. It was a bit too close to home in too many ways. “She would make a great alibi!”
“And if you wanted to go shopping tomorrow, that’s who you would call?”
Now Kylie was trapped. She wouldn’t say Rochelle because that would have been one painful shopping trip. And the rest of her so-called girlfriends would have been the same story. They just didn’t have much in common. Only the wine. And Kylie didn’t actually drink wine. She just got the stuff on the cheap from work.
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