Revenge

by Lexi Blake

  “I’m going down to talk to the press,” Hatch said, his jaw tightening. “I’m going to clear everything up right now. I’ll get all of you out of this and bring it down to me and Iris.”

  “You will do nothing of the kind.” Drew’s head came up, his eyes flashing with anger. “You’ve done enough. I won’t have you blowing this up any further. Get out of this house and don’t you come back again. The next time I see you, I’ll kill you.”

  “What’s going on?” Riley asked.

  “You want to tell them, Hatch? Or should I?” Drew asked. “You want to explain to them how you fucked our mother, called Dad your best friend, and then lovingly stabbed him in the back?”

  “I thought the money would be used for the divorce,” Hatch said, his voice a tortured whisper.

  “The divorce?” Bran asked.

  Drew slapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Oh, you didn’t know that Hatch here intended to marry Mom. Unfortunately, instead of marrying her, he gave her the money she needed to have us murdered.”

  “Drew, this is not the way to tell them.” Shelby had known he would have a real problem with this, but she’d never once seen him so unhinged.

  “How should I tell them, Shelby? Should I let you write a book about this, too? I should have let you write the first one, since nothing I did or tried or was willing to sacrifice spared them a single second of pain. All this time wasted on revenge plans, when the real person I should have avenged myself on was the very one I went to begging for help.”

  “Drew, I get that something’s happened with Hatch,” Mia started, “but he’s still the man who did help us when we needed it.”

  “Hatch was having an affair with Mom?” Bran asked. “But he told us he didn’t do that.”

  Hatch had gone pale. “I know, son. I’m so sorry.”

  Drew pointed a finger Hatch’s way. “Don’t you call him son. He’s not your son.”

  “I love him like a son,” Hatch replied. “Drew, let me go down there. I’ll take it all on myself. None of you has to go through this.”

  “Don’t you dare. You don’t get to fuck this up.” Drew began to stride toward Hatch, his body moving in predatory lines.

  Shelby had to do something. She stepped up and put herself between Drew and Hatch. “Let’s all go sit and talk about this like an actual family.”

  “You said you didn’t want to be in this family,” Drew shot back. “I think that means you don’t get a whole lot of say in how we do business. So if I want to throw down with the asshole who ruined my life, I will.”

  “I never said that. I said I couldn’t be with a man who lied to me,” she corrected.

  He turned away from Hatch, all that predatory focus settling on her in an instant. He moved toward her, gripping her elbow and starting for the kitchen.

  Was he planning on tossing her out? She hurried to keep up with him. “This isn’t the way to deal with the problem. You can’t fight with Hatch right now. I know he’s disappointed you, but if he’s willing to talk to the press or the police, you have to think about it. He could save you a lot of pain.”

  Drew stopped, dropping her arm and turning to look at her. He’d gotten them far enough from the crowd in the living room that they likely couldn’t hear. Still, his voice went low. “I want a week.”

  He was not doing this to her again. “This is not a bargain.”

  He towered over her, his face set in tight lines, like he was barely holding on. “Everything is a bargain, baby. You want me to sit down and deal with my family issues like a man who isn’t about to murder someone? I want a full week of you staying with me.”

  She kind of wanted to murder someone, too. Him. “Are you serious? You’re doing this here and now?”

  “Here and now. I’ll do what you want me to do if you promise me you’ll stay here with me for one more week and you won’t kick me out of our bed.” He snapped his fingers. “And you’ll stay in our bed. You do that and I’ll sit down and try not to physically throw Hatch down the driveway.”

  “You have to talk to him.” Surely he could see that reason. She’d watched Hatch, seen the pain in his eyes, and she believed him. She also knew Drew had to work through this. “You have to figure out what he really knows about Iris and how all of this is going to play into her plans. You know she’s got something in mind, right? Maybe it’s the blackmail scheme, but maybe it’s something else.”

  “I’ll behave if you take my deal.”

  “And if I walk out right now?”

  “Then nothing else matters and you won’t care what I do.”

  He wanted to use this tragedy to get her back into bed? How crass was he? How . . . did he have any other way to communicate with her? Anything else he trusted? She looked up at him and realized in some ways he was still a lost boy. Yes, he’d built something amazing and he’d pulled himself out of the depths of where he’d been left, but he wanted something more. Something he wasn’t capable of asking for. Something he tried to bully and bargain for.

  The one thing that could never be purchased or coerced.

  “Oh, Drew, staying with you for a week won’t change my mind.” She reached up to stroke his cheek. There was only one thing that could change her mind. She wanted him to love her, but she wasn’t sure Drew was capable.

  “I’m willing to risk that. You’ll just stay in the same room and the same bed you’ve been in this whole time. I don’t see how it can hurt anything.” He stared at her, but there was a blank look on his face, as though he’d already accepted that she would reject him.

  He was willing to risk her leaving. He was plotting and planning and trying to get what he really wanted. Her. She didn’t doubt that, but she couldn’t stay with a man who didn’t trust her, who might never love her. But she could have a few more nights. One week of extra memories to stock up on before she left them all.

  She sighed. “All right, Drew, but it doesn’t mean I’ll sleep with you.”

  She would and she knew it, but she couldn’t make that part of the bargain. Their sexual relationship couldn’t be some deal between them. She had to keep one thing real.

  His hands came up, finding her shoulders, and she felt a shudder of relief go through him. “Okay. Now, I’ll talk to him. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter. He’s a means to an end. I don’t need him for anything but some information. You should come with me. You’re good at telling when someone’s lying. I could use that. I’m quite bad at it.”

  She was good at seeing through deception, which was precisely why she knew Drew was lying about Hatch. His heart was breaking, but he wouldn’t let anyone see it. He wouldn’t let anyone in.

  She heard the bell ring, and Drew cursed.

  “Do you think it’s the reporters?” How had they gotten past security?

  Case walked in, a grim look on his face. “Drew, it’s the police. They want to take you downtown. They have some questions.”

  Drew leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Don’t wait up for me. We’ll talk in the morning. And you’ll see. I need a week to make it better for you. It can work. You just have to decide what you want and I’ll give it to you and we’ll be fine.”

  He turned and she followed him, her heart shuddering in her chest. It was surreal. There were police officers standing in the room and they were waiting for Drew. The press had seen them coming up to the house. They’d probably filmed it and it would be all over the news.

  “Officers,” Drew said in an even tone. He held a hand out like nothing was wrong. “How can I help you?”

  So civil. So courteous. Like nothing was going on, when she knew somewhere inside he was screaming.

  The uniformed officer shook his hand. “Mr. Lawless, Mr. Hatchard, I’m real sorry about this, but given the accusations made earlier tonight, there are some FBI agents who would like to talk to you both. Now, I
said we could do it all civil-like and speak to you here, but I’ve found feds like to show their butts at every given opportunity.”

  “They want to get as much press as they can,” Hatch complained.

  Likely, they wanted to look like they were taking this seriously and not ignoring the pleas of a woman in possible need of protection. She’d stated over and over again that the reason she hadn’t come forward was her fear of Drew’s power.

  “The police can’t look like they’re taking sides,” Shelby said dully.

  “Do you need to cuff me?” Drew asked as though commenting about the weather.

  The officer shook his head. “Not at all. You’re not under arrest. Just some questions.”

  “Yes,” Drew agreed. “I suspect there will be a lot of them.”

  Riley ran down the stairs. He’d obviously dressed quickly, changing from his earlier casual wear to a suit and tie. The tie was slightly askew, but he looked like the lawyer he was.

  “I’m acting as my brother and Mr. Hatchard’s attorney,” he said to the officers. “I’d like to be allowed to drive them in. I would prefer the press didn’t get pictures of my clients in the back of a police car.”

  The officer frowned. “The feds will come down hard on us if we don’t bring these two in. I suspect before this is over, they’ll want to talk to all of you, but they’re interested in getting statements from Mr. Lawless and Mr. Hatchard tonight.”

  “Your partner is more than welcome to join us in the limo if he would like, or you can,” Riley continued. “Or we can follow you. I assure you there’s no flight risk. Mr. Lawless wants to get this settled as soon as possible.”

  “Follow us. We’ll get you through the press.” The officer turned and started for the door.

  “Case, keep things locked up here,” Drew said.

  And then he walked out and Shelby was left behind.

  Mia walked up and slipped an arm through hers, and then Carly and Ellie were surrounding them.

  She’d been left behind, but at least she wasn’t alone.

  • • •

  There was nothing quite like a police station interrogation room to make a man feel dirty. Drew wanted a shower after six hours of talking to the feds, who wanted to go over every moment of that night twenty years before in minute detail about twenty times. He knew what they were doing. They asked him questions about the minutiae, trying to trip him up, to catch him in a lie. They did it over and over again, hoping exhaustion would cause him to screw up and give up.

  He explained to them over and over again that his mother was a liar, but a lot of the damage was already done. He wasn’t sure what his stock price would do in the morning, but it probably wasn’t good.

  Riley stepped up, smoothing out his shirt. “Do I even want to know what you’re thinking?”

  “I’m wondering who’s going to buy software from the dude who supposedly killed his father and sent his pregnant mother on the run for years. You seem to forget that I’m the villain of this piece.”

  “And you seem to forget that this is America, and no one will give a shit as long as the software works. It’s the best, most cutting-edge piece of technology on the market, and no one is going to shy away from it because you’re the target of a smear campaign. She’s underestimating the American public. She thinks she can go on TV and cry and all the men will practically fall at her feet because she’s still beautiful, but she’s forgotten about one thing.”

  He couldn’t think of what it was. His mother seemed to plan perfectly. “What’s that?”

  “The women of this world,” Riley replied with a surety Drew couldn’t feel. “The mothers who would never have left their children in foster care even if they were in fear for their lives. Honestly, she’s forgetting the dads, too. There are going to be fathers out there who will have little sympathy for her because she didn’t stand up to her fourteen-year-old son and protect her other children. This is one place where she’s weak. She doesn’t have any empathy or understanding for other people. She can’t think they’ll see this in a different way than she wants them to. Drew, this is going to be all right. We’re going to win this because not a single one of us will back away from you.”

  Maybe they should. Maybe it would be better if he let Bran run the company with Riley advising him. He could sell off his stock to his brothers and Mia so they would maintain their voting shares and control. He could become a hermit somewhere. He’d always thought he’d make a good hermit. He could buy some land in Montana and become the mean old man he was destined to be. Maybe if he did that, the press would stay away from his family.

  And Shelby.

  “You all right?” Riley asked, sitting back as the limo rolled down the highway.

  “Of course.” He was feeling better now that he didn’t have to look at Hatch. He’d had to share a car with him on the way to the police station, and they’d been forced to sit together until they’d been split up for separate interrogations. “The new lawyer seems good.”

  “He better be for what he’s charging us,” Riley replied. “I’m sorry I left you with him, but I wanted to hear what Hatch had to say. I needed to make sure he wasn’t martyring himself. I convinced him not to admit to anything more than giving Iris the fifty thousand she requested for the divorce.”

  “If that’s what it was for.” He still had some questions.

  “Drew, why would he lie now? Do you honestly believe he would have paid fifty thousand dollars to see our father assassinated, and then blow through every bit of cash he got from the company? You have to look at his actions after that night. They’re not the actions of a man who was happy with his crime.”

  “I suppose he felt guilty. Or he was pissed because he didn’t get everything he wanted.” He knew he was being a stubborn ass, but he couldn’t think anything good of Hatch right now.

  Had Hatch conspired with their mother to make a true clean break of things? Had good old “Uncle” Hatch not wanted the burden of four children in his new life with the woman of his dreams?

  Riley sighed, the sound weary. “I know you’ve been thrown for a loop, but you can’t believe that Hatch was pissed because we didn’t die. We have to figure out how to deal with him and get through this.”

  “He can go to hell for all I care.” He would offer to buy Hatch out in the morning. Through lawyers, of course, since he never intended to see the man again if he didn’t have to. He would send him a notification of his termination in the morning, too.

  “Drew, you should have seen him tonight. He defended you every chance he got. I believe him. I think he did lie about the affair with our mother, but everything else was the truth.”

  “He claimed to have loved Dad.” That had been a blatant lie.

  “People do funny things when they’re in love,” Riley replied. “I think Hatch was blinded by love for our mother, and she used him like she used Dad. Like she ended up using Patricia. It’s kind of her MO. You should understand. After all, you’re the guy who’s blackmailing the woman you love into bed.”

  He felt his whole body flush. He hadn’t meant for that to be public information. “That was a private conversation.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have bought a house with an open-concept kitchen and excellent acoustics. I could easily hear you from the living room. I’m sure everyone else did, too. All I’m saying is you’re acting like an idiot about Shelby right now, and Hatch did the same a long time ago.”

  “He tried this argument on me already. I told him what I’m about to tell you. Don’t you ever mention Shelby’s name in the same sentence as our mother’s. It’s totally different. Shelby is kind and strong and our mother is a criminal.” It should be obvious to anyone that Shelby wasn’t in the same league as his mother. They weren’t even playing the same game.

  A smile tugged at Riley’s lips. “Do you have any idea how happy I am to
hear you say that?”

  “Why would you be happy?”

  “Because I was worried you would start painting every woman with the same brush as our mother. You can quickly shut yourself off when you want to. I thought you would cut Shelby out the minute we found out about Mom. That was what I thought was going on with the two of you earlier.”

  For the first time tonight, he felt how long a day it had been. He’d been hopped up on adrenaline for hours, and now he was finally coming down and the world seemed like such a darker place than it had been twenty-four hours before. “But I’ve known about Iris for a long time, and it never stopped me from trying to get Shelby. She’s nothing like our mother, but she’s also nothing like me, and I have to think about what I’m doing with her. I care about Shelby. I care about her more than I realized, and this thing with our mother isn’t going to be easy on any of us.”

  “Shelby’s tough and she’s loyal as the day is long.”

  “Tell me about it. She saw evidence that I murdered her brother and never once did she question that I’d actually done it.” He was still in awe of that. The trust she’d shown in him. He’d only ever had that from his family and . . . he wasn’t going there. “I get one picture from a bodyguard and blame her for all the ills of the world. And she was right about Hatch. I yelled at her and she was right.”

  “I think she can handle some yelling. She might even do some of her own, but you have to stop trying to buy her. She’s not something you can purchase. And you can’t throw Hatch out.”

  “I already did. It’s why he’s not in this limo with us. He knew better than to try to come back to my home.”

  Riley’s fingers drummed against the armrest, a sure sign he was getting irritated. “It’s his home, too, and he’s not in the limo because I sent him on ahead of us so the press could see him going home. It’s not as good as the two of you presenting a united front, but I figured it would have to do for tonight. Tomorrow, I expect you to walk into the 4L building with Hatch and me and Bran and Mia. We’re going to walk in together, and you’re going to give the press a statement about how close we are and how you’ve forgiven the sins of the past. I’ve already been working it up for you.”