by Lexi Blake
He didn’t want to have this conversation. “Why don’t we discuss Mother’s morning talk show circuit? From what I could tell, she managed to do at least two major network morning shows today.”
Hatch continued like Drew hadn’t spoken at all. “You know what dutiful love is, but I don’t think you have any idea what it means to let someone love you.”
Loving him might be her downfall and he couldn’t live with that. “She can love me from afar. So Riley, what do you think about the morning shows? How much are they going to hurt us? And when can I dump Hatch?”
Because he really wanted to dump Hatch.
A long sigh came from Riley as he sat back. “You’re not dumping Hatch. I’ve explained this about a million times. Bran is already at the office. He’s going to have a carefully crafted statement ready for you to deliver to the press and our employees. Hatch will be by your side. I heard from the feds early this morning. They want to talk again, but they’re willing to do it at the house. That’s a good sign. I think they’re getting that Iris’s story is full of shit.”
More interviews. No Shelby. She wouldn’t be sitting next to him, holding his hand.
“I’ll do what you tell me to do.” Riley and Bran knew this kind of stuff better than he did.
Would he have admitted that before Shelby? Would he have let them do their jobs and shine?
He’d started all of this to get revenge on the people who’d stolen his childhood, their childhoods. How had they found their futures by trying to avenge the past? Mia had found Case before they’d even started, but none of this would have been possible without him. Riley had fallen for Ellie, and Bran had stumbled Carly’s way. Now they were all grown and taking care of themselves, and soon they would have families.
He was alone. He’d found his perfect mate, but she was gone. He’d sent her away and she wouldn’t forgive him.
“I’ll do whatever you want me to as well,” Hatch said. “Including telling the press that I did it all. I don’t see how you can’t understand it would solve everything.”
Drew rolled his eyes. “It would solve nothing. Iris would get away with it.”
“Then I’ll admit we were lovers and that she and I did this together,” Hatch offered. “I can take her down with me.”
“Or you can make everything worse,” Riley said. “Will you let this play itself out? You’ve told the feds the truth. Now we let them handle it. I know it’s a decades-old case, but they can figure this out now that we’re talking about it.”
“Let’s be patient. Iris looked desperate this morning, and our stock is only down two percent.” He wasn’t willing to let her dictate the terms of battle. They needed to take a step back and figure out what she wanted. He could take his time now that Shelby was going to be safe. “Speaking of safe, have we canceled the reception plans?”
He hated to do it. He knew it would hurt Ellie, but they couldn’t go through with it. It would hurt her more when her long-awaited wedding reception was ruined by no one showing up.
Riley snorted a bit. “Yeah, I’m not going to do that. Do you have any idea how much it would cost to cancel at this point? The hotel alone would be a fortune, and then there would be the problem of my wife murdering me. She’s worked her pretty ass off to ensure this is her dream reception. If you remember, our first wedding kind of sucked since it happened at a courthouse and was all about keeping her out of jail.”
He remembered it all too well. “I’m sorry. Please let Ellie know I’ll make it up to her at some point.”
“There’s no need. We’re going through with it,” Riley replied breezily. “We’ve got about five hundred people coming. I’m not canceling.”
Riley wasn’t thinking clearly. “There won’t be five hundred people. I’m sure most of them will cancel. They won’t want to have anything to do with me. Did you see the headlines? They’re asking if I’m a monster.”
Drew had seen the Internet news headlines. The story would be all over the tabloids by next week. Just in time to screw with Riley and Ellie’s reception. But then he was sure his mother had calculated all of that into her plans.
“You’re joking, right?” Riley stared at him.
“I wouldn’t joke about this.” He rarely joked about anything. It was Shelby who could make him laugh at how pretentious he could be. “I don’t want her hurt when no one shows up. How many respectable people would show up at a party thrown by a man accused of murder?”
Hatch groaned and his head fell back against the seat. “He knows nothing of the world.”
Riley had a smile on his face. “They’ll all show up. The people who told us they couldn’t come will all show up now. This is Texas, not England circa nineteen hundred. Scandal sells. The fact that the press will be there will bring them out in droves. They’re all upping their game, hoping to be photographed by one of the magazines. We’re not canceling. We’re happily inviting the press in, and we’re going to show the world how close-knit we are, how we stand behind you. We’re going to show them that we’re a family and she can’t break us.”
But they were a family missing a member, and maybe they always would be, because no matter what he said to anyone, he didn’t know that he could touch another woman. He belonged to Shelby. She was the only one who could ever really know him.
“I don’t think this is a good idea. I think we should concentrate all our efforts on poking holes in her story. This shit with the press isn’t going to help us. I don’t do well in interviews. You say so yourself. I come off as hard and awkward and overly intellectual.”
“Not around Shelby you don’t.” Hatch wouldn’t let it go.
“Shelby is gone.” He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be back at home throwing himself into work, trying to forget. “We should hammer Iris in the press. Make her look bad.”
“No, we’re going to concentrate on making you look good,” Riley said patiently. “This is my time to take care of you, brother. I know and understand the press better than you. I know how to manipulate a jury, and make no mistake our jury is the American people. Iris made a terrible mistake. You’re looking at the headlines, but you need to go and read the comment threads on the articles.”
“People are asking questions.” Hatch yawned behind his hand. Drew had noticed he seemed to have eschewed his morning Bloody Mary in favor of actual, nonalcoholic coffee. He held the travel mug in his hand. “The press wants a sexy story, and your long-lost mother accusing you of murdering your father is sexy as hell. But the actual people reading the story have questions. They want to know why she would leave her precious children with the monster who killed her husband.”
“I told you that would happen.” Riley straightened his tie as they made the turn off the freeway. “Now we launch a campaign of our own. We’re going to win hearts and minds. By the way, you’ll be donating a million dollars’ worth of computer equipment and software to fund a new inner-city STEM project. Science, technology, engineering and math programs for underfunded schools.”
“I know what STEM is. When did I decide to do that?” He sat back. The better question was when the hell had his brother turned the tables on him? When had he become such a confident, competent man?
“Last night. Let me tell you, my wife can put together a charity project in no time at all. You’ll announce the project in a few days with Ellie by your side. She and I will be doing an interview with CNN where we’re going to discuss not only what happened that night, but also the part her father played in it.”
His hands clenched, tightening on the armrest. “She can’t do that. It could hurt StratCast stock.”
“It won’t,” Riley replied. “And she’s insistent. I am, too. We decided something last night. We’ve kept this secret because we wanted revenge. The best revenge we can have now is telling the truth, and that means letting the world know who you are, Drew. It means standing
beside you and letting them all know that we’re alive because you wouldn’t give up. We’re healthy and whole and successful because when our parents failed us, you stood up and took over. I call you brother, but you were the best father I could possibly have had. Any of us. So you sit back. It’s our time to take care of you. And when this is done, you go get your girl because you deserve her.”
The car slid to a stop in front of the 4L building. Drew could see reporters were here, too. He could sort of see. The world had gone a bit blurry. What was up with that? Something was definitely wrong with his eyes.
“Are you ready?” Riley asked. “I need you to let me do most of the talking, but you have to stand beside Hatch. I don’t want any signs of discord between the major shareholders.”
Hatch was silent.
Maybe it was time to understand that Riley had become someone Drew could count on. He could let go and let Riley take care of this. Bran could take care of the day-to-day operations because he’d become a great man, too.
Drew took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
It was time to take his brother’s lead for once. He followed Riley out of the car, ready to face his fate.
Chapter Eighteen
Shelby stared at the computer screen in front of her. Fuckwits. One week in and the Internet was still obsessed with the Lawless family and their feud. She watched as one of the online news agencies rolled out its version of how the murders could have played out. They were using 3-D cartoons, but there was no way to miss how accurate they’d gotten Drew’s character.
Her stomach turned as 3-D Drew shot his father.
It was all bullshit and it still didn’t address key facts. Why would Drew have shot an innocent woman? For the shot to work, he would have to have looked Francine in the face and pulled the trigger. He would have known it wasn’t his mother. He then would have turned and immediately shot his father through the head.
Easy peasy for an assassin. Not so much for a fourteen-year-old kid who’d never held a firearm before.
And yet some people were buying it.
Shelby shut her laptop and sighed, turning to look out the window at the view of Dallas. The McKay-Taggart building was in the heart of downtown, so she was surrounded by skyscrapers.
She missed the view of the river back in Austin.
She missed him.
At night she watched the news, hungry for even a hint of him. The rest of the Lawless family had been hard at work. Ellie and Riley had given an interview that ran the night before, and Mia and Bran had sat down with a reporter to talk about how much they loved their brother and what they remembered from that night.
She’d sat with her bodyguard and watched each one.
Remy Guidry was a big, gorgeous Cajun charmer who she would have been all over not a few months before. The Shelby before Drew would have been in heaven, but now she could only appreciate the man on an aesthetic level while her soul longed for someone else.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to go both ways.
She’d heard absolutely nothing from Drew. She’d sent him a text and a few e-mails, but heard nothing back from him.
It was over, but she felt completely stuck.
There was a knock on her door. She glanced at the clock on her desk. It was almost lunchtime. Remy was early, but he always showed up and asked her what he could bring her for lunch or if she wanted to go out. She never wanted to go out. She ate at her desk while she poured through file after file and read every single interview Iris gave. Drew’s mom was living it up right here in Dallas, allowing the paparazzi to photograph her at every turn.
Meanwhile, Shelby was putting together a list of her crimes.
“I’m not hungry, Remy,” she said, opening her laptop again. The quicker she compiled all her data, the faster she could send it off and move on with her life. She had to make sure Iris Lawless was behind bars at the end of this, or it would have all been for nothing.
“Not Remy,” a feminine voice said. “Sorry to disturb you. I’m trying to get everything off my plate before we head down to Austin for the big party. I’ve got the files you asked for.”
Charlotte Taggart walked in like she owned the place. Which she totally did. The tall, gorgeous woman with strawberry-blond hair was holding a set of files in her hands. She was dressed in a chic business suit that did nothing to mask her femininity.
She would look stunning in whatever designer gown she wore to the reception tonight. The emerald-green Prada cocktail dress that Drew had bought for Shelby was hanging in the closet. She should send it back and save him the ridiculous price tag, but she hadn’t worked up the will yet.
Shelby was actually surprised they were still going through with the reception. “I would have thought Drew would cancel.”
Charlotte set the files in front of her. “Apparently he’s been listening to Riley and Bran. They don’t want to hide. They think getting their own story to the public is far better than waiting Iris out.”
She agreed, but she never thought Drew would. “I don’t understand. Drew was against dragging anyone else into this, but now he’s letting Riley go on TV every day. Mia did an interview. I’m surprised he would let them do it.”
Charlotte shrugged. “Oh, I don’t think he had a choice.”
That wasn’t at all how Drew worked. “Drew makes all the choices. He won’t have it any other way.”
Charlotte sat down in the chair across from her desk. Serious blue eyes studied Shelby. “You’re joking, right?”
“Why would you think that?” Maybe she shouldn’t have started this conversation. She was still so hungry for any news of him, and didn’t that make her pathetic? “Sorry. I was surprised because the Drew I knew ruled 4L with an iron fist.”
He ruled everything. King Drew.
“Oh, that was absolutely the Drew Lawless I met in the beginning, but something changed a few weeks ago and now he’s a real live boy. It’s been kind of fun to watch. And then you showed up here and now it’s sad. I thought you would be the one to take down that man.”
Yes, she wished she’d never started this conversation, because Charlotte seemed to be getting settled in for a nice long, uncomfortable chat. Shelby was not going to engage. Charlotte could be every bit as sarcastic as her husband. Shelby reached out for the files. “Not me. It was fun while it lasted, but Drew and I are not a good match. Does this include the security reports from the last few months?”
Charlotte nodded, but didn’t move to get up. “Yes, the 4L team sent them over. Is there a particular reason why you’re interested in someone hacking into nonproprietary systems? There were a couple of flags on some lower-level systems in the building, but it’s not terribly surprising. Someone’s always testing systems like 4L. It could be anyone from hackers trying to prove they can get through Drew’s firewall to competitors who want to show that he’s vulnerable.”
Shelby opened the file, looking through the data. Charlotte was right and it was probably a long shot, but she wanted to see if anything stuck out. “I’ll go through this tonight. Did they find anything interesting?”
“Not really. Most of the attempts were at getting banking records from the online purchasing system or data from people who registered their software. The only outlier was the fact that the admin desk got hacked. I thought that was a little weird. They’re the only ones who got through, but the security there isn’t as tight because there’s nothing proprietary and the admins are allowed to work off-site in their own hub.”
“What did they take?”
“Someone downloaded the entire vendor contact list.” Charlotte frowned. “All they would get was a list of companies and people who work for 4L, but the phone numbers are almost all public record. I don’t understand except that maybe it was an exercise. My sister assures me that sometimes hackers try to practice on big-name targets.”
; “When did it happen?”
“It was one of the earlier hacks. It happened about four months back.”
So it happened before Noah had been informed of his parentage. She wasn’t sure it had anything to do with what was happening now, but at least she had a list of what the hacker thought was so important. Like caterers and a temp agency. Drew’s personal law firm was listed, as was his housekeeper’s number. So woo-hoo. They could get their houses cleaned like Drew’s. “Thanks so much for getting this for me.”
“We got no flack from 4L. Apparently if Shelby Gates asks for something, they’ve been told to give it up and fast. That doesn’t sound like the Drew I met before, either. He used to be supersecretive. Even after he hired us, he would hem and haw about giving us information we needed.”
She happened to know there was no special reason Drew would be happy to give them the info. “He considers me an employee. That’s all. He wants me to write this book as quickly as I possibly can, so he’s giving us the information we need. That’s all that’s happening.”
Charlotte groaned. “Wow, you are no fun at all. I thought you were smarter, way more ballsy than you turned out to be. I lost so much betting on you.”
“Excuse me?”
Charlotte waved off her chilly tone. “It’s a hobby here. We bet on everything. I met you and knew that you would be the one to take down Drew Lawless. It didn’t hurt that Mia told me the whole story.”
It was good to know she was the subject of gossip. “Well, I guess you were wrong.”
“I wasn’t. You did take him down. You left him lying there, though, and that seems cruel. When you take down a man like that, he’s your responsibility, and you walked away and left him bleeding.”
What the hell was she talking about? “I’m sure he’s bleeding. Drew is such easy prey. Look, it’s none of your business.”