Trusting Sydney: The Temptation Saga: Book Six

by Hardt, Helen;

  “You’re digressing,” Sam said.

  “Sorry.” Blake opened another beer. “I never had any reason to suspect anything, and I didn’t, but one day I was tooling around in Dad’s office, looking for a paper clip. I pulled the flat drawer of his desk out a little too hard, I guess, and it ended up on the floor. As I was putting it away, the bottom gave way. Or should I say, the false bottom.”

  Sydney’s ear perked up. “What?”

  “A false bottom. Underneath the drawer was a small compartment about half an inch thick. And in it were some papers.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have looked, but I did. Curiosity go the best of me.”

  “What were they?”

  “Bank accounts. In the Cayman Islands.”

  “So what?”

  “The Cayman Islands are a place where people keep money that isn’t necessarily obtained legally, Sydney,” Sam said. “They have very strict bank secrecy laws and very strict penalties for unauthorized disclosure.”

  “Can’t anyone bank there anyway? Like in Switzerland?”

  “Of course, Sis, but an offshore account in the Caymans is a major red flag for someone like Dad, who basically, as far as I knew, was a rancher making a modest living.”

  “So you found the account. So what?”

  “I found the account. What was also interesting was the amount of money in the account.”

  “How much? Ten or twenty thousand?”

  “Try nine hundred thousand,” Blake said. “Here was an account in our father’s name with nearly a million dollars in it, and all this time we’d been living so frugally. Not that I minded, but sheesh, you and I would compete and turn over our purses to them. Was that fair?”

  Sydney shook her head. “Doesn’t seem to be. Do you know where the money came from?”

  “I confronted Pop about the whole thing. He told me it was none of my goddamned business and to get the hell out if I didn’t like it.”

  “So you left.”

  “Not yet. I went to Mom.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She told me about how they’d met and fallen in love when they were still kids. How they’d run away and gotten married and had me soon thereafter. They’d wanted no part of their families’ criminal activities.”

  “So where did the money come from?”

  “It’s Pop’s money, from a trust fund from his mother.”

  “And they wouldn’t use it?”

  “No. He told Mom it was dirty money and he wanted no part of it.”

  “Then why didn’t they just give it to charity or something?”

  “I asked that same question. She said Pop refused to. He said they never knew when they might need it.”

  “Oh God.” Sydney’s heart fell to her tummy. “They took Duke away. They might have even left the country with all that money.”

  “Yes, they might have. But there was still one thing that didn’t jibe. The account papers showed multiple withdrawals from the account. So if Dad refused to use the money, who made the withdrawals?”

  “Did you ask Mom?”

  “I did. She said I must have misread the statements. There hadn’t been any withdrawals. Then she refused to discuss the matter further.” Blake shook his head. “You can think what you want about me. I’m no Einstein, but for God’s sake, I can read an account statement. Money had been withdrawn.”

  “Are you sure it was trust fund money? Mom and Dad weren’t doing anything illegal, were they?”

  “I wish I knew, Sis, but I don’t.”

  Dear God.

  “I didn’t have the money myself to go looking into that kind of stuff. I got myself into some trouble, as you know, and every last cent I made went to bail myself out of that. All I knew is that I wanted no part of them. They let that money sit there when we had some lean years as kids, Syd. Do you remember?”

  She remembered all too well. “I’m sure they had their reasons.”

  “Yes, they had their reasons,” Blake said, “and obviously they thought those reasons made logical sense at the time. But it burns my ass that they had this money. I wanted to go to college. So did you. Remember? We could have gone to any school we wanted. They had the money. But we didn’t get to go, and someone, either Mom or Dad, had been withdrawing money from that account during those years.”

  “We can still go to college, Blake.”

  “Sure we can, if we have the money. I don’t have the money right now, do you?”

  Sydney rose and got another bottle of water from the mini fridge. “All I have is the twenty grand in my safe from my purse the other day. I’ve given everything else to Mom and Dad.”

  “Why, Sydney?” Blake asked. “You’re of age now. You don’t have to give them your money.”

  “I do it for Duke,” Sydney said. “They adopted him and took responsibility for him. I wanted to do my part.”

  “We have to find them and find Duke,” Sam said.

  Blake rubbed his temples. “They could be anywhere, anywhere at all, if they dipped into that money.”

  “But the money’s in the Caymans.” Sydney took a sip of water. “How could they get it?”

  “Online transfers, wirings, any old way. It’s easy as pie to transfer money these days.”

  “But they didn’t bring a computer, and a transfer could be traced.” Sam stood and paced. “There’s no way they could have— Oh my God.”

  “What, Sam? What?” Sydney’s pulse raced.

  “When was the last time you looked in your safe, Sydney?”

  “Not since I put the money there. You don’t think—”

  But she knew exactly what Sam was thinking, and by the look on Blake’s face, he was thinking the same thing.

  She gulped as she keyed in the code to her safe.

  Before she opened the door, she knew.

  Her money was gone.

  Chapter Eighteen

  This is all my fault. This is all my fault.

  Sydney couldn’t breathe.

  A noose was squeezing her neck. Her throat constricted. Sharp fingers of acid climbed up her esophagus, threatening to choke her.

  “God, what should we do?”

  Blake’s voice. That was Blake’s voice.

  “She’ll be okay.”

  Sam’s voice. Ah, the soothing timbre of Sam’s voice. Her man. Her love.

  Warm hands caressed her, dulcet tones soothed her. “It will be okay, sweetheart. We’ll figure this out. We’ll find our son.”

  Sam lifted her away from the empty safe and laid her on the bed. “Get her some more water,” he said to Blake.

  No water. Just Sam. Only need Sam.

  And Duke. Want to see Duke.

  Until now, Sydney had been sure of one thing—her parents would never hurt Duke. She’d seen the fear in her mother’s eyes when they thought Duke might have leukemia. It had mirrored her own.

  And her father, what had he been thinking? He had started to come around where Sam was concerned. He seemed ready to work something out.

  Yet they’d left.

  Only one explanation made sense. Her mother had wanted to leave. Roy Buchanan loved his wife and gave her whatever she wanted if it was within his power to do so.

  Carrie was the one who was scared of Sam, not Roy.

  She must have talked him into leaving.

  Only one other thing could have made them leave. If they thought harm could come to Duke by staying.

  But in leaving, they’d taken Duke away from Sydney as well.

  From Sassy.

  Tears erupted in her eyes. She wanted her baby boy. Why, oh why had she given him up?

  She’d taken the easy way out. She’d given him up without really giving him up. Duke got parents who loved him and a “big sister” who doted on him.

  Sam was the real loser here. He hadn’t had a choice in the matter.

  She had to fix this. For Duke and for Sam.

  They will not harm Duke, they will not harm Duke. She repeated the
mantra in her mind.

  “What should we do now?” Blake said to Sam.

  “I don’t know. We have to find Duke. I’m scared for him now. You don’t think your parents would—”

  “No.” Blake shook his head. “They never harmed Syd or me. They were good parents. They just never told us the truth.”

  The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. She hadn’t told Sam the truth. She felt like shit.

  “Sydney?” Sam caressed her shoulder. “Are you feeling better?”

  Better? That was a laugh. It would be a long time before she felt anything close to better. But she nodded anyway. They had to get on with it. “I can’t believe they stole my money.”

  “They’ve been stealing our money for years, Sis,” Blake said, “when they had near a million dollars in the bank.”

  “But they were good parents. They loved us.”

  He nodded. “They did, I think.”

  “It killed them when you left.”

  “I’m sure it did,” Blake said, “but I hope you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel a whole lot of remorse about that.”

  Sydney nodded. She’d have a hard time forgiving her parents for what they’d done. She didn’t want to hold a grudge against Blake. She had her brother back, and she wanted to keep him.

  “If I’d known, Syd…”

  “Known what?”

  Blake cleared his throat. “If I’d known you were going to let them adopt your child, I would have come back. I would have told you.” He sat down on the other side of the bed, next to her. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too, Blake. You were a good brother. I should have known you had a good reason for leaving.”

  “It wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t good enough to leave my pregnant sister there.”

  “It’s okay. We’ve both made mistakes. Now it’s time to correct them. Will you help Sam and me find Mom and Dad?”

  “Sydney,” Sam said, “I’m not sure he should be involved.”

  “Why not?” Blake asked. “They’re my parents, and the little tyke is my nephew. I wasn’t there for Sydney when I should have been. I want to be there for her now.”

  Sam nodded. “All right. If you can help in any way, we’d appreciate it.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t have much money to offer.”

  “So we’re all broke,” Sydney said. “Where does that leave us?”

  “It leaves us my credit cards,” Sam said. “I’ve got a little bit in the bank.”

  “I’ve got a little in the bank too,” Blake said, “but I’m afraid it’s damn little.”

  “You’re both wonderful,” Sydney said. “I have nothing. They stole my purse money.”

  “It’s okay,” Blake said. “You didn’t know they’d do that.”

  “I still can’t believe it.”

  “I can. And you will someday, trust me.”

  Sam shook his head. “I can’t believe I was such a bad judge of character. I really thought they were good people.”

  “So did I,” Blake said, “and in a way, they are. They just grew up around criminals. I think they’re good in their hearts, but look at the examples they had.”

  “At least they set good examples for us,” Sydney said.

  “I won’t argue with that, for the most part,” Blake said. “But once we were old enough to handle it, they should have told us the truth about their backgrounds.”

  Sam nodded. “I agree. If you had known, Sydney, you would never have let them adopt Duke.”

  “Probably not,” Sydney said. “But Duke has had a good life up until now. He’s a happy little boy.”

  “A happy little boy who is now God knows where,” Blake said. “For all we know, they’ve cut his hair off or dyed it so no one will recognize him.”

  “No! Not his beautiful hair.” Sydney burst into tears. “His hair is just like yours, Sam.”

  Sam caressed her forearm. “It’ll grow back. We’ll find him.”

  Yes. They’d find him. They had to.

  But there would be a cost.

  The mother and father she’d loved and adored for twenty-four years were now strangers to her.

  * * *

  “Let her sleep,” Sam said to Blake. “We can figure this out in the morning.”

  “I still can’t get over them taking her money right out of her safe. How did they figure out the combination?”

  Sam shook his head. “Got me. Maybe they know the numbers she uses. Hell if I know.”

  “They could have gotten security to open it.”

  “Nah. Sydney talked to security in depth when she couldn’t find her parents. They would have told her. Plus, Sydney’s an adult. Security can’t open a safe for anyone else, not even her parents.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  “Do you have any idea where they might go first?” Sam asked.

  “Nope. Maybe to the Caymans to get the money. They were smart not to try here. They know that I know about the account and that we’d try to trace it.”

  “So I suppose the fact that you know is going to make them harder to track.”

  “I’m afraid so. Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. If not for you, we’d have no idea where to start. Sydney called the folks on the neighboring ranch. They said as far as they knew, your parents hadn’t returned. They were going to go over and check. I don’t think they’ve called her back yet.” Sam scratched his head, thinking. “There’s something that just doesn’t quite seem right to me about this situation.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t believe your parents considered me that big of a threat. I mean, they’re the legal parents, and Dallas McCray told me that courts will consider the best interest of the child first, before my interests or anyone else’s. Duke has been living with them his whole life, and to uproot him would not be in his best interests. I love my son, and I want him, but even I can see how the court would see this.”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “So why would they run? They don’t seem the type.”

  “But they are the type, Sam. They ran from their families when they were young so they could be together.”

  “Yes, but their families are criminals. I’m not a criminal.”

  “But you pose a threat, just like their families did. It really makes perfect sense if you skew your reasoning just a little.”

  “You mean think like people who were raised by criminals.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I suppose so.” Sam paced the floor. “And when you explain it that way, it does make sense. Still, it just doesn’t feel right.”

  “Okay. Say I’m wrong. Say they didn’t run. Then what could have happened?”

  Sam plunked on a chair. “That’s just it. I’m not sure.”

  “Is there anyone else who might have an interest in Duke? In my parents?”

  “Only your grandparents, but they’ve left them alone all this time.” Sam let out a huff of air. Think, Sam. Think.

  And a light bulb lit over his head.

  “There is one other person.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  No, no, no! You can’t have my son!

  Sydney struggled against the arms holding her, jerking her.

  She opened her eyes. Sam sat next to her, gently tugging on her.

  Thank God. It had only been a nightmare.

  “I’m sorry to wake you, sweetheart, but Blake and I need to talk to you.”

  She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Okay. What about?”

  “Rod Kyle.”

  “Rod? Why? He’s old news.”

  “We’re not so sure, Sis,” Blake said. “Sam and I have been talking, and it’s not completely out of the realm of reality that he might be involved in this.”

  “He has no interest in Duke.”

  “No, but he has an interest in you.”

  “He’ll get over me. He doesn’t love me. He never did.”

  “No, but he’s used to getting what he
wants, and for whatever reason, right now he wants you.”

  “He’s not going to get me.”

  “I know that, but it’s not only him. It’s his dad. His dad wanted the marriage. You saw him talking to me after your race, remember?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He knows about your parents. He told me they weren’t who they seemed to be. He offered me information on the condition I stay away from you.”

  “Goddamn him!”

  “Hold the phone. I told him to fuck off. But it’s clear now that he knows about your parents and their links to the criminal families. Do you think it’s possible he could have something to do with their disappearance?”

  Sydney shook her head. “I doubt it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “What would he have to gain by forcing them away? Me? I don’t think so. He knows about Duke, and he knows how much I love him.”

  “Yes, but think about it. He could be trying to make things worse for us. He already knows you’ve lied to me twice.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” Sydney rubbed her temples. Her brain was mush right about now. She didn’t want to think about Rod Kyle. Or her parents, for that matter. Their relationship would never be the same. She just wanted Duke.

  How could she have made such a mistake? She’d given her little boy—her most precious thing on the planet—to her parents. She’d trusted them with him.

  And now this.

  “I think we need to contact Kyle,” Blake said. “Sam may be onto something.”

  “Whatever you two think is best.” Sydney yawned. Her body needed sleep. Her brain needed sleep. But when she did sleep, it was fitful, fragmented with nightmares and horrific visions.

  “I need to get back to the ranch,” Sam said.

  “I should be going too,” Blake agreed. “It’s late, and we have a lot to do in the morning.”

  “You guys aren’t really thinking about leaving me alone? Please don’t.” Fear, though she knew it irrational, coursed through Sydney’s veins.

  “I need Kyle’s phone number,” Blake said.

  “Look in my cell.” Sydney tossed it to him.