You're My Rock (Brothers From Money #4)

by Shanade White

  When Garrett heard Nate asking him for a private meeting, he knew what was coming. The minute Nate had walked in the door, he’d seen the resemblance. It hadn’t taken Donovan long to piece the story together, a few internet searches and some phone calls had given him all the information he’d needed. While he’d accepted the fact that Nate existed, he wanted to hear for himself what the man had to say. Nate seemed like an honest and upstanding man, but appearances could be deceiving.

  Nate followed Garrett back to the library, the most logical place for them to a talk, which Nate had been counting on. Earlier he’d put the photo album on one of the shelves, anticipating this meeting and how he’d introduce the subject. Picking up the album he handed it to Garrett, then indicated that he should look at it. Garrett paged though the album, then closed it.

  “Is there some significance to this?” He asked, in his gruffest voice. “Where did you get this?”

  “My mother gave it to me right before she died. There’s no easy way to say this, but she kept that album because Jonathan is my father. She told me that they had an affair right before she married my dad, she didn’t know she was pregnant, but when I was born she was sure.” Nate said, rushing the words he’d so carefully rehearsed.

  “So, let me get this straight, you’re my half-brother? The product of my father and another woman while he was dating my mother?” Garrett said, enjoying seeing Nate’s face go pale at his words.

  “Well, she said that they’d broken up, but the affair made them both realize what they were missing and they ended it.” Nate said, embarrassed for all of them.

  “As much as I’d like to call you a liar, this does make sense of several hushed conversations between my parents. But, what is it you want from us? I suppose you think you’re entitled to a share of the family fortune.” Garrett said coldly.

  “I don’t care about the money, I am fine on my own. Honestly, I didn’t even know if I’d make contact with you when I drove out here. I just got in the car and drove, my mom had just been buried and I felt unconnected to my life.”

  “But here you are. Why didn’t you tell us from the very beginning?” Garrett was struggling to keep up the pretense, but just managed.

  “Would you have? I wanted to see what you all were like. Pictures don’t begin to tell the story. I guess it’s in my nature to be suspicious.” Nate said, shrugging.

  “And now you’ve decided that we’re good enough for you?” Garrett said, still suppressing a smile.

  “It’s not like that, I would have told you sooner, but with Allison and her problems I just pushed it aside. Then the wedding, and you’ve been gone for three weeks.” Nate had the terrible feeling that this wasn’t going to go his way when all of the sudden Garrett burst out laughing.

  “I’m sorry Nate, consider that the first of many brotherly pranks you’re going to have to endure. We’ve know who you were almost since that first day. You didn’t think we’d notice that you look like a Terrell, not to mention the fact that people in town kept saying they’d seen me in town when I wasn’t.”

  “So you’ve known all this time?” Nate said, letting out his breath in a whoosh of relief.

  “Did you really think I’d leave you here with my home and Allison if I hadn’t checked you out? From everything I can see, you’re a good man, who dedicated his life to his job and his family. Terrell traits if I’ve ever seen them.”

  “I wondered, you seemed so willing to let me just move into your lives. It just didn’t make sense to me.” Nate said, relaxing for the first time in weeks.

  “We’re pretty protective of the one’s we love around here. I wasn’t about to let you anywhere near the family until I investigated. I’m sure you can understand that.” Garrett said, rising to his feet.

  “I would have done the same thing. I guess I’d better go face everyone else. Does everyone know?” Nate asked, following Garrett to the door.

  “Have you ever tried to keep a secret from a woman? I would have told Sabrina eventually, but she figured it out almost as soon as I did. I think she might have tricked mom into telling her something.” Garrett said, laughing. “Nothing gets past her. Are you ready to face the family, brother?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Nate said, following Garrett down the hall.

  When they walked into the room, everyone fell silent, all eyes turned to them. Jonathan got up and went to stand behind Garrett and Nate, lending his silent support. Nate sucked in a deep breath, but couldn’t seem to find any words.

  Garrett, deciding that he’d put Nate through enough already, spoke up instead. “Nate’s finally decided that we’re good enough to be his family.”

  Everyone gasped, then started laughing. Donovan and Sebastian got to their feet and shook his hand. “It’s about time. What took you so long?” Sebastian said, thumping him on the back.

  “I just wasn’t sure how you all would react to the news. It’s kind of hard to suddenly realize you’re not who you thought you were, and frankly you all are a lot to take in.”

  “Well, you’re stuck with us now.” Donovan said, then added, “And we have a lot of time to make up for.”

  The first thing Garrett did was move Nate out to one of the cabins on the property, a grown man shouldn’t be living with his brother he’d decided. He also offered to take Nate to Denver to arrange for his inclusion in the Terrell Family Trust, but Nate was in no hurry. Money wasn’t an issue, although he’d have to go back to Kentucky at some point to take care of selling both his house and his parents.

  “Are you sure? You’ll be cutting all your ties out there? Why not keep the property and rent it out?” Garrett had asked, when Nate had told him of his plans.

  “Well, I wanted to talk to you about that. I saw a property in town that I’d like to lease and restore, I need the capital to take on the project. I’ve been studying the town and I think there might be room for another restaurant.”

  “You know, you won’t have to lease it, it belongs to the family, if you want to renovate that building, put together a plan and we’ll arrange a meeting with the board of directors. If they approve it, you won’t need to invest your own money.” Garrett said, shaking his head, it seemed his brother couldn’t get it through his head, that he was now a full-fledged member of the family.

  “But.....” Nate started to protest.

  “You want to be a restoration architect, then go for it. We own property all over the state, some of it is just begging for someone to love it again.” Garrett said, shrugging his shoulders. “Anything you do will only increase its value.”

  Nate couldn’t believe his ears, plans already forming in his mind. “First I have to pass my state boards, but I’d love to take a look at that property down town, I can start making plans now.”

  Chapter 8

  Allison was happy to see Nate bonding with his brothers and making plans for the future, plans that included her. But she was hesitant when he asked her to move to the cabin with him. “I don’t know Nate, think about it. If we’d met some other way would you be asking me to move in this fast?”

  Nate had to think about that for a minute, “I’m not sure, maybe. I just thought it made sense, we’re together every night anyway.” He said, trying not to get upset. Then realized that this is what everyone had been warning him about, he was rushing things, forgetting that Allison was still dealing with her loss of memory.

  “And I’m not saying that it will be any different once you move out of the house, in face I’m glad we’ll have some privacy. But, I have so little that’s mine.” Allison said, hoping he’d understand.

  “The cabin would be ours, but I think I understand.” Nate said, thinking about her words some more. “You know that we’ll get to the bottom of this eventually, either I’ll figure it out or you’ll remember, but I’ll be patient.”

  “Thank you, now let’s get you moved into your new cabin. Have you seen it yet?” She said, relieved that they
’d made it through their first disagreement.

  Nate was disappointed that Allison didn’t want to move in with him, but realized that it was the best decision, what he also realized was that their relationship wasn’t going to be able to move any further until Allison regained her memory. It made finding out her identity suddenly the most important thing in his life. A trip home might be a good idea, he was still convinced that she was from Kentucky, after all, the flight she’d been on had come out of Louisville.

  Whether or not he decided to sell the property back in Kentucky, he still needed to go back and pack up both places which could take several weeks. He hated to leave Allison, but he’d already been gone for months and doubted that he’d ever return, so leaving the houses sitting empty for any longer was just asking for some kind of disaster. He’d decide when he got back there whether he’d keep the properties or sell them.

  He’d have to deal with his job as well, his plans had been to stay on the force until he’d passed his board, but he’d just move his retirement date forward a bit. They’d already begun to train his replacement so the department would be fine. But before he did that, he was going to use everything at his disposal to find out what happened to Allison.

  Allison wasn’t pleased to hear that Nate would be gone for weeks, but knew that he needed to go back to Kentucky and deal with his life back there. Once she heard his plans, she was happy she’d decided to stay at the main house, the idea of staying out there in that old cabin alone frightened her. As much as she tried to move forward with her life, she was still having those haunting flashes of memory and the thought of being alone during one of those episodes was frightening.

  At least now, if she had one, there was almost always someone around. The cabin, while perfectly adequate was a little rough as well. She hadn’t seen Donovan and Elizabeth’s cabin, but if it was anything like the one Nate had moved into, she could understand Elizabeth’s wish for a new one.

  When Nate left a few days later, she was sad to see him go, but it was something that had to be done. Plus he’d promised to spend some of that time trying to figure out who she was, as much as she’d miss him, she really wanted to solve the mystery. She still felt the fear, was still sure that she was in danger, but she wanted more than anything else to be able to move forward with Nate. That wasn’t going to happen as long as she couldn’t remember what that threat was, or where it might be coming from.

  *****

  Matt slammed the barn door open, scaring the horses and the men inside. He stalked down the walkway between the stalls and slammed a stack of papers onto the table. “Do you two want to know what I just found out?” He said, through clenched teeth. It took everything he had not to yell, but the horses didn’t like it so he controlled himself.

  Curley and Gus came slowly out of the stalls they’d been cleaning, neither of them liked horses so this was a punishment. Matt treated them like kids, dangerous kids, but kids none the less. “It seems that our little mess has just gotten messier. Evidently Allison managed to come back from the dead and board that flight to Las Vegas.” He said, letting the words sink in.

  “Oh.” Curley said, not sure what was coming but knowing it was going to be bad.

  “I’d like to beat the shit out of both of you and dump you’re bodies out there, but instead you’re going to Las Vegas.” He said, then seeing the look that came over both their faces added, “Before you even start thinking about the good time you’re going to have, let me set you straight. You’re going to spend every hour of every day looking for Allison.”

  “But boss, Vegas is a big place. How are we going to find her? It’s impossible.” Gus said, then shut his mouth when Curley elbowed him in the side.

  “You’re going to take her picture and hit the streets, you idiot. Offer a reward, do whatever you have to, but find the bitch. Don’t hurt her either, I want her in one piece, unharmed. Once you have her, secure her until I can come deal with her.”

  Gus opened his mouth to ask another question, but shut it again when Curley elbowed him again. “Yes, sir. When do we leave?” Curley said instead.

  “You’ve got three hours, and if hear that you’re doing anything besides looking for Allison, I’ll come to Vegas and kill you myself. I’ll have eyes on you, you know Vegas is my hometown.” Matt said, sneering at them. “Don’t cross me or you’ll be sorry.”

  “No sir. We wouldn’t dream of it. We’ll find her, you’ll see.” Curley said, practically bowing to Matt.

  “Screw this one up and you’re done. Understand?” Matt said, then after a nod from both men turned and strode up the walkway again. “Your plane tickets and hotel reservation are on the table, don’t miss you’re flight.”

  Back outside, Matt took a deep breath, why he’d ever saddled himself with those two idiots he’d never know. But he was stuck with them now, hopefully they’d surprise him and find that dumb bitch. She’d all but ruined his life, it was beyond him how she’d survived that night, gotten on a plane, then disappeared. But Vegas was a big place and a good place to disappear if you wanted to, but she couldn’t hide from him for long.

  Vegas was his home, he’d been raised on the streets, knew every scam there was and ran most of them. Those street had been his training for the biggest scam of his life, he’d learned his lesson well, he thought looking at the acres of prime grazing land that now belonged to him. So what if it wasn’t legally his, for now he was the owner and only Allison could ruin that for him.

  She’d been suspicious of him from the very beginning, but when he’d produced the new will her mother had supposedly written just days before her death from cancer, she’d become even more suspicious. He knew that she’d contacted an attorney to look at the will, but he’d been careful to make the forgery look real, it would take months for them to figure out it wasn’t real.

  By then he’d planned to be long gone, prize money in his pocket, but then Allison had found him in the barn. In some ways this might actually work in his favor, now he’d be free to stay on at Barrington Fields, the owner of a property that was worth millions. He’d have to do something about all the debt he’d accumulated against the property, but winning the Triple Crown would go a long way towards paying them off.

  The more he thought about it, the more he decided that he should have just arranged for Allison to have an accident as soon as her mother was dead. He hadn’t been sure that he wanted to add murder to his long list of sins, but found that he’d felt little guilt when he’d thought she was dead. Guess it wasn’t that hard to kill after all. Plus now he’d get his hands on her, just thinking about it made his crotch tighten in anticipation.

  But while he was waiting, he had to find her car, it couldn’t have just disappeared. Unless she’d pushed it into a lake somewhere, it had to be somewhere between here and the airport. He’d start with the airport, which was the most logical place for it to be, then work his way backward. If they found her before he found the car, he’d just make her tell him where it was, then he’d get rid of it for good, along with her.

  Just thinking about how much fun it was going to be lightened his mood, once word went out in Vegas that he was looking for her, there was no way she’d escape him. Then he’d fulfill his fantasy, dispose of her body and live in luxury for the rest of his life. He could just see it all now.

  *****

  Nate had known that it would be hard returning to his parent’s house, but hadn’t realized just how hard it was going to be. He’d left right after the funeral and walking into the house, a staggering wave of grief hit him. He could still smell his mother’s perfume in the air, he took a deep breath then remembered that she was gone. Back in Colorado this had seemed a simple chore, pack up the house then sell it or rent it. But looking around him, he knew that it wouldn’t be quite that easy.

  His grief still fresh and painful, he decided that the house would have to wait for another day. He’d go home, his own house while full of memories, woul
dn’t trigger such grief. Tomorrow would be soon enough to make some decisions about what he wanted to do from here. What he really wanted was to get home and call Allison, he’d been gone less that twenty four hours, but he missed her already.

  She’d offered to come with him, knowing that he might need some moral support, but he’d refused. “There’s no way I’m letting you come with me. Have you forgotten that someone tried to kill you? We have no idea who it was or why, you could be walking into danger. I’m not letting you do that, I’ll be fine. We can talk every day.”

  “I could keep a low profile, wait in the car a lot, whatever it takes.”

  “No way, I’d love to have you with me, but I’m not putting you in danger.”

  Now he wished he’d let her come, it would have been nice to curl up in his big bed with her. He’d never shared that bed with a woman, to him bringing a woman into his home and his bed was a big commitment, and there’d been no one in his life that important in a long time. But if Allison had been here, he’d have given her a key.

  The next morning he went straight to the police station, avoiding the house completely, knowing that he still wasn’t ready to face it yet. He spent the day getting caught up on the cases he’d left behind and arranging for his official retirement. As long as he was home, he’d have to spend some time on the job, but he’d also take some time to work on Allison’s case. From Colorado he’d had little hope of conducting any type of investigation, but in person he’d be able to make some progress.

  His first stop of the morning was his captain’s office, a genial man, who’d risen to the top of the chain through hard work and smarts. Nate wanted to run the details of Allison’s case by him. After he’d gotten Nate settled, offering coffee and doughnuts, he looked at Nate appraising his frame of mind.