by HELEN HARDT
Then I lowered my voice. “How on earth would she know the victim?”
“Apparently the signature page of our confidential settlement agreement was inadvertently left in the copy room by a secretary who was subsequently and immediately fired. Lacey was a young attorney and was working late. She found it on the floor of the copy room and brought it to me the next day. Luckily, only the victim’s name was on the page. Nothing about why we were entering into a settlement with her.”
“Was Derek Wolfe’s name on the page?”
“Yes.”
“And the other client’s?”
He nodded.
“But nothing about the situation.”
“No. Like I said, it was the signature page.”
“I see. What did you tell Lacey?”
“I thanked her for her discretion and asked that she not mention it to anyone. She was a young associate at the time, so of course she agreed.”
“What are the chances she’d remember a name she saw on the signature page of a document years ago?”
“Since it’s Lacey, I’d say the chances are good.”
“Even so, how would that do us any good? What if it’s a common name, like Lisa Smith or something. How would that help?”
“I see your point. You always were a smart one, Charlie.”
“Spare me your backhanded compliments. Please just answer the question, Blaine.”
He smiled. “You’re still as feisty as ever. I can have a hotel room booked in five minutes, babe. You’re driving me insane.”
“You’re drunk.”
“On two glasses of wine?”
“No. I’m betting you had a drink before our lunch.”
He smiled again. “Like I said, you’re a smart girl.”
Woman, but whatever. It wasn’t worth arguing over. “We’ve been through this a million times. We want different things.”
“I’m not talking about a relationship. I’m talking about some afternoon delight. We never had a problem in that department.”
No, we hadn’t—other than his distaste for cunnilingus—but now that I’d been with Roy Wolfe? Blaine Foster was a piss-poor substitute.
“Can we get back to the subject, please?”
“You’ll change your mind eventually.”
“I won’t today. Please, Blaine? This is important. Lacey’s wellbeing depends on it.”
He softened then. He truly had been fond of Lacey. “I can’t give you the name, but I can tell you this. It wasn’t a common name like Lisa Smith. Bob Mayes always said Lacey had a memory like he’d never seen. Photographic. Ask her. She’ll remember.”
28
Roy
“I don’t give a rat’s ass who does the service,” Rock said.
“Then you’re overruled, Roy,” Reid said. “Father Jim it is.”
I lost that battle. So what? I’d suppressed the stuff for so long. Did it really matter?
“What about Riley?” I asked.
“Riley’s not here.”
“That’s not what I mean. Now that we know what our father did to her, shouldn’t we step up our efforts to find her?”
“We can’t step it up more than we already have,” Reid said. “We’ve always had the best PIs on it. She doesn’t want to be found.”
My stomach hurt. Not nauseating hurt, though nausea overwhelmed me also.
No. This was a bloody hurt, a sharpness. A feeling of impending doom.
“Are we done here?” I asked.
“Have you told us everything, Rock?” Reid asked.
“Everything about why I was sent to Buffington, yeah.”
“Is there anything else?”
“Only what I went through at that hellhole. It fucked me up. But it made me stronger.”
“Hazing?” Reid asked.
Rock only nodded. “I won’t go into the gory detail. Luckily I escaped most of it because I was big enough at fourteen. But three years later, I was expected to do the same to others.”
I gulped. “Did you?”
“I’m not proud of the monster I became, but my abuse was only verbal and physical. I refused to…” He shook his head.
“Wow,” Reid said. “I’m sorry, Rock. I used to blame you.”
“For what?” Rock bellowed.
“You already know. When you left, Dad needed a new punching bag. Roy was a recluse, hardly ever around. So it was me.”
“I got my fair share,” I added.
“You did. I’m not taking away from that, but I got the brunt of it.”
I couldn’t deny it. Reid was correct. “You mouthed off a lot more,” I said.
That got a smile out of Rock. “Really? Hard to imagine.”
“I learned from you,” Reid said to Rock.
“I’m sorry, little brother,” Rock said. “My only excuse is that I was fourteen and I didn’t consider the consequences.”
“Not blaming you,” Reid said. “Not anymore. I was a kid. But not now, and especially now that we know what really happened.”
A knock on the door interrupted us.
“Yeah?” Rock said. “Come in.”
Lacey walked in.
“Hey, babe.” Rock raised his eyebrows.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
“It’s okay. We’re all done here. What do you need?”
“Charlie just called. She had lunch with a former partner of mine, and he gave her some information she thinks might help us with the situation with your father. She didn’t want to discuss it over the phone, but she’s on her way back. She wants to see all of us.”
All of us? I didn’t actually work here, like the others. I wasn’t sure I could handle myself around Charlie.
I hadn’t fought her when she didn’t want to sleep with me last night.
And now?
God, I was fucked up.
“When will she be here?”
Then another knock.
Lacey opened the door. “Looks like she’s here now.”
Her voice was like an angel’s. Her body sculpted by gods. Her hair like waves of grain blowing in the breeze.
I could hardly focus on Charlie’s words.
Something about a confidential settlement.
A woman with an unusual name.
Derek Wolfe…and someone else.
“Wow,” Lacey said, interrupting my thoughts. “I remember that.”
“Blaine seemed sure you’d remember the woman’s name.”
“I was a brand new associate,” Lacey said, “and a senior partner told me to basically forget I’d ever seen it.”
“You can do it, baby,” Rock said.
“Did he give you any other information?” she asked Charlie.
Charlie shook her head. “Just that he couldn’t say any more because the other client in the settlement is still alive.”
Lacey widened her eyes. “Usually my memory is a curse. Now, when I need it, I can’t bring it to the surface.”
“Maybe try some guided hypnosis,” Reid said.
Rock scoffed. “What kind of crap are you talking about?”
“It’s not crap. It’s a type of therapy.”
“You ever tried it?”
“No, but I’ve read about it.”
“You read about therapy techniques?”
“For God’s sake, Rock,” Reid said, “there’s more to me than a business head. Sometimes I actually read something else.”
“Psychology Today?”
My brothers continued to bat their metaphorical ball back and forth.
I concentrated on Charlie. She looked more beautiful than ever, even in her starchy blue suit. She was a little more casual today, pants instead of a skirt. A shame to cover those legs, though.
Those milky legs that had wrapped around me…
“Roy!”
I jerked in surprise. “What?”
“Are you even listening?” Reid asked.
“Yeah. Woman with a strange name. Guided hypnosis.”
; “Do you know anything about it?” Rock asked.
“About what? Guided hypnosis?”
“Uh…yeah. That’s what we’re talking about. That’s what I asked you.”
“Why would I know anything?”
“I guess that’s a no,” Reid said.
“Why would I know anything about it?” I asked again.
“Just a question, Roy,” Rock said. “Chill out.”
Did my brothers really think I’d been in therapy? Did Charlie think I had?
I wanted a hole to open up in the ground so it could swallow me up.
What made them think…?
Did they know something?
Know something was hidden deep within me?
Shit. I was making things up.
Guided hypnosis, though…
Those blurred images that I couldn’t bring to the surface…
Could guided hypnosis help?
Because there was something locked away in my mind, something hidden so deep I couldn’t access it. Couldn’t…
Or didn’t want to…
But it was there, and it was important. Important to what we were trying to accomplish.
God, I didn’t want to go there.
But it was time.
I had to.
Perhaps it would be a relief from the constant mindfuck.
I needed to know more about this guided hypnosis.
“I’ll keep thinking on it,” Lacey said. “Maybe I’ll try the hypnosis thing. Do you know anyone who’s any good, Reid?”
My brother shook his head. “Just read an article.”
She turned to Charlie. “Find me a therapist in the area. Let’s get this figured out.”
“Will do.” Charlie stood. “Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of,” Lacey said. “Guys?”
Reid and Rock shook their heads. Charlie looked to me.
“I don’t work here,” was all I said.
“This concerns you as much as the rest of us,” Rock said.
“What I meant was, I don’t work here, so I can’t give Charlie orders.”
Charlie regarded me, her eyes slightly…sad?
Shit. Now I’d done it. But how? I was being respectful, not ordering her around. Right?
I held back a sigh. I’d never understand women.
29
Charlie
“What’s bothering you?” Lacey asked, strolling into my office.
Your brother-in-law.
But I wasn’t about to say that. Lacey had told me that getting involved with Roy wouldn’t be a problem as far as she was concerned, so I certainly wasn’t about to tell her I was upset about him. I refused to make it a problem.
“Nothing. I’m good.”
“We’ve been working together for a couple years, Charlie. I know when something’s bothering you.”
“It’s Blaine,” I lied. “He wants to start things up again.”
“Ah.” Lacey smiled.
“I’m not interested.”
“I can see why.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“I mean…you and Roy.”
Apparently she was intent on talking about it. “Roy and I aren’t an item.”
“Even after the luxurious trip on the jet?”
I chuckled. “We didn’t join the mile-high club, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
She laughed then. “Rock and I didn’t, either.”
My eyebrows nearly flew off my forehead.
“That surprises you?”
Yeah, it did, given their tryst in her office the first time they met, but I didn’t want Lacey to know I’d heard them.
“Just…Rock seems…” My cheeks warmed. “None of my business, Lace. Sorry.”
“Don’t give up on Roy.”
“I promise you that anything that happens with Roy won’t interfere with my work here.”
“I know it won’t, and that’s not what I meant. I just meant…there’s something about Roy. Something special. I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“He’s hiding something,” I blurted out.
This time her eyebrows took flight. “He is?”
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know for sure. I suppose it’s just a feeling. Something I sense in him. Something I see in his art, too.”
“How well do you know him, Charlie?”
“Not well. Only in the biblical sense.”
She smiled.
“I didn’t mean to say that. It kind of just popped out.”
“All the Wolfe men are gorgeous,” Lacey said. “But there’s something special about Roy. Something almost…angelic.”
“His long hair?” I said, though that wasn’t it. I knew what she meant. It wasn’t angelic. It was a weird sort of innocence that had been tainted.
“Maybe the hair is part of it,” Lacey said.
“Probably it’s the fact that he’s an artist,” I said. “He’s kind of a closed book on the outside, but then you look at his artwork, and you realize there’s so much inside him just clawing to get out.”
Lacey nodded. “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“I enjoy art, mainly, and I see some darkness in his. Don’t get me wrong. He’s an incredible talent, and his work is amazing.”
“I don’t know anything about art,” she said, “so I’ll take your word for it. I do think his work is beautiful.”
“It is. He has a beautiful soul.”
I suppressed a groan. Had I really just said that to my boss?
“Like I said, don’t give up on him. If he’s anything like his brother, he’ll be a tough nut to crack. But the reward will be all the sweeter.” She smiled and left my office.
Hmm. I definitely hadn’t cracked Roy Wolfe. Did I want to? Did I want to be a part of whatever he was hiding?
Did I want to be a part of that darkness?
The night sky was dark, and the most beautiful stars shone only against the black veil of night.
Perhaps Roy was like a star, shining most brightly in darkness.
Or perhaps I was simply starstruck.
This was getting ridiculous.
I had a job to do, and the Wolfes were paying me a ridiculous amount of money to do it.
Lacey had asked me to find a therapist who specialized in guided hypnosis, so that was what I’d do.
30
Roy
I stood in front of Charlie’s door, my fist suspended in midair, ready to knock.
What was stopping me?
She was researching guided hypnosis therapists. I needed one.
I also needed her.
My fist came down on the wooden door lightly.
“Yes?” came through the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s me. Roy.”
A pause. Then, “Come in.”
I opened the door and walked in. Charlie sat at her desk, a pencil tucked behind one ear, papers scattered in front of her.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
So professional. So polite.
So “we haven’t had the hottest sex ever.”
So strange.
“I was wondering…”
If you’d share the information about guided hypnosis, I finished in my mind.
Instead, what came out was, “if you’d like to have dinner tonight.”
She paused, biting her lower lip. “I have a lot of work to do. I should probably stay late.”
“A late dinner, then?”
Yeah, I wanted the name of the therapist.
But I wanted dinner with Charlie more. Just looking at her, I could feel the intense chemistry between us sizzling.
My dick responded, as it always did when Charlie was around.
She sighed. “Sure. Let’s have dinner. We should talk.”
Talk? That was never good. She was the one who’d said she didn’t want to spend the night together at the hotel. Of course, I hadn’t argued the point either.
“Charlie?”
&nb
sp; I turned. A large man with silvery hair stood in her office doorway.
“Blaine? What are you doing here?”
Blaine Foster. The partner at Lacey’s firm who Charlie’d had lunch with.
“Just came by to see Lacey.”
“About what we discussed earlier?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, actually.” He nodded toward me. “Could you excuse us, please, Mr. Wolfe?”
“He knows everything you told me,” Charlie said. “He can stay.”
“I’m not here on business,” he said.
“Then I’m definitely staying.” I smiled and took a seat.
“Roy…” Charlie began.
“Is there something going on I should know about?” Blaine asked.
“Nothing that’s any of your business,” I replied.
“Okay, then.” He cleared his throat again. “How about dinner?”
“Love to,” I said sarcastically.
“He was talking to me, Roy.”
I simply smiled.
“I already have plans,” Charlie said.
“Change them.”
I stood. “They’re with me.”
“You? Roy ‘pretty boy’ Wolfe?”
I cocked my head. “Pretty boy? This pretty boy would be happy to slam your head through the wall.”
Charlie stood then. “Blaine, please leave. Unless you have more information for me—”
“Maybe I do.”
“Then you can tell me here. Now. No need for you to spend your money on another meal for me.”
“Maybe I like your company.”
Then I saw it. That look in his eyes.
He’d slept with Charlie.
My Charlie.
I lowered my eyelids slightly and clenched my jaw. “Get out,” I said.
“Is this your office, Mr. Wolfe?”
“It’s my company,” I said.
“Last I heard, it’s your brother’s company. You don’t even have a position here.”
Charlie moved from behind her desk and positioned herself between us. “Stop it, both of you. Blaine, I’m having dinner with Roy tonight. Sorry, he asked first. If you have information—”
“Never mind,” Blaine said. “I’m done here.”
“Good,” I said through my clenched teeth, after he’d left and closed the door.