Protecting His Brother’s Babies

by Katie Knight

  “Shh.” He placed a finger over her lips to stop her. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’ll help you through this. Whatever you need. I might not know much about babies and raising kids, but I can learn. You can count on me, Lake. I won’t let you down.”

  Lake didn’t say much after that and the mood in the car turned somber. Drake pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward the condo, searching for some way to brighten her mood. Yes, twins would be more work, but they could also mean twice the joy. And sure, he was a bit partial, being a twin himself, but that didn’t pop the bubble of excitement welling inside him.

  As they pulled up to a red light, he looked over and saw a local baby superstore up ahead on the right. Maybe buying a few new things for the babies would brighten her mood.

  When he pulled up to the front of the store, Lake gave him a confused stare. “Why are we here?”

  He pulled into a parking spot and cut the engine. “Thought maybe we could get a few things to celebrate.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Lake folded her paperwork and stuck it in her bag. “I haven’t really figured out a budget yet for how much I can afford to spend.”

  “My treat.” He winked at her and opened his car door. “Seriously. Let Uncle Drake spoil the kids a little bit.”

  She chuckled at that and his day brightened. “Uncle Drake, huh?”

  “Yep.” He walked around to open her door for her. “And after we go shopping, I’m taking you back to the condo and cooking you one of my special dishes.”

  “Special?” Lake gave him a side glance. “Like what?”

  “How about candied salmon and rice?” Drake took her hand as they walked toward the store.

  “Oh! I do love salmon,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder, smiling at last. “Sounds good.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Drake smiled himself, kissing the top of her head.

  Thirteen

  The next day, Drake was back at his desk, scowling down at the report he’d received earlier that morning from the private investigator. Not only did it confirm all of his worst fears about his brother’s crash, it brought up new doubts and questions as well.

  As he’d started to suspect, it turned out Devon’s accident wasn’t an accident at all. The findings from the police report, along with a detailed reconstruction done at the scene, proved that his brother’s vehicle had been deliberately run off the road. From the angle of the tire tracks and the data downloaded from the vehicle’s black box, the speed and trajectory of the impact sent him careening head-on into a tree. Add in the fact Devon never wore his seatbelt and he’d been a broken neck waiting to happen.

  Drake shook his head and scrubbed a hand over his face.

  Shit. Just shit.

  If he had a nickel for every time growing up he’d warned his brother to buckle up…

  He sighed and shook his head, staring down at the report again. Not that it would have mattered. Devon never listened to anyone but himself. Another Shepperton family trait. One that Drake had worked hard to overcome in himself through his military training. In the military, and most especially in a special ops unit, not working with your team or disobeying orders could mean the difference between life and death.

  Seemed his brother had learned that lesson the hard way.

  The investigator had even included a note pointing out that while an outside driver had definitely caused the crash, it was actually Devon’s choice not to wear his seatbelt that had ended his life. With that model of car and the type of crash, the airbags probably would have saved him. But the lack of a seatbelt put his body in the wrong position when the airbags deployed, and his neck snapped as a result.

  Setting the report aside, he moved on to the stack of financial reports he’d requested from accounting a few days prior, hoping for a distraction from the mess of his brother’s death. But no respite was in sight, given that the financials were an even bigger red flag that foul play was involved in Devon’s demise.

  An odd mix of anticipation and dread had Drake on his feet, reports in hand, as he headed out of his office toward the accounting department. He needed to talk to Jameson again. Of all the people involved in the financial aspects of the Shepperton Foundation—other than Lake—Jameson was the one Drake was most willing to trust. Jameson had never authorized any grants.

  He took the elevator down several floors, then made a beeline for Jameson’s office door. The older man was working at his desk when Drake knocked and walked in, shutting the door behind him for privacy.

  “Mr. Shepperton,” Jameson said, starting to get up. “What can I help you with?”

  “We need to discuss these reports,” Drake said, gesturing for Jameson to stay seated while he took a chair in front of the man’s desk and spread the financial paperwork in his hand out on the desktop before them. “There are a bunch of fishy transactions on here, mainly connected to how the grant money was disbursed, and I think we need an immediate full and fiduciary audit into the foundation.”

  At first, Jameson just blinked at him, his face blank. Then, slowly, the man’s expression morphed from wary to relieved. “Oh, thank goodness. I was hoping you’d say that. Honestly, I’ve had my suspicions for a while now about how the money was being handled, but hadn’t been authorized to really look into it until now. Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Drake said, sitting back. “It’s going to be a massive amount of work and we need to keep it under wraps for now until we have a better idea of exactly who’s involved in the misdeeds.”

  “Understood, sir.” Jameson nodded. “May I be frank with you?”

  “Please.”

  “I hate to say it, sir, but I’d be very surprised if your brother wasn’t involved, at least in some fashion.”

  “Why is that?” Drake asked, doing his best to hide the fact that he felt the same way. He wanted to get a picture of the situation from Jameson’s perspective, without influencing it in any way.

  “Well, there’s just been some very odd things happening in those accounts over the last several years.” Jameson folded his hands atop the papers on his desk, his brows drawing together above his wire-rimmed glasses. “I didn’t realize the extent of them all until I became CFO and had access to that information. Starting with the dismissal of many of the staff dealing with the financials and the executive director for the Shepperton Foundation. All of these were good, competent people who shouldn’t have been let go, in my opinion. There was no reason for it, not that I’m aware of anyway. And because of their abrupt dismissals, in violation of HR procedures and practices, they each received substantial severance packages as well. The reason stated publicly for their leaving was that job cuts were needed to save money. But the payment of those large sums in severance after the fact suggests that saving money wasn’t a factor at all. At least not in the way the press releases implied.”

  “Hmm.” Drake steepled his fingers and tapped them against his lips, his frown deepening. “So, it was more like these people were being paid off to keep quiet?”

  “Exactly.” Jameson smiled. “Given the routineness of severance packages being paid to ousted execs these days, no one really thought twice about it at the time, though. In fact, it wasn’t until Ms. Bailey asked me to look into the grant money that I began to wonder about those golden-parachute payments. That’s when I did a little digging on my own and didn’t like what I found. Then, of course, there was your brother’s accident. I put two and two together, but was still hoping that somehow, I might be wrong.” Jameson shuddered, his pale face going even whiter. “If these payments and the other financial missteps had something to do with his death, that would be very distressing indeed.”

  “Indeed,” Drake repeated then sat forward. “Right. Well, I think you and I are on the same page for now. My brother was nothing if not shifty, and it seems like an operation of this scale couldn’t have started anywhere other than at the top.” He’d heard of so many misdeeds over the years, saying s
uch awful things about his sibling didn’t even faze him anymore. Which was sad, if he’d had time to think about it. “So, if Devon was involved in money laundering through the Shepperton Foundation, why? From what I’ve seen so far, Shepperton, Inc. is very successful at the moment and that was trickling down to the foundation too.”

  “Yes,” Jameson said. “Things have been going well for the company. That makes me suspect that your brother was doing this on behalf of someone else. I’ve got a few hunches about who, but haven’t dug any deeper to confirm those suspicions so I don’t want to say anything yet.”

  “Nothing concrete then?” Drake asked.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “Okay.” Drake stood to pace the room. He did his best thinking while moving. “Go ahead and start looking deeper into whatever you think is relevant. I’ll wait until you complete your investigation before I talk to the company’s legal counsel. We want to make sure our ducks are in a row before we bring in the big guns.” He stopped before the older man’s bookcase and stared at the old ledgers stored there. “Also, how much do you know about Carrie Bartlett?”

  Jameson gave him a surprised look. “Not much. Just that she was an associate who reported to your brother. Why?”

  “They were also sleeping together.” Drake took a deep breath. “I think she might be in on all this too. If you find out during your investigation that she’s authorized anything—grant money, travel expenditures, whatever—in the last year or so, I want to know about it. And while I think it’s likely that Devon was the one coordinating all of this, we shouldn’t ignore other possibilities. She might have been doing it under the guise of my brother’s consent, so be sure to check the signatures on his deals to makes sure it’s actually Devon’s and not hers signing on his behalf. You recognize the difference between the two handwritings?”

  “Yes, sir.” Jameson gave a curt nod. “I’ve seen them both and can tell them apart. I’ll be sure to look into Ms. Bartlett as well.”

  “Good.” Drake headed for the door, then turned back. “The days ahead are likely to be the roughest in Shepperton, Inc. history, Jameson. Are you prepared to handle that?”

  “I am, sir,” Jameson said, squaring his slender shoulders beneath his tweed sport coat. “I’ve worked for this company in one capacity or another since I was in college. I love Shepperton, Inc. as if it’s my own. And though it may be rough, these things must be rooted out for the greater good. Better to do it now and deal with it, so we don’t disrupt operations any further and put more people’s livelihoods at risk.”

  Fourteen

  Over dinner that night, Drake updated Lake on the PI’s report about the accident and his later conversation with Jameson. He hated the fact that the upsetting news might ruin her appetite, but he knew he needed to let her know what was happening.

  “I’m sorry if that news upsets you,” he said, wincing at her too-pale complexion and the dark circles under her eyes. “But I think it’s important that you know what we’re dealing with here, and how far these people are willing to go. After that attack in the parking lot the other night, we have to consider the fact that the same people who ran Devon off the road are now coming after you.”

  “Jesus.” She pushed her half-eaten plate of salad aside, then just stared blankly at her water glass. “Even suspecting ahead of time that Devon had been killed, having it confirmed is just…wow.”

  “I know.” He reached over and took her hand, his pulse thundering in his ears. “I feel the same way. My brother and I were not close, but knowing his accident wasn’t an accident at all and that he was murdered?” He swallowed hard against the burn in the back of his throat. “That just takes all this to a whole other level.”

  Crimson dotted her white cheeks and she squeezed his fingers tighter between her icy ones, placing her free hand atop her stomach. “So, you think these people are after me now too?”

  “I don’t know. But I think we have to consider all possibilities. Maybe Devon warned them you were asking questions; maybe they think you’re in a position to uncover too much now that Devon’s not around to keep you distracted…or maybe they have some other motive we haven’t figured out yet. Given the fact you two were involved personally as well for a time, it could be that whoever did this might assume you knew about my brother’s illicit activities and might go to the authorities with that information.”

  She shook her head, trembling beneath his touch. All Drake’s protective instincts went haywire, urging him to hold her close and never let her go, but he couldn’t do that. Not yet. Not until this mess was over with, at least. Maybe not ever, since he’d be leaving soon and Lake deserved someone who would stay at her side forever.

  “But I don’t know anything. Not really,” she said, her voice quiet.

  “I know that, but they don’t.” He rubbed her chilled hand with his, hoping to convey some warmth and strength to her, since that was all he had to give at the moment. “For all we know, whoever Devon was laundering that money for is still waiting on more payments. If that’s true, they might even think you can get the funds for them. That could explain why they tried to abduct you. If they had only wanted to silence you, they wouldn’t have needed to bring a van to drag you away.”

  “But that’s crazy!” she cried, her breath hitching and her eyes bright with unshed tears. “What good could I do for them? Devon was the one who was willing to cooperate with them, and they killed him in the end. Why would they do that if he was their best way to get their money? And what would they do to me to try to force me to give it to them? Oh, God, Drake. This is all such a mess. What if they come after me again? I’m not scared for myself, but what about my babies?”

  Drake was out of his seat in a moment, forgetting his vows to keep his distance, forgetting his promise not to touch her since he might not be around much longer, forgetting everything except the burning need to hold her and comfort her and assure her that he would do anything in his power to keep her and the babies safe. “I won’t let them get to you. I promise. I won’t let them touch you or the babies. Understand?”

  He whispered the words against the top of her head, and she nodded beneath his chin, her hands clasping his sides tightly. They stayed that way for a long moment, until she sighed and relaxed against him and he finally let her go before he couldn’t anymore. They sat back down and he held her hand again, just because it felt so good to touch her.

  “So, after I went over the accident investigation report, I went down and talked to the CFO. He’s going to look deeper into the issues we discovered. He’d had some suspicions of his own about Devon mishandling funds, so he’s already got some leads he’s looking into.” He laced their fingers together once more, his thumb rubbing tiny circles over the racing pulse point in her wrist to help calm her. “I trust him. He’ll find whatever’s hidden there, I’m sure, but I warned him that things are going to get rough over the next few weeks, PR-wise.”

  “Agreed.” Her tense shoulders slumped and she stared down at the tabletop. “All of this mess will likely delay the sale of Shepperton, Inc. too. Which means you’ll be in Dallas longer than you planned.”

  “True.” A few weeks ago, that idea would have made him restless and jumpy. Now all he cared about was keeping the beautiful woman across from him safe, happy, and healthy for as long as he could. In fact, a few more weeks here with her sounded like heaven on earth. His heart squeezed and warmth spread through his torso. Not that he’d tell her that. She had enough to deal with right now without his feelings on top of it. They’d both started this thing between them knowing it was only temporary, and he shouldn’t rock the boat, no matter how love might have capsized his good intentions already. “But that doesn’t matter to me.” She looked up and they locked eyes, the heat in her gaze matching the fire inside him for her. “All that matters is you and me and what we’re doing here, together.”

  “Together,” she whispered, leaning across the table to kiss him.

  “Together,
” he said against her lips. Then there was just her and him and the crazy storm of things she made him feel, whether he should or not.

  Fifteen

  Lake checked her appearance in the living room mirror for the umpteenth time. The amethyst-colored dress was new and when she’d bought it a few weeks prior for the gala tonight, it had fit perfectly. Now, though, the satin and chiffon pulled too tight at the waist and it felt like her ever-increasing bosom was going to burst through the bodice. She’d expected to have to revamp her wardrobe at some point during the pregnancy, just not this soon.

  She was still fiddling with her full skirt when Drake walked in, looking devastatingly handsome in his tux. Darn it. Men had it so easy with formalwear and didn’t even know or appreciate it. All they had to do was put on the same black suit and bow tie with a white shirt and they were ready to go.

  “Stop fidgeting,” he said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her middle, giving her a gentle squeeze as he kissed one of her bare shoulders. The halter neckline left her feeling a bit exposed thanks to her growing bust size, but feeling the heat of Drake against her bare skin was one advantage of her outfit, she supposed. He met her gaze in the mirror and smiled, his teeth even and white against his tanned complexion. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” she said, warmth prickling her cheeks as joy fizzed inside her like champagne. For the first time since Devon’s death she felt safe and protected, and she had Drake to thank for that. No matter how things turned out between them when this was all over, she would always be grateful to him. He leaned in to nuzzle the nape of her neck and she couldn’t suppress a shiver of delight at the magical chemistry between them. She’d never felt anything like it, not even with Devon. If she wasn’t careful, her “like” for him could tumble right over into something more—something devastating. Before she completely melted into his arms, Lake forced herself to pull away and turned to straighten his slightly crooked bowtie. “And you look very nice yourself, sir.”