eyond Desire Collection

by JS Scott, M Malone, Marie Hall, et al

She walked out and left him standing alone.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ridley glanced behind her as she crossed the yard to her sister’s house. She’d left through the back door and hadn’t bothered to rush. Anger made her bold. She almost wished Eli or Nick would try to stop her when she was in this mood.

  After punching in the security code, she pushed open the door to Raina’s house for the second time that week. After her argument with Jackson, the quiet in the house was unnerving. The air in the kitchen smelled a little stale, so she crossed to one of the windows and pried it open. The breeze was a little too warm to be refreshing but at least it would air things out a bit.

  The back edge of the property was dotted with chrysanthemums and there was a pitiful clutch of tulips in a circular bed in the middle of the yard. She smiled to herself at the sight of the tulips. Raina knew they were one of her favorite flowers.

  Planting flowers had always been one of the first things Ridley did when they moved to a new place. They’d usually been in small apartments or sharing space in someone else’s home, but even the smallest place had room for a window box. Staying in Florida while she finished her master’s had been easier than she’d thought due to the beautiful weather and her part-time job at the local nursery.

  Just one more thing in her life she’d been forced to leave behind.

  I should just go back , she thought as she stood at the window. I should leave now before I get in any deeper.

  It hurt, being in love with someone who clearly didn’t trust her, much more than she could have ever guessed it would. You’d think after being lied to and stolen from by David that this wouldn’t even register. But somehow it was worse with Jackson, more personal.

  Because you thought he felt the same way you did, you idiot.

  Raina’s house was done in a clean, modern country style, similar to what Ridley herself would have picked out. She settled at one of the oak chairs at the long farmer’s table in the kitchen and looked out into the backyard. It was already close to dusk and it was more than a little weird to think that people outside could look in and see her. Although, knowing Raina, the windows were probably treated with some kind of reflective glass.

  A prickle of awareness made the hair on her neck stand up. If she lived here full time, she’d definitely get window treatments. It would obscure some of the view, but at least she could sit on the main level at night without feeling like she was in a fishbowl.

  She needed to call Raina. Her sister was going to be pissed, but she also had resources that could be extremely helpful. Whatever other “proof” Elliott had found was clearly damaging. Raina’s security team could probably get access to it.

  You’ll also need a lawyer.

  She shuddered. It was crazy that the thought of hiring a lawyer was the final straw that broke her. She swiped at her cheeks angrily. The past month had been overwhelming and instead of things being better, they were worse than when she’d started. Crying hadn’t solved anything. Running hadn’t solved anything either.

  “It’s time to stop running and start fighting.”

  She thought of everything she’d experienced in the past week. Images of Mara holding up the sheer nightgowns at the mall merged with images of discussing business ideas with Katie and digging in the dirt with the kids. She’d finally found something worth fighting for. Friends. Community. Love.

  And she wasn’t giving it up.

  She had friends here now. Her sister was here. Those were good reasons to stay. But most importantly, she liked it here. It would be difficult to be so close to Jackson. It would be difficult to be near him and not be with him. Not love him.

  But staying in Virginia didn’t have to be about Jackson. The Alexanders had shown her the beauty of community and putting down roots. Not everyone at their family gatherings had been blood relatives, but they were still a part of the clan. Maybe she couldn’t find the perfect family she’d always wanted.

  But if she was strong enough, maybe she could create one.

  ***

  “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen the evidence for myself. I still don’t want to believe it. But there it is.”

  Jackson closed his eyes and tried to tune it all out. His brother was still talking but nothing else he was saying really mattered, did it? Not when it all circled around to the same thing.

  The woman he loved was a thief.

  “I wish I didn’t have to be the one to show you this.” Elliott sat on the couch next to him. He didn’t say anything else.

  They both looked up when Nick came in the room. Jackson tensed. Irrational as it was, he especially didn’t want to see Nick right now. He didn’t feel like hearing what an idiot he was for believing she’d loved him.

  “I brought you some water.” Nick put the glass down on the coffee table and then sat down behind the piano. He played a string of broken notes.

  Jackson took a big gulp of the drink, then coughed violently as it burned all the way down. “What the hell was that?”

  “It’s water. Tonic water.”

  Jackson raised an eyebrow.

  “Okay, I might have added a bit of vodka,” Nick conceded. “I figured you could use it.”

  Jackson took another sip. Then drained the entire glass. His brother could be an ass but he could also be useful at times. He definitely knew how to nurse him through heartache.

  He’d done it before.

  “We don’t really have to do this now.” Elliott picked up the folders he’d brought with him. They’d been sitting on the table mocking him ever since they’d gotten there.

  In those folders was more evidence of what a fool he’d been. Pages and pages of transactions, Elliott had said. Evidence of all the scams Ridley had been a part of.

  Just the thought made him sick.

  “When would be a good time, big brother? When’s a good time to learn the woman you love was using you? I need another drink.”

  He could already feel a warm buzz. His brother had added a little more than a pinch of vodka, but he was okay with it. If he’d ever needed a little liquid amnesia, it was now.

  Nick appeared with another glass and Jackson startled. “Shit, you move fast. Or I’m more drunk than I thought.”

  “I already had it ready. I know the drill.”

  Jackson took a deep swallow. “Yeah, you do. You helped me numb out after Cynthia died. What is it about me that makes the women I love want to hurt me, Nick?”

  “Is this really the best idea? Do you have to get him drunk?” Eli muttered.

  “You have a better idea?” Nick took a deep swallow of his own drink.

  “Jack, don’t do this to yourself.” Eli took the glass out of his hand and finished it for him.

  “Cynthia wanted to leave me. Did you know that? We fought that night.” Jackson fell back against the arm of the couch with a groan. “I told her to go. Pushed her out the door into the rain. I didn’t protect her.”

  “Jackson. Her accident was not your fault. It was nobody’s fault,” Eli said. There was no mistaking the pity in his brother’s voice. It was there in both of their eyes. The condemnation.

  “Just tell me, Eli. I need to know. Maybe it’ll make it hurt less.”

  “All right. The FBI has pending case files for four other women that they suspect were helping David Finemore in a range of fraud schemes.” He held up the papers in his hand. “These are just a few of the names I found. Our boy was busy. But I noticed something interesting about his credit history.”

  “More interesting than wire fraud and just being an all-around douchebag?” Nick asked.

  Jackson snorted.

  “Yeah. According to David’s driver’s license, he’s twenty-nine. So he should have a good decade of credit history. But he doesn’t. There’s a period three years ago where he had no activity at all for about six months. I have a theory as to why.”

  His cell phone rang and he pulled it out and looked at the screen. “Hold on. I have to t
ake this.”

  Jackson blinked several times. He was starting to feel numb and wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

  “Really? No, no, that’s good. Send it over.” Elliott hung up.

  “Who was that?” Nick asked.

  Elliott ran a hand over his face. “I had one of my guys check even further back into David’s history. I had a hunch and it looks like I was right.”

  “What did he find?” Jackson asked dispiritedly. It was taking everything within him to act as though he cared. Truthfully, he just wanted them to leave him alone in his misery.

  It didn’t really matter to him how David had committed his crimes. Ridley had gotten hooked up with him and it had ruined her life. Now his life. But there was nothing he could do about it. He eyed the empty glass on the coffee table.

  Eli pulled out his laptop and powered it up. A few clicks later, he sat back on the couch. “See for yourself. He just sent it to me.”

  Nick got up and stood behind the couch. “Who is that on the left?”

  “That’s the real David Finemore.” He turned the laptop around so Jackson could see. Two pictures were displayed. They both looked like driver’s license photos.

  “The one on the left is from two license renewals ago. We usually only pull what the Division of Motor Vehicles keeps on file. But my guy went further back and pulled some of the old pictures.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Nick whispered.

  “He was using an assumed identity. He probably got away with it because the original David Finemore was a lot heavier than he was. The clerk at the DMV probably just thought he looked slightly different in the face due to weight loss.”

  “How is it possible that the FBI didn’t know who he was?” Nick asked. “With all the technology they have access to, between their databases and their facial recognition software, they have to know his real identity.”

  “It’s possible he had surgery to alter his face, but I’m inclined to agree with you. I think they know his real identity and they just don’t want to tip off his accomplices. I think they’re trying to build their case against all the people who helped him.”

  Elliott looked over at Jackson. “Including Ridley.”

  ***

  “You weren’t happy with destroying just one Alexander, huh?”

  Raina threw her purse down on the sofa in her hotel suite. Nick seemed to have an internal radar for when she was feeling her weakest. He always seemed to call when she was least equipped to deal with hearing his voice.

  “Hello, Nick. Lovely of you to call. Who have I supposedly destroyed now?”

  Sam hovered just behind her. He nodded at the phone and she shrugged.

  “You’re really going to pretend you had no idea your sister was fleecing my brother?”

  “What?”

  “Ridley stole fifty thousand dollars from Jackson. Wired it right out of his account and into hers.”

  Raina stilled. Sam must have sensed it because he moved closer.

  “I don’t believe you. Ridley would never steal from anyone.”

  “Really? Well, tell that to my brother’s bank account. She was crafty about it, too. She only took smaller amounts at first. Then, once she realized what the limits were, she jumped to higher amounts. I should have known not to believe her woe-is-me story, but she had us all fooled. She’s even better at playing men than you are. Something I thought I’d never see.”

  Anger rose in Raina’s chest at the insult. Not on her own behalf. She didn’t care what Nick thought of her. He had good reason to hate her and she wouldn’t have expected anything less. But her sister had nothing to do with their feud.

  “Insult me all you want, but leave my sister out of it. I don’t believe she stole anything. I think you just hate me so much that you want to hate her, too.”

  “Ask for proof,” Sam whispered. He hovered at her shoulder so close he could no doubt hear the entire conversation.

  “Send me some proof,” Raina demanded.

  “Proof? Like a bank statement? Why, so you can get his account number and steal from him, too?”

  “Damn it, Nick. Do you want your brother’s money back or not? I know Ridley didn’t steal from him, but someone did. If I can figure out who it was, maybe we can reverse it somehow.”

  “It’s not about the money. He loved her , Raina. But you all don’t care about that, do you? That’s how you girls do it. Make a man fall for you and then rip his heart out.” He paused, his angry breaths coming over the line like static.

  Sam raised his eyebrows at her. He’d been with her long enough that he’d pretty much seen and heard it all. He’d handled stalkers, obsessive fans, and jealous boyfriends and she never kept anything from him. In order to keep her safe, there couldn’t be secrets.

  But this thing with Nick—he didn’t even know what had happened the night they were together. She turned her back to Sam and fought to bring her emotions under control. Some things were too personal to share, even with him.

  “Are we still talking about Jackson and Ridley?”

  The only response was the soft click as he hung up.

  Raina squeezed the phone as tightly as she could bear. It was better than giving in to the overwhelming urge to throw it across the room.

  “Do you think she did it?”

  Raina turned at the question. Sam was at the minibar, which was cleverly hidden in an alcove in the living room of the suite. He held up one of the bottles and she nodded. She could definitely use a drink.

  “No.”

  “Honestly?” Sam stared at her for a moment before turning back to the drinks. The next thing she heard was the tinkle of ice hitting glass.

  Raina heaved a sigh and sank down on the couch. “When we were teenagers, we used to help our mom at the diner where she worked to earn spending money. One day, Ridley had a customer who was particularly flirty. Older guy, nice suit, going bald but still in the comb-over phase of denial. You know the type.”

  Sam nodded his agreement and turned back to pour a generous amount in each glass.

  “Anyway, after an hour or so, he finally left, leaving the money to cover his food on the table. When Ridley went to pick it up, she saw he’d left behind a twenty-dollar bill when he’d only had a cup of coffee and a muffin.”

  Sam handed her a glass and sat down on the other end of the couch. He didn’t interrupt, although she could see his confusion.

  “Do you know what I would have done in her position?”

  Sam shrugged and took a healthy swallow of his drink.

  “I would have pocketed it without a second thought. Do you know what Ridley did?”

  Sam sat back, comprehension dawning. “She wanted to give it back?”

  “She chased the poor man for two blocks to give him his change. Imagine her surprise when he told her he’d left it on purpose. As a tip. She’s always so surprised when men flirt with her.” She smiled at the memory.

  Sam shook his head. “So, she was a good kid. People can change.”

  “Sure they can, but I don’t think the core of a person changes so easily. You see, she wasn’t giving the money back because she thought she’d get in trouble or because someone was watching. She was actually worried that he’d need the money. She cares about people. Any of the rest of us would have considered it his loss and our gain. But not Ri.”

  “So, she’s not a thief and this is some kind of mistake.”

  “It’s not a mistake. I don’t think someone mistakenly wired this money into my sister’s account. I think someone did it on purpose and I think I know who. I think it was Nick.”

  Sam raised his eyebrows. “You think he’d steal from his own brother just to make your sister look guilty?”

  “I think he hates me enough to do just about anything. He’s a financial genius, so I’m sure a little bit of wire fraud isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I just need you to prove it for me.”

  “It seems a little far-fetched, but I’ll see what I
can do.”

  She checked her phone again, surprised to see that Nick had actually sent her the bank statements as she’d asked.

  “Look. Here it is.” She handed Sam her phone and watched as he scrolled through the e-mail attachment.

  “Oh, she definitely didn’t do it.”

  “Well, I know that. But why are you suddenly so certain?”

  He leaned over and pointed to something on the screen of her phone. “This is Ridley’s regular bank account, right? It’s under her real name.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So, what kind of criminal uses a bank account in their own name to commit fraud? Not that I doubted your heartwarming story, but I’ve seen too many nice kids go off the rails when they get older. But this, this is not the move of a fraudster. I was expecting to see a wire transfer to a numbered account. If your sister was actually used to scamming people, she wouldn’t be using the same bank account she uses to pay her electric bill.”

  “I knew it. That bastard. This whole thing is so jacked up. Ridley cared about David and what did that get her? A near-death experience and an FBI profile. She cares about Jackson and look how that’s turned out. Being accused of wire fraud? I want so much more for her than this.”

  “What about you?” Sam asked. “What do you want?”

  “Security. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. That’s why I have you. You’re the only man I need in my life, Sam.”

  She leaned over and brushed his hair back from his face.

  “Now, please find a way to prove that Nick is behind this so I can nail his balls to the wall.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “What are you doing still up?”

  Jackson had figured he’d be alone at this hour. Nick and Elliott had gone to bed around the same time he had. After hours of poring over the documents they’d brought, he’d been emotionally exhausted.

  It was one thing to be told that Ridley had stolen from him but another to see it. If he hadn’t seen the wire transfer on the bank printout, he wouldn’t have believed it.

  “Just looking at the information I received earlier.”

  Elliott held up the pages he was reading. Even from across the room Jackson recognized the photo of David Finemore.