by Vanessa Dare
Father dragged Elizabeth around to see my handiwork and seemed satisfied when gave it a test tug. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief that I hadn’t tried to fool him.
He pushed Elizabeth toward a chair, and she caught herself before she fell. “Sit. Both of you. Let’s have a little chat.”
I lowered myself across from Elizabeth, Grif next to me. I sat between him and my father, who chose to stand. Pace. He waved the gun around as he spoke.
“You had to fuck up my life, didn’t you?”
I looked to Elizabeth who gave a negligible shrug.
“You!” Father pointed at me. “I'm talking about you!” Beads of sweat dripped down his temple. His gray hair was damp. Circles formed beneath the arms on his blue golf shirt.
“I haven’t seen you since I was eighteen,” I said carefully. “How did I fuck up your life?”
“By being born. Jesus, you don’t know.” He ran his hand through his receding hair. “Of course you don’t know.”
This family reunion couldn’t go on forever. Anders lay on the floor, dying. I had to move this along.
“What is it I don’t know?” I asked.
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I shipped you away? Why I never wanted you back?” He paused and glared at me. “I never wanted you, because I’m not your father.”
My mouth fell open as I tried to process. “You’re…you’re not my father,” I whispered. My mind started spinning, processing what he’d said. If he wasn’t my father, then…
“Your mother,” he spat out the words like venom. “She got pregnant with you by the chauffeur. She said she loved him, wanted to leave me for him. Him. A chauffeur. Of course, I couldn’t divorce her. So she had you.”
My world as I knew it bottomed out. This man, this crazy, cruel man, wasn’t my father. I wasn’t sure if I should be numb, scared or relieved. I glanced at Grif, but he just stared at the man with an unleashed rage. Quiet, focused. Waiting.
“Are you my father?” Elizabeth asked, her voice soft.
My father…no, I was glad to say I couldn’t call him that anymore, whipped his head around to look at Elizabeth. “Oh, you’re mine all right. I kept your mother on a short leash.”
I needed to keep his focus off Elizabeth. “Why did you marry my mother in the first place?”
Grayson looked surprised I even asked. “For money, of course. You’re not very smart, are you? Before you ask, yes, obviously I married Victoria for her money, too.”
It was all about the money. Everything. My father—Grayson. Todd. All they wanted was money. They were completely blinded, obsessed by it. Addicted even. It seemed it had even driven them slightly insane and completely corrupt.
“I've only seen you a few times since I was six years old. I still can’t understand why I fucked up your life. You literally wiped me from it.”
“Because you’re going to dig into the past. I know you are. Todd’s an idiot and you’ll see through him and get to me.”
“You were the one who arranged for Lawton’s brother to die,” Grif said, seeing through Grayson where I couldn’t. I was too close to it, too muddled by all of his revelations. “To get Olivia out of your life. You waited all those years until she was eighteen to get a hold of her mother’s money, but then it was all locked up in a trust, which neither you nor Lawton could touch.”
Grif sat there, arms pulled behind him, as if we were talking about the stats of a baseball game. I knew him though, could tell every nuance of his emotions. He wasn’t relaxed, he wasn’t calm. He was coiled tight like a spring. Once the bindings at his wrist were undone, he’d release all that tension on Grayson.
“It didn’t take much,” Grayson told us. “A nudge here, a suggestion there. The man’s a follower. A lemming. He’ll do whatever I say and he has no idea.” His voice was so smug. Spittle flew from his mouth and he wiped the back of his hand over his lips.
I glanced at Grif, trying to keep up. It was like wading through mud, understanding everything Grayson was sharing. Everything was murky and unclear. I kept getting stuck. Held up by the fact that he wasn’t my father.
He was the one who’d arranged for me to kill David? Todd thought, after all this time, that he’d been the mastermind, when he was a mere puppet. It, this…everything, wasn’t about Todd, it was about me. Making me go to jail, to make me pay for my inheritance being tied in a trust. For being born.
We’d set up Todd last night because I’d needed payback for all he’d done to me. For being his puppet to murder. I’d sought revenge on the wrong person.
When Todd told me earlier that I’d ruined his life by coming back, it was the truth. Once I disappeared, he probably hadn’t even thought about me. Kept a PI, sure, to make sure I didn’t return, but if he didn’t get an update, I was as good as gone. He could go about his life, making plenty of money off his position as my father—no, Grayson’s—right-hand man. Sure, he’d been disappointed at not getting my inheritance, but Grayson had kept him on the payroll so someone knew he skimmed money from the company for his debts. Todd wouldn’t tell, he wanted the big paycheck. Besides, he just needed to wait for the next big score. Elizabeth.
For twelve years, I’d been looking over my shoulder in fear of Todd finding me. The irony was, he’d never been looking.
“Did you know where I was? All this time?”
Grayson shook his head. “No. Not until one of my men found your name on a flight. Then I knew I had to get rid of you. Once and for all.”
“You put out a hit on your own daughter?” Elizabeth asked, her voice just shy of a squeal.
Grayson’s eyes narrowed. “I told you, she’s not my daughter!”
All at once, like in a movie, my brain went from super slo-mo to fast forward. “My mother. It wasn’t just a simple car accident. You killed her, didn’t you? That’s what you’ve been trying to hide. Not your gambling problems, but murder.” It was so obvious now. Oh my God, my mother was murdered. When he said nothing, just looked at me with those anger-filled eyes, I knew I was right. “Why?”
“She was going to leave me. Take you and leave. So I had to do it. I needed her money. I owed people. If we divorced, it would all go away.”
“The driver. Was he—”
“Yes. Andrew Harris. Can you imagine?” he asked as he paced back and forth. “Grayson Edwards cuckolded by the chauffeur. Wife takes child and leaves to live a life slumming for love.”
Tears filled my eyes, slid down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them. I could appreciate what my mother felt. Being trapped by a man who didn’t love her—didn’t even like her—who was using her for her money. Money that wouldn’t be used on her or her child. To pay people off, to pay gambling debts. Then, finding a man who made her world come alive, who cherished her. Who loved her.
I glanced at Grif, reassuring myself that he was next to me. I felt all those things with him.
“Now, you all have to die. This is a secret that can’t get out.” He puffed up his chest. “I mean, I’m Grayson Edwards.”
He walked over to Elizabeth, grabbed her arm and hauled her up, pulling her into his side. She cried out. I saw panic flare in her eyes right before they were covered by her whipping hair. I saw Grif’s arms tense as if he was working at the knot.
Elizabeth and Grif were innocent in all of this. This wasn’t about them. It hadn’t been about anyone but me. I was Grayson’s reminder of what his wife had done to him. While I was alive, her duplicity was, too. This was about me. Grayson had even said it. I was the one who fucked up his life. I was the one to die.
It was my job to end it. To end the horrible, crazy nightmare that had been Olivia Edwards’ life. So I slowly stood, too. I wasn’t handling him sitting down.
“You killed my mother, sent me away, gave me to Todd, then set me up to kill an innocent man. Now you hold a gun to my sister?” I narrowed my eyes, put my hands on my hips, closer to the gun.
The tears had dried and now I was pissed. I was thirty years old, but my enti
re life started a few short weeks ago. All because a stupid valet mixed up my rental car. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have met Grif. Grayson wouldn’t have become paranoid. I would never have learned the truth.
I wasn’t Anna Scott.
I wasn’t Olivia Edwards.
I was Olivia Harris.
“She's not your sister,” Grayson spat. “Didn’t you learn anything in those boarding schools?” He lifted his gun, put it to Elizabeth's temple. “Say goodbye.” Her eyes widened, but she held still.
“Actually, I learned quite a bit in boarding school,” I countered. “Including how to shoot.” I pulled the gun from the back of my jeans and fired. I didn’t even have to aim. Military school had provided good training. Just like the SEALs, I shot Grayson Edwards with a double tap.
He fell backward to the floor, leaving Elizabeth standing there. It had happened so fast, she hadn’t even blinked.
“State Champion,” I added, but he couldn’t hear. He was dead. The gun felt familiar in my grasp, from all the times I spent at the shooting range. Just in case.
I tried not to think about the fact that I’d killed two people. The first, David, hadn’t deserved it. He—and myself—had been innocent in a twisted game. Grayson Edwards, on the other hand, deserved to die. He’d killed three innocent people, three I knew about at least, and ruined my life. Or my life so far. It wasn’t over.
It was just beginning.
We stared at Grayson’s body for a few seconds, then I came back to myself. So much had been answered. I wasn’t Grayson Edwards’ daughter. My mother had been murdered. My real father, who I never knew, had been murdered. Elizabeth wasn’t my sister. Now wasn’t the time to sort it all out.
“Elizabeth, call 9-1-1 and check on Anders.” I dashed to Grif and slid to my knees behind him to fumble with the knot. He’d almost gotten it undone. Once free, he stood, pulled me up into a fierce hug, then tipped my face back to look at him.
“Jesus, Anna. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I nodded and breathed in Grif’s scent, comforted by it. By him.
“He’s alive!” Elizabeth called out.
Grif’s eyes flared with heat so intense I felt scorched. “Later,” he promised as he pulled his cell from his pocket. “Call Carmody with the FBI. This is going to blow up in our faces. You need protection.”
We dealt with getting Anders loaded with the paramedics and then the police. We were taken to the station for questioning, but this time, when I sat in the cold interrogation room, I had Grif by my side.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Grif
I swear I aged ten years. I hadn’t looked in the mirror yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my hair had turned gray. Every alpha male, caveman instinct had screamed to protect Anna, but there had been nothing I could have done. Not when Lawton was working her over at the station, getting what he wanted from her. Not when Grayson Edwards held a gun to Elizabeth.
The hours we spent being questioned the FBI had been busy. They’d taken us from the police station and whisked us away to another hotel and away from the reporters. Watching the news on TV, they’d put a good spin on everything.
It was simple: Grayson Edwards had taken objection to his daughter, Elizabeth, ending the engagement to Todd Lawton because of the call girl escapade, which wasn’t even a day old. Grayson had tracked Elizabeth to a downtown hotel where she’d been hiding from the press of her fiancé’s infidelity, and forced his way into her hotel room with a gun, ready to kill her. Seeking protection from the media, she’d hired a bodyguard who had attempted to protect Elizabeth from her deranged father and had been injured in the process.
This spin left Anna out of it entirely. No one knew she had returned, other than her crazy family who’d had private investigators watching for her. The fact that Elizabeth, Lawton and Edwards had guys on retainer for just that purpose was alarming. The Griffin family, slightly dysfunctional, looked like the Cleavers from the ’50s TV show in comparison.
Most importantly, Anna’s photo had only popped up on the screen in passing, referencing her disappearance, but that was old news and the photo they used didn’t look much like her. There was no chance Moretti could see her on the national news and learn she wasn’t actually dead. He’d never met her, so I didn’t even think he knew what she looked like. The name wasn’t even the same. But it wasn’t a guarantee. With Moretti in federal lock-up awaiting trial, the FBI could keep tabs on him. While they did that, I’d keep tabs on Anna. Which wouldn’t be a hardship.
Elizabeth had been unable to visit us, since the media followed her every move. She’d stayed at Anders’ hospital bedside, tending to the guy who had saved her life. In a way, he had. I didn’t want to read much into the two of them. Elizabeth was just eighteen and Anders was a consultant. Once the media storm blew over, I’d be keeping tabs on them.
“This seems to be a trend,” I told Anna, two days after the shooting. We were in another hotel room, another bed.
Naked, Anna rolled on top of me and kissed my chin. “Oh?”
I ran my hand over her silky curls. “Hiding out in a hotel room. For days.” When her mouth moved lower to kiss my neck, I added, “Not that I mind.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind sex and room service either.”
I smiled, rolled so she was on her back and I hovered over her. “Vixen. We can’t stay here forever.”
Anna pouted, her full lip plumping out. “I know. But where should we go?”
“Denver’s out.” I didn’t need to go back there. My captain could give me a recommendation to work anywhere. Anywhere Moretti wasn’t.
“New York’s probably out, too. Unless I take Carmichael up on his job offer.”
I reached down and pinched her very nice ass.
“Ow!” she squealed.
“Pick another job,” I growled.
Anna’s face relaxed as she smiled up at me. “I want to take Grayson’s money and start an organization to help women and children.”
Grayson Edwards hadn’t left a will. Why, I had no idea. Perhaps he considered himself invincible. Regardless, Anna and Elizabeth were his beneficiaries. Most of his estate was tied up in stock with Edwards Enterprises, but the remainder was sizable. I didn’t know the exact amount of money Anna’s mother had left for her, but she wasn’t hurting for cash. She didn’t need Grayson’s money. Or want it.
“I think that’s a great idea,” I replied, my voice soft. She amazed me constantly, this woman who had come into my life, completely by mistake. Completely randomly. “What about Boston?”
She considered for a moment. “Too cold.”
“Hawaii?”
“Now you're talking,” she replied, grinning. “Elizabeth has to pick which college she wants to go to in the fall, but she’ll live with us over her breaks.”
“You like that she wants to do that.”
“I thought she’d be upset that we weren’t really sisters, but I think it made her relieved. She’ll need help dealing with her father, with Grayson. So will I. But we’ll do it together. Sisters or not.”
I lowered my head to kiss along her collarbone. It was a spot I loved to brush my lips over, a delicate bone covered with soft, warm skin. It reminded me of how fragile, how precious Anna was.
“She might want to be close to Anders,” Anna added.
I growled at the idea. “He needs to find a new job, too.”
Anna’s fingers ran through my hair. I loved that feeling. “If you’re going to treat her like a little sister, then you’re going to have to come to terms with men being interested in her.”
I looked up into Anna’s eyes. “College. After she graduates from college Anders can have her. Until then, I’ll be watching.”
Anna was naked beneath me and we were talking about Anders and Elizabeth. It had only been a short time since I’d had her, but I wanted her again. I couldn’t get enough. Now, with all the dangers of her past left there, we could think about the future.
***
“I have too many names,” she said. Another two days had passed.
We walked through Golden Gate State Park, enjoying the sunny weather. Anna wore a baseball hat and sunglasses as a precaution, but we were confident that the press wasn’t focused on her.
I held her hand, keeping her close to my side. Neither had said it outright, but we were both afraid to be apart, that somehow the other would be taken away.
I smiled as I took in the view of the iconic bridge, the rugged shoreline in the distance. “Olivia Edwards.”
“Olivia Harris,” she added. “Anna Scott.”
“How about one more?” I asked. It might not be the time, but I’d learned there never was a perfect moment.
Anna stopped, turned to look up at me. “One more name? Don’t you think three is enough?”
I shrugged casually as I tucked a curl that had escaped from her hat back behind her ear. “I thought Anna Griffin had a nice ring to it. Speaking of rings…”
“Oh my God,” Anna whispered as I pulled a black velvet box from my pocket.
Nerves got the better of me and my fingers fumbled as I opened the lid. She stared at the ring, a solitaire diamond with a simple platinum band.
“When—”
“It was my grandmother’s. My mom had it. I called her, had her overnight it.”
I couldn’t see her eyes behind her dark glasses and couldn’t tell if she liked it. It was modest, simple. “If you don’t like it…”
She must have read my mind because she tugged off her sunglasses, let them fall to the grass at our feet. There, I saw it all. Love, longing, lust. “Don’t like it? I love it, Grif. It’s perfect.”
I grinned. I couldn’t help it. I’d never felt this way before, this overwhelming sense that all I’d been looking for stood directly in front of me. “Marry me?”
“Yes,” Anna said, nodding her head. A tear slipping down my cheek and I wiped it away with my thumb. “I think Anna Griffin is the best one yet.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
