Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  Jake, wait!

  Ill call you later, he promised, then disconnected the line and clicked on his mobile. A bad, bad feeling snaked through him. Ingram.

  Five minutes later, he dropped the phone and slammed his palm against the dainty Louis XIV desk.

  So help him God they werent going to get away with this.

  The room was small and hot and smelled like antiseptic and fresh cigarette smoke. The pale-green walls seemed to shrink with each minute that ticked by. The bitter coffee on the small table had long since gone cold. Several minutes before, Venturi and two other agents had finally realized Eric had meant what he said. He wasnt going to talk until he had counsel.

  Now he stood alone.

  He also stood accused of the largest bank theft in history, an act the press had dubbed the crime of the century.

  The media had been waiting for them the second the little caravan arrived downtown, a swarm of local and network affiliate reporters and photographers jockeying for position and a story. Theyd shouted questions as Venturi hustled him inside.

  Whyd you do it? a kid who didnt look old enough to be out of journalism school asked.

  How did you pull it off? another wanted to know.

  Wheres the money?

  Swearing at the memory, Eric slammed his palm against the wall, not giving a damn who might be watching through the two-way mirror across the room. He was an innocent man. He lived a simple life. He put coins in parking meters and paid his taxes on time.

  None of that seemed to matter.

  The feds thought they had their man. Theyd been so cocksure upon leaving his apartment, full of back slaps and hearty congratulations. Theyd brought him downtown, where hed gone through booking like the drug dealers and murderers who routinely made their way through the Cook County system. Hed been photographed and fingerprinted, relieved of his personal possessions and his dignity. Hed been searched, given an orange jumpsuit, then led to this small dank room, where Venturi and two other agents had been waiting.

  Instinct told Eric they expected him to be here for a while.

  But he was alone now, left by himself to think, probably. To ponder his story. But he had no story, only the truth. He didnt have a damn thing to do with stealing billions from the World Bank. He didnt have a clue how to hack into a computer system. Hed never heard of a man named Achilles, until the name began appearing in newspaper articles.

  theyre well-connected and theyre powerful, and theyll stop at nothing to make sure I dont expose their house of cards.

  Eric closed his eyes and breathed deeply, tried to relieve the hideous tightness of his chest. He had no idea what time it was. Well past midnight, he figured, but theyd taken his watch, so he had no way to know for sure.

  From behind him, he heard the door open, then close. He waited for the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the table, but heard nothing, only a silence that seemed to buzz and pulse.

  Anger pushed aside common sense. I meant what I said, damn it, he insisted, spinning around. Im not saying a word until

  He stopped midstride, midsentence. And stared.

  She stood just inside the doorway, long dark hair loose around her face, her smoky gray pantsuit accentuating the paleness of her complexion. She wore little makeup, as though shed just rolled from bed. Her eyes were huge, dark, almost bruised. And her gaze held a gravity that ripped clear down to his soul.

  Leigh, he somehow managed, hating how hoarse his voice had become. What are you doing here?

  Her eyes met his. Jake called me.

  Jake. He should have known. I told him not to do that. An impotent fury unlike anything hed ever known hammered through him. I told him to find someone else.

  Leighs mouth twisted. There is no one else, she said softly, then moved to deposit her briefcase on the small metal table. How are you holding up? she asked, visibly inspecting him. Are you okay?

  The sight of her in this small, miserable room twisted him up inside. Bright, vibrant Leigh didnt belong in a dark and dirty place like this.

  I dont want you here, Eric growled, moving toward her. He didnt understand the sudden spurt of anger, just knew he didnt want her dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, didnt want her in this awful place filled with lowlifes who would see her, contaminate her by their very presence. And God, he didnt want her seeing him like this, with his back to the wall and a degrading orange jumpsuit covering his body. Please just go.

  She didnt move a muscle. Im not going anywhere, Eric.

  He stopped and curled his hands around the back of a chair. He wanted to keep right on going, to close the distances between them and

  He didnt know what. Part of him wanted to escort her to the door, tell her to leave and not look back, to go on with her life. Just what hed told her ten years before. But the rest of him, the part in the majority, wanted to crush her in his arms and breathe in the clean, fresh scent of her hair, discover if she still used a shampoo that smelled of green apples, to hold on tight and this time never let go.

  This is bullshit, he roared. He was a man who prided himself on staying cool under pressure. He took charge when others faltered, made sense out of chaos. That was what hed done his entire life. Thats why hed stayed in Cloverdale after his dad had died. That was why hed told Leigh goodbye. Because his mother and Becky had needed him, and thered been no one else.

  But now he was the one with a need, and for the first time in his life, he flat-out didnt know what to do. Hed never allowed himself to need before, didnt know how to handle the twisted wreckage inside him, didnt know how to lean on someone else.

  Especially Leigh.

  Eric, she said softly. Its going to be okay. I promise you that.

  There was a strength to her voice, a note of confidence that should have soothed. Instead, he felt the animal inside pull against chains of restraint. When confronted with Venturis hostile questions and the sneers of the press, hed held his composure, but now, in the face of Leighs sudden appearance, of her belief, he wanted to pick up the heavy wooden chairs and throw them against the wall, upend the small table, see the stale coffee pool on the floor.

  It didnt make a damn bit of sense.

  Those sons of bitches think I stole three hundred fifty billion dollars, he told her, and felt his eyes burn with fury.

  Ive never even stolen a pack of gum, he bit out, shoving the hated, out-of-control feeling down deep. The closest Ive come is keeping a Mike Schmidt rookie card I found under a library table when I was in the third grade.

  A small smile curved Leighs mouth and warmed her chocolate eyes, transforming her, for the briefest of moments, into the girl he remembered. The one hed looked forward to seeing every Tuesday and Thursday morning as he walked toward the economics class he taught. The one hed allowed closer than a grad student should ever allow an undergrad.

  Then she looked away. You havent told them anything, have you? she asked, opening her briefcase and taking out a black-and-white composition notebook.

  He watched her retrieve a heavy Mont Blanc pen and write his name at the top of a page, then jot a few notes. Her script was sleek and elegant, much as it had been before. Her hand was every bit as fine-boned. Pianists hands, he remembered telling her a
long time ago, to which shed smiled. Guilty, as charged, shed said, laughing.

  The memory, the words, burned in ways hed never imagined.

  You think theyd use the baseball card against me? he asked dryly, needing to defuse the tension that had them both acting like stick figures.

  Not that, she said, looking up from her notes.

  He smiled warmly, wanting her to see that he was back in control. That he wasnt going to do something stupid like trash the interrogation room.

  For a moment she just looked at him, looked hard. Then she smiled, too. It was slow and warm and it damn near socked him in the solar plexus. Suddenly he was twenty-five again and she was twenty, and he wanted to reach out and touch her, streak a finger down her cheek and see if her flesh would be as soft as it looked. As soft as he remembered.

  Abruptly she stepped back as though shed read his mind and didnt much like his thoughts. I meant about the case, she clarified, glancing at her notebook. Long dark hair created a tangled curtain falling toward the table and concealing her face. You havent talked with the police or the feds about the theft, have you?

  Eric just stared. He stood accused of stealing billions, but for a moment, all he could think about was the fact that Leigh Montgomery had come for him in the middle of the night, and she hadnt even taken the time to comb her hair. He knew she was right. They needed to focus on the case. And he would. But for now he couldnt stop wondering who the hell this woman was. She looked like the girl he remembered and acted like the poised attorney he knew shed become. But she wasnt turning her back on him, as he deserved.

  Eric? she asked, glancing up.

  Very slowly, very deliberately, he met her eyes with his own and answered her question. Not without you.

  Good, she said, not looking away as she had before. Resilience glowed in her eyes and stole his breath. Lets get you out of here, she said briskly, then surprised him yet again. Her lips twitched. Orange is not your color.

  Three million dollars. The astronomical figure made Leighs blood boil. Bail is not supposed to be used as punishment, she growled as they left the police station through a back entrance. An army of hungry reporters swarmed the front lobby. Ive seen judges grandstand before, but this goes beyond ridiculous.

  Its okay, Eric said quietly, pushing open a steel door and holding it for her.

  She stepped into the searing stickiness of late morning. The sun beat down from a hazy blue sky while Lake Michigan contributed its usual humidity, making the alley feel like a steam oven.

  Leigh automatically shrugged out of the fitted jacket of her pantsuit. No, its not okay, she said. Im going to file a complaint as soon as I get into the office. Theres no way you deserve a bail that high. You have no criminal record. Youre an upstanding citizen. Youre not a flight risk.

  Eric reached down and relieved her of her briefcase, but said nothing. Just walked.

  Deep inside Leigh, something twisted. Seeing him like this threw her back in time ten years, to the only other time shed seen him fighting to stay in control. His normally piercing blue eyes were dark and flat, the planes of his face tight, his mouth a grim line. Whiskers emphasized the angry set of his jaw. His clothes were the same ones hed worn to her office yesterday morning.

  Im parked around the block, she told him, needing to say something, anything, to keep the silence from growing too deep. Hed barely said two words since theyd entered the courtroom for the arraignment and the preliminary charges had been read. The federal prosecutor had argued vehemently against bail, but Leigh had argued just as vehemently that Eric was innocent until proven guilty. Shed felt Eric stiffen at the pronouncement of three million dollars, but hed said nothing. Only when Jake tried to supply the funds did Eric protest, and even then hed only said no. But the way hed bitten the word out, the hard finality to his voice and the cool glitter to his eyes, Jake and Leigh had realized he wasnt changing his mind.

  Eric Jones had always been the strong one, the responsible one, the one to bail others out of a jam. He didnt know how to operate with the tables turned. Hed scraped together the required ten percent using proceeds from the sale of his fathers bank in Indiana. Hed hotly protested Jakes offer to guarantee the remaining ninety percent with the deed to his ranch in Texas, but in the end, thered been little choice.

  If Eric ran, Jake would lose a small fortune.

  Exhaling deeply, Leigh glanced across the street toward a Starbucks, but as much as she craved a latte, as much as she needed caffeine, she wanted Eric out of the public glare even more. He was like the walking wounded, whether he admitted it or not.

  Everythings going to be okay, she said for the hundredth time. God, what she wouldnt have given for a breeze off the lake. Theyd only been outside five minutes and already her clothes stuck to her body. Not for the first time she wished shed pulled her heavy hair back into a barrette, but in her haste to get downtown, shed given little thought to detail.

  Shed been in bed when Jake had called, but far from asleep. Thered been no way to drift off after having seen Eric for the first time in ten years. Her sons father. Who hadnt been wearing a wedding ring.

  All those years between them, all the pain and heartbreak, the resolutions and determination to forget, had crumbled the second shed heard his voice. His voice, damn it. That was all it had taken to erase a decade of hurt.

  No way could she turn her back on an innocent man, especially the man shed once loved with all her heart. The father of her son. She knew that, even if the voice of self-preservation insisted she do just that. Any doubt had fled the second shed seen him in that degrading orange jumpsuit. He hadnt deserved that. It hadnt been necessary. But it told her the feds had expected him to remain in custody. It also told her somebody was showboating for the media and their superiors and God only knew who else.

  The burden of proof is on the government, she told Eric as they crossed the street toward her nondescript Toyota Camry, the dark-gray sedan shed cleansed of bubble-gum wrappers and baseball cards shortly after midnight. The government has to convince the jury of guilt beyond a shadow of doubt. Thats a high standard in any case, but even higher when youre innocent.

  They reached her car and she went to unlock the passenger door, but Erics hand closed down on hers.

  Startled, she turned and looked up at him, too late realizing she was trapped between his big body and the car. There was an intensity to his gaze, a glimmering light in his dark-blue eyes that had not been there before. And her heart hitched.

  The longing ripped in from nowhere, tightening her throat and stealing her breath. Yesterday this man had stepped out of her memories and walked back into her life after a ten-year absence. Hed pulled her into his arms as if not a day had passed, not a tear had been shed, and held her the way she might expect a dear friend to. Shed heard his heart beat, smelled the sandalwood shed never forgotten. But she had not hugged him back.

  Now she wanted nothing more than to put her arms around him, hold him tight, promise him everything would be okay. Make everything okay. She wanted him to know she would be there for him, even if seeing him, hearing his voice, touching him, shattered her in ways from which shed never recover.

  But Eric didnt move. He just stood there with his hand on hers and the late-morning sun blazing down on them both, looking at her with an unnerving combination of warmth and puzzlement in his eyes.

  Why are you looking at me like t
hat? she managed.

  He lifted a hand to her face and eased the hair from her cheek. Im trying to figure out who you are.

  The breath stalled in her throat. Pardon?

  When I first saw you yesterday, he said in a raspy voice that made her insides go soft, I saw Leigh, the smiling, intelligent girl who always sat in the front row of my economics class. And it felt so damn right. He paused as a group of tourists bounded by. But then that girl was gone and I saw a stranger, this beautiful, elegant, reserved attorney whom I didnt know, had never seen before.

  Whod coldly turned her back on him.

  He didnt say the words, but Leigh heard them loud and clear. Eric

  He slid a finger to her mouth, blocking her words. Now I look at you, he said, his voice pitched low, and I dont see the girl from before, but I dont see the stranger either. He paused, his gaze focused on her. I have no idea who you are.

  Deep inside, something broke and gave way. How many nights had she dreamed of Eric looking at her like this, with his eyes all hot and concentrated? How many nights had she lain in bed and tried to remember the resonance to his voice, the way it could seep through her like an intoxicating mist?

  The temptation to step closer flowed through her like the echo of a forgotten dream, to lift her hand to his face as well, to feel those golden whiskers beneath her fingertips.

  Im Leigh, she said softly, uncomfortable with the thickness to her voice. She had to keep her walls tacked high and strong around this man. They shared more than just a past. They shared a child. Im the woman whos not going to let you take the fall for a crime you didnt commit.

  Eric stepped closer. The sun glared hotter. Is that my attorney talking, or my friend?

  Oh, God. The coming days and weeks promised to be hard enough as his attorney, but as his friendAs his friend shed be setting herself up for a devastating fall. Does it matter?