Jake

by Harmony Raines

  “This does.” He pulled a crumpled-up piece of paper from his pocket and placed it down on the table.

  Lana picked up the paper. It was a bank statement highlighting the transfer of a large sum of money from Jake to Fiona. Lana presumed it was the same Fiona who worked for social services. “Where did you get this from?” She peered closer. “The dates are obscured.”

  Elliot jabbed his finger at the piece of paper. “It’s real. Jake Harrison transferred the money to the bank account belonging to that social worker.”

  “I’ll have to verify all of this.” Lana glanced up at Elliot as his fingers curled around the piece of paper. He carefully pulled it from her fingers.

  “Verify it all you want. I’ll keep the original and you can take a photo of it.” Elliot placed it down on the table.

  Reaching into her pocket, Lana curled her fingers around her cell phone and tapped the screen to end the call with Jake. Turning the phone around, she quickly snapped a photo of the bank statement.

  “I’ll pass the information you gave me on to my editor.” Lana edged away from the table. “Can I take your cell phone number?”

  “Nope. I’ll be in touch.” Elliot got up, took another look around and smoothed his hair down before he sauntered away from her. Or perhaps it was more of a swagger. His walk certainly didn’t match his furtive looks. She shivered despite the warmth of the morning sun streaming in through the windows along the side of the bar.

  Lana didn’t like this guy one bit. But until she put the clues together and figured out what was going on here, she had to keep an open mind.

  However, her first priority was to make sure Ursula and her dad were safe. If Jake Harrison was involved in any way, she needed to make sure her family could not be used as pawns in his game.

  “Meeting go well?” Jason asked as he wiped down an already clean table.

  “About as expected.” She smiled at his expression. “You know he wasn’t my boy toy, right?”

  “Yes, I assumed you had better taste.” Jason tilted his chin up and sniffed the air before he wrinkled his nose. “That guy tastes sour.”

  “You didn’t like him?” Lana reached the door leading out to the parking lot and watched Elliot as he got into a beaten-up old car.

  “Nope.” Jason tapped the side of his nose. “I have a sixth sense for these things and he’s a bad nut.”

  “I agree.” She pushed the door open but then turned back to face Jason. “You must hear a lot of gossip in a place like this.”

  “A place like this.” He rolled his eyes and cast a glance around the bar. “Looks can be deceptive.”

  Lana took a couple of steps closer to Jason. “I meant no offense.”

  “None taken.” He studied her for a moment. “What specifically do you want to know?”

  “Fiona, she’s a social worker, finds homes for kids who need fostering or adopting.” To Lana’s surprise, Jason laughed.

  “Fiona. Oh, I know Fiona.” Jason’s eyes narrowed as he stopped laughing. “If you’re in town to cause trouble for that lady, you might want to think twice.”

  “No trouble. I just heard a couple of things and I was looking for a character reference. You know, an unbiased view.” Lana tilted her head to one side. “You admire her.”

  Jason sighed and nodded. “One of my closest friends got into some trouble and she helped him out. He didn’t ask and she didn’t need to, but she did.” He held up his hands. “That’s all I have to say.”

  “That’s enough.” Lana looked toward the door. Jake would be sending out a search party if she didn’t leave soon. “Thanks, Jason. See you around.”

  “Take care.” Jason waved and watched her leave before returning to his place behind the bar.

  As Lana crossed the parking lot to where Jake was watching her from her car, she mentally sifted through the conversation she’d had with Elliot. There were fragments of truth in what he’d said, all she had to do was pick them out.

  Chapter Fourteen – Jake

  He’d waited in the car, although he wasn’t sure where he’d found the self-control to keep his butt in the seat when the guy Lana was meeting told such outright lies about him. He’d also lied about Fiona. There was no way the dragon shifter sold babies, which was what Elliot was accusing her of. It made no sense. At least to anyone who knew Fiona and what she was. If the rumors of her dragon hoard were only half true, she had enough wealth to live comfortably through a hundred lifetimes.

  As for the bank statements…Jake didn’t know where Elliot had gotten them from, but the money transferred from his bank account to Fiona’s had been for something completely unconnected to Milly. It had all happened a long, long time ago. And he’d given his word he wouldn’t share the details with anyone, not even his brothers.

  Watching Lana as she crossed the small parking lot, he tried to read her expression. Did she believe Elliot when the jerk told her Jake was a bad man who hooked women on drugs and pimped them out? If so, could Jake convince Lana he was one of the good guys?

  “Well, that was interesting.” Lana opened the car door and slid in behind the wheel.

  “I’m not sure what I find more offensive, the things he said about me, or the accusations he leveled at Fiona.” Jake kept his temper in check even though the pressure in his head was building until he felt as if he was going to explode.

  “I have to take a picture of this and show it to my boss.” She dug her hand in her purse and pulled out a charm bracelet. “I need to know if this really did belong to Amber.”

  “And the bank statement?” he asked. “The one he showed you.”

  “You tell me. Are they real?” She sighed as she buckled up her seatbelt and started the engine.

  Jake ground his back teeth together. “You think I paid Fiona for Milly?”

  “No,” She half-turned to look at him. “Elliot told me a bunch of mixed-up crap. What I need to know is which bits, if any, are the truth. As you heard, some of it includes you and Fiona.”

  “Can we get out of here?” Jake asked. He didn’t want to talk here in the Happy Bear Club parking lot. He needed time to think over what had been said so he could convince Lana none of it was true. “Let’s drive into the mountains and talk.”

  His mate let out a short laugh. “You know how that sounds, right? Let’s go somewhere where no one else is around and talk.”

  His eyes widened as he caught a drift of her thoughts. “You think I’m mixed up in some crap and that I’m going to take you into the mountains and what?”

  “You tell me?” Lana challenged.

  He shook his head. Lana had pushed him away, put him at arm’s length, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. The closeness, the connection they had built up over the last twenty-four hours was gone, erased by a meeting with a lowlife scumbag with an agenda. “Do you really think I could hurt you?”

  “None of us know what another is capable of.” She put her foot on the gas and drove out of the parking lot. “But at some point, you have to trust your gut and take a leap of faith. Right?” She stopped at the entrance to the Happy Bear Club. “Which way?”

  “Right takes us home. Left takes us into the mountains. You choose.” He sat back in his seat, trying to process what had happened. Instead of this meeting taking them a step closer to closure over Kiki, it had driven a wedge between them that had pushed them apart.

  Lana leaned on the steering wheel, looking right and then left before she drove away from the bar and took a left. Jake let out a sigh of relief.

  “Is Milly definitely Sally’s child?” Lana asked bluntly as they drove along the winding road which climbed slowly across the lower mountain slopes.

  “Yes.” He didn’t look at her. Instead, he stared ahead. Was he certain? Or had Fiona handed them the child because she thought Milly would be best raised by the Harrison brothers? But why not hand Milly over to Blake Jefferson if Fiona knew he was Milly’s grandfather? It made no sense for Fiona to mix things up
like this. Fiona was smarter than that. How else had she survived hundreds of years?

  Unless it’s because Milly is a shifter and Blake isn’t. You know Fiona likes shifter children to go to shifter parents. It makes things so much simpler, his bear mused.

  You are suggesting that Fiona lied to us? Jake asked his bear.

  I’m not suggesting anything. I’m trying to play devil’s advocate. We have to be ready for all eventualities, just like in business.

  But this isn’t business, this is real life. Real life that involves the child we’ve taken in and called our own.

  Then ask Fiona. His bear’s suggestion was simple.

  “Take a right along here. We need to go and visit Fiona.” He indicated a small road to the right. Lana didn’t take it. Instead, she checked her rearview mirror and then slowed the car to a halt.

  “Into the dragon’s den?” Lana asked, unaware of the truth of her words.

  “Yes. I trust Fiona. I’d trust her with my life, with Milly’s life. With your life. So we owe her the benefit of the doubt.” He turned to face Lana. “These are serious accusations. Even the hint of Fiona abusing her position in social services could be enough for her to be suspended pending an investigation.”

  He didn’t like this one bit. The repercussions would reverberate around his whole family. Max and Josephine might lose the chance of adopting the child they’d dreamed of.

  “Elliot wants money.” Lana drove toward Fiona’s house. “From what I’ve seen of people like him, he’s going to get what he wants no matter what the cost. If my editor doesn’t pay up for the story, then he’ll come to you or Fiona.”

  “Blackmail? He can try.” Jake arched an eyebrow. “I haven’t been blackmailed for a couple of years.”

  Lana snorted. “You’ve been blackmailed before?”

  “Several times.” He shrugged. “Every few years someone crawls out of the woodwork with a sordid story and a threat. It never ends well. For them.”

  “I’m so angry that Elliot thinks he can ruin people’s lives with his lies.” Lana steered the car along the narrow mountain road. “We have to make him pay. But we also need all the facts. The real facts.”

  “I agree.” Jake fell silent for a moment. “I just hate the idea of people poking around in my past.”

  He’d been working flat out to give himself evenings off to share with Milly. He hadn’t socialized either because he enjoyed coming home to Milly more than dating women when there was no future in the relationship. Meeting Lana should have left him happy and carefree, ready to date her and seduce her. Instead, he was dealing with a lowlife who wanted something for nothing.

  Jake hated people like that with a passion.

  “This stinks,” Lana said as Jake jerked his head up. “Instead of being closer to the truth, we’re mixed up in a mess of lies.”

  “We’ll get through it. Take a right just up here.” He pointed to a narrow driveway that led off the road. “Fiona and her family live up here.”

  “What if she’s not at home?” Lana asked. “Most people would be at work at this time of day.”

  “If she’s not, we can always talk to her husband, Harlan.” Jake wasn’t happy with that idea. Fiona might think they were skulking around behind her back. Which was kind of true. His senses snapped to attention. “It’s okay, she’s here.”

  “How did you know that?” Lana asked as she steered the car around a gentle curve in the road. Only now was the house revealed...with Fiona’s car parked out front. There was no way he could have seen the car from the road and her mind emptied of every other plausible excuse he might use to explain how he knew Fiona was home.

  “She...” He stalled as they came to a stop next to Fiona’s small blue car.

  “She?” Lana asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. If Jake wasn’t careful, he was going to blow this. He’d never forget or forgive himself if his mate slipped through his fingers.

  “She works at home on Saturdays. And the beer festival is not her thing. She’s more of a gin or whiskey kind of a woman. So it stands to reason she is here. And not in town.” He grinned at Lana and then opened the door to get out of the car but didn’t get out. “You’d better let me do the talking.”

  “Oh?” Lana asked. “Is that because you will ask her all the right questions?” She pointed her finger at Jake. “Listen, if I’m not satisfied with the answers and I think you are leading our witness, I will start asking the ones I need answers to.”

  Jake held up his hands in surrender. “I am here to help you. I want answers just as much as you do, remember?” He glanced over toward the house. “What if I find out Milly isn’t Sally’s child?”

  “Hey.” Lana placed her hand on his upper arm and tried to comfort him. “You trust Fiona, so I’m certain everything is just as she told you.”

  “Fiona is also responsible for arranging for Josephine and Max’s adoption. What if this injures their chances?” Jake asked.

  “It won’t,” Lana promised. Although it was a promise they both knew she couldn’t keep. Jake would never have promised something like that, simply because he could never break a promise to his mate. “But if we don’t get out of this car and get ourselves in there, we won’t ever know the answers.”

  “Come on.” He opened the car door and got out, knowing full well if Fiona was at home then she would already know she had guests.

  Jake waited for Lana to come around to his side of the vehicle. He wanted to protect her, he needed to protect her, but he stood no chance against Fiona. If Fiona got offended, there was no telling what the old dragon shifter might do. He was not going to mention selling babies. Instead, he planned to skirt around the idea and hint at the accusations. At least that way he and his mate might get to keep their heads. Although, he expected to leave with singed eyebrows at the very least.

  “You’re scared of her.” Lana stood looking at him over the roof of the car. “What does she have on you that makes you so wary?”

  “She doesn’t have anything on me,” Jake insisted.

  No, but she does have sharp talons and the ability to burn a person to a crisp in five seconds, his bear interjected.

  Good thing Lana can’t hear you, Jake answered.

  This might go a lot smoother if you actually told Lana about dragon shifters. Or even about shifters in general. Once you explain about fated mates, she would trust you completely because we couldn’t lie to her.

  That is my plan B. But let’s see if plan A works first. Jake walked around the car and joined Lana, who was eying him with suspicion. “You do that quite often, you know?”

  “Do what?” Jake asked.

  “Zone out.” She waved her fingers across his eyes. “One minute you are here and present and the next you are somewhere else.”

  “Sorry. Habit.” He grinned quickly. “You’ll be glad to know it is not a sign of dementia.”

  “So you’re not going crazy on me? Pity. Today could do with just a little more drama.” Lana looked at the house. “Come on then. Let’s get this over with.” She held out her phone. “Should I call my dad, so he knows where I am if I need rescuing?”

  “Any rescuing that needs doing today will be done by me.” He slipped an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the house. “It’ll be fine. Fiona is one of my oldest friends. You could say I owe her everything I have.”

  “Now that is worrying. Where will your allegiance lie? With your oldest friend or the woman you met yesterday?” Lana’s light tone hid her fear.

  “My allegiance will always lie with you,” Jake told her. “I need you to believe me when I tell you how important you are to me.”

  “That’s not an easy thing to believe.” Lana looked toward the house and then back to the car. She was thinking of ditching him and making a run for it. She didn’t believe him. Or at least had enough suspicions to doubt him.

  Let me convince her, his bear said in excitement.

  I’m not sure seeing a man turn into a b
ear before her eyes is the best way to convince Lana of our sincerity.

  Do you have a better idea? His bear asked.

  No.

  So their fate was sealed.

  Chapter Fifteen – Lana

  “I can show you something that might make this all easier to understand,” Jake told Lana. She answered with a skeptical look. Jake continued, “I need you to suspend what you believe is true just for a moment.”

  “What I believe is true?” Lana shook her head and took a step closer toward the car. “I’m not sure what I believe anymore.”

  Uncertainty welled up within her. Had she so misjudged the situation and the people she’d trusted with her grandchild and her father? Had she inadvertently plunged them all into a conspiracy and put them all in danger?

  “I’m asking you to just freeze for one moment.” Jake held out his hands as if to stop her from running away. Which was exactly what she intended to do. “Please.”

  Her head told her to run. She needed to get in her car and drive as fast as she could over to the Harrison house, grab Ursula and Donald, and run back home.

  Her heart made her stand still. She wanted to trust Jake. She needed to trust him, and she needed that trust to be rewarded because if she’d gotten this wrong, she could no longer trust her own judgment where people were concerned.

  Her career was built on trusting her gut instincts.

  “Damn it!” She raked a hand through her hair. “Show me.”

  He took a deep breath and nodded. “Suspend your belief.”

  “You have sixty seconds.” Lana shrugged. “That’s as long as I can suspend my belief when my family might be in danger.”

  His expression grew troubled. “Lana, no, never have you or your family been in danger. If anything, the opposite is true. They are part of you, and you are part of me.”

  “Fifty seconds.” Her heart hammered in her chest. Jake Harrison might be a millionaire several times over, but he was also batshit crazy.

  “I only need ten.” He drew in a deep breath and as he let it out, the air around him shimmered.