firsthand the convenience of a rich and well-connected family.”
Dane’s gasp was audible, loud enough for his dad to turn in his direction. He didn’t stick around to have a father-son chat. He walked out the door without even bothering to get what he’d come for. The man on the phone looked like his dad, but he sure as hell didn’t act like him. And what did the voice on the phone have on him?
He always wondered why his mother, a seemingly loving parent and wife, up and left one day, never to return. He hadn’t been much more than a baby, but he had heard the story of her betrayal from his grandfather more times than he could count. He always believed she met with foul play, particularly given his grandfather used the past tense when he spoke of her.
He never thought too hard on it. In truth, he was scared. He didn’t put anything past his family. But maybe her leaving was no mystery. The man who the public knew as a charming ladies’ man seemed something quite different behind closed doors.
Dane returned home and was still unnerved by his father’s behavior from earlier. He called Lena since she was always a good distraction, and she came over. As he prepared them a drink, he heard a knock at the door followed quickly by Lena calling, “I’ll get it.” As she moved to the door and pulled it open, Dane could tell that whoever was on the other side of it put Lena on edge.
“Can I help you?”
“I need to see Dane.” He knew that voice. Heidi.
“May I ask what you want?”
“As if it is any of your business.”
Outrage made Lena’s cheeks burn, which earned her a laugh from Heidi. “Relax, I don’t want to fuck him, I just need to talk to him.”
Dane stepped into view and glared at Heidi. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’ve got some news to share.”
“No. I told you already I’m out. It was fun for a while, but you’re going too far. I’m done. Don’t come around here anymore.”
“Coward.”
“You should be a bit more cowardly.”
Heidi dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand before she started for the door. “Whatever. Don’t come to me when you see how much you lost out on.”
“Believe me, I won’t.”
Dane closed the door at her back and leaned up against it.
“What was that all about?” Lena asked.
“You don’t want to know, trust me.”
Trace watched Ember talking with her father and uncle.
They were having their monthly dinner party, an event that Trace found he actually enjoyed. His focus moved to the older men’s faces and knew it wasn’t going to be long before both of them made their way over to him. Hugging was something he still hadn’t gotten accustomed to, but Ember and her family did it often.
She laughed and brushed a rogue lock of hair from her face, her wedding rings sparkling on her finger. Possession filled him and he started over to her just as his cell phone buzzed with an incoming call. He was about to let it go to voice mail, determined to pull his wife into his office for a few minutes of privacy, but something made him reach for it.
“Trace,” he said.
“We need to talk.”
Anger surged in him even as apprehension filled him. It was Heidi, and this was the fourth time she’d called him this week.
He moved down the hall to his office and shut the door behind him. “I told you to stop calling me.”
“I need money.”
Trace’s heart stopped as a moment of guilt twisted his gut. He hardened his tone. “Not my problem.”
“It will be if you don’t help me.”
“How exactly?”
“How’s Ember?”
Rage burned through him, but his voice was controlled when he said, “You are playing a very dangerous game, Heidi. Stay the fuck out of my life and away from my wife.”
“You’ve never told her about us. Why?” Her voice turned pouty before she said, “I think there’s a part of you that misses me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“I need money and you’ll give it to me or I’ll tell her everything.”
“You tell my wife anything and I’ll make sure they never find the body. You hear me?”
She was silent for a moment, but when Heidi finally spoke up her voice was less sure. “Two thousand by next Friday.”
She hung up, but she knew damn well that he’d pay it. He had deluded himself into believing that his past was finally in the past. Since he’d