A Brother's Honor (Grangers) - By Brenda Jackson Page 0,121

you messed up my plan, Jace. So this is plan B.”

Jace frowned, ignoring the ache in his head. He wasn’t sure what Vidal was talking about. Vidal laughed again, then said, “You are so clueless and so damn trusting. A pity. There’s so much you don’t know, so let me tell you everything before you die.”

Jace’s body jerked. What was Vidal talking about? What was going on?

“And yes, you’ll die. I’m going to make it seem as if Freeman did you in before turning the gun on himself. Nice end to the both of you, don’t you think?”

Jace glanced over at Freeman and saw the fear in the man’s eyes. Whatever Vidal was involved with, Jace would not let him get away with it. Shana would be expecting him, and hopefully she would think something was wrong when he didn’t show up. And he still had the tracker on his phone enabled. He had to believe help would be coming. What he needed to do was to keep Vidal talking.

“Why, Vidal?” Jace asked in a raspy tone.

He watched as the man filled his glass with wine and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I guess I should take the time to tell you since you don’t need to die right away. Besides, you might appreciate my plan.”

Jace doubted it.

* * *

Dalton and Caden stepped off the elevator. Dalton frowned. “I can’t believe you came back here for a stack of papers you need to read tonight.”

Caden rolled his eyes as they walked toward his office. “Stop whining. You could have stayed at McQueen’s.”

“I could have, but I didn’t.” There was no need to tell Caden that no other woman had interested him since he’d seen that woman Saturday night at the club. There had been something about her that continued to plague his thoughts, although he wished otherwise. Jace had suggested he hire a private investigator, and he’d been giving it a lot of thought. Just the idea that he was considering such a thing was crazy, but there had been something about her that had pulled him in, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he found out what it was.

“I noticed Jace’s car is still in the parking lot, and I thought he told us he had someplace to be by seven,” Caden said, glancing at Jace’s closed office door as he entered his own office. “I wonder why he’s being detained.” He headed toward his desk and Dalton closed the door behind them and then dropped down in the nearest chair.

Caden’s cell phone rang, and he lifted a brow when he saw caller ID. “It’s Shana Bradford.” He answered the call. “Yes, Shana?”

“I’m trying to locate Jace. There’s been a major development, and I need to talk to him immediately.”

Caden leaned against his desk. “His car is still here, so I assume he’s in his office. Hold on, let me check.”

He muted the phone and then glanced over at Dalton as he headed for the door. “Jace never showed up for his seven o’clock appointment.” Jace hadn’t had to tell them his seven o’clock appointment was with Shana. They weren’t dumb.

Dalton followed Caden out of his office to knock on Jace’s door. After several knocks, Caden glanced over at Dalton. “He’s not here.”

Dalton’s lips dipped into a frown. “Where would Jace go without his car?”

Caden put his phone on speaker so Dalton could hear his conversation with Shana. “He’s not here, Shana.”

He could hear her deep sigh. “Is there a chance he visited Eve at the hotel?” she asked.

Caden snorted. “I doubt it.”

“We need to make sure, so can you check? If Jace isn’t with her, then I’m worried.”

“Why are you worried?”

“Because Kent was able to dig up info on another one of your employees, and what he found is disturbing. This person covered his tracks well and has no idea we’re onto him. And I have a feeling he’ll do anything to make sure he’s not found out.”

Concern appeared in both Caden’s and Dalton’s faces. “What employee are we talking about, Shana?” Caden asked.

Shana paused before briefly saying, “Vidal Duncan.”

* * *

“Well, you see, Jace, my plan started four years ago,” Vidal said, sitting down and sipping on a glass of wine as if he had all the time in the world. “With your wife, actually. That year when the two of you came home for Thanksgiving, she approached me asking that I talk to you about returning to Virginia and working alongside Richard. I