A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,121

glanced behind her as though she wished running was still an option. But she’d already been identified; it was too late for that. “He wasn’t supposed to hurt her,” she said, finally removing her hood as tears welled up. “I just... I wanted to make her leave you alone. I couldn’t let her cost you money you don’t have, humiliate you in front of your fans and...and threaten your job. You were so relieved when you were able to get it back.”

“Oh my God,” Ethan whispered. “I set a trap for my own mother. I told her about the lawsuit and Emery going to Silver Springs and about when you called and demanded that I bring five hundred dollars hush money to this pier. I was so freaked out, knew I didn’t have anything to do with it. But I never dreamed that... Oh my God,” he said again.

Dallas remembered Emery mentioning that Ethan and his mother were unusually close, and that she was overprotective, but the fact that it could be her had never even crossed his mind. “You’re in some serious trouble,” he told her as he opened the sack he’d grabbed before giving chase and pulled out a stack of twenty-dollar bills. He didn’t bother to count; it looked like about five hundred dollars to him.

Ethan frowned when he saw the money. “Please. Don’t drag her into this.”

“Drag her into this?” Dallas echoed, putting the money back in the sack. “She’s the one who’s responsible for what happened to Emery.” He pulled out his phone, which had recorded the entire conversation, and flashed it at them. “And now I’ll be able to prove it. Who was the cowboy you hired?”

“Don’t answer,” Ethan advised, but it was too late. She spoke at the same time. “The brother or brother-in-law of a friend of mine from work. I don’t really know. I never even talked to him. She arranged it all.”

“For how much?”

“Three hundred for her and three hundred for him.”

“I’m calling the cops,” Dallas said.

Ethan caught his arm. “No, please. She did it for me. She was wrong, but her intentions were good. I’ll take the fall.”

“Leave Ethan out of it,” his mother cried. “It was me. I’m the one who did it.”

Dallas shoved the bag under his arm so he wouldn’t drop his phone. Even though Ethan’s mom and the cowboy deserved to be prosecuted, Dallas knew they probably wouldn’t do much jail time since Emery hadn’t been seriously injured.

If Ethan confessed to the cyberattack, however, Emery would be able to get a sizable settlement—both from him and the station—and that would be punishment enough for his mother, too, since protecting him was all she cared about.

While Dallas hated letting “Terrell” off, after taking a moment to weigh his options, he thought gaining the confession served the greater good.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “I’ll make you a deal.”

Tuesday, December 22

Emery was glad she’d come to Boston. Connie had broken into tears the moment she walked out of the airport into the freezing cold of a Boston winter, and when she got in the car and greeted her grandmother, Adele had actually remembered her. Connie said it was the first hint of clarity Adele had had all day—that it must be a Christmas miracle.

After they arrived home, they’d visited for an hour or so, but then her mother had helped her grandmother to bed and retired herself. Emery wasn’t remotely sleepy. She’d slept for two hours on the long plane ride. Besides, she was on California time, and she was too wound up about what might happen at the pier to even think about nodding off.

She closed the door to her room before going online to search for possible jobs in broadcasting, which, with her experience, would be her best bet. She probably couldn’t work as an anchor after what Ethan had done—not for some time—but it might be possible to get on as the producer at a small, obscure station. Even if she was just hired as a receptionist, or a gofer for a producer, it would be a start. She wanted to find work as soon as possible, since she was the only one between her, her mother and her grandmother for whom that was a viable option—while she waited to hear from Dallas.

She didn’t find a lot of opportunities, which worried her. But she was willing to do almost anything, even if it wasn’t in broadcasting, to keep them afloat and hoped there would