Counting On Cole (Wilde Ways #8) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,54
never hurt—”
“Do you think that makes it okay?” Harrison shook his head. “You’re a gun for hire. You don’t have a soul. You do the dirty work for the highest bidder.”
“No, no, I work for Wilde now. We protect people. We help—”
“You’re trying to clean up, but it’s too late. You can’t wash the sins away.”
The pounding in her temples got worse.
“Neither can you,” Cole snarled back.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Harrison demanded.
Cole’s heart raced beneath her touch as he snapped, “It means, jackass, that we know about the insurance policies on your father and Evie’s mom. And Wilde knows their death wasn’t an accident.”
She was watching Harrison so closely—so very closely—and Evie saw the flicker of his lashes. Right before his hand reached up and tugged on his left ear.
“OhmyGod.” Her stomach dropped straight to the floor. “What did you do?”
His eyes widened in horror. “I didn’t do anything! Jesus, Evie, you think I would kill my own father? You know me better than that!”
“I do know you well.” She nodded. “So I know when you’re holding back. I know your tells. You are holding back on me right now. You can’t do that. You have to tell us everything.” How could he do this? “I was shoved into a trunk last night. That bastard had a knife. If Cole hadn’t shot him, I would be dead right now.”
Harrison flinched.
Cole moved around Evie and closed in on her step-brother. “Tell us everything.”
Harrison’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I didn’t have proof.”
Evie waited.
“I suspected their deaths weren’t an accident, but…I didn’t have proof.”
“What made you suspect?” Cole’s rough voice pushed for more information.
“My father had mentioned that he’d been…harassed, right before the wedding. Told me it was an angry competitor. He’d stepped up security, just as a precaution. But when he went on his honeymoon, I think he believed he was safe in France, so he didn’t bother with the guards there.” A painful laugh. “Of course, he didn’t want guards with him there. He’d just married. For the first time in years, he was in love again. Happy.”
Her mother had been happy, too. The last time Evie had seen her, her mother had been beaming. Her wide smile had stretched from ear to ear. Evie treasured that memory of her mom. Evie wanted to always remember her being so happy.
“My dad was a great driver. Hell, back in his youth, he even had a race car. He took safety seriously. And he knew those roads. He had a second home there. Him losing control? In the middle of the day? I didn’t buy it. But when I tried to investigate, I turned up nothing.”
Cole crossed his arms over his chest. “You didn’t investigate that hard, did you? Because you didn’t want to alert the insurance agents who might halt that heavy payout you were getting.”
“The agents would still have honored the policies—”
“Not if you were the one who killed the newlyweds. You wouldn’t have received a dime then.”
Harrison staggered back a step. “You seriously think I killed my father?”
A shiver slid over Evie.
Cole’s expression didn’t alter. “Did you?”
Harrison whipped his head toward Evie. “Do you think I killed them?”
“No.” The answer was pulled right from her soul. “I saw your grief.” They’d huddled together at the cemetery. She’d cried with him. “No, I don’t think you did.”
Harrison licked his lower lip.
“See, there’s the problem.” Cole’s voice was flat. “Evie loves you. You’re her only family, so she views you through blinders. I don’t. I see you for exactly what you are.”
Now Harrison’s shoulders stiffened. “And what’s that?”
“A greedy, driven, ambitious prick who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.”
Well, that had been blunt. And she actually did know all of that about Harrison, but she also knew that he had good parts, too. He’d helped her. Taken her in. Always made sure she had everything that she needed and—
“You’re possessive,” Cole continued darkly. “And controlling. You’ve been controlling Evie’s life for years, and that shit is over.”
No, Cole was wrong. “He…hasn’t been doing that.”
Cole glanced at her. “You sure about that?”
She nodded.
“Then you know that one month after I left you, I came back.”
Her heart stopped. She’d misheard. Must have misheard. There was no way that he’d said—
“Harrison wouldn’t see me the first time I came back. He had guards meet me at the door. I never got close to him—or you.”
That wasn’t true. That wasn’t possible. Cole hadn’t come back for her.