and while she usually liked this version of him, because the power suit he wore to work always made him more intimidating, tonight his expression of unhappiness was all she could see. He sat down next to her mother, giving her an expectant look. "Well? Why are you here? Since I heard you and your mother arguing, I assume you're not quitting."
"No, I'm not." She licked her lips. She wasn't quite ready to ask him about the night his mom died, so she started with Blake. "I spoke to Blake Cordero."
"Blake Cordero? Why?"
"He grew up next door."
Her father shook his head. "He didn't know anything."
"That's what he said."
"Well, that was the truth."
"He did ask me to tell you he still thinks about the night you made tequila sunrises in the pool house."
Her father paled, his gaze hardening. "He was the one who did that."
"It didn't sound like you."
"Is that it?"
"Not exactly. I also spoke to Constantine Dimitrov tonight. He said there was a bag from a fast-food restaurant in Natasha's car the night she died. The burger and fries appeared to be untouched. But some of the people who knew Natasha said that she never ate that kind of food. She was always watching her weight. It didn't make sense that it was in the car."
"It didn't make sense that she killed herself, either, but that's what happened. I can't believe Constantine Dimitrov would speak to you." Her dad shook his head. "I never liked her with him. He was not a good person."
"Why would you say that?"
"Because he was ruthless and cold to everyone, except to her. I guess she couldn't see him for who he really was. But I never trusted him. I wanted her to leave him, but she said she couldn't." His jaw tightened. "I don't want to talk about this, Maya. You should go. And don't come back until you're ready to drop this."
"I have two more questions. Were you in her car that night? Was it your bag of food?"
His face turned white.
"Maya!" her mother shrieked. "How can you ask your father that?"
"Is that what Constantine told you?" her dad demanded.
"Yes," she said, refusing to back down. "Constantine said Natasha always took you for fast-food when you got together. He said she was worried that you were taking drugs and that she wanted to have a talk with you. He always wondered if you were in the car that night."
Her father got up and walked out of the room.
Her mother jumped to her feet. "I can't believe you accused him of being in that car, Maya."
"He didn't deny it," she said, feeling sick to her stomach.
"Why should he have to? It's nonsense. Are you really going to put your movie career ahead of your father, ahead of this family? I know you think you don't fit in. Is this your way to tear us all down, get back at us in some way?"
"No," she said, astonished by her mom's words. "How could you think that?"
"How could I not? Look what you're doing."
"Why didn't he deny it?"
"Because he's probably shocked you could think he would lie about that night."
"He was fifteen years old. Maybe he got scared. He ran out of the car and didn't know she was going to kill herself. That's why he doesn't want the truth to come out."
"Go home, Maya," her mother said, then left the room.
She blew out a breath, really wishing her father had said something, anything. But his silence felt more damning than words.
Had he been in the car? Or had Constantine sent her down a path to destroy her family? Had he played her? Had she let him?
Maybe she did need to go home and regroup. Think about who she should believe, who she should trust.
As she walked out to the car, she really wished she could talk to Jax about all this. Hopefully, he'd come by after his shift. He would be a good sounding board. Although, she didn't really just want to talk to him. She wanted to feel his arms around her again. Right now, she felt isolated and lonely. And being with Jax would make that terrible cold feeling go away.
But it would create an entirely different set of problems. Perhaps she should drop everything—including Jax. Go back to her regular old boring life.
But could she really do that now?
What would Natasha do?
She got an immediate answer. Natasha would keep on digging. The one thing everyone had agreed on so far was that