were becoming closer, becoming entwined. “But what changed his mind?”
“The water park idea I mentioned to you. Whoever you told is betraying us. I’m not sure how, but somebody brought word of that back to my father.”
“So, what does he care if I turn my lodge into a water park, especially if he’s just going to take it?”
“He wasn’t going to take it, or even force you into a sale if that wasn’t what you wanted. At least not as far as I’m concerned, I can’t know exactly what he was thinking or planning, and I still don’t.”
“Now you’re telling me it was his idea to build a water park here?”
“Yes, it was his idea, and he is reneging on his promises because he thinks we’ve swindled him.”
“How can I be sure that isn’t what you were planning the whole time, and you just thought you’d nudge me there little by little? My God, I almost fell for that too.”
He shook his head. “No, Lauren, I came to you to protect you from whatever my father would try to pull. When you mentioned repurposing the land, the idea just kind of came up. You were the one who brought up the Yule Village in the first place. The water park was for a different season.”
“Well, that may be true, but you came to me knowing your father would swipe the lodge no matter what I did.”
“No, I didn’t.” A tense silence followed before he went on, “Look, I know there’s a lot to wonder about, and I’m not asking you to trust me.”
“Trust you?”
“No, I’m asking you to help me. Whoever brought word back to my father about that dumb water park idea is working against us, working me against my father, and that person’s working against you too. If it’s good for my father, it’s bad for you. All I want now is to make this right. If I can leave you in peace with your lodge, I’ll disappear from Moss Creek and never come back. I can’t do it without your help. The only person I’ve mentioned it to is you.”
“What are you saying? That I have some connection to your father?”
“No, of course not. What I’m saying is that somebody you know has a connection to him, somebody you trust, and it isn’t me.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Max
It relieved Max to have won Lauren’s attention. Her trust was more than he could ask for. They had already sacrificed their romance, but she was still in the midst of dangerous people who were conspiring to steal her family home.
If he could correct that, he’d leave her in peace. If not, he’d leave her in shame. She’d never have him the way she would have before; everything had changed for the worse, nothing would ever be the same.
“I mentioned it to Sam.”
“Your accountant? The asshole who kicked me out of your house.”
“Yes, he’s the business manager for the lodge. We were taking a meeting, and he’s been pressuring me to sell.”
“Oh, has he?”
She nodded. Her anger had ebbed, and a new perspective seemed to wash over her, bringing her one step closer to not hating him so much.
“Anyway,” Lauren went on, “we were brainstorming, the same way you and I were when you mentioned it to me.”
“Exactly, we were brainstorming, that’s all. Perfectly innocent.”
Lauren nodded.
He wanted her to believe him. He went on, “He must have gone back to my father with that information. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“What does?”
“Think about what Sam said. It’s not that he didn’t know about the letter when he brought it to us. He said it had only been sent to him that day, not that he didn’t know it was coming for years. I don’t know, but the way he said it made it sound like he knew about it too.” As Max thought it through, pieces fell into place. “In fact, I would guess Sam has been on my father’s payroll for a long time, a man placed inside the enemy camp. How better to make sure the debt never got paid? How better to make sure he’d wind up with that lodge, and everything the Matthews family ever had?”
He had to get Lauren to refocus on a new set of facts, a new set of questions to be answered, and challenges to be dealt with. She had to reconsider everything and everyone she knew.
“Sam,” she said as if thinking it through. “Was he in your father’s pocket all those years, reporting