Nico.

Nico Kostas was one of my father’s many aliases, the one he’d used most recently when romancing Jade’s mother.

I had met Brooke Bailey several months ago when she came to town with my father. She was still a beauty, a former supermodel who’d chosen career over motherhood. Her blond hair was cut short now, but I could tell even through her robe that she still had her signature body. Her eyes were a striking light blue, just like Jade’s. Ryan had told me about her automobile accident with my father. We were pretty sure he had orchestrated it to collect on a million-dollar insurance policy—

Wait! Was my father in financial trouble? It was certainly possible, now that the Steels were on to him and his two cohorts were out of the picture. Most likely, he was just greedy and figured he could make an easy mill.

With my father, anything was possible.

This was some kind of disturbing setup. No way would my father come to see Brooke when he knew we were all trying to sniff him out. My first guess? He was using Brooke as a pawn, as leverage. But my first inclination was rarely correct when it came to my father. He never did the obvious.

“Mother, I don’t want you to see him,” Jade said.

Apparently Jade hadn’t shared any information about my father with her mother. I knew from Melanie that they weren’t close. Still, she wouldn’t want her mother in harm’s way, and neither did I.

“I agree, Ms. Bailey,” I said. “It’s not a good idea.”

She looked me over, from my ponytail to the jeans and tank top I’d changed into before coming over. “Just what would you know about any of it?”

Clearly she hadn’t recognized me. “Nico Kostas is my father.”

She eyed me again. “No. His daughter is a mannish policewoman. I met her once.”

I let out a huff. “Look again.”

She squinted her eyes. “It is you. Goodness, you’re so pretty. What happened to you?”

“Mother,” Jade said, “stop being rude. Ruby is a friend of ours. And she’s right. Don’t see him.”

“But I’ve missed him so much.”

“Ms. Bailey,” I said, “my father is—”

Jade eyed me, pleading.

I cleared my throat. “I didn’t know he was coming to town.”

“He’s not. He’s sending me a plane ticket.”

A chill swept through me. “A ticket where?”

“I don’t know. He said it’s a surprise.”

“You know you can’t travel yet,” Jade said.

“My doctors say I’m progressing very well. I’m walking without crutches now.”

“So? You’re still limping.”

I opened my mouth to mention that he had probably orchestrated the car accident to collect insurance money, but then I clamped it shut. That was only a theory, and I had no idea whether Talon and Jade had talked to Brooke about that possibility.

“Please,” I said. “Don’t go. It’s not safe.”

“Ruby,” Jade said, her eyes resigned. “Go ahead and go with Ryan. I’ll tell my mother. Everything.”

I nodded. This wouldn’t be easy for Jade and Talon. But it was necessary.

Ryan took my arm and looked to Jade. “You sure you guys will be okay?”

“Yes. It had to happen sometime.”

Brooke sat down in a recliner, sighing. “Would someone mind telling me exactly what’s going on?”

That was our cue to leave. I followed Ryan through the hallway to the front door.

---

Ryan had several grades of magnifying glasses, and I was astounded at how much we could actually see on Tom Simpson’s ring. It was fashioned from eighteen-karat gold, and it was quite heavy. This ring had been expensive. Business clearly had been good early on, when these men were still in high school.

“How could they have afforded these rings?” I asked.

“I suppose my father might have bought them.”

That seemed unlikely, but what did I know about Ryan’s father? “Would he have done something like that?”

Ryan sighed. “A few months ago, I’d have bet not. My father was a big believer in earning what you had. Yeah, we were all born rich, thanks to the hard work of our ancestors, but he never let us forget where we came from, and he made sure he instilled the value of hard work in us. He also taught us how to keep track of our own finances, never to trust others.”

“And now?”

He shook his head. “Now? I don’t have a clue. He obviously created a separate trust and didn’t tell us about it. I’d also have bet my father would have never cheated on my mother. But I’m proof that he did.”

“Maybe…”

“What do you mean, maybe?”

“Wendy was—is—obsessed with your father. Maybe she had herself artificially inseminated?”

“And just how would she have gotten hold of my father’s sperm?”

I let out a chuckle. “I haven’t thought this all the way through yet.”

He smiled at me. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel a little better about my father’s character, baby. But the truth of the matter is that he fucked Wendy Madigan at least once, and I’m the result.”

My heart went out to Ryan. Here he was, struggling with his father’s character and his link to my father and the others. I’d long since accepted my own father’s character. I’d had to at age fifteen. But I well remembered how I felt at the time.

“So maybe he’s not who you thought he was. I get that. I do. But you’re still here, Ryan. You’re still who you’ve always been, and knowing you have a different mother than you thought you had doesn’t change that. You’re still you.”

“I suppose.” He picked up a magnifying glass and stared at the ring again, clearly done with this subject.

I couldn’t blame him.

“Do you want to go with me to see Bryce’s uncle tomorrow?” he asked.

“I wish I could, but I can’t. Too much work. But I will go with you to see someone else after I get off work. Someone who knows exactly what this ring means.”

“Yeah? Who’s that?”

“Larry Wade.”