Chapter Eighteen
Nik downed the scotch and waved his empty glass at the bartender. The man came over and poured another measure.
The alcohol burned in his belly, but did nothing to dull the sharp edge of pain.
Christ, he should be thankful. He’d almost fallen for it again. Tied himself to another mercenary woman.
Except she wasn’t.
He’d bet his last penny on that.
Though he’d been wrong before.
“Drowning your sorrows?” a voice asked from beside him.
Harry.
He glanced up as the bartender refilled his glass and placed one in front of Harry. His friend was looking smug. He’d called half an hour ago, saying he had information to share. But it was too late.
She’d be gone by now. Probably on her way to the train station. Or already on the train.
Harry sat down beside him and sipped his drink. Harry had never been much of a drinker. He was too perfect to let go like that.
“Don’t you want to hear what I found?” he asked.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s too late. She’s gone.”
“Jesus, you’re a pussy. Man up. You got a second chance. Are you just going to let it walk away?”
His eyes narrowed. “I thought you didn’t like her. She was dangerous, a liability. She’d take me for every penny, blah, blah, blah.”
“Yeah, but at least you might enjoy yourself while she was doing it.”
He stared into his glass. “I never thought I’d make the same mistakes. End up like my mother and father.”
“You also never expected anything better. Or believed you deserved any better. That’s why you married Jocelyn.”
“Crap. She pretended she had no clue who I was.”
“And you believed her? Deep down, you knew what she was like.”
Had he? He wasn’t sure. Maybe he had suspected, but that made him feel safe. He had money. It was something tangible he could give to a relationship. He was pathetic.
“Anyway,” Harry continued, “you know you’re totally wrong about your mom and dad. They love each other.”
“They do? She’s twenty-five years younger than him.”
“So?”
“She married him for his money.”
“Again—so?”
“He married her because she was pregnant.”
Harry shook his head. “You don’t get it. All of that might be true. But it doesn’t stop them from loving each other. You’ve always been too close. But they’d die for each other. Your dad would give away every penny he had to make her happy.”
“Believe me, that would not make her happy.”
Harry grinned. “Maybe not. My point is, your girl might be a thief and a con artist, but that doesn’t stop you from loving her.”
“No.” Life was a goddamn bitch. “But it does stop her from sticking around for me to love. She decided being in prison would probably put too much strain on the relationship.”
“Then make sure she doesn’t go to prison. Because the fact is that she might be a thief and a con artist, but for totally justifiable reasons.”
Okay, now he was interested. “What did you find?”
“Yeah, well, you were right about one thing. She gave the money she stole from you to all your favorite charities. A million in total. Never kept a penny.”
“But why?”
“That’s the interesting part. Has she spoken to you about her mother?”
He could feel a frown pulling at his brows. “Not much. Just that Elizabeth Delaney was in an accident when Summer was fourteen. That’s how she ended up in the foster system. I thought she was dead.”
“No, the woman is very much alive. She was working in a factory when one of the machines exploded. The accident broke her spine, left her in a wheelchair. The company she worked for claimed negligence on her part and refused to pay out on the insurance. The CEO even had people swear she was drunk at the time, and said they wouldn’t sue out of mercy for her circumstances.”
“Bastards.”
“You want to take a guess at the company?”
It was all making a weird sort of sense now. “Trenton Industries?”
“Spot on.”
Trenton was a bastard, with a bad reputation, and a number of legal cases against both him and his company. Nik had no problem believing he could have done a worker out of compensation and not blinked an eye.
“So Summer decided to take the law into her own hands?”
“Looks that way. She got her mother the compensation she was owed. It took some digging, but in the end, we looked from the other side and found the trail. She bought a house, had it pretty much rebuilt to suit a wheelchair, and the rest I presume went into a trust fund. I haven’t traced it yet, but her mother is getting income from somewhere. She has a live-in housekeeper.”
“All down to Summer,” Nik said. “Clever girl.”
“Not so clever. She got caught.”
“She told me she was distracted.”
“I wonder by what?”
Me. But he didn’t say it.
“What are you going to do?” Harry asked.
“I’m going to make sure that bastard Trenton never even looks in Summer’s direction. I’m going to make sure he knows if he says anything, he’s going down. I’ll dig until I get every bit of dirt on him. Then I’ll tear his company down with my bare hands.”
“I don’t think it will come to that. I’ve pulled up enough on him to ensure he stays quiet.”
“And steps down.” He put his glass on the bar.
“Maybe you’d better go tell your girlfriend the good news.”
“Oh shit.” Summer was running away. He had to catch her, tell her she didn’t have to be afraid anymore. She didn’t have to pay anymore just for righting an injustice.
He jumped to his feet, headed to the door and into a taxi, Harry close behind him.
“Where are we going?” Harry asked.
“Euston station.”
He ran all the way through the station, but by the time he found the platform he needed, the train was pulling away.
“Crap, shit.”
He searched along the carriages, staring in through the windows, half expecting her to be staring back at him. She’d see him, and she’d leap up and run to the nearest door. She’d jump off and into his arms.
Or more likely, she’d break her leg or her neck or…
Anyway, it didn’t matter, because she wasn’t at any of the windows. And he was left staring after the departing train.
“I guess you didn’t find her,” Harry said, coming to a halt beside him, slightly out of breath.
Nik swallowed down his disappointment. Maybe this was for the best. He’d see Trenton first thing in the morning, make sure everything was sorted out, and then he’d go after her. How hard could she be to find? He would hunt her down, and then he’d tell her that she didn’t need to run anymore.
…
At eight thirty on the dot, Summer stepped into the police station. The place was quiet, so she could hear her footsteps. Maybe all the criminals were home in bed at this early hour or all locked in their cells.
I’m doing the right thing.
She repeated the words over and over in her head. That was the mantra she’d run through her mind through the long night. All the same, shivers ran down her spine, and she had to force one step in front of the other as she crossed the seemingly huge space between the door and the counter.
Behind it, a woman in uniform—three stripes on her arm showing she was a sergeant—watched her approach, her eyes narrowed. She glanced down to read something on the desk, then looked back at Summer, raising an eyebrow.
“Summer Delaney?”
“What?” How the hell did the woman know her name? She wasn’t that notorious. She peered down at herself, just in case someone had pinned a name tag on her when she wasn’t looking.
“Well?” the sergeant asked.
“Yes, I’m Summer Delaney. I’d like to—”
“Just take a seat over there.” She waved a hand at the row of plastic chairs that lined the wall opposite the counter. Summer tried one more time. “But I—”
“Sit down,” the woman said.
Summer gave in and backed away and sat, clutching her bag on her knee. It was big and full of things she might need. There was a good chance they would take it from her at some point, but until then, it was a comfort. The sergeant was speaking on the phone, but she’d turned her back so Summer couldn’t hear what she was saying, though she was sure she heard her own name spoken.
This was turning surreal, or maybe she was just tired. She’d spent much of the night walking. When she had finally gotten home, it was to find Regan and Darcy waiting for her.
Summer had explained what she was going to do and why. They hadn’t been impressed. They’d begged, argued, cajoled, threatened to tie her up so she couldn’t do it. Finally, they had given in and offered to come with her and hold her hand.
She’d turned down the offer. She didn’t want them involved or tainted by association. They were both on parole and vulnerable.
So here she was. But things weren’t going as planned. The sergeant put down the phone and turned back. Summer rose to her feet, but when the sergeant raised an eyebrow, Summer sat down again.
What was going on?
Maybe Trenton had already contacted the police. She’d hoped by giving herself up, she might get some sort of reduced sentence. Plus, she planned on giving back the money. There was more than a million now. Her mom’s house had appreciated in value.
She just needed something to happen, because she was going to go crazy sitting here, not knowing what was going on.
It felt like an age, but glancing at her watch, she saw only five minutes had passed, when the door behind the counter opened and a man came out. Tall, dressed in a dark gray suit, white shirt, and red tie, he had gray eyes and a dimple in his chin. He spoke to the sergeant and then came around the counter, headed her way, and stopped in front of her. “Summer Delaney?”
She nodded. “I want to—”
“Come this way.”
“But I…”
He was already walking back the way he had come. She followed him, passing the sergeant, who gave her an amused grin.
I don’t know what’s happening.
The words wailed through her mind as she followed him down a corridor. He eventually stopped in front of a door, opened it, and gestured for her to enter. She hesitated. “Am I under arrest?”
“Not that I know of.” He waved her into the room once more, and she gave in with a sigh. It wasn’t a cell, but some sort of interview room, she was guessing. With a wooden table and two chairs facing each other.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked. “Tea? Coffee?”
“Coffee, please,” she said as she sank down into the chair facing the door. And he was gone.
A few minutes later, someone tapped on the door, and a young uniformed officer came in carrying a tray with a mug of coffee, cream, sugar. If she was about to be arrested, they were treating her very well.
“What am I doing here?” she asked as he was about to leave.
He gave her a smile. “I’m sure someone will be with you soon.” And he left as well.
Summer drank her coffee, because what else was she to do? She got up and paced around the room a few times. Sheer nerves had gotten her this far, but now they were draining away, leaving nothing in reserve.
Sinking back into the chair, she used her bag as a pillow and laid her head down and willed the time away.
She would be doing a lot of that over the next few years.