Chapter Twenty

Chase

I throw my head against the wall behind me, running my fingers through my hair in anguish.

Uncle Terrence is definitely the man who tried to get rid of me.

Worse, he got rid of my father first.

The papers in my hands are enough proof.

Some of them are receipts of large amounts made out to nefarious politicians not just in Montana but all over the United States, one of whom I recognize as the one who was once accused of murdering an entire family on a yacht but was never convicted, another who I’ve heard has ties to mobsters. They were dated all before my father’s death.

So, even when my dad was still alive, Uncle Terrence was already making shady deals. And it gets shadier.

Another document is an order placed by a terrorist organization for certain chemicals, also before my father’s death. I recognize the names of some of them from my high school chemistry class, well aware that they’re poisonous, deadly. Besides, they’d have to be if they were being purchased by terrorists.

Unbelievable. My dad would never have approved of it. He would have chosen to die rather than deal with terrorists, businessman that he was.

And maybe that’s why he died.

I reread the sheet of paper in my left hand, an email from my father dated just a few days before his death. It’s quite cryptic but in it, he says that he knows what Uncle Terrence is up to and that he won’t tolerate it. He goes on to say that if Uncle Terrence continues with what he’s doing, the consequences will be severe.

It’s a threat, a threat that I can imagine must have sent Uncle Terrence into a fit of rage. For many years, he’s been practically running the company, doing all the hard work and without my father’s knowledge, the dirty work. Now, suddenly, he’s facing the possibility of being fired from the company, of losing everything.

If Dad was right and he was miserable all along, this would have pushed him over the edge and maybe, just maybe, it was enough to make him push my father over the edge.

Literally.

He could have easily thrown my father off the balcony, being the younger, stronger one. He was here that day, after all. I remember because I saw him on the staircase. He was in a hurry to meet with my father and I was in a hurry to go out to meet my friends. Still, I stopped and so did he, ruffling my hair as was his habit.

Hours later, I got a call that Dad was dead. A maid saw his body on the ground and screamed.

Later, when the police were talking to Uncle Terrence, he said that when he left the mansion, my dad was still alive but upset.

I believed him then but not anymore.

There are more papers, more transactions right after my father’s death laid out before me on the floor, both receipts and purchases. Uncle Terrence wanted control of the company. He wanted more power. He wanted more money. And with my dad out of the way, he could have all of that.

Well, he thought he could, but then he probably saw the document that I have in my right hand right now – a page of my father’s last will and testament.

A passage of it reads:

On the day my only son, Chester Donahue, reaches the age of thirty, my entire estate–including the Donahue mansion and all shares of Glacier Pharmaceuticals– will be transferred over to him and he will become the sole CEO with my wife, Elsa Donahue, as his adviser.

I put the piece of paper down, drawing in a deep breath.

Me? Sole shareholder and CEO? Surely Uncle Terrence didn’t see that coming. I know I didn’t.

And he wouldn’t have approved. If I only had half the company, he would have been able to stop me but if I owned all of it and I was the chief executive to boot, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. He wouldn’t have any power or any money.

That’s a clear motive for wanting to get rid of me. And if he already pushed his own brother off a balcony, who’s to say he can’t have his nephew killed, too?

I swallow the lump in my throat but I can’t make the knot in my chest go away.

It hurts. I won’t say it doesn’t. He was like a father to me and he tried to kill me. Worse, he almost succeeded.

Almost.

He failed and now, he’s going to pay for hurting me and my mother. All I have to do is show myself and these papers to a police officer and…

Just then, the door to the study opens and I quickly shove the pieces of paper into my pockets.

What the fuck? I didn’t even hear the trap go off. Now, I…

“Chase?”

The familiar voice makes me go still. Even my heart screeches to a stop just before it starts racing again.

Lauren?

It is her. I can see her ebony hair through the gaps in the closet door, her amber eyes, her thin lips.

Quickly, I step out, running toward her and throwing my arms around her.

“Lauren.” I squeeze her tight, my heart soaring through my chest.

I told her not to follow me. She shouldn’t be here. I don’t even know how she got here. But I’m glad she is. After finding out that my father was murdered and my own uncle tried to kill me, feeling her in my arms brings me an overwhelming sense of relief.

In spite of all the craziness and the chaos, I have her. I may have nearly lost everything but I found her.

I pull away from her, flattening her hair and stroking her cheeks.

“Are you all right?”

She nods, her eyes gleaming with concern. “I should be asking you that question.”

“I’m fine.”

She runs her hands over my smooth cheeks. “You shaved.”

I touch one cheek. “I did. You don’t like it?”

She smiles. “You’re the most handsome farmhand I’ve ever seen.”

I return her smile then lower my gaze, noticing what she’s wearing for the first time.

My eyebrows furrow. “You’re a maid?”

“They mistook me for one,” she explains, running her hands over her apron.

I grab her hands. “You’re the most beautiful maid this mansion has ever seen.”

Her cheeks turn pink.

“But you have to go.” I pull her arm, leading her to the door. “It’s not safe here.”

As thrilled as I am that she’s here, I know she can’t linger a moment longer.

“What about you?” she asks.

“I just need to check on a few more things.”

“Then I’ll wait for you.” She stops walking, planting her feet on the carpet. “I’m not leaving without you.”

I sigh. “Lauren…”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “You left me in that motel. Still, I followed you. I found you and now, I’m not leaving this mansion without the man I love.”

I gaze into her eyes burning with determination.

She really is so stubborn. But that’s one of the things I love about her.

“Now, if you want me to leave, you’ll have to…”

I close the distance between us with one stride and silence her with a kiss, my hand pressed against her cheek and the other gripping her waist.

It’s meant to be a peck, a fleeting kiss but the moment I feel her soft lips against mine, I can’t seem to stop. My heart is flipping. My body is buzzing with warmth and excitement.

I kiss her over and over, harder.

God, I love her. I never want to let her go.

But suddenly, I hear the sound of two marbles colliding down the hall. It’s a soft sound but I hear it.

Panicking, I break the kiss and shove a confused and frazzled Lauren into the closet where I was hiding, holding a finger up.

“Stay.”

Then I close the door and sit on my father’s chair, my hands over the keyboard as I pretend to do something on the computer.

A second later, the door opens, the guy with the sunglasses and the one with the snake tattoo and long hair entering.

As our gazes meet, they stop. The guy with the thin hair lowers his sunglasses, looking at me with wide eyes. The guy with the long hair chews his gum more slowly.

I take a deep breath and give them a wave. “I guess we get to see each other again.”

“You,” Mr. Sunglasses snarls.

Mr. Snake reaches for the gun tucked into his belt.

I stand up and raise my hands in a gesture of surrender. “Now, now. I’m unarmed.”

The thug with the sunglasses grabs my arm.

“I heard the maids talking about a ghost here on the fourth floor but you’re no ghost,” he hisses. “But don’t worry. You soon will be.”

They drag me out of the room.