“I know I should’ve told you, but . . . we were having some hard conversations. How he was going to be able to afford to retire with the pensions getting sliced to practically nothing. Then a downturn in the market took out half our retirement savings. We weren’t smart, Rhett. We didn’t plan right. Your father was angry, furious that he’d worked for years for promises that kept changing. I worried that he would do something rash, but I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t want to know. That was my fault. I should’ve gotten a job, or—”

“Mom, stop. It’s okay. You didn’t do this. He did.”

Bile rose in my throat as my mother confirmed my worst fears. My father had a motive. Resentment. I understood it, but I hated to think that it could have been something so simple that would have caused him to betray everything he stood for. Everything he’d raised my brothers and me to stand for.

“It’s not okay. If I’d stopped him, maybe we wouldn’t have lost you for a year. Maybe he could’ve found some way to make it right.”

“You didn’t lose me. I’m right here. And we’re going to figure this out and make sure you have everything you need so you can come home as soon as I get your place rebuilt.”

She laughed, but it was without humor. “I’m not coming back to Louisiana, Rhett. I can’t. I’m notorious there. I don’t want to be an old lady who can’t face her neighbors because of the shame. Here, I’m someone completely different. No one knows my past. No one looks down on me with judgment. I’ll be able to make friends, start a new life. Maybe you should think about doing the same.”

Her words ripped through me with a force I didn’t expect. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. In fact, if you’ll help me, I’d like to take the insurance payout without rebuilding. I’ll sell the lot. Someone else can build something good over all this bad, and maybe, just maybe, the Lord will forgive us all someday.”

Resignation settled in my bones. “If that’s what you want, Mom, I’ll make sure it happens.”

“You’ve always been a good boy, Rhett. You need to let go of the past and focus on the future. Find your own happiness. Have you taken my advice? Are you going after the life you want?”

“I’m working on it.” I glanced toward the bedroom. “And Ari says hi as well.”

“Tell her I’m sending my love all the way from Colorado. I always adored that girl. She’s something special, Rhett. You could do worse than to keep her by your side for the rest of your life.”

And . . . that was my mother. Jumping to forever in a single sentence. But if I had a choice, forever was on the table as an option. “I know, Mom. We’re testing the waters.”

“Make sure you treat her right. She’s a grown woman. Wine and dine her. If you need any suggestions—”

“Thanks, but I got this.”

“I’m sure you do. Take care, and don’t forget about me all the way up here in the mountains.”

“Never. Talk to you soon, Mom.”

I hung up the phone with mixed emotions, but the primary one was despair.

Mom knew something was going on and she never said anything. Did that make her guilty? No, I refused to believe that. But her admissions were a crushing blow to the last shred of hope I had that this could have been a setup. Now, I had to face the fact that things were, at least to a certain extent, exactly what they’d seemed.

My dad was a dirty cop, and someone took him out before he could go down for good and possibly talk.

There were so many more questions I wish I would have asked my mom, but I wasn’t going to drag her down that path again.

I made my way back to the bedroom and glanced through the doorway at Ari braiding her red hair around the side of her neck. She tilted her head one way and then the other as she read what was on her screen, and then looked up at me with a smile on her face.

“How’s your mama? Did you tell her that Team Awesome is going to get to the bottom of this mess, and she’ll never have to worry about anything ever again?”

Team Awesome.

A smile fought through the darkness in my head and tugged at my lips. I thought about what Mom had said about Ari. You could do worse . . .

She missed the mark there.

I would never find anyone better.

48

Ariel

Rhett was quiet for a while after he got off the phone with his mom, and then he disappeared outside to talk to the new security team Carver had been able to put together in a matter of hours.

I’d met the linebacker-sized guys, but in the craziness, their names hadn’t stuck with me. I never wanted to be that asshole client who didn’t think of service providers by their names, but I thought I deserved a pass on this one. Besides, Rhett was covering that side of things. After I jokingly called us Team Awesome, I decided I wasn’t kidding. We could be a powerhouse duo. Before I could let my imagination wander, my cell rang through a secure phone line app that I’d gone back to using.

Esme and Erik.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“We’re holding down the fort. So far, so good.” This came from Erik.

“That’s good. No sign of the zero?” I asked. Erik had taken to calling Carlos “the zero” because he was on a World War II kick right now.

“Nope. Nothing. We’ve upped security protocol, and the critical team has been alerted that all precautions should be taken. The building isn’t admitting anyone who isn’t on the employee roster without heavy advanced screening.”

I didn’t like the idea of my company running like a prison, but in this case, I was happy to take the better safe than sorry route. After all, it wasn’t every day I got on the wrong side of a Mexican drug cartel.

“Anything else new?”

“Not much. We were more calling to get an update on how it’s going in lockdown land with the sexy Rhett Hennessy. Did ya get some?” Esme was shameless.

“As your boss, I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that question.”

“Ohhh, you know that means she did! Score, girl!”

Erik’s enthusiasm had my cheeks turning pink and doubly glad this line was untappable and untraceable. “We are not discussing this.”