Tags:
Romance,
Literature & Fiction,
Contemporary,
Sagas,
Action & Adventure,
Mystery,
Short Stories,
Mystery; Thriller & Suspense,
Contemporary Fiction,
Contemporary Women,
Women's Fiction,
New Adult & College,
Thriller & Suspense,
Two Hours or More (65-100 Pages)
woman in love?
“Grant has no choice,” Xander said. “Tell him to come here. Alone.”
Bonnie shook her head. But Xander had had his fill of all this. He charged over to her and shoved his own cellphone into her hand.
“Call him and tell him to come over.”
She only hesitated a moment longer.
Chapter 8
Xander
Harley was hiding something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was, and I didn’t like it. But I told myself she wouldn’t do it if she didn’t think it was important.
I watched her pace the porch outside the back doors, the way that boot caused her just the slightest limp. Two months ago, the doctor said she would have a definitive limp if she ever woke up. Her recovery was remarkable, but everything about Harley had always been remarkable.
“How can you be with the woman who might send me to jail?”
“How can you be with the man who got us all into this position in the first place?”
My mom crossed her arms over her chest, a defiant look taking over the attractive features that once made her a very beautiful woman. Now she was tired. A very tired and broken woman.
“I trusted that Grant would do the right thing.”
“And I know that Harley’s only doing what she thinks will protect us all.”
“She almost went to the press with paperwork that shows Grant was working with terrorists. If it didn’t send him to jail, it would have ruined his reputation, his career, and everything he’s worked all his life to build.”
“Would you rather government officials came knocking on his front door and searched his house in front of reporters who had only their own imaginations to fill in the gaps?”
“At least then we could have formulated a way to deal with it.”
I groaned, frustration such a familiar feeling these days that I almost felt like I was welcoming an old friend home. “He’s going to jail, Mom. One way or the other, Grant is going to jail.”
“Do you really think I don’t know that? I do. I just…I’d rather you and Harley have nothing to do with it.”
I pulled her into my arms and held her for a long moment. And then I sighed.
“They came to me a year ago. Said that if I didn’t cooperate, if I didn’t get the information they needed, they would go after you, too.”
She stiffened as she jerked away from me. “You?”
“What was I supposed to do, Mom? They have your signature on dozens of incriminating papers. But they couldn’t get what they really wanted, the paperwork that would identify the men Grant was working with directly and the reason they were buying up all those buildings. They could have moved without my help, but they wanted those papers. And I had them, but then Harley got involved, and she wanted to do this in a way that would protect you and me.”
She shook her head, tears flowing again.
“She was trying to help, Mom. She was afraid Grant would figure out what I was up to—and he almost did!—and that he would do something to stop me, or he would give my name to his clients and let them deal with me. Instead, she stepped into the mess for me. And look what happened.”
“Grant didn’t hurt her.”
“Yeah? But he probably knows who did.”
She shook her head again, but she didn’t argue. She knew I was right.
“If not for Harley, we’d probably all be in jail right now. Or a graveyard.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is. She got her friend, Philip involved. His father is a United States Senator, and he put her in touch with the right federal agents, the people who know what’s going on and could help protect us. They put eyes on all of us and made sure Grant’s clients wouldn’t move against us until we could get the information I’d gotten out of Grant’s office into the right hands. And we were close. I gave her the papers I took from your office, and she managed to get those to the right people. But they wanted more, some dates, things I could pull off his computer with the spyware I put on it.”
“That was