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have any money she would slip from his life like a boat without an anchor. By the way he held her, I could see it was something that scared him—being without her. It gave me an idea, but I had some planning to do. So I left without another look in the direction of the home I was sure I would be seeing again very soon.
     

Chapter Five
    Joel
     
    It was Friday, and I couldn’t work. I sat in my office all morning fiddling with my pens and wishing I had some new news that could set my mind at ease.
    My deposition was the day before, and Jerry assured me that everything went well. Well, as good as could be expected. I wasn’t so convinced. I felt my face flame a few times when Henderson, Lara’s lawyer, began insinuating that I was capable of doing that to her.
    “You just lost your father a few days before the incident, did you not? Would you say you were distressed in any way? What was the status of your relationship when Farrows arrived at your house? Was that the first time you two had argued?”
    Every question seemed to rip a bigger hole in my chest.
    Just thinking about that day put me off-kilter. It was only two days after the news of my father’s death, and I was still in shock. It seemed like the worst time to break up with someone, but I had to. There was nothing else I could do. I couldn’t bring her to his funeral, and I didn’t want to lie. I was a lot of things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. In light of everything that my father said, I knew it was the right thing to do, and to drag it out seemed painful—for the both of us. We needed a nice, clean cut. Considering that I told her over the phone, Lara took it better than I expected. She made plans to pick up her things, and we would go our separate ways. Simple enough, right?
    I thought about leaving the condo, so she could pick up her things alone, without feeling like I was watching her move from room to room in search of all her possessions, but I figured that was a cop-out. It was bad enough I dumped her over the phone. The least I could do was man-up and see her face to face. End things properly. Except, I didn’t realize that she would use that as an opportunity to frame me for whatever happened to her after she left my condo.
    I guess that was her way of saying she was unhappy about the circumstances. It could have been worse. She could have had me arrested, which would have made me miss my own father’s funeral. No, she only wanted money and to ruin my reputation, my father’s company, and my future in the process.
    Lara was getting deposed a few hours later, and I was pulling for a miracle. Anything that would exonerate me from her accusations. Anything to keep me from going to court and facing her while she continued spouting her lies. It’d been months since I’d seen her, and after everything that had happened, I wasn’t looking forward to ever seeing her again. I just wanted her out of my life. I wanted to be free to move on. Which was the real problem.
    As long as Lara still had her talons in me, I would never be able to start something real with Blaire. It’s not like we really talked about what was happening between us, and I wasn’t so sure that the moment all of this was over, Blaire would stay. Whether or not I won or lost the case, Blaire made it clear from the beginning that she wasn’t looking for anything. She said she didn’t have the time. It wasn’t like I was free to come and go as I pleased anymore. I had a company to run. All of those lectures from my father about responsibility and reputation, everything he spent the last several years preparing me for was finally beating down my door, and I was forced to answer. That, or everything he worked so hard for would have been all for nothing. My playboy ways already made me feel like I failed him in life. I couldn’t fail him in death, too.
    “Melanie ?” I called through the intercom.
    “Yes, Mr. Trevaunt ?”
    “I’m going to head home. Forward all my calls