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I shrugged. “I deal with incredibly sensitive information as a career, Mr. Rochere. I’m not sending her home with files. I told her she could either set up shop after hours in this building under official supervision, or she could travel with me, and I’d give her access to our digital records and archives. She chose the latter.”
Eden shrugged. “A bit of traveling never hurt anyone, especially when it’s all-expenses-paid.”
Emily rushed to her sister, hugging her so tightly that the damn woman almost knocked Eden right off her feet. I stepped off to the side, allowing them a moment while Eden digested the excuse I had just fed everyone in order to sidestep the one worry I knew she had, which was people finding out that we were fucking.
Only at the time, having a dirty little secret didn’t seem so fun.
“Now,” Jackson said as he slid his hands into his pockets, “I think my best friend and business partner has been more than forthcoming with answers to all of the questions that you have. So now, it’s your turn to do the same. Answers for answers.”
My stare didn’t waver from Mr. Rochere’s face. “Start from the beginning and work your way forward, and don’t you dare leave anything out.”
Eden cradled her sister in her lap as Jackson and I stood on either side of the chair they sat in. It was four against two, with their mother sort of standing in between us, as if she didn’t know which side to take. I honestly felt bad for her; torn between the children she had raised and the man who had given them to her in the first place. And as we all stood there, staring off with one another, I thought I’d have to strangle the fucking man to get him to start talking.
That is, until his shoulders slumped with a heavy sigh. “You want to know how Thaddius fits into all of this?”
I nodded. “Very much so.”
Mr. Rochere shrugged in defeat. “He was the man I testified against.”
Eden paused. “What?”
I tilted my ear toward him a bit. “My apologies, I could’ve sworn you just said—”
Her father repeated himself. “You heard me right. The man I testified against was Thaddius Beauregard. I witnessed a murder he committed, and he is who I testified against.”
“So, why isn’t the man currently in jail if you testified against him?” Jackson asked.
“Very good question,” I said as I straightened my back.
Mr. Rochere flopped his body into the chair in front of my desk. “Thaddius Beauregard absolutely has ties to the mafia, and when I witnessed what he had done, I cut a deal with him in exchange for five million dollars to testify on the stand that someone else had done it. That I had seen someone else kill that man in cold blood. So, I took the deal.”
I blinked. “You took a deal from the mafia, and then cut another deal with the government for WITSEC protection?”
“Are you fucking insane, Dad?” Eden asked breathlessly.
But the man simply held his hand up. “Your mother was pregnant with you at the time, and I didn’t see a way out. I saw the money, I thought about what kind of life it could give us, and all I needed was a way to protect the family I had already created. I took the bride first, before the government got involved, legally and then, when I saw a way out completely, I took it. You can’t fault me for that.”
Eden stood to her feet, forcing Jackson to catch Emily since she almost tumbled to the floor. “You duped the mafia behind their back and thought you could get away with it!?”
But I had a more important question. “If you tried to orchestrate all of this, why stay in the area? Why not move somewhere else?”
And it seemed as if Eden was finally back on her toes. “You guys didn’t live in L.A. at the time, did you?”
Her mother shook her head. “We were living in Denver, Colorado at the time. We sold everything we had and came here, and once we settled, your father used some of the money we had to open up the garage where he works now.”
Her father shrugged. “We figured that if we could keep our head down and stay quiet, it would all eventually blow over. I did what Thaddius asked—I testified that someone else committed that murder. And after I testified successfully, all I did was take a deal that the government had given me in exchange for that testimony.”
“Something tells me that’s not quite right, either,” I said flatly.
Jackson cleared his throat. “So, who sent the guys with guns? The government? The mafia? Some other player in all of this? Do you have any idea who’s after you?”
Tears rushed Mr. Rochere’s eyes once more. “I honestly have no idea, and if I did, I’d tell you. Seriously, I would. We haven’t given anyone any problems. Not even so much as a parking ticket has been incurred since all of this took place, as I’m sure your research has shown you.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“So, if all of this happened years and years and years ago,” Em said as she cradled herself against my best friend, “then does Lila’s outburst at the function wrap into this at all? Or is it just a coincidence?”
Her mother snickered. “There’s never a coincidence when you’re dealing with things like this. That much I’ve learned over the past twenty-eight years.”
