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“Lara hated me after that. She’ll never walk again. She’ll never have a child. She lives at home and works for her grandfather. The life she wanted far away from all that she didn’t get. She won’t because she won’t push herself to do anything. She wanted someone to take care of her.”
“You were going to be her savior?” she asked.
“That is what she always said. But I left.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to care for her at that point in the service,” she argued.
“No. Although, I probably wouldn’t have gone if she didn’t end things with me. It was just her reaction when I told her I was still trying to go. She didn’t even ask me to stay, just hurled everything at me that her parents had always said. If maybe I wasn’t treated the way I was… I don’t know. I carry that guilt still. I’ve got this life and she didn’t get anything she wanted.”
“Nothing is stopping her from getting it now except excuses, by the sounds of it,” she said. “I wouldn’t sit back and feel sorry for myself.”
“No,” he said. “You wouldn’t, but that is how she was. The guy that died, his family sued Lara’s family in a civil suit and won.”
“More insult to injury,” she said.
“Yep. My parents still get treated like crap by those that know Lara’s family. They are used to it and let it go.”
“But now they’ve seen you on TV,” she said. This was all adding up now. And though nothing had been aired yet about Lincoln being her boyfriend, she had said his name. People who knew him would most likely put it together.
“They have. My mother called me Wednesday morning before work to let me know there was a local news piece on me.”
She listened to what he said, everything up to Hailey saying she’d take care of it. That it was a business matter.
“What has happened that you’re telling me now and not days ago?” she asked, crossing her arms. Now she was pissed. Her cousin knew intimate details about her boyfriend’s life before her.
“Yesterday morning Egan got a call from Lara. She was threatening to go public with all of this. She was trying to get me fired.”
“Which Egan wouldn’t do,” she said.
“No. But she wants money to not do it.”
“Jesus, she’s blackmailing my family?”
“I guess that’s a good word for it. I’m supposed to let Hailey deal with it, but last night Mitchell told me Hailey was going to send some official documents threatening back. Getting the police involved.”
“Which she should do,” Grace said.
“I don’t want my parents to have to go through this again,” he said.
She wasn’t thinking of that. “I don’t know that there is anything you can do,” she said.
“I’m flying to see Lara this afternoon. Hailey is going with me. So is Hunter.”
“What!?” Grace stood up and started to pace. “I guess I could see Hailey as the family attorney and all. But even then I’m ticked off I’m just finding this out now. But why Hunter and not me?”
“This has to do with The Retreat. She’s threatening not just Egan but Hunter. Egan isn’t worried and isn’t doing anything. So she’s going after your employer.”
“But it’s my cousin,” she said, laughing.
“She knows that,” he said. “And she knows the family wealth.”
“This is ridiculous. We wanted to get publicity for The Retreat, but not this.”
“I told Egan all of this beforehand. I didn’t want to be on camera.”
She felt her eyes fill. “Even Egan knows. Everyone knows but me. The woman that you’re supposed to be in love with.”
“Iamin love with you,” he said.
