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I narrowed my eyes, not understanding. “Explain.”
“Well, simply put, Brant has dirt on Jill that includes insider trading and unfair hiring practices. Edward’s Achilles’ heel is his daughter. He’ll do anything for her. Including threatening to ruin Brant’s election bid. What Edward didn’t count on was Brant’s willingness to walk away from it. So now our families are at a stalemate. Brant can ruin Jill’s reputation, and Edward can obliterate my father’s.”
“But eventually Edward will retaliate?”
“Men like him always do. Mark my words, he’ll come calling like a thief in the night when the opportunity presents itself.”
I wrapped my arms around myself and shuddered. “Your mom told me that your dad was going to do the right thing.”
Brock dared a quick glance at me. “Dani, it’s not as cut-and-dried as we would like to think. My dad did confront Edward and threatened to take him down with him, if he had to. But if my father falls, he takes with him a lot of good people, too, including all his employees. Including us.”
“I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want this over our heads.”
“Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it’s not our battle.”
“Why do you sound so defeated, then?”
He thought for a moment. “Because I thought my father was the good guy.” Tears glistened in his eyes. “And because it makes me feel helpless when it comes to protecting my wife and family.”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Brock, we aren’t helpless. If and when the time comes, we will face whatever it is together. Even if it’s the truth.”
“I don’t deserve you. I’m sorry you got wrapped up in all this.” He paused, taking a deep breath as if to steel himself. “If you wanted to divorce me, I wouldn’t blame you. Or stand in your way.”
“That’s disappointing,” I teased.
The corners of his mouth twitched, and his posture relaxed some. “All right, I would beg you to change your mind.”
“That’s better.” I ran my hand across his thick dark hair. “The way I look at it, I’d lose either way. If we divorced, that wouldn’t stop Edward. It would only mean I wouldn’t have you. And after all these years, I’m not letting you go.”Chapter ThirtyI couldn’t stop staring at his face. My fingers itched to outline his lips and experience the roughness of his layer of dark stubble, accented by a few gray hairs here and there. Still, I hesitated, not wanting to wake him up, even though the sun was rising and I needed to get to work. He needed the rest. He hated that he got it by means of medication, though there was no shame in it. He’d lived through enough of his nightmares already. Some of them he still couldn’t talk to me about. He wasn’t ready to relive his days in captivity with me yet. It had been difficult enough for him with his therapist. I would wait.
Unfortunately, work wasn’t going to wait, but all I wanted to do was lie here in his arms. Neither of us had wanted to part last night once the movie was over, so we’d settled on the couch. It wasn’t really meant for two, but we had made it work.
His breath tickled my nose, and I smiled. This is the life I had imagined with him. Watching movies and eating popcorn. Kisses that set my body and soul on fire. Talking all night until our words became too slurred to continue. Waking up in his arms, to the steady rhythms of his heart and breathing.
I thought of our conversations last night. Brock had tried to stay away from his family drama after the car ride, but I was so curious about all the details—especially regarding Sheridan. According to Brock, his mom wasn’t taking it well. She, like Brock, felt betrayed by the man she loved. Apparently, Sheridan and John were hardly speaking, but she’d stayed at their house because she knew Brock was coming home early and wanted to give us some time alone. And I thought, more than anything, she wanted to know if there was any hope for her marriage. Brock was going to do outpatient therapy for as long as he needed to, so he wasn’t heading back to Utah. As for Brant, he was going to announce next week that he was dropping his bid for the US Senate. He wanted Brock and me to be there for the press conference.
I felt bad, as if I was the cause of some of the trouble, though Brock assured me that what conspired between Brant and me was insignificant in the face of everything else. Which wasn’t to say it hadn’t come up, but Brant had told Brock that he’d laughed in Edward’s face, saying he was grasping at straws and Edward knew it. He told Edward that he would end up with egg on his face if he ever suggested it. Still, it didn’t stop me from worrying about it or feeling guilty. I honestly just wanted to tell the truth about it, at least to my family. It was Brant that was adamant that we keep it quiet. He was deeply concerned about how it would hurt Kinsley, and she was the last person he ever wanted to hurt. I believed more had transpired between those two than any of us ever knew or would know.
