“I don’t care about houses as long as I have you.” She moved her legs and patted the spot beside her on the swing.
Michael started toward her, but a familiar Mercedes pulled into his weedy driveway. Marie murmured, “Oh no,” and Michael fisted his hands at his sides and strode to intercept Pierre.
Marie’s husband unwound long legs from behind the wheel of the convertible. He wore an expression of satisfaction and held up a sheaf of papers in one hand and a gun in the other.
Michael had left his gun in the house and had no time to retrieve it.
Pierre didn’t look at Marie. The bore of the gun pointed at Michael’s chest. “I’ve come for my wife. Marie, get your things.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Pierre smiled and held up the papers. “No? If she’s not in the car immediately, I’ll turn these over to the FBI and the DEA. You’ll spend the rest of your life peering through bars and wishing you’d listened.”
Marie came to Michael’s side when he took the papers and flipped through them. Meth sales and extortion statements from businesses in town were neatly chronicled. Pierre had it all.
Marie took a step back. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ll tell everyone the truth about you when I divorce you. You’ll never hold your head up in this county again. I’ll leave you without a penny.”
Pierre laughed coldly. “My money is in a ‘spendthrift trust.’You’ll be bagging groceries and living on food stamps. I own the judges in Baldwin County, and you’ll never get custody of Savannah. I’ll have your beloved daughterandall my money. You’ll have... nothing.” He jerked his head toward the car. “Not another word. Get in.”
Marie was so pale that Michael thought she’d faint. He put his hand on her forearm. “Don’t listen to him, Marie. He’s bluffing.”
She pulled out of his grip. “He never bluffs.” She rose slowly, as if every movement hurt, and walked into the house. She returned with Savannah in her arms, then walked down the rickety steps. “I despise you,” she told Pierre, who only shrugged as she got in the car.
Michael had to watch Pierre drive her out of his life.
Michael blinked and pushed away the worst memory of his life. Since that moment he’d spent three decades doing the same thing to Pierre. He’d had him followed, had surreptitiously gone through his trash, and had bided his time until this moment. Jess had uncovered a treasure trove of sleaze, using her position as TGU’s CFO to dig through the university’s financial records. Michael was still working on a few details, but he had plenty of acid to dribble over Pierre and his reputation in the meantime.
Would Pierre run away every time Michael confronted him? Or would he eventually take a swing at Michael? Both would be fun.
Chapter 36
Savannah slid the last of her books into her section of the home office bookcases. Hez’s legal tomes occupied the ones on the other side of the window looking out onto their driveway. “It’s beginning to feel like home.”
His dark hair askew and still on his knees, Hez backed out from under the desk where he’d been monkeying with the computer cords. “I think we’re all set with the computer.” The built-in oak desk wrapped around two sides of the room with plenty of space for them both to have computers or laptops.
She reached out and brushed cobwebs from his hair, then wiped them off on her jeans. “There’s nothing sexier than a man chasing away spiders.”
He grinned and sat on the floor, then tugged her down onto his lap. “I should get some compensation for braving the cobwebs.”
She nestled against him and palmed his face. “I could see my way clear to thanking you for squashing those nasty beasts.” She pulled his head down, and his lips captured hers. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him back properly when the popping of tires on gravel brought her attention around to the window.
A car had stopped by the brick path to their front door, and she winced at her father’s stormy expression when he exited the vehicle. “Uh-oh, he’s probably gotten this month’s bank statement.”
“Let’s not answer. He won’t see us sitting here on the floor.”
“Both of our vehicles are outside.” She brushed his lips with hers again before getting up. “Later.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise.”
“You could come with me.”
“I think I’ll stay right here. Out of sight, out of mind.”
“Coward.” She didn’t blame him. If she could hide out in the office, she would too. It would be her father’s first glimpse of what they’d done to the house. Would he notice or comment?
She met her dad at the door. “What a surprise, Dad.” Up close his expression wasn’t so much stormy as incensed with more rage than she’d ever seen him display. She wasn’t sure she wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he’d tell her whether she asked or not. “Coffee or sweet tea?”
He pushed past her. “Is Hez here?” The aroma of his pipe tobacco and lemon gumdrops wafted in his wake.
