Page 127 of Blue Jean Summer

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said calmly. “He did care. He wanted the best for you and gave you an opportunity to achieve that through running the nonprofit. You’re angry you didn’t get a handout after your mother and stepfather tried and failed, time and time again, to get our granddad to write bigger and bigger checks.”

“I’m a Wilder!” he roared. “I deserve more!”

I rose from the desk, planted my hands on the top, and leaned over until I was in his face. “Then act like it.”

“I don’t have to do shit,” Lewis seethed, jutting forward until we were nose to nose. “I just have to prove you bought a wife to get the estate. Then it’ll be mine.”

“Good luck doing that,” I said casually. I couldn’t let him think he was getting under my skin.

His smile was malevolent. He produced his phone and tapped the screen. Catherine’s voice came through his phone as the conversation she and I had about me paying her debts began to play.

Her face turned ghostly white.

“You bugged the house?” I hissed as my knuckles turned white around the arm of the chair.

Lewis cackled. “Or maybe you want to hear a recap of the time you blackmailed the governor? That was fun to listen to. I’m sure your fancy partners and all your political connections would love to know who was behind that.” He looked at Catherine. “Who knew dear old Dad was running the state?”

She was stone-faced, but I knew the comment stung. I was ready to strangle him.

Lewis clapped his hands together. “What was that you told the governor? Right. Virginia’s a single-party consent state. It’s a big house. Since you took a page out of my playbook and got married to keep a piece of dirt, I decided to take a page out of your playbook. There were plenty of places to record you saying all kinds of incriminating things, and you can’t do a damn thing about it, except make sure all your shit is out of my house by the time the estate is transferred to me.”

I was trying to keep it together. I really was. But I was out of moves. I had planned for everything.

Everything except losing.

“Well, there y’all are!” Hallie said as she waltzed in. “I’ve been looking all over the estate for you three.” She laid a motherly hand on Lewis’s shoulder. “I just put your laundry away and put fresh sheets on your bed.”

Laundry? Fresh sheets? What the fuck? Hallie was just up at the grand opening…

Lewis sat straighter in his chair. “Well. That’s more like it. I might keep you around as my maid now that the estate is mine.”

Catherine looked just as confused as I was.

Hallie looked pleased, which meant she was up to something. Catherine caught on. Her blue eyes softened from searing sapphire flames and began to dance like mischievous bluebirds.

“Lewis, I know you’re a very busy man. But if you have a moment, there are some very important people who would like to meet you,” Hallie soothed, verbally stroking his ego.

Lewis stood and straightened, turning his attention to me. “Get out. You’re in my seat.”

“Oh, you don’t even need to sit. It’ll be quick,” Hallie said. “You just stay right there.” She poked her head out and hollered into the house. “Gentlemen?”

I didn’t know what the hell was happening, but one thing was for certain: Hallie was always right. Which meant if she was interrupting a meeting and being nice to Lewis, I was going to go along with it.

Lewis preened like a peacock as four men in suits filled the study doors.

“It’s getting a little crowded in here,” Lewis said, wringing his hands to keep from trembling in giddy delight. He got off on the attention. “Gentlemen.” He extended his hand to shake theirs. “Lewis Halstead. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence in my office this evening?”

The man closest looked down at his hand, then back at Lewis. “You’re the Lewis Halstead who is the current head of the Wilder Foundation?”

“That’s me,” he said with a grin.

“Excellent,” the man said with a chuckle, then snapped a handcuff onto Lewis’s wrist. “I’m Agent Sarazen with the FBI. You’re under arrest for fraud and embezzlement. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”

My ears rang as the agent finished reciting the Miranda warning while Lewis ignored his right to remain silent and began to thrash and yell. It took the other three agents to get Lewis fully cuffed and out the door.

Blue lights flashed through the windows as he was marched out to the row of federal vehicles.

That’s when I noticed the raid beginning on the second floor. Federal agents carried stacks of documents, electronics, and boxes of evidence out of Lewis’s room.