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Robert looks down at his hands and then lifts his worried eyes to Jack’s. “Every shred of evidence you’ll find will implicate someone else. William was thorough when he thought this through. He knows exactly what he wants and how to get it without saying a single word.”

“Fill in the blanks.” Mom sits on the edge of her chair. “Why did you tell Sean about the meeting?”

Robert puts his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together. His gaze remains on his hands as he starts his story. “We ruled high school. It was better to be one of them than to be on the outside. I was lucky to be counted among them. I believed we were friends, but I wasn’t as competitive as the others. There was always some infighting about what to do, but William eventually convinced us that with our brains we could create a legacy for our children.”

He looks up and meets Jack’s eyes. “Most of us didn’t come from much. We were attractive, amazing at football, and intelligent. Guys wanted to be our friends. Girls wanted us. It was intoxicating and made it easy to go along with what we decided to do.”

“You bullied people.” Mom’s gaze is steady. “You dominated anyone who made things difficult for you.”

Robert shrugs and gives my mom the same smirk Jack gave his father. “It’s easy to fall in line when you’re a teenager and getting everything you ever wanted. It wasn’t until later, after Jack was born, that I reevaluated what I was doing and who I was ‘friends’ with.”

Mom releases a breath. “What was the final straw?”

I’m curious too because the drugs had been going on before Mom even became a nurse at the hospital, according to what she told me.

Robert runs his hands through his hair. “William wasn’t happy with the growth of our wealth. He wanted more. To him, the best way to earn money was through illegal means. The drugs were just the start.” He pauses and looks at us again.

“I told them about the trafficking.” Mom’s tone is gentle.

“Shit.” Robert looks at his hands before he lifts his gaze to Jack. “That was my line, I guess. I couldn’t imagine what those women were enduring. I tried to talk William out of it. The others weren’t on board either. He kept it as his side project, but I didn’t want my name anywhere near something like that.”

I can respect that. The drugs aren’t a great idea either, but at least, it’s a choice. The person who buys the drugs has a choice. Maybe? Probably not once they’re addicted though. Since it seems like everyone knows about the drugs, the hospital would order excess so patients wouldn’t go without, but I don’t know how it all works.

Robert sighs. “When I mentioned I wanted out, William got angry. But it was less of a blow than anyone else would have been. I wasn’t as integral to the company. My degree in business was useful for making things appear on the up and up. I figured out how to hide the profit better.” He shrugs.

“What happened that night?” Mom asks.

Her knuckles are white and her lips thin as she waits.

“Bruce told me about the meetup. Said I ought to be there since what affects the business affects me, but I declined.” Robert stands and begins to pace, clearly agitated. “I’d been out for a while. Cathy hated William and everything he stood for, so she was glad I was out. Sean brought documents to me at one point. Things that didn’t add up when you actually studied them. I told him to let it go, but he kept bringing me more until it felt like we could have something.”

My mom smiles sadly. “He was like that. Once he got something in his head, he couldn’t let it go.”

I swallow, and Luke presses a kiss against my shoulder. I rest my head against his chest, leaning into his warmth and drawing from his strength. My dad, who once was just a name on my birth certificate, keeps getting made into this person I would have loved with all my heart. Maybe things would have gone exactly as they did, but I can’t imagine the man my mother painted for me turning away any of my broken boys. No matter who their fathers are.

He might not have liked how we started any more than Mom did, but I like to believe he would have accepted them.

“Sean came to me.” Robert sighs and looks at my mom. “He wanted to get his family out. He just needed something that would implicate William. Something he could use as blackmail to be released from his agreement.”

Mom is still as a statue. The reason Dad was tangled up with William was for her. Everything he did was for her. Part of me wants to go to her and hold her, but another part of me holds back. I don’t want to remind Robert we’re all here. That we’re hearing this from him.

“Cam was leaving the group. He no longer wanted his cut of the illegal profits, but he agreed to still help with the legal side as he built his law firm.” Robert sits on the edge of the chair and his knee bounces. “William wasn’t pleased about it. When Bruce told me about the meeting, I knew it was about the two of us, Cam and I. William doesn’t let anything go easily.”

His gaze lifts to my mom. “He compromised on you, but I don’t think he ever gave up on the idea of you. Sean was a more valuable asset than having you at that time. At least he was before he started pulling at threads.”

“What happened, Rob?” Mom asks.

“I needed out just as much as Sean did, so we discussed what we could do.” Robert clasps his hands. “What we had wasn’t enough to actually do anything but get others in trouble.”

From the sounds of it, that’s what Jack found too. William Foster wasn’t anywhere on those files. Yes, they were from his computer, but even that could be difficult to prove. We don’t have a smoking gun yet.

“We discussed setting up cameras to record the meeting. To find out what they needed to discuss so far outside of town and away from anything that might capture them. It seemed like the perfect opportunity.” Robert runs his hand through his hair. “Too perfect.”

“It was a trap.” Eli rubs his jaw and his dark eyes flick to mine.

Fuck, he’s right.

“William did this loyalty shit all the time in high school.” Robert huffs out a breath. “I should have known. I should have recognized all the signs. But I just wanted out, and so did Sean.