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k at all like you or Dad.”
Dale Blake had blond hair and blue eyes.
“No.” She shook her head. He looked more like Dale with every second. “No.”
“I went to see him.”
“Dale?” When he nodded, she frowned. “When?”
“Right after the funeral.”
“You’ve met Dale Blake?”
He gave her an odd look. “I just said I went to see him.”
Marley couldn’t believe it. All the times she’d met with the man and he’d said he wanted to meet her brother, too. He’d brought Nate up at every meeting, asked how he was doing, what he was up to. He’d been lying the entire time.
“And?” she finally prompted.
“He’s a bastard.”
Yeah, she could see that now. A lying, sneaky, underhanded snake who’d apparently ruined her family years ago, and for some reason wanted to get involved again.
In that instant, she recalled him saying she looked just like her mother and a shudder of revulsion shook her. No wonder she’d been uncomfortable whenever he touched her. No matter how often she told herself he was a nice guy, her gut instincts hadn’t bought her reasoning.
“When I confronted him about the affair with mom, he tried to deny it, but I could tell he was lying. I mean, just looking at him…” Nate broke off, pounding a fist on his knee. Then he shot to his feet and began to pace. “He got real nervous then, warned me to keep my damn mouth shut—said he’d give me five grand if I went away.”
He paced to the window and stared out.
“You didn’t take it,” Marley said, fearing the opposite.
“Of course I did,” he said over his shoulder as if it were a stupid question. “Why not? He’s got the cash, why shouldn’t he pay?”
“God, Nate. This is all so unbelievable.” Silence reigned as she tried to gather her thoughts. “You’ve got to give it back.”
“I can’t.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. When he turned around, guilt was stamped all over his face.
“What’d you do with it?”
“I went to Vegas. It’s gone.” He sighed. “Along with the other payments.”
“Other payments?” she echoed, her voice rising.
“He wanted me to keep quiet, make me go away, I made sure it cost him.”
Dread swept over Marley. Dale’s odd question in her office the other morning, about Nate leaving town, suddenly made sense. “You’re blackmailing him?”
His eyes closed at her furious question. “I was. But then—”
“I don’t believe this,” she raged, leaping to her feet.
“There’s more,” he said quietly.
“Well, of course there is. I mean, after everything else, how could there not be?”
She waited for him to continue. When his gaze met hers, she froze at the terror she saw in his eyes. He held out a trembling hand, then sank to his knees and buried his face in his hands.
“Nate, what is it?”
