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“Yeah. In a minute.”
“Uh oh.” He dropped back to the mattress. “You have that constipated look on your face again.”
“Jerk.” But it made me laugh, when it was hard to find anything the least bit funny.
“I’m listening.”
Biting my lip, I studied the ornate light fixture on the ceiling to avoid meeting his gaze. I wasn’t ready to see how he’d take this news. “I think I may be a millionaire.”
Silence.
After a minute, I sneaked a glance his way. He was already staring at me. Fixedly. “I read something online this morning.”
His wince made me gulp back the rest of what I had to say. “Not that again. That’s what got me in trouble with you when we first met,” he added.
“Yeah. Well, I
remembered something this morning during my conversation with Carly. I’d never forgotten it exactly, but after Lorenzo last night, I guess I started sifting through my memories more carefully. I remembered Darren mention the name Olivia. I always assumed it was his wife, but…well, I just wanted to see.”
For so many reasons. Between the weird phone calls and the events of the previous evening, I couldn’t examine what I’d lived through too carefully. As difficult as it was, chances were good I’d overlooked some important pieces.
I wouldn’t overlook them any longer.
Tray rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “What did you find?” he asked, the question too hushed. I knew whatever I discovered he would face with me.
Lessening my burden, and increasing his.
“Nothing about Olivia, but a mention of an Eloisa Latimer. She was Darren’s wife. According to the article anyway. I’m guessing Latimer was her maiden name.”
His grip tightened on my hand. Subconsciously, I was sure. “He was married while he…”
I nodded. “Yeah. He still wore his wedding ring. At least until—” I stopped, not wanting to make this more difficult for him.
The line between honesty and needless pain was impossible to navigate sometimes. Most times.
“It’s okay.” His chest shook with his rapid inhalations. “Finish it out.”
“I found an article about my Aunt Patty.” I told him the rest, and watched his eyes widen.
“How could that be possible? They’d need your okay for a suit, wouldn’t they?”
“I was a minor. I don’t know.” I jerked a shoulder. “Carly said Patty never spent crazily, but I know what I read. She got money in my name, out of that hell. I have to try to figure out what’s going on.”
“We will. We’ll get to the bottom of it, after this week.”
“I can’t wait that long. Tray, I need to know. She and I never got along well, but this is insane. How could she profit from…” I took a deep breath. “They settled out of court. That’s probably the only way she kept me from knowing about it. Maybe she had a good lawyer, convinced Darren’s wife that I was a minor and a small cash payment would make it all go away.”
“Since when is three million a small cash payment?”
“Darren was wealthy. The house we stayed in was—”
“Stayed in?” He jerked up to a sitting position. “You mean the house he held you hostage in and raped you in?”
Averting my gaze, I nodded. I understood his frustration—did I ever—but I couldn’t alleviate it.
He exhaled. “Jesus, baby, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I know it’s…a lot.” Understatement of my lifetime.
