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* * *
HAYDEN: That’s the fake. Are there any other copies with it that might be the real one?
* * *
“The fake?!” I cried.
Dammit, I thought I’d actually found something useful. Grumbling under my breath, I looked around, flipped through all the pages of the fake will and found nothing.
* * *
GABBY: No luck. Sorry.
* * *
Wishing I’d had better news, I slumped into Lana’s desk chair and glumly plopped my elbows on the desktop so I could rest my chin in my hands.
Hayden replied immediately.
* * *
HAYDEN: Don’t be sorry. You found paperwork. That’s a start.
* * *
Dear Lord, he was trying to make me feel better. This was the guy who got off on pushing people’s buttons and saying things just to tick them off, and he felt so bad for me he was being nice. I must be more pathetic than I thought.
“You will not best me, Lana Judge,” I announced, rising back to my feet and refusing to give up. “I will find your secrets, and I’ll bring you down, once and for all.”
I cleaned her office for another hour before deciding it was getting too close to the time she should probably come home. So I retreated to the kitchen and finished up in there. By the time she arrived, I’d actually run out of things to do. I was reading a book on my phone when I heard the front door slam shut, announcing her arrival.
Jumping out of my skin, I yanked my feet off the dining room table and popped upright, tucking my phone away as I hurried to meet her in the front room, but as I approached, I heard her snarling to someone.
“This is getting old, Fin Tin. I told you to stop calling.”
Fin Tin? Wasn’t that the name of the lawyer guy that Hayden said was supposed to be dead but was really alive? Holy wow. Maybe I could get some useful information for him today after all.
“You got all the cash you’re ever going to get from me,” Lana went on. “Extorting me for more won’t end well for you.” Pausing to listen to his response, she smiled wide when she answered, “Why yes, that is a threat. I’m glad you’re smart enough to realize it since you obviously weren’t smart enough to leave me alone. And now your greed will end you.”
She hung up with him and turned my way, as if threatening someone’s life left her hungry so she had to head to the kitchen for a snack.
Shit.
I darted back into the dining room and pulled my phone out, pretending to read again. Hey, looking lazy and ignorant had to be better than getting caught overhearing your boss threatening to end someone.
I’d just got my shoes back on the table with my legs crossed at the ankles when she burst into the room.
“Holy shit!” I cried, jumping to my feet and yanking my earbuds out, not even feigning the leap in my pulse or the start in my breathing because I was honestly freaked out of my mind, worried she wouldn’t buy my ploy.
“You’re home,” I rushed out, fumbling to put my phone away. “Hi. Sorry, I was just, you know, taking a break.”
“Taking a break?” she repeated incredulously, her face growing red with anger. Or maybe it had already been that red because of her conversation with Fin Tin, and she was now simply directing her malice my way. “I didn’t give you permission to take breaks, especially with your feet on my table.”
Okay, whew, relief. She suspected nothing.
“Well, I already finished the list of things you needed done,” I countered, arching a single daring eyebrow because admitting her lack of duties for me seemed like the best diversion. It was the last thing she would expect me to admit, and nothing threw her off her game like unexpected responses. “What else was I supposed to do?”
Somewhere in me, I knew I probably shouldn’t push this woman; she wasn’t one to be trifled with. Except I couldn’t seem to help myself. I simply loved to piss her off. For everything she’d done to Hayden and Kaitlynn and their other brother, Brick, whoever he was. For everything she’d done to me, and every person out there that she’d wronged, simply because she could. I loved picking at her and watching her mouth screw up tight with hate.
