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“Maybe he’s ashamed,” Nikki said. She tried to put herself in Vernon’s shoes, but couldn’t imagine it. What kind of parent abandoned his family?
Jake made a face that could have meant anything. “It’s freezing out here, and I’m starving.” He gave Nikki a quick glance. “You up for walking a couple of blocks?”
“Of course.”
They ended up at a little hole-in-the-wall place the Lowell brothers remembered from their teen years. Jake actually smiled when they entered. “We used to come here on the weekends and eat pizza and play pool. We felt like such rebels.”
“Why was that?” she asked.
“Because it was a million miles from Falling Brook,” Josh answered. He looked around the crowded, dimly lit room with a grin. The booths were covered in faux green leather. The wooden floor was scarred. The dartboards on the far back wall might have been relics from the Second World War.
There was an awkward moment as they were being seated. A booth for three meant that two people were cozy. In this case, Jake and Nikki. She squeezed toward the wall and tried to pretend she wasn’t freaked out by the fact that his leg touched hers.
He helped her take off her coat.
Though Joshua seemed oblivious to any undercurrents, Jake’s gaze, intense and warm, held Nikki’s for long moments. Thankfully, the waitress came, and Nikki was able to catch her breath.
It occurred to her that the three of them had been frozen in time. Jake and Nikki had left Falling Brook fifteen years ago, headed in opposite directions. Joshua had stayed behind, the dutiful son, though Nikki had to wonder if his sacrifice had been worth it.
And now, here was Nikki, pressed up against the man who made her quiver with awareness and need. She’d had a taste of intimacy with Jake...in Atlantic City. Though she didn’t want to admit weakness—even to herself—the truth was, she wanted more, even if her brain was shouting danger, danger, danger.
“This is a weird reunion, isn’t it?” she said, clearing her throat. They had finished ordering, and now her stomach growled as they waited for their meal.
Joshua nodded. He gazed at his brother. “Weird, but satisfying. I’m sorry it’s taken us this long to reconnect.”
Nikki hesitated and then decided to indulge her curiosity. “Tell me, Josh. How have the finances at Black Crescent recovered? I felt so guilty for years that those families lost everything.”
Jake slid an arm around her shoulders, resting it on the back of the booth. “My saint of a brother has been able to repay a lot of the money.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
Joshua grimaced. “Well, not at first. Although I wasn’t implicated in the crime, the feds were all over me for several years.”
Jake nodded. “Everything was liquidated, including your home, as you know, Nikki. Our cars, yachts, vacation properties. Oliver’s remaining tuition for Harvard was canceled. Luckily for our mother, our home was in her name, since it had been in her family for generations. There were some Black Crescent assets liquidated, too, but not enough to cripple the company. It was in everyone’s best interest to keep things afloat so Josh could start rebuilding.”
“I’m glad to know that you were able to make at least some reparations,” she said.
The food arrived, and serious talk was sidelined in favor of hot pizza.
Eventually, Joshua picked up the earlier thread. “Because of the nature of the crime, Black Crescent has been bound by some pretty stringent rules. Thankfully, I’ve been able to pay all the people our father cheated at least eighty or eighty-five cents on the dollar. It’s not everything, but our clients signed off on the agreement. They were thrilled, actually, to know that they would recoup most of their investments over the long haul.”
Jake’s expression darkened. “I still want to know what happened to the money.”
“Living off the grid for fifteen years isn’t cheap,” Nikki said.
“But he took millions.” Jake shook his head slowly. “I doubt we’ll ever know.”
A silence fell, rife with unspoken emotions. Nikki wondered what Jake was thinking. Perhaps he was deciding how soon he could get back to his travels. Suddenly, her throat was tight. “I hate to break up the party, but I need to get back to Emma.”
“Of course.” Joshua raised his hand for the check, and then pinned Nikki with a determined gaze. “I was glad you turned up in my office today. I’d been planning to talk to you, anyway. Now that I have finally fulfilled all the company’s legal obligations, Black Crescent will begin paying you and your mother a monthly stipend. You were victims, too.”
She opened her mouth, stunned. “Oh, no. My father was one of the perpetrators. Mom and I are fine. Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t need the money.”
Jake’s eyes snapped with displeasure. “You’re working in a diner, and you can’t afford a babysitter. You are definitely not fine. My brother is doing the right thing.”
Nikki straightened her spine, her cheeks burning with humiliation. “My life may not look like much to you, Jake Lowell, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. The good things in life aren’t always measured by dollars and cents.”
Both Lowell twins were formidable when they put their minds to it. Joshua wouldn’t be moved. “What you do with the money is up to you, Nikki. Put it away for Emma’s college, if you want. But you deserve to regain what you lost.”
