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She looked at the list of vendors and saw debits to the accounts. Some of the checks didn’t line up with Fielding Enterprises’ actual bills. The deducted money went somewhere, and she feared the answer wasinto Baines’s pocket.
Tension swirled around the quiet room. Liam’s shoulders stiffened as he traced payments. Today, he stayed casual, jeans and a T-shirt. Every now and then he would wince or swear under his breath.
She tried to lighten the weight pressing down on the room. “Some of these are the documents Baines insisted didn’t exist during the divorce.”
Liam glanced up. It took another few seconds for his eyes to clear and for him to focus on her. “I compiled everything when the business got the subpoena. I wasn’t going to hold anything back, no matter how much Baines begged.”
Now she’d made him defensive. The exact opposite of what she wanted. But... “Did he?”
“Of course.” Liam poured another cup of coffee for both of them as some of the tension drained from him. “He had this very elaborate, very convoluted argument about how financially screwing you would ultimately help Kennedy.”
“That sounds like your brother.” He’d been determined to make her pay, either through the bank balance or through Kennedy.
“He was named after our grandfather. They shared the same‘do whatever works’ attitude.” Liam saluted with his cup as some of his general lightness returned. “Word is my grandmother hit him with a shovel.”
She thought she’d heard every family story, but she’d missed this one. “I thought your grandfather died when he fell into a well.”
“Wouldn’t you fall if someone hit you with a shovel?” Liam smiled at her over the rim of his mug. “But the document subpoena became moot because Baines suddenly agreed to a divorce settlement.”
“You gave him a brotherly ‘get your head out of your ass’ speech, and I thank you for that.” She returned the mug salute.
“His attitude changed right before the settlement.” Liam’s expression morphed from open and friendly to unreadable. “I stayed out of his way because I thought he was pissed about my constant ‘she’s your daughter’s mom’ lectures. But then he announced a surprise settlement offer, and I wondered if you had leverage.”
“Like what?” She had a hard time keeping up with Liam’s changing mood. He shifted from joking to serious to somewhere in between over the span of ten minutes. She depended on him to be solid. Not being able to trust his mood left her feeling unmoored. And she hated this topic.
“It must have been something you did or said.” He sounded so sure. “Want to fess up?”
He wasn’t wrong. She knew why. Of course she knew. “It was nothing. You know how marriage is. People collect slights. They remember harsh words and bad behavior. You end up compiling these secrets without even realizing you’re doing it, then an unexpected divorce gives you a way to weaponize and unload them.”
“I was married and never did any of that.”
Because he didn’t suck like his brother. “Right, well, you had two nice marriages with two nice women, followed by two very civil divorces. No fighting or yelling. You handed over cash and property without balking or unleashing war.” The ease with which he exited a committed relationship always fascinated her. He should give classes to other men. “Your lack of anger was... unusual.”
“It was a lack ofpassion.” He slid his hand toward her. “You know why.”
She pulled back, putting as much room between them as the chairs and table would allow. “Don’t.”
He stared at her for a few charged seconds of silence before nodding. “Then tell me what you had on him. If it wasn’t whatever he was doing with the business accounts, what was it?”
Terrible secrets that would result in mutually assured destruction and epic collateral damage. In other words, nothing she could say out loud or divulge even to Liam. “I honestly didn’t know about the money.”
His mood shifted again. “He’s dead, Jessa.”
“I’m aware.” Just hearing the word started that hollow sensation in her stomach again. Money problems. Asshole. Bad divorce. It all mattered, but it didn’t change the fact she’d married him, hoping for, and dreaming about, a very different ending.
“I won’t judge,” Liam said.
She really looked at him then. Searched his face. Watched his hands. Did he know? But he couldn’t know. There was no way. No matter what that annoying reporter said.
The secrets she harbored needed to stay buried with Baines.
She forced a smile. “Maybe someday.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Gabby
Spending all day looking at financial documents on Saturday made Gabby obsess the next day about what shedidn’tknow. By the time she got to Monday, she needed to investigate. The word sounded silly even in her head. What she really wanted to do was snoop around Baines’s house in search of answers. What he’d done with the money, why and how he’d really died... and who was in that room with her when she lived her worst moment.
