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“You do?” Shane blurted.
26
Eloise
Eloise smiled softly at the man she knew without a doubt that she loved. This was a man who had been willing to offer up his happiness and his freedom to save her family from whatever gossip Madeline had dug up.
It didn’t matterwhatthe secret was. If Madeline and Shane thought it was enough to put the Callahans in a sticky situation, then she trusted that Shane had made the decision that would best keep them safe. She made it to the bottom step so her eyes were level with Shane’s. Placing her hand against his cheek, she tilted her head. “When Marc told me about what you had done, I knew we couldn’t just let Madeline get away with it. We needed to come up with something that would bring her down once and for all.”
Shane shifted so he could look behind her, presumably at his cousin. “I’ve already tried coming up with something. I’ve racked my brain for anything that would be enough to blackmail her with, just to level the playing field. There’s nothing.”
Brielle sighed. “We’re not gonna blackmail her. That just assumes that she wouldn’t go to the authorities and claim we planted stuff on her.”
He brought his gaze back to Marc. “So you actually have stuff you can plant on her?” There was no hiding the hope he had in his voice. Eloise could easily have imagined that he’d been so resigned to losing everything he cared about that even the smallest prospect of being able to fix this had bolstered him somehow.
Marc looked down at his feet, and Eloise felt a small degree of pain for him. He’d been through a lot with his sister. It wasn’t really fair for him to have to do what it would take to bring her down.
Eloise framed Shane’s face in her hands and forced him to look at her. “Marc is going to tell you some things, and you have to keep an open mind.” She took a deep, shuddering breath, still unable to imagine the courage it was going to take on Marc’s side to do what they had discussed. Then she glanced over her shoulder toward him. “Go ahead, Marc. Tell Shane.”
Marc shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His right fist bounced against his right leg. All eyes were on him, and for a moment, she didn’t know if he would have the courage to go through with it. But then he lifted his head and met Shane’s gaze. “Madeline is a criminal.”
Shane snorted, and Eloise shot a warning look at him. If this was going to work, they’d need Shane’s help.
Marc swallowed hard. “If she finds out—”
“It’s okay, Marc. Shane isn’t going to turn you in.”
Shane glanced at her with surprise but then swiveled his focus back to his cousin.
“We all know Madeline has an enormous amount of greed. She’s never been happy with just getting what she wants. She does things without thinking most of the time, only caring about how it will get her more money or more power. There’s a lot of stuff we could pin on her, but I’ve only got proof of the tax evasion and money laundering.”
Eloise could sense Shane stiffening beside her more than she could see it.
“You’ve got actual proof?”
Marc nodded. “Emails. A paper trail. We only got the ranch because she needed a way to launder money she was getting from some politicians in DC.”
Shane sucked in sharply and made a move to step forward, but Eloise blocked him. He peered over her shoulder. “And you’re just now telling me this?”
“Shane,” she said. “This was Marc’s idea. Let him finish.” The anger had returned to Shane’s eyes, and she wasn’t sure he would be on board with what Marc wanted to do.
Marc’s expression crumpled. “If I come forward to out her, I’m going to be arrested, too. I’m not completely innocent in any of this.”
“Youthink?” Shane snapped. “You’re just as guilty as she is. I have zero empathy for you.”
His cousin flinched.
“Shane!” This time it was both Brielle and Eloise who scolded him.
Eloise blocked his view of Marc. “We don’t have a plan without Marc. And we wouldn’t even have a chance at getting rid of Madeline if Marc wasn’t willing to come forward. If we want this to work, we need your help too.”
His brows creased. “What do you needmeto do? Sounds like you have all the information you need to go to the police.”
Marc shook his head. “If Madeline gets even a whiff of this happening, she’ll be in the wind. We need the top dogs. Didn’t you go to college with some lady who is in the FBI?”
Shane didn’t move for what felt like an eternity. “You’re serious,” he finally said.
“Yeah,” Marc said. “I’m serious. Madeline needs to know she can’t mess with Eloise.” Marc glanced toward her and offered her a sad smile. “We all need to get out from under her influence.” He really was a sweetheart. It was just too bad that he’d been wrapped up in all of this.
