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“I’m used to wearing glasses,” she admitted.
“Are you wearing contacts now?”
“I have good vision.” She bravely met his gaze. “I wear the glasses to hide my face. And that’s not all. I always have my hair in a bun or ponytail.”
He stared at her, the pieces clearly clicking together. “And you wear baggy T-shirts and tights to hide as well?”
She nodded.
“Because Steve broke your heart?”
“I wore the glasses and hid before Steve. That’s who I am. All this future-princess stuff … it’s just a mission.”
He cocked his head and studied her, obviously confused. Macey did not want to talk about this. She’d shared about Steve and that she was a geek; that was more than enough. She did not need to paint the picture of her childhood and teenage years. He didn’t need to know about the men her mom had brought around who had said inappropriate things to and about Macey, who were always looking at her and trying to touch her. Thankfully, none of them had taken advantage of her, but she’d lived in constant fear.
Ray was a prince. He’d grown up loved, with a beautiful family, money, privilege, in a castle for crying out loud. Besides all that, he was a tough alpha male. No way would he understand a scared little girl climbing into the top of her closet and hiding behind clothes, trembling and praying until the men stopped looking for her or Gage got home. Her older brother had been—and still was—her hero.
She pulled her hand free from his, turned away from his penetrating gaze, and sank into her chair. Clicking on the computer that had gone to sleep, she stared at the screen, trying to make sense of it. Ray didn’t move.
Maybe it was because she was terrified she’d spill about her awful childhood and have him realize how beneath him she was, maybe it was to hide her embarrassment about Steve, or maybe it was simply said in spite because his family seemed so ideal, despite losing his mom, but she burst out with, “The only people who had access to, or were at the castle the night of your mom’s death who have red flags in their background are Curtis and Malik.”
“Excuse me?” He sounded offended, but maybe a little guilty? Did he know about his brothers’ infractions?
She looked up at him. He towered over her as she sat. Macey hadn’t seen him in ‘general’ mode yet. She imagined he could be very intimidating. She knew what a nice guy he was, but right now there was a tiny part of her that wanted to climb into the top of a closet and hide. She eyed the nearby drawers, wondering if there was any chance someone had left a pair of cosmetic glasses inside any of them.
Steeling her spine, she reminded herself she wasn’t a scared little girl. This man would never hurt her. She pointed at her screen and said, “Curtis was suspected of being responsible for a fellow rock climber’s eight months ago. Malik was involved in a battery case in Czech Republic shortly after your mother’s funeral, and it was swept under the rug.” She glanced up at Ray. His jaw worked, but he didn’t respond immediately.
“Before I explain each of these situations, I feel I should remind you that I have turned over every stone, including hiring an outside team of investigators from Germany with no affiliation or loyalties to my family to investigate each of my family members, including myself, and determine if there was anything suspicious or that could link any of us to my mum’s death. Each of my siblings, my father, and our extended family allowed their backgrounds, electronic devices, and any personal property or spaces to be combed through. Nothing was found to implicate any of us.”
The words were all said calmly, controlled, but he was obviously upset. She understood. If anybody had accused Gage of something horrific like this, she’d be livid.
She remembered the investigative report he was talking about. They’d looked at it yesterday and she’d actually thought it was a little extreme to investigate the family so in depth but here she was questioning his family.
“I apologize. I remember that report. I’m only trying to cover every angle, and my models always pull up information others don’t find. I can’t imagine how frustrating it’s been trying to figure out how your mom died when there’s so little to go on.”
Was it suicide and Macey would have to be the one to help this family accept that?
He sank into the chair next to her and tapped his clenched fist against his leg. “I’ve been going out of my mind,” he admitted. He focused on her, his blue eyes sincere. “I apologize that I got frustrated. We brought you here hoping to find answers. If you feel …” He took a deep, steadying breath. “If you feel we need to investigate me and my family members again. I will do it.”
She did not want to put any of them through that, but maybe she would have to. “I’ll go through the information the team you hired compiled again and we’ll reevaluate after that.”
He nodded.
“Can you tell me what you know about the accusations against Curtis and Malik?” Macey knew enough to put the story together, but Ray might have insight that she hadn’t uncovered. She’d also like to see if he could tell her the story without biasing it to his family’s side.
“Yes. Curtis was climbing with a close friend and an accomplished climbing instructor.”
“A woman, right? Suzanne?”
“The woman we all thought he was in love with.”
Macey sucked in a breath.
“Curtis thought the anchor Suzanne had put in thirty meters up the cliff face was secure. He started to climb, but their combined weight ripped the anchor out and Suzanne fell. She would’ve probably just been banged up and bruised, but her head slammed into the wall first and she was unconscious and bleeding profusely.” His clenched fist kept thumping his leg, his obvious tell that he was upset. “Lowering her down wasn’t an option. A hundred and twenty meters of a sheer cliff face and no cell service at the bottom.”
Macey’s eyes widened. Almost four hundred feet. Yikes. Her stomach pitched just imagining being that high up, hanging by a rope. These were the kind of details her computer programs couldn’t uncover.
“My brother somehow secured her to his back and climbed almost sixty meters to the top of the cliff.”
