Lacy Knighton was throwing a fit to end all fits. She hadn't been able to drug Aaron at his birthday party on Sat.u.r.day because he hadn't even been there. It had all been planned out right down the last detail! Why didn't he show up?!

Alistair Hale changed it at the last minute to a c.o.c.ktail party but no one was fooled. They knew Aaron had ditched his family with no regard for their pride and everyone was whispering about it. She had seen Alice Kelly trying very hard to hold back hysterical laughter.

Graydon must be right; she was working with Aaron. There was no other reason she would find it so hilarious. Lacy would have been jealous if she didn't know that Alice was pathetically in love with her cheating husband.

Everything about this party was wrong! Aaron was supposed to be there. She was supposed to slip a drug into his drink during the toast and her father would help whisk him away to another room. He would be forced to take responsibility for her and break things off with that absentee fiancée. But he didn't show up.

She smashed everything she could get her hands on in the room, chest heaving. If he didn't show up to his own birthday party there was no telling when the next time she saw him would be.

She couldn't exactly show up at his office, either. He would get security to show her out. It wouldn't be the first time.

Lacy didn't know his schedule, his habits, or even where he lived. She tried getting Graydon to look it up for her but he said his hands were tied because he paid to be unlisted. Some hacker he turned out to be.

That man was even more useless than Max! Why she even bothered dealing with him…

She whipped out her phone and dialed the familiar number. He picked up on the third ring.

"Lacy, what a pleasant surprise," Graydon said in his silky smooth voice. "What can I do for you today?"

"I want information about places Aaron goes. You're a hacker; can't you see where he's spending his money?"

He ignored her question. "I do have one bit of information you might find interesting. I was on a date a few weeks ago and saw him in the same restaurant."

"Who was he with?" she demanded.

"n.o.body. He was eating alone. You always jump straight to the worst conclusions. His pretty little fiancée is out of the country, is she not? Of course he would be eating alone."

Lacy's blood boiled at the words "pretty little fiancée." She was way prettier than that redheaded wretch!

"If you don't have anything useful for me I'm hanging up," she warned.

Graydon had an obvious smile in his voice. She could practically see it. "But Lacy, dear, you're the one who called me."

She jabbed the off b.u.t.ton and nearly threw her new phone in frustration. Talking to that man was the worst! She could find things out without him. She wasn't the top socialite for nothing; she had brains to back up her beauty.

===

Graydon laughed at how idiotic that woman was when she hung up the phone. Despite what he said, he had done a fair amount of research since they last met. He did even more once he saw Aaron dining with Keeley Hall and her father.

The conclusion he came to was that Aaron wasn't cheating at all because Bethany Carlisle did not exist. n.o.body else would have come to this conclusion because there was proof of her existence. That is, that the Carlisle family of Boston had a daughter with that name.

But all records about her birth, pictures, news articles, and anything with her name on it were encrypted. It took him a while to realize that the true Bethany Carlisle had barely turned nine.

There was no way she could be the same woman that everybody saw Aaron propose to. She was a fake.

Even more interesting was that after he looked into Aaron's Facebook a bit further, he discovered that Aiden Quinn and the one grainy photo of "Bethany Carlisle" he managed to sc.r.a.pe up looked quite a lot alike. In fact, there was a picture on his profile where he stood with his arm around a girl who looked exactly like her.

Aaron either got Aiden's sister involved…or made his lackey dress up like a girl just to get Lacy Knighton's goat. He nearly cackled with glee. He knew Aaron wouldn't let him down!

Since he wasn't cheating on his fiancée, Graydon was fairly certain he knew who Keeley Hall was; the woman Aaron was truly in love with. She was the reason he was rebelling against his father and trying to kick him out of his own company.

He couldn't help but root for the man even though he couldn't understand why he was so interested in such a normal girl. Graydon tended to lean towards breathtakingly beautiful women—models, actresses, and the like. But he couldn't begrudge Aaron his taste. To each their own.

He did some research on Keeley Hall. Her mother and younger brother were dead and her father lived in Brooklyn. Her mail was currently being sent there because she no longer lived at her most recent address…which had been right across the hall from Aiden Quinn.

Definitely suspicious. Aaron kept one of his best men close to her to keep her safe while she lived in a sketchy neighborhood. Well done.

That begged the question, where was she now? According to Robert Hall's neighbors, he lived alone and his daughter visited about once a week. She probably picked up her mail then.

Was she staying with Aaron? The idea tickled Graydon's fancy. This was getting juicier by the moment.

If he had a forbidden woman staying with him, it made total sense that he kept his address unlisted. His own parents probably didn't know where he lived! How delightful.

Alistair Hale had never deserved his son. Graydon was glad Aaron saw that and was taking appropriate action. Anyone on Alistair's side was a bug to be crushed.