Lane glanced across the sofa and watched as Lizzie sank back into the cushions and put her hand on her belly. As her eyes began { 357 }.

to drift shut, he pictured her up on that tree limb like an avenging an- gel, wielding that chainsaw, cutting the crap out of those branches that had killed her car.

Even though theyd spent the first hour of the visit getting all over each other, his erection thickened up again.

Its a miracle, he murmured.

That I liked the tenderloin so much? Not really.

Being here with you, I mean.

Those blue eyes reopened slowly. I feel the same way. As he laughed deep in his throat, she stopped him by putting her palm up.

No, you may not spike the dishes in victory.

Putting his napkin aside, he prowled up her body, mounting her. I have other celebratory options, you know.

Rolling his hips, he felt a stab of lust as she bit down on her lower lip like she was ready for some more of him.

You want me to demonstrate one for you? he said as he nuzzled at her throat.

Her hands stroked up his back. Yes, I do.

Mmm"

The sound of ringing on the coffee table made him jump forward and grab his phone. Not Miss Aurora. Please not Miss Aurora"

Oh, my God" Lane, is she"

As soon as he saw the call was from a 917 area code, he sagged in relief. Thank God. He looked up. I have to take this. Its a friend of mine from New York.

Please.

He accepted the call and said, Jeff.

You miss me, his old roommate said. I know thats why you left me that voice mail.

Not even close.

Well, Im not FedExing you those cinnamon rolls you eat morn- ing, noon and night"

I need to know how much vacation time you have.

{ 358 }.

Total. Silence. Then, The World Series of Poker isnt being played right now. Why are you asking me this?

I need your help. Absently, he eased back against the cushions and positioned Lizzies legs over his lap. Shed changed into shorts after their shower, and he loved running his palm up and down those smooth, muscled calves of hers. Ive got a real problem here.

Jeff dropped the smartass. What kind of problem.

I need someone to tell me if my father is embezzling from the fam- ily company. To the tune of over fifty million dollars.

Jeff whistled softly. Thats a lot of cabbage, my friend.

My brother managed to get me access to . . . Christ, its about five hundred pages worth of spreadsheets and financial disclosures, but I have no idea what Im looking at. I want you to come down and tell me what happened, and it has to be now" before he figures out Im onto him and gets rid of anything that incriminates him.

Listen, Lane, you know I love you like the long- lost Waspy brother I never had, but youre talking about forensic accounting. There are peo- ple who specialize in that" for a reason. Let me find you someone you can trust"

Thats my point, Jeff. I cant trust anyone with this" its my family were talking about.

We can blind all the documents. I can help with that" so that who- ever it is wont know"

I want you.

Oh, for fucks sake, Lane.

Thanks to having known the guy for years, Lane was very aware that his job was now to shut up and let Jeff grumble his way down the rabbit hole.

Nothing was going to sway the guy; there was no persuasion to be brought to bear, and if you did try to mouth off, sometimes it worked against you.

Instead, Lane knew if he kept quiet, all their years together were going to take care of the problem.

Bingo: Im going to insist someone check my work, Jeff muttered. And { 359 }.

fuck you" thats non- negotiable. Im not going to be responsible for screwing this up just because you have some romantic notion that Im brilliant with numbers.

But you are.

Damn you, Baldwine.

I cant send a plane for you. It would create too much attention.

Thats okay. One of my familys is on the East Coast. Ill get on it tomorrow morning" and no, I cant come sooner. Im going to have to shift some things around at work.

I owe you.

Damn straight you do. And you can start repaying me tomorrow night. I want free booze and loose women if Im going to do this.

Ill take care of everything. Ill even pick you up at the airport my- self, just text me your arrival time.

Jeff was muttering obscenities as the guy hung up without saying good- bye.

As Lane put his own phone down, he blew out a breath. Thank God.

Who was that?

Guess youd call him my best friend. He was the one I was staying with up north. Jeff Stern. Brilliant finance guy. If anyone can make sense of the money trail, he will. And after that . . . Lane rubbed his eyes.

God, I guess I should go to the police? Maybe the SEC? But Id really rather handle it quietly.

What if your fathers broken the law?

A sudden image of William Baldwine in an orange jumpsuit made him relieved, in a sick way, that his mother was so out of it. Im not going to get in the way of the authorities. What Im worried about is that hes used Mothers power of attorney to drain her accounts, but I dont have access to those records" theyre all at Prospect Trust.

If the police or the FBI get involved, they can find that out.

Lane nodded, remembering the sight of that body bag leaving East- erly. If Rosalinda committed suicide over this, my father has someones blood on his hands. He needs to be brought to justice.

{ 360 }.

You know, usually I try to look on the bright side of things, but . . .

She took his hand. Well, no matter what happens, Im with you, okay?

Looking over at her, he said gravely, Thats all I need. No matter where this all goes . . . if I have you"

The phone rang again, and he laughed as he picked it back up. Hes having second thoughts. No, Jeff, you cant back out of it"

Are you near a TV?

Lane sat up. Samuel T.?

Are you?

No. Whats going on?

I need you to come to my house right away. The police are looking for you, and when you werent at Easterly, Mitch called me.

What" what are you talking about? Then he thought, Oh, shit.

Look, I realize Edward and I technically entered the business center under false pretenses, but the goddamn facilitys on the property, for one thing. And as for the documents we"

I dont know what youre talking about, and right now I dont care.

Chantal went to the emergency room first thing this morning all beaten to hell and gone. She told the authorities you did it to her when you found out that she was pregnant after you filed the divorce papers.

Theyre placing you under arrest for first- degree domestic assault, and they might have enough to lift it to attempted murder.

What! Lane jumped to his feet. Is she insane!

No, what she is is in surgery. Theyre resetting her jaw at the moment.

I never touched Chantal! And I can prove it! I wasnt even home last night"

Just get to my house. Ill broker an intake in the middle of the night so there are no pictures of you going in" and well bail you"

This is bullshit, Lane spat. Im not playing this game with her"

This isnt a game. And unless you make an appearance down at that jailhouse, youre going to be considered a fugitive.

Lane looked over at Lizzie. She was sitting up, in full alarm, braced for bad news.

{ 361 }.

All at once, he remembered passing Chantal in that Mercedes as she had left Easterly. Her face had been covered with the glasses, that black veil.

For all they knew, shed pulled a Gone Girl and done the stuff to herself. He hadnt put the woman in true pathological territory before, but maybe hed underestimated the crazy.

Okay, he said. Im coming in. Ill be at your farm in twenty minutes.

Hanging up the phone, he heard himself say, I have to go.

Lane, whats happening?

The dishes from their nice dinner were still on the table, the cushions of the sofa still dented from his having laid back and stroked her legs.

And yet those moments, which had happened mere minutes ago, were gone, gone, gone.

Im going to take care of it, he told her. Im going to make it all go away. Shes lying. Once again, shes lying.

What can I do to help?

Stay here" and dont turn on your radio. Ill call you as soon as I can and explain everything. Marching back over to Lizzie, he took her face in his hands. I love you. I need you to believe that. I need you to remember that. And Im going to take care of this, I swear on my mommas life.

Youre scaring me.

Its all going to be okay. I promise.

With that, he left her house.

At a dead run.

{ 362 }.

FORT Y- T WO.

A s Lanes Porsche roared off into the gathering darkness, Lizzie sat where hed left her for a time. All she could think of was that none of them should be surprised. Chantal Baldwine was as tough as they came, and there was no way that woman was going to lose her social status and access to that Bradford lifestyle without putting up a tremendous fight.

So whatever this was might well just be an opening salvo.

Getting to her feet, she picked up their plates and thought, wow, not how shed expected the evening to end.

But maybe he would still be back. Hed left his bag.

Damn you, Chantal.

Back in the kitchen, she put everything in the sink, pumped some dishwashing soap on top of the mess, and fired up the hot water.