Yes, he could see that, and the toll this was taking. What could he say now that would make things okay between them? He’d lied by omission, about the property and worse. About himself.
He raised an unsteady hand to her face, brushed his thumb across the dark smudge under her eye. “You’re not sleeping.”
“Hannah.” Nick advanced from behind. “You’re not supposed to be talking to him.”
Her bottom lip quivered and his heart broke again watching her fight to be stoic. And then she left, not completely sheltered by the men in her family as she’d been when they first met, but in their midst and away from him.
He could go after her, try to explain, tell her the real truth he thought Dave had revealed that day. The truth that he rode the line of being a killer. But wouldn’t that hurt her even more? Undermine every bit of confidence she’d gained? He’d already hurt her so much. Could he risk hurting her even more?
—
The next day, Stephen stood in the doorway of Dave’s office, not willing to let anyone else supervise the man’s packing and departure. He’d sent Dee home an hour ago, so it was just the two of them.
Dave shot a glance over his shoulder. “You look like you want to hit me.”
“Oh, I want to do more than that.” His hands fisted at his sides as he stared at the man he thought he’d known.
“Look at yourself. Pining away here, paying homage to a dead girl.”
Stephen ground his teeth, barely holding himself back. “I don’t even know you.”
“You don’t know yourself,” Dave spat.
I like who you are now.
“Don’t stand there looking at me like I’m the only guilty party.”
“Aren’t you?”
Dave turned, gave him a disgusted book. “We both know that’s not true.” Dave forced a few more things into a box, then crossed and slapped a file against Stephen’s chest. “Here you go. That one’s for you.”
Stephen took it and read the label. Hannah’s address.
“You’ll see on the last page that there’s a new buyer in town. The city wanted out of the whole mess, saving their asses. I was kind enough to teach them the art of the quick sale.”
Stephen had figured they’d be anxious to sell. Was counting on it. He’d already set up a deeply buried account that would buy her property. Already planned how he would work it around until it was back in Hannah’s hands again. Curious, he flipped to the last page. Sinclair.
Stephen looked up to find a sinister smile crossing Dave’s face.
“Why would Sinclair want—”
“Exactly,” Dave said, seeing the answer dawn on his face. “Because you wanted it. Seems your enemies have become my friends.”
He should have anticipated this move. “Well, I hope it was worth it to him.”
“You know better than anyone, the worth of something is all in how much you want it.”
“Your last strike before you leave?”
“Something like that. I hope it hits your bitch as well.”
Dave’s head jerked back before he ever realized Stephen’s fist was coming.
He stumbled, raised his hand to strike back. With two more blows to his face, he went down in a heap and lay there, breathing hard, glaring up at Stephen with pure hatred. “I needed that land! I needed that money!”
“I don’t give a shit what you need.”
Lying on the ground at his feet, Dave’s face morphed and hardened. His eyes narrowed to slits and his bloody lips curved. “I can bury you just as easily from a jail cell as I can from the office down the hall.”
“Try it. But first get your ass out of my building.”
Stephen followed him out just to be sure, then left a message for Sinclair as he drove. He’d reconsider the St. Kitts project. And if it came to it, he’d grovel. He’d buy Hannah’s land for way more than it was worth. Whatever it took.
Ah, to hell with it. If he was going in, he’d go all in. He dialed another number.
Blair answered, listened. “Of course. I’d be more than happy to make a deal with you, seeing as how we have a history and all. Eighty million should do it. Don’t you think?” She actually sounded amused.
“You’re crazy.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It’s worth a fraction of that.”
“What? You don’t like my offer?” Her voice purred through the phone line. “Maybe you should think about it.”
“How much, Blair? And be reasonable.”
“Since you asked me twice, the price just went up. Isn’t that the way you like to do business?”
She named another price, this one crazier than the first.
“That’s not going to happen. I don’t even have that.”
“Hmm. What’s Trace Development worth these days?”
His eyelid twitched and his fingers clenched around the steering wheel. Sinclair didn’t want the land, but they did want to see him squirm. Payback for the loss he’d caused them. And, he imagined, payment on a personal level for pricking Blair’s pride.
“You don’t have to answer that, of course. I already know. And I’m willing to let a couple million slide. For old times’ sake.”
She was still laughing when he ended the call.
Chapter 47
Hannah carefully wrapped a photograph of herself and her parents taken on her first birthday. She smiled back at the happy, secure baby in the picture. Her mother holding her, her father kissing her icing-covered cheek. She wished she’d had more time with them, wished she had even one real memory. Sighing, she laid that little bit of her past on top of the others. She closed the box and reeled off packing tape across the top, the ripping sound harsh in the silence.