“He was wrong to act like that,” Betina said soothingly.
Meri raised his head. “You’re going to defend him, aren’t you? You’re going to say he did the best he could with what he had. You’re going to say he was hurting, too, that he blamed himself for Hunter’s death. He does, you know. Blame himself. Hunter had melanoma. He saw this weird black thing on his shoulder and wanted to go to the doctor. Jack teased him about being a girl and worrying about nothing.”
“That can’t be easy to live with.”
Meri sniffed. “Statistically, getting the diagnosis a few weeks earlier wouldn’t have made any difference in the end. Hunter was going to die. Not that Jack would care about that. He would still blame himself, because that’s who he is.”
“I don’t have to defend him,” Betina told her. “You’re doing it for me.”
“I’m not. He’s a low-life who cared only about himself. I was totally alone. My mother was dead, my father is possibly the most emotionally useless man on the planet. I was seventeen. I had no one. No friends, no family to speak of. I was alone in the world and he abandoned me.”
“He should have stayed,” Betina said. “He should have stayed and taken care of you. I wonder why he didn’t.”
“Guilt,” Meri said with a sigh. “Guilt about Hunter and maybe guilt about me. About how he handled things.” Betina knew all about Meri’s pathetic attempt to seduce Jack years ago and how badly he’d reacted.
“He was twenty-one and nowhere near grown-up enough to be responsible for a seventeen-year-old with a crush on him. So he left and I had to deal on my own.”
“You did a hell of a job,” her friend told her. “Hunter would be proud.”
Meri considered that. “He wouldn’t like my plan to get revenge on Jack.”
“Brothers rarely enjoy thinking about their sisters having sex with anyone.”
That made Meri almost smile. “You don’t approve of it either.”
“I don’t approve one way or the other. I’m worried about you. I think you wanted to sleep with Jack for a lot of reasons, and none of them have anything to do with punishing him.”
“You think I’m still in love with him.”
“It would explain a lot.”
Meri rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. In love with Jack. Was it possible? The way her personal life was going, it made sense. He’d spent the last ten years doing the least he could justify when it came to her, and she might have spent the same amount of time desperate to give her heart to him.
Jack was staring at his computer screen when Colin walked into his office.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“You hurt Meri,” Colin said. “That’s not right. You can’t be so insensitive that you wouldn’t know how much the information about Andrew would bother her. Not to mention the fact that someone she respected and thought of as a friend had been spying on her.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” Jack told him.
Colin moved closer to the desk. “That’s not good enough.”
Was Colin trying to intimidate him? Jack didn’t think it was possible, but Colin was a changed man since his night with Betina.
“She had to learn the truth about Andrew. She said things were getting serious. Andrew could have taken her for a lot of money.”
“It’s not about the money,” Colin told him. “It’s about trust and caring and being there for someone. She expected more of you, and you let her down.”
Small words. Unimportant words, yet they made their point, Jack thought grimly.
“I was trying to protect her,” he said, knowing it wasn’t enough of an answer.
“There were a lot of different ways to do that. Did you have to pick one that hurt?”
“How the hell was I supposed to tell her the truth about Andrew without hurting her?”
“I’m not talking about Andrew.”
Jack nodded slowly. “You’re right. I should have thought through telling her that I’d been keeping an eye on her. I did it for her own good.”
“No one believes that. You did what was easy, and that’s not allowed. You can’t go around hurting people like that. It’s wrong. Meri matters to me, and I’m going to protect her-even from you.”
Jack stood. He was a good half head taller than Colin and about thirty pounds of muscle heavier. He wanted to tell himself that Colin’s threats were pitiful. The man couldn’t hurt him if he were armed and Jack was unconscious. But he was oddly touched by Colin’s bravery in the face of certain defeat. The man took care of the people who mattered, no matter what it might cost him personally.
“It wasn’t my intention to hurt Meri,” Jack said slowly. “But I’m going to have to do it again.”
Colin narrowed his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I’m going to make Andrew go away.”
Colin nodded slowly. “I’d like to be there when that happens.”
Andrew’s hotel room overlooked the lake. All the right trappings were there-the computer, the lobbying magazines. He looked the part and he played it well. He’d fooled a lot of people.
“This is a surprise,” Andrew said as he held open the door, a tacit invitation to Jack and Colin. “To what do I owe this honor?”
“I’m here to run you out of town,” Jack said, his voice calm and pleasant. “Colin’s going to watch.”
Nothing about Andrew’s expression changed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do. I don’t know how you passed the preliminary background check. Maybe you’re that good at covering your tracks. You might have paid off Meri’s investigator, although you couldn’t have paid off mine. So I’ll give you credit for creating a good front.”
Andrew sat on the sofa across from the small fireplace. He waved at the two chairs opposite.
“I’ll stand,” Jack said.
“Me, too,” Colin told him.
“As you prefer,” Andrew said. “I have to tell you, this is all fascinating. So what do you think you’ve found out about me?”
“That you’re married. That you and your wife con people for money. You know Meri is worth nearly a billion dollars. She must have been a hell of a prize for the two of you.”
Andrew’s expression never changed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never been married.”
“I have copies of the certificate in the car. Do I have to send Colin to get it? I also have the police statements from the people you two duped. Lucky for you, you didn’t break any actual laws. It’s not a crime to be stupid.”
“You have me confused with someone else,” Andrew said calmly. “I care about Meredith. We’ve been dating for a long time. The relationship is serious. As for your ridiculous claims, ask her yourself. I’ve never once talked to her about money.”
“It was all just a matter of time until you did. Or it would have been.”
Andrew was a pro-Jack would give him credit for that. But he was still a rat rooting in garbage.
“It’s all just your word against mine,” Andrew said. “I’m assuming you told Meredith all this?”
Jack nodded.
“She won’t believe you.”
“You sound confident,” Jack said. “Funny she hasn’t phoned you.”
“She will.”
Would she? Was she mad enough at Jack to want to get back with Andrew? How far would she take things?
He didn’t have an answer, so he did the only thing he could think of to protect her.
“How much?” he asked. “Give me a number.”
Andrew smiled. “You want to pay me off.”
“If that’s what it takes. How much?”
The other man hesitated, and in that moment Jack knew he’d been right. If Andrew had been who he claimed, he would have refused any payment.
“Ten million,” Andrew said. “Ten million and I’ll sign anything you want.”
“Five million and you’ll still sign.”