“You think I’m after the Strickland money?”
“That sure as hell was the agenda of that bastard Kane Thurston.”
“Who is Kane Thurston?”
“The last man Abby dated seriously,” Brandon said.
“I’ll be damned. You’re a complete con and a hypocrite, Radwell, not to mention a lousy father, but in your own stumbling, fumbling way, you’re trying to protect Abby from me, aren’t you? Guess I’ve got to give you some credit for paternal instincts.”
Brandon’s jaw sagged. Shock blanked his eyes for a few seconds, but he managed to pull himself together.
“Abby is an adult,” he said, between gritted teeth. “I can’t tell her what to do, but I’m going to warn her about you. Don’t think I won’t.”
He walked swiftly away through the crowd. By the time he sat down to sign books, he had his warm, father-knows-best smile firmly back in place.
30
“THIS IS ABOUT DAWSON AND THE DEAL HE’S TRYING TO CLOSE, isn’t it?” Abby said. “I’ve already explained to him that I can’t help him.”
“Keep your voice down.” Diana glanced at the closed door of the office. “This is your father’s breakout launch. I won’t allow you to ruin it.”
Abby measured the distance to the door. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
The office was cramped and utilitarian. Metal file cabinets lined one wall. The window looked out over the street.
Diana folded her arms. “I’ll come straight to the point. My mother says that she will redo the Strickland trust to include you if you agree to get that book for Dawson.”
“Wow. She really is panic-stricken.”
“That’s putting it mildly. What’s more, she’s not the only one.”
“The financial situation is that bad?”
“Yes,” Diana said. “It’s that bad.”
“What about Dad’s new book? If it sells well, that should help the family finances. And if the reality TV show comes through, that will be even better.”
“The book and the TV project would both have to do phenomenally well to make up for what Dawson lost. Even if, by some fluke, the book does become a bestseller and the reality series takes off, the income will be Brandon’s, not mine. That prenup my mother forced me to sign protects him, the same way it does me. He won’t have to give me a dime.”
“Oh, man. No wonder you and Orinda are having fits. Does Dad know what’s going on?”
“No,” Diana said, her jaw very tight. “I don’t want him to find out. Do you understand? He married me for my money and my connections. I’ve known that for years. If he discovers that I’m on the verge of losing both, he’ll be gone in a heartbeat.”
“That is his pattern,” Abby agreed. “His first wife dropped out of college to finance his Ph. D. He dumped her the day after he graduated. His second wife was one of his research assistants. That was my mother. He borrowed a lot of her work, which he published as his own. He divorced her to marry one of his wealthy patients. That would be you.”
Diana reddened with fury. “Shut up. I know his history better than anyone, including you. That’s why I know he’s planning to leave me as soon as the TV show is a sure thing. In fact, I’m almost positive he’s having an affair with the woman who is producing the pilot.”
Abby said nothing. She looked down at her hands.
Diana made a soft, disgusted sound. “You were aware of that?”
“No, but I’m not surprised.” Abby raised her eyes. “If you knew about his problem with monogamy, why did you stay married to him all these years?”
Diana’s eyes glittered with barely subdued fury and frustration. “You haven’t got a clue, do you? I divorced my first husband because he was an abusive man. My mother warned me not to marry him, but I didn’t listen. But after Dawson was born, I realized I had to get out in order to protect him and myself. I married your father because I thought he truly cared for me and because I believed that he would be a good male role model for my son. Then the twins came along. Things were okay for a few years, but eventually I realized Brandon was having affairs on the side. I made myself tolerate his infidelity.”
“For the sake of Dawson and the twins?” Abby said, surprised. “You didn’t want to put them through a divorce? That was very self-sacrificing of you, Diana. I admit, I would never have guessed…”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t stay with your father because of Dawson and the twins. They could have handled a divorce. Half their classmates all through school were children of divorced parents.”
“Right.” Abby checked her watch again. “Okay, I get the picture. You’re finally ready to divorce Dad, but suddenly you’re trapped. You can’t leave him, because you don’t have the Strickland money to fall back on. And you think he’s getting ready to leave you before his own ship comes in.”
“Now do you see how important it is for Dawson to recover from the financial losses? I swear that if you help him get that book for his investor, I’ll make sure that you receive a fair share of my mother’s money.”
“Always assuming Dawson can recover it for her.”
“He will,” Diana vowed.
“The thing is, I don’t want your mother’s money,” Abby said quietly.
“Because you think you’ve landed on your feet with Sam Coppersmith? Don’t fool yourself, Abby. It won’t last.” Diana went to the door and wrenched it open. She paused in the opening and looked back over her shoulder. “Money doesn’t just follow blood. When it comes to marriage, it usually follows other money. There are occasional exceptions, but they rarely end well. Witness my marriage to your father.”
Abby looked at her. “There’s just one thing here I don’t understand. If you wanted to leave Dad and you didn’t feel compelled to stick with the marriage because of Dawson and the twins, why in heaven’s name didn’t you file for divorce a long time ago?”
Bitterness edged Diana’s mouth. “In a word? Mother.”
“Why was she a factor? She never approved of Dad, anyway. I would have thought she would have been delighted to see you split.”
“Oh, yes,” Diana said. “She would have been thrilled. You want the truth? I didn’t leave Brandon years ago when I should have because I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of proving that she was right. Again.”
Diana went out into the hall. Abby listened to the fading echo of high heels on the tile floor.
Sam materialized in the doorway. “Everything okay in here?”
“Sure,” Abby said. “Just a little family chat. But I learned something tonight.”
“What’s that?”
“Even for a Strickland, it’s not always about the money.”
“Funny you should mention that. I just had a talk with your father and came to the conclusion that it’s not always about the money for him, either.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wanted to make sure that I knew you weren’t going to inherit a dime from the Strickland trust. He was trying to protect you from being married for your nonexistent money.”
“Oh.” Startled, Abby took a moment to process that. “Huh.”
“Can we leave now?”
“Yes,” Abby said. “We can leave. In fact, I can’t wait to get out of here.”
31
SAM GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL, BUT HE DID NOT IMMEDIATELY fire up the engine. He contemplated the warmly lit windows of the auditorium across the street. There was still a large crowd inside.
“Tell me about Kane Thurston,” he said.
Startled, Abby gave him a quick, searching look. “There’s not much to tell.” She buckled her seat belt. “He wasn’t the first man I’ve dated who thought I was in line for a share of the Strickland money. People make that mistake all the time.”
“Because everyone makes a show of pretending that you’re all just one big happy family?”
“The power of branding.”
“Who told Kane that you weren’t fated
to inherit the Strickland family fortune?”
“I did,” Abby said. “As soon as I realized what he was after. Felt like an idiot for a while, because I can usually spot the con artists right away. But to give Kane his due, he is a very, very good con artist. He didn’t fool Gwen and Nick, though. They saw right through him the first time they met him and warned me.”
“You didn’t doubt their verdict?”
“No, although I went into denial for a while before I admitted to myself that they were right. In the end, I knew I had to trust Nick and Gwen. And once I started looking at Kane with clear eyes, I realized they were right. Sorry you got the lecture from Dad. I’ve tried to make it clear to everyone in the family that you are just a client, but they all seem to be assuming the worst-case scenario.”
“The worst-case scenario being that I might actually want to marry you?”
She winced. “I didn’t mean it quite like that. Sorry. It’s been a difficult evening.”
“I assume your stepmother wanted to talk to you about Dawson’s financial problems?”
“What else? She’s desperate to recover the family fortune, in part because she wants to end the marriage to Dad. She figures my father already has one foot out the door, which is a logical assumption. If the book and the TV series do take off, he’ll probably move on.”
“He did say something about that. I think he’s given up on plan A.”
“Which was?”
“Hoping that Orinda Strickland would kick the bucket first. He seems to think that if she wasn’t in the picture, he would be able to convince Diana to tear up the prenup.”
“Maybe once upon a time he could have done that. Dad has occasionally been known to use his knowledge of psychology to manipulate others. Got a hell of a track record in that department. But it’s too late now. Diana definitely wants out. The only reason she’s hesitating is because she does not want to end up broke.”
“Why did she stay with him this long?” Sam asked.
“Didn’t want to give her mother the satisfaction of being able to say I-told-you-so.” Abby shook her head. “Can you believe it? Spend nearly two decades with a man because you don’t want to admit your mother was right about him?”
Sam cranked the engine. “Families.”
“A constant source of entertainment.”
“They keep life interesting. You really think your dad hung around this long because of the Strickland money?”
“Sure. Even though he’s not an heir, it has certainly made life very comfortable for him and provided him with a lot of social connections.” Abby paused. “And to think that he doesn’t yet know that it’s gone. I wonder when they’ll give him the bad news?”
“Good question.”
Sam reversed the SUV out of the slot and drove onto the street, heading downtown. The lights of the city’s office buildings, hotels and apartment towers glittered like watery jewels through the rain-splashed windshield.
“Just one more question about Kane Thurston,” he said.
“What?”
“Was he ever there for breakfast?”
“Nope. Although I did meet him for brunch at a restaurant a few times. Does that count?”
“No,” he said. “Brunch in a restaurant doesn’t count.”
Abby’s phone chimed. She reached into her purse, grabbed the device and glanced at the caller ID.
“It’s Nick,” she said. Her tone was suddenly a few degrees brighter. She took the call. “Hey, Nick.”
Sam heard the easy familiarity and affection in her voice and felt a tug of simple, primal jealousy. Knowing Nick was gay did nothing to assuage the response. Abby was closely bonded with her friends. She’d had years to forge the connections among herself and Nick and Gwen. He, on the other hand, was a newcomer in her life, and as far as she was concerned, their relationship was not easy to define. The passion was high-energy, but he knew she did not fully trust the intimacy that it generated. It was all happening too fast for her.
She needed time to recognize and accept the bond between them, he thought. But meanwhile, he did not have to like the fact that he was playing second fiddle to a cat burglar and a psychic who read auras for a living, to say nothing of the dog.
“Are you sure?” Abby’s tone altered abruptly. Alarm edged her voice. She leaned forward in the seat, phone clamped to her ear. “Nick, wait, don’t hang up. What do you mean? Tell me what’s going on.…Okay, okay, I’ve got it. Code red.…Yes, he’s with me.…Yes. Ten minutes. I promise.”
She ended the connection and sat very still, phone clenched in one hand. She had been tense all evening, but what she was radiating now was off the charts.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.
“There’s a bar on a side street half a block off Broadway,” she said urgently. “It’s not far from here. We need to go there right now. Nick is waiting.”
“What’s with ‘code red’?” Sam asked.
“It was the old signal that the three of us used when we were in the Summerlight Academy. It means what code red always means. Something very bad has happened.”
32
LANDER KNOX STUDIED THE BACK-COVER PHOTO ON HIS COPY of Families by Choice while he waited in line. The smiling faces of the Radwell family stirred the deep wellspring of hot acid inside him. It was all he could do not to hurl the book at the author’s head. Just one big happy family.
He took out the small bottle of acid-reducer pills and popped one into his mouth. The picture was deceptive, he reminded himself. Things were no longer quite so perfect for the Radwell clan, thanks to his financial games. The knowledge that he had caused some serious collateral damage soothed him.
Acquiring the lab book and a psychic who could break the code that protected his inheritance was still his primary objective. But the loss of the Strickland money was starting to send shock waves through the family. It was obvious that not everyone in the clan knew what had happened yet. But during their last lunch together, he had sensed the panic and helpless anger that seethed inside Orinda Strickland. The old woman was terrified. And tonight he had glimpsed the strain in Diana Radwell’s eyes. Not much longer now, he thought. Soon they would all be forced to confront the enormity of their impending financial doom.
It would be interesting to see what happened when the bankruptcy ax fell. The old lady would probably have a heart attack, for starters. And it was a known fact that major financial problems often caused divorce. The Radwells’ marriage would no doubt be the next casualty. Dawson was already awash in guilt and viewed himself as a failure. There was no telling where that might lead. It was not unheard of for a man who had lost everything to commit suicide. The pretty blond twins would no longer be able to afford the sky-high tuition at the private college they attended. In the end, the picture-perfect Radwell family would be devastated.
The hot acid sank back into the bottom of the well. Lander suddenly felt much better. The person ahead of him in line thanked Radwell for the signed book and moved out of the way. Dr. Brandon C. Radwell smiled.
“How would you like the book inscribed?” Brandon asked.
“Would you mind making it out to ‘Lander, who will one day choose a family of his own’?”
“Certainly.” Brandon wrote quickly and signed the book. “Good luck to you, Lander. Remember, family is everything. Choose wisely.”
“I’ll do that, Dr. Radwell.”
33
FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE NIGHTCLUB LOOKED LIKE A LOW-RENT dive. It resembled a lot of the other clubs in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The door and the street-front windows were painted black. But when Sam ushered Abby inside, they were greeted with a comfortable, upscale space warmed by a large stone fireplace. The back bar gleamed with polished wood and glass.
A grand piano occupied one corner of the room. A middle-aged woman dressed in a beaded gown, her blond hair piled high, played a classic show tune. Her makeup was elaborate. Rhinestones dripped from her ears and draped her throat and wrists.
The clientele was a surprising mix of male and female, but the body language made it clear that the men and women at the tables were friends, not dates. The dress code was eclectic, tending toward high-end designer jeans, shirts and slouchy jackets for the men. The drinks were mostly variations on martinis and cosmopolitans.
A few heads turned when Sam and Abby walked into the room, but after a brief, discreet scrutiny, everyone went back to their drinks and conversation.
Nick sat alone in a booth at the back of the room. There was a blue martini on the table in front of him, but it appeared to be untouched. Abby slid onto the seat across from him. Sam sat down beside her. Nick gave him a bored look.