“So you did. And you’re sure Lauryn doesn’t want to petition the Laurence estate? If she wanted money approaching the executers should have been her first move. From what you said she found in that compartment, confirmation of her identity and even a DNA match is a real possibility.”
Adam rubbed the back of his neck. Brandon had a point. The Laurence estate was worth far more than the million Lauryn had planned to get out of him. And he’d approached her about the marriage and the money. Not the other way around.
Could he be wrong about her? Was she telling the truth? Or had she and Saunders concocted a scheme to bleed Adam dry?
And did it matter? Hell yes.
Was she still in love with Saunders? Was she still married to the bastard?
Adam couldn’t think about that now when he had enough bourbon in his system to make him want to put his fist through something. Or someone. Saunders.
He caught Brandon subtly checking his watch and realized how late it was. “Why aren’t you with Cassie tonight?”
“Because you needed me.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Are you okay with me marrying your half sister?”
“Brandon, I’m closer to you than I am to my own brothers. As far as I’m concerned, making you an official part of my family is just a formality.” He offered his hand and then yanked Brandon close in a bump-shoulders-slap-on-the-back embrace. “I owe Cassie for letting me borrow you tonight.”
“She’ll join me tomorrow if she can get away from the hotel or I’ll join her.”
“Sounds like you’re doing a lot of commuting.”
“I am, and you need to know that because of that I’ve decided to open an office in Nassau. There’s no point in getting married if I’m never going to see my wife.”
“You’re closing down here?”
“No. Just adding another branch of Washington & Associates.”
“Good. Because I’ll need you to handle my divorce.”
“Why would you come forward when all the rest of the Garrisons are saying is, ‘No comment’?”
“Because you’ve made a terrible mistake,” Lauryn said across the reporter’s cluttered desk Saturday afternoon. “Adam is completely innocent in this situation.”
She’d decided a counterattack was the only way to end the vicious scandal that Tommy’s story had launched, and as much as she hated being the center of attention these days, if pouring out her past for public consumption would clear Adam, then Lauryn would willingly humiliate herself by doing so. She also hoped sending the press on the trail of the missing documentation would cut through the Thanksgiving weekend barriers keeping her from getting to California and the truth.
The reporters had been relentless over the past twenty-four hours. The tabloid press in particular had followed her everywhere, and she’d used that to her advantage—she hoped. First thing this morning she’d gone to the police department, trailed by an assortment of paparazzi, and filed an official report on the extortion.
Adam may have already filed a complaint like he’d said he would, but this was her mistake and she would take the steps to rectify it. The money she’d paid Tommy wasn’t hers. She hadn’t earned it. It belonged to Adam and she wanted to return it. Maybe then he’d believe she wasn’t trying to fleece him.
After leaving the police department she’d called the reporter who’d broken the original story, offered her an exclusive and set a time for this meeting. Lauryn had told the woman the whole sordid story. The only detail she’d held back was the marriage of convenience part.
“Do you believe what you’ve told me exonerates Adam Garrison?” the reporter asked.
“Yes. He hasn’t done anything wrong. The mistakes were all mine. Adam didn’t know about my past or my annulment. I honestly believed it wasn’t relevant, and I was too ashamed of my rebellious teenage behavior to tell him. I’m not that person anymore and I haven’t been for a long time.
“But whether Tommy’s claim that our annulment is invalid is true or not, I underestimated his desire to make a fast and easy buck. I paid him to keep quiet because I love my husband and I didn’t want to see Adam hurt. But now because of my mistakes the best candidate for the presidency of the Miami Business Council is being trashed in the news.”
The reporter’s gaze sharpened. “So you’re officially announcing Adam Garrison’s interest in the position?”
“Adam would be a great council president. He knows business and he knows the community. But only he can announce his candidacy. My purpose in coming forward is to make sure you understand he is a victim, not a perpetrator.” She gathered her purse and stood. “Will this run in tomorrow’s paper?”
“As soon as I’ve verified a few facts.”
The woman’s condescending attitude throughout the interview had rubbed Lauryn the wrong way. Her last remark raised Lauryn’s hackles. All right. Gloves off.
“You should have verified the facts before running the first story. Have you considered what will happen if Tommy Saunders is lying about the annulment being denied and you’ve falsely accused a Garrison of bigamy? That could be considered libel and your job and credibility would be in jeopardy.”
The woman paled, her indolent posture turned stiff and her mouth fell open.
Lauryn turned on her heel and left. She didn’t believe for one moment that the Garrisons would go to battle to clear her name, but they would to clear Adam’s.
Despite the tensions within the family, there was a bond in the Garrison clan that she envied. And maybe sacrificing her pride and her reputation would make Parker step forward and show Adam just how important a part of the family he was.
“What is this?”
Lauryn’s heart stuttered Monday afternoon at the anger in Adam’s voice. She swiveled in her office chair. He stood in her doorway holding up a copy of Sunday’s newspaper folded to display her interview with the reporter.
Drinking in every inch of him from his overlong hair to his collarless black shirt and crisply pressed black trousers, she rose, rounded her desk and closed the door. She stopped just inches from him, and tilted her head back to meet his gaze.
She’d missed him over the past three days and hadn’t expected to see him today since Estate was closed. He looked stressed and his blue eyes were hard and unforgiving. Her hopes sank. She’d bared her soul for that interview, hoping he’d read it and understand her choices. Would he ever forgive her for keeping her secrets? Apparently not.
What had his family thought of the article? She hadn’t been invited to the Garrison Sunday dinner yesterday, so she didn’t know.
“It’s me trying to make this right. Until I can get to California and find my copy of the original documents it’s the best I can do. I need a couple of days off. My flight leaves at five tomorrow morning. I should return Wednesday evening.”
His jaw shifted. “I don’t want your help. I’ll handle it. In fact, you can stay in California. I’ll have your belongings shipped to you along with the divorce papers—if they’re necessary.”
She nearly staggered from the verbal blow, but she held her ground because this was one fight she couldn’t afford to lose. “You’re sounding a lot like your ‘control freak’ brother at the moment.”
He scowled.
“Adam, you told me you were trying to live down a past you weren’t proud of. Why is it different when it’s me?”
“I didn’t lie about mine.”
“I didn’t lie about mine, either. I just didn’t tell you things that I thought were irrelevant and that you wouldn’t want to hear.
He snorted in disgust. “You’re saying you were protecting me?”
“I thought I was, but I guess I was only protecting myself. Remember that conversation we had about birth order affecting personalities? I said only children either rebelled or conformed. You’re the one who guessed I’d conformed and before I could correct you, you followed up that statement by saying a wife with a rebellious past was the last thing you needed. But that was exactly what you had and it was too late to change that. I didn’t say anything then because I didn’t want you to think less of me.
“I wasn’t a good kid, Adam. For five years I gave my parents hell. I used to dress and act like a tramp because it garnered the kind of attention that drove my control freak father nuts. I didn’t value myself or those who loved me. I’m not proud of that, but I can’t change who I was. I can only make sure the person I am now makes the right decisions for the right reasons.
“And the person I am now promised to help you win the council nomination. I’m trying by making sure the public knows the responsibility for this disaster with Tommy was my fault and only my fault. You’re totally blameless.”
His face stayed hard, expressionless. Was she getting through to him at all?
“So tell me, Adam, what would a man who loved someone enough to elope do in this situation? Would he run at the first obstacle? Because when we expose Tommy’s lie—and I’m confident we will—the paper’s going to want to know why you married me in the first place if you quit loving me after barely two weeks and at the first obstacle. Talk about making you look capricious to your business council peers. And then your pretense of marrying for the sake of the nomination is going to come to light.”
He stiffened. “Is that a threat?”
She sighed. “No. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you.”
“You’re the one who should be worried about lies coming to light. The ‘crush-at-first-sight’ bull you fed the reporter is absurd.”
Embarrassment warmed her skin, but she’d promised to be one hundred percent honest with him from now on. No more secrets.
“It’s the truth. I was attracted to you from our first interview. The attraction only increased after I took the job. You’re smart. You have a way with people that makes everyone around you feel at ease and an enthusiasm for your job that’s contagious. Your employees fall all over themselves to please you—even me.
“But then I heard the rumors about your legions of women and your meaningless affairs and I told myself to get over you. You were living the life I’d left behind—one I never wanted to return to. Only I didn’t get over you. I couldn’t.”
She’d told him before, but he’d blown her off. She needed to say it again, to watch his face when she said the words.
She took a bracing breath. “I love you, Adam. I fell in love with you the day you offered to spend hours on your hands and knees helping me search those walk-in closets, helping me find out about my family because family is important to you. It is to me, too.”
Disbelief flickered in his eyes and then he abruptly turned away, dismissing her. “I’m hosting my mother’s birthday party here Wednesday night. I don’t want you there.”
The stab of pain caught her unawares. “We need to present a united front if you want to come out of this with any credibility at all.”