Chapter 8 Shocking Photograph #2
A.J.’s look of surprise made her smile sadly. “My cover story wasn’t that far off after all, huh?”
He kissed her fingers again.
To make her parents happy, she’d attended Oxford and earned a degree in Computer Science instead.
“Only then did they change their tune. They couldn’t offer me a job at Diamondback fast enough.
It was fun at first.” She stared into the distance as she relived the first days, weeks, and months on the job as a security analyst. “For the first time in my life, I felt like I was completely part of something. Like I’d finally been accepted into our mix-and-match family. ”
A.J. twined their hands together. “You were always part of their family.”
“Not really.” She knew he was only saying that to make her feel better.
“Neither was Aaron. Believe me, they were a lot harder on him than they were on me. His decision to attend the police academy nearly sparked World War III in our household.” She would never forget how afraid she was that they would disinherit Aaron on the spot.
She remembered jumping between them to remind them that they were family first…
that it was the only thing that truly mattered.
They’d disagreed, insisting it wasn’t the only thing that mattered. Oh, how it had hurt!
That day, she’d learned just how cruel the world was. Aaron, being Aaron, had somehow managed to convince their parents that a background in law enforcement would serve the family firm better than two kids with computer science degrees.
Crisis averted.
But only temporarily.
After Elise Hathaway had entered their lives, everything had changed.
The more parties and fundraisers Elise had attended with their family, the more distant their adoptive father had grown with Aurora and Aaron.
Maybe it was petty jealousy on Aurora’s part, but she sometimes had gotten the impression he was trying to replace them with Elise.
A.J. turned out to be a good listener as she poured out her woes about her dysfunctional family. He seemed in no hurry to jump in to add his two cents worth. He was simply there for her.
“What was it like while your brother dated Elise?” A.J.’s question came out of the blue, catching her by surprise.
Aurora thought about it for a second. “Things got better, actually. A lot better. Our parents wholeheartedly approved of the match.” It hadn’t lasted long, though.
“During the six months they dated, our parents slobbered all over him, making noises for the first time about naming him successor CEO. That continued even after Aaron and Elise broke up. They badgered him endlessly to quit the force and finally take his rightful place at Diamondback. It’s what they called it.
His rightful place,” she repeated. “Not mine, oddly enough, even though I was the kid who gave up my dreams to pursue the career they’d chosen for me. ”
She was good at what she did, too. As it turned out, her analytical mind, which had initially preferred to study chemistry, had proven equally skilled at computer programming, white-hat hacking, and all the other things that went into testing the vulnerabilities of security networks.
Despite her skills, their parents hadn’t once referenced her name as a possible successor CEO. It wasn’t charitable of her to think ill of the dead, but their rejection stung to this day.
“I don’t think Aaron really wants the job,” she concluded, trying to swallow her bitterness. “If he did, I believe with all my heart he would’ve already taken it.” She and her brother were so close that she was equally sure she wouldn’t want the job herself if he wanted it.
“I agree with your assessment of him.” A.J. spoke the words with such confidence that she did a double take. “And of you.”
“Really?” She hadn’t been expecting his quick and wholehearted support on the issue. No one in her inner circle had ever gone out of their way to fuel her ambitions.
“Really.” He grasped her hands more firmly. “Look me in the eye and see for yourself.”
She did so and was floored all over again. “Why?”
He gave her an incredulous look. “You’re asking why I think you can do it?”
“Yes.” She really wanted to know.
“Because you’re brilliant,” he exploded.
She blushed.
“Extremely hot and extremely brilliant.” He brushed his thumb over her promise ring. “Why else do you think I threw a grenade clip on your finger the first chance I got?”
She started laughing. She couldn’t help it.
He pretended to recoil. “Are you laughing at me?”
“With you,” she corrected.
“Why? What’s so funny?”
“You are! Your one-liners are so hilariously genuine that I couldn’t love them more.” Or love you more, either. She’d fallen so hard and so fast for him that she was still catching her breath.
One eyebrow went up. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” He stood, tugging her to her feet.
“But it is,” she protested, launching herself into his eager embrace.
He hitched her closer. “Kiss me, Aurora.”
“I will, right after I say that you aren’t the first guy who’s gone down on one knee in front of me. So, telling you that I love your one-liners is very much a compliment.” She knew what she was talking about. The ability to make another person laugh was one of the greatest gifts in the world.
“Exactly how many other dudes have proposed to you?” he demanded.
Knowing it was better for him to hear about it from her than from Aaron, she spilled the truth. “The first time was right after high school graduation. The second time was in college. The third time…” The aghast look on his face made her stop speaking.
“If you’re trying to make me jealous, it’s working,” he growled.
“Don’t be.” She touched his cheek. “After college, my dating life became nonexistent, and you are definitely the only guy who’s ever offered me a grenade clip.”
“Kiss me,” he begged again.
“Please don’t underestimate what we have.” She tugged his head down to drop her forehead against his, twining her arms around his neck. “You’re the only guy I’ve ever allowed to put a ring on my finger.” She’d turned down all the other offers.
“Good.” He swooped in to claim her lips, apparently tired of waiting for her to get around to it.
He kissed her like he always did—like he meant it, like she mattered more to him than anyone else, and like he was never going to stop.
He made her heart race and put her on a precarious teeter-totter between tears and laughter.
No one else had ever made her feel this way.
No one else had ever loved her with such deep-seated passion.
Aaron came the closest, but only in a brotherly way.
This was different. It was potent and all-consuming. It was a claiming.
As quickly as their kiss had begun, it ended. A.J. touched his forehead to hers like she’d done to him earlier. “We should get going. Your brother’s probably wondering why we haven’t yet made contact and reported anything back to him.”
“I don’t mind putting it off a little longer,” she sighed. “I can assure you he’s not going to like what we tell him.”
A.J. raised his head. “Sounds like you have something to share.”
“Yes, from an hour ago,” she reminded. “You asked me to wait to tell you since it’s not life threatening. At least not imminently.”
“Lay it on me.” He stepped away from her to close his laptop and grab the keys to their rental car.
She pressed a hand to her heart, not sure what to think about her latest discovery.
“I spend most of my time on the road, but I can remotely access the system at Diamondback.” She swallowed hard, since she’d never done it for personal reasons before.
“I usually just log in, file my reports, and log off; but not this morning. I took the time to poke through files I’ve never poked through before and ended up running across something I really, really, really wish I hadn’t. ”
“Oh?” He paused, frowning, on his way to the door.
It was a good thing he’d stopped, because the words she’d kept bottled up until now were already tumbling out of her.
“Our Uncle Cary had a life insurance policy on our parents, just like they had one on him.” It wasn’t unusual for business partners to do that when there were major financial assets at stake.
“What I didn’t know before this morning was that he received payouts on them. ”
“Man, Aurora!” A.J. walked back in her direction, immediately understanding the significance of her revelation. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” She was, because she’d already accepted that her parents weren’t coming back.
“But my brother won’t be when he hears about it.
” The pounding of her heart escalated. “Uncle Cary would’ve needed to present death certificates for the payouts, which would indicate our parents’ remains were recovered after all.
I’m not sure why he withheld something so important from us.
” In doing so, he’d left Aaron clinging to the hope of finding them alive when there was, in fact, no hope left. It was insensitive and cruel.
A.J. took her hands in his. “I know we agreed to withhold judgment ahead of the evidence, but this doesn’t look good for your uncle.”
“I know.” But she still found herself mentally scrambling for a way to defend him. “It’s just so out of character for him. He’s reclusive, nerdy, and a bit on the paranoid side, but he’s always loved us.” She’d never doubted it.
A.J. tugged her closer. “Sometimes, when you think you know someone, you don’t,” he reminded gently. The rocky start to their own relationship was proof enough of that.
She nodded reluctantly, not at all at peace with the conclusion he was drawing. She, too, saw where the evidence was leading, but it didn’t feel any more right than it had the first time Uncle Cary’s name had been mentioned as a possible suspect.
“We should get to work.” She patted her pocket to ensure the zip drive she was bringing along was still there. “It’s the only way we’re going to get to the bottom of this mess.”