12. The Woman in the Picture
CHAPTER 12
The Woman in the Picture
Henry
Goddammit, Nikki. Don’t do this. I fished three twenties from my wallet, threw them on the table, and went after her.
Right outside the door, Russ caught up to me. “What’s this I hear about a day off?”
I strode up the street, my gaze focused on Nikki’s back as she practically ran toward the hotel. “The guys need a break, Russ. Let them be.”
“Okay. You’re the boss, but let me know if I can help,” he called out.
I waved at him. My heart pounded hard, but I didn’t slow down. I couldn’t lose her again. I walked into the hotel, flipped the deadbolt, and drew the curtains to keep pedestrians from looking in. My heartbeat settled down when I pushed the sheets dividing the lobby to the side and spotted Nikki at the bar. Good. At least she wasn’t upstairs packing.
“You’re giving up on us? Just like that?” I asked.
“There’s no us, Henry. There never was.” She faced me, her cheeks stained with tears .
“You can’t listen to them. They can’t hurt you anymore. I won’t let them.” I stepped toward her. She stood and shoved the barstool between us.
I put my hands up in surrender. She’d given up so easily. Why? “Fine. This is how you want to play it? Be my guest. But remember this—just like last time, I showed up.” Heat rushed through my body. “You’re the one running away this time.” I headed for the stairs.
“I’m not running away. I’m still here. I said I’d help you. That hasn’t changed.” Her heels scraped the marble floor.
I gripped the banister and turned. Adrenaline hummed through me. “You’re running away from us. Would you be this quick to give up if I still had millions in my bank account? If we were having this conversation at the Cavalier Manor instead? That it?”
“You finally figured it out, Henry.” She strode toward me, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. “What good is the Prince of Paradise without his money?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Oh, you poor little rich boy,” she said.
That was what Francesca had said to me the day my uncle’s bodyguards brought me in after I tried to run away with Nikki. The day she’d told me they were sending me to a boarding school in Canada. The day I lost everything.
“What happened to you?” I grabbed her shoulders.
“This town happened to me.” She held my gaze. The anger I saw in her blue eyes cut me. Was the Hipolita I knew really gone?
“Leave. Stay. I don’t give a shit. Just stay out of my way. I don’t need your goddamn help.” I headed for the door. I couldn’t stand being in this place, this close to her.
I got in my truck and drove out of town, toward the 101. I had to get Nikki out of my mind, forget about what we almost had. There was no us. There was no making up for lost time. How could we? The shadow Dad’s death cast over our lives would never go away.
Giving up wasn’t an option, though. I still had Mom, and she needed me. I turned onto the freeway. Phoenix was only an hour away. Today more than ever, I needed answers, and for once, I had a pretty good idea of where to begin.
By the time I reached the Hilton hotel in North Phoenix, my heart rate had slowed down to a normal beat. I had no idea what to expect or what I was looking for. Maybe I just wanted to know Mom was okay. If she had been here a few nights ago, someone would have noticed. She was hard to miss in that electric wheelchair of hers. Why would Jonathan take the time to bring Mom to her favorite place, as if they were lovers? It should be me taking care of Mom, not him.
I rubbed a hand along my jaw. I should’ve looked through more of Jonathan’s receipts. Found out if this was something they did often, which would mean he was treating her right. I drove through the resort, parked on the restaurant side, and headed up the steep hill to A Different Point of View.
The hostess wasn’t at her post, so I went straight to the bar area nestled along the wall in the darkest part of the restaurant. A glow of light shining on the liquor bottles made the place look like an oasis in the middle of the desert. The bartender had a good view of the dining room. Maybe he’d seen something.
I sat on one of the barstools and ordered a draft beer—way better than the crap I had back at the hotel. An image of Nikki in a bathrobe, standing on the balcony drinking a beer, flashed in my mind. I took a pull from the glass, swallowed, and then took another before I let the glass fall hard on the counter.
“I see Nikki’s still leaving devastation wherever she goes,” a male voice boomed behind me .
I swiveled around and came face-to-face with her non-client. The asshole who, for whatever reason, had driven to Paradise Creek to give Nikki a quarter of a million dollars. This was the last thing I needed right now.
“Dom Moretti.” He offered me his hand.
“Henry Cavalier.” I glared at him.
“We’re switching to whiskey.” He chuckled and sat down, gesturing the bartender for another round.
“Small world,” I said. What was he doing here of all places?
“Not really. Nikki sent me.” He must’ve read something in my eyes because he quickly clarified. “No. She didn’t send me here for you. I understand you’re looking for your mom? Tessa Cavalier.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t know she had called you.”
“I’m her lawyer.” He raised an eyebrow. “She calls when she needs things.”
My stomach rolled. Who was Nikki Swift? This asshole was some kind of crook lawyer, the one she called when she needed help. I hadn’t forgotten the way she ran into his arms the day he came to see her at the hotel. No wonder she was done with me. I couldn’t give her what Dom obviously could easily afford. The bartender set the shot glasses in front of us. I grabbed it, knocked it back, and gestured for him to pour me another one.
“My kind of guy.” Dom patted me hard on the back. “Keep ’em coming.”
“Did you find anything?” I asked.
He shrugged and took the shot. “Maybe. The bartender who was here three days ago isn’t here today. But my friend Todd has graciously agreed to track him down for me.”
The bartender gave me a half smirk that said money talks.
“If she was here, would we be able to find out where she went? Or maybe she’s staying in the hotel?” I swallowed. I didn’t know how much Nikki had told Dom about Mom. “She’s not well. She’s, um?—”
“I know. Nikki explained.” Dom looked down at his drink and took a small sip of the whiskey. “I asked around. No one matching Tessa’s description checked into the hotel. I’m sorry. Todd is our last hope.” He frowned, surveying my face. “How’s Nikki doing? She seemed put out when I talked to her. But I can never make heads or tails of what goes on in that pretty head of hers.”
“Are you two?—?
He put his hands up. “We’re just friends, man. We have a similar view of the world.”
Up until today, I’d thought I could read Nikki like a book. But my head was spinning so hard I had no fucking clue what was going through her mind anymore…or mine. My stupid idea of taking her out for breakfast had completely backfired. I hadn’t considered Mrs. Blaine would still hold such contempt for Nikki and her sister. I’d never understood where it all came from. Nikki had been a child when it all happened. It wasn’t her fault.
“I think she’s hurting. But she won’t let me in.” No idea why I was telling this to a stranger. What the fuck did he care?
“You broke her heart, and now you want to help?” He returned my glare.
“Is that what she told you? I gotta go.” I reached for my wallet.
“Drinks are on me.” He grabbed the check off the counter.
“Fuck off.” I took several twenties out of my wallet and threw them on the counter. “We’re done here.”
“Okay.” He grabbed his phone. “But you may want to take a look at this.” He held up his screen.
The image looked like a still taken from a security camera. It was blurry, but I had no doubt that was Mom by the fireplace out on the restaurant patio, the one a few yards from me. She was holding a glass of champagne and standing on her own two feet. According to the date, she’d been here three days ago, the same day my uncle had been here. They’d been here together. I read the text:
This the lady you’re looking for? I remember her.
“What the fuck does this mean?”
Mom couldn’t be part of this. I riffled through the scattered memories in my brain. When I saw Mom in the garden, she had been practically paralyzed, as though whatever illness struck her when I was a kid had consumed her. How was it possible that she was healthy again?
Francesca had said she was getting her medicine. Was that medicine some kind of miracle drug that could take Mom from being in a wheelchair to sipping champagne as if time hadn’t gone by? Or was it all a ruse? That would be impossible. Mom hadn’t known I was coming to the manor that day. The note she’d left behind was proof that she wasn’t well, that she was afraid. Her fear had been real. I remembered that clearly. I fell back onto my barstool and downed the rest of the whiskey to wash away the bad taste in my mouth.
“I realize I’m not your lawyer and we practically just met. But I can see it in your face. You’re going through a million scenarios, all of which mark your mom guilty of something terrible. But listen, before you call the inquisition on your mother, let’s wait and find out what really is going on. Innocent until proven guilty.” Dom finished the rest of his drink.
“Does he know if she walked out of here on her own?” Innocent until proven guilty. Right, but how much proof did I need? At every turn, I found myself stretching the truth not to hate Mom. “We have to find the guy that sent you that text. He has to tell us what he knows.”
Dom stood. We were the same height, same build. He eyed me as if sizing me up. “You up for a road trip?”
“You think he knows more?” I tilted my chin and pointed at his phone.
Nodding, he pushed my twenties toward the bartender. “This is yours. Put our tab on Cole’s account, would you?”
The bartender grinned, pocketed his tip, and handed Dom a business card with writing on it.
“Who’s Cole?” I ignored the pang of jealousy that spread across my navel.
“He owes Nikki.” He smirked. “Got an address here. You coming?”
“Does he now?” I clenched my jaw.
The more I knew of Nikki’s world, the more I realized ten years was a long-ass time. We were completely different people now.
“It’s a long story. Short of it is, Nikki stuck it to him, and then she unstuck it. So now he feels he owes her.” He handed the valet guy a few folded bills.
“Is there anyone who doesn’t owe Nikki something?”
“This is what she does. I’ve seen her in action. Trust me—if she says she can solve this for you, she will.” He stepped onto the hotel driveway and pointed at the black SUV. “This is us.”
When I turned around, a stunning woman dressed in a white dress rushed toward Dom. She met his gaze and slowed her pace. Hers was a guilty face if I ever saw one. Christ, was I getting tired of beautiful women with a hidden agenda?
“Hi. Emilia Prado.” She offered me her hand, and I shook it.
“Henry Cavalier. I’m a friend of Nikki’s.”
Next to her, Dom shook his head. “Well, friend of Nikki’s, we gotta go.” He wrapped his fingers around Emilia’s arm and ushered her to the SUV waiting at the curb.
“She’s coming with us?” I followed close behind.
“Yes. She’s one of my clients. Very important. You’re in the front.” He opened the car door and gestured for Emilia to get in. “Ms. Prado.”
She slapped his hand away and climbed into the back seat as they whispered back and forth. After a while, Dom turned his attention back to the front seat.
“Vic, this is Henry. Henry, Vic. Got an address.” Dom handed Vic the business card.
Vic glanced at it for no more than a second before he tossed it onto the dashboard with a curt nod.
“Where are we going?” I picked up the business card. It had an address on the south side of town. “You really want to drive to Guadalupe right now?”
“It’ll be fine. I already called for reinforcements. If anyone can handle a bartender with important information, it’s Nikki.” Dom tapped Vic’s shoulder.
“You called her?” I wiped both hands on my jeans and let my head fall on the headrest.
Yeah, I’d seen firsthand what Nikki can do. How she could make anyone do her bidding. Her first day back, she sweet-talked Russ into letting her go into a construction site where we had just detonated a small explosive. She’d put herself in danger to get what she wanted. Now she was doing it again.
Was she doing this for me or herself? Of course, Nikki was here for herself. Everything she did was to help herself. Mom had information she needed to clear Lisa’s name. That was it. This had nothing to do with us or her feelings for me.
Though I had to admit, the idea of her leaving me again stifled all the oxygen out of me. I took a deep breath to ease the pressure in my chest. Dom’s driver slanted a glance at me, and the window rolled down, letting in a bunch of hot air.
“I called her the minute I got to the Hilton and spoke to Todd. Don’t worry, we talked before you showed up at the bar, so she doesn’t know you’re with me.”
I leaned toward the window. Hot air was better than no air. “Nikki is the last person I want to see right now.”
“Hmm . That’s pretty much what she said when I asked her about you.” Dom settled in his seat next to Emilia.