38. She Saw the Mother
She Saw the Mother
Gwen
The anger knotting my stomach had everything to do with Toby, but that didn’t stop me from charging down the white corridors of Cumberland Investments with Liam in my crosshairs.
A memory stripped from Toby’s statement shot through me.
I was getting changed… Kayleigh started taking her clothes off …
Toby had been half-naked in the cramped changing room with Kayleigh ogling everything he had to offer. She would’ve seen the muscular definition of his powerful chest and strong arms and the faded scar where he’d nicked himself being overzealous with the garden shears.
The click of my heels paused. I spread my hand on the wall to steady myself and sucked in breath after breath. Kayleigh had no right to know what Toby looked like under his crisp white dental coat. None. He was mine . Not hers. Never hers.
I shook the possessive thoughts out of my head. I stood tall, adjusted my jacket, squared my shoulders, and charged down the corridor and through Liam’s door. He had no assistant. Eli begged him to get one. He refused. Good. No one could stop me from barging in.
My brother lounged in the oversized chair behind his desk, looking far too comfortable in a three-piece suit with his ankle propped on his knee, Tetris-patterned socks on display.
He absently clicked his pen, his gaze narrowed on the monitors in front of him.
No acknowledgment of my presence. No sign he knew I stood there at all.
Arms folded, I tapped my foot.
Still nothing.
I cleared my throat.
Liam’s eyes slid from the monitor to me. “If anyone else walked into my office uninvited, I’d have their neck.” He forced one of his fake smiles. “But as you so rarely grace me with your presence, your pretty neck survives another day.”
Arrogant piece of… “You agreed I could work anywhere I want and whatever hours I want.”
“And you agreed Tuesdays are mine .”
“Yours?” I scoffed. “Who do you think you are?”
“Your boss.”
I barked a laugh. I didn’t need Liam’s crap today—or any day. “That’s a problem easy enough to solve.” I spun on my heel.
My threat shot him straight out of his chair. “Gwen.”
I turned slowly. “Yes?” My smile was pure innocence. “You didn’t expect me to call your bluff, O Illustrious One?”
A smirk tugged at his lips. “I do love how you spar with me.” He sank into his chair and propped his ankle back on his knee. “What can I do for you this fine Tuesday afternoon ?”
“I’d like to talk to you about my former employer.”
His eyes sparked with amusement. “Now, why would we waste precious time talking about that cockroach?”
“He’s being investigated.”
“Is he? How delightful. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.”
“Did you have something to do with it?”
Liam leaned back in his chair and tilted his head, watching me through slitted eyes. “Why would I interfere in the dull world of prosecutors?”
I glared right back. He could answer me for once.
“Holding your ground today, hmm?” He turned his eyes to the ceiling, thinking for a moment, before smiling. “If a folder of classified documents showing a money trail from Marcello Morelli to your old boss somehow ended up in the hands of the corruption watchdog, why would I know about it?”
“Oddly specific.”
Liam lifted a shoulder. “Variables pieced together to determine a probable outcome.”
“Horseshit.”
His grin chilled me to my bones. He’d done exactly what he’d said. Why? He was going to get himself in trouble messing with these sorts of people.
“Liam.” I sighed. “Why are you involving yourself in this?”
“Why do I do anything?”
“Fucked if I know.”
He chuckled. “I’m fucked if anyone knows.”
I cocked my head, watching him curiously. What could all this be about? So, my old boss was caught up with criminals—color me shocked. Drug money talked, and he wasn’t the first to fall. But I wasn’t involved in any of that. I was one of the few people in that office who couldn’t be bought off.
“I don’t need your protection,” I hedged with Liam.
“You do.”
“From what?”
“The world.”
“What the—” I sighed. “Is this some weird thing from when we were kids? Liam, you don’t owe me anything.”
His eyes closed. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. I owe you everything.” The words came out too soft for him but quickly disappeared with his usual bite. “My reasons are my own. They’re not for you to worry about, clever Gwen.”
“Please don’t get involved in anything that will get you in trouble. I worry about you.”
“How touching.”
“You dismiss me like it’s nothing, but I lo—”
“Don’t say it.”
I sucked the words back in, even though my heart wanted to explode. “You’re my brother, Liam. I’ve always looked out for you.”
“And that, little Gwen, has always been the problem for us.” He sighed. “You said you wouldn’t be involved in anything illegal. That was one of your conditions when you agreed to work with me, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Because of your ethics? Your values?”
“Both.”
He nodded. “Then you won’t ask me any more questions about the matter involving your former employer.”
It was as if a bucket of ice water was dumped over me, but I carefully hid my shock behind a deadpan mask and stood perfectly still, barely breathing.
“Eli doesn’t like me interfering in your life,” Liam continued.
“He told me you were happy —whatever that means—and so I kept my distance.” He managed the closest thing possible to a genuine smile.
“But when the universe dropped you in my lap— that, my Gwen, was a sign I couldn’t ignore.
You are meant to be with me. Us . We’re a family. ”
Those words got him a raised eyebrow. “We’re a pretty screwed-up family.”
“Aren’t all families a little dysfunctional?” He chuckled as if that was the worst of it for the two of us. “Which reminds me . You are coming to lunch this Sunday?”
Did I have a choice? “Yes.”
“And you’re going to insist on bringing the dentist?”
“Toby’s going to insist on bringing himself. Are you going to be difficult about it?”
He smiled sweetly. “Mama has instructed me to be on my best behavior. She’s desperate to see you and your little creature, and she’s planning quite the feast to woo you.
Bring more friends if you like. There will be enough food and entertainment to rival a circus.
” He grunted. “Much like the family we are.”
Wails echoed through the house when I opened the front door. Noah sounded miserable, and the second I walked into the kitchen, his chubby hands strained for me over Toby’s shoulder.
“He’s out of sorts this afternoon,” Toby whispered, lifting him into my arms. “He needs his mama.”
I cooed sweet words as I settled Noah against my chest. He snuggled into me and stuffed his thumb in his mouth. Once I started a slow lap of the kitchen, his eyes began to droop, long lashes fluttering to his cheek.
“Has he been like this since you picked him up from daycare?” I asked Toby.
He nodded. “Pretty much. I had a quick feel of his gums. There’s a new chomper coming through.”
He scrubbed his palm down his face. He looked exhausted. I glanced around the kitchen. Cut vegetables overloaded the chopping board. Water boiled on the stove. Papers littered the kitchen island. I wouldn’t say a bomb hit the kitchen, but it was close.
“Sorry,” Toby said with a sheepish smile. “I’d planned to have a lot more done by the time you got home.” He kissed Noah’s head and headed back to the chopping board.
The tip of my index finger landed on one of the pages on the counter. I slid it closer. Blue ink was scrawled all over the page.
Early December? Maybe?
Kayleigh said I looked handsome. I was stoked because I was wearing the new shirt you bought me, and I told her that.
She said I could get my own coffee that day.
I did, and then she got mad at me in the afternoon and told me maybe I should get my own coffee every day.
I shrugged and said okay. She refused to talk to me again for the rest of the day.
An arrow shot off from those words, and I squinted to decipher the mess of handwriting next to them.
I should’ve pulled her up and told her to be professional. I shouldn’t have been having coffee with her anyway. Was she hitting on me? I didn’t even realize. I should’ve told you.
I was about to read the next entry when the page disappeared. Toby scrunched the fanned-out papers into a messy pile and zoomed across the kitchen to stuff them in his junk drawer.
I hitched Noah to a more comfortable spot on my chest. “Toby,” I asked cautiously. “What’s all that?”
“You weren’t supposed to see that. It’s not ready yet.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“This morning, after we left the police station, you were angry with me. I thought about it all afternoon. John was saying—”
“John?”
“Zach’s dad.” He waved me off because that wasn’t the critical part of his story.
“Anyway, he told me I needed to pay more attention and notice what you don’t say.
I thought about it a lot on my drive home.
You went quiet around the time I told the detective what happened with Kayleigh in the changing room. I’d kept some of the details from you.”
“Did you think you were sparing me by leaving out the gory details?”
Toby nodded. “Gwen, a part of me still struggles with this idea of being fully honest. I want to tell you everything—truly, I do —but I’m walking a tightrope because I also don’t want to hurt you. I have it in my head that it’s better if I can shield you from some of my screw-ups.”
“It’s not. Toby, I told you—”
“I know,” he interrupted gently. “That’s the reason for my project. I’m writing down every detail I can about when I talked to Kayleigh or spent time with her. I’m holding nothing back.”
“Nothing?”