Chapter 21
Tessa scrambled off Hudson’s lap, cheeks burning as she teetered on the edge of the chaise. “Who’s that?”
Hudson wrapped an arm around her and tucked her into his side. “Ready to meet the General?”
“Who’s the General?”
“My parents’ old friend. Retired intel officer and the contact I asked to look into some things.”
She pulled away but he held her tighter. “Let me up. I can’t meet anyone like this, especially not a general. I look like—”
“Like I was about to slide my hand into your pants and get to work on making you come like it was a mission from the president himself?”
She almost came from his dirty words. That thought intensified the unsatisfied pulse that originated between her thighs. The hungry need throbbed in her belly as she tried to untangle her hair with her fingers.
Hudson gripped her hand. “Stop. You look beautiful.”
“I’m a mess.”
“I know. I made you that way.”
A figure emerged from the shadows as the heat lamp clicked on.
Great. Like she needed a spotlight for this ill-timed meeting with a man who appeared as intimidating as his rank. If Hudson wasn’t friends with the older man in the black overcoat with the silver buzzcut, she’d question if he was the villain or the hero.
Hudson stood and gave the General a relaxed salute. “Front door broken?”
“Malcolm said you were back here. I could hear Vivian and her new husband fighting all the way from the kitchen. Sounds like he’s not happy about how the will reading went. I didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire.” He peered around Hudson. “You must be Tessa?”
She stood next to Hudson. “It’s nice to meet you…um.”
Hudson chuckled as he gathered her into his side, pleased she didn’t resist. “This is Major General Albert Roberts.”
The General saluted. “From what Malcolm tells me, you’re family now. What do you think Hudson? Has she earned the right to just call me General?”
She held her breath, waiting for his answer. This wasn’t only about how to address the imposing man with the sharp gray eyes the color of a battleship. This was about being worthy.
Hudson nudged her hip with his. “Yeah, she’s earned it.”
It was her turn to relax.
The General gripped the back of a chair with both hands. “Sorry it took me so long to come. I had a few things to tie up.”
“I didn’t know you were coming, but I’m glad you did.”
“I have information.” He reached into his overcoat and pulled out a file.
The door to the terrace creaked open. The General slipped the file back and faced the door. “Vivian. Are you okay?”
“No.” She sniffed. “Nathaniel stormed out, and Josie went to bed, and Shayla went out with some friends and I can’t get the cappuccino machine to work.”
Hudson sighed. “Coming.”
The General held up his hand. “I got this. You’re welcome from sparing you the landmine.”
“Good luck.” Hudson sat back down and pulled Tessa with him. “Want to take bets on if he survives Vivian’s caffeine meltdown.”
Tessa tapped her chin. “The General is kinda scary, but my money’s on Vivian. Does Shayla live here too?”
“No. She’s staying with Vivian while she recovers from her recent divorce.”
“Is she anything like her aunt?”
Hudson rolled his eyes. “Hard to say. We dated, so my perspective is skewed.”
Tessa’s mouth formed an O. “Interesting. Sam never mentioned that tidbit.”
The corner of his lips twitched. “I wish I could forget that tidbit.”
So did Tessa. Could he hear the irrational thread of jealousy in her tone at the thought of him with another woman?
Hudson rolled the zipper on his hoodie between his fingers. “I was a horny high school senior, and it’s a small town, and Shayla was…”
Tessa held her breath as his gaze churned like the sea and sucked him into memories.
“After my parents died and I lived here full-time with Pop, I tried out for football. They only put me on the team so they could hit Pop up for a donation. Shayla was the same. She dated me cause she wanted forever with the Langley name. The rest was a lie.”
“There’s more to this story, isn’t there?” Her playful tone ebbed as she nudged his leg. “Tell me the rest.”
“She said she was cool with having fun senior year until I left for boot camp, but her plan all along had been to change my mind. When that didn’t work, she told me I was selfish.
That I wasn’t thinking about Pop. That he’d already lost his son and daughter-in-law and that I was a bastard for making him worry about losing me too. ”
“Oh, Hudson. I hope you know that Sam loved you more than…”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “I know, Tessa.”
The screen door opened. The General came out juggling a bottle of bourbon and three mugs.
Steam wafted into the air as he set them on the table.
“Cappuccino machine is online again. Crisis averted. Stand down.” Reaching into his coat, he pulled out the file and handed it to Tessa.
“I’m giving this to you because it’s about your father. ”
“Frank.” Hudson touched the edge of the manila folder. “She calls him Frank.”
His clipped clarification soared Tessa’s heart into the stars.
The General nodded. “Frank’s quite the character. Want the highlights of what my people uncovered?”
The thick file burned the tips of her fingers. She resisted running toward the water and drowning it in the surf. Opening it would be like putting a match to gasoline because Frank played with fire.
And in the end, she always got burned.
Hudson stared at the file in Tessa’s hand.
Please don’t incriminate Frank.
He blinked as the thought blared in his head like a solar flare.
Shoving his hand into his sweats pocket, he touched the sinker.
If the intel in the file held evidence that Frank was responsible for Pop’s death, it would wrap up the investigation quicker.
Justice for Pop was the first thing he should have hoped for.
But he didn’t want Tessa’s heart to be broken.
He believed that she hated her father, but children weren’t born hating their parents or seeing their flaws.
He didn’t have a frame of reference because his parents had been amazing, but it would have crushed him to learn they weren’t the compassionate, wonderful people he believed them to be without question.
Not being a murderer was the only redeeming quality Tessa could name about her father.
The only thing she could defend.
He didn’t want her to lose that reason, but damn, he hoped that file contained a clue. Anything to lead them to who was responsible. They hadn’t gotten the autopsy report back yet, but Pop didn’t die of a heart attack. Someone had killed his grandfather. Once he found the fucker…
Tessa dropped the stack of papers on the table and wrapped her arms around herself. “Tell me what’s in there.”
The General cradled both hands around his mug. “What I’m about to say stays between us until the official report comes out.”
Tessa locked up beside Hudson, tension vibrating around her like lightning before a storm. The charge snaked around him and pulled them closer until their shoulders brushed as they braced for the bomb the General was about to detonate.
The General’s gaze cut between them. “The DNA found in Sam’s car, including on the candy wrapper, is Frank’s. You’ll get the police report tomorrow.”
Tessa’s pained inhale rolled through Hudson like thunder.
She blinked. “But Frank can’t—"
The General held up a hand. “Hudson briefed me on his surgery. I’ve reviewed Frank’s medical records and cross-checked the data. The findings are clear. Whoever’s in that video is not him.”
The knot in Hudson’s chest loosened. He caught Tessa’s gaze. Relief radiated from her face.
She looked up to the dark sky and whispered her gratitude. “Does the report give any indication about who impersonated Frank? Or who hacked in and erased the video feeds before and after the impersonator broke into the car and planted Frank’s DNA?”
“No, and no, but the report indicates definitive proof of sabotage.”
“I fucking knew it.” Hudson slammed his coffee mug on the table. Brown liquid sloshed onto the aged wood. “How?”
“Sensor spoofing device.” The General glanced at Tessa. “It’s a tiny transmitter that’s planted near a critical sensor. When triggered, in this case remotely, it feeds false data into the car’s system and causes loss of control.”
Tessa latched onto Hudson’s arm, her fingers trembling with the gravity of the news. Red-hot anger shot through his muscles and scorched his nerves.
Tessa gripped Hudson’s bicep tighter. “So, someone remotely triggered the device that made the car crash so it looked like an accident and planted a fake video to frame Frank. Why?” Because of my inheritance. Did you find any indication that someone knew I was in Sam’s will?”
“None. Malcolm’s firm has top-notch security, but we dug deep. No signs of a security breach, and no suspicious activity in your accounts either.” The General reached into his overcoat and pulled out a cigar. “Tell me why you think Frank would be monitoring your activity?”
She lifted her hand to her cheek.
Hudson stepped in front of her and caught her wrist. “Look at me.”
She lifted her chin. The pain she couldn’t hide churned the red haze in his head into a frenzy. Breathing slow and steady, he contained the impending firestorm.
“Listen, Tessa. I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I need you to answer the General’s questions so we can find the fuckers who killed Pop and make sure they regret it.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Good girl.” He turned to the General. With a nudge of his hip against Tessa’s, he encouraged her to talk.
“My mother loved Frank to a fault the size of the Grand Canyon. No matter how many times he broke her heart, she forgave him. And no matter how many times he broke mine, she looked the other way.”
Folding her hands in front of her chin, she stared at the ruby. “I learned to hide anything of value I had because if Frank found it, he’d take it. And if my mother knew about it, she’d give it to him to finance his next get-rich-quick scheme.”
She laughed. The pain threaded through the sardonic humor landed low and hard in Hudson’s gut.
Picking up a seashell from the bowl on the table, he ran his thumb along the rough edge and let memories of those early morning beach walks with Pop steady him before he said something about Frank he couldn’t take back.
Deadbeat or not, he was still Tessa’s father.
She wiped her hands on her pants and drew in a steadying breath.
“The schemes started before I was born, but he’d convinced her the payoff would be a castle in the sand when he hit it big.
I learned early on that his bedtime stories were bullshit, and not just because he’d never live near the water.
My mother never learned though. She took every word he said as gospel and never questioned it. ”
Hudson snapped the seashell in two.
Tessa took the halves and held one up. “Frank first.” She held up the other one. “Me second.” She dropped them to the stone with a shrug. “That’s just the way it was.”
A piece of the puzzle, not about Pop’s murder, but why Tessa loved Pop so much, slid into place as he turned to the water. Hudson knew with all his heart she’d never been second in that duplex in Belmarva. He’d seen with his own eyes that she wasn’t second in Pop’s letter.
Kicking the seashell pieces into the dunes with a curse, he vowed she’d never be second again.