Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
She and Ty were officially eight hours into their nine-and-a-half-hour drive.
The day had been fun by road trip standards—or certainly more fun than when she made the trip alone.
They’d talked and snacked, sang and laughed, but with every mile that she drove closer to the compound, the sicker she felt.
They were nearly there. To her dad’s childhood home.
To the place that he’d loved most in the world.
To the grounds where her family still lived—her wonderful Gram-Gram, uncle, aunt, and cousin who’d made her feel safe and stayed involved in her life after the accident. The people who adored and trusted her.
“Hey,” Ty said, sliding his knuckles down her arm, interrupting her thoughts.
She looked at him as they both wore sunglasses in the bright sunshine.
“Are you getting tired? Do you need me to take a turn?”
She shook her head, focusing on the road again, moving out of the fast lane to let a car pass. “I’m good.”
He shook his head this time. “You’re quiet—in your head.”
She shrugged as she moved back to the faster lane, figuring that there was no point in denying that she was more than a little upset. He knew her too well.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She jerked her shoulders again. “I keep trying to convince myself that I’m okay with all of this, but deep down I know that I’m not.”
He touched her arm again. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Is it? Because it doesn’t feel like it. What if they find out? What if they disown me when they do? Because I wouldn’t blame them for telling me to kiss their asses.”
“Lyd—”
She adamantly shook her head as she gripped the steering wheel tighter.
“I keep thinking about how Gram-Gram, Aunt Cindy, and Uncle James would take the time to come see my swim meets after he was elected to the Senate. At Thanksgiving, Will would fly down from Harvard to spend the holiday in Oliver Heights. We would all sit around my grandparents’ table because they were supporting me.
They were loving me, and this is how I repay them? ”
“This isn’t a simple situation.”
“Maybe not. But I know for a fact that he would be so disappointed in me. My dad.”
“That’s not fair.”
She quickly met his gaze. “You’re right. It’s not. To help my family, I have to lie to them. To protect them, I have to betray them.”
“You’re not doing anything wrong.”
She scoffed as she looked at him again. “How can you say that? When is lying ever right?”
“In a situation like this. You’re helping me. You’re giving me the smoothest way onto the compound to develop information. We’ll get to the bottom of whatever this is, give the DOJ the answers that they so desperately want, then I’ll exit stage left without anyone being the wiser.”
“Well, I hate it. Being put in this position.”
“I’m sorry that I’ve put you in this position.”
“The FBI has put me in this position.”
“I am the FBI, Lyd.”
She said nothing else in the tense silence as the miles ticked by while the music played, watching the signs for Providence pass.
“Can you pull over?”
She frowned as she looked at him. “Are you okay? Do you feel sick?”
He shook his head.
She used her blinker to quickly change two lanes, making sure to pull well onto the shoulder as she put on her hazards. “There’s a rest area not too far up the road if you need to pee.”
“I don’t.” He turned up the stereo, blasting the first few catchy notes of Dua Lipa’s “Illusion” on the current playlist before he opened his door and got out in a white tank top and black athletic shorts that he wore with his sneakers.
Her frown returned as she got out in a similar outfit, but she wore denim short shorts with her tank top, hurrying around to his side in the summer heat. “What are you doing?”
He began to move to the song’s beat, his rhythm excellent. “Dancing.”
She felt her mouth fall open before she closed it. “What—Ty.”
He made a come-hither gesture with his finger as he continued to move. “Dance with me, Lyd.”
She struggled with a smile as he grabbed her hands and laced their fingers as he pulled them above her head.
“Dance, Lyd.”
She rolled her eyes as she followed his lead, finding her rhythm, then grinned as he did.
He let loose a loud whoop as a tractor-trailer drove by, shaking the vehicle. “You’ve got moves, Lyd.”
She laughed as he turned her in a circle. “I can’t believe I’m doing this! On the interstate!”
He pulled them back together, moving his hips with hers, keeping the dance going until the song started to wind down.
She laughed as he did. “You’re nuts!”
He nodded as he grinned. “Could be.” Then he surprised her by pulling her into a hug, holding her tight.
She returned his embrace, closing her eyes as she rested her head against his shoulder, feeling immediately soothed as she breathed him in.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said next to her ear, keeping her close for several more moments before he eased away far enough to hold her gaze through their lenses. “We’re going to make it okay.”
She nodded.
“You and me. We’re in this together.”
She nodded again, believing him as he continued to stare into her eyes.
He tucked the loose strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. “Do you want me to drive?”
She shook her head. “It’s still my turn. Plus, I know where I’m going.”
“Google knows how to get there, too.”
She shook her head again. “I’ve got it.”
“Okay, then. Should we get back on the road?”
She smiled. “Sure.” But she stopped him with her hand on his arm before he could move. “After I thank you for the dance party.”
He grinned. “We can dance anytime you want.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They both got in, and she got up to speed, smiling at him again as their gazes met a few minutes later as she took them over the border to Massachusetts.
Ty looked out his window, staring at the mighty Atlantic as Lydia drove down the coastal road in Shoalmans Bay. The congested summer traffic moved slowly on the narrow two lanes as he studied massive homes peeking out from privacy walls and tall bushes.
“Here we are,” she said as she flipped on her blinker and slowed, turning right down a long driveway, where a stunning home suddenly appeared through the trees on a gorgeous, manicured lawn.
He whistled through his teeth, taking it all in—the dozens upon dozens of black-shuttered windows on the white-trimmed, pale-gray three-story structure, where the five stone chimneys were a work of art all their own.
Then Lydia took the left that branched toward the attached five-car garage instead of the entrance to the main house, pulling farther around, where he realized that the surprises kept coming as he stared at the large pool and pool house surrounded by walking gardens and endless ocean views everywhere he looked.
He’d seen several pictures of the Monroe Estate during the research phase of the investigation, but they’d done the gorgeous spot little justice. “Damn, Lyd, how do you leave this place every summer?”
She grinned as she put the Kia in park. “So, you like it, then?”
He raised his brow as he looked at her. “I feel like we just pulled up to one hell of a resort.”
She laughed as she shook her head. “It’s just home.”
He studied her in a new light, amazed that she was so down-to-earth and lived relatively simply back in Oliver Heights when the Monroes’ wealth was so plainly staggering. “What’s it like to have all this?”
She shrugged as her eyes tracked around the property in her light-tinted lenses. “It’s hard to answer that question because I’ve always had it. I don’t know anything different.”
He nodded. “That’s fair.”
She met his gaze again. “My parents raised Burke and me so normally. I had no idea that our last name—who my family is in the world—was any different than anyone else until I was ten or eleven.”
“This will be yours someday? Yours and Will’s?”
She shrugged again. “Hopefully not for a long, long time.”
“The estate belongs to your grandma?”
She nodded. “The Monroes have owned it since my great-great-grandpa bought it long ago. He bought stocks when they were low and invested during the Great Depression, which made him a very wealthy man.”
Ty nodded, remembering the basic history when he’d taken the time to learn about the Monroes. “He was a senator, too.”
She nodded again. “He was the first in our family to run for political office. Back in the 1930s. All of my grandpas have held a seat in the US Senate since. And of course, now there’s Uncle James.”
“Is he going to run for president?”
Her shoulders tensed a little. “Who’s asking? You or Special Agent Corddry?”
“Me, Lyd.”
She held his gaze for several seconds before she nodded.
He studied her again, dressed in everyday clothes with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. “It’s hard to equate you with a political dynasty.”
She grinned. “Mostly, I’m just me. None of this belongs to me.”
“But you do have money.”
Her smile faded as she nodded. “Unfortunately, I do. Because of my parents’ deaths. I inherited a few million that I know I’m lucky to have, but I would trade it in a heartbeat if I could have them back.”
He took her hand, nuzzling it against his cheek, understanding exactly what she meant. He, his mom, and his sister had collected on his dad’s death benefits—nothing even close to the amount that Lydia had inherited—but all he’d ever wanted was his dad. “I’m sorry, Lyd.”
She sent him a small smile. “I know you are.”
He rubbed her knuckles against his skin again, wanting the somber moment to pass. “This is a truly beautiful spot.”
She nodded, holding his gaze. “I feel like I need to say that in this family, there are no handouts. You’re expected to earn your living.
Obviously, I have plenty in the bank, but if things had turned out differently and my parents were still alive, I would live off my teacher’s salary.
Burke would have done the same in whatever profession he would’ve chosen.
It’s the same for Will, too. The estate is worth a fortune, but by no means do we have access to it. ”