Lucas’s words turned sharper. “Nothing to get excited over? Did you know that her bequest put the foundation just over the mark to hit our fundraising goals for this fiscal year? And cemented our place on your Top Fifty Most Influential Foundations list? I did the math—that’s something I’m good at—and without that bequest, we might have still made our budget, but there was a good chance the Bennett Foundation might have gotten knocked off the list.”

“I neglect to see your point, Titan.”

“Well, Archer, let me see if I can make it a little more clear: I went back to the CFO this morning with another request for your historical accounting records. I’ve spent my day digging through the last few years, and I noticed a really strange pattern. So I went back farther, about ten years. And you know what I found? A lot of conveniently timed deaths and accompanying bequests in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. I compared those years to the threshold to hit your precious list. The evidence is pretty damning.”

“What exactly are you saying, Titan?”

“I’m saying that I think once is a windfall, twice is quite a stroke of luck, but six times is impossible. And probably criminal.”

The words impossible and criminal ricocheted through my brain. There was no way in hell Lucas’s accusations could have any merit. No. Way. It didn’t make any sense. It had to be a coincidence. Didn’t it? My hopes were crushed when Archer spoke again.

“What do you want, Titan? How much to forget everything you saw.” The words were like a fist to the gut. An admission of guilt, if I’d ever heard one. I covered my mouth to stifle a gasp and staggered to lean against the wall.

“What makes you think I have a price?” Lucas asked.

“Everyone does.”

“You’re a piece of work, old man.”

“It’s nothing anyone else in my position wouldn’t do. Sacrifice one for the good of thousands.

“I think they call that a God complex.”

“Call it whatever you want, but I’d do it again. All of those people had already chosen to leave a portion of their estates to the foundation. I did nothing more than ensure that gift was received at a time when it would be the most beneficial,” Archer said.

Tears welled in my eyes, but in my shock, they didn’t fall. I heaved in breath after breath, but still felt like my lungs had been completely robbed of oxygen. My stomach revolted and bile rose in my throat.

Oh. My. God.

I was going to hyperventilate.

I fought to listen over the harsh sounds of my own breathing.

“So,” Archer continued. “Name your price. And if it’s Vanessa you want, I think we can make that happen. After all, that’s the whole damn reason I let you on the board to begin with. Your motives were obvious. Your execution has been… less than impressive. I’d expected a man like you could dissuade her from wanting to run this place and find a happy existence at home as your wife.”

My heart twisted and clenched. That’s why Archer has been so supportive in allowing him on the board? To get me out of the way? Which meant… he’d never wanted me to run the foundation to begin with.

I let the realization sink in. I don’t know him at all.

He’d arranged for people to be murdered to benefit the foundation. My stomach roiled, my late lunch churning and rising. I turned to run for the bathroom, but Lucas’s words froze me mid-step.

“I don’t think Vanessa is going to be taking directions from you when you’re behind bars. And what’s more, she’s in love with someone else. A man whose parents I’m pretty sure you had killed. She’ll never forgive you for that.”

I gagged as vomit rose. I bolted from the hallway and ran around the corner, slamming through the bathroom door and banging open a stall. I dropped to my knees and heaved until I had nothing left.

I didn’t even hear the sound of the bathroom door opening or recognize the presence of another person until my hair was lifted off the back of my neck. I jerked my head out of the toilet to see Lucas Titan holding out a piece of paper towel.

“You’re lucky Archer didn’t hear you,” he said.

Stomach still twisting into knots, tears streaming down my face, I took the paper towel with a shaky hand and tried to stifle my sobs.

I found myself ensconced in Lucas’s Aston Martin, and I didn’t know what to do. What to think. What to feel… beyond betrayal, outrage, and utter disbelief.

“What now? Is Archer packing his bags? Is he going to run for the border?”

Lucas shook his head as he changed lanes. “No. He told me to do whatever I felt I must, and that I should know that if I breathed a word of what I knew, the entire foundation would crumble, and I’d be hurting thousands of people.”

“You’d be hurting thousands of people? He’s the one who did this.” The sick bastard, I added silently. In the space of a few moments, he’d gone from mentor to monster.

Lucas glanced over at me. “I hate to say it, but your uncle is severely disturbed. He needs help. And he needs to be stopped. So what we do from here on out is up to you.”

“Me?”

“This is your heritage, your legacy. Ergo, your decision.”

The burden was a heavy one, but I would find the strength to bear it. Testing Titan, I asked, “And if I said I wanted you to keep it quiet?”

His jaw tightened. “I’d think you were a heartless bitch who deserved a cell alongside your doting uncle. But I wouldn’t put you there.”

That worked. “Good. Just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page. Because there’s no way I can let this stand.” I took a deep breath and asked the question I was terrified to confirm. “Did Archer have Con’s parents killed?”

Titan’s attention stayed on the road as he replied, “It fits the M.O. and the timeline. They left almost ten million in a bequest. Archer needed a particularly big bump that year to stay on the list. And there was one other donor who was also murdered during a home invasion. About two years before Con’s parents. Cases were damn near identical. Both unsolved. Similar evidence.” His eyes shifted to me for a beat. “So yeah, I think he did.”

“How do you know all that? The evidence? The other case?”

“I called in a favor today from a mutual friend of ours: Detective Hennessy.”