“So he just came over to help you?”

“Yes. I called him in the middle of the night and he came right over. Daddy, I really like him. He’s a good man.”

The car slowed and she felt him pull to the right. He was stopping the car.

“Listen, before we get home, I want to talk to you about this man. I’ve looked him up. I believe you when you say he’s not a gold digger.”

“Good, because he’s not. He gave up a job in his father’s business just to work for a non-profit. Gold diggers don’t do that.”

“I agree.” She heard him smack his lips together, which he did when he was deep in thought. “His family seems strong. His aunt is a Pierpont and has the non-profit.”

“Correct. She’s the heir to Pierpont Oil. Or was.”

“His uncle is a doctor and his other uncle a teacher. His father is the CEO of an enormous corporation. There wasn’t anything to say he didn’t come from good stock.”

“I know that, Daddy.”

“What do you know about his mother?”

Courtney swallowed hard. “She’s a very nice woman.”

“She was engaged once.”

“Oh,” she said and let her voice trail. “Well, he does have a sister he’s only known for a few years. She’d given her up at birth.”

Her father let out a low hum. “Did you know his mother killed an ex-lover?”

The muscles in her neck stiffened. She’d never lied to her father before. She wasn’t going to lie now. “No.”

“It was dropped in the press pretty quickly, from what I gathered.”

“Press? How hard did you really have to dig for that?” She knew better than that.

“I worry about you.”

“How do you know this, Daddy?”

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “I have my connections. You know that. The point is I worry about you and the people you spend your time with. I need to be able to tell your mother who you’re with.”

The emphasis didn’t make her nerves calm any.

“Anyway, it was said to be in self-defense. His cousin Clara was involved and his Aunt Arianna. The theater his aunt owns was destroyed by fire and that was where this man’s body was found.”

Courtney felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck. “Who was the man?”

“Alexander Hamilton.”

“How do you know this was his mother’s lover?”

“I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt—old ex-lover. They are tied together in items going back nearly twenty-six or more years. He was some investor in L.A. and she worked in a law office that represented him.”

She nodded. “And when did he die?”

“After Tyler was born.”

Courtney lifted her hand to her trembling lips. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

“So that you know who this man is. Everyone has skeletons in their closets, Courtney. His closet has murder and arson.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Avery went home by five o’clock, but Tyler sat in the quiet boardroom and stared at his phone.

NO NEED TO PICK ME UP. I’LL MEET YOU THERE TOMORROW. GOODNIGHT.

The text message had him a bit perplexed and worried. He’d hoped that after she’d spent the afternoon with her father she’d spend the night with him.

“You still working in here?”

Tyler turned at the sound of his father’s voice. “All done for today. Thanks for letting us use the space,” he said as he stood from his chair.

“All yours as long as you need it. I’ve told Simone for years she could have an office here. But she says it gives the wrong impression.”

Tyler laughed thinking of his aunt’s office. “When three people are working on a project, it’s necessary.”

Zach Benson, with his cap of nearly white hair, rested his hands on the back of the nearest chair. “So, Courtney…” He let it linger in the air. “She’s a nice girl.”

“She is.”

“Seems to be handling her brother’s death well too.”

“I think it’ll hit her soon. Right now she’s doing the brave thing and going on.”

“Are you ready for it when she does decide she needs to deal with it?”

Tyler bit down on his lip. “I am. They were very close. Something is going to trigger the emotions. You never know what it’s going to be.”

His father pulled out the chair he’d had his hands rested on and sat down. Tyler followed, realizing his father needed to talk.

“It might not be the same, but your mother would have things that set her off—about Darcy. When her birthday would pass or she’d see a little girl in just the right dress.”

“She’d get emotional about it?”

His father nodded. “She’d never let you or Spencer see that though, but it was there.”

“I suppose it was as if she’d lost Darcy the same way Courtney lost Fitz—her brother,” he added. “Unexpectedly.”

“I can’t imagine what it took for her to give Darcy away. She loved Darcy’s father. She looked forward to her birth and she never expected what came of it.”

Tyler rubbed his palms on the legs of his pants. He’d known of the man his mother once was engaged to, but he’d only learned of him when Darcy’s maternity had come to light. It had been one of the many reasons he’d had to leave and find himself.

“Did it bother you to know she loved someone like him?” Tyler had to know what the man felt.

His father tapped his fingers on the table. “When I fell in love with her I didn’t know any more than she’d been hurt by someone. I didn’t know it was physical.” He sat back in his chair. “She wouldn’t let me in emotionally. But I charmed her,” he said, grinning.

“When you found out about Darcy—the baby—did that change how you felt?”

His father shook his head. “No. It changed how your mother dealt with me. Not how I felt about her.”

“How did she deal with it?”

“She ran away,” he said very matter-of-factly.

Tyler dropped his shoulders and let the similarity in their actions squeeze at him. No wonder his mother had always been so easy on him. He’d caused her a world of hurt, but she’d always let him have his space. Then again, he didn’t let many people know where he was while he was running.