Travis set down the phone, careful not to show the raging emotions fighting to emerge. Anger. Rage. Fury. And worst of all, fear.
Angeline arched a brow. She scooted closer to him. It made the family room feel suffocating.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
Why was it always so hard to hide things from her? “Fine.”
“Okay.” Her still-raised eyebrow told him she didn’t believe it.
“It is.” He picked up his glass of wine and took a long, slow sip. It did nothing to relax him.
The lab results told him what he had already known. He’d fathered Mandy’s second child. Sure, he knew it could have been the husband. What was his name? It didn’t matter, but soon he’d find out. Once Rusty got a hold of the results in the morning, Travis was sure to hear from all of them.
Would they want him to pay up? Take the kid? Or worse… did they suspect him of harming Mandy?
The husband was already in jail.
“Did you hear me?” Angeline asked.
Travis blinked a few times and stared at her. “What?”
“What’s gotten into you lately? It’s like you’re in your own little world.”
“I have a lot on my mind. You know I have several big deals I’m juggling. Everyone wants me all the time.” Including Angeline. Including Mandy’s family.
“Seems like more than that, Travis. Do you want to talk about it?”
And hurt her with the knowledge that he had a kid out there already? Multiple kids, in fact. But the other women had happily kept quiet about everything. Not Mandy. He’d underestimated her.
She’d underestimated him, too.
“You used to be able to tell me everything,” Angeline said, staring into his eyes. “Don’t you remember? Before we married, every free moment you had, we spent it together. One thing you said you liked about me was that I’m a good listener. I still am, you know.”
He nodded. “Of course you are.” But her patience would only go so far. And he’d given her so much in the prenuptials—he’d really been in love, and ignored the advice of his attorneys.
Travis couldn’t afford to divorce her. And if he was completely honest with himself, he didn’t want her to leave, either. Not that his actions showed it with how little time he’d spent with her since they’d married. He knew how badly she wanted his time.
“Do you want to take a vacation?” he asked, his heart racing.
“Of course.” Her eyes lit up. “When should I plan for?”
“I mean right now. Leave as soon as we can. Take the private jet and head anywhere you want. Where do you feel like going? The summer home in Italy? Our new place in Hawaii? Somewhere else altogether?”
Angeline’s mouth gaped.
“All of them? Spend a few days at each one?”
“I… what’s brought all this on?”
His stomach knotted. “Why are you questioning a good thing?”
“You can’t blame me for being surprised. I had to fight for this dinner with you. Now you want to fly out on a long vacation—right now?”
“I thought you’d be happy.”
“Of course. I’m just not prepared.”
“Each place has everything we need. We can send for luggage. I thought you enjoyed being spontaneous. And you want to spend more time together, right?”
She tilted her head and studied him. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m just trying to spend some time with my wife. If you don’t want to…”
“I do. But I’ve got the gala tomorrow. I’ve put so much into it, Travis. I can’t miss it.”
He frowned. Another day? In the morning, Rusty would get the test results. Find out that Travis fathered that kid.
“Can’t we leave the day after tomorrow?” Angeline asked.
Travis pulled her close and nestled her neck. He trailed kisses from her shoulder up to her ear.
“You’re not answering my question,” Angeline said.
Travis unbuttoned her top two buttons as he kissed along her jawline, stopping to nibble her mouth.
She kissed him back and her body started to relax. But then she stopped. “What’s going on?”
“I just want to spend more time with you.” He threaded his fingers through her hair.
“Why are you so eager to get me out of town?” Angeline backed up and studied him.
“It’s not like that.” His pulse raced. The room seemed to heat up. “I just want some time with you. I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said earlier.”
“Why?” She started to look suspicious again.
“Can’t a man want a vacation with his wife?” He brushed lips across hers and then deepened the kiss as he simultaneously pulled her closer, pressing her against him.
“Of course, but tonight?”
“Yes.”
“I told you, I can’t.”
Travis backed up and slammed the table. “I can’t believe you, woman! You beg for time with me. Plead. Threaten. Everything. Finally, I offer it to you, and what do you do? Question me!”
Angeline’s eyes widened and then her brows came together. “Of course! After the way you’ve been acting. And don’t call me woman.”
“I’ll call you whatever I feel like. Start packing. I have calls to make.”
She shook her head. “You’re really something else. You ignore me all this time, and then just expect me to say ‘how high?’ the moment you say ‘jump.’”
“I’m giving you what you want!”
Angeline stood up and glared at him. “I want to know what’s going on. You can’t blame me for being curious.”
“Suspicious is more like it. Damn it. Just pack your things. I’ll meet you in our room after I make some calls.”
“No.”
He stared at her. “No?”
“I realize you’re not used to hearing that word—maybe no one has ever said it to you. But I am. No. I’m not going anywhere with you right now. The gala is important to me, and I’m not going to drop it.”
They stared each other down. Travis was in too much shock to think of a response. His mind spun out of control.
His phone rang. He pressed ignore without even checking to see who the caller was.
“Now you’re ignoring calls?” Angeline asked. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you when we’re on the plane.”
Her brows came together. “Tomorrow night?”
Travis hit the table again. “No! Tonight. I’ll meet you in our room in an hour.”
“I told you no. I have a lot to do to get ready for tomorrow evening.”
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded.
“Me? What’s wrong with you?”
Travis spun around and stormed to the doorway. He turned back and glared at her. “Be in our room in an hour.”
Angeline’s mouth formed a straight line, but she didn’t say anything.
“One hour.” He left the room and checked the missed call. Wes. Another one from Juan at the lab. What more could he possibly want?
He went into his home office, locked the door, and returned Juan’s call. “More bad news, I assume?”
“The phone rang while I was packing up for the night, and I didn’t answer it because I need to get home.”
“Can you get to the point? I’m in a rush.”
“Sorry. I checked the message, and it was the cops. They want the results.”
Travis swore. “You haven’t told them, have you?”
“Of course not, but my boss already sent the results upstairs for the morning. It’s locked, and I don’t have a key.”
“But they know about the paternity test.”
“Yes.”
Travis took a deep breath. “Okay. I appreciate you letting me know.”
“Sorry I can’t do more. My hands are tied.”
“I understand, and I’ll deal with it.”
“If you need anything—”
“I don’t. Everything’s covered. Talk to you later.” Travis ended the call and slunk into the soft leather sofa across from his desk.
What would he do if Angeline refused to go with him? Would he go without her? He had his own business to take care of—stuff far more important than a stupid gala.
The phone rang again. Wes.
“What?” Travis demanded.
“Did you talk to Juan?”
“Yes.” Travis toyed with his tie, loosening it.
“Are you heading out of town?” Wes asked.
“Angeline won’t go. Not yet.”
“The gala. Camille won’t stop talking about it. Go without her. She’ll meet you after it’s over.”
“That pretty much blows my cover, don’t you think?” Travis exploded. “A romantic getaway without my wife?”
“No, it doesn’t. You’re going ahead of time to set things up personally. Makes you a hero.”
Travis rolled his eyes. “Makes me a loser. What did you find out about Caldwell?”
“Rusty’s back in town. He’s either staying at his sister’s place or with the skank next door. He’s been to both houses since arriving. He’s got the kids.”
“And the police are onto me.”
“All they’ll find is you fathered the kid. He’s what? Twelve? That doesn’t prove anything other than that you slept with Mandy thirteen years ago. They can’t pin her death on you. We made sure of that.”
Travis slid his tie off, balled it up, and threw it across the room. “No chance they can figure out we hired him?”
“I took every precaution. Even more than I needed to. They can’t link us to her killer.”
“Except that now they know about the paternity.”
“Which doesn’t mean you killed her. The husband’s in jail for it. Seems everything fell into place nicely there. They have some solid evidence against him—so I hear.” Wes laughed. “Don’t worry, Travis. It’s not coming back to you. We hired the best of the best. They took care of it and even got someone else to take the fall. What more could you ask for?”
“How about a cooperative wife?”
“You wouldn’t want a timid little mouse, and you know it.”
“Fine. So, what should I do? I can’t think.” Travis rubbed his temples.
“That’s why you pay me the big bucks.” Wes laughed again.
“Would you stop that?” Travis exclaimed. “There’s nothing funny about any of this.”
“You’ll be the one laughing when all of this is over. Just go on with everything like business as usual. If you really want a vacation with Angeline, start planning. If you have any meetings set up over the next couple weeks, have your secretary change them to virtual meetings.”
“The police are going to question me.”
“You’ve done nothing wrong. They can’t prove ties between you and the killer. Repeat that to yourself. It’s true, and you need to believe it. Worst case scenario, you’ll have to fess up to Angeline about this and pay some support.”
“To whom? The mother’s dead!” Travis got up and kicked his desk. “They’re going to send the kid here. His dad’s in jail.”
“Maybe the uncle will take them on. He lost his family, remember? Look, they can’t force you to take the kid. It’s a free country, and you pretty much run this town. The cops practically work for you.”
“Until I break the law.”
Wes laughed. “You do that nearly every day. They’ve never held you accountable for a thing. You won’t be connected to Mandy’s death. My man left no evidence of a break-in and the drugs aren’t supposed to be detected.”
“Then how do the cops know she had drugs in her system?” Travis shouted.
“How the hell do we know? She was a former druggie, right? Probably fell off the wagon.”
Travis released a string of profanities. “Is that the backup plan? She was a druggie, what, fifteen years ago?”
“Hey, they won’t connect it to you. And even if they do, you have connections. People cower in fear from you.”
Travis paced. “I should have listened to my gut. It was a bad idea to have her killed. How did I let you talk me into it?”
“Excuse me?” Wes asked, no longer laughing.
“You heard me.”
“Don’t turn on me,” Wes exclaimed. “Why didn’t you just pay that chick off?”
“She wouldn’t take a lump sum.” Travis kicked his desk again as he paced the large office. “Not like the others. No, she wanted monthly payments. And that’s neither nor there, so get off my back.”
“Look. We both need a break. Let’s just sleep on this. Everything’s going to be fine. After all these years, I’m sure you can easily give up your parental rights. Maybe you can pay off the uncle or the husband. I’ll look into it.”
“Then double-check that nothing leads back to me.”
“Fine.”
“Great. Talk to you then.” Travis ended the call. Things were going from bad to worse faster than he could keep up. Angeline. Wes. The test results. The cops.
The cops. That was it. Wilson had been promoted to Lieutenant recently. Travis pulled out his phone and found Wilson’s number.
“Calloway,” Wilson said. He sounded less than thrilled to hear from Travis.
“Look, you remember Candy?”
Silence. “Hold on a moment. I need to close my office door… Why are you bringing the hooker up again, Travis?”
“I need you to remember what I know. What it can do to you.”
“Why?” Wilson demanded.
“Because something might cross your desk that you need to forget about it. Accidentally destroy, perhaps.”
Wilson swore. “I just got this promotion, and now you want me to put it on the line?”
“Or I could tell the captain about Candy. Didn’t you see her friend—?”
“Fine. You have my word. Consider it taken care of.”
“Thank you. Have a wonderful day.” Travis ended the call.
Unfortunately, murder was something Wilson might still choose not to ignore. Travis needed to do everything he could to make sure the information never even reached the police station.
He couldn’t afford to sit around and wait for Wes. Look where that had gotten him. Mandy’s murder was supposed to go smoothly. Travis wasn’t supposed to have to give her or that kid another thought ever again. Yet look what had happened. Where he was now.
A broken nail he’d clipped off and left on his plate at the last party would be his undoing. He’d been too distracted and he’d made a mistake. One little mistake. And it was going to cost him. Either by pissing off Angeline or worst case, him going to jail for being behind Mandy’s death.
It was time to take matters into his own hands. Rusty would be going to the lab the next morning to pick up the results. Travis could talk to him man to man. And if that didn’t work, then he would simply kill him. If the cops were going to arrest Travis for murder anyway, he may as well be guilty.