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CHAPTER NINETEEN

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Sullivan glanced at his watch. Dani had left over twenty minutes ago. Where was Lana? It couldn’t take that long to gather her things. He was rather anxious to take her home and have a very important conversation with her. When he mentioned taking off her dress on their wedding night, he’d slipped up.

He hadn’t meant to bring up his desire for her to be his wife—at least not yet. She was starting to become accustomed to being in a relationship with him. Patience was supposed to be a virtue, and he hoped to give her all the time she needed. Now he’d have to step things up a bit and explain where he saw them going. Perhaps that was for the best though. If she realized how committed he was to her, she might be more open to a real future with him. He was going to search for her. He wanted to go home, and his patience had run out.

“Hey, Sully, wait up,” a man called out to him.

Sullivan stopped mid-step and turned to find out who was yelling for him. Almost all of the wedding guests were already gone. There were a few hangers-on having a bit too much fun on the dance floor even though the music had stopped an hour ago. They were quite drunk and his parents would either call them a cab or find a guest bedroom for them.

“Aaron,” he said, surprised. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you last night, or hell, earlier today. It’s been a busy couple of days.”

His friend had tried to talk to him at the rehearsal dinner, but in the chaos of everything that was Daniella’s wedding he’d forgotten all about it. He was a bad friend. Aaron had said it was important, and he should have made the time.

“Do you have time now?”

He wanted to go in search of Lana, but it could wait a few more minutes. She was gathering her stuff. That shouldn’t take too much longer—he hoped. “Yes,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“I have something you need to see. Do you have a computer somewhere in that big mansion we can borrow for a minute?”

That was a weird request, but one he could see to. “There is. Follow me.”

He headed inside with Aaron by his side and into his father’s office. It was the closest computer, and his father wouldn’t mind them using it. The room was richly decorated to his father’s taste of dark brown and rich mahogany. The back wall had built in shelves filled with books his father found interesting—everything from the mystery fiction to nonfiction books on the mating rituals of leopards. His father had bizarre tastes. The computer sat on the desk in the far corner away from the window. His father hated the glare of sunlight on his monitor.

“Here it is,” Sullivan said as he tapped the power button. “You want to tell me what this is about while it boots up?”

“It’s best if I show you.”

Aaron wasn’t known for being cryptic. What the hell did he have to show him on a damned computer that was so important? His mind kept going back to Lana. She wouldn’t know where to find them now that he was in his father’s office with Aaron. He should have told someone to direct her there when she came back outside.

Finally, the computer monitor buzzed on. Aaron sat down and plugged a flashdrive into the USB slot on the tower. A file popped onto the screen, and he opened it immediately. Hundreds of spreadsheets filled the screen, all labeled. It had expense reports, order invoices, grant reports, scholarship recipients, and much more. All of them for the foundation...

“Where did you get this?” he asked.

“Sienna received it in the mail yesterday. We didn’t know what it was at first. When she started to look at it, the color drained from her face. There is a note on here too.”

Aaron clicked open a word document. It was a message from Wilson Stuart outlining all of his findings and how to read the numbers. At the end, he told them who he believed was responsible and how much money they had filtered out of the foundation over the years they’d been in charge. Sullivan swore under his breath. He should have talked to Aaron last night. “I need to call Carter and Dane.”

Sullivan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and made the call.

“What do you want, Sullivan?” Carter said gruffly.

“I have the evidence we’ve been searching for.”

“No shit,” Carter said. “It magically turned up?”

Sullivan rolled his eyes. “I don’t have that ability. Wilson mailed a flashdrive to someone he trusted. Come by my parent’s place and pick it up now.”

He wanted to hand it over as soon as possible. It was good that they’d found it, and the person who’d tried to steal from the foundation would pay. It didn’t prove they killed Wilson though they probably had. No matter what, they would be punished for their crime.

“I’ll be there soon. I’m actually not too far from there.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Sullivan ended the call and turned toward Aaron. “Thanks for bringing this to me. How is Sienna holding up?”

“She’s pretty shaken,” Aaron admitted. “Ever since the murder, she’s been afraid to go to work. The foundation means a lot to her though, so she’s been forcing herself. What is going to happen now?”

Sullivan wished he knew how to answer that. “There’s going to be an arrest and a trial. Let’s hope they can find the evidence they need to charge her with more than embezzlement and Wilson gets the justice he deserves.” He rubbed his temples. “Can you stick around to talk to Carter about the flashdrive? He’s going to have questions, and it will help expedite things.”

Aaron nodded. “Anything to help. Might as well leave everything up on the computer too. It’s easier to show him that way.”

“Good,” Sullivan said. “I need to find Lana. Stay here until either I return or Carter arrives. Make sure he takes the flashdrive as evidence.”

“Can’t you wait to find her?” Aaron glanced around the room anxiously. “I don’t like being in charge of this thing. It’s made me nervous since Sienna found it. Wilson was killed for this thing.”

“Please,” Sullivan asked. “It shouldn’t take long to locate her. I already owe you for bringing this to me, but Lana should be done changing by now. I need to find her.”

“All right,” Aaron reluctantly agreed.

A knock echoed through the room. Sullivan glanced up as a tiny woman walked inside. She kept her head low and she trembled slightly. “Excuse the interruption, sir, but there is something you need to see in the kitchen.”

At this rate he was never going to find Lana and go home. “Can it wait until morning?”

She shook her head. “No, sir, I’ve already called emergency services. It’s Mrs. Kelly. She’s...”

Sullivan didn’t wait for her to finish. He was rushing out of the room past her as fast as he could without running. Maybe he should run. It was Lana’s mother, and if something happened to her, Lana would be devastated. When he reached the kitchen, he found a man standing near the supply closet. He was a young guy, probably no more than eighteen. “What’s your name?”

“Richard, sir,” he replied. “I was hired on for the wedding staff. Is Mrs. Kelly going to be all right? She’s a kind lady.”

“Where is she?” he asked.

The man gestured inside the closet. “She’s on the floor, sir. We don’t know what happened to her.”

Sullivan rushed inside and over to Mrs. Kelly’s side. He leaned down and checked her pulse. Thank God she was still alive. The piece of fabric under her head seemed familiar. It was a metallic gold like Lana’s scarf from her bridesmaid dress. She had been in there and must be aware of her mother’s injury. She would not have left her side willingly. That meant something had happened to Lana too.

“Seems like there’s more going on here than finding that flashdrive,” Carter said drolly. “You have a weird idea of a party.”

“This is not my doing,” Sullivan replied anxiously. “Lana’s missing. I think they have her.”

“They?” Carter raised a brow. “What evidence is on that drive to make you believe there’s more than one.”

“Nothing,” he said. “But I know Lana. If it was only Colleen, she’d have dealt with her and still be here. They can’t have gone far; Lana hasn’t been missing long.”

The paramedics rushed in and checked on Mrs. Kelly as Sullivan and Carter talked. The paramedics loaded Mrs. Kelly onto the gurney as Carter and Sullivan exited the kitchen. He hoped she would be all right. Either way, he’d take Lana to see her mother later, once he found her.

“The house is large, and they could be hiding anywhere,” Carter said. Sullivan nodded. “Except the staff is cleaning and organizing the house after the wedding. My mother likes efficiency in all things. That’s why she hired extra staff. They would have left the house to avoid being discovered. I suspect that’s why Mrs. Kelly was attacked. She was probably in the wrong place and paid the price for it.”

“Then let’s organize a search of the grounds,” Carter said. “Dane should be here soon. He can take one group, and I’ll lead another.”

Sullivan didn’t want to wait for Dane to arrive. His stomach churned and he had to find Lana. If Carter wanted to wait he could, but Sullivan wasn’t standing idly by while the woman he loved was in danger. “That’s all well and good, but I know the estate better than anyone.” Except his parents and Lana. “I’ll start without you and let you know if I find anything. Aaron has the flashdrive in my father’s study. He’s waiting for someone to come retrieve it. If you’re not going to help me, at least go do that.”

“Down, Cowboy,” Carter said and placed a hand on Sullivan’s arm. “You don’t exactly have experience in this kind of thing, and you’ll be outnumbered if you do locate them. Wait for backup; it’s the smart thing to do. We can grab the flashdrive later. Aaron kept it safe this long, so it’ll be fine for now.”

Sullivan shook his arm free of Carter’s grip. “That may be true, but they have Lana. I’d die if something happened to her. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do, no risk I wouldn’t take, and no chance I’m fucking staying here when she needs me.”

Carter sighed. “Wait five seconds and I’ll go with you.” His fingers flew over his phone as he texted a message. Probably to Dane... “Okay, let’s go. Where do we go first?”

“Follow me,” Sullivan said. “I have an idea.”

He walked out of the kitchen, down a hallway that was the fastest route out of the house. It had to be the way they’d left. This particular path was as far away from the wedding reception as possible and a little off the beaten path. Not many people went this way unless they wanted to go to where it led in particular. Sullivan prayed he was right.

***

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“THIS IS RIDICULOUS,” Lana said for the hundredth time. “Even with your shady judge and equally nefarious witnesses, this wedding isn’t legal. Besides, I have to sign the paperwork too. Nothing you do is going to convince me to do anything so stupid.”

“Don’t you ever shut up?” Victoria asked.

“Do you ever breathe through your nose, or do you prefer to keep your mouth open in invitation?” Lana shot back.

“Bitch,” Victoria said.

Lana snorted. “At least you recognize yourself in the mirror.”

She couldn’t believe these idiots had concocted this stupid scheme. The judge had stopped talking and looked at Colleen. She nodded at him to continue. “Do you take Lana Kelly to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” Tony said.

Lana laughed. “Please tell me that’s the name you put on the marriage license.”

“Of course it is,” Colleen said. “It is your name.”

“Shit,” Victoria said. “No, it isn’t.”

Lana guffawed. The idiots had some communication problems. Victoria would know her real name because she was around when she went by Lisanna. Colleen and Tony, on the other hand, knew her only as Lana. That was after her transformation into the smartass she was now.

“Don’t be daft,” Tony said. He crinkled his eyebrows together and stared at them as if they’d lost their minds. “She’s Lana. Always has been.” Poor fool couldn’t see how wrong he was in his assumption.

“No, she hasn’t, you moron.” Victoria said. “Her real name is Lisanna. Lana is her damn nickname.”

This would be the best comedic show she’d ever attended if they weren’t all raving lunatics. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about this farce of a ceremony much longer. They would probably end up killing her after all. At least she wouldn’t die as Mrs. Anthony Derosa, so there was that. Not much of a consolation in the grand scheme of things.

“Well, this was all for Tony anyway,” Colleen said nonchalantly. “We have the money, so he can deal with his prize any way he sees fit.”

“Money?” Lana lifted a brow. “Is that what makes your heart go pitter-pat in the heat of the night? You make yourself come to those dead presidents?”

“I forgot how nasty her mouth is,” Colleen said glaring at Lana with hatred. Then turned toward Victoria and Tony and demanded, “Can one of you please gag her?”

“No,” Tony shouted. “You promised she’d marry me. I did everything you said. I set her house on fire. It was supposed to be me who rescued her, but no, that rich bastard beat me to it. I was about to run in and be the hero just before he arrived. Now, she’s so grateful to him that she’s living with him. That should be me.”

Tony was the reason she’d lost her house? Sadness spread through her. He was further gone than she’d thought. There was no coming back from this. His fixation on her wasn’t healthy.

“You think I enjoy seeing her with him?” Colleen snapped. “He has always had eyes for her. Everyone could see it, but we all thought we could make him forget. We’re all fools, but I think you’re the biggest one of all. You actually think you can marry her and make her love you. Get over it, asshole. Take your share of the money and disappear. That’s what we plan on doing.”

“She does have a point,” Victoria said indifferently. “Though, on the bright side, if we get caught, at least I don’t have arson or a murder charge to contend with. That’s all on you two.”

The trio of lunatics were unraveling before her. Soon the separate threads would detonate, and if she was lucky, explode on each other. Maybe she should start to take a few steps away from them. Slowly, because she didn’t want to clue them into her plan...

Step one. No one noticed.

“Since my services are no longer needed, I’m going to call it a night,” the judge said. “Ladies, gentleman, it was nice doing business with you.” The man walked away and didn’t look back. The three crazies watched him, and Lana took three more steps backward while their attention was elsewhere.

“Good riddance,” Victoria said. “We don’t need him.”

“Yes, we do,” Tony disagreed with her. “I need him to marry me and Lana.”

“I can’t believe he’s this dumb,” Colleen said. She rolled her eyes, then told Tony, “It’s not happening. At least not tonight. Take Lana and go someplace sunny without extradition.”

Lana took several more steps back. Tiny, baby steps, and she had at least three feet between them now. If she could lose her shoes—without them noticing... She would have a hard time running in the heels and then there was the stone steps to contend with.

They were arguing full-blown now. Not one of them paid attention to her, and she was almost to the stone steps. Then, suddenly, they all turned to face her. Fuck. She’d have to make a run for it. They had all realized how close she was to escaping. She spun around and hit a solid wall of muscle. Lana started to fight and push, but was quickly embraced by a strong male with arms of steel. All right, that was an exaggeration, but after the night she was having, it was allowed.

“Easy, Lisanna,” Sullivan said softly. “It’s me.”

At the sound of his voice she burst into tears and laid her head on his shoulder. Shouts echoed in the distance, but she didn’t care what was happening. She’d thought she might die and never see him again. This was the miracle she’d been praying for. “I love you,” she said between sobs.

“I love you too,” he said. “I believe I told you I gave you my heart a long time ago. Keep it safe for me, will you. It’s a fragile thing and couldn’t handle being broken.”

With those words, she cried harder. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this man, but she promised not to take him for granted again. A love like theirs didn’t happen often, and she intended to hold onto it until her last breath.