Page 12 of Lone Star Target

She stopped, recalling some photos she’d seen of Deanna. Ones taken before she married Trevor.

“Though Deanna was apparently a champion archer,” Kit explained. “And she excelled at other sports like competitive swimming and cross country.”

Not that being sports-minded proved anything, though it did indicate the woman had a competitive streak and the discipline it took to excel.

“And as for Brandon,” Kit added. “There’s a lot of tension between Brandon and Trevor.”

“Yet, he went to his father’s office,” Jace pointed out.

He had indeed done that. For something he needed for college, he’d said. Since it was July and the new semester would start next month, that meshed with Brandon having to do some kind of paperwork. But why would it have been in Trevor’s office? These days, most of the forms were done online.

“I agree with Roy on this,” she added a moment later. “My father is still the best candidate for the two attacks.”

Jace made a sound of agreement. “So, why are you just now seeing what your father is? And, yeah, I know you said you didn’t see him do anything outright illegal, but you’re smart, and you would have known he was dirty. Why stay in his pocket all this time?”

Oh, they were going here. Here, to a place she’d avoided going for, well, nearly two decades.

Considering they were now less than ten minutes from arriving at Brandon’s apartment, this was probably the worst timing in the history of bad timings. However, she went ahead and spelled it out for him, knowing that Jace wasn’t going to like what she was about to say.

“To use an old movie cliché, my father made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Kit said.

Jace cursed. “No amount of money was worth that.”

“I agree. And the offer wasn’t money.” She paused. Had to. “The offer was you. At least part of it was.”

As she’d expected, that earned her a puzzled look from Jace. It didn’t last long. Jace was smart, and she watched as he mentally filled in the blanks.

Yeah, they were going here all right.

“Are you saying…” He started but then stopped and cursed. It took him a couple of seconds to rein in his anger. “Are you saying your father blackmailed you by threatening me?”

Kit could sugarcoat this, but since the box was already open, she didn’t bother. Besides, Jace would soon figure it all out.

“Yes,” she verified. “You and your foster brothers, Angel and Presley.” She gathered her breath. “He could have ruined all three of you.”

Jace’s grip tightened to white knuckles on the steering wheel, and he shot some glares at her. Brief glares because even now, he was in the protector mode. Even now, he was watching out for her.

Kit liked to think she’d watched out for him back then.

“My father can be a dangerous man,” she went on. “And he doesn’t play nice. I’d watched him destroy my mother because of an affair she had when I was fourteen. He turned her family against her, ruined her financially, bankrupted her business, and hounded both her and her lover until she ended her life.”

“You didn’t need to sacrifice yourself for me. I wouldn’t have ended my life no matter what he did to me,” Jace started through a very tight jaw.

“I know, but again, it wasn’t just you. It was Angel and Presley. And me,” she had to add. “Because my father didn’t come out and say it, but he would have done to me what he did to my mother. I was a coward, and I gave in. I got our marriage annulled and ended things with you.”

Or rather she’d attempted to end things.

But there’d been those hookups with Jace, and they’d happened any and every time that they’d crossed paths. Probably not this time though. She was the job now. And Jace wasn’t likely to forgive her anytime soon for not having the courage to stand up to her father.

“Do you remember that day I went to you to give you back my engagement and wedding rings,” she went on.

Jace gave her a flat stare to let her know he did indeed remember it. Of course, he had. That meeting had shattered them both, but Jace had no doubt taken the brunt of the shattering since he hadn’t known this wasn’t about her feelings for him.

But rather what her father had demanded.

“Ramsey had one of his hired muscle guys follow me,” Kit spelled out. “He recorded the meeting so my father could be sure I’d truly broken off things with you.”

Jace couldn’t quite maintain that flat look. Probably because he was remembering her handing back the engagement ring and the wedding band. They hadn’t been from a high-end store. Nor had they been expensive. But it had ripped her to pieces to take them off and hand them to Jace.

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