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“Preferably.” I pause, the next few words hard to say. “I’d also like to get their perspective if we can.”

“You’re off your rocker, woman.”

“No,” I reply. “Just strategic.”

“Becks, at best, Carson will be too drunk to talk and Emer won’t shoot us. No good will come out of reaching out to my brothers, and you know it.”

I dump my empty bottle in the garbage. “No. I don’t know it, Hale.”

“You didn’t see my mother at the end of her life. She was a broken woman who drank her calories. A fact my brothers sure as shit blame, and will never forgive me for.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because, unlike my daddy, I wasn’t sure I could forgive her. After our talk, I left. Went back to New York to try to forget everything I’d learned. She’d call sometimes. I’d reach out and ask her if she needed anything. But it was all pretend. We knew there was no going back to the family I thought I had.”

“How was she when you spoke with her?”

“Different.” Hale glares at the fire. “Drunk. Always drunk. She tried to deny it. I begged her to get help. After a while we . . . I don’t know. I gave up on trying to convince her and she gave up on life.”

“Did you try to see her?” Hale winces. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad,” I add, carefully. “I’m trying to understand what happened.”

“She didn’t want to see anyone. She locked herself up in the house. The only one she’d let in was some asshole she paid to deliver her booze. It’d been a few days since my brothers had heard from her. They broke into the house when she wouldn’t answer the door and found her.”

I expect tears. No. Iwanttears from Hale. They don’t come.

I swear under my breath. I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes things are too sad for tears. I didn’t see his momma near the end of her life, but I’d heard enough. Alcoholic liver disease is as ugly as it sounds.

Hale lowers his half-empty beer to the ground. Seconds pass. Minutes pile up. And the storm vanishes far away from us. I know we’re done talking. At least for now.

I stand and fold the blanket, clearing my throat. “I might not see you for a couple days. There are things I need to do and people I have to reach out to.”

“I thought you were done with all the prep work?” he asks.

I was. Until I realized how much more he needs from me and how much Mr. Singleton still expects. “I think we need a tad more,” I say, keeping my tone professional.

I’m not blind to his pain and I’m not heartless. What I am is good at my job. “Hale, you’re a victim of manipulation and greed. But you’re not a victim of life and circumstance. I’ll make sure you come across as the champion you are.”

He frowns. “Why?” he asks.

I need to leave before I say too much. “Because you would help me if you could. Just like you offered to that night.”

I walk through the house and out the door. Trin’s house is less than a mile away. I need the air and I need the distance. Hale knows which night I mean. Like him, my memory is long and the pain I hold lingers unbearably close to the surface.

Chapter Nine

Hale

“What the fuck is that?”

A black and white creature, more mop than dog, blinks up at me from my doorstep. I can’t see his eyes through all the fur covering them, but I’m pretty sure he’s giving me the stink eye.

“Hey, Hale!” Becca waves and hops out of a white van. “Good mornin’, darlin’.”

Becca’s hair looks the way it used to. Back when she didn’t bother blowing it or whatever it is women do to make it movie-star perfect. It’s messy in all the right ways, like when she used to let her sea-soaked strands dry in the bright summer sun.

There’s a hint of waves and natural highlights most women drop hundreds in salons to achieve. I never told her it’s how I like her hair best. Maybe I should. Hell, maybe I should start with a simple good morning, though not everything about it is good.

I barely slept. The shit I’m dealing with surrounding my court case gets less shitty each day. That’s the good part. To me and my legal team’s shock, all but one of the insider trading charges were dropped, and the ten counts of fraud charges were reduced to four. The bad news is the judge granted the feds another five months to strengthen their case.

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