Page 64 of Pretend for Me

“Don’t forget that you have to introduce me on the podium,” Wyatt spat into my ear and rolled Liz off into the crowd of people chatting in the ballroom.

Once I passed the foyer, I set off on a mission to find Parker. I’d called him all week, without any response. Not even a text which was very unlike him. Even my aunt, Joy, sounded nervous when I phoned their house. She couldn’t get off the phone fast enough.

I found Parker speaking to Joy in a corner of the informal dining room.

“Well you know, Parker?—”

I tapped him on the shoulder to alert him of my presence.

“Oh, Matthew, hey.” Parker stammered and fiddled with the cell phone in his hand.

“Hi, Matthew,” Joy said meekly from behind Parker. I nodded a hello to my pseudo aunt.

I didn’t know how much I should include Joy in this conversation, so I asked Parker, “Can I speak to you for a second outside?” Liz was her dying sister after all.

“Anything you need to say to me, you can say in front of Joy,” Parker said, narrowing his eyes.

He was acting out of sorts. Did he know he was being set up to take the fall?

I pursed my lips, looking between Parker and Joy. It didn’t appear that either one of them was going to budge, so I sighed and resigned myself to having to talk to them both. “Fine, but it still needs to be outside.”

I peeked around the ballroom before exiting the door. Wyatt was having an intense hushed conversation with Arthur and an older gentleman I didn’t recognize. Liz was speaking to her society ladies. At least they were both distracted for the time being.

The three of us slipped out of the party, gathering around the fountain at the end of the driveway.

“What is it, Matthew?” Parker asked dumbly, taking a deep breath. Joy looked at her husband wide-eyed and slightly shook her head.

“Wyatt defrauded the company. Adams Point is in shambles. All the profits are going into a shell corporation called Nardini Industries, which if the name doesn’t tip you off, makes you the CEO. He’s framing you by embezzling any and all profits to smaller offshore accounts which then get funneled into Nardini Industries,” I rambled, my hands shaking, and I looked around nervously. I wouldn’t have been worried about myself if it weren’t for the fact that I had something to lose waiting for me at home. Cassie.

I turned to Joy and started again, “Apparently, it was your sister’s idea. They were so worried about not being rich that they needed a fallback plan.” I spat in disgust. “I mean, who does that? This is crazy.” I paced in front of the fountain, my mind reeling.

“Matthew,” Joy said lightly, touching my shoulder.

I shook my head and threaded my fingers through my hair, feeling like I was losing it. This must have been how Cassie felt all those times in this world. In over her head. I needed to tell Parker what he was up against. “I do have an attorney who is helping me, and we gathered enough information to tie this to Wyatt. All he’s waiting on is for me to give him the green light to call his friends at the SEC. You might want to get your lawyer on standby, since I’m sure the SEC will want to ask you a lot of questions during the investigation, but the evidence we’ve found is damning to Wyatt and all his wrongdoings. We’ve got him.” I finally breathed out in relief.

“Matthew.” Now it was Parker who spoke my name.

I looked at my uncle, waiting for him to speak. This was overwhelming information to take in when it wasn’t your freedom on the line. I could only imagine how difficult it was to be in Parker’s position.

“We’ve known about the shell corp for some time,” he muttered so softly I almost missed what he said.

“What? How? Then why is that bastard still running free?” I blurted, my eyes widened, and then my eyebrows furrowed, not understanding why they didn’t expose Wyatt and Liz for who they really were.

Joy took my hands in hers. “You have to understand. We only tried to do what’s right.” She sobbed, biting her bottom lip.

I snatched my hands away. “Do what? What did you both do?” I demanded, looking between them with wild eyes.

Parker hung his head. “We tried, Matthew. We really did. When Wyatt and Liz adopted you, we thought it was a good thing for them. Maybe it would humanize them a little. They had changed so much after coming into money and the loss of Drew. We wished for you to be the change they so desperately needed,” Joy explained, wiping her eyes, mascara running down her face.

Parker resumed speaking. “It gave us the idea that we would have liked to adopt and help a child. We tried conceiving years ago, and it didn’t work out.” He trailed off, looking at Joy and continued, “When we met Cassie, we fell in love with her. She was lovely, a breath of fresh air. Clearly she didn’t belong in this world, but we decided we wanted to adopt her anyway.”

“What?” My jaw went slack, and I felt like I had been punched in the gut. They wanted to adopt Cassie all those years ago? She could have had a family. A good one. Her life could have been so much different.Everythingcould have been different.

Parker looked at Joy nervously, taking in the way her body trembled, and he shrugged himself out of his suit jacket and wrapped his wife in it.

“I made the mistake of telling my sister about our plans, and I’m sure you know how that went. She told Wyatt, and that was when we found out about the shell corp.” Joy tried to continue, but I interrupted her.

I held my hand up. “Wait! How does the shell corp have anything to do with Cassie?” My head was spinning. This was even more complex than Silas presumed.

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