Page 28 of Release You

“Feel free to let yourself get carried away anytime,” he whispered next to me, making my hand flinch and my heart do a backward flip.

As much as I wanted to throw myself at him right now, this wasn’t the time or the place. “I’ll remember that.” I smiled at him.

He stepped back and picked up a paperweight off the desk. “How’s that going?” He pointed at the safe.

I wiggled my eyebrows. “Got it.”

“One day you’ll have to tell me why you had to learn to do that.” He shook his head.

“One day I might.” I reached in, grabbed a stack of bills, and put them in my backpack. The money wrap said five thousand dollars. My favorite denomination.

“What are you doing?” He scowled at me. “We’re not here to steal money.”

“You’renot here to steal money, but I am. A girl’s gotta eat.”I winked at him. “There’s a lot of money here. Your uncle won’t notice if a few bills are missing.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. But we’re splitting that. And no running off with it at the last minute.” For the first time since our big fight, his tone of voice wasn’t laced with anger when he talked about the night I ran off with Tessa’s money.

“Okay, let’s see what else is in here.” I riffled through the folders and jewelry boxes. This was odd. When we were kids, Henry’s mom kept all her jewelry in her room. I supposed Jonathan didn’t trust the people working for him. Trust and respect weren’t things money could buy. After he sent Henry away, how many years did it take him to figure that out?

“Anything good?” Henry rummaged through the desk drawers across from me. “There’s some receipts here, but nothing out of the ordinary. Look at this, two thousand dollars for a steak dinner at Different Point of View in Phoenix.”

“Nice.” I opened a manila envelope. Inside was a letter folded in three.

“Expensive dinners impress you?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“What the hell?” I mumbled. Henry dropped what he was doing and came to join me. “It’s a letter from your mom to my sister.”

Dearest Lisa,

I know you didn’t kill my husband. And I am so sorry that you’re having to bear this cross on your own. I promise you I will do anything in my power to get you out.

Love, Tessa

“What?” Henry stared at the letter before he took it from me. “Mom knew?”

“I thought you said she’d gotten worse. That she couldn’t move. When did she write this letter?”

“I don’t know. But this is definitely her writing.Way more legible than the note she left upstairs.” He shook his head, biting his lip.

“I wonder if Lisa ever saw it. Why does your uncle have it?”

“Good question.”

“Another good question—if your mom knew Lisa didn’t do it, why didn’t she speak up during the trial?” My stomach rolled.

Tessa had always been kind to me and Lisa. But if Tessa believed in Lisa’s innocence, why had she turned her back on us when we needed her the most? Why hadn’t she stood up for Lisa? God, I hoped Lisa hadn’t seen this letter. Fifteen years of waiting for someone who wasn’t coming would be torture. I crumpled the note in my hand.

“Kill the light,” Henry whispered.

Outside in the foyer, the sound of slow footsteps echoed on the marble floors. My pulse shot into overdrive. We weren’t alone after all. I closed the door to the safe and winced when it shut with a loud thud.

“Is there another way out?” I asked.

“Yeah. Let’s use the service door. It’ll take us to the kitchen.” He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and I tightened my grip on his mom’s note.

With my free hand, I grabbed my backpack and followed Henry through the hidden door behind the bar cart. Did the footsteps belong to one of the guards doing his rounds, or was his uncle back? Henry barred the panel and held my arm tighter when I tried to move.

“Let’s go,” I said under my breath.

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